Bart promises to be a decided acquisition, being one of the very dark Roses, of the Empereur de Maroc style, but vigorous in habit, holding a fine head of bloom, and showing well on the plant. Then, for hardiness, there is probably no Rose which will better (or so well) deserve the character than Madame Standish; not novel in colour, pink or rose satinée, but of very fine foliage and good form. Where others have perished around it in thousands, it has been comparatively untouched. It will doubtless make a fine pillar or trellis Rose. Then, amongst Teas, La Boule d'Or seems as if it were likely to be what it is said to be. Margottin does not usually say more than a flower deserves; and although I have as yet seen it only in bud, it promises well. Its habit is good, and the colour excellent: the yellowest of all Tea Roses.

If an amateur have the means of putting them into a warmish place for a while, and gradually hardening off, there can be no danger in getting Roses now; but on no account ought they to be subjected to cold, which will infallibly produce mildew. If had now, and carefully managed, they will afford buds in July for budding, and this should determine persons who can to get them now; moreover, the tops will now make good cuttings, and if no time be lost they will root rapidly enough. And such has been the havoc, that every one will be anxious to make as much way as possible in filling up vacancies.-D., Deal.

FORCING.

(Continued from page 62.)

GARDEN CRESS, WHITE MUSTARD, AND RAPE. THESE are grown in many places all the year round for their seed leaves to be used as salading. On board ship they are generally grown in very shallow boxes of earth, or on thick coarse woollen cloths. To have it regularly, the seed should be sown every five or six days, and be placed in heat, from 50° to 65°, from the middle of October to the end of March. From April it can be grown out of doors, first with the protection of a hand-light, and then fully exposed, using a mat or a piece of calico merely to lay over the seeds before they are fairly up, when it should be removed in order that the tiny leaves may become green. As soil, nothing is better than old tan or decayed leaf mould mixed with sand. Shallow boxes are best in most people's estimation, though I prefer small pots about 4 inches in diameter, as the produce is easier cut; and as you cut two or three pots you can just remove the surface soil or fill afresh and sow again, which always gives a nice, regular succession. Whether, however, grown in pots or boxes, I prefer the surface soil to be made rather smooth, the seed sown thickly over it, so as to touch each other, and then gently pressed on the surface and watered, but no covering of soil or sand put over them, but covered with a piece of cloth or paper until they are growing. By this means the seedlings rise clean, and require but little washing in comparison with what they need when sand or light soil is thrown over them. The Golden Cress is more yellow in colour than the common. The Normandy Cress is very hardy, and where heat cannot be given should be used by those who like it. Sow in September and October for winter and spring, and in April and May for summer use.

CUCUMBER.

This, in northern latitudes, has received more or less forcing since the days of the Romans. In fine summers it is never more at home than out of doors in the south of England. Even at Sandy, in Bedfordshire, vast quantities are sown in the open ground in April and May, and the plants are thinned out like a erop of carrots or turnips, and allowed to occupy the ground. In fine seasons the produce is immense. In such seasons as 1860, this crop was next to a failure. Even those privileged with hand-lights and large glasses were not much more fortunate. These may be considered the means for furnishing Cucumbers to the working men in the late summer and autumn months. To obtain them in spring and early summer as well, hotbeds have to be resorted to. To get them all the winter, and all the year through, such beds and brick-pits heated by linings used to be resorted to, developing much skill and attention on the part of the gardener. For winter and very early spring supply it is now common to have heat supplied by hot water, or flues, or some means more certain and regular than dung linings, though, as stated above, great things have been done with dung and leaves alone.

There is a good old custom existing, where there is a large garden possessing every convenience for raising young Cucumbers, of giving a few plants in March or April to their neighbours who have only their two-light box and a small dung-bed. Keen amateurs, however, in general prefer sowing and raising their own plants. To save repetition, I would refer them to page 89 of the last volume, for the modes of preparing most fermenting materials, and at page 106 for the simple forms of frames and pits that will be most suitable-the first for general purposes, and the second for early or winter work. For the latter purpose we strongly advise a close wall; or, if there are pigeon-holes in the wall opposite the chamber either open or filled with rough stones, the floor above it, whether of slate, stone, or fine gravel, ought to be so close, or the soil kept so close to the sides of the pit, that no rank steam can find its way into the atmosphere of the pit. All such pits for winter and spring work should be heated by dung that has been only slightly fermented beforehand, so as to obtain all the heat that it can give. Economy will also be secured by straw hurdles or hurdles wattled with evergreen branches being set round the linings. For winter and very early spring work the plants will do better on a trellis fixed 14 inches or 15 inches from the glass than when the bines are lying on the ground. Early plants when so grown on a trellis we would prefer also to have in large pots instead of in a bed, as then there might be a chance in severe weather of increasing the bottom heat by putting sweet hot tan, or sweet hot leaves inside, and even elevating the pots a little without disturbing the plants. Such plants should be trained to a single stem before reaching the trellis, and then be stopped and trained in the usual manner.

