July 21, 1863. ] 



JOTTRNAIi OF HOETICULTUEE AJSTD COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



57 



TBTJIT GARDEN. 



Tiiinned late Grapes. Tied-in Peach-shoots. Watered and 

 regiUated Figs, Chei-ries, &c. Layered Strawberry -runners. 

 Thinned and stopped shoots of fruit trees, as previously 

 stated. Planted-out late Melons. Cut-hack the first bed 

 for a second crop. The second bed had been too much 

 punished with bearing and rather dry to do much more 

 good, so moved plants out, and part of soil to 2 or .3 inches 

 deep. Cleaned the frame, painted with sitlphm- inside, and 

 plajited with strong young plants. We have also put some 

 where a little fii-e heat can be given in the autumn. Suc- 

 cessions come iu well. Strawbenies ai-e suffering consider- 

 ably from the di'ought. Even the blackbu-ds seem to care 

 less for the fr-uit, as it has become more saccharine, and is less 

 juicy. The crops on the whole have been good. We have 

 noticed the trouble that some people have to obtain a crop ; 

 but it is in general aU theu- own fault. A friend of oui's has a 

 large bed, but he scarcely ever has any fruit. He had maniure 

 water and Utter at command. No plants could have bloomed 

 better, and the bloom was perfect ; but for want of the water 

 and the litter the large crop shrivelled up. We have in- 

 stanced several cases in which sterility was owing to extra 

 and late encouragement to growth, by which fine plants were 

 seoui'ed with soft flabby buds. We know it is often diflScult 

 to procure good crops on light land, and we approve of the 

 plan recommended by a coiTespondent of adding clay to such 

 soil. We have, however, seen fine crops secured by a simpler 

 process still. The ground was well maniured and well dug, 

 and the plants put in in the usual way, after the ground 

 was well roUed and trodden. As soon as the plants were 

 faii-ly established the ground was beaten firmly about them 

 with large beetles when it was in a rather wet state, and 

 then the hard fii-m ground was slightly Uttered over with 

 haU'-rotten dung, and a thicker coat was put on eai-ly in 

 spring. We never saw plants do better; the leaves were 

 lai'ge, on short footstalks, hanging close to the ground, 

 instead of tail staring things. 



This just reminds us that no rule, however good, should 

 be too hard diiven. One of oiu' rules as to Strawbei-ries is 

 to em'ich the ground, dig it well, and after planting never 

 to put a sjjade in it untU the plants are dug down. 

 Another rule is never to cut away a StrawbeiTy leaf from a 

 plant we vrish to remain and be fertile, except perhaps a 

 few dead ones at the spring-di-essing. This answers weU 

 with us here, and we should look on such an operation as 

 mowing the tops of our Strawberry -beds early in the autumn 

 as something barbarous — quite as bad as cutting over a 

 quarter of Aspai'agus in the beginning of August. Biit 

 holding that idea, we must say that we have seen the scythe 

 used in a Strawberry-quarter with very good effect. In 

 very Ught soil the foUage comes long and lanky, it is fre- 

 quently aU spotted and brown before the fr-uit is all gathered, 

 and therefore the wasted foUage cannot elaborate for the 

 buds of the foUowiug year. When neatly cut over eaily a 

 fresh batch of green leaves is produced ; and these so grow 

 and floui-ish that ripened and far better buds are produced 

 on compact fi'esli plants before the end of autumn than ever 

 •could have been produced ft-om the old, spotted, half-dead 

 leaves. Only in such cfrcunistances would we sanction the 

 scythe or the knife ; but even on such soil we shaU be sur- 

 prised if such a practice is much needed if the firming pro- 

 cess is resorted to. Thus rules must bend at times to suit 

 oases and cii'cumstances. 



ORNAMENTAL DEPAKTMENT. 



Potting hardwoodedand softwooded plants, training flowers 

 in beds, keeping clean, and the general routine much 

 as last week, which see. Our labour is greatly regulated 

 by the scarcity of water, and moving oui- rough siu-face pre- 

 sents a fresh point for the sun to act upon, and so far breaks 

 the line of evaporation and conduction without doing much 

 to prevent the fi-ee rising of moisture from beneath. We 

 have been obUged to water some Calceolarias that were 

 showing signs of distress, as they are heavily loaded 

 with bloom. Geraniums are standing the drought nobly as 

 yet.— R. F. ^^_ 



ExTKAOKDiNAEY Feost. — Ou the night of Saturday last 

 the thermometer near London feU to 27°, or 5° below freezing, 

 a temperature which we beUeve has never before been regis- 

 tered in July. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*^* We request that no one will write privately to the de- 

 partmental writers of the " Journal of Horticulture, 

 Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so 

 doing they are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and 

 expense. AU communications should therefore be ad- 

 dressed solely to The Editors of the Journal of Horticul- 

 tur'e, (f-c, 162, Fleet Street, London, E.C. 

 We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those 

 on Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them 

 answered promptly and conveniently, but write them 

 on separate communications. Also never to send more 

 than two or tliree questions at once. 



Cherries Falling in aw ORCHARD-aouaE [Observer). — Your Cherry 

 trees ate, from your description, of the Bigarreau race, and your house 

 being " forced on early in the season," the blossoms drop from the pollen 

 not acting. Bigarreau Cherries are raost impatient of heat wlien in bloom, 

 and do not force well. You shuuld remove them and plant May Dukes, 

 but with them much care is required when forced. They should have 

 abundance of air when blossoming, 



GuAso LiauiD Manure {J. C, Muckross). — For plants in pots half an 

 ounce of guano to a gallon of water ; for plants in the open ground one 

 ounce of guano to the same quantity of water. 



