70 



LATE PEAS. 



A3 a good late crop of peas is very de- 

 sirable, and not often secured, a plan 

 originally recommended by the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London, and which has 

 been proved a good one, may not be out of 

 place here, nor perhaps altogether unac- 

 ceptable to amateurs who have not heard 

 of it before : — " The ground is dug over in 

 the usual way, and the places to be occu- 

 pied by the future rows of peas are well 

 soaked with water. The mould upon each 

 side is then collected, so as to form ridges 



seven or eight inches above the previous 

 level of the ground, and these ridges are 

 well watered. The seeds are now sown in 

 single rows along the top of the ridges. 

 The plants grow vigorously owing to the 

 depth of soil and abundant moisture. If 

 dry weather at any time set in, water is 

 supplied profusely once a-week. In this 

 way the plants continue green and vigor- 

 ous, resisting mildew and yielding fruit, 

 till subdued by frost." — Milne, Arnotf, and 

 Co.'s Catalo^tte, 1859. 



TO COERESPONDEI\^TS. 



A>"NOUXCEMEXT. 



AVe have beeu frequently requested to reissue, in 

 a more elegant form, some of the articles which 

 have appeared in the " Floral Woeld." We 

 have determined to publish a few in a neat 

 form, and in a style nf getting up which will 

 render them fit lor the drawing-room table. 

 The first of the series will be Mr. Hibberd's 

 article on " Grasses, Grass-plots, and Lawns," 

 with a few additions. It will be pubhshed on 

 the 15th of March, price Is. We have also deter- 

 mined to issue a little Manual of Gardening for 

 Cottagers, containing a short account of the 

 Culture of Fruits, and Vegetables, and Flowers, 

 arranged alphabetically for reference, and with 

 lists of the best sorts. As it wdl be chiefly 

 extracted from the " Floral World," the in- 

 formation will be of the most recent kind. It 

 will be published at 3(/., and will be of great 

 value for gratuitous distribution. This we ex- 

 pect will Sso be ready by the 15th. 



Portable Greenhouse. — L. L. — What do you 

 think of a Waltonian case heating a house suf- 

 ficiently to keep an average of 45' aU winter, 

 ineafsurement of house same as yours, 11 feet 

 by 12? — We have just seen such a house, in 

 which the proprietor sets his case to work soon 

 after Chi'istmas, and says he can keep out the 

 sharpest frost we ever had in this country by 

 means of two oases, and in all ordinary weather 

 one is enough, and in w^orking it he gets an 

 immense stock of bedders, balsams, elc, and 

 flowers his camellias to perfection on the stages. 

 Gas-heat is as good as any other heat, if the 

 gas-burner is not in the house. You might 

 have a small furnace and flue iu the usual way, 

 and yet remove the house when necessary. 

 The treeholdcr can only claim what is fixed iu 

 the ground, not what merely rests upon it. 

 (See our note ou Trotman's article, in a recent 

 number.) The " Tom Thumb" nasturtium wUl 

 grow out of doors iu any ordinary garden soil ; 

 iu pots use turfy loam, plenty of sand, and a 

 few nodules of old mortar. 



Timber POR Orchard Houses. — L.L. says, "As 

 the simplicity of the orchard-house system will 

 set many amateurs to work, let me advise that 

 they use yeUow Baltic deal ; the American deal, 

 though easy to work, is mere trash for garden 

 purposes." 



Camellias Out op Doges.— TFm. ^.— -The camel- 

 lia will bear the open air of Britain in all the 

 southern counties, and in some sheltered dis- 

 tricts far north. The reason it is so seldom 

 grown out of doors is because it blooms so early 

 that its chief beauty is destroyed by frost. 

 Ehododendrons were of little use in the open 



air till we got late-blooming sorts ; but there are 

 no camellias that flower late enough to make a 

 safe feature for the open garden. Kext month 

 we shall have an article on camellia culture, in 

 which this subject will be dealt with. 



Greenhouse in Westminster. — Amateur. — A 

 stove that gives out a smell of iron will prove 

 the ruin of all the plants you have. Such a 

 thing may be tolerated just to keep out frost for 

 a few days now and then, but not as a perma- 

 nent means of heating. You would ))e better 

 off without an}' source of artificial heat, especi- 

 ally as your house faces the south. Your 

 fuchsias were doubtless starved ; they want 

 rich soil, plenty of water, and a moist air to 

 bloom w ell. See lists at page 47 of this year, 

 and pages 23 and 95 of last year. We are 

 obliged to refer back to save repetitions. 



Set or Beds. — E. F. — You should have given the 

 measurements of the beds. We think the fol- 

 lowing will please you: — 1, Terbena Wonder- 

 ful; 2, Geranium Ignescens superba; 3, Ver- 

 bena Prince of Prussia ; 4, Calceolaria Canary 

 Bird ; 5, Flower of the Day Geranium ; 6, Lady 

 Plymouth Geranium ; 7, Calceolaria Lemonade. 

 Or, 1, Verbena King of Leith ; 2, Petunia 

 Prince Albert ; 3, Saponaria Calabrica ; 4, Cal- 

 ceolaria Aurea floribunda; 5, Verbena Geant 

 des BattaUles ; 6, Verbena Brilliant de Vaise ; 

 7, Calceolaria Prince of Orange. 



Clat roE KosES. — T. II. 31. — The cuttings to 

 which you refer were rooted in water. To have 

 put them in clay would have ruined them ; the 

 tender roots would never have taken hold of 

 such a tough material ; but in peat they would 

 soon get a start, and, when moderately strong, 

 could be planted out in good loam, which is the 

 proper soil for roses. There is not the least 

 occasion to use pe.at in the ordinary culture of 

 ro?es, though cuttings root quicker in peat 

 than in any other material, and roses may be 

 flowered in peat to perfection, as you would 

 learn were you to visit Bayshot and other places 

 where they have nothing else. Clay is a bad 

 material for striking cuttings, even of plants 

 that thrive in it when struck ; but roses may be 

 planted in it when a year old, if you have no 

 other soil. But clays differ, and we don't know 

 what sort of clay you have to deal with. 



Bee-Keeping. — Constant Header. — The best 

 book is Taylor's " Bee-Keepers" Manual." 

 5th Edition. 



Scabious, Hoses. — John Lyle. — The Scabious is 

 a perennial, and consequently endures from 

 year to year. Prune all your young roses back 

 to good eyes at once. Never mind about bloom 

 shoots at present ; get good growth by cutting ; 



