THE FLORAL WORLD AND aARDEN GUIDE. 



95 



panied with a label descriptive of the plant, and 

 Its proper culture. 



Five Bess.— Kentish Amateur.— "We cannot tell 

 you how to place your plants unless we know 

 how the beds are placed. If they do not con- 

 stitute a pattern, it will matter little how you 

 arrange your colours, so that no two nearly 

 al-ke come together. If they are together in a 

 set, the colours should be carefully balanced. 

 Send a rough plan — mere pen and ink sketches — 

 and we shall be better able to advise. Balsams 

 are quite unfit for bedding, however well grown ; 

 Asters are first-rate if you have Pompone Chrys- 

 anthemums to follow. As you are well off for 

 scarlets, get Verbena White Perfection, and 

 Andre, purple ; also Petunia Prince Albert, puce, 



I and some first-rate double Marigolds, if Cal- 

 ceolarias do not succeed vrith you. See on this 

 subject answers to other correspondents. Your 

 Cinerarias are probably starved, or in an un- 

 suitable compost, or iu too dry an atmosphere. 



Htacisths done BLOOMiifG. — Various Corre- 

 sporidents. — If the bulbs are in rich deep soil 

 in beds and borders, leave them alone till their 

 foliage dies down of its own accord, but give 

 plenty of water to promote their growth, as 

 they have now to form the bloom-buds for next 

 year. When the leaves die down, take up the 

 bulbs, and lay them in a suuny place, with a 

 little SOU over them, and a week afterwards clean 

 the bulbs and store away. Those in pots, moss, 

 etc., should be turned out without the least 

 damage to their roots, and planted in a, inch 

 sandy, and very shady border, and treated the 

 same as those in the ground, with particular 

 care as to the watering. 



Labotjreks' Friend Societt. — A Labourer's 

 Friend is anxious to obtain, through the me- 

 dium of the " Flokal, World," information 

 on the best mode of forming and conducting 

 an Agricultural, Horticidtural, or Labourers' 

 Friend Society amongst a rural population. 

 He would also be glad of copies of rules and 

 regulations of any such society that has been 

 in successful operation for any length of time. 

 Any of our readers, who have taken interest in 

 such matters, will greatly oblige us by for- 

 warding to us any prfnted or written informa- 

 tion on the subject which they may have at 

 command, which we will transmit to our reverend 

 correspondent. 



Names of Ferns. — Annie. — Tours i.s Asplenium 

 trichomanes, a very beautiful specimen. It 

 forms a beautiful object if grown in a pot in 

 turfy peat, intermixed with sand, broken char- 

 coal, and small nodules of old mortar, .and does 

 best in the shade. It is also suitable for the open- 

 air fernery. The other query shall be answered 

 next month. — C. Smith. — Yours is Pteris atro- 

 pnrpurea, a new and very beautiful species. 

 You can get plants of Mr. Chitty, Stamford 

 Hill, the only grower, we believe, who at pre- 

 sent possesses it.— In the February number, 

 p. 4S, one of the ferns named for W. H. Mayne 

 was, by a printer's error, misspelt. Wo. 4 

 should be Dennstredtia davaUioides. 



Six Beds. — iii". HI., Faversham. — Without Icnow- 

 ing the measurements of the beds, it is scarcely 

 possible to advise. Here, however, are some 

 sorts that wiU do on your soil — Geramums : 

 Lucia rosea ; cheerful rose, Kingsbury pet, pink 

 salmon, fiue foliage ; Keidii, the brightest scar- 

 let ; Kaulfussia amelloides, blue ; Cuphea pla- 

 tycentra, scarlet ; Cuphea strigillosa, yellow ; 

 double Pyrethrum, wliite ; Verbenas of all 

 colours. Such lovers of moisture as Fuchsias, 

 Calceolarias, Lobehas, etc., would fare poorly, 

 l)Ut you may make up a very safe list from the 

 above, and the reply to S. X. Z. It is against 



our rules to recommend seedsmen, except under 

 peciUiar circumstances. 

 KiBBON Planting, etc. — Fhen. — All right as far 

 as the fifth row, then the colours begin to spoil 

 each other, and get too faint for those before 

 them. We should prefer Petunia Boule de Feu 

 or Queen of Crimsons, instead of the Ageratum 

 for the fifth row, and the Ageratum in the sixth 

 row. The blaze of Miss Trotter would then be 

 balanced. But if you have grown the plants 

 expressly for the arrangement, go on ; the rib- 

 bon will still be good, though rather weak, in 

 front of the Zehndas. Give ZeUnda eighteen 

 inches. Lobelia speciosa comes true from seeds 

 as freely as a weed. 



Cyclamen. — Lover of Flowers. — You have ma- 

 naged your plants badly, or they would have 

 bloomed, but in what way you have ill-treated 

 them we, of course, cannot say. If in common 

 garden soil, and very scantily watered, bloom 

 must not be expected. They ought to be in a 

 mixture of peat, leaf-mould, chopped turf, and 

 sand; to be kept rather dry after flowering; 

 have a shift into larger pots before being 

 housed for the winter, and plenty of water after 

 the leaves are full grown till they have done 

 flowering. 

 Rabbits. — H. Jones. — See pages G4 and 72 for 

 protection against rabbits. We know of no 

 means of ii;f«ii>'7itn^jthembut awii'efence, to pre- 

 vent their ingress. There is a good design for a 

 sununer-hou.*e at page I'sQ of last year's volume 

 of" Floral World." In " Rustic Adornments 

 for Homes of Taste," there are some excellent 

 advices on construction, etc. We cannot now 

 go into the subject. 

 Tank-heated Pit. — A. S. S. — The size of the 

 tanks must be determined by the size of the 

 bed. The tanks should be of wood, two inches 

 thick, and lined with lead or zinc. Along the 

 centre there must be a jjartition to cause the 

 water to circulate, and also support the edges 

 of tlie slates which cover it, and which must be 

 fixed with Roman cement. Six inches of depth 

 is plenty for the tank. 

 Basicet Plants.— ^r. 5.— You may make an ex- 

 cellent selection by referring to iiages 23 and 95 

 of last year s volume. For the baskets the fol- 

 lowing are suitable : — ^^enecio milcanise, beau- 

 tiful ivy -like fohage ; Cobea scandens, Mau- 

 randya Barclayana, Troptcolumtricolorum, and 

 Fuchsia Sir WiUiani Middleton, trained down, 

 Hibbertia grossularifoliae. But what size are 

 the baskets ? All depends upon that. 



Ficus Elastica, M. R. IV a.— Easily pro- 



pas:ated by cuttings in brisk bottom heat. Take 

 ofl* only the leaves at the bottom joint, and 

 strike in sandy peat, and put a bell-glass over. 

 It can be propagated by leaves, but requires 

 much experience, and takes a prodigious time 

 to make a plant. 

 Lychnis Haageana.— G^. J. ^S^.— The trade are 

 not yet in possession of this continental variety, 

 or we shoidd have annexed the price. It will 

 soon be here, and within reach of amateur pur- 

 chasers. 

 Gardening in India. — A correspondent is very 

 anxious to obtain information as to the best 

 liook or books on Gardening in India. Can any 

 of oru" readers assist us in giving an answer ? 



Geraniums to Bloom in AvavsT.—JYew Sub- 

 scriber. — Stop for the last time the second week 

 of this month, and give them a shift ten days 

 afterwards ; after that no more checks. 



Plant Exchanges.— In the otfir of exchange 

 made by S. S. S., p. 71, the list put down as 

 wanted should be the list of plants offered, and 



