December 8, 1863, 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



459 



Designs for Flower-beds {T, Andreios). — We never undertake to 

 supply designs or to plant them. In, " Flower Gardening for the Many," 

 which you can h ive from our office free by post for five postage stamps, 

 you will find several designs from which you can select. 



RosF.3 FOR Pillars ( Tf. A". &',)•— General Jacqueminot, brilliant red; 

 Duchess of Sutherland, pale rose; Gloire de Dijon, yellow, shaded with 

 salmon; Souvenir de Malmaison, flesh, edges blush; Eugene Appert, 

 scarlet, shaded with crimson ; Jules Margottin, bright cherry. 



Mice in Garden Wall (Moses Walker), — Procure a pot of phosphorus 

 paste from a druggist and spread it rather thickly on thin slices of bread. 

 Place this, in small pieces, in their haunt?. Or arsenic made into a paete 

 Willi a little lard, and spreud on thin slices of bread and put in their holes, 

 will soon kill them. These are poisons, and must be kept out of the way of 

 domestic fowls and animals. We would advise you to wash the trees with 

 Gishurst Compound at the rate of 3 oza. to the gallon of water, which will 

 make the buds distasteful to the vermin, using the poison besides. 



Silver Sand vejsns Yellow {JVi/eside).—Boih master and man are Jn 

 part wrong and in part right. River or drift sand is quite equal to silver 

 sand for the striking of ordinary cuttings— as Fuchsias, Geraniums, &c. — 

 or strong coarse-growing plants, those which are softwooded especially. 

 Silver sand, on the other hand, is indispensable for propagating Heaths or 

 such plants as have fibres smaller than a hair. We have struck cuttings in 

 rivulet drift sand ; but when we can obtain silver sand cheaply, and have 

 river sand to buy, we prefer the former, as we think it is the purest of all 

 sand, being, as it is, fine grains of white quartz, which is very insoluble, 

 whilst yellow sand is more et.sily soluble, and is generally combined with 

 soil. We should not despise pure river sand at our door for the mere fancy 

 derived from purchasing what we could do without. Why not try the yellow 

 against the silver sand, and thus solve the problem by the best of all tests — 

 experiment ? 



Startino Vines in January {B.).—1ii the first place you should cover 

 the border of the early vinery with some kind of fermenting material— as 

 dung, leaves, &c., to the depth of IS inches, on the 1st of January, and thus 

 commence the new year in earnest. Previous to this take off the 6 inches 

 of rotten dung and keep it away from them for the future. The tempera- 

 ture for the first fortnight should be 40*" by night, and 45° by day, with a 

 rise with sun of 10°. After that the temperature should be 45® by night 

 and 50° by day. with a rise of 10'' to 15° with sun. Continue this tempera- 

 ture until the buds begin to swell, then increase it 5° both by day and night, 

 and by the time the buds break have the temperature 55° by night and 60" 

 by day, and allow it to rise 10^ with sun heat. Up to this the Vines should 

 be sprinkled twice daily with tepid water of the same temperature as the 

 house, and every availa'ble surface kept moist. Air should be given at all 

 favourable opportunities ; but after the leaves appear be caretul to avoid 

 cold draughts, which are extremely pernicious. Keep an eye on the border 

 outside, and when you find the heat declining add more fermenting ma- 

 terials. If you could obtain some wood shutters and have them fixed so as 

 to cover the border to keep in the heat and shut out the wet, they would be 

 of great assistance in keeping up the heat of your border. By the time the 

 Vines are in flower the temperature should be 60"= at night and lO"*, higher 

 by day in cloudy, and 15* or 20° in bright weather, with abundance of air 

 or ventilation. Discontinue the s\Tinging when the Vines are in flower, 

 but keep up a rather moist atmosphere by sprinkling tl e walls, &c., twice 

 daily, morning and evening. Give a thorough syringing after the bloom is set, 

 and after this keep the air moist by sprinkling the walls and paths twice daily, 

 and continue this until the Grapes change for ripening. At this lime keep 

 the air rather drier, and give all the air practicable, as tar as the temperature 

 will allow. You will stop the shoots at the eye above the fruit, stop all 

 laterals at the first joint, and that above the fruit the same. The laterals 

 below the bunches of Grapes: will hardly push again ; but if they do stop 

 them at the first leaf, and serve the shoot above the bunch the same. After 

 this rub off a!! laterals that appear below the bunch, and stop that above the 

 bunch to the last formed leaf, and so on. When the Grapes are the size of 

 peas thin them, and in doing this take out the smallest and those next the 

 footstalk, and leave them so that the berries can attain their full size with- 

 out squeezing themselves into irregular and deformed berries. The tem- 

 perature should be 65^ by night and 75° by day after the Grapes change 

 colour, and 60° at night and 75=' by day prior to that whilst they are swelling. 

