88 



THE FLORAL WOELD AND GAllDEN GUIDE. 



pevature, -when livcaking, in spring. All the 

 citron family require as much sliacle as camel- 

 lias. Pomegranates will not mind how much 

 sun they have, and if stood out under a hot 

 wall, after the end of May, will occasion no fur- 

 ther trouble beyond watering. 

 IIatid Seeds.— p. if. O.— If a hot-bed or hot water 

 tank is at command, i)ut the seeds in water of 

 the temperature of tlie bed, and let them remain 

 in the water, and on the bed, till they have 

 swelled considerably, and then sow them. It is 

 best to remove the hard integument with a shiirp, 

 strong knife without injuring the farinaceous or 

 germinating parts. We generally do this with 

 seeds of camellia and Martynia fragraus, and 

 they come up ver}' soon after sowing. It is, 

 we imagine, not so much the hardness as the 

 oleaginous nature of the iutegumeuts that pre- 

 vents their soaking. 

 AValtonian Case. — Numerous complaints have 

 reached us that Mr. West neither answers letters 

 nor executes orders promptly. "We are n.ost 

 unwilling to allude to the matter on e.i- parte 

 statements, but as we know nothing of Mr. 

 West's afl'airs, and have dealt with the inven- 

 tion and not with the maker, we must claim to 

 be absolved from all responsibility. We have 

 nothing to do with the sale of any article we 

 recommend. It may be right, however, for us 

 to remind our readers that, at this season of the 

 year, orders for Waltouians are perhaps given 

 faster than they can be executed. Such a thing 

 as this should be ordered before Christmas, and 

 when received set to work for a week that the 

 possessor may be a little used to its ways before 

 commencing to propagate with it. 

 Pampas QuA.ss.— Sithsci-iher.—Not knowing where 

 you live, whether in Jersey, where the pampas 

 grasses are not much hurt, or in any part of 

 England, where there is scarcely a plant left 

 alive, we cannot say whether you ought to dig 

 up the root and throw it on the rubbish heap — 

 •which if dead is the best that can be done with 

 it; or cut it close over, and leave it alone, which 

 is the best to be done if the root is alive. The 

 same with the Eanksiau rose ; if in a very warm 

 place you might prune at once ; if in a cold 

 place wait till the end of April, then cut back 

 to a strong shoot near the bottom, even to the 

 collar if you can, and get new wood to take the 

 place of that injured by the frost. 

 Water Lilies.— 2^. -B. M. — You must give up the 

 idea of having the red and blue flowered water 

 lilies in your open-air aquarium. The beautiful 

 Nymphiea ccerulea, Oevouiensis, gigantea, ru- 

 bra, stellata, versicolor, and others, insist on 

 having the water liot ; and if you make a 

 scrutiny of the basins at the Crystal Palace, 

 •where these lilies have charmed you, you will 

 see the pipes by which the water is heated, and 

 it will be easy to discover by the species and 

 their degrees of luxuriance where the water is 

 warmest and where coolest. There are five 

 hardy ISymplueas in general cultivation, and 

 about fifty more that invite the attention of 

 wealthy horticulturists. 

 Waltonian. — Polly. — The two-light frame will be 

 the best of all places at your command to receive 

 newly-struck cuttings, etc., from the case. 

 Mind the little wee things are not burnt -jp by 

 sunshine. Of course cucumbers ma}' be grown 

 in the same way as recommended for out-door 

 melons. In former issues of this work the 

 most minute particulars have been given of the 

 ways and means of propagating. — Nonce. — We 

 never recommended a temperature of 80'; very 

 few of the plants required for garden decoration 

 need more than 60°. You will find all difficidties 

 vanish as you acquire experience. 

