234 



THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



dig in and mix with tlie soil at the time ' 

 of planting, but we should prefer half- 

 inch bones t-o bone-dust, and if dug in 

 and thoroughly mixed with the soil 

 •would be lasting in their effects. But 

 there is nothing to equal stable manure 

 for roses. In inducing the hard wood of 

 a rose to make roots, undoubtedly the 

 rinf^ing process would be best, and to be 

 done early. Tlie reference you make is 

 to a record of the doing of it when the 

 summer had gone by. Your long bed 

 should be five feet wide, the half stan- 

 dards to occupy tlio centre, and the 

 dwarfs to be eighteen inches from them, 

 ■which will place the dwaifs one foot 

 from the outside, which is enough if 

 they are kept closely pruned. Put the 

 standards two feet apart, and the dwarfs 

 eighteen inches. If they want more 

 room in a year or two, replant them ; 

 this will be better than planting very far 

 apart at first.] 



Climbers for Greenhouse. — Lady Siih- 

 scriber. — The best creepers for your cool 

 house in a cold part of Cheshire will be 

 Clematis lanuginosa, azurea, and florida, 

 Magnolia grandiflora, Ceanothus azureus, 

 Passiflora cerulea, Aristolochia sipho, 

 Wistaria sinensis, Cobea scandens, Lo- 

 phospermum atrosanguineum, Jasmi- 

 ■num nudiflorum. These will all require 

 sunny positions. For a shady wall you 

 may have Stauntonia latilblia, and a 

 selection of gold and silver-leaved ivies. 

 We cannot advise you how to keep the 

 frost out of the balcony. Perhaps a 

 large stone bottle filled frequently with 

 boiling water, may answer in frosty wea- 

 ther. Gardeners often keep the frost 

 out of frames by burning candles in 

 them. 



Bkoccolis all the Tear Round. — I have 

 seen several hints in the Floral World 

 on obtaining a succession of broccolis, 

 and I have nearly succeeded in securing 

 them the whole year round. But as I 

 have not quite succeeded, will you once 

 more state what you consider the best 

 routine, and please say what is the best 

 sort to make sure of in August and Sep- 

 tember?—./. R. P. [First of all, it may 

 be as well to state that our table has 

 been supplied with nice heads of Purple 

 Cape smce the last week of July, and 

 there is nothing better for autumn use. 

 To secure a constant succession of broc- 

 colis, sow every three weeks from the 

 middle of March to the middle of July, 

 The first sowing should be Snow's, and 

 Purple Sprouting to come in the next 

 spring. Tlie second sowing to be Brim- 

 Stone, Elletson's, Purple Cape, and Gran- 



ger's. The third sowing. Granger's, 

 Snow's, Conning' .s. and Tarn worth. Early 

 in May sow Walcheren, Granger's, and 

 Barking. End of iMaysdw Walcheren 

 and Purple Cape. June and July sow- 

 ings to be Walcheren only.] ' 



Garden Vermin. — Mrs. A. Winderwath. 

 — Your letter came too late for a full 

 reply. We know of no better way to 

 deal with thrips tlian to fumigate with 

 tobacco several times at intervals of a 

 few days, and use the syringe freely after 

 each fumigation. Thrips and red spider 

 are quite distinct. If done very care- 

 fully, the pampas grasses may be potted 

 at once, and they must have large pots 

 or tubs. Cactuses may be retarded in a 

 cool atmosphere ; they would not give 

 a second bioom this season if disbudded. 

 We shall be glad of your notes on Cam- 

 panula pyramidalis. 



Various. — One Dtsh-ous, etc.— Some of the 

 plants are plunged in pots, and some 

 without pots, according as either way 

 may be most convenient or to gain room. 

 — A. B. C. — There is no known method 

 of getting rid of plaintain but spudding 

 it out. We have known cases where it 

 was necessary to strip off ihe lawn, trench 

 the ground, and lay down new turf in 

 order to get rid of this pest, and in other 

 cases we have seen it defy all moderate 

 measures,and at last disappear entirely no 

 one knew how. No doubt frequent irow- 

 ing and rolling tends very much to keep 

 it in check; and it will be observed that 

 whereas plaintain generally grows abun- 

 dantly beside field paths and in neglected 

 corners, tilled lands and grass meadows 

 are generally free of it. — H. R. C— Your 

 pines are gross through overfeeding, and 

 liquid manure will make them worse. 

 We do not like the use of any kind of 

 liquid manuie for pines as a rule ; if any 

 is required, clear soot water is the best. 

 — J. H. Mason. — The wec-d infe>tingyour 

 ground is the corn-field horsetail, Equi- 

 setum arvense, a very iroublesome pest, 

 common to damp grounds, and the ap- 

 pearance of which is usually an indica- 

 tion that the land needs draining. — 

 M. (?. — Sowthe seeds in peat, and place 

 them on a gentle heat. Australian seeds 

 are generally dead by the time they reach 

 England in inexjierienced hands. — M. B. 

 Oxalis corniculata rubra. — T. B. Pen- 

 nant. — The hairy plant with blue flowers 

 sent in the box is Echium vulgare. But 

 you speak of one flower at the top of 

 the stem which we do not understand. — 

 F. L. — Looks like Epilobium angustifo- 

 lium, but we cannot speak with certiiinty 

 from a crushed fragment an inch long. 



