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

or shady woods of the
East, and those which inhabit high and airy regions in the Western hemisphere. To accomplish
this it is advisable to allow a free circulation of air during the early part of the day, with an
abundance of atmospheric moisture, and to shut up early in the afternoon with a high degree of
temperature.

ACHIMENES.—They delight in a moist heat, and a partially-shaded situation. More air to be given
as they advance in growth. The shoots to be staked out neatly.

GESNERAS to be treated similarly, with the addition of more light.

GLOXINIAS.—The same as Achimenes.

FORCING-HOUSES.

CHERRIES.—Give more air, and keep a drier atmosphere when the fruit is ripening. Give plenty
of water to the trees swelling their fruit. Keep them free from insects, or the fruit will be of little
value.

FIGS.—Air freely, to give flavour to the fruit now ripening. Avoid wetting the fruit when it
begins to soften.

MELONS.—Keep up the heat of the beds by renewing or turning the linings. Slightly shade the
plants when the sun is powerful, to keep the foliage in a healthy state, without which good fruit
cannot be produced. When the frames are at liberty, Melons may be grown in them with a little
assistance from dung heat at bottom.

PEACHES.—Give a liberal supply of air, with less water, to trees, the fruit of which are ripening.


PINES.—Continue the previous instructions in the management of the plants in the different
stages of growth.

VINES.—Thin and stop the shoots, and thin the berries in good time. Attend to the late crops, and
set, by hand, the blossoms of Muscats, West’s St. Peter’s, and other shy setters. Be sure that
inside borders are properly supplied with water, giving sufficient quantities to thoroughly
moisten the whole mass of soil.

THIRD WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

Attend carefully to the stock of plants for summer and autumn decoration, and do not allow them
to suffer for want of pot room and water.

AZALEAS.—Continue to encourage all that have flowered by timely potting, syringings, and
applications of weak liquid manure.

CAMELLIAS.—Introduce a gradual declension of artificial heat amongst all that have completed
their growth. A curtailment in the supply of water, giving merely sufficient to keep them from
flagging, will induce the production of blossom-buds.

EPACRIS.—Repot with a pretty large shift the early-flowering sorts that have freely commenced
their growth. Use good fibrous heath soil, rejecting any of a spongy or greasy nature. Such
plants, for some time after being newly shifted, require particular attention in watering, that the
soil may not become soddened. Let the plants be placed in a cold pit, and be slightly shaded
during bright sunshine. The stopping or pinching out the points of strong shoots must be
regularly attended to during their growing season, to establish a uniformity of sturdy growth.

HEATHS and NEW HOLLAND PLANTS.—All that have flowered, and have made their season’s
growth, may be removed to cold pits, or frames, to allow those that remain, and are promising to
flower, more air, sun and light.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

Keep up a liberal supply of humidity, with ventilation, at favourable opportunities. The plants
here should now be growing very freely, and should, therefore, receive frequent attention as to
stopping, training, &c. Keep them properly accommodated with pot room, and allow them all the
sunshine they will bear without scorching; also, allow them sufficient space for the development
of their foliage. Plenty of moisture is now requisite to encourage a free growth in Orchids, to get
their pseudo-bulbs firm, well nourished, and ripened in good time. Free ventilation in favourable
weather and a slight shading in bright sunshine are also requisites for their healthy growth.

FORCING-HOUSES.


CHERRIES.—When the fruit is ripening, air to be given freely, even to the drawing the lights off
completely in favourable weather. Fires may be discontinued altogether, unless the nights are
very cold.

FIGS.—Give them plenty of water in all their stages of growth; discontinue the use of the syringe
during the ripening process. They frequently require attention in stopping all long young shoots.

MELONS.—If there is a sufficient depth of soil for the plants, they will not require any large
supplies of water after the fruit is swelling off; but it will be necessary to sprinkle the plants
overhead, and to shut up early every fine afternoon with a good heat. Lay the fruit on a tile or
piece of slate.

PEACHES.—When the fruit is swelling off, or beginning to ripen, admit air freely in favourable
weather, even to the drawing off the lights entirely, so as to admit a free circulation and the direct
influence of the sun, by which flavour and colour are best attained. Continue to stop all very-
luxuriant shoots, and thin out the young wood. Some persons lay in plenty of young wood to
select from in winter pruning; but fruit-bearing wood, regularly disposed all over the tree, is best
attained by the judicious and successive thinning of useless shoots during their growing season.
Continue to tie in the shoots of the late houses.

PINERIES.—When the repotting of the plants has recently taken place it will be necessary to
shade for several hours, during bright sunshine, for a few days; but for the general stock shading
should be dispensed with as much as possible—as short, stiff leaves and sturdy growth are best
attained by judicious airings and humidity. Do not water much at the root immediately after
repotting. Maintain a brisk bottom heat to the succession plants. Admit plenty of air during
favourable weather.

