280 



THE FLORAL WORLD AKD GARDEN GUIDE. 



well rooted, and then remove it with the hand to 

 prevent the tops being blanched. Bulbs planted 

 in boxes must not be exposed to severe weather, 

 or the frost will get at the roots and kill them. 

 Those in pots should be got into frames, or a 

 shelf near trie glass in the greenhouse, before 

 frost sets in, or they may share a like'fate. No 

 plant in a pot or box can endure frost so well as 

 one in the ground. Your query about Waltonian 

 lamps we do not understand. 



Tea Koses in Peach-house.— J. R. C. T. — 

 Just the very place for tea-roses, because to 

 keep them dry when the peaches are in bloom 

 will do them no harm, and to syringe them well 

 when in growth, will be quite sufficient protec- 

 tion against red spider, and no harm to the 

 peaches. They will do better in a border than 

 in pots. 



Specimen Shktjtis roii Lawks. — J. Fovkes. — 

 Deciduous: Spirtea ariafolia, Ribes'sanguineum, 

 Paulovnia imperials, Philadelphia Gordo- 

 nianus, New Double Scarlet Th rn, Crattegns 

 odoratissima, Pyrus spectabilis, Berberis vul- 

 garis, fol. purp., and Syringa Josikaia. Ever- 

 greens: Garrya elliptica, Arbutus procera, Au. 

 cuba japonica, Berberis aquifolium and Japo. 

 nica, Viburnum tinus strictum, and Phillyrea, 

 latifolia. Sow the grass about the end of Febru- 

 ary, when the ground is dry. 



Alsti!.emerias, Eic. — P. II. (?.— Keep the seed- 

 lings growing slowly all winter. If dried off 

 they may shrivel and perish. Any cool place, 

 safe from frost, will do, and only just enough 

 water to keep them alive. Seedling tritomas the 

 same. In March, or early in April, shake them 

 out, and pot in small pots in rich sandy soil, 

 and put them in your Waltonian case for a week 

 or ten days, and in May turn them out into the 

 open ground to flower. Gloxinias, struck from 

 leaves, must be kept in their pots all winter, 

 without a drop of water, safe from frost, and at 

 a temperature never lower than 45°. 



Insects.— A. S. Gretton. — Your enemies are the 

 pupae of the pear-tree saw-fly, and our first 

 advice must be repeated, that the only remedy 

 is to be found in diligently searching for them 

 and destroying them. Probably you put larva? 

 into the box, and the change to pupas took 

 place during the transit to us. The soil about 

 the mots of the trees is probably pretty full of 

 them, and if you pare and burn the top stratum 

 six inches deep, you will probably get rid of 

 the greater part of them, and it will do the trees 

 good to replace that with six inches of fresh 

 soil. — J. Solly. — The TdStucella is by no means 

 so rare as is supposed. In digging damp loams 

 it is common to turn up some ill-looking, buff- 

 coloured creatures an inch long, sticky to the 

 touch, which resent the disturbance only by 

 curling themselves up in a lazy, helpless man- 

 ner. On examining one of these, which is ge- 

 nerally taken for the grub of one of the large 

 beetles, it will be found to be a true slug, with 

 a small flat shell on its rear about the size of a 

 parsnip seed. This is the creature you are on 

 the search for, and if you do not find it in the 

 course of the next season, send us your address 

 and a postage-stamp, and we will forward you 

 a few specimens, for we seldom open the ground 

 without finding it. The Testacella is not a na- 

 tive of this country, but was introduced from 

 Madeira, or the Azores, and feeds on earth 

 worms, and is a true mollusc, and consequently 

 not an insect at all. 



