280 



THE FLOKAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



As I am ignorant of fern peculiarities, I want to 

 knowif some old varietips collected years ago will 

 thrive with the exotics I am now attempting, or 

 if the atmosphere will be too forcing for them. 

 Myprincipaldoubtisaboiit the amount of mois- 

 ture required in winter. Any additional bints 

 on fern culture will be acceptable; is there any 

 manual on it? I have digested "Rustic 

 Adornments " thereon. — Yours obliged, H. 

 [Ferns group together better than most other 

 orders of plants. Common British species will 

 do in greenhouse or stove admirably, if well 

 ventilated. In fact, any fern will do in an atmo- 

 sphere warmer than is natural to it, but not in 

 one colder. — Ed.] 

 f ERjf Geowijjg. — H. — Do not be deterred by 

 anything the gardeners say. Ferns are " dreadful 

 things for scale," when kept without air and water 

 coddled with exccs.'ive heat; but when grown 

 in a rational manner are as easily kept clean as 

 any class of plants known. Ferns under glass 

 should be occasionally watered in winter though 

 at rest. Your tank being shaded is all the 

 better for fish. Perhaps a few ianey varieties 

 of car ex would do best to grow in it; try 

 iirundo doiiax variegata in a pot plunged all 

 suminer. We cannot call to mind any good 

 rhododendrons with bad foliage, so you can 

 choose from former lists and descriptions. 

 Why not see the plants and select according to 

 your own judgment of what you want. The 

 most compact rhododendron we know is Cun- 

 ningbami. Procure and pot them at ouce. 

 The spergula con'inues to improve; it is now 

 greener and neater than the grass adjoining it. 

 Mr. H.has no " recent experience" of London- 

 grown conifers to relate. 

 Altkrationsof Geeenhousk. — H. S. — Combine 

 plans 1 and 2, which will be most effective for 

 ixtility and beauty. Then by widening the back 

 four or five feet,"as in plan 1, and setting out 

 the gable ends six feet instead of ten feet, as 

 in plan 2, a widely proportioned structure will 

 be produced, with this advantage, that by the 

 introduction of a silass partition, the two ends 

 and the centre may be used for different classes 

 of plants ; all to be heated with one boiler, and 

 regulated by stop-cocks. Another advantnge 

 attending this will be that the rafters and lights 

 (if sound) taken away c uld be u.^ed lor setting 

 out the gables. The addition of filass at the 

 back will be of great advantage to the plants 

 there. Do not combine any furnace with your 

 hot-water pipes. Procure a htephenson's boiler, 

 which requires no setting ; make the stoke-hole 

 roomy and di y ; if it has to be placed below the 

 drains, let in a slate tank to receive it. 

 Fluke Potato. Use or Netting.— T. Jonef, 

 gardener at Winsley Hall, Shropshire, wiitcs to 

 say that he finds the Flidie the best of all pota- 

 toes in that cUmate and soil. They crop heavily, 

 are free from disease, and keep any reasonable 

 length of time. On our own heavy wet land at 

 Stoke Newington we found this season the best 

 potatoes to be Cockney, Fluke, Fifty-Fold, and 

 Eegents. The last we fhall uive up on account 

 of the complaints from the kitchen that it melts 

 in cooking. The Fluke is certainly the best of 

 all the varieties introduced during the last ten 

 years fur general usefulness and ketpiug, and 

 we incliue to the opinion that Fifty-Fold is a 

 better early kidney than Ash- leaf, though the 

 last is good still, and not easy to obta.n true. 

 Our Shropshire friend complains that insects 

 Larbour in the thread netting used for covering 

 wall-trees, but that surely must be owing to the 

 exposure of the netting in summer-time Dur- 

 ing the time of peach-bloom there are very 

 lew butterflies and moths about to deposit eggs 

 in the mrshes. Our friend proiioses to use 

 Gishurst, but we should be rather disposed to 



soak the netting twelve hours in a solution of 

 blue vitriol, one pound of the material to twenty 

 quarts of water. Thi.s will probably kill the 

 vermin, and will certainly make the netting 

 last twice as long as other\^ ise. We don't often 

 hear from Shropshire ! What is going on 

 tlere ? 



Oranges rNDES Glass.— JZ. W. P.— Y''our trees 

 are starving. Nine-tenths of the con. plaints 

 that reach us about oranges are owing to the 

 same bad practice as you have followed of 

 keeping them in the same old soil for years, 

 and giving them insufficient water. You will 

 see in the recent paper by Mr. F. Chitty how 

 to recover your trees, which are worth an 

 effort. We have an admirable paper on the 

 subject by Mr. Howlett, which arrived too late 

 to appear in ihis number. It will be published 

 next month. Mr. Howlett has treated the sub- 

 ject so that all classes will be interested, and old 

 hands will learn from his pajier something new. 



ZAVKcnNEEiA Califohnica. — W. p. y. — We 

 quite understand your ease : the imposition is 

 abomirable. We had seed so labe'led, and 

 grew about three hundred plants, and they all 

 turned out tobe acommnnweedy epilobium. One 

 of our correspondents made complaint avear 

 ago, and we said the seed must have died, and 

 the weed took its place. Now we know that 

 this was one of the tricks of the trade, and if 

 we felt we could fix res):onsibility, we would 

 sue for compensation. But we know that the 

 fraud was of continental origin, and that the 

 house from nhich the seed was obtained was aa 

 much duped as we were. 



VAiiioiJS.— J". Mov-Jeit, Alley Gardens, JRamsey. 

 — The photographs and paper both to hand ; 

 delayed only for convenience. We should like 

 a list of the principal species of ferns planted. 

 — 31. 31.. Thorpe Abbey. — Y'our plant is Sagina 

 procnmbens, about which you will find the 

 iullest information in former numbers of the 

 Floral WoELD. — C. B. Gordon. — We long ago 

 made an end to the difficulty in regard to the 

 Waltonian lamp, and got only abuse for our 

 trouble, and our private letters were borrowed 

 or purloined, in the hope of doing us a damage. 

 So you cannot have read your Flob»l Woeld 

 witii care not to know that Palmer's No. 6 Single 

 Wick Night Lights exactiv suit the lamp, if 

 Sherwood's are not obtain: ble. Y'ou will have 

 to raise the case to make room for the lamp in 

 which these candles burn. If you have any 

 difficulty in procuring these candles, write to 

 Mr. Colsell, oilman, Bishopsgatf Street Within, 

 London, E.G., and ask him to supply Palmer's 

 lamp and night lights, as used by Mr. Hibberd. 

 When you be(;in again, take care to till the 

 case first with boiling-water. Do not allow the 

 flame of the caiid e to touch the bottom of the 

 boiler. Perhaps by using boiling-water you 

 may yet succeed in getting the lamp to work, 

 many fail through placing the flame in the midst 

 of a mass of cold conducting material, the 

 proximity of which freezes the flame out. 



NAMrs OP Plants. — Srentincjiey. — We cannot 

 name plants frum seed>, and you will under-^ 

 stand why, if you place side hy side seed of 

 cabbage and cauliflower. The seed you send is 

 probably Atriplex hortensis rubra, the orna- 

 mental foliaued plant on which remarks have 

 been several times made in Flokal Woeld. 

 Celei-y seed will grow when ten years ild, as 

 we know by experience. The Tritomas are 

 showv Cape' bulbs, nearly hardy, which bloom 

 superbly if planted out in a rich sandy soil.— 

 Siibscrilcr.—'Rehit^e lime from gas-works is 

 powerfully fertilizing, and may be used to any 

 kitchen-garden crops. To go into the menls 

 of the question is more than we have room 

 for now. 