VINERIES.—As the fruit in the early houses become coloured, it is advisable to remove all
superfluous or rambling shoots; but to retain and to preserve with the greatest care the principal
leaves—as the good quality of the fruit and the healthy condition of the tree for the ensuing
season will depend upon the number and healthy state of the principal leaves.

FOURTH WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

As most plants here are now in active growth, they will require a liberal supply of water. If the
sun shines very brightly, a slight shading would be of benefit for a few hours on very hot days.

AZALEAS, CHINESE.—When done blooming, they succeed best in a close pit, kept moderately
moist and slightly shaded in the middle of the day. If they are too large for a pit, they will do
well in a vinery, or in any other large house where they can stand at a distance from the glass
without shading.

BALSAMS and COCKSCOMBS.—Promote their growth by shifting them into larger pots, in rich
soil, with an abundance of light near the glass, and heat.


CAMELLIAS to be treated as advised for Azaleas.

GERANIUMS.—If any remain after the flower-garden masses are furnished, they should be potted
and treated with every attention as to watering, &c. When they have made fresh roots, and begin
to grow freely, to be stopped, to make bushy plants. Calceolarias, Fuchsias, Petunias, Verbenas,
&c., treated in a similar manner, will be useful as a reserve to succeed the greenhouse plants that
are now in bloom, and to fill up vacancies as they occur in the beds and borders.

HEATHS and NEW HOLLAND PLANTS.—Many being now in full growth will require an
abundance of water, more especially in bright weather. Many fine specimens are frequently lost
through imperfect watering; for if the ball is once allowed to get thoroughly dry, all endeavours
to restore the plant to health and vigour are generally unsuccessful.

STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE.

Ornamental stove plants—such as Brugmansias, Centradenias, Clerodendrons, Eranthemums,
Euphorbias, Geissomerias, Gesneras, Justicias, Poinsettias, &c., to be supplied with clear liquid
manure, and to have their rambling shoots stopped. Many of the free-growing plants will require
shifting occasionally. The great object should be to get rapid growth when light abounds, and
thus to secure luxuriant foliage at the right season, when there will be more time for the wood to
be properly matured for winter. The syringings to be given early in the afternoon, that the plants
may get dry before night.

ACHIMENES.—When grown in large seed-pans they produce a fine effect.

FORCING-HOUSE.

CHERRIES.—Give more air, and keep a drier atmosphere when the fruit is ripening. Give plenty
of water to the trees now swelling their fruit. Syringe frequently, and keep the foliage and fruit
free from insects.

CHRYSANTHEMUMS.—Pot off as soon as rooted. If not already struck, the cuttings should be put
in at once.

CUCUMBERS.—Stop them, and water freely. All that are intended for ridges, if hardened off,
should now be planted out. See that the ball of earth is well soaked with water before planting.

FIGS.—Give them plenty of air during the day in fine weather, with abundance of water. Use the
syringe freely, except when fruit is ripening.

PEACHES.—Although a dry atmosphere is necessary to give flavour to the ripening fruit, it is not
advisable to withhold water altogether from the roots while the trees are making their growth.
Water the inside borders in the morning in clear weather, so that any vapour that arises may pass
off during the day. The outside borders, if dry, should also be watered as far as the roots extend,
and then mulched, to prevent evaporation during hot, dry weather. If the early-forced trees have
naked branches, some of the earliest-made wood may be taken from the trees, and buds inserted


from it in the barren parts. Buds inserted now may start into growth in July, and be stopped when
about six inches long, to get the wood well ripened.

PINES.—A bottom heat from 80° to 85° must be kept up to the plants intended for fruiting in the
autumn. It is advisable, where practicable, to allow the stools from which fruit has been cut to
remain in the house for some time; to supply them liberally with water, and occasionally with
liquid manure; to encourage the growth of the suckers.

VINES.—In the houses where Grapes are ripening, the temperature may be allowed to rise to 90°,
with sun heat, and to decline to 60° at night. In the succession-houses thin the bunches, and do
not be covetous to over-crop the Vines, as it is the cause of many bad effects. Stop laterals, and
use the syringe freely in the afternoons.

JUNE.

FIRST WEEK.

GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY.

AZALEA INDICA.—Encourage free growth, as soon as possible after they have done blooming, by
placing them in heat, supplying an abundance of water, and syringing freely.

CALCEOLARIAS.—Water carefully; cut down when out of bloom, and remove them to a cold
frame.

HEATHS and NEW HOLLAND PLANTS.—The young stock will now succeed best in a pit, or frame,
placing the lights to the north. The glass to be well washed, and the pots to be placed on tiles, or
ashes,