264 



THE GARDENERS MONTHLY 



[September, 



People not in the secret are often puzzled over 

 the terms used by gardeners in potting. Soil 

 they regard as the earth — earth of any kind that 

 is ready to receive the plant or seed. A heavy 

 soil is that in which clay preponderates over 

 sand. A sandy soil is that in which sand is 

 abundant with the clay. Loam bothers some 

 people — generally it is used as the equivalent of 

 " soil," writers often using " sandy loam " when 

 they might just as well say "sandy soil." But 

 strictly it is the upper surface of clay land 

 which has become black by contact with the air 

 and culture. A loamy soil would be understood 

 as a rather heavy earth lightened by culture. 



Plants intended to be taken from the open 

 ground and preserved through the winter should 

 be lifted early, that they may root a little in the 

 pots. A moist day is of course best for the pur- 

 pose, and a moist shady place the best to keep 

 them in for a few days afterwards. Anything 

 that is somewhat tender had better be housed 

 before the cold nights come. Some things are 

 checked without actual frost. 



Ornamental annuals for winter-Howering 

 should be at once sown, not forgetting Mignon- 

 ette, to be without which will be an unpardona- 

 ble sin. Chinese Primroses, Cinerarias, Calceo- 

 larias, Pansies, Polyanthus, &c., should be sown. 

 Winter-blooming Carnations and Violets should 

 not be forgotten. They are now essentials in all 

 good greenhouse collections. Calla Ethiopica, 

 old as it is, is an universal fiivorite, and should 

 now be repotted, when it will flower through the 

 winter finely. Oxalis, Sparaxis, Cyclamens, and 

 such Cape bulbs that flower through the winter, 

 should be repotted now. They are an easily 

 grown tribe of plants, and should be in more 

 favor. 



Mr. Meehan, I have forwarded you the above 

 remedy, thinking it would be of service to the 

 readers of the Monthly. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



REMEDY FOR VERBENA RUST. 



BY ROBERT PALMER, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA. 



Some three months since I asked through the 

 pages of the Monthly if there was a remedy for 

 the fungus known as Verbena rust. No one 

 having off"ered a remedy I now give one. Pul- 

 verized charcoal applied to spots of rust removes 

 them in a short time. I have tested its merits 

 on some pretty hard cases and always with suc- 

 cess. 



PITTOSPORUM TOBIRA. 



BY WALTER ELDER, PHILADELPHIA. 



A plant of Pittosporum tobira, four and a half 

 feet high, and three feet in diameter of its spread 

 branches, was planted in the open garden of 

 James C. Smith, Esq., 2104 Walnut street, Phila- 

 delphia, in June, 1875 (last year). It stood out 

 all last winter without injury, and now, June 5th, 

 1876, it is irt a flourishing state, and covered with 

 its white, sweet-scented blooms. If it should 

 prove always hardy in this latitude, it will be a 

 charming addition to our evergreen blooming 

 shrubs. It diff'uses the fragrance of its blooms 

 for a large distance around it, and is then very 

 ornamental, with broad and dark foliage. 



David Landreth, Esq., seedsman, who • has 

 successfully cultivated the hardy hybrid Rhodo- 

 dendrons for a quarter of a century back at 

 Bloomsdale, has had the greatest profusion of 

 blooms by them this year that he ever had, and 

 the same with his hybrid Belgian Azaleas. 



CULTURE OF PRIMULA SINENSIS. 



BY BENJAMIN GREY, GARDENER TO E. 8. RAND, JR., 

 ESQ., DEDHAM, MASS. 



This very desirable winter-blooming plant may 

 be propagated from seeds, which should be sown 

 in a pan on a light sandy compost about the be- 

 ginning of August for early spring bloom, or 

 sooner, say May, for fall or'Avinter flowering. The 

 pan of soil should be well watered, and the seeds 

 sown on the surface, covering only by laying a 

 piece of paper over the top of the pan ; in fact, 

 we find this mode of covering excellent for all 

 small seeds, as it maintains "a uniform moisture, 

 with less frequent waterings, should the soil seem 

 to be getting dry. The pan may be dipped 

 nearly to the edge in water, and let it soak in 

 through the holes in the bottom. The plants 

 will be up in three or four weeks, and as soon as 

 large enough may be potted off" singly into small 

 pots, or pricked out in a frame or old hot-bed in 

 sandy loam and leaf mold, and in the fall they 

 may be put into five-inch pots, in which they 

 will bloom, and may be kept in the frames 

 shaded from the mid-day sun as late in the sea- 



