374 



JOUUNAL OF HORTIGULTUBE A:SD COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



[ November 14, 1867. 



and the drainnge allowed to act. One pound of fresh lime is the proper 

 quantity fur three t'nHons of water, and the lime water ought to be made 

 a day or two previous to use, and the clear liquid only employed. \A''c 

 have not found the plants injured by the lime water. 



Plukging Material {E. U. I/.).— Upon your flue you should have 

 6 inches of roi-eh rubble, as pieces of bricks, and upon them 3 inches of 

 the same, but liner, the dnst being sifted out; and for plunging the pots 

 you could not have anj-thing belter than sawdust to the same thickuess 

 as the pots are deep. 



Potting Lilicm LANCiFOLirM boseumEdlbs {J(77io?-ancr}.— The bulbs 

 just received may at once be potted. You may have two bulbs in a seven- 

 inch, three bulbs in a nine-inch, or five in an 11-inch pot. Thepots should 

 be well drained, one lart,'e crock being placed over the hole, 2 inches 

 of smaller crocks upon it, and an inch of the roughest portions of the 

 compost placed ovor these. Half-till the pot with a compost of turfy 

 light loam two-thirds, and one-third fibrous sandy peat or leaf mould, 

 adding one-sixth of sharp sand, well mixed. Upon this place the bulbs, 

 and then cover them about an inch over the crowns with the compost 

 named* pressing it gently around the bulbs. Give a gentlo watering, and 

 place the pots in the coldest part of the greenhouse. It will be sufficient 

 if the soil be kept moist during the winter, and it ought not to bo saturated 

 by constant watering. When growth takes place the watering should be 

 more liberal, and the pot should be fdlcd in the rim with compost when 

 the shoots are a few inches above it. Afford a light and airy situa- 

 tion when they are growing. 



CvTiSDs IN A liooM [W. H. W.). — It is likely the Cyti sua will succeed 

 in a room without a fire, providing you do not give more water than 

 sufficient to keep the foliage fresh, and remove it to a room from which 

 frost is excluded dming severe weather. 



Cutting Down Scabi,f.t Pelargoniums (Idem). — It is not well to cut 

 back Scarlet Pelargoniums at this season, as tlie shoots cut are liable to 

 die off from the wounds not healing. You may, however, remove any 

 straggling shoots, preserving a number of the young gi-owths. It is best 

 to head them back in spring. 



Propagating Tritoma uvaria (C. A. J.). — Tritomauvaria is propagated 

 by dividing the roots, the suckers being taken off in spring, potted, placed 

 in a cold frame, and kept close and shaded for a few days. It will also 

 succeed if the suckers are planted in a border, and watered and shaded 

 for a few days. It thrives in an open situation, and in a compost of two- 

 thirds rich turfy loam and one-third leaf mould, with a liberal admixture 

 of sharp sand. The suckers should be taken off with some root to them. 



Propagating Pampas Grass, and " Palm'' [Idem). — The Pampas Grass 

 may be increased by division in the same way as the Tritoma, but it is 

 best raised from seeds, wliich should be sown in spring in a good loamy 

 soil, and the seeds should not be more than just covered with soil. The 

 pot or jjan may be placed in a mild hotbed, or in a house where there is a 

 gentle heat, and the soil should never be allowed to become dry. When 

 the plants are up they cannot have too much light and air; and when 

 they have grown sufficitntly tboy should be potted off and removed to a 

 cold frame, keeping tbtm close and shaded for a few days; then ex- 

 pose thtm fiiUy to light and air. Pampas Grass likes a rich, rather 

 strong, loamy soil enriched with leaf mould or rich compost, nud an open 

 yet sheltered situation. Though delighting in moist soil and abundant 

 supplies of water, it does not succeed in an nndraiued soil, or where the 

 water becomes stagnant in the subsoil. The v.ild Palm generally in 

 demand on Palm Suuday, is not a Palm, but a species of "Willow (Salix 



albal, and it is propagated by taking the shoots of the current year, and 

 putting them in now, after cutting them in lengths of 8 or 9 inches, and 

 so deeply as to leave two or three eyes abovegrouud. It succeeds in 

 sandy soil on a wet subsoil, and likes an open situation. 



Conservatory Climbers (/. D.).— You could not have anything better 

 for training on the trellis against the wall of the couservatory than Ha- 

 brothamuus elegana and Lucolia gratissima. Marechal Niel lioso will 

 suit you. 



Roses for an OncHARD-nousE (Irfem).— Gloire de Dijon and climbing 

 Devoniensis, both Tea-scented ; Bourbon — Acidalie and Sir Joseph Pax- 

 ton ; Hybrid Perpetual— Marechal VaiUant, Jules Margottin, Senateur 

 Vaisse, and Madame de Cambaceres. 



