JOUKNAX OF HOIITICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ June 20, 1872. 



nple foi-ms of Dr. Amott's 



a compost of two poi-ts turfy loam, one of leaf soil, one of old manure, and a 

 sixth of shai-p sand. They may be put into 9-inch pots in February, and have 

 11-inch or ISinch pocs at the close of March. Liberal supplies of water ai'e 

 required, but do not ^ve any until the soil in dry. 



Hydrangea Culture [Subscriber). — We presume you are in possession 

 of young plants ; if not, you should put in cuttings at once, taking them from 

 the old plants when about 4 inches long. Take out the eyes from the parts 

 inserted in the soil aa well as the base of the leaves. Insert them singly in 

 small pots, place them in a gentle heat, and cover them with a hand or bell 

 glass. AMien rooted admit air, harden them off, pot them in 4-inch pots, and 

 place them in a cold frame. If they show for flower remove it (but the 

 cuttings should be taken from such parts as are not likely to flower), place 

 them in a cold frame, keep them well supplied with water, and give abundance 

 of air. They may be kept in the frame during the winter, the pots plunged in 

 ashes or in a cold house. In January you may repot, and place them in any 

 house with a gentle heat, as that of a vinery or other house. They will suc- 

 ceed with gentle forcing, such as that given to Deutzias and other hardy 

 shrubs. Six-inch pota will be sufficiently large, and a compost of two parts 

 good friable loam, with one part of old rotted manure and a sixth of shai-p 

 sand, will grow them well. The plants are benefited by weak liquid manm-e 

 when the trusses show. 



Botanists' VASccLuar (C. F.).— Any of the principal seedsmen or iron- 

 mongers could supply yoH. 



Arnott's Stove (Medicm).—FoT a small greenhouse it is very efficient. 

 We do not know where one can be puixhased, but any ironmonger or brick- 

 layer could make one from the following, which we published some years 

 since :— All stoves used in plant-houses should have a small firebox standing 

 quite free from the sides. A good stove for such a purpose would be the 

 . 1^ * ^ T^ . ,,. intended to represent one about 3 feet square 



and a trifle more than 4 feet 6 inches in 

 height. The small fireplace is enclosed in 

 an iron box, with thin firebricks up the side. 

 An iron division comes down not quite in the 

 centre, and leaving a space open top and 

 bottom for the heated au- to go round and 

 round as well as out at the smoke- pipe. 1 1^ 

 the feeding-door made airtight ; 2, the ash- 

 pit door, also airtight, with a small valve in 

 it to turn round to regulate the draught for 

 the fire. A very small quantity of fuel will 

 in such a stove give out a long continuous 

 heat ; and being placed in the centre of a 

 small house, the heated air will ascend and 

 pass along next the glass to each end, whilst 

 gw II - the cold air will keep coming along the bot- 



'r > tom or floor, to be brought again and again 



^ M in regular rotation against its sides — sides 



which, though hot, will never become dan- 

 gerously warm if the valve at the ashpit is attended to. "When fairly Hghted 

 and the iron warm enough, a smaD hole at the valve, of the sixteenth of an 

 inch m diameter, will give enough an- to support a slow combustion. When 

 the heat decknes give a UttJe more air. To keep the air moist, place a pan of 

 zmc or other metal 2 or 3 inches deep on the top. suppUed with water, or 

 ■Che top may be so cast. If deshable. the pan may be concealed bv an open, 

 corneal, light cap. The vessel and the top are shown in dotted lines. The 

 plate at top will be so much hotter than the sides, that the top mav be formed 

 into a small boiler, and pipes with hot water taken from it, or a tank of water 

 be heated. Coke broken small is the best material for such stoves. To insure 

 draught, with a small or no aperture at the ashpit, after combustion has fairlv 

 commenced, the smoke-pipe should not proceed many feet in a horizontal 

 position, but should soon rise upright or in a slanting position against the 

 back wall of the house before going outside; and the longer the pipe the less 

 heat will be lost. Previous to cleaning out the ashpit a shght damping of the 

 ashes will be necessary. Keeping the principle of the Amott's stove in view, 

 and substituting solid 4-inch brickwork for the iron, there will be little diffi- 

 culty m making them. Mr. Rivers has the fireplace or firebox in the middle, 

 and above the firebox a firelump is set up about 3 inches from the mouth of 

 the smoke-pipe, a similar space being left at the ends, which thus acts some- 

 thing like the partition in the iron stove in regulating the draught. Mr. 

