November 17, 1863. ] 



JOURNAIi OF HORTICULTURE A^D COTTAOE aARDENER. 



399 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



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

 partmental wi-iters of the " Joxirnal of Horticuitux-e, 

 Cottage Gai'denei*, and Country Gentleman." By so 

 doing they are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and 

 expense. AH communications should therefore be ad- 

 dressed solely to The Editors of the Joiirnal of KovticuU 

 ture, 4'c., 162, Fleet Street, London, E.G. 



We also request that correspondents will not min 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 three questions at once. 



PttONtNO Pillar Roses [T. (?.).— Roaea ^rown aa pillar or climbing 

 Koaes require to be pruned on a different principle altogether from standarda. 

 For a pillar we uhall presume that ttie plant has five shoots. Select the 

 strongest and cut it back half its length, the next strongest two-thirds 

 of its length, «nd the remainder are ti be pruned to four eyes each. The 

 leader will push some five eyes, the uppermost of which is to be trained to 

 the pillar, the remrtining four plioots being also tied if there is any danger 

 of their becoming broken in a gale. The ahcota made by ihe leader ure to be 

 pruned precisely in the same manner as in the previous season, and all 

 below pruned to four eyes, and so on year after year untl the pillar ia 

 covered, when the shoots are pruned to four eyes from top to bottom. If 

 th.ey are to be trained against a trellis or wall select the two etrougest shoots, 

 and biing these doA'n towards the bottom, and having cut tliem back, half 

 their length, nail or tie at about 1 foot from the bottom, letting the shoot 

 rise from the stem 1 foot in a yard distance. Take the two next strongest 

 and cut them back two-thirds of their length. These are to be trained about 

 9 inches abo\ e the other shoots. The remainder being equally distributed 

 towards tlie centre, and three >hi ots ura ample to cover or fill the 

 centre, cut two to sis eyes, and the centre shoot to four. The season 

 following the bhoots on the old wood are to be cut to two eyes, and the 

 leaders of all the branches to half thei: length, except those in the centre, 

 which are to be piuned to two-ihirds the length of each. Proceed in this 

 way until the allotted space is covered, when closer pruning is requisite for 

 the whole. You will attend to the cuttmg out of an old branch in after 

 years, and supplying a young one in its pUce, taking such shoots from the 

 base of the plant. Out of those you named you will prune Brennus and 

 Gloire de Dijon less than the Hybrid Perpetuals. 



Transplanti.vg Rose Tkeks (/(/e/?i).— You may move the budded Roses 

 now, the sooner the better; but do not cut otF the part above the bud until 

 the beginning of March. 



Pampas Grass not Flowkrino (/(/cm).— The Pampas Grass ia evidently 

 suffering from want of moisture at the root. You will do well to add some 

 strong clayey loam to the soil about the plant, and water copiously with 

 weak liquid manure twice weekly in droughty weather. We think your 

 plant would then not only (lower but be very tine, amply rewarding you in 

 due time for the labour bestowed. Rivera's Kose Catalogue wiil meet your 

 wishes. 



Protecting Yucca filamentosa {A Cottager in the We5t).~U you 

 leave the plant out the best thing would be a hood of mat or eaiico, or 

 canvass made waterproof, to set over the plant every night, and to keep it 

 on if the weather ehould be frosty during the day. The plant is hardy, but 

 the frost will injure the flowers if severe. If you are very anxious the plant 

 could be raisea carefully with a b.iil and placed in a tub or pot, and set in- 

 doors until the blooming was over. We presume the dry summer has caused 

 it to bloom so late. The same crown will not flower again, but fresh crowns 

 will bloom when strong enough. 



Heating Pit for Bedding Plants [A, ^4.).— You would see an aaswer 

 to a correspondent last week how that could be done by taking a flue under- 

 neath with a chamber over, and openings to let the heat up. A. small flue 

 at the side would answer the same purpose. All could be saved without 

 artificial heat, if covering up from fros^t is attended to, in frames set on 

 raised ground, banked up all round, the outsides coated with tar and sand, 

 and for a yard or 4 fe>it all round to send otf the water. For single frames, say 

 of one or two lights each, earthenware gallon bottles filled with hot water 

 would be serviceable. For a number oi them the cheapest thing would be 

 a small furnace, a yard or 2 yards ot brick flue, and then common drain 

 tiles about 7 or 8 inches in diameter, and to be used only in damp or froaty 

 weather. 



