In Door Garedning by William Keane (tools of titans ebook .TXT) 📕

/> November or December, to be pruned, that sufficient time may be allowed to heal up the
wounds, and the buds to become more plump and prominent. The border of the early house to be
thatched with straw, or covered with any other such material, to protect it from heavy rains. It is
also advisable in some situations to cover the borders of the houses in which it is intended to
keep Grapes late, to prevent the soil getting saturated about the roots. Continue to look over ripe
fruit, cutting out the mouldy or tainted berries; applying gentle fires only when necessary to
expel damps, with a free circulation of air—as a warm, close atmosphere is as injurious as damp.
Where the long-rod system is adopted, the old shoots should be cut down as soon as the fruit is
gathered; and, whatever system is adopted, if there are any shoots to remove they should be
taken out as soon as they can be spared; the ends of the remaining shoots, if green, to be cut off.
Continue to pay strict attention to late Grapes, look over them daily, and cut out every decayed
berry.

OCTOBER.

FIRST WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

The plants when newly set in the house are very liable to lose a portion of their leaves: these
should be removed, and the plants kept supplied with water, so as to preserve the soil moderately
moist throughout. Air to be given every day, and also a portion at night, if the weather continue
mild.

BULBS (Dutch).—All kinds to be immediately potted and plunged in a convenient situation ready
to be removed, when wanted, to the forcing-house or pit. If potted and treated as advised some
time ago, a few of them may now be excited into growth.

CHRYSANTHEMUMS.—Take up the plants from the open ground; choose a showery day for the
purpose. After potting to be well watered and shaded for a few days, then placed in a cold pit, or
removed to the greenhouse, and neatly tied to stakes. The buds to be thinned for a fine display.

GLADIOLI.—Pot them, and Ixias, Sparaxis, &c.; and to be watered sparingly until they begin to
grow.

LILY OF THE VALLEY.—Pot some, to be treated as advised for Bulbs, that a regular supply of this
favourite flower may be had during winter.


SHRUBS.—Get in, if not already done. A supply of American plants to be potted, as advised a
fortnight ago, and plunged in old tan until wanted for forcing.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

Continue to act in unison with the season, allowing the temperature to decline slightly as light
decreases. Although the Aërides, Dendrobiums, &c., will continue to enjoy a temperature of 80°
by day and 70° by night, the Cattleyas will require 10° or 15° less to bring them to a healthy state
of rest; for if kept in constant excitement they will continue to sprout buds from their pseudo-
bulbs, which generally adds to the size of the plant at the expense of the blooms.

ACHIMENES PICTA.—Promote their growth by every attention, also Gesnera zebrina, which adds
much to the beauty of the stove during winter.

BEGONIAS.—Encourage the different kinds for winter flowering by giving them larger pots if
required.

EUPHORBIA FULGENS and SPLENDENS.—These are also worthy of especial attention, as they
contribute to enliven the house at the dullest season of the year when flowers are scarce.

FORCING-HOUSES.

CUCUMBERS.—To prolong the season of fine crisp fruit it is necessary to keep the plants clean
and healthy by giving them plenty of top and bottom heat.

FIGS.—The trees having no fruit likely to come to perfection, and whose leaves are fading, to be
kept cool and dry, to induce an early rest. A seasonal rest should also be given by the same
means to trees in pots, that they may be in a fit state for forcing early.

MELONS.—Continue to maintain a warm, dry atmosphere, to give flavour to the fruit. They will
require little or no water after this.

PEACHES.—Vacancies to be filled with trees from the walls on the open ground. This is a plan
preferable to having young trees from the nursery, which are usually some years in covering the
space allotted to them. Where the lights have been wholly removed, after being repaired and
painted, they should be put upon the houses to protect the trees and borders from unfavourable
weather.

PINES.—Ripening fruit to be kept in a dry, warm atmosphere, to give it flavour. The swelling
fruit to have a warm, moist atmosphere. Water to be given to the plants cautiously; every one to
be examined before it receives any, and manure water to be dispensed with altogether. The heat
of the dung-pits to be kept up by renewing the linings. The crowns and suckers that are planted
in the tan to have no water; all they require is attention in giving air and keeping up the heat.

VINES.—Attention to be given to the young Vines in pots that are intended for forcing, that they
may not become soddened, which would injure the young roots considerably. Where netting or


any other such material had been used over the lights that open in houses containing fruit, to
prevent the ingress of wasps, it may be taken down as little mischief will now be apprehended
from their attacks. Mice are sometimes very troublesome in vineries at this season, and will spoil
a whole house of Grapes in a short time if not prevented. Traps should, therefore, be kept set, and
every means used to prevent their ingress from the garden. Cover the border when the trees are
planted outside, with a good coat of fern or any other such material before they become saturated
and chilled by the autumnal rains, to be laid on thickly in layers, beginning at the front of the
border, the whole to be covered with a thin layer of good straw, and fastened down as a thatcher
does the straw on stacks.

