126 



TO COERESPONDENTS. 



Miss P., Leamington. — It "svas Palmer's common palm candle burning in a spring 

 tube. To make sure of the correct thing to begin witii , it would be well to order 

 in the first instance of Mr. Collsell, oil and Italian warehouse, Bishopsgate Street 

 Within, London, E.G. Having thus made a proper beginning, the tradesmen in 

 your own district can provide further. 



A. -B. S. — Do not waste a drop of the stable drainage, pour it undiluted on 

 vacant ground at anytime, and apply it to growing crops, such as celery, cauliflower, 

 and other things that like good food, diluted with five times its bulk of water. A 

 market gardener would make his fortune with a good supply of such a fertilizer. 



mil Cottage, Brixton. — Your tree is an Aralia, but from a single leaf we can- 

 not say for certain what species. It is probably tender, and we would not risk it 

 out of doors until you have at least a second plant. The leaf sent very closely 

 resembles that of A. digitata. 



Lover of Flowers, Bangor. — The plant is Ceanothus azurea. 



Htbberd's Prolific Marrow. — C. C. C. — The description of this new variety 

 of vegetable marrow in Barr and Sugden's catalogue is quite correct, but much 

 more might be said about it. Marrows are sometimes grown in pots, and for such a 

 purpose this variety is admirably adapted. Its principal characteristics are dwarf 

 compact growth, very early and abundant fruiting, and the fine flavour of the fruit 

 ■when cooked in a quite small state. Large marrows are inelegant, and quite unfit 

 for a good table, but these maybe served the size of a turkey's egg, and are both 

 elegant and delicious. Fruit may be cut from this variety three weeks earlier than 

 from any other, as it begins to fruit immediately after it is planted out. 



Mrs. Young did not accompany her note with any specimen of the plant which 

 forms the subject of her inquiry. 



Veronica. — Cryptomeria elegans is quite hardy, and will be likely to^ thrive 

 best in poor sandy soil. It may be propagated fx-om cuttings in summer, but we 

 should prefer seeds if we could get them. The best of all garden tiles and edgings 

 are those made by Messrs. Kosher, Queen's Road West, Chelsea, S.W. Tritomas 

 do not usually flower till three years old from seed. We have been labouring for 

 years to meet the case you put in reference to your beds ; surely if you read you 

 will meet with much of the very information you want. However, the series on 

 *' Rough and Ready Gardening" is designed expressly for persons circumstanced as 

 you are. The new leaf we wUl think about, but at present there are ^«:jo flaming 

 swords, and very useful they are. 



Minton's Tiles. — I have just been laying down Minton's tiles in my conser- 

 vatory, and unless they are washed every alternate morning, they get coated with a 

 white substance. I think it is alum. Can you suggest any remedy for this ? 

 Where the hot-water pipes were buried, the tiles became very dirty, as if dog's, 

 dirty feet had gone over them. These were taken up, and space lefc for the air to 

 pass round the pipes, and then relaid, but they still have the same dirty appearance. 

 What can I do to get rid of it? Round the centre bed in the house the builder 

 has put Minton's upright stone-coloured border tiles, and after doing half, he dis- 

 covers he cannot get any more of them at the works, or elsewhere. Can you, or any 

 of your readers, tell me where I could find 100, or advise me what I had best use as 

 a substitute ? — A. B. S. [We suppose the white substance to be an efflorescence of 

 salts of lime — a common occurrence in the first use of tiles and artificial stone, 

 which ceases after a few months. The dirty appearance we cannot account for, and 

 should suppose the tiles had been soiled in some way without your knowing it. One 

 of our friends was in just the same fix as yourself through having laid down a 

 number of tiles, and then being unable to obtain sufficient to finish the job. Can 

 any of our readers assist *'A. B. S." in this matter ?] 



Retinospora ericoides. — By this post I send you a branch of Betinospora 

 ericoides. All my plants of that species are affected with the same kind of disease, 

 which is apparently owing to some kind of vegetable fungus. It commences with 

 one or two of the leaves turning white, the disease slowly proceeding until the 

 whole branch becomes implicated, and if allowed to continue any length of time, 

 the woody part, when cut with a knife, presents a moist, brown appearance ; in 

 fact, becomes quite rotten. Mr. Standish, last autumn, told me that he had never 



