110 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August U, 1663, 



eyery attention from Mr. Ivery or his intelligent foreman, 

 Mr. Appleby, and I venture to say they will return highly 

 pleased with theii- visit; and should they have more time 

 than I had, there are Deepdene, Mrs. Hope's, and also 

 Mrs Cxibitt's, wliich are well worth seeing. If they cannot 

 do this they may very safely commit themselves to the care 

 of Mr. Ivery. I for one hope to meet him with increased 

 vigour at the shows next year, if not before, when I hope 

 British Ferns will receive a little more consideration than 

 they have heretofore done. — D., Deal. 



STOPPING BLEEDING IN CONIFEROUS TEEES. 



A Cephalonian Pine, a fine young tree 2.5 feet in height, 

 was severely wounded three years ago. The blov/ caused a 

 deep indent, which we filled up with a mixture of cowdung 

 and clay ; but this did not check the bleeding, and it still 

 continues, so that the foliage is beginning to be att'ected. 

 Can you teU me the right course to p-orsue for restoring the 

 tree to health ?— N. Rycboft. 



[A very likely way of stopping the bleeding of your Pine 

 would be to remove all diseased appearances from the wound 

 with a sharj) knife. Then let it be seared with a hot ii-on, 

 and apply a good coat of pitch while the place is di-y. It 

 requires desperate means sometimes to stop the sap in such 

 cases, and what we prescribe is frequently effective, and 

 is most Hkely to be so if applied during a season when the 

 ground is dry, or when the sap is flowing at its minimum.] 



GLADIOLUS EEINE VICTOEIA. 



I THINK it a pity that the pubhe should be misled by an 

 erroneous statement made in No. 122, by your able corre- 

 spondent, " D., Deal," with regard to the price of the Gla- 

 diolus Reine Victoria. I am in receipt of MM. Verdier's 

 price for this variety, and find they intend sending it out 

 at 6f. per root. 



Few have hailed with gTeater pleasure the advent of thi« 

 beautiful flower than myself, and I have most particularly 

 observed, that where a blossom of such distinction as Reiuo 

 Victoria has been introduced, the price invariably main- 

 tains its ground ; and will you permit me to inform your 

 con-espondent, " D., Deal," from personal observation wheu 

 visiting M. Ch. Verdier some short time since, that a 

 thousand roots of Reine Victoria would prove to him a.n 

 exceedingly limited stock, ajid very inadequate to meet his 

 extensive English orders ? — G. P. O. 



AMAEANTHUS MELANCHOLICUS EUBEE 

 CULTUEE. 



Some time ago you requested that your readers -would 

 give you their experience with regard to Amaranthus 

 melancholicus. I do not think that any have done so, 

 so perhaps my experience, though on a very limited scalo, 

 may be acceptable. 



From my own observation and from the testimony of 

 others, I conclude that its seeds germinate very freely. I 

 had a very small packet, and every seed came up. In its 

 after-growth it is very tedious. I fear that it is not suited 

 for the damp cold climate of Ireland, for I have not seen a 

 plant in any of my neighbom-s' gardens exceeding 3 inches 

 in height. My best plants are 9 inches high and 1 foot 

 acToss. I sowed them in a brisk heat, and when they came 

 to their second leaf I pricked them out. I lost more than a 

 fortnight by putting them into altogether wrong compost— 

 a rather stiff retentive loam, with duU heavy sand through 

 it. They did not grow at all in this. I then pricked them 

 out into a very light compost composed of loam, leaf mould, 

 burnt eai'th, and pounded fr'eestone, and jjlaced them in a 

 Cucumber-frame. Here they grew rapidly till the fii'st week 

 in June, when they were put out in their beds. Buring 

 that month, which was wet and cold, they did not grow at 

 all ; but during July, which was unusually diy and wai-m, 

 they have for the most part gi-own well. I must confess, 

 however, that there has been great uTegolaiity in their 

 growth, some of them quite forcing ahead of others. I have 

 them in beds with Bijou Geraniton. Planted in alternate 



rings, and with an edging of Loljelia speciosa, they are 

 as beautifvd beds as I ever saw, when the sun is in a proper 

 position. 



Hei-e let me add — and I wonder I have never seen it 

 noticed in The Joufnai, «f Horticulture — that it is 

 higlily important to choose a fitting position for this plant. 

 Its whole beauty consists in being looked at between you 

 and the sun ; and it should be a little elevated, so that the 

 sun may play well through its leaves, which are of a most 

 exquisite ruby colour when thus seen — quite unapproached 

 by any other plant that I am acquainted with. Looked at 

 from above, with the sun beating down on its leaves, it is 

 simply a good dark leaf. I -nas not aware of this, and my 

 beds are vei-y badly placed. They can onlj' be seen to 

 advantage when the sim is setting ; but at that hour I often 

 stand quite entranced with their beauty. I am sure it 

 would be a beautiful object in a hanging-basket in a green- 

 house. — Q. Q. 



MACLEANIA COEDAT-i (HKAi!T-snAPED-i.EAVED 



Maclean: a). 

 Nat. onl., Vacciciaceee. lAnn., Decandi'ia Monogynia. 

 Syn., Gaultheria cordata, of Belgian gardens. — A fine green- 

 house evergreen sh-iib, gi'owing 3 to 4 feot high, with up- 

 light smooth branches. The leaves are opposite, oblong- 

 lanceolate, entire, about 3 inches long. The flowers grow 



in a seeund manner towai'ds the extremities of the branches, 

 three or four from the axil of each leaf; the corolla consists 

 of an anguliu- tube an inch long, bright red, with a yellow 

 limb of five small, ovate, spreading segments, greenish before 

 expansion. — From Chili : elevated regions in a calcareous 

 stony soU ; inti-oduced to Belgium in IWa. Flowers in sum- 

 mer. — (Gardeners' Ma<ja:^'mc of Botany.) 



Melons.— "W'iU any of your numerous readers tell me if 

 they have grown Melons in pots larger than I now have 

 here in my pinery — viz., 5.i lbs., and their mode of doing it ? 

 and oblige a constant subscriber. — J. Z. 



