December 15, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



477 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



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

 pai'tmental writers of the *' Joiarnal of Horticulttu-e, 

 Cottage Grardener, and Country Grentleman." By so 

 doing they are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and 

 expense. All communications should therefore be ad- 

 dressed solely to The Editors of the Journal of Hoi-ficul- 

 iure, S(c., 162, Fleet Street, London, E.C. 



Destroying Worms in Spergula pilifeka [T. ^.).— Put two stones of 

 lime in a liogshead, and pour seventy gallons of water upon it. Stir it well 

 up, and let it stand forty-eight hours. Water the Spergula with the clear 

 liquid by means of a rose waiering-put. Give a good soaking as in watering 

 beds in summer, and it will kill m.iny and brnig a great number to the 

 surlace, which must be swept with a brush or broom. 



It is bebt applied in 



showery weather, as the worms are then nearer the surlace ; and the opera- .„.^„,. ^^„„„ . ^. , .. ..„ „_ ^ 



tion will be greatly assisted by rolling the Spergula plot with a heavy j is"'an 'acquisition in the opinion of most people, althoueli^oihers object to 



Celkry Diseased (Bessie).— The Celery leaf shows marks of the punc- 

 tures of the fly; but greater part of the brownness is occasioned by the 

 leaves having been frozen. Sprinkle soot over the leaves, picliing off the 

 worst parts and burning them. After that eartli the Celery well up, and 

 spread some litter, fern, or stubble, ,!ic.. over the leaves in severe weather. 



Raspbkeriks (7! .E". it/.).— Both the varieties you name are good. We 

 never grew them together, therefore cannot decide which ia best. 



Botany {jYcmo).— For a bejiinner the best work is Henfrey's " Rudiments 

 of Botany." 



Mealy Ero on Biitcii Trees (r. jr. 6.).— You should have sent us, in a 

 small card box by post, a piece of the effected bark. However, if you 

 thoroughly paint the trunlis of the trees, to the height affected, with the 

 following mixture, it will probably remove the evil ; but repeat it next 

 year if any ot the pett recurs. Mix 1 lb. flowers of sulphur, 1 lb. Scotch 

 snuff, 1 lb. quicklime in powdtr. Mb. lamp black, 1 lb. soft soap into a liquid 

 the consistency of paint by addiug water tu it. 



Training Peach Tkees lo a Tkelus Neak a Sodth Walt, [W. TT.). 

 — We fear that unless your titu.ition is one ot the nio^t favoured ones in the 

 kingdom, that you will not succeed well with Peuches tiainei^ on a trellis a 

 foot or so from the wuU. The trees at th'it distance will derive but little 

 adviintage from the wall, and 'se would advise you to plant the best kind 

 of Pear, and perhaps one or two Plums instead of the Peaches you men- 

 tion ; or what v.ould be better, could you not make terms with the owner 

 of the wall to allow you to stretch your wires against the face of it ? Very 

 little harm would be done it by the few fastenings wanttd, and yuur Peach 

 trees would succeed better than if at a dii^tance, for, as you will see by 

 many reports in our columns, Peaches do not in all cases do well against 

 open walls, so that many have resorted to the plan of covering the walls 

 with glass. To attempt to train trees at a distance from a wall without 

 any additional protectiiin, can hardly succeed excepting under the most 

 favourable circumttauces, and even then only in certain seasons. 



Levelling and Relating Turf on a Lawn (M. U.).— If your ^oil is 

 rich it is most likely you will be annoyed with wormcasts in mild autumns, 

 and these will be the more conspicuous if you keep mowing very short. 

 As you are now relaying your turf we would advise about an inch of coal 

 ashes under the turf a'^ a partial remedy for this evil. Sand is not so good, 

 but we have known old lanners' bark nt^ed under turf. Generally speaking, 

 however, good ground produces the tnf most free from daisies ; but we are 

 not certain but plantains grow more abundantly, and worms are more pre- 

 valent. Host sandy soils produce moss, which it not in too great abundance 



roller the night before applying the lime water. It may be necessary to i 

 repeat the application at intervals of once a-fortnighl for a short lime, j 

 Ammoniacal liquor is a more efftctual remedy; but it should be highly | 

 diluted witii water, and even then it turns grass brown, and would no doubt ' 

 do the same with Spergula pilifera. ' 



Greenuouse Plants for Showing in August (!'. iS*.).^ Yours is avery 

 diffieult question to answer, for thout;h most plants have a certain set time J 

 as it were, yet their flowering depends in a grtat measure on the tieatment 

 given. Some need letarding, others forcing, to have them in bloom at a I 

 certain time. We give the names of eight, so that you may choose:— ! 

