THE FLOKAL WORLD AND GAKDEN GUIDE. 



119 



feet, or of the size of the Crystal Palace. 

 We cannot give specific answers to vague 

 queries. Write *gain. 



Bowing Tuunberglas.— A. B. ('. — T hunbergias, 

 Daturas, #e., may be raised without ahot-t>ed in 

 a greenhouse, but it would be better to wait 

 till June, unless you can place the pan containing 

 the seed on the top of a bober, or on the flue to 

 give, them a start. Xne Waltoniau Case is a 

 capital invention for such thing?, as by means of 

 au oil lamp, costing only a shilling a week, hun- 

 dreds of seedlings of stove and greenhouse 

 plants may be raised either in a greenhouse or 

 sitting-room. We once saw an old gardener, 

 who was pressed for room, starting seeds of 

 stove plants in a shallow zinc pan on the top of 

 a kitchen boiler, where the soil was kept at 80 

 or 90 degs. till the seedlings began to rise, when 

 room was found for them in a house where they 

 could have sun and fire heat, as well as light, to 

 keep them going. Persons whose means are 

 limbed, should defer sowing seeds of tender 

 things until the season is a little advanced ; after 

 Midsummer the ground is a natural hot bed. and 

 by shutting a frame close in the lull blaze of 

 the sun, many seeds that ordinarily require artifi- 

 cial heat, may be started during .May and June. 



Ornamental Grasses. — Gramjnee. — Wo quite 

 agree with you that this subject deserves special 

 treatment, and we shall endeavour to fulfill your 

 wish. At present our anxiety to meet the ex- 

 pressed wishes of many readers, prevents u^> 

 devoting any space to the subject, but your sug- 

 gesiion shall not be forgotten. We have just 

 sown oa a border appropriated to botanical 

 rather than ornamental subjects, the follow- 

 ing very pretty grasses, namely : — Agrostis 

 stolonifera, brown bent Agrostis; Annual Poa; 

 Festuca ovina (useful for edgings), Festuca 

 duriuscula, Festnca darnel rum, Meadow Fescue, 

 Evergreen Perennial Bye, Sweet Vernal (An- 

 thoxanthum). Meadow Fox-tail, Everlasting 

 Yellow Suckling, Crested Dog's tail, and Cock's 

 foot. The noble sedges of South America will 

 some day find their way into our collections, and 

 the Pampas Grass will have a rival in the beauti- 

 ful Schizolepis Geitneriana, the Selena, and 

 others of its c!as9. The Goldeu Arundo australis 

 is a beauty not often seen, and the European Cla- 

 dium Germanicum, deserves a place in collec- 

 tions of Gramma?. The increasing love of ferns 

 and grasses, is an evidence of greater refinement 

 and taste, lor in the gradations of the beautiful 

 form must certainly take precedence of colour, 

 or sculpture would have to play second fiddle to 

 painting. The Floral World will certainly take 

 iu hand the whole stock ol ornamental grasses. 



Plants for a Sootkby,— Rusticu* will find just 

 the information he requires in Mr. Copland's 

 article iu the present number, and he may also 

 refer to page 95 of last mouth's number of the 

 FjjOBal World, where Vega is advised as to 

 the use of roots on a lawn. To hardy ferns and 

 ornamental grasses, dwarf growing conifers, 

 such as Junipers, Finns humilis, &c, with Gatd- 

 theria procumbens, and double Furze may be 

 added. For gay effects, such traillers as Ver- 

 benas, Abronias, Tormentillas, Vinca major 

 variegata, convolvulus, and -the variegated 

 varieties of Ivy will be found useful. In the 

 drier parts of rockeries, Sedums, Houseleeks, 

 Variegated Alyssum, Variegated Daisies, 

 Mountain Pinks, any species of Chieranthus, 

 and Antirrhinum, with hardy Heaths, and Salvias 

 would be useful. The Golden Stonecrop, of 

 which we have, through the kindness of the 

 original possessor, obtained a few plants, will 

 soon be used extensively, for the sunny sides of 

 rockeries, and during winter will make .them as 

 gay as Sedura acre does, when it is blazing with 

 bloom. 



