THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



Give plenty of water morning and evening, in 

 dry weather ; and before it comes into bloom, 

 nip out the centre of each plant, and very soon 

 the side shoots will touch each other all over the 

 bed ; after which, continue to water as needed. 

 You will thus have as good a bed as mignonette 

 will make. For pots and boxes, sow where it 

 is to bloom, in a mixture of rotted turves and 

 cow-dung, one-third of the latter to two-thirds 

 of the former. Give plenty of water, plenty of 

 air, and plenty of sun, and Nature will do the 

 rest for you. If transplanted, it rarely comes to 

 any good except in very expert hands. There 

 is a full account of Mr. Latter's mode of culti- 

 vating primulas in the Floral Would for 

 April, 1858. 



Cauliflowers grown on the Dutch Method. 

 — W. Shipley. — The following is the description 

 of the method by which the Dutch grow their 

 fine cauliflowers, from the " Landwirlhschaft- 

 liches Centralblatt, of which you have a dim 

 notion, probably through having seen it cited 

 from"Kevue Horticole,"inthe " Chronicle": — 

 In the autumn they dig deep some ground that 

 has not been manured ; at the beginning of 

 May they sow the large English cauliflower 

 upon a bed of manure, and cover it with 

 straw mats at night. When the young plants 

 are three or four inches high, they harrow the 

 ground that had been prepared the autumn be- 

 fore, and with a wooden dibble, 18 inches long, 

 they make holes about 10 inches deep, at pro- 

 per distances apart, and enlarge them by 

 working the dibble round till the hole at the 

 top is about three inches in diameter. They 

 immediately fill these holes with water, and 

 repeat this three times the same day. In the 

 evening the)* , fill them with sheep's-dung, 

 leaving only room enough for the young plant, 

 which they very carefully remove from the 

 bed of manure and place in the hole with a 

 Utile earth. Directly afterwards they give 

 them a good watering, and a* soon as the sun 

 begins to dry them, water them again. Fur- 

 thermore, as the plants grow, they dig round 

 them and earth them up in rows. When the 

 head is forming, they pinch off some of the 

 lower leaves of the plant, and use them to 

 cover the voung head. 



Seedling Primulas. — A. F. G., Monhstoum.— 

 By " seedlin-r primulas " do you mean Chinese 

 primulas ? If so, the best way to deal with 

 them when out of bloom is to throw them away. 

 Double varieties are kept on by cuttings, and | 

 are very troublesome even to the most experi- 

 enced growers. You can have a cover for the 

 volume for Is. Gd. through the same bookseller 

 as supplies you with the work, and any book- 

 binder will bind the numbers in it. 



Shading Ouchaiid-House. — J. A. D., TS&garley. 

 — Tiffany is a capital shading material, because 

 it admits full daylight ; but common " strainer," 

 such as used by paperhangers, is a material 

 which we have used, fixed on outside with tacks, 

 aud found it very satisfactory. Your pears 

 have been kept too dry and too warm. We 

 keep all our choice fruit now in glazed earthen 

 pans, with lids, on racks in a cool cellar, where 

 there is enough damp to keep the fruit plump, 

 but a good circulation given to prevent mil lew. 



Planting a North-East Angle. — N. S. — For 

 a backgrjund, you can take your caoice of— 

 Grieslima litt r dis, which we find answeis 

 well in a north aspect and in a rich loam ; 

