In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year / Showing the Most Successful Treatment for all Plants Cultivated in the Greenhouse, Conservatory, Stove, Pit, Orchid, and Forcing-house

by gardener William Keane

THIRD WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

As many of the hard-wooded plants are impatient of fire heat and a confined atmosphere, it is advisable to use no more artificial heat than is absolutely necessary. The drying effects of fire heat must be counteracted by a supply of moisture; the moisture becomes condensed on the glass and falls in drips, that are apt to spoil the beauty of the flowers, and to injure the foliage of the plants. The best corrective for such unfavourable results is to be found in keeping the temperature as low as may be consistent with the safety of the plants, and in withholding moisture as much as possible whenever the glass is affected by frost. See that the young stock of Heliotropes, Scarlet Geraniums, Persian Cyclamens, and other such flowers, that are grown especially for winter, are

accommodated with a light, airy situation, and receive regular attention as regards watering. Avoid watering the Pelargoniums until they are thoroughly dry, and keep down insects.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

The plants in the stove should be kept as quiet as possible, and only just sufficient water given to keep them from flagging, to be accompanied with a moderately low temperature; about 60° by day, and 50° by night, the object being to prevent them from growing before the spring of the year. Admit air when it can be done safely, but do not expose the plants to cold, frosty winds at any time. As our collections of Orchids are from countries with different seasons of growth, and various kinds of temperature and climate, it is difficult to cultivate in one house a miscellaneous collection of them so satisfactorily as where there are two divisions, the one commanding a higher temperature, with more moisture, than the other. Where there is no such division, advantage may be taken of a forcing-pit, or other such house, to which any of them now in a growing state may be removed, and thus their growth may be promoted without injury to the general collection. For the general collection a drier atmosphere and lower temperature are now desirable, as no plants are more benefited by a season of rest than Orchids.

FORCING-HOUSES.

All Vines, Peaches, and Figs in Pots, or Tubs, to be secured from frost and wet. A fermenting body in a forcing vinery is an excellent plunging medium for such of these as are wanted very early. Keep up a succession of Asparagus, French Beans, Rhubarb, Sea-kale, &c., according to the demand.

Cucumbers.—Thin out the fruit occasionally, more especially if too many appear at one time. If any plants have been bearing some time, and now appear nearly exhausted, they may be rallied into vigour again by a judicious pruning and thinning, and by the application of a top dressing of leaf mould or other such rich, light soil, and of liquid manure occasionally.

Peaches.—A moist heat, arising from dung or leaves, is as beneficial to Peach trees as to Vines before they break, but as it can but rarely be made use of, in consequence of the difference in the structure of the interior, moisture must be supplied by other means, such as syringing and sprinkling the flues, or pipes, when warm. A few trees, in pots, are useful for early forcing, as they can be easily plunged in a pit or any other convenient place where a mild regular bottom heat can be supplied. The trees for this purpose must have been grown and established for some time in pots.