Decembor 19, lUGl. J 



JOUKNAL OF IIOHXICULXUIIE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



4G7 



an airy sboU in tlio ^tcodLousc, wbore tbcj will suon Bbow for bloom, and 

 couio into flower abuut the time yon wisL. 



Onoidiuu Lanckanum, O. i,Eui;ocuin;iT, anp Dendrobidm puohel- 

 LCM CvLTvnr. (Fuhtiiff ).~Tho two Oucidiuma are bent ffrown in pots 

 two-tlnrd« lllled witb broken pots or crocks, and then filled with a mixturo 

 of choppfd spii:i^nuni nud llbroim pent, adding a suiull jiroportion of 

 white Huud. This conip'»*t sbnulU hv uinde rutlier Ilrni, and it should be 

 raiaad in tlni centro ul tho pot, in the form of a oono above tho rim of 

 the pot, plnciuK thu plimt or plants on tho top, and covoriug the rootB 

 with luoiwt pi-ai. The iJcndrohiuni wonld be bcht crown on a block of 

 wood, Willi, on tho plant side, a litlh- poat on it, covering tho roots 

 li^btly with i>phaj(nmn, Jirwily Bot^iring all to the block witb copper wire. 

 The boyt tinio to do this is in spring', junt when the plants uro hcgiu- 

 ninj^ to grow. They should have a houi-c in sumniiT, or duriuK the hoa- 

 flon of Rrowth, in which the tenipor;iture is from 6./^ to HO , spriuklinn 

 with water ovurhoad twice or tbrico daily, and tho atmosphere should 

 otherwise be kupt moint. Shade from Uriuhl sun should be all'urded 

 them in sumiQcr, with u moderate snpply of air. When the growth is 

 made the moisture ou^ht to bo dimiuishod, and the plants should have 

 more li^ht and air. They should have a boat of HO-' at night, and from 

 6U to (ifj by day in wiuter, no water being given, except a Bprinkling 

 occnbioiifilly to kcL-p them frowh ; but on no account have them wet, as 

 that will oi-cnsion tlio mots to rot, whilst if you givo them moisture and 

 boat they will start prematurely into growth.' 



OKAF'r:vG A Cactus (A. B.).—Yon do not stale the name of the Cactus^ 



Fnooh (N A Tank.— '• i1f/r<?//" anys— "In the Journnl dated December 

 5tb, Mr. Vlsh obaervop. that frogs ^oi into his tanks, but they never got 

 outagai.i. If he will put into the tnnk a strip of wood— say, from 4 to 

 Inchoy broi'd, he will lind they will go down and have a bath and return 

 safely withont tbe penalty of Btrtyiny there till death relieves them. The 

 Btrip should lie m a sluutiug po&itiuu from the edge to ouo side, so that 

 thoy oan travel up it easily." 



STRAWBERitiEs FoK FoKciNG (iB^itiMr).— The sorts of strawberry w© 

 would prefer for forcing are tho following. Wo name them in tho order 

 of thoir earlniess:- Bliick Prince, Keens' Seedling, Ingram's Prince of 

 Wftlea, British t^uoon or Carolina Superba, Ingram's Piinco Arthur, and 

 Sii- Charles Kapicr. Tho fust two are tbe earUest. 



Sir Harry ia an 

 Myatt's Eliza and 



enlarged Keens' Seedling, and beaijj travelling well. 

 President also boar carrying well. 



Flohists' Fr.owKUs {Countrif J5u;7i/)/:."/j).— Florists' flowers are those 

 which, by their beauty or frayroncc, power to produce permanent varieties, 

 and facility of cnltivntion, are so largely in deuuind as to render them 

 especially worthy of cultivation us an article of commerce. Mr. Gleuny 

 has justly enumerutcd tho necessary charncteristics of a florists' llower 

 to be— 1st, The power to be perpetuated and increased by slips and other 

 modes iudcpcndcut of its seed; 2ndly, The power to produce new va- 

 rieties from seed, capable, like their parent, of being perpetuated ; and, 

 thirdly, it must possesB bufficient iuicrest tnd variety to be grown in 

 collections. 



LlLiUM aiONADKLPUtJM (Variety).— Tho variety cnllcd superbum i;s only 

 ft fine variety of L. monadelphuui. Wo do not know where it can be ob- 

 tained, although it ia grown in Kow Gardens. 



Dehtroyino Cricketb (An Jnxiou:* Inquirer). —Your best plan is to lay 

 poison for them, and that is readily done by spreading phosphorus paste 

 on slices of bread in the same maimer as butter on bread, and lay these 

 at night near their haunts, removing the poisoned pieces of broad in the 

 morning and burning tlicm. The crickets, if they partake of the phos- 

 phorus paste, will bo lying dead near it. Being vtry partial to oatmeal, 

 this may bo given mixed with arsenic at tho rate of 1 oa. of arsenic to 

 hfllf a pint of oatmeal, adding a little ground aniseed and caraway seed. 

 If these ingredients be mixed and laid on pieces of paper in convenient 

 places (at ui^ht only, or where no domestic onimuls havo access), the 

 crickets will partake of them greedily. You will best succeed by tempt- 

 ing them with the oatmeal and aromatics only for a night or two before 

 oflering tUem the poisoned mixture. 



Apples for Cold Situation (R. ^ammonfi).— Devonshire Quarrenden, 

 Early Julien, Kerry Pippiu, Yellow Ingestric, Court of Wiek, SykehouEfl 



Basset, and Wyken Pippin. These are all dessert Apples. There is no 

 separate work on Ooohoberry culture, but you can have *' i'ruit Garden- 

 ing." from our oHiee free by ]ioi-t if you enclose tive postage stamps \?iUi 

 your address. It contains fall directions for Gooseberry culture. 