 Mice.— f'oH.v/(;»A Meadcr finds his crocuses dimi. 

 nished by the attacks of mice, and considers 

 Ilia borders too extensive for traps. lu Loudon's 



Eueyclopadia of Gardening a plan is proposed 

 which is so simple that it may be adopted on 

 the largest extent of land infested by mice, and 

 it is merely the sinking of an empty flower-pot 

 in a hole cut in the soil to fit it exactly. The 

 pot must be plunged bottom upwards, and a 

 bait introduced. The mice enter through the 

 hole in the bottom of the pot and are unable to 

 get out. 



GiiEENHousE CoNSTEUCTioN. — P.S.M. — The most 

 suitable material for the flue is common bricks 

 Vfell laid with hot lime and the usual proportion 

 of sand. Let the bricks be soaked in water be- 

 fore laying them, and the mortar to be used 

 while quite fresh. A good sound flue will be 

 the result, through which the fumes from the 

 burning fuel will not escape to the injury of the 

 plants. 



Polyanthuses. — A.B.S. — Your postscript solves 

 the riddle. Divide iu July and August, and 

 shade till rooted. Grow your stock in rich soil 

 of a rather heavy character ; they do not like 

 sand. 



Vakious.— iT. P. — Chafer, Saifron Walden.— Co;;- 

 stant, Kent. — Deane, Loudon Bridge, 7s. and up- 

 wards. — P. — We did not issue a coloured plate in 

 1860, the work is too cheap to leave a margin for 

 it. In our first'number we distinctly staled that 

 subscribers were to regard them as gifts, and 

 not as necessarily connected with the undcr- 

 taking.^P/;. — We do not know to what plants 

 you refer, nor did we see the description you 

 refer to. — Milton. — Mr. Turner sent out most 

 of Dr. Maclean's seedling peas ; you would 

 probably learn all you wish to know by writing 

 to Mr. Turner, Eoyal Nursery, Slough. — A 

 Tyro. — There is no need to give a ground plan 

 of an evergreen bed, because the arrangement 

 depends very much on the size of the plants. 

 The outer circle of the bed described is planted 

 simply to the rule of making the plants fit, 

 giving some more room than others ; this could 

 not be shown on any plan. It is sufficient for 

 the reader to know that they average nine inches 

 apart, and thus fifty-seven are disposed of in 

 a circle of about forty feet. A ground plan 

 would be simply a circle filled with a confusion 

 of dots. — Mrs. T. — We suppose any respectable 

 nurseryman could supply the plant you want ; 

 we can only i-efer you to Mr. Thompson, who 

 sent it out. The seeds are declined with thanks, 

 —P. B., Nantwieh. — We should be glad to 

 oblige you, but really we cannot undertake to 

 arrange the planting of your twenty-two beds. 

 Suppose we do so for you, then we must do the 

 same for all, and how would our own beds be 

 planted, and what •would become of us to trifle 

 with time in such a way? Besides, you might 



not hke our planting, and then .' — H. M, 



AH seeds from abroad should be sown as soon 

 as received, or as soon after as possible ; New 

 Zealand seeds must of course have heat to start 

 them. Azalea seed sow as soon as ripe, or at 

 any season of the year if you have command 

 of heat to keep the young plants growing. 

 This is a good season for seeds of all kinds of 

 greenhouse shrubs, because we have the summer 

 before us to grow the young stock to a good 

 size.— J". H. — Most of the artificial manures are 

 good if used as directed by the manufacturers, 

 and the good ones are as suitable for garden as 

 for farming uses. Potatoes are best planted on 

 soil well manured the year before ; if planted 

 with manure there is a great chance of disease 

 in the crop. But potatoes may be assisted on 

 poor soils by artificial manures strewn over the 

 rows and hoed in, after they have have made 

 three or four inches of green tops. W^ood-ashes, 

 superphosphate of lime, and soot may be thus 

 used ; or guano at the rate of three cwt. per acre, 

 or E;;som salts (sulphate of magnesia) at the 

 rate of one cwt, per acre,— J, A. P.— Too late.) 