 Kivers tells us that for heating a house 30 feet long by 12 feet wide, the stove 

 should be 2 feet 4 inches square, 3 feet 10 inches high ; and the firebox should 

 "be 8 inches over and 8 inches deep. For a larger house, a larger square and a 

 firebox a few inches larger would also bo necessary. In forming the size 

 named, lay out a space in the middle of the house about 2 feet from the back 

 wall, and 28 inches square, lay that with one coarse of bricks and mortar, 

 brick-on-hed. On this, at front and in centre of it, fix your ashpit door that 

 will fit tight with a small ventilator in it, mark out a space from 7 to 8 inches 

 wide, and to within 11 inches or so of the opposite side : that will be the base 

 of your ashpit. Build all round it until you get as high as, or a httle above 

 the height of, your ashpit door; then place bars across for the bottom of the 

 fireplace, form your fireplace of firebricks 8 inches square and that deep, or of 

 four firelumps of the size of 8 inches deep, finish with brickwork outside, and 

 above the height of the fireplace place your double 

 door for feeding. Use brickwork for the necessary 

 height above them, and cover with a plate of u-oii 

 three- quarters of an inch thick. A firelump should 

 stand 2 or 3 inches in front of the draught-pipe to 

 equaUse the heat, &c., and the smoke-pipe should 

 not be far from the top. With such stoves Mr. 

 Rivers finds the horizontal pipe should not be long, 

 but that it should enter an upright or sloping flue 

 at the distance mentioned. He gives moisture by 

 an evaporating-pan of water; and by fixing a small 

 cistern, or rather boiler, on the top, he can easily 

 lieat pipes or tanks of water. The following shows a 

 rough vertical section through the centre, on much 

 the same scale as the others — viz., 5 feet to the inch, only the openings by the 

 sides of the firelump equal to those in front of the smoke-pipes are not shown. 

 Tricolor Pelargoniums for Exhibition — Disbcddino Balsams iRf:i\ 

 JR. S. D.).^We consider your plan of plunging in a hotbed good, as it must 

 promote root action and a good leaf-growth ; the other requisites are to give 

 them plenty of air, and to shade from very bright sim, but only a few hours 

 in the hottest part of the day. Do not syringe the plants overhead, and do 

 not water excessively, but let the soil become dry, and then give a thorough 

 supply. Withdraw the pota from the hotbed gradually. Afford protection 

 from heavy rains, otherwise you can hardly expose the plants too fully in 



1, Firebox. 2, Ashpit. 



Ban-e, Gloire de Cor- 



j erected for the e 



order to have the colours well defined. From the time Balsam plant a have 

 buds as large as Peas they take about a fortnight, so that you can see when to 

 discontinue picking off the buds for any required time of blooming. 



Removing Rose Trees {C. I'.).— Tou may remove Rose trees in September 

 hut you will need to tike up the roots very carefully, tie them up in damp 

 moss, and damp the foliage before covering with the mat. They should be 

 kept from the sun, and after planting we should sprinkle them overhead 

 twice a-day, moraing and evening. If you could afford shade from bright sun, 

 their chance of becoming speedily rooted would be greater. 



Flowertng Shrubs and Trees (B. fl".).— Of flowering shrubs Berberis 

 Darwinii, Laurustinus, Rhododendron in variety, Cydonia japonic^, Deutzia 

 gracilis, Lilac of sorts, Philadelphus coronarius, Ribes in variety, Spinea 

 ailsefolia, S. Douglasi. Wei^-ela rosea, and double Gorse or Whin. Of trees or 

 large flowering shrubs, scarlet, pink, and double-flowering White Thorn, 

 Scotch Laburnum, double- flowering Cherry, scarlet and double white Horse- 

 chestnut, TnhpTree, flowering Ash, Mountain Ash, Robinia Decaisneana, and 

 Rhus typhina. Though these are very desirable we apprehend you have not 

 decided to do without the u'lual evergreen kinds, which are quite as essential, 

 if not more so, as the flowering ones, which are for the most part deciduous. 



Select Bedding Geraniums (An Amateur FIo'-ist).~ Scarlet : Jean 

 Sisley, Cybister, Grand Duke, WiUiam Underwood. Rove : Amy Hogg, Rose 

 Rendatier, Blue Bell, Chi-istine. Salmon : Monsie ~ -■- . - - 



benay, Emile Licau, and Eugenie Mezard. 