Pruning Gooseberry ANn Currant Bushes [T. M. N.). — We think all 

 pruning best done with a knife ; but in stopping immature or succulent 

 growths it is quite immaterial whether the finger and thumb, the knife, 

 or the scissors bo used. If by stopping the shoots you mean shortening 

 them at the winter pruning, we have a decided objection to using scissors, 

 and think it best done with the knife. 



Pruning Apple and Pear Trees {Idem).— The standard Apple tree 

 may be pruned to almost any extent, but it will be well to coutino the 

 pruning to the removal of any branches that, from crossing, are likely to 

 rub against each other or crowd thehead too much ; and youmay shorten 

 any long shoots that grow irregularly, and by so doing you may secure a 

 better-shaped bead. If you wish to keep the tree dwarf you may stop all 

 the shoots at the sixth leaf in July, and again at the third leaf of the 

 second growth in August or early in September, cutting back to within 

 half an inch of their base at the winter pruning all the shoots thus 

 stopped, excppt tho leaders of the branches, or those required to fill up 

 thehead. Your Pear tree may have its shoots 2 feet long cut backto 

 half their length— that is, the leading shoots ; but the lateral or side 

 shoots should be cut-in to within half an inch of last year's wood. Your 

 standard Rose tre^s would have been better planted the height of the 

 stem from the edge of the border, for as now planted their shoots will 

 extend over the walk, and the effect will he had. 



Labels fob Wardian Case (C. ,7.).— W^e use the small bone labels 

 usually attached to kevs, write the names of the plants upon them, and 

 stick the end of the label into a piece of cleft stick for thrusting into 

 the soil. 



Potato Fruit (W. C). — The fruit is a ben-y. 



Names of Fruit iA Suhscriber}.~l,'Benrve Hiel; 3, Beun-e de Ranee ; 

 4, Napoleon; 4, Marie Louise; 6, Beurre Diel; 7, Napoleon; 8, Beurre 

 de Ranee ; 0, lieun-t: de Capiaumont. IRichard Grcare/t).—!, Old Colmax; 

 2, Downton ; 3, l-teurre de Capiaumont; 4, Beun-e Diel. (W. W. A.). — 

 1, Easter Beurre ; 2, Nouveau Poiteau ; 3, Karonne de Mello ; 5, Autumn 

 Bergamot ; 6, Thompson's ; 8, Marie Louise ; 9, Comte de Lamy ; 10, Bel- 

 mont. The others were much decayed. 



NAurES OF Plants (M. L. V.). — We think that your Lime tree_ is Tilia 

 americana, or American Linden tree. {Jamc^).—1he Cypripedium was 

 accidentally so injured as to be unrecognisable, and the other specimens 

 being merely loaves, wc could not attempt to identify them. (P. E. F.). — 

 1, Isolepis pi-iicilis; 2, Selagiuella Ludoviciana ; 3, Alyssum saxalile; 

 4, Amaryllis lutea. (iiimtmciaHMfsmn).— 1, No flowers; 2, Stachys annua 

 (Pale Woundwort); 3. Veronica chamiedrys. (rn/).—^, Viburnum lan- 

 tanoides; C, Libocedrus ; F, Quercus coccilera; J', Luzuriaga radicana. 

 The other specimens sent are without flowers, and such scraps that we 

 cannot name them. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending November 12th. 



POULTRY. BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHEONICLE. 



THE BIRMINGHAM POULTRY SHOW. 



The entries for the forthcoming Exhibition in Bingley Hall 

 have closed with results on which we think the Council have 

 good cause to congratulate themselves. There is a large aug- 

 mentation of the poultry department, and the collection of 

 Pigeons will not only be the largest, but, in all probability, 

 the finest which has yet been brought together, either in Bir- 

 mingham or elsewhere. We also trust that the attendance will 

 be larger than on any former occasion, and that the hands of 

 the Executive will be greatly strengthened for carrying on the 

 ■work in which they are engaged. The entries as compared with 

 previous years are as follow :•— 



18C3. 18G4. 1865. 1866. 18C7. 



Poultry l.fO.'i .. 1.677 .. 1,675 .. 1,898 .. 2,107 



Pigeons 275 . . 290 . . 331 . . 40U . . 665 



RAILWAY CHARGES FOR POULTRY. 



I WAS sorry to find by " Y. E. A. Z.'s " letter that the Railway 

 Company still persist in charging back carriage on the birds 

 exhibited at Newport, also that he does not intend in con- 

 sequence to exhibit there ; but I cannot wonder at it, as the 

 railway charges are enormous, and, besides, I intend to follow 

 his example. My present intention is not to exhibit any 

 poultry next year, except where the unsold birds are to be 

 retiu-ned free. — Edwakd Pigeon, Lympstone, near Exeter. 



ARE ELDER-BERRIES INJURIOUS TO 



POULTRY ? 



In the Journal of September 26th there ia an interesting 



article on " The Elder Tree," which concludes thus : — " Planted 



in lines as hedges the elder will be quite established in two 



years, and form a fence Such a wind-guard would 



be no small benefit to those who rear calves and poultry, and 



