138 



THE FLORAL WOULD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



should not be able to accomplish it if 

 you will give rue a little assistance. 

 Pray let me into the secret of the mode 

 of culture that I must pursue to obtain 

 black currants, red currants, and white 

 currants, as large as those which I have 

 mentioned. On second thoughts, it may 

 possibly be peculiar sorts that grow so 

 large without any special culture. 

 Please name the sorts. — A Subscriber 

 from the Beginning. [There are two 

 grand points in the production of those 

 magnificent bunches of currants which 

 make visitors to Covent Garden dissatis- 

 fied with what they have at home. In 

 the first place, the varieties are peculiar, 

 and it is their nature to produce large 

 bunches of large berries ; in the second 

 place, the growers spare no pains to 

 bring them to perfection, and secure all 

 the high qualities characteristic of the 

 varieties grown. To grow these cur- 

 rants, m-ike the plantation in an open 

 sunny position, on a stiff well-manured 

 loam ; plant the trees five feet apart 

 every way, and annually in autumn 

 trench in a dressing of half rotten dung 

 between the rows, and in such a way as 

 not to damage the roofs of the trees. 

 While the trees are small, kitchen crops 

 may be grown in the mid spaces ; there 

 cannot, in fact, be a better place for 

 cauliflowers and lettuces. Atthe autumn 

 pruning all the young shoots are cut 

 in to two inches, so that the plantation 

 looks unsightly until the trees begin to 

 grow again. With respect to the sorts, 

 here is a selection of varieties which 

 any respectable nurseryman can supply 

 in the autumrt ; but if you can get cut- 

 tings in July, and strike them on a 

 shady border, under hand-glasses, you 

 may secure trees that will have the 

 vigour of seedlings, though they will 

 not, of course, fruit till the third year. 

 White : Blanche Transparent, amber- 

 coloured berries, berries and bunches 



I very large ; White Dutch, the next best 

 white. Red : Cherry, the largest of 

 all, short bunches ; La Fertile, the 

 second best red for size, and the very 

 best for fruitfulness ; Knight's Large 

 Red, the third best ; the berries very 

 large, but not richly flavoured. Slack : 

 Naples, very large ; Ogdens, the second 

 best black, and the hardiest. As you 

 take an interest in fruits, you should 

 consult the descriptions in the second 

 edition of the " Garden Oracle " for 

 1864. 



Various. — Amateur. — If you had sent 

 vour address, you might long ago have 

 had advice, but it is, perhaps, too late 



now to commence a correspondence. 

 What do you think of Christine gera- 

 nium for centre, Purple King verbena 

 in the four corners, edging variegated 

 Alyssum ? Two of the circles, Lord 

 Palmerston geranium, edged with Gol- 

 den Fleece, two with Stella, edged with 

 Cloth of Gold. These suggestions are 

 made in ignorance of the position of the 

 beds and their surroundings, so decide 

 for yourself on the spot, or send a plan 

 to Stoke Newington. — H. G., Kircud- 

 bright. — The leaves of the pear trees are 

 affected with fungus, which will pro- 

 bably disappear after heavy rains have 

 fallen. It would be well to syringe the 

 trees and dust them with sulphur, or 

 give them a good splashing with a solu- 

 tion of Gishurst compound. The apple 

 trees are wrong at the root. You do not 

 say what age they are, or in what soil 

 they are growing. You can do little 

 for them now, but it would be some help 

 to remove some of the surface soil, and 

 replace it with a mixture of half fresh 

 loam and rotten dung, well chopped 

 over ; then lay the mixture down, and 

 tread it firm. In autumn they must be 

 lifted or root-pruned. If the subsoil of 

 your garden is of an ungenial nature, 

 you had best take a hint from " Profit- 

 able Gardening," and grow all the 

 varieties liable to canker in the bush 

 form, which admits of biennial lifting, 

 which is not possible with standard 

 trees. — Lavender Mill. — Your ivy will 

 not be injured by running over the wall 

 and hanging down on the other side. 

 The paeonies must be lifted in autumn, 

 and replanted in an open sunny position 

 in good strong loam ; the soil is too 

 light for them. If you cannot get good 

 loam, mix together equal parts of clay 

 thoroughly pulverized and rotten dung, 

 and allow half a barrow-load to each 

 plant. It would do you good to see how 

 pceonies flower in our borders at Stoke 

 Newington without any care at all, in a 

 stiff, deep, strong, damp loam. — Polly. 

 — Hartley's rough plate glass answers 

 admirably for houses in which a strong 

 light is not needed all winter ; but for a 

 house to be used " for general purposes," 

 we prefer twenty -one ounce crown glass, 

 because of the better light all the winter 

 which many subjects in a mixed collec- 

 tion require. If you must have a stove 

 in the house, by all means have Mus- 

 grave's slow combustion. The one we 

 have had some years in the "lean-to" 

 (see Floral World, 1863, p. 118) 

 answers so admirably that we intend 

 some day to say another word about it. 



