46 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



heat of 65" to 75" for early bloom, or in fair 

 greenhouse temperature if you have no stove. 

 The first lot oaglit to have been potted a month 

 ago, a second lot now, and a third lot at the end 

 of the month, so lose no time to get a few to 

 work. Give thera full light iu the house till they 

 bloom, then take to the drawing-room, or put 

 them in a shady part of the greenhouse. If you 

 do not get ou well the first season, you must 

 not be disheartened, for (his is one of the most 

 capricious of plants, and will baflle the cleverest 

 of gardeners in some places, and grow like a 

 ■weed in others where it is perhaps in no way 

 cared for. The market-gardeners make a good 

 thing of it liy sending early blooms to Covent 

 Garden ; but they depend cliiefly on old beds 

 for the supply, and choose the plants by a rule 

 acquired by experience. Trojiasolum Lobbiiuium 

 elegans, used as a bedder at the Crystal Palace, 

 is as easily managed as Convolvulus minor ; if 

 good plants are turned out at the end of May, it 

 trails, and needs pegging down and stopping to 

 cause it to branch regularly. 



Flowering Shkubs. — It. A. — The following are 

 first-rate flowering shrubs, not i>articular as to 

 soil : Evergreens — Arbutus of sorts, Berberis of 

 sorts, especially Jjealii and Japonioa, which have 

 grand foliage ; Ceanothus azureus and deuta- 

 tus, Crataegus pj'racantha, fine when covered 

 with berries ; Skinmiia japonica, also showy 

 berries; Daphnes of sort.s, Desfontania spi- 

 nosa, likes shade ; Garrya elliptica, Escallonia 

 niacrantha, and Montvetlensis, Hypericum caly- 

 cinum, double-flosvcring furze. Deciduous^ 

 Spireas of sorts, Calycauthus floridus, double- 

 flowering cherry and dovible-flowering ahnond, 

 Chimouanthus "fragrans (loveI_y in spring), For- 

 sythia viridissinia, Althea frutex, AVeigelia rosea, 

 tree Peony, Kolreuteria pani<ul;ita, small tree 

 giving yellow flowers in August ; Eibes sangui- 

 neum. If you have peat, you may have many 

 choice blooming shrubs, besides the well-known 

 Azaleas and Rhododendrons. 



Hollies from Seed, etc. — li. Anderson, Paisley. 



, — Hollies are usually raised i'rom berries ; they 

 are kept in the rot-heap for a year, then sown in 

 beds of rich sandy loam. They also come from 

 cuttings ; but are ditilcidt to strike, and need 

 five years' gi-owth to make plants of them. (See 

 page 240 of last year's volume.) Rhododendrons 

 may be increased by seed, layers, and cuttings. 

 To make layers, scoop out a Uttle hollow under 

 a branch suitably placed for layering, and fill it 

 with sandy peat or half-rotted moss well chopped 

 up with silver-sand, bend the joint down and 

 fix it with a hooked stake, so that there will be 

 no fidgetting with it after the branch is cut. 

 'then loosen it from the peg, and with a sharp 

 knife cut half through the stem and upwards an 

 inch and a-half towards the top of the; shoot, 

 taking care to leave sufficient wood and bark on 

 the side not cut to maintain the liranch in health. 

 Insert a small pebble or slip of wood to keep the 

 incision open ; bend the branch down again and 

 bring the head of it upright, or nearly so, with- 

 (rtit breaking it at the cut part, and fix it firmly 

 luider the hook to the stake. Press the peat 

 fiimly about the tongue, and lay a bunch of 

 moss over with a stone or tile to prevent it being 

 blown away, and leave the rest to nature. The 

 branch will not be sufficiently rooted for re- 

 moval for a year, when it may be cut away and 

 carefully planted, with others similarly treated, 

 in a nursery-bed of peat, and well supplied with 

 water. 



Boeder Shrubs.— .4m;/ XaYe.— The reply to Mr. 

 Anderson ^vill exactly suit your case. The plants 

 in the pit probatilywant water ; they will be 

 none the worse hereafter for a few leaves tiu-n- 

 ing yellow. You have perhaps starved them 

 severely to keep thera sale ; a very good rule. 



