1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



363 



winter shows. If very large specimens are desired, 

 the largest and finest plants should be pricked out 

 singly, when about thirty inches high, in large-sized 

 pots in the compost above described. Cow-dung 

 should be mixed with the latter, unless it be given 

 mixed with water, at successional waterings, which 

 is a better plan. The best method of all is to set 

 out the plants as standards in a border in a green- 

 house, in a compost of the same kind as that used 

 in pots. The plants should only be allowed to 

 bear a few flowers during the first winter, attention 

 being paid chiefly to putting them into shape by 

 pinching and tying out. To form tall standards, 

 a single stem only should be left and all shoots 

 stopped at the third leaf. The fourth or fifth up- 

 permost shoots, choosing those which are closest 

 together, are kept on to form the head. They are 

 pinched out to make them ramify, and the shoots 

 are tied out to a frame of iron wire or wicker-work. 

 When the plants are raised in pots, shifting should 

 be discontinued as soon as flowering commences. 

 — M. Oscar Cus, Diplomate of the School of Horti- 

 culture at Gendbrugge, Belgium. 



The Red Spider. — According to the Country 

 Gentleman, at the meeting of the Society of 

 American Florists, " C. L. Allen, who has had much 

 successful experience in the cultivation of orna- 

 mental plants, said that the red spider is a small 

 and beautiful insect, and as it is customary with 

 many to abuse and misuse the weak, this insect 

 has come in for its full share. Like other spiders, 

 this is carnivorous, and never ate a plant in its life, 

 and he regarded it as a friend and not a foe. A 

 healthy condition of plants from care in watering, 

 repels the minute destroyers the red spider feeds 

 on, and thus drives it away." 



Surely Mr. Allen has been mis reported. The 

 cheese mite is " like other spiders " in being one 

 of the web-weavers or arachnideas, but surely it 

 eats cheese and is not carnivorous. 



Seedling Ferns. — If you want Ferns to luxu- 

 riate, and seedlings to spring up by hundreds, you 

 must keep the water-pot in use winter and sum- 

 mer ; the very life of Ferns is water, as anyone 

 may prove by the luxuriance of our hardy native 

 Ferns, as well as the great variety that are natura- 

 lized in localities where the moisture is excessive, 

 and their almost total absence in dry, arid dis- 

 tricts. Look at the healthy, luxuriant specimens 

 that one finds hanging to the bricks or stones at 

 the top of wells, where they are daily drenched 

 with water winter and summer, and compare them 

 with the same varieties under a glass roof where 

 the water-pot and hose are put by for months dur- 

 ing winter. I know many very successful ama- 



teur Fern cultivators who keep their plants in ro- 

 bust health with but very limited accommodation, 

 for, unlike flowering plants, they do not require 

 strong light, but do best in the shade ; and as to 

 soil, they will grow in nearly any kind if the drain- 

 age is good, and when this is perfect they can 

 hardly be overdone with water. To anyone anx- 

 ious to try the raising of seedling Ferns who may 

 not have a glass-house of their own, I would ad- 

 vise the half-filling of a shallow box with rough, 

 porous material with a little fine soil worked 

 amongst it, and on this lay any old Fern fronds 

 that have the seed-spores visible on the backs of 

 them. Keep constantly moist by means of a very 

 fine rosed water-pot or syringe, and cover with a 

 large sheet of glass to prevent evaporation, set in 

 any warm position, and await the result ; if suc- 

 cessful, the surface-soil will soon be covered with 

 green scale-like growths, and then the various 

 forms of leaves will spring up ; let them make 

 two or three good leaves, and then carefully lift 

 with all the roots that can be got, and pot in 3- 

 inch pots in light, sandy soil. A mixture of turf 

 that is partly decayed, peat, and sand, will grow 

 any of the ordmary kind of Ferns to perfection. — 

 Gardening Illustrated. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Palms for a. S.mall Conservatory. — " Mrs. 

 J. G. M," Buffalo, N. Y., says: " I write to ask if 

 you, or some correspondent of the Gardeners' 

 Monthly, can tell me what is the reason my lilacs 

 do not grow. 1 have two, one purple and one 

 white, in different parts of the grounds. All other 

 shrubs, such as syringas, deutzias, Forsythias, 

 etc., do well, but the lilacs do not. If they need 

 any particular kind of food or care I should be 

 glad to know it. This is the second summer. Also, 

 I would like to have some names of palms and 

 ferns, not too expensive, that will do well in the 

 house. I have a small conservatory, 9x5, and 

 want some ferns to stand low and fill up the centre 

 where there are no benches. I find it difficult to 

 keep this cool enough, and do not know either 

 ierns or palms well enough to choose such as will 

 endure what they must. The palms, growing 

 tall, would get more heat than the benches. Also, 

 what can I do with my chrysanthemums this 

 winter ? They have been in pots all summer, 

 and when they are done blooming our ground, I 

 fear, will be frozen. Can I keep them in pots ? 