Now for the minutiae as respects dung-beds.

Temperature. However secured, it must be sweet, and sufficient to yield from 75° to 85° bottom heat, and an average of from 65° to 70° top heat, with a rise of 10° or 15° from sunshine. Long fancy kinds generally require a temperature averaging 75° to swell them long and regularly. That mentioned above will be high enough for such serviceable kinds as Cuthill's Black Spined, Ayres' Prolific, and the improvements on the Kenyon, as the Telegraph, and Cox's Volunteer, which are wonderful bearers; for such kinds as the smooth-skinned Kenyon, or Sion House, the most sure of all for winter supply, a top temperature ranging from 60° to 70° will be quite sufficient. The above will also give an idea of kinds. Fancy sorts of great length generally require much heat, and are not so prolific as shorter, hardier kinds. Were I a cucumber-eater, I should prefer them crisp, young, and from 9 inches to 12 inches long.

Size of Fermenting-beds.-This will depend on the season. If made in December, we would have them 5 feet high at the back, and 4 feet high in front. In January, 4 feet, and 3 feet In March, 3 feet at respectively. In February, a little less. For all beds, back, and 2 feet 3 inches in front, and so on. and especially early ones, we prefer them to be made as shown in fig. 2, page 106, of our last volume.

Time and Method of Sowing.-The first will depend on when the Cucumbers are wanted-say three months after being sown in December, ten weeks in January, two months in February, small one-light box is often used for this purpose, but where and so on. Before sowing, the bed should also be sweet. A there are other things wanting a little heat, a two-light box is the most economical. Use light rich soil for sowing in. It is generally advisable to sow in a six-inch pot, filling the pot about three-quarters full of drainage and soil, and then thinly covering the seeds, and placing a square of glass across the pot, and a piece of stone on the top of it, to keep all chance of mice away. If the bottom heat is more than mentioned, merely set the pot a little in, or on the surface of the bed. Use soil rather dry than moist, as a certain amount of moisture will be absorbed from the bed. If the seed is new, you may give a sprinkling of water in three days or so. If old, it is better to give none, or very little, until a few days more. When the plants are fairly up, water as needed, and sprinkle a little sandy peat and leaf mould amongst them. When they have made two or three rough leaves, pot them singly into four-inch pots, and water and shade until they are growing freely. When I wished to gain time, I put a good firm seed into a small 60-pot, and put several of them into a small hand-light in the bed, sinking the light a little to prevent vermin getting at them. These, when transferred to a larger pot, hardly ever feel the moving, and grow more vigorously, and require less care as to shading. If not quite certain about the heat of the bed, or the due warmth of the soil, we place each

plant into a six-inch pot, and that kept near the back of the bed is sure to be hot enough, plunged, half-plunged, or merely set on the bed, according to the heat; as too much heat at bottom is as enervating as too little is retarding. Both extremes produce a sickly habit, and invite the attacks of insects.

Soil. Whether for seedlings, or plants to be turned out in the bed, the soil should not be much below 80° in temperature, we would rather have it at first 5° more. If 4 inches or 5 inches are spread over the bed, that could be collected into ridges, or hills in the centre of each light. From 12 inches to 15 inches deep will do for Cucumbers. So much nourishment escapes from the dung that for early work the soil should be light rather than very rich; for early work in beds, and winter work in pits, nothing answers better than three parts of heath soil, and one of leaf mould, one of fibry loam, and one of silver sand. For places heated by hot water, we would in winter have equal parts of heath soil and fine aired leaf mould, with a little silver sand. As the spring advances we use any light soil, as equal parts of sandy loam, and leaf mould; and as summer comes any good garden soil. In May we have used equal portions of stiffish loam and rotten dung, with fine effect; but we should never dream of such a mixture in February.