Xectarine Dropping its Fruit. — Hex. — Syringe 

 to be used as soon as leaves appear, withheld till 

 the fruit is set, and then used frequently tiU 

 fruit changes colour. Plenty of air and moisture 

 at the root, and you are sure of nectarines. The 

 fruit fell last year for want of water. If you did 

 not top-dress your tree last Kovember, do it 

 now ; but not so as to injure the surface-roots. 

 Use goat's or sheep's dung or half-rotten dung 

 from a cucumber pit. Better late than never. 

 Trees iu pots want generous feeding. 



Pruning Fruit-trees. — Rivers's " Orchard- 

 House" gives very plain instructions on prun- 

 ing; but " Lindley's Guide to the Orchard" is 

 fuller as to details. The subject will come into 

 these pages some day shortly ; our difficulty is 

 to keej] yi-Ace with the many requirements of our 

 correspondents. 



Plant and Sekd Excuanges. — E.S. says, "I 

 am most anxious to begin growing a few foreign 

 ferns under glass ; and if you tliinlc any of the sub- 

 scribers to the ' Floral World' would send me 

 A FEW (I do not want many), I should be very 

 glad to send in exchange an}- of the following 

 English ferns : — Lastrca montana, Lophodium 

 fa'nisecii, Asplenium adiantum nigi-um, As- 

 plenium marinum, Asplenium trichomanes, 

 Amesium ruta-muraria, Kotolepeum ceterach, 

 Hymenophyllum Tunbridgeuse, Hymenophyl- 

 lum unilatera'.e, Osmunda regaHs. I should be 

 glad of ANY of the foUo^ning ferns or lycopods : 

 — Cheilanthes farinosa, Gnniophlebium lori- 

 ceum, Niphobolus rupestris, Niphobolus jier- 

 tusus, Selaginella Martensii, Seliginella apoda, 

 Selaginella caE-sia. If not too late I shall have 

 much pleasure in sending ' Cantab ' some seeds 

 for New Zealand. I fear you will repent having 

 undertaken to do so much for the lovers of hor- 

 ticulture. I am delighted with the 'Floral;' 

 it is just the thing that was wanted, and it is so 

 very reasonable, that places it within the reach 

 of most persons." — [Whyshould werepent, when 

 a little extra l.ibour makes hundreds happy ? 

 Mr. Hibberd will be glad of the fern you name, 

 when the season comes for moving it.] 



Scarlet Roses.— .4;ji«.- — There is no such thing as 

 a scarlet rose ; and any nurseryman who ofi'ers 

 you such a thing is practising deceit. The free- 

 growing H. P. Oinement des Jardins is the 

 nearest approach to scarlet of any rose yet out. 

 Madame Vidot, H. P., may be described as pink 

 satin silvery l)lush, charming as to shape and of 

 good size. Arthur de Sansal, H. P., is the darkest 

 of this class, not a large rose, but very beautiful, 

 and essential to even the smallest collections. 



Manures — Constant Subscrihei: — Superphos- 

 phate of lime is one of the best manures for all 

 kitchen ci-ops. The best way to use it is to mix 

 it with half its weight of charcoal dust, and 

 apply at the rate of half a ton per acre, or nine 

 ])Ounds to the square rod. AVill do well on your 

 soil for potatoes. We think well of Higgs's 

 Tottenham Sewage Guano, and hear very 

 favourable accounts of Cuero Guano. Your 

 Camellias are starved through the soil in the 

 pots being exhausted, or through drought. 

 Camellias hold their liuds as well as any flower- 

 ing plants we have under fair treatment. C. T., 

 Stourhridge. — We never use salt in such quanti- 

 ties as two tons per acre, and dare not recoir- 

 mend it. (See page 23.) 



Raspberry Cakes, Crtptomerias. — J. P. — Thin 

 the canes of newly -planted raspberries to three 

 for each stool, and cut those three back to three 

 or four feet each, according to their strength. 

 If thin and weak, cut them to two buds from 

 the ground. Move Cryptomerias at once ; they 

 like a moist loam. Mulch the roots with moss 