Plants but no Grkenhodsk (.K'conom!/).— Your best plan would be to 

 try a spare room for your plants. Such a tontrivance as you speak of, 

 covered with oiled paper, would do from the middle of April to the middle 

 of October, but you must keep the wind out even then. Calico glazed or 

 painted with dried oil and a little beea-was melted in it would be better, and 

 if well tacked to the wood would last some time. You are just the sort of 

 person lo have a amall greenhouse, fixed roof, wooden ventilators at the 

 top and front, and glazed with glass at 2d. per foot, warmed by a brick 

 Arnott stove to keep out the trost. Rafter nash-bars 3 inches deep would 

 do (or 16oz8, glass if the house were not more than G or 7 teet wide, and 

 that in a few years would be cheaper than your temporary paper frames, 

 though with thete many good plants have been grown. Command us if 

 we can do anything for you. 



Fungus on Tanners* Bark [A Novice).-— It is not injurious to plants; 

 but is unsightly, and may be destroyed by frequently stirring the surface. 



Gardens worth Visiting {R, JJ.).— All those omitted frum your list had 

 been publibhed by us previously, as you will see if you refer to some of our 

 back Numbers. 



Nastdrtidm [TROPiiOLUM] (A Lady Subscriber). ~lt ia impossible to 

 judge of the value of a XHSturtiura from a single crushed bloom. Kvery- 

 thlng depends on habit and on the colour of the (resh flower. 



Arukdo donax Culture (R. Po%vles).—'We should prefer the south-east 

 border. It requires nothing beyond common soil to grow ia, and does beet 

 jxianted near 'water, so that its roots may feel the benefit of it. 



Surface o? Piping RKautaEu [T. H. ,/.).— Your first letter was destroyed 

 long ago. If we kept MSS. we should require no end of warehouse-raom, 

 so we cannot 3ay anything about the Arnott's boiler. You had better repeat 

 the question. Your two fuur-incti pipes for a vinery 30 feet by !) will 

 not be sufficient for early Grapes nor yet early Cucumbers, You would 

 need, at least, one pipe more all lound the ends and front. If you took the 

 two pipes all round the backa? well as front and ends that would be suffi- 

 cient. You say nothing how you propose arranging. 



Long Shoot of Banksian Rose [E. O. Jf.)-— Cut it back half its length 

 and bend the upper part of the remaining half down, to induce the eyes to 

 break from the bottom and all along the branch, if nailed-in now it will 

 only break a few eyes at the top. After the shoots are a few inches in 

 length it should be nailed to the wall. 



Varnishing Calico {Idem).— To render this a substitute for glass, u e 

 linseed oil one quart, acetate of lead one ounce, white let-in three ounces. 

 Grind the lead with a little of the oil on a atone slab ; add the rem;iinder of 

 the oil and the resin, and incorporate thoroughly in a large iron pot ov^r a 

 slow fire. Apply whilst hoc lo the calico stretched loosely, by rnean-^ of 

 racks upon the frame. When cold it is fit for use, and may be tacked on 

 the frame tightly, putting a piece of tape between the tacks' heads and the 

 calico. The composition should be applied with a brush. 



Wintering CALADitMS (George 117(71).— When the roots are kept dust 

 dry ihey are apt to become farinaceous, and though hard and apparently 

 plump and sound when potted m the spring, they not unfrequently rut on 

 water being applied or on placing them in moifit soil. We should place ibem 

 on the floor under the stage, and if it is rather moist the pots will absorb 

 moisture enough to keep '.he roots at rest still fresh. Do not water now, 

 but place them on a moist floor under the stage of the stove, being careful 

 that water does not drip from the pots above and make the soil in the pots 

 sodden. 



Azaleas Infested wita Thrips (/t/em).— We told you before how to 

 kiltthripgon Ferna. and wecanonly repeat :— Smoke strongly two nights in 

 succession, and syringe the plants the morning following each operation. 

 Gisburst compound at the rate of 4 ozs. to the gallon ot sott water, is an 

 effectual remedy for thrips, but it should be washed oif with the syringe 

 twelve hours after it is applied. 