Aquabia.— Miss Le P.— The original difficulties 

 have all been overcome, and marine and fresh- 

 water animals may be preserved in their re- 

 spective vessels, within certain limits as to 

 selection, with as much certainty as we can 

 preserve pigeons and ducks. In fresh-water 

 vessels there is no need for river plants at all, 

 nor for snails to eat off the conferva, because 



the production of oxygen can be assured by a 

 proper modification of thelight.ou the princi- 

 ples of "Natural Management," set forth only 

 in the " Book of the Aquarium," which has ren- 

 d< red all other works obsolete in respect to 

 details of management. Gosse's " Bistory of 

 Marine Zoophytes" is a masterly production, 

 and Sowcrby's book is safe, though superficial ; 

 but in regard to management, the "Book of 

 the Aquarium" is not only the best book, but 

 the only one worthy of attention, and it ex- 

 plodes all the fallacies that have been built up 

 by authors who wrote by guess-work and not by 

 experience. 



Hekeaceous BkI'S. — Constant Subscriber. — We 

 have a strong objection to suggest selections 

 for beds, because ourtasle may he very different 

 to yours ; and besides, what are called herba- 

 ceous plants are not the best things for large 

 beds, because their bloom is not continuous, 

 and that is wliei e the proper bedders beat them. 

 The showiest subjects for you are Delphinium 

 formosum,' Phloxes, Lychnis Haageana, gloxi- 

 nia flowered ioxgloves, Rudbeckias, Gsnothera 

 macrocarpa and serotina, Salvia chan redri- 

 folia, Dielytra spectabilis, double columbines, 

 Oriental Poppy, Dianthus Keddewigi, Epilo- 

 bium angustifolium, Rumex sanguinea, Inula 

 glandulosa, Aster fulvis, I ysireacbia thyr6iflora, 

 Heliantb.ua linearis, campanulas, veronicas, 

 wallflowers, cloves, etc. A bed fifteen feet iu 

 diameter might be made very gay with such 

 plants, but generadythe best place for them is 

 in mixed borders. 



Herbaceous Peonies.— A. B. — Plant them so 

 that the plump buds, which are to give leaves 

 and bloom next season, are an inch below the. 

 surface. This will give the tubers a depth of 

 six to nine inches. Be careful not to injure 

 these buds in taking up, for the next crop of 

 blossoms is v.rappi d up inside them. Your 

 other notes are filed for the present. 



Wants a Place. — We should be glad to find a 

 place for a young man whom we ran recom- 

 mend for ability and character. He wants a 

 single-handed place, where he will havo a 

 chance of improvement and opportunities for 

 increasing his knowledge of plants. He was in 

 his last place twelve years, and left only because 

 of the death of his employer. He is familiar 

 with the whole routine of ordinary garden work, 

 and possesses considerable taste in planting 

 and arranging colours. 



Tkee Onion. — Several correspondents have in- 

 quired where these can be obtained. Wo are 

 really unable to reply. We have saved so few 

 this season, that we cannot offer them as gilts. 

 Let all who want them inquire of their several 

 seedsmen, and the inquiries may bring them to 

 light, for there are plenty of them somewhere. 

 Any who have a stock Jor sale woidd do well to 

 make the fact known to us. 



Roots, etc. — "Ornamental Bulbous and Tuberous 

 Plants, with Hints for their Cultivation. E. 

 G. Henderson and Sons."— The wrapper does 

 not inform us at what price this is sold, but we 

 suppose it to be moderate. It is an excellent 

 descriptive list, containing above a hundred 

 genera, and under each practical hints for the 

 selection of species for decorative purposes, 

 and very intelligible and very practical instruc- 

 tions oii culture. " Priced Descriptive Catalogue 

 of Conifers, Ornamental Trees, Evergreens, etc., 

 cultivated for sale by John Cranston, King's 

 Acre, Hereford." The praise we have be- 

 stowed on Mr. Cranston's rose catalogue might 

 reasonably be shared by this list of useful sub- 

 jects, which is arranged all habetically, and will 

 enable any amateur to select without difficulty, 

 and any botanical collector to see at a glance, 

 what species he should order to complete his 

 groups. 



