Jftnnnry 15, 1867. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOBTICUIiTURE AND COTTAGK GAJIDENER. 



5S 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET— jANrAEY li. 



Stjppues moderate, and French goods confined to Lettuces, Endiye, 

 and Bar be ih Cnpucin, with the exception of a few bundles of forced 

 Asparagus, which is at too high n price to obtain anything but a very 

 limited sale. Pears now are almost over, and goud dessert Apples are in 

 request. There have been heavy arrivals of Potatoes, both coastwise and 

 . by rail, at former quotations. 



FRUIT, 



Apples i sieve 2 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 10 



Cnrrants ^ sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. H 



Gooseberries . . quart 



Grapes, Hothouse, .lb. 4 



Lemons 100 5 



d. B. d 



OtoS 

 





 18 







, 

 8 

 10 



Melons each 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges 100 



Peaches doz. 



Pears (dessert) . . doz. 



kitchen doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plums ^ sieve 



Quinces doz. 



P».aspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



TEGETABLES. 



8. d. B. 

 OtoO 



Artichokes each 



Asparagus .... bundle 

 Beans, Broad. . bushel 



ScarletRun.A sieve 



Beet, Red '.. doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Brus. Sprouts A sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 2 



Cucumbers each 1 



pickling .... doz. 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 3 



Garlic lb. S 



Herbs bunch 3 



Eorseradisli . . bundle 4 













 2 



1 



2 

 2 

 

 6 

 2 



1 6 



3 



S 







Leeks bunch 



Lettuce per score 



Mushrooms .... pottle 

 Mustd.ifc Cress, punnet 



Onions per bushel 



Parsley, .doz. bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas per quart 



Potatoes bushel 



8 Kidney do. 



Radishes doz. bunches 



Q Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



I Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



I Tomatoes. . . . per doz. 



Turnips bunch 



. Vegetable Marrows dz. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEDED. 



London Seed Company, 68, Welbeck Street. Cavendish 

 Square, London. "W-C. — General Pr ice Current of Kitchen Gar- 

 den, Flower, and Farm Seeds. 



Hamilton ifc Wright, Surrey Seed "Warehouse, Thornton 

 Heath, London, S. — Catalogue of Select Vegetable and Klower 

 Seeds. 



Eobert Parker, Exotic Nursery, Tooting, Surrey, — Catalogue 

 of Floicer and Vegetable Seeds, Fruit Trees, Alpine and Her- 

 baceous Plants, d'c. 



Charles Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough. — Catalogue of 

 Seeds for the Kitchen Garden, Flower Garden, and Farm. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



••• We request that no one will write privately to the depart- 

 mental writers of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 comipnni cations should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, dc, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.C, 



N.B. — Many questions must remain imanswered until next 

 week. 



Tyd^a ANT) AcHiMENXs (C. D.). — All the species of each genus are so 

 closely allied and so very much alike, that they are separated on account 

 el differences which only a botanist would detect. The most noticeable 

 differences are — Achimenes has a two-lobed sticuia; the ovan- bordered 

 by a ring-formed ghmdular disk. Tydsa has a stigma two-cleft, and the 

 ring-formed disk composed of live distinct glauds. 



Vine Cuttings {G. Scuit). — We have no cuttings at our disposal. Tou 

 must write to the Secretary, Royal Horticultural Society, South Ken- 

 sington. 



Failtjke in Heating iS. St.\ — Provided you obtain heat enough in the 

 tank over the furnace, your failure is owing to having over your tank a 

 bottom of wood and moss, and then a thickness of 10 inches of cocoa-nut 

 fibre to plunge in, all three being the worst conductors you could have. 

 For top and bottom this is what we would advise : — Let the spars of wood 

 over the 3 inches of water remain, cover them over with a piece of zinc 

 for a bottom, or thin slate ; make this waterproof. Put a thin bos inside 

 the present one, as deep as your plunging material, but so as to leave a 

 space free back and front of lA inch, to let the dry heat into the air of 

 the propagating place. Pour a little water down when you want vapour; 

 or better still, make a hole back and front, through the bottom, furnished 

 with a plug, so that you can lot vapour up from the hot water when 

 desirable. Place 2 or 3 inches of rough cinders over the bottom above 

 your tank, and if you use cocoa-nut fibre to plunge in, let the bottom of 

 the pot rest on the cinders, not on the cocoa-uut fibre. Bj" such a mode 

 you can have top heat and bottom heat at will. It is next to impossible 

 to cause hent to pass through cocoa-nut fibre when dry. 



Abrangement of Plas (G. P.).— Write to Mr. J. Gibson, jun., Surrey 

 Lane, Battersea, London, S.W., tell him what you require, and ask for 

 what information you need. 



Constructing an Ice-stack (S. P.).— The following is the plan adopted 

 by the late Mr. Beaton. " It must be made sugar-lonf fasliion, with the 

 bi-oftd end at the bottom, of course. When the site is on level ground, 

 the carts must be emptied so near to the cune that the ice when broken 

 can be conveniently thrown on with shovels, and then two or even three 

 places round the cone may be used for breaking the ice ; but the easiest 

 way is, when the ground or site is on the face of a bank, or at the bottom 

 of II gravel or chalk pit, as in that way the carts may be emptied on the top 

 of the bank, the ice broken there, and then thrown down the bank, so as 

 to empty itself on the cone at once. At Shrnbland a natural hollow was 

 chosen for the site of the iceberg, and the bank on one side made steep ; 