Planting out.-When the heat is sweet, known by the condensed drops on the glass being as clear as dew, and the soil is warm enough, the plants may be turned out of their pots, either three plants in a hill of soil, some 15 inches high and 18 inches through, or in a ridge in the centre of the bed, only a few inches nearer the back than the front, and in that the plants may be put out separately, and at equal distances apart, three plants to a light. In planting after April we would have one plant to a light in preference to more; but in January and February we prefer three, because we thus get so many fruit earlier. Besides the ridge of soil in the centre, and a little over the surface of the dung, it is also advisable to have a ridge of soil close to the sides of the frame; so that when the plants grow freely, and the roots protrude through the central ridge or hills, a little heated soil from the sides may be added to them.

Training. The young plants should have the points nipped out when they show the third rough leaf, a secondary shoot will show from the axil of each leaf. If three plants are put in a light, only two of these secondary shoots should be kept to each plant, one to be trained and pegged down to the back, and the other to the front; all others should be picked out with the point of a knife. If fewer plants are used, more secondary shoots should be taken from each. These secondary shoots or bines we would allow to grow from 15 inches to 18 inches before stopping, if good continuous bearing is desired. If early fruit is the main consideration, we would stop these shoots when 6 inches long, merely nipping out the terminal bud. In either case the side or tertiary shoots from these main secondary ones will most likely show fruit at the first joint, or the second, and must be stopped by nipping out the point there, or the joint above. When the plants are young and vigorous, every fresh joint made must have the shoot stopped at the next joint, and this with removing old leaves, and giving room to younger ones, constitutes the chief amount of training and pruning the plants will require. When the plants show signs of exhaustion, the allowing several shoots to grow 18 inches or 24 inches, or even more, will renew its strength, and the older shoots may be removed; and the younger shoots being stopped, will give plenty of bearing side shoots as before.

Watering. The water should always be as hot as the soil, never below S0° for early work. For all early work clear soft water is best. As the sun acquires power, and the days lengthen in April and May, weak manure waterings will be an advantage. Young plants in dung-beds will need little water at first, as in dull weather there is apt to be an excess of moisture. Even then they must not be allowed to become too dry. But in giving a little beware of saturating the soil farther than the roots extend. On a bright day the plants might be slightly dewed from a syringe early in an afternoon, and the boards of the frame at back damped, especially if banked up as shown in section 3, page 107 of our last volume. This will cause a fine dew to be deposited on the leaves during the night. Towards summer the leaves may be syringed all over during an afternoon, but that would give too much damp in January or February. Ventilation. In the early months of the year little can be given, and yet maintain the necessary heat. That little, however, should not be neglected, as all enclosed atmospheres with plants in them, and especially in cloudy weather, become impure. If

the heat will permit, a little air should be left on the back of the frames at night, though only the sixteenth part of an inch, and one-eighth would be better still, even if a piece of muslin were stretched along the opening. Means must be taken, however, to prevent the steam from the linings entering at that opening. In early spring the uncovering of the beds will lower the temperature, and, therefore, an hour before uncovering, the air might be all taken away, and a little given afterwards as soon as the sun began to operate on the frame. Much success depends on early air-giving. If very sunny a little more will require to be added as the sun gains power. If kept close too long before air is given, giving much at once is often very injurious. For instance, in a frosty day, the sun is bright and raises the bed shortly that has no air on to 90° or 95°-sufficient in such circumstances to scald the plants; and if enough of air is given to sink the bed shortly to 80°, a burning, cold, dry air completes the mischief the scalding had begun. Suppose the covering had been removed at 8.30 in the middle of March, and the thermometer was then at 70°, and the sun was bright, a very little air given when it reached 75° might prevent it reaching above 80° altogether; and if it rose a little higher a little more might be admitted and reduced after noon, and taken away altogether early in the afternoon. By giving a little thus early, too, there is no occasion to run to the bed every time the sun enters or emerges from a cloud. Acting on this principle, we have known amateurs very successful who never could look at or do anything to their frames from 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. They became shrewd guessers of what the day would be, and never left home without leaving a little air on. When more is necessary at an early season, the sashes then, and always, should be tilted or raised up at the back, never slid down, and a piece of woollen net or cotton muslin might be stretched across the opening. The shutting in of the sun's rays carly in the afternoon is of importance, even if you give a little air after covering up for the night.

