480 THE GARDENER. [Oct. 1870. 



treatment to which they had been subjected was simple in the extreme. They 

 are grown in a warm greenhouse all the winter, where the temperature does not 

 fall below 40 degrees. In summer they have just enough water to keep them 

 alive, and then they form their flowers. Just now they are makiog their growth. 

 The soil at the growing season should be kept damp. The variety known as 

 Kxitnea is an improved form, having broader petals and a rather brighter hue of 

 colour. 



Nekine Fothergillii. — At the same time Mr Pilcher produced some fine ex- 

 amples of this showy autumn-flowering plant. Some were in 24-pots, others in 

 12-sized pots. The Nerine requires a winter treatment similar to the Vallota, but 

 they are placed out of doors at the end of May, under a south wall, and there 

 allowed to get thoroughly dry and lose every leaf. One specimen in a pot about 

 12 inches across had not been shifted for 6 years ; it was a mass of bulbs, many 

 of which were blooming freely. The variety shown by Mr Pilcher was known as 

 N. Fothergillii major. 



J. D. P. —For such a wet climate as yours, Lady Downes is the best late 

 black Grape. From what you say of your climate, we doubt if Muscats would 

 ripen with you, and unless this Grape is well ripened it does not keep well. The 

 best white companion for the black Lady Downes is the white Lady Downes. It is 

 the black one in every sense except the colour. The Madredsfield Court is a 

 showy black Grape of good flavour, and if it keeps well, which has yet to be 

 proved, it will be an acquisition. The Mrs Pince's Muscat, according to our ex- 

 perience, is worthless. 



Your soil seems much too light for Grapes, therefore use a little cow and not 

 horse manure, and a good few bones of various sizes. There is no portable 

 manure we could recommend you to use for Vines, nor do you require it if you 

 can get the drainage of a dunghill or farmyard. 



J. G. H. S. would like to know in your next number how to press flowers and 

 ferns properly, in order to make them keep their colour. (Place them between 

 old newspapers under a heavy weight, and dry them quickly ; that is, as often 

 as the newspapers get damp replace them with dry ones. — Eds.) 



Tobacco (St. E.) — The plants should be taken up as soon as they have done 

 flowering, and hung up by the heels against a south wall, or any convenient 

 place, and exposed to the sun and air. If the plants cannot be gathered in till 

 late in the season, they may be placed in a greenhouse not fully employed, and 

 when quite dry, stowed away until wanted for use. When used, the dry plants 

 should be chopped up, leaf and stalk, and about one third part of tobacco-paper 

 mixed with it for fumigating purposes. — W. L. 



Epps's Selected Peat. — Mr James Epps, Lewisham, Kent, has sent us a 

 sample of his selected peat, for choice plants, Orchids, Ferns, &c. The quality 

 of the peat seems unexceptionable, and we think it well worthy of being 

 commended to our readers, especially as some plant-cultivators are often at a 

 loss where to obtain such an article. 



Cultivation of Fruit Trees. — Rivers's ' Miniature Fruit-garden ' would pro- 

 bably suit you, or Thomson's ' Gardener's Assistant,' or the English translation of 

 De Bruill, by Wardle. The name of this Correspondent has been unfortunately 

 mislaid. 



