November 3, 1863. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HOKTICTJLTUEE AKD COTTAGE GAUDENEE. 



359 



plantations of fruit trees. The modes have frequently been 

 alluded to. Forked over some rows of Strawberries that 

 were not previously done, not going deep, however, but 

 merely loosening the surface for 2 or 3 inches. Prefer the 

 steel forks for this purpose far before any hoeing. Pruned 

 fi'uit trees as we could get at them, opening up the centre 

 and cutting back some large branches that had become bare 

 of buds below. Painted and tied out of the way Vines in pit 

 that had been pruned some time. The paint was chiefly 

 sulphur, clay, and cowdung. The sooner such work is done 

 the better, as the longer the stems are thus covered the 

 more likely are all eggs, &c., to be smothered. As already 

 intimated, those starting Vines now must use heat mode- 

 rately and moisture abundantly. 



Pruned and washed with hot water and soap trees in early 

 Peach-house, now exposed. Washed aU the walls and wood- 

 work with hot soap-water, and painted the trees with a 

 paint made of tobacco-water, soft soap, sulphiu', soot, lime, 

 ajid cowdung. The tobacco, half a pound, with half a pound 

 of soft soap, a quarter of a pound of glue well boiled in two 

 gallons of water, equal portions of sulphur, soot, and lime, 

 were made into a paste, and about double portions of clay 

 and cowdung added. These quantities made in all about 

 foiu- gallons of mixtiu'e, which from experience we find will 

 stick well. We would have preferred the trees being frosted 

 before painting them, and for that pvu-pose we sUghtly 

 syringed them before dark on nights when we expected 

 frost, but we did not get enough to ice or freeze the mois- 

 ture outside of the trees. We think that this freezing is 

 capital for destroying insects ; but we must wait no longer, 

 as we want the floor of the Peach-house for storing lots of 

 Geranium cuttings just struck, and we want the places in 

 which they are for other things. Before placing these on 

 the floor in boxes we will remove a couple of inches or so 

 of the sui-face soU, fork-up, water with hot watei-, and then 

 give a layer of cowdung, covered over with fresh mould. 

 All the woodwork of trelUs, &c., will be done with quicklime. 

 Into such a place Ageratums, AmplexicauUs Calceolarias, 

 and Heliotropes should be put, as they wOl not stand much 

 irost, and are better if not below 35°. 



We at one time used to commence our first Peach-house 

 early in November; but now we let it come on in the 

 spring natm-aUy, and, as the trees are used to it, they 

 generally break early enough withovit any heat except 

 excluding fi'ost, to bring the iiruit in in June or the end of 

 May. With sharp eyes and glasses to help them, we could 

 discover no insect on the trees, scale or anything else ; but 

 there were many little scaly pieces on the back wall where 

 the whitewashing, &c., had peeled off, and underneath these 

 we found traces of insects and eggs too : hence the import- 

 ance of scraping off all these scaly pieces and giving a good 

 washing with hot lime considerably darkened, as the Ume 

 Itself would be too white and reflect the heat and Hght too 

 much. A little lampblack, pounded and made into a paste, 

 will go a great way in this direction. Painted also the hot- 

 water pipes we could get at, using for this purpose lamp- 

 black, oil, and some whitelead to give body. In aU houses 

 where much heat is wanted, this painting of the pipes should 

 be given in time, that they may be well dried and sweet 

 before there is much heat in the pipes. Nothing is more un- 

 pleasant than to go into a house and be next to knocked 

 down by such an effluvium, and plants like it as badly as 

 ladies do. This painting is more required for preserving the 

 pipes when sulphur is much used in forcing or duiing growth. 

 Picked-out a few berries from Grapes that were damping, 

 and these should be looked to every day, as if one affected 

 ben-y is left there will soon be three, and ere long half a dozen, 

 so quickly does the damp spread. Have a brisk fire now once 

 every day, and air on to keep the atmosphere dry, and if the 

 house is shut up at night let the fire out. As yet we have 

 never been without air at night in these late houses : that 

 air has chiefly been at the top of the back wall. Many 

 experiments tend to show that there are a great many mis- 

 conceptions as to the circulation of air. No doubt it is good 

 to have it all over the house, heated before it enters by 

 passing over pipes ; but we are satisfied that outlets at the 

 highest points in lean-to-houses wUl soon cause a circiUation 

 in all the confined space. 



OENAMENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



We meant to say something about greenhouse stoves, but 



would willingly request our readers to study what Mr. Keaue 

 says at page 335. When we used to force hardy shrubs we 

 liked to pot them in spring, plunge them, mulch them, 

 and properly water them all the summer. We have, how- 

 ever, done Lilacs, Ehododendrons, Roses, &c. in good style 

 by now selecting plants standing thin with good buds. 

 We took them up carefully, with balls if possible, and 

 squeezed them into as small pots as they could be put into, 

 using suitable soil and firming it well, and then plunged them 

 out of doors into a slight hotbed of litter and leaves, covering 

 the surface of the pots too, where the roots would have a 

 temperature of from 60° to 75° and 80°. In a month or six 

 weeks they might be taken into a house with a little bottom 

 heat, and the extra fillip to the roots caused the flowers to 

 come strong and vigorous. Our out-door work much as last 

 week. We have spoiled some of our best flower-beds by 

 taking away the centres of pyramids, as we were afraid 

 of frost. Among the best of these were fine plants of Cassia 

 corymbosa, a dense mass of orange from bottom to top. 

 We once tried them turned out in pots, but they gave no 

 such massive corymbs of flowers as when planted out. We 

 have also taken up a lot of Geraniums, and as we could not 

 pot them or give them any fire heat, we pruned them well 

 back to the hard wood, cutting off all the soft part, dipped 

 the head in Hme, and now we are packing them as thick as 

 possible in a cold pit. We give a little water at the roots 

 as we go along and firm the earth about them, and when done 

 win throw a lot of charred and burned earth over them, say 

 2 inches. We shall be satisfied if these do not show a green 

 leaf until the beginning of March. — E. F. 



COVENT GAEDEN MAEKET.— Oct. 31. 



The supply this morning was fair, but not so heavy as we have lately had 

 to report ; i-ttll it was quite sufficieut to meet ah requirements. Crasanne 

 Pears are now coming in ; and in Apples lox's Oranse Pippin, King of the 

 Pippins, Kibston Pippin, and Golden Pippin afford the beat samples. 

 Kentish Cobs are bringing 65s. per 100 lbs., the very finest 708. 



Apples A sieve 1 



Apricots doz. 



Figs do3. 



Filberts i Nuts 100 lbs. 65 



Grapes, Hamburghs. lb. 1 t> 



Hambro's, Foreign 9 



Muscats 3 



Lemons 100 8 



Melons each 2 ti 



d. s. d 



6 to 4 









 75 



6 



1 

 C 



12 

 4 



Mulberries quart 



Oranges 100 



Peaches...; doz. 



Pears bush. 



dessert g sieve 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plums i sieve 



Quinces doz. 



Walnuts bush. 14 



e. d. s. d 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



VEGETABLES. 



Beans, Broad bush. 



Kidney ^ sieve 



Beet, red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Caulifluwer doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers doz. 



pickling doz. 



Endive score 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic and Shallots, lb. 

 Gourds & Pumpk., each 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish ... bundle 



d. 8. 



too 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce score 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustd. & Cress, punnet 



Onions imnch 



pickling quart 



Parsley bunch 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas bush. 



Potatoes sack 



Radishes doz. bunches 



2 6 { Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys per doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Spinach sieve 



' Tomatoes g sieve 



i \ Turnips ouuch 



St d. s. d 

 3 too 

 3 



TRADE CATALOGUES EECEB^ED. 



Charles Turner, Eoyal Nurseries, Slough.— Catalogite of 

 Roses, Fruit Trees, Coniferw, Trees, Shrubs, ^c. 1863-64. 



B. S. Williams, Paradise and Victoria Nurseries, HoUoway. 

 — Catalogue of New and Choice Pelargoniums— Select List of 

 Gladioli. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Azalea indic* [Stihsoiber, LmrpooD.-^on will find such directions 

 as you require in the " Cottage Gardener's Dictionary ;" and a good article 

 by Mr. Fish in No. 613 of our First Series. 



Leadkn Pipes (A. Z.).— Our correspondent wishes to know where he can 

 obtain leaden pipes coated inside and outside with sulphate of potassium. 



Books {A. B. C.).-Glendinning's "Practical Hints on Culture of the Pine 

 Apple " (Longman & Co.), Uonfrey'a " Rudiments of Botany. (,tmstant 

 SeadcT, Brw(o().— Sanders on the Vine. 