 AYhen the Grapes are ripe remove the litter from the border, and in doing 

 so be careful not to injure the roots of the Vines, for some of them may 

 have left the cold soil and run into it. If so, take away as much Utter as 

 can possibly be done without injuring the roots more than can be helped; 

 and to save them from the burning rays of the sun cover the border with a 

 couple of inches or so of rich and rather fine mould. Too much air cannot 

 be admitted after the Grapes are ripe, and to insure the ripening of the 

 wood remove the laterals on the shoots, and should any difficulty be ex- 

 perienced in inducing the Vines to ripen the wood made, put the wooden 

 shutters over the border. This will promote rest to a great extent; but if 

 you have not these wooden shutters, keep the air dry in the house, but not 

 so dry as to cause the Grapes to shrivel. A young beginner will do well to 

 purchase " Sanders on the Vine," and keep a sharp look-out for the valuable 

 hints contained in the " Doings of the Last Week." Your late vinery will 

 require similar treatment, but it will not be necesi^ary to cover the border, 

 nor give anything like the same amount of artificial heat. If you want the 

 Grapes ripe in August, start them in March ; if in September, in April— 

 that is, let them start naturally. We are always more than ready to reply 

 to queries, but we do not undertake to teach that which can readily be 

 learned by a perusal of our columns. We do not wish to discourage our 

 correspondent, but to impress upon him the immense importance ot gathering 

 the crumbs that are strewed around before he asks us for loaves. 



Kectaeine-bdds Inserted Last Tear {M. D.).— Providing your trees 

 are healthy, we see no reason why Nectarine-buds should not produce fruit 

 when inserted in Peach trees. Ws have seen Royal George Peach trees 

 produce Nectarines or smooth-skinned Peaches on the same trees along 

 with Peaches. Buds might be inserted in the way you have done, and 

 many naked branches be thus furnished with fruit-bearing branches. What 

 age were the stems you put the buds into ? 



ITsDEKCOVER FOE A FoREsr-TRFE PLANTATION {Tago).~J{ you Want it 

 for game. Furze is as good as anything, only it likes dry ground. Perhaps 

 Privet would suit your stiff ground, or Berberis aquifolium might do. 

 Hollies grow also pretty well under other trees. If you prefer Furze, sow 

 the seed as soon as you can obtain it, which is often done by employing 

 children or others to gather it from a common or waste where it grows. 



Greenhouse, CoNSTRncriwo one Removable by Tenant {Henry Staple- 

 ton).— Tor a moveable house you will need no front wall. Alt you need do 

 is to place u hiyer or two of stones or bricks for a foundation, and on this a 

 plate of wood should be fixed. Into that, uprights 3 inches square and 

 4 feet long and the same apart, should be let by mortice and tenon holes, 

 and they should be fastened with screws Two feet from the bottom plate 

 place a sill lA by '2\ inches, rebatted for glass, between each upright at the 

 ends as well as the*'front, only considering the doorway. You will further 

 need a plate for the rafters to rest on at the top of the uprights. This 

 should project sufficiently to allow of a spout being placed in front to carry 

 off the water, or it would injure the Vines you propose planting. You will 

 close-board the front and ends with three-qunrter-inch boards (grooved), 

 and if you have the board nezt the upright front glass made to work on 

 hinges you will find it answer admirably for front ventilation. You will 

 also need ventilation at the top of the house. The remaining portion of the 

 front may be sashes to correspond with the rafters on the roor, and be glazed 

 with 21-oz. glass, which is the description we recommend forthe roof. The 

 ends will, of course, be glass; IG-oz glass is cheaper, and quite equal to 

 21-02., but is sooner broken. The laps of the glass should be puttied, for 

 frost cracks and breaks a number of squares. The flue may be constructed 

 with bricks. Two on edge would be deep enough; and if it were 8 inches 

 wide, and stones used for bottoms and cover, and duly mortared, it would 

 be a good flue. The furnace should oe 2 feet long by 10 inches wide, and 

 1 foot in depth. The top of the furnace should be level with the bottom of 

 the flue where they join (at the furnace) ; the flue may then run level, or 

 but slightly rising to the chimney. The intention of carrying the flue all 

 round your house is good, but you must take it along the front first, and 

 along the back the last. Sis-inch pot pipes would do quite as well as a flue. 

 Whichever you employ the furnace will need buildiBg of fire-bricks, and 

 they should be used about 1 yard along the flue, or the heat will break the 

 stone or other covering, or pot pipes if tliey are used so near the furnace. 

 We think you are misinformed that by building your house on slabs of stone 

 without making much foundation, your landlord would have no claim. The 

 right way is to have a plate of wood fixed to the foundation, and then the 

 superstructure fastened to that plate by screws. 



