November 14, 1867. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIGULTUBB AND COTTAGE OABDENEB. 



3G7 



waB much below the aveingo, the sky comparatively clondless, 

 and the sun very powerful, crops io general wore a favourable 

 anpect. This fair prospect was seriously interfered with by tho 

 prevalence of cold, boisterous, rainy days in July, but the im- 

 pending evil was partially averted by a dry August of moderate 

 temperature, and a tulerably line September. The number of 

 rainy days during the last-named month was not above tho 

 mean, although such .unusually heavy showers fell that the 

 amount of rain collected exceeded the monthly average. One 

 shower lasting about two hours on tho 'Jth, yielded upwards of 

 1 inch and six-tenths of rain. 



It must bo remarked that tho cold of January and spring did 

 not prove generally injurious to vegetation ; the warm sunshine 

 of June favoured the assimilative process, but fruit trees. Po- 

 tatoes, and other herbaceous plants, were much blighted by tho 

 wind and driving rain of July. Stone fruit, however, escaped 

 much injury; although not abundant, it coloured well, and ac- 

 quired good flavour. Figs, of which there was a fair show up 

 to a certain period, dropped oil long before the}' were ripe, and 

 tho few that remained on the trees were indilTerent in flavour. 

 Our staple I'ear, tho Chaumontel, though well shaped, and of 

 good colour, did not attain the usual size, whilst that against 

 walls with a westerly exposure was completely blighted by 

 pelting hail storms, just as the fruit was setting ; the trees also 

 suffered severely. The Apple crop was healthy, and in fair 

 qaantity up to July; but it then became infested by insects, 

 much of it fell off prematurely, and the rest showed such a 

 disposition to ripen that it was necessary to gather it earlier 

 than usual, especially the King of the Pippins, and the Haw- 

 thorndcn, tho latter of which spotted suddenly, and as suddenly 

 decayed, even on tho tree. The Blenheim Orange was under- 

 sized and uncoloured ; but the Sturmer Pippin, that invaluable 

 Apple, remained sturdily on the tree in spite of gales and heavy 

 squalls beginning on the 28th of October. 



From tho above rcsnmd it will be seen that July was the 

 most fatal mnnth in its effects upon vegetable products. In 

 relation to this subject, the Kev, T. C. Brehaut, on the 15th of 

 the month, wrote to me as follows : — " These few days have 

 ruined all our ornamentalfolinged bedding plants. Cannas are 

 half of them dtistroyed, and Japanese Maize quite spoiled. I'or 

 my own part, I feel convinced that the excessive wind has 

 much to do in the failures we meet with." As a proof that our 

 opinion on this point coincides, I venture to cite a passage 

 from a paper of mine read before the Meteorological Society, as 

 long ago as tho year 1852. " The causes which principally 

 modify the climate of Guernsey, are to be sought for in the 

 characters of tlie wind, not so much as regards the quarter 

 from whence it blows, as in its force and frequent variation." 

 To this I may add that the solstitial gales are more regular, 

 and sometimes quite as violent as the equiuootial. — S. Elliott 

 IIoSKiNS, Oiicmteij. 



earthing-up deeply. The sun would probably act on the soil, 

 and cause the Briar to strike new roots higher up. I should 

 not like to plant Koses in the soil 3 feet inches deep 1 — W. F. 

 Radclyffe. 



PROPAGATING DRAC.T:NAS. 



Sf.f.iko in No. ;!H, inquiries as to the best mode of propa- 

 gating Uracrnas, I write to give tho information needed. 



Turn an old plant out of its pot, and shake away the soil. 

 There will be found a strong tap root, cut that root into lengths 

 of about 2 inches, insert them into three-inch pots in a com- 

 post of loam, leaf mould, and silver sand, and place them in a 

 brisk moist heat of about 80'. In about three weeks thoy will 

 havo tilled tho pots with roots, repot them into six or seven- 

 inch pots, and grow them on in the same heat ; they will soon 

 make good plants for decorative purposes. The old plant can 

 be potted again, and will be very little the worse of the treat- 

 ment it has undergone, but it will require to be plunged in 

 bottom heat to give it a fresh start. 



I should like to know if any of your readers have succeeded 

 in beddiug out Dracicnas. I have had a plant standing out of 

 doors all the summer ; it kept its colour well, but did not grow. 

 — W. B. 



DEPTH OF PL.VNTIXG ROSES. 

