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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



ment in spring, as T should like to fruit 

 tbem in pots. If you will be kind 

 enough to tell me how to treat them 

 from the first (how to prune, etc.), you 

 will oblige, J. W. [We ought to know 

 more about the state of these vines in 

 order to advise our friend with a fair 

 prospect of " hitting the nail on the 

 head." After two years' growth pot 

 vines may be either in the form of 

 long canes or dwarf bushes. If they 

 were cut back to two buds at the end of 

 the first season, and one of these only 

 allowed to grow, they are now pro- 

 bably six or seven feet high, the canes 

 strong and well-ripened, and from top 

 to bottom furnished with jjlump buds, 

 from which fruit may be expected. We 

 will suppose them to be in this case. 

 We should now shift them into fifteen- 

 inch pots, and at the same time cut them 

 back to within nine buds of the base. 

 Whether they go to vinery or green- 

 house must depend upon the sorts grown, 

 and whether the gr.apes are wanted early 

 or late. That point the cultivator must 

 settle for himself. But to manage them 

 with a view to make them handsome 

 and fruitful bushes we would allow only 

 four bunches the first season, and take 

 these four from the four top buds, stop- 

 ping one point beyond the bunch, and 

 the other buds to be stopped when four 

 inches long. As soon as the bunches 

 are firmly set, give strong manure water 

 once a week till they begin to change 

 colour, say one pound of guano to 

 twenty gallons of water. At the end 

 of the season these vines will have 

 strong stems and four spurs each, which 

 must be cut back to the fourth or fifth 

 bud from the sti-m, and then only two 

 buds are to be left on each, namely, one 

 at the end to give a bunch, and one at 

 the base to give a new shoot for one 

 ne.xt season. Another way to fruit these 

 would be to cut them back very slightly, 

 to drop the pots the vines are now in 

 into larger pots or tubs, and fill the 

 space between them with half dung and 

 half loam, let them ripen all their 

 bunches, and then destroy the vines. 

 Window Gardener. — Your letter came 

 after the pages were filled ; but we 

 make room to advise you to procure a 

 supply of cocoa-nut fibre refuse, which 

 will make you independent of the nur- 

 serymen who refuse to sell you a bit of 

 compost. Mix the refuse with the loam 

 in the proportion of half and half, and 

 your bulb will grow nicely. Instead of 

 crumbling the mould off the turves, you 

 take out of the skylark's cage, put the 



turves in an oven long enough to kill the 

 grass, and then use fibre and loam to- 

 gether. 

 Various— r. P. P. — Your plant is Golden 

 Rod, Solidago Virgaurea. — Rocklands. — 

 Clipped furze is generally very effectual 

 in keeping mice from bulbs ; some gar- 

 deners use powdered rosin for the same 

 purpose, and we believe with good 

 effect. — F. L. — Phlnx Drummondii. — 

 — Subscriber, Bedford. — Onosma cchio- 

 ides. — F. F., Dublin. — Your ferns are, 

 1, Polypodium scohipendroides ; 2, Pla- 

 tyloma rotundifolia ; 3, Polystichum 

 angulare raultifidum ; 4, Todea pellu- 

 cida. We cannot make room now to 

 give the native places of these and the 

 others. — A B. — If the leaders of the dis- 

 taffs push too hard to be kept back hy 

 pinching, let them grow to the end of the 

 season, and then shorten hack with the 

 knife. An// soil will suit Virginian 

 creepers. We saw a splendid specimen 

 lately growing in a heap of slag and 

 ashes from a foundry. — J. Symon. — We 

 will name your ferns next month. We 

 have not time now to disentangle the 

 confused heap of greenstuff you have so 

 kindly crushed into an envelope for us. — 

 Subscriber. — We suppose by " mountain 

 heaths" you mean such things as British 

 Ericas ; if so, you may cut tbem down 

 as soon as the best of their bloom is 

 over ; if they were mown down, it 

 would not much interfere with the next 

 year's bloom, if done as soon as they 

 first begin to get shabby. — 7K P.— You 

 may defer planting the trees till spring, 

 as the ground is not yet drained. Your 

 strawberries ou^iht to do well after such 

 a preparat on of the soil. We know of 

 no betteredglng forkitchen-gnrdeii walks 

 than some sort of cheap tile, to be found 

 at the nearest pottery, or bricks put 

 in diagonally, thus III. If you fol- 

 Icw Mr, Cutliill's plan, you need not 

 manure your straw berries now.' — 

 Your letter came to hand after the pages 

 were all filled : reply next month. — 

 Polly. — Your letter on Greenliouse 

 came to our hands on the 23rd, too late 

 to make room for reply, as it cannot lie 

 disposed of in a word — Sussex. — We 

 cannot advise without knowing the size 

 of the house; perhaps one of Carman's 

 stoves might answer. — T. Co/«o». — The 

 yellowish-green leaf is Gardenia angus- 

 tifolia ; the Cyclamen is Europeum in its 

 ordinary foini ; the Eriostemon-like 

 plant we do not know. — Old Sub. — 

 The number was almost printed before 

 your letter came. 