 Clerodendron Bungei, Crowea saligna, hrjthrina crista-galU, Indigufera 

 decora, Phfenocoma proliferaBarnesii, Pleroma elegans, Staiice brassiciefolia, [ 

 Tremandra ericoides. I 



Keens on Strawberry Culture [C. 5.).— Mr. Michael Keens was a ; 

 nurseryman at Isleworth. He never published a work ou Strawberry I 

 culture; but two communications from bim on the subject were published j 

 in the " Transactions" of the Horticultural Society. 



Celery Diseased ((?. .B.).— The leaves you enclosed were severely in- | 

 fested by the Celery fly. Pick off the worst parts and burn them. Soot ; 

 sprinkled on the leaves whilst wet wiil prevent its attacks ; but when once i 

 it gets hold of the plants there is no cure bat burning the leaves. j 



Portable Stove in a Greenhouse {if, S.). — We are sorry to say you ! 

 could not have obtained a worse stove for your purpose than that which ' 

 you have purchased. There ia no combustible article that does not emit 

 amells that vitiate the atmosphere ; and, worat of all, we see nothing like a i 

 chimney in the engraving which you enclosed. We advise you to discard 

 it, and have a flue, it you possibly could have such without setting the wood i 

 on fire. The air would notonly be made too dry; but the escape of hydrogen ^ 

 and carbonic acid would be enough to kill everything in your greenhouse. I 

 If a small boiler and pipes are not loo great an expense we would recom- I 

 mend that as the most effectual means of heating your greenhouse. If i 

 you were to have a pipe connected to your "'hand stove," and that pipe i 

 communicating with the open air, so iis to act as a chimney, you might then | 

 prevent a great deal of the danger to be apprehended from dryneisby having I 

 an iron pan made to tit the top of the stove, which could be kept full of i 

 yater. The water in the pan would be evaporated as fast as the stove heat 

 dried the atmosphere. A flue, however, is better than a stove of any kind, 

 and a boiler better than all. 



Guano Water as Manure {Idem), — Two ounces of guano dissolved in a 

 gallon of water may be applied to any desLription of crop with advantage. 

 Two gallons at a time would be sufficient for an ordinary-sized Gooseberry 

 bush, but It should he applied in the evening. A watering of this kind 

 once a-week would, we should think, enable you to grow Goeseberries better 

 than most persona. Four ounces of guano sprinkled on the surface around 

 your trees and slightly raked in would be wa^^hed down to the roots by 



it. If you reside in a moist neighbourhood you may use sand and indifferent 

 soil with impunity under jour turf; but if you suffer from summer droughts, 

 and it be important to give your lawn a nice appearance, then let the 

 understratum be good— if you have the means of making it so. Generally 

 speaking, when alterations on the lawn are going forward, the best soil 

 is reserved for beds or shrubbery borders, and we have often enough 

 been obliged to make shift with very indifferent turf, and lay it too on 

 ground anything but inviting ; but it worked itself right in a year or so. 



Yew Hedges on a Clayey Soil{TT'. .5.).— We do not ihink mulching as 

 you speak of will be of any benefit, as this is merely used to retain moisture 

 to newly planted trees in dry seasons, \ihereas your place you say is rather 

 damp. The test plan, therefore, would be to take up the plants, if they 

 are not too large, and excavate the site, say 18 inches deep and about 4 feet 

 broad, and fill it in with a lighter soil containing a good proportion of 

 stone, at the same time thoroughly draining the ground on all sides of the 

 Yew hedge. If the coming spring and early summer be dry, mulching 

 then may be of service, but if moist it will not be wanted. 'Ihe clay you 

 lake out of the trench may be turned to good account by being burnt in 

 the manner frequently described, and any atlditional clay may be treated 

 the ^ame way. The charred substance so obtained will be of great service 

 in imparting increased fertility to the stiff ground remaining, which may 

 also be rendered somewhat better by the application of lime. 