Plums in Pots {Ah Irish Subscriber). — There is either a defect of action 

 at the roots or you keep your orchard-house too close. What is said in 

 answer to another correspondent to-day relative to his Cherries falling may 

 be suggestive as to the cause of your Plums becoming yellow and falling. 



Spot in Grapes (G. M.).—ThQ berries of your Muscat Grapes are un- 

 questionably affected with the " spot," a disease which we consider has no 

 connection with exposure to the light. Try removing the soil down to the 

 upper roots, replacing it with a mixture of light loam, limy rubbish, and 

 thoroughly-decayed stable-dung, giving also copious waterings with tepid 

 water. 



Berries of Cotoneaster a>d Pyuacantha [F. P.).— They are not 

 tempting in flavour, but we should certainly say that they are not poisonous. 

 The CraliBgus pyracantha belongs to a genus, the berries of which are 

 really palatable. Formerly both Cotoneaster and Pyracantha were in- 

 cluded with the Medlar in ihe genus Mespilus. 



White Cderants {Lex\ — The White Currants you sawin Covent Garden 

 were the White Dutch. They are produced by being grown In a fine strong 

 loam, and by the trees being pruned on the spur system. 



Names of Insects {T. Morgan). — The Black Pincher is a species of 

 ground beetle (Harpalus ruficornis), and is no doubt beneficial in gardens 

 and fields, by destroying and eating worms and other sott-bodied insects. 

 — W. {Bees].—\t is the Sirex gigas. The appendage to its abdomen Is 

 used for boring into Fir trees for ihe deposition of its eggs. 



HOESE.DUNG FOR MusHuooM-BEDS (C P., Wigau). — We would recom- 

 mend horse-droppingg that have been collected four months and dried in 

 the shade, without any litter amongst them, to be mixed with at least one- 

 third of their quantity of fresh dung. 



Thrips and P.ED Spider on Geapes nearly Ripe [A Many-year» 

 5«65cri6sr).— Fumigate the house with the best shag tobacco to destroy the 

 thrips; paint the walls at the top of the house with sulphur, and the hot- 

 water pipes also if they are the source of heat, but not a flue. Put a sharp 

 fire on at night, opening the windows early. If you dislike using fire, slack 

 2 or 3 lbs. of fresh lime in a pail, and when pretty well slacked, mix 

 with it half a pound of sulphur. Were we in your case, we would go over 

 all the worst leaves with a sponge just moistened with soap water, so that 

 the insects would stick to it, and there would be no danger of any dropping 

 on the bunches. A man might thus soon clean a house, especially with the 

 help of the sulphur fumes. The sponge is the safest application. 



Climbers for Greenhouse {J. P.).— Presuming that you wish for 

 climbers of short duration, as you have named Tropseolum canariense, the 

 following, in addition, will give abundance of flowers ; — Thunbergia alata 

 and T. alata alba, Tropffiolum Lobbianura Brilliant, Lophospermum Cliftoni, 

 and Maurandya Barclayana. We should prefer some of the more-properly- 

 speaking greenhouse climbers, for most of the above are hardly worth house- 

 room, as Hibbertia grossulariaefolia, yellow ; Jaaminum gracile, white, and 

 sweet-scented; Kennedya inophylla, and K. monophylla, blue ; Rhynco- 

 spermum jasminoides, white, very sweet ; and Kennedya coccinea, red. 

 All those will do well in nine-inch pets, with ordinary greenhouse tempe- 

 rature. 



Evergreen Berberries (ff. if.).— Your border will just suit Berberries- 

 Trench the ground if possible, snd then work in, as your soil is light and 

 poor, a liberal dressing of well-rotted manure or leaf mould. You will 

 hardly be able to have more than two rows in such a narrow border, 4 to 5 

 feet. In the back row plant Berberis canadensis, B. dealbata, B. FortunI, 

 B. Leschenaulti, B. empetrifolia, B. heterophylla, andB.dulcis, all of which 

 attain 4 to 6 .''eet, and that is the distance they should be planted from 

 plant to plant in the row. In the front row B. Darwini, B. asiatica, 

 B. Beali, B. japonica, B. nepalensls, B. sinensis, B. trifoliata, and Mahonia 

 aquilolia should be planted alternately with the plants in the other row. 

 The plants should not be less than 2 feet from the edge 01 the bed, and the 

 same between the rows, so that your border should not be less than 6 feet 

 wide. One row of plants is ample for a bed 4 feet wide ; but two rows look 

 batter than one, and three are belter still, especially when the centre is 

 planted with the taller, and the outside rows with the dwarfer kinds. Any 

 time between October and March in mild weather is the proper time to 

 plant them. AU the pruning Berberries require is to cut away m early 

 summer a»y straggling shoots and such as are weak and old. They will 

 need copious supplies of water the summer after planting in droughty 

 weather. 



Salt for Mildewed Vines (/. A. /.).— We do not think the salt would 

 injure the Grapes, but we would not run the risk, since it is estahlished 

 beyond controversy that flowers of sulphur applied thoroughly is a speciSc 

 for the Vine mildew. 