Sea-kale (O. C. it.).— Your plants are probably nearly worn out. We 

 arc unable otherwibc to account for their throwiu^-uptivo or fcix mere leaf- 

 stalks. We know that old plantations are liabh; to do eo, and tspecially 

 plants thdt h:ivc produced an abundance of flower-stalks iu iLe previous 

 season. The only remedy that we know of, is to make a new plantation 

 of young plant^, and to keep all Hower-stalka cut oil' to within one or two 

 loaves or their base, not allowing them to flower, much lets seed, under 

 uny circamstancoH, for upon well-develoi>cd crowns depends the supply 

 in the eusuiug season. 



Six Greenhouse Plants for. Exhirition i II'. H. 3f.).— Six greenhouse 

 plants to flower at the end of Juno are— Pimclea Hendcreoni, Tremandra 

 verticillata, Lescbcnaultia Baxteri major, L.formosa, Gcntyllis tnlipifera, 

 Eriostenion intermedium, and two more to make sure of half a dozen, 

 Aphelexis macrantha purpuien, and Phceuocoiiia i>rolifeia Uarnesii, all 

 succeeding admirably in a cool, airy, hght Kreenbousc. 



lNTEn.MEDiATE Stooks (.-(ma;^!!)).— Intermediate Stocks are biennials, 

 flowering from May to June, tl-cy being sown in the Juno or July of tbe 

 preceding yeiir. The German 'Ten-week large-flowering varieties would, 

 if sown in spring in a fruuie, flower finely in August, continuing until 

 late in autumn, and are very desirable. They wiJI suit you, being of 

 several shades of purple, scarlet, and white. If you wish th«m to flower 

 in July, the seed should be sown in March on a mild hotbed. 



PitoTEfxiNG Peaci! Trees (E. F. ir.).— ^each trees do not tlirive any 

 better if protected with netting from the commencement of winter until 

 the spring fronts are over. No protection shouhl be attbrdcd until the 

 buds are fairly open, or the blossoms show colour ; then protect lljem with 

 uottiug as you propose, lotting it down at night and taking it ofi^ by day, 

 unless tho days are foggy or frosty, but on no account let it be over the 

 trees when the sun is bright and powerful. The netting should be fixed 

 to the under side of the coping and close to the wall. Protection should 

 be given until danger from frost is past. 



Plants Infested with Scale (A Garilfn€r).—V/e cannot name plants 

 from a small twig; flowers are necessary. Tho leaves and stems are 

 sulTering more from scale than any specimen we remember to have seen. 

 Your plant being so fine a specimen, wo sl.ould certainly try to clean it. 

 Methylated spirits of wine applied to the leaves with a brush would 

 certainly kill a great many, and you will havo seen what Mr. Pearson 

 stated at page Sol, as to his success with Fowler's insecticide, which we 

 should certainly try. 



Charcoal Making (IJcm).— You will find this subject fully treated of 

 in No. 88, Vol. III., New Series, page 701. but tho article, occupying a page, 

 is too lent: to reprint. You can have the number free by post from our 

 office for four postage stamps. 



Cuttings of Fruit Trees (An Aviateurt.—lS you can induce a branch 

 or cutting of an Apple or Pear tree to root, it would bear iruit the snmo 

 as that borne by the parent tree. Very few varieties havo hitherto been 

 BO propagated. 



BoussiNGAULTiA EASELL01CE3 {H. N. E.).~lt is of tho natUTol ordcr 

 Chenopodiace;e, and Hexandria Monogyuia of I JnnBcua. There is a plate 

 of it in the"lJotaniealMasazine" for lS37,withihe following remarks:— 

 " Its native country appears to be near Loxa. iu the Quitiniau Andes, _ It 

 is, indeed, a most desirable stove plant, growicg rapidly, and bearing 

 copious and graceful racemes of flowers, which are deliciouely fragrant. 

 Mr. Twcedie intrndueed it to our gardens from liueuos Ayrcs. and we 

 have specimens both from the Glas^^ow and Gliisnevin liotauic Gardens. 

 Mr. Nivcn observes that the quantity of muciln^-u contained in the root 

 is quite remarkable, and the bulk of roots produced altogether astonish- 

 ing. He has one root of not less than -1 lbs. weight. At Glaerevin, in- 

 deed, it has stood the winter in the open air at the bottom of a wall." It 

 is propagated by seed*:, and the division of its tuberous roots, and should 

 be grown in peat and rich loam. Summer temperature GDUoVO'^; winter, 

 45^ to 55 . 



METEOROLOGICAIi OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Yv'eek en<Ung December 17th. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHEONICLE. 



JUDGrN'G POULTRY. 



UsDEn this bead I would liko to add a few remarUs to these 

 of "An ExBiEiToit" and "Dki.t.\," the able comtuunication 

 of tho latter being really upon the same subject. Both cone- 

 spondeuts touch upon admitted and growing evils. 



That much of our judging is far too hurried all are agreed ; 

 but tho fact does uut alwavs arise from want of time. At 



Bristol Show the Judges had a whole day before them, but 

 they had, I believe, completed their task before two o'clock, 

 and I have no hesitation in saying, that not even such a judge 

 as Mr. Ilewilt can in that time review with proper deliberation 

 and care 030 pens of fowls. I am inclined to think that the 

 unnecessary haste in cases where there is time enough, may 

 be owing to tho hasty habit caused by being so olteu hurried 

 on other occasions ; but it should be most carefully guarded 

 against where possible, and had more time been taken iu this 

 case, Mr. Hewitt and his partner, who know a good Dorking as 

 well as I do, wotUd not have committed such an error as their 



