u 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January :)l,ie67. 



Primula sinensis Seedlings (D., Newark). —The pips are fine, and of 

 good bubstiiucu, but there are very many of tho same colour aud ixuite 

 equal to tbem. The specimens now produced are eudless. 



Half-inch Bones for Vine Bordkr {Vine Z?o)Y7cr).— You may obtain 

 tho bones you require for a Vine border from tho London Manure Com- 

 pany, 116, Fenchurch Street, London. 



SowpiG Melons, Cockscombs, and Balsams iIdvm).~For fruitirp and 

 blooming in July you should lose no time in preparing a hotbed for the 

 Melons nnd Cockscombs, which should be sown in the first week in 

 march. Tho Balsams may be sown in the first week in April. 



Hotbed for Cuttings (Frrrf).— It will answer to dig out the soil, set 

 the frame on the ground, and fill it inside ■nith hot dung. The soil should 

 be dug out to a depth of ii feet 6 inches, and in filling with dung bring 

 the latter up to the lights, shake it out evenly, and beat and tread it firm. 

 Put on the lights, in a week or so level the surface, and if the dung has 

 Bunk much fill up the frame to within 6 inches of the glass, and cover 

 with S inches of turfy loam two-thirds and one-third leaf mould. Sift the 

 soil, place the siftings over the dung before putting in the finer portion, 

 and over the soil spread nn inch deep of sand. You may make the bed in 

 the end of February, and put in the cuttings early in March. 



Staff Required for a Garden of Two Acres. Glass, &c. (OxonianY 

 — A garden of two acres, one-half kitchen garden and the other half 

 pleasure grounds and flower garden, four thousand bedding plants, three 

 Peach-houses, each 20 feet by 12 feet, a vinery, and two houses for other 

 purposes, pits and frames 60 feet long, and a conservatory 50 feet by 

 14 feet, will rciiuire, to keep it in good order, and have everj-thing in its 

 proper season, a working head-gardener, an imder-gardener, a strong 

 youth of 18 or 20, and a labourer. 



Ltcaste Sktnneri (Eduin).—'The most likely cause of tho short con- 

 tinuance of bloom is keeping the plants in an atmosphere much too 

 ■warm. A temperature of from 40^ to 45'^ is ample whilst the plants are in 

 bloom. It is not necessary to give much water, but once since they began 

 blooming is too little, especially if the atmosphere U dry and hot. lix a 

 greenhouse or room they require very little moisture, whilst in a stove 

 more is needed. "Wafer more frequently. We cannot name florists' 

 Tarieties of Azaleas, and, besides, your flowers were all smashed. 



Examination of Gardeners (W^ih).— Apply to Capt. Coekerell, Assis- 

 tant Secretai-y, Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, W., 

 Stating what you wish, and he will furnish the requisite information. 



Tine Bordhi {ChfirIcs).—'We should have liked the border better if it 

 had been wider than 7 feet, but it will serve the Vines for many years if 

 the roots be nourished by frequent top-dressings of rich compost. We 

 would advise you to make a border on the outside of the house equal in 

 width to that on the inside, and let the roots pass into the former through 

 arches or apertures in the front wall. Plant the Vines inside, and con- 

 fine the roots to the inside border for three years, then make the outside 

 border. 



Gesnera zeerina splendens Lf.aves Curling {Idem).— The evil arises 

 from an insufficient amount of heat and moisture in the atmosphere. 

 Give the plants more beat and atmospheric moisture, and avoid wetting 

 the leaves, and you will find that these will not curl. They do so 

 naturally when they are becoming mature. Avoid cold currents "of air. 



Pruning Vines {D. TK.).— You have deferred pruning too long. It 

 should be performed immediately, or soon after the leaves fall Prune to 

 the third eye as you propose; but, the canes being well ripened, we should 

 cut them in to two good soimd eyes, or one, not counting the two embryo 

 eyes at the base of each shoot, which is what we presume you mean by 

 cutting at the third eye. One good plump eye is ample, and to that wo 

 would prune, not counting the embryo eyes at the base of the shoot. 

 Your plan of allowing one shoot to bear fruit and another to grow for 

 wood on the same spur is not good. It crowds the bearing-shoot too 

 much, and impoverishes the border. 



Hardiness of Peach Trers {Idevi).—The la'te severe weather has not 

 injured the wood of our trees on walls, and it will not injure the wood of 

 those in houses unless the buds have begun to swell and are on the point 

 of expanding, and then not the wood of last year, but the i^resent year's 

 growth. A little fire during the late severe weather to keep out* frost 

 would not do any harm. 



Striking Verbena Cuttings (Cestria).--!, The pans or pots should 

 be well drained, and, a little moss or cocoa-nut fibre having been placed 

 over the drainage, filled to within an inch of the rim with turfy loam, 

 leaf mould, nnd sand in equal parts ; then fill to the top with silver sand 

 so as to present a slightly rounded surface, but if silver sand cnnnot be 

 obtained, river sand will do if not too shaiTi. 2, They strike best in a 

 bottom heat of from 70^"" to 75 , and a top heat of from 65" to 75". The 

 atmosphere should be moist. 



