In Door Garedning - William Keane (best new books to read txt) 📗

Grapes during the day, as it is advisable to get them
well ripened before the season gets too far advanced. By such means they will be of better
quality and keep longer than if the ripening process be delayed to a later period. Do not allow
plants in pots to remain in the house to cause damp, which, despite every care in ventilating, is
apt to settle on the berries and spoil them. The outside borders of the late houses should be
watered and mulched, if the weather continue dry.

FOURTH WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

The conservatory should now be gay with Balsams, Cockscombs, Fuchsias, Globe Amaranths,
Heliotropes, and the varieties of Japan Lilies. Strict attention must be paid to all plants in these
structures that they do not suffer from the want of water. Continue to stop over-luxuriant growth,
to obtain compact, sturdy specimens. On the evenings of hot, dry days, after the plants have been
watered, give them a slight syringing, or sprinkling, over the leaves, and also the ground upon
which they are standing.

AOTUS GRACILLIMUS.—When done blooming, to be cut down close to the pot.

APHELEXIS and HELICHRYSUMS.—When past their best state, cut the flower-stems close into the
old wood; to be set in a cool shady place until they begin to grow, when any that require it may
be repotted.

CHRYSANTHEMUMS.—Propagate by cuttings, or layers, to obtain dwarf stocky plants. Continue
to top the plants that have been planted out in rows in the open ground, as advised some time
ago.

CINERARIAS.—Pot off the first batch of seedlings and offsets. Sow seed.

FUCHSIAS.—Shift in the last batch, and put in cuttings.

LESCHENAULTIAS.—When they are going out of bloom, or past their best, remove the flowers
and flower-buds, and put them in a cool place to start again.

KALOSANTHES.—When done blooming, the flower-stems and all straggling growth to be cut in
closely, to form compact specimens for another season.


PELARGONIUMS.—Cut back the principal stock, and treat them as advised lately.

PIMELEA SPECTABILIS.—When that and the other kinds have done blooming, to be freely cut in,
and to be set in a cool shady place to break.

POLYGALAS to be treated in the same manner as the Pimeleas.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

Look out for insects in the stove, and destroy them as soon as visible. The Gishurst Compound is
worthy of a trial. Follow former instructions as to moisture and air.

IXORAS.—When done blooming to be cut in rather closely, to be started in a gentle heat to make
fresh growth. The Orchids suspended on baskets, or on blocks of wood, require a soaking of
water at the roots, and frequent, but slight, syringings overhead. A little fire-heat applied in the
afternoon will be of service to them.

FORCING-HOUSES.

FIGS.—If the second crop on the earliest trees is advancing towards maturity, as soon as the fruit
begins to ripen the atmosphere should be kept dry and rather cool, giving air freely every fine
day. Keep the foliage clean and healthy, and clear from insects, and do not allow the young
shoots to get crowded.

MELONS.—Keep up a good bottom heat when the fruit is setting. Keep the plants on which the
fruit is ripening rather dry at the root, with an abundance of air in fine weather.

PINES.—Air to be admitted freely during hot weather to fruiting and succession plants. Particular
care will be necessary in the application of water that they may not suffer for want of it, or by
saturation. The walls, paths, and surface of the bed to be kept constantly moist, and frequent
syringings to be given to the young stock. Continue all other routine operations according to
former directions.

STRAWBERRIES.—Some lay the runners at once into pots of strong, rich loam, cutting them away
from the parent plants when they have made roots enough for their own support. Some prefer to
lay them in small pots, to be shifted into larger by-and-by, and others prefer to lay them in their
fruiting-pots. The principal object should be, to attain plants of a moderate growth, well matured
and rested before forcing time.

VINES.—The early houses, when they have been cleared of their fruit, and the wood is properly
ripened may have the sashes removed and repaired, if required; indeed, every house is purified
by free exposure to the atmosphere for some time. The late crops to be encouraged to swell by
giving the borders good soakings of manure water, and by being carefully thinned, more
especially if they are wanted to keep late. A little fire-heat will be necessary in unfavourable
weather, with an abundance of air day and night.


AUGUST.

FIRST WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

The conservatory borders will now require liberal supplies of water. Faded blossoms to be
constantly removed; straggling growth and exhausted stock to be cut previous to making a new
growth. As the autumn is fast approaching, the sooner the new growths are encouraged the
better, that they may have sufficient time to mature them. All greenhouse plants will now be
benefited by exposure to the natural atmosphere: the dews are more refreshing and invigorating
than artificial moisture or the application of the syringe.