 Skimmia Japoniea, which bears abundance of 

 red berries; Gaultheria Shallon, and farens, 

 procumbent shrubs, bearing berries; varie- 

 gated periwinkle, to trail on the surface, and to 

 give a colouring like Flower of the Day gera- 

 nium. Calceolarias are good bedding stock 

 for such an aspect, and any of the hardy 

 annuals which, by the descriptions in the 



" Garden Oracle," appear to meet your ideas 

 of what you would like ; for as they are of but 

 short duration, they will have quite enough 

 sun from April to October. Cerastium tomen- 

 tosum, or variegated mint, will make good 

 silvery lines to set off blue or crimson in such a 

 position. We have seen Tom Thumb geranium 

 make a good bed with sun till noon only. As you 

 appear to desire a distinct set of plants, we re- 

 commend the following, the bed measuring 15 

 feet by 6 : — Centre marked out to correspond 

 with the shape of the bed ; Fuchsia Bopeep, 

 in a slip 5 feet by 2 at broadest end ; then, in a 

 line round that, 10 feet long by 3 at widest end, 

 Calceolaria aurea floribunda ; then, 13 inches of 

 Lobelia ramosoides, or speciosa, and an edging, 

 13 inches wide, of Cerastium tomentosum. 

 Various. — A. B. S., Torquay. — Your fern is 

 Asplenium Hallerii.— C. C. C, Yarmouth. — The 

 only grower who supplies Equisetum species 

 (asfar as we know) is Mr. Sim, of Foot's Cray, 

 Kent, who lias not only the largest and best 

 collection of British and exotic ferns, but all 

 the fern-allies that are worth cultivating. — It. 

 Dousan.— The apiary at Muswell Hill is open to 

 any one on presentation of an order from a 

 member of the Apiarian Society. Mr. Hibberd 

 is treasurer of that society, and' Mr. Tegetmeier 

 secretary. — Mrs. F. F., Hurstperpoint. — The 

 Senecio can be obtained of Mr. "VV. Thomp- 

 son, Tavern Street, Ipswich. You will find 

 descriptions and designs of rustic baskets in the 

 Floral World of July, 1858; June, July, and 

 November, 1S59. — C. J. F., De Beauvois Town. 

 — You did not prune the Duchess sufficiently 

 close at first, you should have cut back to 

 about three or four buds from the base, but 

 that was not the reason of it3 after decline. 

 Evidently the stuff you put your roses in is too 

 poor, or you do not give enough water. Cab- 

 bage roses should be pruned back to a good 

 shape, but not severely, else you ma}' prune 

 them out of bloom. Gooseberry bushes should 

 be pruned in a similar way to black currants, 

 that is, remove weak spray altogether, but leave 

 all well placed rods if their full length, or but 

 little shortened. We don't knowEoberts'sstove. 

 Oblige us with a prospectus. Consult the " Town 

 Garden " for a clear statement of the treatment 

 of the rose in London. — B. K. A., College— Of 

 course we prefer real names and addresses, that 

 we may know who we are obliging ; but anony- 

 mous correspondents are always attended to if 

 they write in time. We receive a bundle of 

 letters every mouth after the number has gone 

 to press, and our circulation is so large, that if 

 we were to delay and delay to attend to every 

 arrival of late letters, the work would not be 

 published at all. Anonymous letters are de- 

 stroyed as soon as answered ; letters contain- 

 ing real names are filed in case we should again 

 have to refer to them. AVe will endeavour to 

 meet your views in good time to be useful. 

 Your Magnolia is firruginea, the season of 

 bloom August. The male and female organs 

 aro contained in the same flower. Your 

 borders will take a dozen pot trees on each side, 

 if they are placed triangular fashion, thus * # *. 

 — M. E. C. — Woodlice are very troublesome in 

 old frames. They may be thinned by pouring 

 boiling water round the sides of the wojdwork, 

 or they may be trapped by putting a boiled 

 potatoe among some dry hay, in a flower-pot, 

 which should be shaken out into boding water 

 in the morning. — H. TV., Brixton.— lVe sup- 

 pose you to refer to the glittering white beds at 

 the Crystal Palace last year. They consisted of 

 Flower of the Day gerauium and variegated 

 Alyssum mixed. It is good in the shade, but 

 when the sun is on it, almost painful to the eyes. 

 — L. T. P., Monmouth.— Can't make it out.— 

 X, B., Pnston,-0. K. 



