96 THE GARDENER. [Feb. 1869. 



Lilium uratum, L. Chalcedonicum, L. giganteum, and L. longiflorum. "We have 

 no more showy greenhouse flowering-plants for the autumn months than Lilium. 



W. B. , 24 C. Street, Bradford. — Dipladenia amabilis should be potted in 

 sandy peat ; the pot well-drained, and if placed in very gentle bottom-heat, so 

 much the better. The climate that of the intermediate house. 



Amateur Horti. — If you plunge your Geraniums in the beds in their pots in 

 your hot dry soil, they will require a good watering twice a-week in dry summer 

 weather. If this is attended to they will flower well enough, but will not cover 

 as much ground as if planted-out, and consequently a greater number will be 

 required for each bed. Write direct to Mr P. Grieve, Culford Hall, Bury St 

 Edmunds, and he will send you his book on Zonale Pelargoniums. Six-inch pots 

 would be better, and rich soil. 



THE MULBERRY. " 



"A Subscriber" in last month's ' Gardener' wishes for information a8 to pro- 

 pagating the Mulberry ; and why cuttings, which were taken from a fruit-bearing 

 tree, and struck thirty or forty years ago, do not yet carry fruit, although they 

 are now vigorous young trees. 



The fact of their being so vigorous and healthy, no doubt, accounts in part for 

 their uufruitfulness, and is probably the result of the cuttings having been taken 

 from gross unfruitful branches near the ground or from suckers ; and when plants 

 are raised from these they are very little, if any, better than seedlings, which, like 

 those of the Walnut, seldom perfect much fruit before they are forty years of age. 

 The best cuttings are those taken from the most productive branches, near the 

 top, and on the south side of the tree. If such branches have not been noted 

 while in fruit, the next best criterion is a short-jointed and twiggy habit : from 

 these take cuttings in the beginning of Mai'ch, 6 or 8 inches in length, of the 

 previous year's wood, with a joint of two-year-old wood at the base ; insert them 

 round the sides of well-drained pots, and plunge in mild bottom-heat, failing 

 which, they will strike almost equally as well in a shady border, though not so 

 speedily. Many years may be gained, however, by adopting the rough-and-ready 

 plan of striking whole branches, the thickness of an ordinary walking-stick. They 

 should be taken off before the sap begins to move, otherwise the tree is apt to bleed 

 excessively, trimmed into shape by pruning off the straggling twigs, and planted 

 18 inches or 2 feet deep. In very dry weather they will require plenty of water ; 

 and in due time these adult-cuttings will push away as if nothing had happened. 



Grown in pots, and receiving similar treatment, the Mulberry (M. nigra) can 

 be fruited at as early an age as the Peach. K. D. T. 



A Gardener.— The dressing your friend has given his Pear-trees should destroy 

 the scale. If it does not, let him, as soon as the leaves drop next autumn, dress 

 them with a mixture of equal parts of train-oil, turpentine, and spirits of tar — 

 taking care to avoid the wood and fruit-buds. AVe have killed the scale with this 

 mixture, but it is severe on the trees for the first season after its application. 



A Subscriber. — It is very difficult to eradicate white-scale from hard-wooded 

 greenhouse plants such as yours. Try a few of the worst of them by dipping 

 them in water, at a temperature of 100°, with the specified quantity of Gishurst's 

 compound in it. 



Planting Oxalis. 



Sir, — In answer to your correspondent, L. M. N. R., I beg to say that I 

 think a bed 80 feet long would not, under ordinary circumstances, be too long 

 for edging with the Oxalis, but it would depend a good deal upon the form 

 of the bed and the position from which it is seen. A bed that can be taken con- 

 veniently in by the eye looks best. 



Whether two rows of Christine will be sufficient will depend upon the size of 

 the plants, but the following proportions will be found suitable : — 20 inches of 

 Christine, 12 inches of Alyssum, and 8 inches of Oxalis. Plant the Alyssum and 

 Oxalis along the centre of the stripes they are intended to fill, peg them right and 

 left, and take care to keep them from straggling into each other during the season. 



The Oxalis should be planted from 6 to 9 inches apart in the row. Sow it in 

 a box about the beginning of February, cover it with a pane of glass, and set it 

 anywhere in a house or pit where the temperature is about 60°. It does not 

 require bottom-heat. Prick it out in little tufts, in a cold frame or under hand- 

 lights, at the beginning of April, and keep well watered till bedding-out time. 



J. Simpson. 



