June 20, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



493 



probably " R. C. T." saw noue of the diseased plants, which, 

 if Mr. Kelway were wise, ho would treat as my friend 

 M. Souchet does — ruthlessly pluck them up, so that iu his 

 ground two diseased bulbs are a rarity. 



The astounding discovery which "R. C. T." has made is, 

 that the Gladiolus disease is occasioned by the exhaustion of 

 the bulbs ; that we receive them, perhaps, after they have grown 

 for many years and borne seed ; and that hence, although 

 they may bloom well, it is but to wither and die ; and that 

 the disease is more prevalent amongst imported bulbs than 

 home-grown ones. Both of these discoveries are, unfortu- 

 nately, baseless. " R. C. T." seems to be in happy ignorance 

 of the fact that it is not the same corm which is planted from 

 year to year, that the corm dies, and from it are produced 

 those of the following year. He might say, although that 

 is true, yet they are from an exhausted bulb, but he recom- 

 mends the bulbs which have been grown from spawn produced 

 in England ; but these are the products, according to his 

 notion, of exhausted bulbs also. And when " R. C. T." says 

 no one thinks of growing Dutch bulbs, such as Hyacinths, 

 Tulips, etc., a second year, he is evidently in a muddle. The 

 Hyacinths we receive are the same bulbs which have been grown 

 lor four or five years especially for us, and are identically the 

 same bulbs. It is generally supposed that these are then ex- 

 hausted, but this I believe to be a fallacy ; at any rate, I saw 

 with my brother-in-law, Mr. Tandy, of Dublin, the best grower 

 of Hyacinths I know, a bed in which the foliage was as vigor- 

 ous and the fiower-stems as strong, as from any imported 

 bulbs, and he assiu'cd me that he had had as fine spUces of 

 bloom as many of those he exhibited, and this bed was made 

 of the bulbs grown iu pots the previous year. As to Tulips, 

 they only require to be liarvested with care, and you can get 

 as good blooms as from any imported bulbs, and this year 

 after year, as I can testify from my own experience. 



As to the French bulbs being more liable to disease than 

 home-grown ones, that again is, as far as I know, utterly un- 

 tenable. I have every year had some, and can say that they 

 are not one whit more liable to disease ; indeed I find it about 

 equal amongst the bulbs whether of home or foreign growth. 

 Bat when " R. C. T." speaks of the dazed folly of the grower 

 gloating over his large corm in happy ignorance that it is an 

 exhausted bulb, surely he must fancy amateurs know very 

 little about it, for there is not one of us who does not prefer 

 a middle-sized bulb to a large one — not on this account, but 

 because it is the more liable to throw up two or three stems, 

 and thus to detract from the strength of the bloom. Then, if 

 the disease be attributable to exhaustion in the bulbs, how can 

 " R. C. T." deal with the new varieties ? There can be no 

 «ihaustion here; for M. Souchet is of course anxious to get 

 up his stock, and as soon as ever he can obtain a sufficient 

 quantity of bulbs large enough they are sent out, and yet in 

 these the disease appears as well as in the bulbs of older 

 varieties. 



Evidently, too, " R. C. T." would imply that manure used 

 in excess has to do with this malady, and attributed my loss a 

 few years ago to this. Now I have never manured to excess, 

 and both last year and the year before no manure came near 

 the bulbs. As if to show how utterly inexplicable the whole 

 thing is, I may mention this simple fact : In taking up my 

 bulbs last autumn I found some so diseased that I did not 

 even think them worth the trouble of removing. My gardener's 

 little boy picked up three of them and planted them in liis 

 own garden, and to-day I have seen two of them with fine 

 healthy-looking shoots. I shall carefully watch them, and 

 certainly, if they do anything, shall never again throw away 

 diseased bulbs of any valuable sort. If they are dried, it is 

 hopeless, but there is apparently from this case, and from what 

 occurred in my own garden once before, a chance that if at once 

 XJlanted they may survive. 



Some persons have recommended that Gladioli be left in 

 the ground all the winter. Having a bed of varieties I did 

 not care much about, I did so last autumn, and the result is 

 that about one in five is alive ; the rest have perished, probably 

 from worms and wet, certainly not from frost. — D., Deal. 