Protection by covering for early crops will be needed, less or more, from November to the middle and end of June. Russian bast mats are generally used, and thicknesses must be given from one to four in proportion to the weather. They are littery, dirty, and expensive at best. Asphalt or wooden covers are far superior. A waterproof cloth or canvass, with woolly matter inside, is very good. In severe frosts, a piece of calico large enough to cover all the glass, a little dry hay sprinkled over it, and a waterproof cloth over all, would suit many amateurs, and be nice and cleanly. In severe weather the covering should be on early in the afternoon, and be off by nine or ten in the morning. In extra severe weather it may stay on for a day, but in general the plants should have light every day, though even for a short time. As the days lengthen the covering should not be on so as to intercept any direct sunlight. When fire heat can be given, it is easy to raise the temperature a little before uncovering.

Increasing Heat.-This, in such circumstances, can only be done by means of linings; or if the plants are in pots, even in dung-pits, forking up, and adding a little sweet fermenting material to the inside among the pots. It is advisable not to let the heat inside become too low before the linings are turned, or fresh additions made to them. It is also best to do the front at one time, and the back at another. The bottom heat must also be ascertained by means of a ground thermometer, or by a trial stick put in the bed; for a little practice will enable you to tell at once near the temperature, by feeling with the hand a stick an inch in diameter that has been thrust firmly into the soil. If the bottom heat is deficient, then the lining must be turned to its base, and some fresh material used. But in most cases in a period of dull weather the top heat will languish, when there is quite enough at the roots of the plants, and in this case the turning and the addition must not go lower than the surface of the soil inside. With beds made as in fig. 2, page 106 of our last volume, and well banked up round the frame, we have had Cucumbers growing from January to September, and the lining was never turned to the bottom, because the bottom heat was always high enough. In such turning of linings care is always required, by pressing the soil close to the sides of a box, to prevent any rank steam entering. Of course, in a close-walled pit this care is little required. I have forgotten to add, that in covering this also must be looked to-the covering must not hang over the linings in front if any impure steam arises from them, as thus it might be sucked in between the laps of glass, &c. Inattention to this has ruined many plants.

Shading. If the plants are planted from 12 inches to 15 inches from the glass, and air is early given in the morning, shading will be little wanted, and the less the better. The times when it will be chiefly required for such tender things as young Cucumber plants at an early season, are when a very bright day comes after a period of dull weather. The plants are then rather enervated, and unfit to meet the demands at once made upon them, in the way of perspiration, and the assimilation of carbon. Water may not be at all necessary, and yet they may show signs of flagging and distress; a slight sprinkling or dewing of the foliage and the sides of the frame with water may arrest the evil. Sprinkling even the outside glass from the syringe may serve the purpose by breaking the force of the sun's rays; but if that will not do, an evergreen branch or thin bunting must be resorted to, but never longer than it is required. Some people shade from the sun in the forenoon, and let it continue on in the afternoon, long after the sun is beclouded; no wonder that such plants have to cry out for shading. Unless after such extremes, with air on, and the leaves far enough from the glass, shading should only be thought of as a necessary evil. R. FISH. (To be continued.)

CANON HALL MUSCAT VINE IN A
GREENHOUSE.

PINCHING PEAR TREE SHOOTS ON A WALL-GOLDEN
DROP PLUMS FALLING.

I HAVE a very vigorous Canon Hall Muscat Vine growing in a greenhouse, which shows fine bunches, but never sets well, only a few of the berries coming to perfection. If I were to give it more heat while in bloom would it do to keep it cooler

afterwards?

Would it answer on a wall well filled with Pear trees to keep them constantly pinched in, as the long shoots are a great eycsore ?

Our Golden Drop Plums after setting their fruit very well, scarcely ever bring half a crop to perfection; dropping off when quite small. Can you suggest the reason? The borders are of a deep, strong, cold soil, in Worcestershire.-AN OLD SUBSCRIBER. [Try and keep back your Canon Hall Muscat as long as possible. In a greenhouse it should not be in bloom until well on in June. At that time it should not be lower in temperature than from 65° to 70° at night, and you may allow it to decline after it has set and begins to swell. See what is said about Muscats in "Doings of the Week." For a greenhouse where a high temperature is not required, a Canon Hall is a very unsuitable Grape; but by the above means you may ripen it late in autumn, more especially if all the greenhouse plants, properly so called, are removed by the middle of June, and plants requiring more heat introduced. The sun will give great heat after that. You may pinch the points of most of your Pear shoots when four or five inches long; but it would be good policy to leave a number of shoots, and if unsightly break them half in two and fasten them to the branches. In strong-growing trees, if all the shoots are pinched in at once, there is a danger of starting into wood-growth what would otherwise have been fruit-buds.