Seedling RHODODE^^)R.)^;s Decaying (5. B. 0.).— Your seedling Rhodo- 

 dendrons are, we fear, standing too close together, and in a soil the reverse 

 of sweet, or in that which is rendered sour by stagnant water. Perhaps 

 you are using the old suit in which seedlings hare been grown before. 

 Any of these causes wiU produce the disease known to gardeners as 

 " damp." Irrespective of these causes there are changes continually going 

 on in the atmosphere which produce those diseases of fungoid origin which 

 puzzle even the most experienced. The diee^ise is brought on by a deiicienuy 

 of one or more of the elements, aerial or ttlTe^trial, necessary to the 

 proper constructing of the plant's several parts, but what that deficiency 

 18 remains, and we fear will for some time be one of the problems that 

 science fails to solve. We know of no remedy but exposing the plants Co 

 the full influence of air by taking off the lights, and stirring the surface 

 soil, and thus making all sweet about them. Self-sown plants, we may add, 

 never go off in the way yours are doing, and this we think is owing to their 

 receiving thorough exposure to the air, which secures the opposite of 

 drawa, iroperfect-atructured plants, such aa too often result from artificial 

 rearing. 



Conservatory Roses not Blooming (/././.).— You do not say what 

 kind of Koses yours are. There is, however, but one mode of treatment, 

 ao far as potting is concenied, necessary for them. They should be potted 

 in September, and plunged in ashes in a cold Iratne. Air is to be given by 

 taking off the lights in mild weather, letting the plants have the becefat of 

 gentle rains; tut putting on the lights during drenching rains, and to 

 shield them from frost. In November the plants should be pruned, Teas 

 and Chinas require but little pruning, merely taking out the wood that baa 

 produced flowers, and shortening the bhoots retained. Perpetuals require 

 pruning to two or at the most to four eyes ; Bourbon, Moss, and Provence 

 must be pruned moderately. The beginning of February is early enough 

 to introduce them into the conservatory, where they should oe placed in 

 the coolest part for a fortnight, sprinkled morning and evenmg with tep:d 

 wa'.er, and copiously supphed with water at the root. They may then be 

 placed in the warmest part, if not above 50°, where, with abundant venti- 

 lation and light, thev will flowerin due season. Keturn ihem to the garden in 

 summer, plunging tliem in a^hes until September . when you will pot them and 

 place in the cold frame as before. As your plants are now in the conser- 

 vatory prune them at once, and keep them as cool as possible, and rather 

 dry at the root, until Chnatmaa. After that water more Ireely, and bedew 

 the plants overhead morning and evening with the syringe. Give all the air 

 and light practicable, and be careful not to let them want for water at the 

 root. 



Double Petunias Cai,TrRS (/(/«n).— Take out greater part of the old 

 wood, cutting this year's blooming-shoots cltan out, leaving nothing but 

 young wood to grow and bloom another season. They require to be kept 

 moderately dry during the winter, and in a cool and dry atmosphere with 

 a temperature of from 35'* to 40**. 



Use op a Spare Room Tank-heated {M. B. T.).— You might force 

 Asparagus, Rhubarb, and Sea-kale in your spare room ; or, if you could 

 obtain some horse-droppings, suflicient to make a bed 6 inches thick, you 

 could have a crop of Mushrooms. In January you could hOW Cucumbers, 

 and have some nice fvuit in April ; and in March you might sow some 

 Melon seed, grow on in pots, and plant out in May, and theae^ would 

 give you some tine Melons in August. Or you might have some Vines in 

 pots plunged in Uin soil, and tram the canes to the roof, about 1 foot from 

 the glass; keep them there until the fruit change colour, when they 

 will be none the worse by being removed to a drier atmosphere to r'pen. 

 Last, but not least, it is just the trort of place wherein to place any sickly 

 plant, and, if you could lower the temperature, to bring forward such 

 things as bulbs, Koses, Dielytras, Deutzias, Rhododendrons, and Azalea-s. 

 These are a few of the uses to which the space might advantageously be 

 employed, and to them we think you might add many more. 



Priced Catalogues of Fruit Trees (if. ffciwATns).— We have no such 

 publication. You had better write for them to soma of the chief nurserymen . 

 Supplement to Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary {Ixora).- No supple- 

 ment has hitherto been published, but one is now ready and will soon go 

 to press. 