Sprouting Potatoes for Planting (M. J. E.).~Yout Ashleaf Kidney 

 should be takeu out of the " pies," weather permitting, early in Febrnarj', 

 and be placed in the boxes, eyes upwards, and it is best to place them 

 only one layer thick. A box will hold a large number set on their ends. 

 Tlje boxes may be put in the chamber you mention, and an old sheet or 

 similar light covering will be sufficient, but you may, if there is any likeli- 

 hood of the Potatoes beiug frozen, cover them with straw. You must 

 examine them frequently, and when the spouts are half an inch long 

 remove the covering, and harden them off by giving abundance of air 

 before planting. If this is not done the sprouts are liable to be broken 

 ofi" in planting. The third week in March is a good time to plant them 

 if the weather he favourable, and from that time to the first week in 

 April. The Ashleaf Kidney is as good a Potato as any for a first early. 

 Koyal Ashleaf is a little better cropper, but is not so early by ten days or 

 a fortnight. 



Fernery {E. M.). — We think your aiTangements good. The flue can*ied 

 along the front and one end will, if above ground and not covered by rock- 

 work, he sufficient to keep out frost, and, indeed, maintain any tempera- 

 ture desired, and as you do not wish for Ferns that require a high tempera- 

 ture, a flue will serve you more economically than hot-water pipes. You 

 may use Hartley's rough plate glass J-inch thick. The height in front is 

 too low, there should be 3 feet of wall and 3 feet of glass, so that you will 

 have a door feet high, and it should be 3 feet wide. The roof will have 

 ample fall, if the front be 6 feet high. For so narx-ow and small a house 

 it will be sufficient to have two ventilators in the back wall, each 2 feet 

 long and 15 inches wide. All the lights may fixed, which will lessen 

 the expense. We think the house will answer well. It will require 

 shading from March to October. 



Prtmulas (Richard Dean). — The seedling Primulas you have submitted 

 to us are charming things. Large, beautifully fringed, and richly 

 coloured, they cannot fail to be valuable acquisitions. Of those which 

 we particularly remarked, the most striking were Splendens firandijiora^ 

 a splendid flower of dark magenta crimson, and if'tufy, a blush, feathered 

 and suffused with deeji pink, and with a deep yellow centre. Some are 

 vei-y beautifully flaked like Carnations, while others are spotted and 

 freckled with colours darker than the grounds. We congratulate you on 

 the possession of such a stock. 



Potatoes. — ".-(. £." wishes to be informed if Dawe's Matchless Kidney 

 is the same as Webb's Imperial; also, is the Cheshire Early Pink Eye 

 the same as that known in the north as the Early Pink Eye Kemp? 



Peach Trees in Orchard-house (Tt. TF., Br/s/oZ).— Continue to keep 

 your house cool. The slower the buds are developed the more likely you 

 are to have a good crop. 



Pasture Grasses for Australia (C. S.).— There are as many climates 

 in Australia as there are in Asia. "You should have mentioned the part 

 of Australia. If not in the extreme north of that land any of our 

 pasture Grasses will probably succeed as well as they do on similar soils 

 in England. 



Select Carnations and Picotees (W. W). — Carnatiom : Admiral 

 Curzon, Lord Eanclifl'e, Black Diamond, Lord Milton. Fanny, Sarah 

 Pa>"ne, Prcmiei-, Sqtiire Meynell, Firebrand, Sportsman, Ariel, and Friar 

 Lawrence. Picotees : Mrs. Norman, Isabella, Amy Robsart, Lord Nelson, 

 Mrs. Dodwell, Robin Hood. Mrs. May, Finis, Mrs. Barnard, Venus, 

 Bertha, and Mrs. Fisher. These would cost from 2s. to 2s. Gd per pair. 

 Any respectable florist could supijly them or procure them for you. We 

 cannot recommend dealers. 



Names of Plants (J. C. S.). — 1 and 2, barren and fertile fronds of the 

 same Fern— Cystopteris dentata ; 3, Polystichum aculeatum, a small 

 frond. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending January '29th. 



POULTRY, BEE, aud HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



POULTRY JUDGING. 



It appears that we cannot have a standard of excellence to 

 guide us as to wLat birds are fit tor competition. I wovdd pro- 

 pose that each of our Judges should publish -what he considers 

 to be the standard of excellence in respect to Game and Game 

 Bantams, as each arbitrator differs in opinion with respect to 



the classes. For instance. I took second and third prizes at 

 our largest exhibition, and exhibited the same fowls again at 

 one of our smaller shows, but in better condition, but did not 

 receive even a commendation. How was it ? I ask. Simply 

 because they were judged by another arbitrator. I am really 

 at a loss to know how to select my fowls for competition. I 

 think you will coincide with me, that we want some definite 

 information to guide the judges as well as us breeders. — A 



SnFFEEEE. 



[Many alterations are desirable in poultry judging, but much 