 and at (J feet from the bottom of the bank was the outside of the cone 

 when it was finished. Some such space is necessary between the bank and 

 the ice, to get rid of rain or snow-water running down the bank before it 

 gets to the ice. At the bottom of the bank, and half way up, posts were 

 let into the ground in piirs, 4 feet apart, and braced together with a 

 strong piece of timber set across, as builders do their scaffolding ; then 

 the garden planks for wheeling on were made into a long trough, inclin- 

 ing from the top of the bank, and resting on those cross pieces ; the bot- 

 tom of the trough being carried out to near the centre of the cone, and 

 far above it ; the ice was broken on a platform of boards at the top of the 

 bank, and thrown into the inclined trough, and it slid down just over the 

 cone. A set of men were put on the cone to distribute the broken ice as 

 it fell from the spout, and one of whom was the master builder : he saw 

 the cone brought up regularly; and when the ice reached the height of 

 the bottom of the spout, the planks were re-arranged so as to allow room 

 for throwing off the ice as fast as it came down ; and, finally, when the cone 

 was finished into a sharp point, the whole was left till the first frost after 

 mild or thawing weather ; and the reason is this— .\s soon as it turas to 

 rain or thaw, the outside of the iceberg begins to melt a little, and some- 

 times it remains so for three weeks, but -m the first hard frosty night 

 the whole is frozen over again, and the outside of the cone is then as if 

 it were one solid face of rugged ice ; then is the time to thatch it with 

 good long straw, and about the same thickness as you would a wheat or 

 barley stack, and no more. pru\-ided you have cheaper materials to give it 

 a good thick covering afterwards. AtSlirubland they used large quantities 

 of leaves, and nothing else, over the straw ; throwing it on at intervals, so 

 that the leaves did not heat by putting too many on at once. The depth 

 of covering over the straw was sometimes twice as much as in other sea- 

 sons, according to the quantity of leaves on hand, but 2 feet in thickness 

 does not preserve the ice better than 1 foot. The ice was never un- 

 covered by high winds blowing off the leaves, and never was anjrthing 

 put on or "against them to keep them, down. Perfect exemption from 

 wet or damp is necessary for the bottom of an ice-heap ; and a few pieces of 

 rough wood, put on such a place, and covered with brushwood about 

 1 foot, and that again covered with 6 inches of straw, is the way. The 

 brushwood and straw are soon compressed into a few inches in thickness 

 by the weight of the ice ; and as the ice melts, the water passes through, 

 without hindrance, into cross open drains previously made at bottom." 



Acacia Farnesiana.—" In * Rimmel's Book of Perfumes' I have met 

 with the following passage: — ' Cassie (Acacia Farnesianai, is a shrub of 

 the Acacia tribe, which only grows in southern latitudes. Its height 

 ranges from 5 to 6 feet, and it becomes covered in the months of October 

 and November with globular flowers of a bright golden hue, which peer- 

 ing through its delicate emerald foliage have the prettiest effect. All 

 those who have travelled in that season on the coast of Genoa will no 

 doubt remember what charmuig bouquets and garlands are made of the 

 Cassie, intermixed with other flowers. To perfumes it is a most valuable 

 assistant, possessing in the highest degree a fresh floral fragrance, which 

 renders it highly useful in compounds. It bears some resemblance to 

 the Violet, and being much stronger is often used to fortify that scent, 

 which is naturally weak. The Cassie requires a very dry soil, well ex- 

 posed to the sun's rays. The tree does not bear flowers until it is five or 

 six years old. The yield varies from 1 lb. to 20 lbs. for every tree, accord- 

 ing to age and position. The blossoms are gathered three times a-week, 

 after sunrise ; a very strong oil and pomade arc obtained from them by 

 maceration. In Africa, and principally in Timis. an essential oil of 

 Cassie is made, which is sold at about £i per oimce, but French and 

 Italian flowers are not sufficiently powerful to yield an essence.' Perhaps 

 you or some of your correspondents may know the Acacia Faraesiana, 

 and be able to testify as to the above description, which, if con-ect, suffi- 

 ciently proves that this tree ought to be in more general cultivation, as 

 in the months of October and November an elegant tree with bright 

 golden flowers possessing the odour of Violets could not have many 

 rivals. — E. T.,Packicood. [Acacia Famesiana is so called from being first 

 introduced into Europe in the Farnese Gardens, which happened as long 

 since as Hil6. It is a native of &t. Domingo, but is grown abundantly in 

 Spain, Italy, and North Africa. It requires a warm greenhouse in this 

 country ] 



House Sewag-e (D.).— If the pipe conveying the sewage to the reser- 

 voir adjuts into a sieve, very Uttle matter that cannot be pumped up 

 will pass into the reser\'oir. What does subside to the bottom must be 

 cleared out periodically. In our own experience such a reser\-eir did not 

 need clearing out oftener than once a-year. By far the most valuable 

 part of the sewage is that in the liquid, form. We do not knov7 Mr. 

 Maiins's experiments. 



Accented Catalogue {A. F. E.). — Messrs. Carter & Co. have an 

 accented catalogue, but that only includes annual, Liennial, and peren- 

 nial flowers raised from seed by gardeners. 



Pruning Roses (Alpha). — Your trees being so recently planted we 

 would not prune until the first mild weather after the middle of February, 

 and then cut-in the shoots to within two or at most three eyes or buds of 

 their base, cutting quite closely ^ny weak shoots. The dwarfs you may 

 treat in the same manner, leaving five buds below the cut on the very 

 strong, three on tiie moderately strong, and one or two eyes on the weajs 

 shoots, cutting the very weak shoots away quite close to the stem. If 

 any shoots are disposed to cross or crowd their neighbours cut them 

 away, paying particular attention to the formation of a well-balanced 

 open head. 



Tacsonia ignea not Flowering {Idem). — The Tacsonia ignea and 

 T. Devoniensis ought to have flowered in your greenhouse with bottom 