Cheap Greenhouse (S^njford).— The small on( 

 stated: but remember, if you want such things a , 

 must superintend the erection yom*self , and that would be of no use unless 

 you did some of the work yourself. The firm to which you allude do sashes 

 beautifully, and, aa you say, you can have glass cut to any size. However, 

 everybody must live by their labour, and if you employ regular tradesmen 

 for everything you could not do it for the money. For cheapness, why have 

 sashes at all? Why not have rafter sashbars — say, 1\ by 3^ inches, and 

 20-inch glass between them ? Some time ago, having a wall facing south, we 

 took in a width of 11^ feet, and covered a length of 75 feet with wood and 

 glass for £30. The wood and glass cost £16, but wood since then has become 

 dearer. If you indulge in hobbies you must pay for them. For a very small 

 greenhouse a friend of ours spent four times the amount. 



Refuse Vegetable Matters for Manure (C. A. J.).— The stems of 

 Cabbages, Rhubarb, &c., should be chopped into small pieces, as they then 

 decay rapidly. No fresh vegetable refuse dug well into the soil promotes the 

 breeding of insect vermin — it is beyond their reach. We know of no remedy 

 against the "white bhght" at the roots of your Moneywort, but we should 

 liie to have tried one part carboUc acid mixed with four parts water. It might 

 be appUed to the roots of one plant,and we should like to know the result. 



Gooseberry Caterpillars {N. S. S.).— They were destroyed by the poafc 

 office pimches. That you describe with yellow rings is the lan'aof the Goose- 

 berry Saw-fly, Nematus Grossulariae. AU the caterpillars may be destroyed by 

 dusting with white hellebore powder. Root-prune your over-luxuriant Currant 

 bush. 



Aphides on Cucumbers (A Suhscribei). — It is the worst case of aphis we 

 have ever seen, the leaf swarms with them, both green and black. Shut-up 

 the house closely, and damp all surfaces except the foliage of the plants, 

 then fumigate with tobacco, taking care to deliver the smoke cool, as other- 

 wise there is a danger of scorching the leaves. Syringe well next morning, 

 and shade from bright sun, so as to lessen the necessity for air-giving — in fact, 

 keep the house as close as you can consistent with the safety of the plants, 

 and keep it moist, without, however, wetting.the foliage. When the leaves are 

 dry in the evening again fumigate effectively. Pursue a similar mode of 

 treatment the following day, and fumigate every alternate night for a week. 

 We could name many things that will destroy the aphis, but the foUage of 

 the Cucumber is so tender as not to admit of their application. Strong shag 

 tobacco, or tobacco paper on which you can depend, should alone be used. 



Plants In sect- infested (Cedam). — The Pelargonium leaves are blackened 

 with the deposits of aphides. Fumigate with tobacco. The Orange leaf is 

 covered with black fungus in consequence of being attacked with scale. The 

 remedy for this is to wash every leaf with a sponge, using a solution of soft 

 soap, 4ozs. to the gallon, and adding to every gallon a wineglassful of spirits 

 of turpentine, as hot as the hand can bear. For the scale on the Kennedya 

 lay the plant on its side if in a pot, and syringe with the above solution at a 

 temperature of 140^, turning the plant round so as to thoroughly wet eveiy 

 part. If the plant is on a trellis remove any plants beneath it, and then well 

 syringe. Wash or syringe with water after three hours. It may be necessaiy 

 to repeat the application. Orange trees require to be frequently sponged to 

 keep them in good order, and to preserve plants in good health the insect 

 pests should he battled with on then- first appearance. 



Names of Plants (A. W. E.). — 1 and 4, Asplenium flaccidum; 2, A.flabelli- 

 forme; 3and 5, Adiantumhispidulura; 6, Pelltea hastata ; 7, Selaginella Kraus- 

 siana; 8, Asplenium Adiantum- nigrum. (F. T., Bournemouth). — 1, Calluna 

 vulgaris ; 2, Erica cinerea; 3, Erica tetralix. (R.H. W.). — Limnanthes Douglasii. 



POUITEY, EEE, AND PIGEOU OHEONIOLE. 



MATING. 



" Ladies, the tale that I relate 

 Instruction seems to carrj', 

 Choose not alone a proper mate, 

 But proper time to marry." — Speaker. 

 *' Proper mating is the science of good breeding." — Rural Ncic Yorkn: 

 Cousin, you have hit on the truth, and when we have a 

 poultry convention we will ask you to give us a lectiire upon 

 the subject. In the meantime we shall make use of it, and 

 hope this vnXl meet your eye. We are afraid our first quotation 

 will cause some to ask themselves how lonf; it is since they read 

 it. Imagination will cai-ry them many years back, when they 

 stood up on certain days (they were Wednesday and Satm-day 

 with us, 1821), with the old "Speaker" in their hands, for read- 

 ing and elocution, and began the tale from which we quote. 

 " I shall not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau 

 If birds confabulate or no." 



