THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



23 



with a hollow below the pot, covered with a tile 

 to prevent water lodging about the roots. 



Oleandek and Daphne,— E. J. yl.— Oleanders 

 rarely do well unless started in a moderate heat 

 in spring. The beat time for pruning is after 

 they have finished their summer bloom. Perhaps 

 the plants suffer for want of water, without 

 plenty of which they are sure to decline. All the 

 Jfcriuni tribe bloom on shoots of the previous 

 yenr, therefore, if cut back now, you will lose 

 the blooms of this season Close pruning is the 

 only reniedr for "a straggling appearance" 

 Your daphnes onirht not to be turning yeilow — 

 surely, there must be 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 ? 



Flax foe Heating. — /. L.—lf the flax-refnse 

 gives a steady heat, you cannot do wrong to use 

 it. We know nothing of flax, except as a 

 botanical subject, and, therefore, cannot advise 

 you, except in the general way, that it ought to 

 be a good lienting material, from the abundance 

 of fibre it contains. Perhaps, mixed with leaves 

 — as dung is not obtainable — it would do better, 

 and make a good manure, when rotted. In last 

 year's volume, page 143, we stated that waste 

 grocer's currants had been used as a fermenting 

 material. Don't ask to be excused for writing ; 

 to answer our correspondents is more pleasure 

 than pain. 



Protecting Materials. — B. B. — Try your hand 

 at making some light wooden frames lo fit over 

 the lights, cover the frame with canvass, and 

 paint it. Mind this, that nets, mats, &c., should, 

 if possible, be so laid, that there will be a space 

 of air between them and the glass, so as to have 

 a stratum of air between — air confined in such a 

 space is as good as another thickness o;' matting. 

 When you put nets over rails, they should not 

 belly downwards so as to touch the plants, for if 

 hoar-frost settles on them, the Iroat will be com- 

 municated to the plants, and injure them : keep 

 them clear away by cross pieces. 



Salt as Manure. — PhiV.is. — The "old gardeners" 

 who tell you not to use salt, are quite behind the 

 age. It is a valuable manure for every kind of kit- 

 chen crop, and especially for seakale, asparagus, 

 parsnips, carrots, broad beans, lettucis, onions, 

 potatoes, and mangold. Equal parts of soot and 

 salt, spread in a thin coat between rows of cab- 

 bage or lettuce, will quicken their growth ama- 

 zingly ; or two parts lime and one part salt, as a 

 spring top-dresiinsr, is very fertilizing. Twenty 

 bushels are the usual allowance of salt to an acre 

 of ground, that is one bushel to eight perches. 



PoiTr. — Alpha. — Greenhouse putty should be made 

 of whiting and boiled liuseed oil, well worked, 

 and left in a lump to " sweat " for eight or ten 

 days before using it. No other ingredient is 

 required. White lead will cause it to harden 

 quickly, but should never be used for that very 

 reason, for, if an accident happens, the putty 

 made as above, may be cut with a knife any 

 number of years afterwards, and a square put in 

 without difficulty. Sashes should be primed and 

 painted before being glazed, and, after glazing, 

 have no more paint for three months. 



Bedders in a Cool-house, etc. — Subscriber.— 

 Keep your geraniums as dry as nossiOle ; allowing 

 heavy rains to lull on them would result in their 

 rotting off at the collar, if frost came befere they 

 got dry. Look back to the articles on " liedding- 

 plants and Preservative Measures," which hive 

 appeared in previous numbers. We do not 

 understand to what plant you refer, as like both 

 a rantmculus and anemone. Soot is best used as 

 a top-dressing, very thin, and this is the time of 

 year to l«y it down. Mixed with salt it is a 

 powerful fertilizer in a kitchen garden. 



Rhododendron Seeds. — Sow in February, in shal- 

 low pans, in sandy peat, on a moist dung-heat. 

 Keep close till large enough to handle; then prick 

 them out, three or four round the sides of five- 

 inch pots, in similar soil, and keep close and 

 warm till they start again. As they begin to 

 touch each other, pot them singly, and give 

 greenhouse culture till the next spring, when 

 they should be put out in a shady place till 

 October, and then wintered in pits, till large 

 enough to plant in nursery rows for blooming. 



Cetptomeria Japonica.— /. H.. Nantwich. — We 

 are not aware that cryptonicrias are at all par- 

 ticular as to aspect, but they like a deep moist 

 loam. A hot, dry aspect would probably be 

 unsuitable. Mr. Hibbtrd lost a dozen last 

 year that were planted on turf, through turf- 

 ing up to their stems before they had got firm 

 hold of the ground. The dryness of the season 

 was, of course, very much against trees so situa- 

 ted. In regard to your other question, we have 

 endeavoured to meet your wishes. 



Plants for a Shadt GREENHonsE. — Cytisuses, 

 camellias, rhododendrons, and Americans gene- 

 rally, would suit your house ; but your best plaa 

 would be, to appropriate it to ferns and lycopo- 

 diums. U'rite to Mr. Sim, Foot's Cray, and en- 

 close six stamps for his catalogue, and from that 

 make a selection of the hardier exotic and green- 

 house kinds, and if you are in any fix about 

 particular sorts, write to us, and we will en- 

 deavour to advise you. You cannot have many 

 flowers, unless you have sun for them. 



Lime AS A Manure. — /. H. Templemore.— On 

 your heavy loam, untilled lor years, lime will be 

 a capital dressing to prepare it for potatoes. 

 The usual quantity is tifty-six bushels to the acre, 

 or one bushel to three perches. On a stiff clay 

 the quantity may be doubled. It should not be 

 put on till within a week or two of planting ; 

 then h.avc it fresh from the kiln, and spread it in 

 dry weather, and dig it in at once, that it may 

 act on the soil while it possesses caustic pro- 

 perties. 



Fifty Best Roses.— Fanny.— It is much easier 

 to give the best twenty, than the best fifty; for, 

 when we have sele ted a small number of the 

 best, there are hundreds of othersof pretty equal 

 merit, or, we might say, demerit. If you refer 

 to pages 166, 171, ana 280, of last y ar's volume, 

 you will find it an easy matter to make your 

 list. We are anxious to avoid repetition, as far 

 as possible. 



Farfugidm Grande.— B. B. B.— This flowers 

 ireely, but the flowers are of little use. Mr. 

 Salter is in hopes he shall be able to hybridize it, 

 but the difficulty is to get the pollen, for under 

 glass, it blooms before Christmas, and the com- 

 mon coltsfoots do not bloom tUl aiiring. The best 

 way of propagating, is to plant it out, and increase 

 by running pieces of the roots. 



Eugenia Ugni — Edward Collis. — We had an 

 engraving finished some time ago, and have 

 only waited for a seasonable moment to use it, 

 when it will be accompanied with an account of 

 culture. 



Pascall's Pots.— B. T. JI/.— These pots are sold 

 by many dealers in such articles. We have seen 

 them at Hooper's, Covent Garden Market. The 

 manufacturer is Mr. Pascah, West Kent Pot- 

 teries, Chiskhurst, Kent. 



Wellingtonia Gigantea. — J. L. — The specimen 

 at the Crystal Palace came from California. It 

 consi>ts of the bark only, and may be inspected 

 within and without. 



Monthly Index. -i. S. H., Mill Hill.— Your 

 suggestion is a good one, but the mechanism 

 of printing does not very well admit of adding a 

 single leaf to each number. 