The roots of your Golden Drop are most likely too deep; either raise them or remove a portion of the surface soil. Probably after all, Nature does what the gardener will hardly do -thin in time and thin enough-as such trees when they bear a very heavy crop one year, are apt to take a year's rest by way of revenge, and telling us how they ought to be treated.]

THE WILD FLOWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.* THE first Number of this serial is now published, and we have no hesitation in saying that its four plates with accompanying descriptions are the cheapest coloured illustrations of British wild flowers ever offered to the public. We may add that the drawing of the plants shows an appreciation of their natural habits superior to any that had before been employed upon our native plants. The colouring, all done in water colours and by hand, is also perfectly accurate.

The Number contains Borage (Borago officinalis); Yellow Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis); Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris); and Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). The work is so printed that the purchaser can arrange the plants according to any system he prefers, and to enable this to be done, indexes alphabetical and systematical (Linnæan and Natural), will be given with each volume. It is intended to give, as circumstances may justify, two or more drawings of species of the same genus on some of the plates. We extract the following as a specimen of the contents:

"BORÀGO OFFICINALIS. Linn. "Common Borage.

"Nat. ord., Boraginaceæ. Linn. arr., Pentandria Monogynia. "ESSENTIAL CHARACTER.-Limb of the corolla flat, much longer than the tube; mouth with a double row of valves, the innermost awl-shaped, bearing the stamens.

"SYNONYMES.-Borrago officinalis, Shop Borrage, Gray's Arrangement, ii., p. 350; Bronwerth, Tafod yr ych, Welsh. "DESCRIPTION.-Root tapering, mucilaginous, as well as the herbage, which is clothed all over with very sharp bristles. Stem erect, with spreading branches 1 to 2 feet high, round, spreading, leafy, and covered with rigid hairs. Leaves alternate, ovate or oblong, wavy, and more or less toothed; the lower ones broadest, stalked, and eared at the base; upper ones stalkless. Flowers numerous, on long foot-stalks, in terminal drooping bunches, very beautiful. Corolla an inch broad, of a most brilliant blue, pink in the bud. Stamens very prominent; valves and anthers prominent, blackish. Seeds wrinkled and warty, of a light shining brown.

"TIME OF FLOWERING, &c.-The plant is a biennial, and flowers all through the summer, commencing about the end of May and beginning of June.

"HABITAT.-It is found on waste ground, among rubbish, generally on soils charged with nitrogenous matters. It is frequent in most counties, and is generally believed not to be indigenous, but at some period to have escaped from cultivation. entering Sandwich from the Deal side.” "VARIETY.-There is a variety with white flowers found on

HISTORY AND USES.

"No such a term as Borage occurs in the writings of the classic authors, and the origin of the name is very doubtful. Lyte, in his translation of Dodoen's Herbal, published in 1573, Latin Lingua bubula, Libanium, or Lingua bovis, that is to say, says, "The auncient fathers called it in Greek Bouglosson; in Langue de boeuf, or vache; in English Oxe tongue, the apothe caries name it Borago, and accordingly it is called in Italian Borragine, in Spanish Borraja and Borrajenes, in English Borage, in French Bourroche, in High Dutch Burretsch, and in base Almaigne, Bernagie or Bornagie.' Now all these European detected it--at least we do not seem satisfied with the derivation names are evidently derived from one original, yet no one has yet from Apuleius Platonicus. In this most early of Herbals, written in the fourth century, and the printed copies of which are among the rarest of books, he states the Bouglosson of the Greeks was called at Lucca, Corrago, quod cordis affectibus medetur.' Now the herb was then believed to strengthen the heart (cor); but Corrago is a very good name both in sound and sense, because why, against all precedent, change the first letter into B? making the name nonsensical. Even the name in Apuleius is uncertain; for in an edition without a date printed at Basil, and containing the works of Soranus, Oribasius, Pliny, and L. Appuleius