Dendkodium DALHonsiANuii. — In your report of the Showheld 

 by the Blackburn Horticultural Society (in your issue of June 

 6th), your correspondent was afraid to say how many spilies 

 the DendrobiumDalhousianum, exhibited by Capt. Shaw, had 

 on it ; I now beg to supply that information — viz., forty-three 

 spikes, many \vith fourteen flowers on one spike. It had about 



440 individual flowers, four hundred of which were open all at 

 the same time. The pseudobulbs are 6 feet long, nine of which 

 were grown during the season of 1870. The flowers were 

 4i inches across. It is altogether a noble plant when seen in 

 such condition as it has been the last three weeks. — R. B. Vakley, 

 Gardener to Capt. Shaw, Higli Field House, Blackburn. 



A SMALL ELEVATED GREENHOUSE. 



After pondering the matter over, on which notes appear at 

 page 4B8, I thought I would see what an enthusiastic friend of 

 mine was doing with a proposed elevated greenhouse. 



There will be awash-house, etc., beneath, and the greenhouse 

 will be entered from the second floor. Most Hkely soil and 

 other materials wUl be carried up from the outside by means 

 of steps. Ho has as yet only had the floor made ready ; the 

 bottom of the floor is of boards in the usual way. Two holes 

 are left for pipes to take away all water ; the opening of the 

 pipes is to be beneath the level of the floor. It may help " Mrs. 

 St. C. J." to know how he proceeded, without giving his reasons 

 for doing so. The floor was painted over thinly with heated 

 tar, holding a Httle oil ; on that was spread a layer of brown 

 paper, which was painted in the same way, and on that was 

 placed, with the tar oozing through, a layer of flat house tUes, 

 the bottom side resting on the freely-tarred paper. The upper 

 sides of the tiles were then well damped, and covered first with 

 a layer of Portland cement, and then, when rather di-y, that 

 was damped, and a layer of cement and sand about three- 

 quarters of an inch thick. This formed a firm floor for walk- 

 ing on, and no damp would pass through it. On such a floor 

 " Mrs. St. C. J." might form her beds of earth, but there should 

 be a pipe to take away drainage. Our friend says, when he 

 gets richer after the house is up, he may floor it with orna- 

 mental tiles flxed on the cement. The house wiD command a 

 view of a small flower garden. The house is one iu a street of 

 a town ; already, in addition to other things, he has a row of 

 the finest Tricolor Geraniums on each side of the walks, each 

 neatly edged. To my knowledge, many of these keen en- 

 thusiasts, with but a small income, spend more in one year 

 on plants for their Uttle places than possessors of gardens 

 employing a dozen men spend in several years. The owner 

 of this place intends to keep all his plants in pots, with suffi- 

 cient walking room, and heat either by stove or by a pipe from 

 a small boUer in the wash-house. 



Another house, about 1-5 feet above the ground level, has the 

 floor tarred, and rough sanded on the top of the tar ; no moisture 

 has gone through to the boards, but the latter had to be tarred 

 two months previous to use. In another house, some 12 feet 

 from the ground, the boards had been covered with pitch, and 

 when dry covered with half an inch of spar and washed gravel, 

 none of the gravel being larger than horse beans, and most of 

 it not much larger than peas. When it became a Uttle dusty 

 and worn it was washed, and a Uttle fresh added. In this case 

 the boards had been used for a flooring for some ten years, and 

 the pitch had kept the damp from acting on them. In these 

 cases there was no planting-out, but all the plants were grown 

 in pots, vases, and baskets. In the last case the damping of 

 the spar and gravel was of much benefit in hot weather. I 

 found the idea of oUcloth on boards was much disapproved of 

 — the damp gets beneath it, it moulds, and soon becomes un- 

 sightly, useless, and not pleasant to walk on. With care the 

 boards alone would do. But these are mere hints, and I should 

 be obliged for the benefit of many if they were supplemented. 

 — R. Fish. 



EFFECTS OF MAY FROST IN IRELAND. 

 In your Journal of May 2.3rd, in " Notes and Gleanings," I 

 see some happy indiridual commenting on the old proverb — 



" "When frosts come in May 

 There 's tlie devil to pay," 



adding, " However, they have come this year, and we have 

 not heard of any special damage." Now, just let me teU you 

 of some effects of the frost on the night of the 18th of May 

 last in this, the west side of the county of Wicklow — the east 

 side did not probably suffer so much, being near the sea. 

 First, the Potatoes were all cut off to the groimd ; half-hardy 

 aimuals, such as French Marigolds, exposed, were entirely 

 killed; Apple trees suffered much ; and Gooseberries could be 

 had ready boiled (in appearance) on the trees. Hardy Azaleas 

 were cut-off both in blossom and leaf ; the blooms of hardy 

 Rhododendrons were either melted away if fully out, or if only 