Finish potting all specimen plants; for if left until later in the season they will not have sufficient
time to fill their pots with roots, and, therefore, will be liable to suffer from stagnation of water at
the roots. No position can be worse for a plant than that of surrounding it with fresh soil for
months when the roots should be in a comparatively dormant state.

PELARGONIUMS.—Continue to head them down, and to propagate the cuttings, which will now
strike freely in a sunny situation in the open ground.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

Much moisture and free ventilation will be necessary here during warm weather. The young
plants of Euphorbias, Ixoras, Poinsettias, and other such stove plants, to be rendered bushy by
stopping them betimes. The Æschynanthus grandiflorus, Aphelandra cristata, Eranthemum
pulchellum, Justicias, and any others that are intended for the decoration of the conservatory in
the autumn and early part of winter, should be carefully looked over, and shifted without delay if
they want more pot-room; the shoots to be tied out thinly, and to be exposed to as much sun as
they will bear without scorching the foliage, to induce stocky growth. Nothing is more injurious
to stove plants than to keep them growing late in the season, and thus to prevent the ripening of
the wood, which will render them more liable to injuries in winter and more unproductive of
flowers the following season.

FORCING-HOUSES.

MELONS.—The plants on which the fruit is ripening to be kept rather dry at the roots, with free
exposure to the air in favourable weather. A steady bottom heat to be kept up to the late crops.

PEACHES.—If the lights have not been taken off the early-forced houses, it would be advisable to
remove them as soon as possible, that the air, rain, and dews may have free access to act both
beneficially on the trees and to keep down red spider. In those houses which have been treated as
advised in former Calendars, the principal object now should be to get the wood properly
ripened. The late houses to be treated in a similar manner when the fruit is gathered. Where the
trees in peach-houses have been recently planted, and are not yet in a bearing state, the shoots
will require to be trained carefully, and insects to be kept down.


PINES.—The plants growing in beds of soil to be carefully attended to with water, giving at each
application sufficient to penetrate the whole body of soil, as it frequently happens that the surface
is moist while the bottom is quite dry. Pot a portion of the strongest successions for early forcing
next season.

STRAWBERRIES.—Continue to lay the runners of the kinds you wish to force in pots until you
have a sufficient number.

VINES.—Muscats, now beginning to ripen, will generally require a little fire heat to push them
on; when ripened in good time they are better flavoured and keep longer than when the ripening
process is delayed to a late period of the season. Continue to remove the stray laterals that begin
to shade the larger leaves; to be done a little at a time, as disbudding on an extensive scale is
prejudicial to fruit trees. The young Vines in pots to have every attention, to secure as much
growth and healthy vigour as possible while the growing season lasts. Allow all young planted
Vines to ramble freely without stopping them so closely, as is frequently practised. Before wasps
and flies do much mischief to ripe Grapes, coarse canvass should be fixed over the top lights and
front lights that are opened for the admission of air. Remove decayed berries as soon as
observed, and keep the house containing ripe fruit dry and free from dust.

SECOND WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

BULBS.—The selections for winter and spring flowering to be made as soon as possible,
choosing the most suitable varieties for each season; to be potted at two or three intervals for
succession. To be potted in light fibrous turfy loam of a sandy quality, and placed in a dry
situation; to be covered with three or four inches of old tan or coal ashes.

CAMELLIAS.—The large, old specimens that have set their flower-buds to be carefully supplied
with water; for if they are allowed to get too dry at the roots they are apt to drop their buds.
Young vigorous plants, on the contrary, will require to be watered rather sparingly, to prevent
them making a second growth.

CINERARIAS.—Shift as they require it, and let no neglect as to watering, &c., cause a check to
their growth.

CLIMBERS.—To have a succession late in the season when flowers become scarce, it is advisable
to cut them back for that purpose, more especially the climbers on rafters or ornamental trellises.

NEW HOLLAND PLANTS.—If any have been standing out of doors for some time, it is advisable to
remove the best and most tender varieties to the cold pits, or other secure situations, to avoid the
danger and risk of exposure to wet or windy weather.

SOILS.—Now is a favourable time to collect soils of different sorts for future use. The advantages
of forethought for such matters will become evident when the time for use arrives. Leaf mould,
decomposed sheep, deer, and cowdung, road and river sand, old Cucumber, Melon, and other


such soils, to be put in separate heaps in a shed, or any other dry place, protected from drenching
rains. Each sort to be numbered, or named, that no mistake may occur when wanted.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

All plants intended to flower this autumn to be regularly supplied with water and occasionally
with liquid manure; but