STRAWBEERr Culture..— Major General G ■ 



offers a hint to the growers of strawberrie3, 

 apropos of our recent review of Mr. Mc Ewen's 

 viluable work' on the subject. He says, if old 

 tan is used to fill up the iutervals between the 

 strawberry plants, snails will avoid touching the 

 fruit, ana it will grow perfectly clean. The 

 General also suggests, that we should attach 

 prices to plants noticed in our pages. This would 

 be trenching somewhat on the dealer's depart- 

 ment, but we know not but what it might be 

 done fairly, and as a matter of information. If, 

 on further consideration, we conclude that it 

 may be done, we shall attach the average prices 

 to our notices of new plants. Iu reply to the 

 General's query as to the price of Berberis 

 Japonica, we beg to inform him that the prices 

 range from half- a crown to fifteen shillings. 

 We paid Mr. Stanriish twelve and sixpence for 

 a strong plant, with seven fine leaves thoroughly 

 hardened, which is now breaking beautifully. 

 We should recommend no one lor the next 

 twehe months to pay less than half-a-guinea or 

 seven and sixpence, so as to ensure specimens 

 that will stand the open air at once. 



Dung Bed.— Noi-ire. — You made up your bed too 

 quick, and the heat burnt the cuttings : quite a 

 common accident for a novice, and not altogether 

 a rare thing with practical men. A lew days 

 ago we met one of our most eminent market 

 growers, with a face as long and uninviting 

 as a barn door— he had just lost the best of his 

 stock of encumber plants in a similar way. You 

 should have turned the new dung twice at least, 

 and have got it a little dry after such a soaking, 

 but like many other people, yon were in too great 

 a hurry to do the thing properly. When we 

 speak about the beat neces-ary for cuttings, it 

 must be understood as bottom heat, andtroin the 

 end of Mareh to the end of ApriL cuttings of 

 the majority of bedding plants will stand 90 q 

 till they get rooted, but it must be a sweet 

 moist beat. 



Green Fly.— A B.—To fumigate your small pit, 

 take a twenty-four sized pot and tit within it a 

 piece of old tile, such as is used for covering 

 smoke flues, or, better still, a piece of iron one 

 inch thick and three inches over. Get a quarter 

 of a pouud of strong shag tobacco, and soak it 

 in a strong solution of salpetre, and when quite 

 dry, make the tile or iron red hot, drop it 

 into the pot, place the tobacco on it, and shut 

 the pit close so that none of the smoke can 

 escape. Leave it so all night, and in the mor- 

 ning syringe the plants. A week after, repeat 

 the process if it appears to be necessary, and 

 you will be free of fly for months afterwards. 

 Two smokings are better than one, because there 

 is usually a second crop of fly produced by such 

 as escaped the first smoking. 



Waterln-g Plants.- Z- Z.—T&0 wonder your 

 plants look chilled, if you dose them with abun- 

 dance of cold water. Our plan of watering 

 greenhouse plants, especially when they are 

 growing or blooming freely, is first to throw into 

 the water p:jt a small nugget of soda or pearlash, 

 say as large as a pea to every gallon. On that 

 we pour about a pint of boiliug water, and then 

 fill up with cold. It is then just tepid, and if the 

 plants want water, a drench over head and suffi- 

 cient to soak the roots, makes them grow heartily 

 and vastlv improves their healthy green colour. 

 We frequently use water quite hot, and have 

 syringed blooming cytisuses, geraniums, pri- 

 mulas, cinerarias, &c, with it all this season. 



Cool Greenhouse.— /. J?.— Your explanation of 

 the defects of the house alter the case consider- 

 ably. You should grow plenty of herbaceous 

 spring flowers and Cape and British bulbs, for 

 which, bare protection from frost is sumcient. 