 I HATE read with astonishment the remarks of " P." on page 

 S-IG, as to a Briar Ease prospering, that was planted eight years 

 ago from i to inches deep, and which has benefited by the 

 heaping up of soil three additional foot over its roots. If tho 

 Editors' solution is not the truoonc, probably the following may 

 be so : — The Briar may have made roots higher up the stem. 

 Would " P." obhge by examining the tree V The case is not 

 quite a parallel. I spoke of planting deeply ; this is a case of 



DESTROYING WASPS— THEIR H.\BITS. 



I n\vE only just seen the observations of " W. A. W.," in 

 your Number of October Ijrd. where he comments upon my 

 method of destroying wasps. 



I think the use of tho cyanide of potassium is far preferable 

 and more efficacious than tho mode he recommends with tur- 

 pentine. He practises his at night ; mine is best done at mid- 

 day. There are many reasons why it is preferable to attack 

 wasps in the daytime, and not the least advantageous is, that 

 they are not nearly so vicious in the day, as they are at night. 



My experience does not confirm his statement, that there are 

 more entrances than one to a wasp's nest. I never saw more 

 than one. The hornet has several entrances to its nest, but 

 wasps, I believe, have only one. 



There is, also, this fact in connection with wasps. It ap- 

 pears to be part of the regulation of their household or colony, 

 that one should be "told off" daily, whose duty it is to act 

 as sentinel, and who parades the passage from the combs 

 to the outer orifice. I believe every wasp alighting has to give 

 his "password" to the sentinel before he enters, and this 

 sentinel also gives the alarm to the inmates when suspicion is 

 aroused of evil intentions to their safety, and on provoking a 

 wasp's nest you will always obsei-ve that the wasps who come 

 from tho inside are those which are dangerous, and not those 

 returning homo. To prove this you have only to kill the sen- 

 tinel, and no amount of provocation will cause any wasps to 

 come out from the hole. You may thus cause a very busy nest 

 to become quiet for the remainder of the day, by destroying 

 the sentinel. 



Some persons state that none of the wasps coming home can 

 bo made to sting. This I have not verilied, but that they will 

 not come out from the hole 1 have often proved. 



On dropping into the hole some of the solution of the cyanide, 

 the sentinel is killed at once, for ho comes at once, and would 

 attack you, but he falls the first victim, and then the work is 

 easy. If it is considered preferable to pour into the hole some 

 of the solution of the cyanide, it will answer as well. The lint 

 was to prevent its being absorbed into the soil. The quantity re- 

 quired is not great, and with "caution" no danger can result. 

 I have used these means for years, and have had no accident. — 

 Amos Bejirdslev, Grange, Lancashire. 



BUTTES-CHAUMONT, PARIS. 



" Yon ought, sir," said my landlord, in his politest manner, 

 " to visit the new park at Buttes-Chaumont ;" and when An- 

 toine informed me that ho and his Victorine had spent a day 

 there last season, and that I should find it " charmante," I 

 was fain to comply. " And do not, sir, go in an omnibns. 

 When we went we took a fiacre, and Monsieur will be so much 

 more ' comfortable ' " — a word the French, by-the-by, are begin- 

 ning to use now very constantly. Such was Antoinc's recom- 

 mendation, and, doubtless, vividly the pleasure of his outing 

 came before him as he gave it. I took his advice, and I want 

 now to give the same to any who may go Paris-ward, and say 

 it is (and it will be in a few years much more so), well worth a 

 visit. 



And what is Buttes-Chanmont ? A few years ago had yon 

 asked any one who had ventured so far to what we might call 

 the cast-end of Paris, the answer would have been — a recep- 

 tacle for the filth and abominations of a filthy neighbourhood; 

 a place which was offensive to the eyes and nose of any one 

 who ventured near ; it was, in fact, an abandoned stone quarry, 

 and every one who knows what that is can readily understand 

 what it must have been in the neighbourhood of a densely popu- 

 lated city. Nothing but the rankest and coarsest weeds would 

 grow on it, and if asked what couH be done with it, the answer 

 would have been from every one — Nothing, absolutely nothing. 

 Not so, however, thought Baron Haussmann and the municipality 

 of Paris, and the result is what, although not yet completed, I 

 venture to think will bo some day one of the most attractiTO of 

 the public gardens or parks about Paris ; and as I know nothing 

 which better shows the tnste and ingenuity of the French in 

 landscape gardening, I will venture to describe it. 



Buttes-Chaumout is situated at a very high elevation, and 