Late Pears Spotted and Dfcaying (J. B. .B.).— The evil you complain of 

 is by no means uncommon, and we do not think awa--h, as you suggest, with 

 Gishur.st compound in the preceding winter will have the desired effect of 

 preventing the decay. On the contrary, we expect the cause lies in the 

 roots of the trees ; and as you say the climate is a moist one, we would 

 advise the trees to be taken up and planted on the surface, adding a large 

 quantity of stones or olher similar substances to the mixture they are 

 grown in. Some varieties of Pears suffer more than others trom the disease 

 complained of, and it would be worth while trying more kinds than those 

 mentioned. At the same time it must be boriie in mind tliat the evil in 

 most, if not all, cases arises from the roots, and to remedy ihat by laying 

 the roots more dry will be one of the most likely means to effect a cure ; 

 and if the trees are not luxuriant we should manure the surface of the 

 soil in early spring, and keep it mulched thioughout the summer. 



Elm Trees becoming Variegated (A''. j4. 5.}.— There have been man 

 speculations as to the cause ot variegation in plants. Some attribute it to 

 disease, others to the absorption of water in a state of decomposition, and 

 others to light and electricity. We do not profess to say if any, or which, 

 of these is the cause; but there can be no doubt that variegation is in- 

 duced by a peculiar condition of the plant's structure, which is acted upon by 

 light, and produces various shades of colour in the leaves, which is termed 

 variegation. In some plants the colour is red, others have white or gold 

 variegation, but not all are acted upon in the same way by light. For 



rains. An application of this kind when the buds begin to swell, and ' insti.nce, Ciotons lose their variegation when shaded, whilst Caladiums re- 

 another when the fruit is set and about the size of peas, would give thtm all ^^-^^ t^ „»...^ .-..,.^„.,*i^ .i ..„o .i.« ,.,„..„, ^r ««.. ^i..«* 



they need, and do quite as well as watering the trees weekly. The 

 waterings should be discontinued alter the fruit changes for ripening. 



Haudiness of Coleus Verschaffelti (Idem).— It requires a rather 

 warm greenhouse to keep it in good condition through the winter; but an 

 ordinary greenhouse will preserve it sufficiently for affording a supply of 

 cuttings in the spring. Keep dry at the root, moisture being the cause ot 

 the shoots dying back. We should think it will sprout again m the spring, 

 •nly keep it dry, giving no more water than just sufficient to maintam 

 vitality. 



Apples {Jdetn). — Alfriston is a good kitchen Apple, in use from November 

 to April. If you wish for one coming into use earlier, Gravenstem is a 

 useful baking Apple. For dessert. Red Astrachan, in use in August and 

 September ; Court of "Wick, October to March ; and Cox's Orange Pippin, 

 NoYcmler to February, are first-daas eating Apj^es. 



quire shade. Variegation evidently decreases the vigour of any plant, and 

 variegated plants are more tender than those which are not so ; but "we 

 do not consequently attribute variegation to disease, for variegated plants 

 have as healthy constitutions a.s green-leaved plants. Variegated plants, in 

 eome cases, have a tendency to return to the oi iginal condition, but the tact 

 remains that some plants never exhibit that tendency. Some variegated 

 plants refuse to seed, others increase readily that way. The year 1860 was 

 very productive of variegation, and that was a year of unusual wetness and 

 cold, so that plants grew badly and failed to ripen the growths made. We 

 have varied colours among cattle, and as these colours are dependant on the 

 parents, it seems to us that variegation is a natural process, and we cannot 

 tell the reason ; nor why some fowls have (e&thers of one colour, whilst 

 others have various colours, and that upon the same feather. Hares become 

 white in some countries in winter, and when the skin ot an animal is de- 

 stroyed the hairs upon the same place invariably come, white. Disease 

 appears to tisto be the opposite of variegation. 