Transplanttng Rhododendrons (A.M. ^.).— The present is a very good 

 time to transplant Rhododendrons, provided the weather be mild and the 

 ground not too wet. A dry peaty soil is unquestionably the beat ; but they 

 do very well in some kinds of pandy soil, and even soil? apparently of an 

 opposite character. The fact is, where the chemical ingredients they delight 

 in exist, there they will thrive. Perhaps thd worst, place for them is a 

 black bog too soddened with water; chalky soils are also objectionable. 

 See an article on the Rhododendron in No. 114. 



Transplanting Water Lilies (Jafi-o).— Any time in autumn or spring 

 will do to remove them, taking care not to expose them to the drying 

 atmosphere at the time of transplanting. It is best to take good large 

 pieces 5 or H feet long or so, and if 6 or S inches in diameter it is not too 

 much. The roots are soft and cut easily. You may safely cut your Poplar 

 trees any time before February, but the chancei are that you will not obtain 

 such fine-formed upright stems again. 



Evergkfen Shrubs for a Screen (S. C. Cave), —As you want ever- 

 greens only, and but one plant of a kind for a space 25 yards long by 3^ 

 wide, the hat will go a long way towards including all the ordinary kinds 

 in cultivation; but, supposing the border to be divided into three rows, the 

 tallest being at the back and consequently thinnest, the next size in the 

 middle, and the dwarfest in front but thicker, an arrangement something 

 like the following will meet your case:-l!eginning with the back row, 

 which we will suppose to require twenty plant", yon may have &ix Hollies 

 differing widely from each other, common and Portugal Laurel, Chinese 

 and Americin Arbor Vitge, Sweet Bay, Laurustinus, Arbutus, Ligustnim 

 lucidum and L. japonicum, Alatemus, Spircea Douglasii, Evergreen Oak, 

 and common Privet. In the second row you may have two or three kinds 

 of Magnolias, two kinds of Phillyrea, half a dozen Rhododendrons all 

 differing from each other, one Andromeda, two Junipers, two Escallonias 

 double Furze, Daphne pontica, three or four kinds of Box, and the same ot 

 Berberis ; Aucuba jaoonica, Euonymns japonica, and some others. In the 

 front row we would have Eugenia Ugni, Kalmia iatifoUa, and another kind ; 

 also an Andromeda, Griselinia littoralis, Garrya elliptica, Desfontama spi- 

 nosa, Eurybia ilicifolia, Cotoneaster microphylla, and C. Simmonsii. Two 

 or three Heaths and one or two Colutea, and in a favoured place an Indian 

 Azalea might perhaps stand, besides which there are such plants as Yuccas, 

 and sometimes Coronillas are classed as evergreen shrubs. The dwarlest 

 species of Berberis is also entitled to a place in the front, and several other 

 little shrubs might be added if wanted. We are forry you did not include 

 a few flowering deciduous shrubs amongst them, as their appearance when 

 in bloom would have enlivened the mass. You may plant on a ridge if you 

 choose, taking care that the plants do not lack water the first year ; but, 

 after being once established, they will do for themselves. 



Propagating Centaurea Cai^didissiha (S. J. B.J.-Give your stock plant 

 a shilt at once into a sis-inch pot. and keep in a cool dry or airy place, and 

 give no more water at the root than is really neces?ary to prevent its 

 drooping. Early in March place the plant in your neighbour s stove, and 

 when the side shoots are about 4 inches in length, taUe cuttmgs and insert 

 in silver sand in pots a-i for Verbenas, and place in a gentle heat. Keep the 

 stock plant in heat, and you may then take cuttings from it until the end 

 of April. , . - 1 



Strawberries for Forcing (Anna).-''Ihe very best plan is to plung:e 

 the pots in leaves, litter, or earth under gla?s, ana keep dryish and cool. 

 For modes according to your circumstances, see page i93 m Doings ol 

 Last Week." Most likely if you plunge the pots in a bed of earth, leaves 

 or ashes, and strew a Uttle litter between and over the pots, the plants wiU 

 be safe enough. ,, , ^ x. l 



Keeping Grapes on the Vines (W. S. B.).-li you do not heat your 

 greenhouse so much as to deprive the Vines of rest, a little heating in dull 

 foggy weather is indispensable, not only to preserve your Grapes out the 

 plants also from daraD. Abundant ventilation and gentle firing m the day- 

 time only, except when severe frosts occur, and then firing must be em- 

 ployed ai night, is what we do with plants and Grapes in the same hou=e. 

 The Vines will not be injured in their bearing for another year by such 

 treatment. You will prune them Immediately the Grapes are cur and keep 

 them cool during the next two months, never employing artificial heat 

 to raise the temperature above 4&^ nor allowing it to sink below 35 , m 

 order to provide lor the safety of the plants. It is not too late to cut 

 large Scarlet Geraniums back in October. Their being in flower is un- 

 material 



