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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



Pansies to be protected by sticking a 

 few evergreen boughs among them. Plants 

 in pots keep safe from frost. 



Pelargoniums for show to be kept 

 gently growing at a night temperature of 

 40", day 50' to 55 3 . Avoid wetting the 

 leaves. Keep the plants sufficiently apart 

 for air to circulate, and near the glass. 

 Fumigate frequently. 



Pines to fruit this season must have 

 65 3 by night and 75 n by day, and plenty 

 of tepid water. 



Strawberries require good management 

 if for early planting. Water those in the 

 orchard-house when the weather is mild. 

 Those in heat to have plenty of water, be 

 near the glass, and air as often as weather 

 permits. 



Verbenas and Petunias start for cut- 

 tings. 



Vines in flower to have no syringe and 

 steady temperature ; those breaking to 

 have a moist air, and a night temperature 

 of 45°. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Lilium aot) Amabyllis.— J. K. N. — Lilium 

 lancifolium is hardy in the south of Britain, 

 and does best in the same compost as is used 

 for hyacinths. In bleak places it should be 

 grown in a cool house. All the varieties are 

 good. Amaryllis is a family not very clearly 

 defined. Some of them are hardy, but those 

 most prized are greenhouse plants, and grow in 

 autumn and winter ; but the section called 

 Hippeastrum may be grown at almost any 

 season by systematic treatment. Instead of 

 attempting to dispose of the matter here, we 

 will devote an article to the subject next month. 



Town Garden.— H. H., Horselydon-n.—Vi e are 

 glad to hear of the benefit you have derived 

 from reading the Floral World and the 

 " Town Garden," and shall always be glad to 

 assist you further, especially if we can in future 

 read your letters, which we can hardly do at 

 present. If you can only get fresh dung, and 

 your aucubas are poor, lay it in small heaps 

 round the roots of each all the winter. The 

 rain will wash a good deal of the strength away, 

 to the benefit of the roots of the shrubs, and bv 

 March or April it will be sufficiently rotten to 

 be raked off, as you want it, to mix with 

 loam for potting, and will be in a nice 

 cr umbly state. We can think of no better plan, 

 if you have no proper place in which to get it 

 rotted. Mr. Hibberd recommends cutting 

 down aucubas only when they are in a lean, 

 miserable state, as they too often are in town 

 gardens. They should be well manured at the 

 roots in winter, and cut down close to the 

 ground at the end of March, and they will throw 

 up young shoots and plenty of fine foliage. The 

 best time to plant hardy perennials is Septem- 

 ber, and the next best time February and 

 March. If you cannot get Aster i'ulvis at a 

 nursery, Mr. Hibberd will send you a tuft, it 

 you remind him, in February. It is the prettiest 

 of all the hardy asters. Aubrietias may be 

 bought by the barrowful in spring at any re- 

 spectable nursery. Cuero guano we can give 

 no report of on our own responsibility ; you 

 must judge by what correspondents have said 

 of it. Eibes, altheas and Virginian creeper may 

 be pruned at once if they require it. 



Camellias Neglected. — Amateur. — When you 

 were away from home, the plants had insufficient 

 water. You should h-.ive put them in the open 

 air in a shady place, with the pots three-parts 

 plunged in coal-ashes, and they would have had 

 a better chance with summer rains than they 

 had. in the glass-shed. 



Heating a Pit.— E. B., Sarnslei/.— The frost 

 caught us as it has caught you, and we could 

 not open any of our enormous batch of letters 

 until we had this number in hand. That is the 



reason why we did not answer yon privately, 

 and not because we were careless as to the 

 safety of your plants. The iron flue you pro- 

 pose will be apt to give off unwholesome fumes, 

 and do a deal of harm to tender plants. You 

 had better use a flue of drain-pipes, as recom- 

 mended in former numbers, and, if you move 

 away, they could be taken with you as easily as 

 lengths of iron. Any neighbouring bricklayer 

 could fix them for you. Look over Mr. Hew- 

 lett's papers, especially that at page 209 of last 

 year's volume, and you will see in a moment 

 how to proceed. The lower the level at which 

 the flue is placed, the more completely will the 

 pit be hented ; in your sketch it is too near the 

 top. If the prospect of moving seriously inter- 

 feres with your project, get a Waltonian case, 

 and set it to work in the pit, and jiive it plenty 

 of heat to keep frost out. This you can carry 

 with you all over the world if necessary, for it 

 is not much larger than an ordinary chest, and 

 costs only fifty shillings. You would have none 

 of the difficulty with it some of our less-deter- 

 mined friends have complained about. 

 Fruit-trees foe Walls, etc. — O. G. I., Chel- 

 sea. — It must be a matter of choice for vourself 

 whether to train the trees or grow them as 

 pyramids cut fiat. The latter method would be 

 the least trouble and the most productive of 

 fruit; but the trees will want a greater width 

 of space than if closely trained. We believe 

 the two plums you name are identical. Tell 

 its what apples you have, and we will suggest 

 what you had better add to them. The Stam- 

 ford Pippin is about the best of the apples lately 

 introduced. 

 Diggino. — Ignoramus. — Two-spits-deep means 

 one dig of the spade, and another dig below 

 that. To perform the operation properly, read 

 carefully pages 79, 80, 105. and 106 of the volume 

 for 1858, where the subject is treated very ex- 

 plicitly. If you have not the volume, order of 

 your bookseller the numbers for April and May, 

 1858. We cannot go over the subject again at 

 present. A dressing of tenacious loam would 

 improve your soil. 

 Seeds for Canada. — Miss A., Eveston. — The seed 

 of the Portugal onion sent now will reach 

 Canada in good condition if sent in canvas bags, 

 suspended loosely within a deal box. If packed 

 in sawdust or any other such material, they 

 might be spoilt ; but, hung tip inside a deal 

 box, the lid nailed down, and directed in the 

 usual way, they will be surrounded with atmos- 

 pheric air, which, when confined and dry, is the 

 best preservative. Of course, if the box gets 

 down in the hold, the seeds will probably get 

 mouldy ; so guard against that. 