SECOND WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

The plants being cleaned, surfaced, staked, and arranged, they will require but little beyond the
ordinary attentions of watering and regulating the admission of air. Plants, when fresh surfaced,
sometimes droop without any apparent cause, which generally arises from the roots being very
dry; the fresh soil absorbing most of the moisture, and the water escaping between the pot and
ball of earth. This is usually brought on by surfacing the plants when dry: as soon, therefore, as
the consequences are observed, the plants should be examined, and sufficient water given to wet
the ball of earth thoroughly.

CHRYSANTHEMUMS.—Treat them without further delay as advised in a late Calendar. An
occasional and moderate supply of clear liquid manure will assist to develope their flowers to
greater perfection. If any indication of mildew appear an application of the flowers of sulphur,
when the foliage is damp, will banish it.

FUCHSIAS.—Encourage the young stock to continue their blooming by the application of a little
weak liquid manure. When the flowering is over, and they have lost most of their leaves, they
may then be set aside in any corner free from frost for the winter. To be kept moderately dry.

MYRTLES.—These and other such evergreen plants requiring protection to be placed in pits or
frames, or in any other structure, as near the glass as possible. To be watered regularly; but, like
all other plants, care must be taken that they do not get too much at any time during the winter.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

The plants that have taken their rest should be shaken out, and repotted; pruning back such as
require it, and placing them in a gentle bottom heat. The Orchids showing bloom—such as the
Cypripediums, Phajus grandifolius and Stenorhynchus speciosus—to be supplied with plenty of
heat and moisture. Some of the other sorts—such as the Catasetums, the Cycnoches, Lycastes,
&c., that are approaching their dormant state—to be accommodated, if possible, with a drier and
cooler atmosphere. All fast-growing plants—such as Clerodendrums, Vincas, &c.—that require
large pots in summer, to be now turned out of their pots, the soil to be shaken from them, and
repotted into the smallest sized pots that will contain them, without pruning the roots much at
this time.


CLIMBERS.—Some of the most rambling will now want some pruning, more especially where
they obstruct the light in any material degree. The Combretums, Echites, Ipomsæas,
Mandevillas, late-blooming Passifloras, Pergularias, Stephanotises, Thunbergias, &c., which are
still growing, to be regulated with a more gentle hand, cutting out but little more than barren
shoots, and drawing the remainder into somewhat closer festoons, to allow the more free
admission of sunlight into the interior of the house.

FORCING-HOUSES.

CUCUMBERS.—The plants for a winter supply of fruit should now be making progress. Keep the
vines thin and use every means to keep up a good heat, with liberal admissions of air at all
favourable opportunities, to get them strong and vigorous against the winter months. Stop
mildew by dusting the leaves with sulphur.

MUSHROOMS.—Succession-beds to be made according to previous directions. Give a good
sprinkling to those in bearing, to produce a genial humidity; and turn the covering material
occasionally, to keep them sweet and free from mouldiness.

PEACHES.—When the trees in the early house are pruned, it is advisable to cover the cuts, when
dry, with white lead, to prevent the admission of air and water to the wound. Wash the trellis,
whitewash the flues and walls, and make every part of the house clean. Dress the trees with a
mixture of soft soap and sulphur in hot water; to be well rubbed in with a brush or sponge.

VINES.—Continue to look over the ripe Grapes, cutting out any decaying berries. If the fruit is to
be kept for any length of time, and if any plants, through want of other accommodation, must be
kept under the Vines, they should be watered in the morning, using a little fire heat in the day,
with air, to expel damp before night. Whatever system of pruning is adopted, whether the long-
rod or spur, it is advisable, when the brown scale is visible, to take off the loose bark, to wash
them, and the wires and rafters, with soft soap dissolved in hot water, using a hard brush, being
careful not to injure the buds; afterwards to apply hot lime, made to the consistency of thick
paint.

THIRD WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

The decline of temperature and less watering must go on progressively, more especially in dull
weather, with free ventilation at all favourable opportunities. If the weather be cold, use a little
fire-heat occasionally during the day, especially where there are many plants in bloom, that
ventilation may be given to expel damp and stagnant air.

CINERARIAS.—Plants that have filled their small pots with roots to be shifted, according to their
size and strength, into larger pots. The compost to