114 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



something wrong at the roots of your 

 plants. Are the balls in the pots caked 

 into an impervious mass, so that the 

 plants are starving ? 



Substitutes fob Floweb of the Day. — 

 -ff. A. W. P. — To make a contrast 

 against the bronzy foliage and vivid 

 blossoms of Lobelia fulgens, you may 

 use Cerastium tomentosum, variegated 

 mint, variegated alyssum, variegated 

 dead-nettle, variegated periwinkle, or 

 Venus's navelwort. The only one about 



; which there is a doubt is the variegated 

 dead-nettle, which in a rich soil runs 

 back to a healthy green. The peri- 

 winkle makes a first-rate substitute for 

 Flower of the Day, and is most beautiful 

 when in good keeping. All those named 

 are quite hardy, and the Venus's navel- 

 wort is an annual that does not last 

 long, but is exquisite in its glittering 

 silvery effect when at its best. A reserve 

 plot of it. sown as soon as the flower- 

 buds of the first begin to appear, will he 

 ready to transplant to take the place of 

 the first, when its day is over, and for a 

 few pence a genuine good feature may 

 be secured. 



Worms in Potting Compost. — S. P. — 

 There is one infallible method of treat- 

 ing potting stuff if suspected of contain- 

 ing vermin of any kind, and that is to 

 make the pots ready a day before they 

 are to be used, and water the soii in 

 them with boiling water. Scald also as 

 much as you will want for filling in. 

 Next day it will be none too moist to 

 work with, and there will not be a live 

 creature in it. Don't use coal-ashes in 

 your potting stuff any more ; that is 

 just the way to spoil it. A dose of boil- 

 ing-water round the wood-work of the 

 bin will clear away wood-lice, and as for 

 the stuff heaped up in the open air, 

 earthworms will do it more good than 

 harm, as long as it lays together. 

 Earth woims should never be ruthlessly 

 destroyed ; they are appointed by nature 

 to ventilate the subsoil by boring it in 

 channels for the admission of air. On 

 grass they may be ejected when trouble- 

 some by means of lime water. 



Potatoes Sprouted. — A. B. — If the sets 

 have sprouted in the dark, the sprouts 

 will be weak and worthless ; if you must 

 use large potatoes, it is better to cut 

 them into sets with four or five eyes to 

 each than use them whole. It is a good 

 rule to use none hut whole sets of mid- 

 dling size. These three poiuts are dis- 

 tinct from one another, but you appear 

 to lump them into one. If potatoes 



make blanched sprouts of two or there 

 inches long, there is, of course, no way 

 of restoring them to the state they were 

 in before they sprouted. 



Composts. — Amateur. — The gardener may 

 hint as much as he pleases about the 

 compost being too poor ; we could show 

 him some specimens grown in cocoa-nut 

 dust alone which he might not be able 

 to equal with a choice of all the soils in 

 the world. Tou must give plenty of 

 water to fuchsias, and keep them shaded. 

 For roses in pots use equal parts stiff 

 loam or clay and rotten dung ; for 

 pelargoniums, mellow turfy loam, with 

 a half part of leaf-mould and rotten 

 dung added, say in all — loam 4, leaf 1, 

 manure 1. 



Begin at the Beginning. — W. M. R, — 

 We cannot imagine how to supply the 

 information you require. But how comes 

 it that you address your letter to the 

 editor of the " Garden Oracle," seeing 

 that there will be no publication of that 

 work till November next, and then 

 there will be no space for replies to 

 correspondents ? We can only advise 

 you to begin at the beginning, and do 

 not expect too much from books. Learn 

 to dig, trench, and hoe ; all the rest 

 will come easy when you have mastered 

 these first steps. 



Names of Plants. — Hrentingby. — The 

 purple-leaved plant is the well-known 

 "purple orach," A triplex hortensis 

 rubra. The other is Sedum denticu- 

 latum, a very useful rock plant. The 

 orach is a grand plant on a bank 

 or rockery, if left to attain its full 

 stature ; as a bedder it has been super- 

 seded by Coleus Verschaffelti. The two 

 plants lately sent are Gnaphalium lana- 

 tum and Sedum dcnticulatum. 



Horticultural Employment of Chlo- 

 ride of Lime. — J. M. N. — The eminent 

 chemist, Professor E. Kopff, states, that 

 if a little chloride of lime be sprinkled 

 on a plank in stables, all species of flies, 

 especially stinging ones, will be driven 

 away ; and that if leguminous plants be 

 sprinkled with a weak solution of the 

 same salt, they will be preserved from 

 the ravages of insects, snails, etc. The 

 same beneficial effect may be produced 

 on fruit-trees, by making a paste formed 

 of one part of chloride of lime in pow- 

 der and half a part of some fatty sub- 

 stance, and forming a narrow circle of 

 the paste round the tree. Eats and 

 mice, he says, quit the spots where the 

 chloride is deposited. 



