This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
Continue to shift into layer pots, young plants of fuchsias, calceolarias, etc, and repot generally all plants that require changing. A soil composed of rotted turfs will answer for all purposes; use it without sifting, and let it be rather dry than otherwise. Plants that have hard, matted balls of roots, should have the fresh soil pressed as hard as possible, otherwise the water will pass through it without benefiting the plant; many plants die for want of attention to this point. The pots should be clean, and two or three handfuls of broken pots or small charcoal put in the bottom for drainage. Plants that are put in large pots, as camellias and azaleas that have attained a desirable size, and are likely not to be disturbed for a time, are all the better for having two or three long strips of charcoal that will reach from the drainage to the surface of the soil in the pot, inserted while undergoing the potting operation. This will prevent solidity in the soil, and insure a free circulation of water and air to the roots.
To prevent worms and insects from entering into the soil through the drainage, a small piece of perforated zinc may be placed in the pot before arranging the material for drainage.
Plants may be set out in the air when their growth is completed - of such kinds as azaleas, camellias, etc.; and young plants of many kinds will grow better, with less care, by turning them out of pots, and planting in the flower beds. Summer flowering plants should receive attention; always water in the mornings, and keep the atmosphere moist by evaporation of water thrown on the floor and walls; a slight syringing occasionally during the day, will assist much in this respect.
A. R., (Richmond.) You have injured your plants by watering them with liquid manure when in a half dormant state. If they had been growing freely at the time, it would have benefitted them.- A Lady, (Brooklyn, N. Y.) The temperature of your green-house should not be kept so high at night - but always several degrees lower than in the day time. It is contrary to natural laws to have the nights hotter than the day, even in the tropics, and if your plants are forced to grow most at night, the stems will be feeble and sickly.- B. Jones. Your green-house,we should think, needs more air. If you can contrive to introduce it warm, then you can ventilate the house in all weathers which will benefit the plants amazingly. Cannot you form a little air chamber over the hottest part of the flue - either of bricks or sheet iron, and introduce cold air, by a tin tube, through the outside wall. This air-chamber will then pour in a stream of warm air whenever there is a fire in the furnace, and when there is none, you can shut the cold off by a lid or valve.
When the weather is very cold, so that large fires are necessary, you should occasionally sprinkle the the flues with hot water in the mornings.- M. L. P., (Jefferson Co., N. Y.) You may save one-half the fuel consumed by having light shutters to cover your glass at night. The extremes of cold will also be prevented, greatly to the benefit of the plants.
M. (Albany.) We suspect the want of healthy growth in your greenhouse, is from the high temperature at which you keep it during the night. This forces the plants to grow most in the dark - with very little pure fresh air to grow in. Keep the temperature always much lower at night than in the daytime, and continue, if possible, to introduce fresh air warmed - by passing it over the flues or furnace in some sort of air chamber.