THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



143 



touch each other. Unless they are fully exposed 

 to light, as geraniums ought to be, then a little 

 over-lapping does no harm. The lower leaves 

 only should be trimmed off, and cuttings of 

 plants of a ^fleshy nature, should be dewed now 

 and then by drawing the band across a wet hard 

 brush held beside them. This prevents exhaus- 

 tion by evaporation from the leaves. 

 Cockscombs.— C. D.— The grand point in the cul- 

 ture of Cockscombs is to have the flower very 

 large and well coloured, the foliage healthy and 

 without a spot, and well developed, and the 

 stem so short as to be invisible. The best way 

 of raising them is to sow early in heat. Prick 

 out the young plants round the sides of five-inch 

 pots, and give only water enough to keep them 

 healthy, never to let them flag, but, above all 

 things, to prevent any early luxuriance. When 

 the plants meet, prick them out again to check 

 them, and promote stubbiness of habit ; and 

 when they show bloom, select the best, and cut 

 off the heads with five or six leaves only to 

 each, and with two inches of stem to go into the 

 soil. Pot these singly, within an inch of the 

 lower pair of leaves in four-inch pots of rich 

 sod ; plunge in a hot-bed, give shade and water. 

 They soon root, and must then have moderate 

 heat, manure .water occasionally, moderate 

 ventilation, and plenty of light, and be shifted 

 whenever the roots touch the sides of the pot. 

 Thus you will have an immense breadth and 

 luxuriance of plant without any lankiness of 

 legs. 

 Thompson's Gas Heating Apparatus.— W. W. — 

 This invention has been improved, and is said 

 now to answer well. The number of those who 

 have been disappointed by it is by no means 

 small, and many terrible complaints have been 

 made by amateurs, who have discovered its de- 

 fects when too late to save their collections. We 

 cannot inform yon of any one, who, to our own 

 personal knowledge, has found it succeed, and 

 we cannot advise you what to do with the ap- 

 paratus, which has cost you £20. But our 

 columns are open to any amateurs who can speak 

 in its favour, and to the manufacturers them- 

 selves, if they can satisfy our readers of the 

 efficiency of the invention. It is a hard case to 

 labour as you have done, to improve the inven- 

 tion, but in such cases the heaviest blow is the 

 loss of plants, the produce, perhaps, of years of 

 patient perseverance. Just now, out-door mat- 

 ters claim our attention almost exclusively, but 

 as autumn approaches, we shall go into the sub- 

 ject of heating, with a view to assist our readers 

 in the simple management of their pits and 

 houses. 

 Various. — Winged Pea. — None left, therefore, 

 no more applications can be answered. Mr. 

 John Drury, Lime-street. — A packet was posted 

 to this correspondent and returned as not 

 known. — Correspondents who enquire about 

 nurserymen and seedsmen, are informed that 

 we never recommend particular houses. It 

 would be an abuse of journalism. The " Floral 

 World ' ' is independent of every interest, except 

 that of its readers. It is not influenced to the 

 extent of one word of praise or blame by any 

 publisher, nurseryman, exhibitor, or manufac- 

 turer. 

 Delphinium Fobmosum.— -R. U. — Many have been 

 disappointed with this, the very best of the 

 perennial larkspurs. But the disappointment 

 arises troin mismanagement. Like many other 

 herbaceous plants, it blooms in a series of suc- 

 cessive efforts, and, if neglected, goes out of 

 bloom before the end of the season. To keep it 

 in bloom, every stem of blossom should be nipped 

 off to the base before it has began to look 

 shabby ; this will promote a succession, and pro- 

 long its natural season. It makes a splendid 



bed, and we should hardly advise you to peg it 

 down, though we know of no definite reason 

 against such a procedure. Home grown plants 

 are likely to be more dwarf than stock fresh 

 from the nursery, for the growers are obliged to 

 push such things on, to meet the demand, aud 

 they are apt to get drawn before the purchaser 

 receives them. 



Aphis on Roses.— R. U. — Koses and fruit trees 

 are this season much beset with caterpillar, 

 doubtless owing to the prolonged warm weather 

 last autumn, which favoured a plentiful deposit 

 of eggs. For caterpillar there is no remedy but 

 hand-picking; but, for greenfly, tobacco-water 

 and Scotch snuff are the established remedies. 

 In using tobacco-water with the syringe, or in 

 dusting with snuff, be sure to dress the under 

 surfaces of the leaves, and drench well with 

 clear water afterwards. We have never used 

 Sigma's Aphis Powder, and refrain from 

 incurring the responsibility of recommending it ; 

 but when such men as Mr. Rivers, and others, 

 whose names are respected all over the world, 

 testify of its efficacy, we must believe it to be a 

 first-rate tiling. The inventor strictly enjoins 

 the keeping of it quite dry. 



Mushrooms. — London Subscriber. — The subject is 

 so important, that we shall treat it in full at the 

 first opportunity. In the meantime, make up a 

 dung-bed of short dung that has not been heaped 

 or exposed much to the weather. Make it up 

 slowly, so that no excessive fermentation takes 

 place, and let it be moderately dry all through. 

 When only comfortably warm to the hand, say 

 "milkwarm," spread two mches of loam over, 

 and insert the spawn in pieces of the size of 

 hazel-nuts all over it. Gentle waterings oc- 

 casionally, with a close air and darkness, will 

 give you plenty of mushrooms if the spawn is 

 good, and you must pay 5s. per bushel to de- 

 pend upon it. Most of the failures in mush- 

 rooms arise from the bad quality of the spawn. 



To clean Garden Statuary. — Suburban. — AH 

 kinds of stone-work out of doors may be 

 cleaned by a very simple process, which we pre- 

 fer to painting. Brush the stone with a stiff 

 brush to remove dust and moss, and then wash 

 with clear water. When dry, throw into a pail 

 of water a small handful of Portland cement. 

 Stir this up with a brush, such as plasterers use 

 in whitewashing, and wash the stone-work with 

 it. The water should be only just tinted with 

 the Portland cement, or it will leave too thick a 

 coat behind it. Some of Ransome's patent 

 stone, which had got a little weather-stained 

 we lately treated in this way, and its appearance 

 is now as beautiful as when new j to all appear- 

 ance equal to Carrara marble. 



Fermenting Materials. — Tiny. — Grass mow- 

 ings give out a good heat, but it is so fierce, 

 so fitful, and so brief in its duration, that we 

 cannot recommend so young a hand as you to 

 use it. We saw the other day a new fermenting 

 material in the shape of grocer's currants. A 

 person met with a lot of damaged currants at a 

 merely nominal price, and turned them to ac- 

 count in his forcing- pits, and he says he never 

 saw forced strawberries turn out better than the 

 lot he fruited with the help of the currants. 

 When we saw the pits, the heat was 9teady and 

 sweet, and, no doubt, when quite rotted, the 

 stuff will be valuable for the compost yard. 



Exhausted Hot-bed.— Chelsea. — A bed badly 

 made up, is generally made worse by patching. 

 If nearly exhausted, a lining of hot dung may be 

 useful, but, generally, it is better to take out the 

 whole, and if there is plenty of undecomposed 

 fibre in it, a mixture of some fresh fermenting 

 dung, and a shaking up of the whole will create 

 a regular heat. If very dry or very wet, a dung- 



