106 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND GQXXAGE GAm)ENER. 



I February 26» 1867. 



TwBLTE AiTKTJALS roR PoTS (C. T. A.).~\ou. do not BRj whether you 

 winh Ui«m to be hardy, bat we presnme that you can afford them a little 

 protection, snch as that of a south window or frame, from the time of 

 (iowijig until the plants are up. Oxalis rosea, Clintonia pnlchella, Acro- 

 clinium roseum, Brachycomo iberidifolia. Abronia nmbellata. Nemcsia 

 coiupacta insignis. (Enothera bistorta Veitchii, Mesembryanthemum tri- 

 color, Purtulaca Blensoni, Schizanthus rctusus, Amblyolepis setigera, 

 and double Zinnia elcgans. These are what are termed half-hardy 

 ftnnualH, and to them may be added Ten-week Stocks, Asters, and Phlox 

 Dvummoudi. in great variety. If you wish for hardy annuals, then Sweet 

 Alyssum, double Clarkia elegans, Coreupsis marmorata nana, Cnllinsia 

 bartsiiefolia, Whitln^iaprandiflorn, Chrysanthemum tricolor, Linum gran- 

 diliorum rubrum. Nemophilit atomaria oeulata, N. insignis, Linaria bipar- 

 tita splendida. Mignonette, nnd Mathiola bicornis. For the greenhouse 

 the following are suitable:— Gl. the Amaranthus in purple, orange, white, 

 nnd striped varieties; Brownllia elata, audits white variety ; Thunbergia 

 alata, and its white variety, which are climbers, requiring 'support ; Anio- 

 ranthns melnncholicus ruber, Balsams. Convolvulus mauritanicns, fine 

 for baskets ; Egg Plant, purple and white-fruited ; and Martj-nia fragrans. 



Pruning Ivy {W, L.).~We would defer cutting the Ivy nntil the end of 

 "March or early in April, as if cut now it remains for weeks a very un- 

 sightly object, It should be cut with a knife quite close to the wall. 

 Beyond the unsightlmess there is nothing to prevent its being cut now. 



AkTHUEIUH SCHEBZERIANrM AND SPH^ROGVNE LATTFOLIA CutTURE 



(A. B.J.— At this season they both require to be kept in a stove with a 

 temperature of from 60- to 65^' at night, which should be increased to 70^ 

 by the end of March, and to 8[i^. SS", or 90^ by dav with sun and air. The 

 atmosphere should be kept very moist whilst the plants are growing 

 freely, but not by syringing them overhead, as that impairs their beautv 

 and sometimes destroys it. The moisture, therefore, should be produced 

 by evaporation from tanl;s or troughs, or by sprinkling the floors, walls. 

 Ac., several times a-day. A fair amount of ventilation must be provided, 

 but not m currents, nor should large quantities of air be given irregularly. 

 The situation should be light and not shaded, and there should be plenty 

 of room on all sides. The plants ought to be kept as near the glass as 

 possible ; the pots should he weU drained, the rough parts of the com- 

 post being placed over the crocks to a depth of about 1 inch, or from 

 that to 2 inches. The compost mav consist of two-thirds rather light 

 very tnrfy loam, the top spit of a pasture cut from three-quarters to an inch 

 tnick, and either a year old or charred in a hot oven, and one-third turfv 

 sandy peat, chopped and made rather small, but not sifted, to which add 

 one-sixtb of the whole of silver sand, and an equal proportion of charcoal 

 in pieces from the size of a pea up to that of a hazel nut. and weU in- 

 corporated. \\ ater carefully after potting, and when at rest, but when the 

 '?° u^ ^^ 7*^''*^^ "^ *^^ ^^'^^^ ^^''^ avoid deluging them with water. \ 

 slight shade from very bright sun may be afforded for an hour or two 

 darmg the middle of the day. 



Muscat HAjffiTiEGH Grapes Shanking (S. R. J.).-Shanking is the 

 great fault of this Grape. The heat you name will not save them, but 

 will rather increase the tendency to the evil. All von can do is to have 

 the roots in an inside border, and to encourage and retain more foliage. 

 The best way to treat this Vine when it is planted in an outside border, 

 IS to have it worked on the Black Hamburgh. 



M^EN-aATE Ferns Losing their Fronds (Jdm).— The cause of the 

 Ironds commg very weak and pale, and some of them dying off is your 

 keeping them in a continual state of growth in the temperature of a 

 Cucumber-house, "iou should have kept them moderatelv dry in a tem- 

 perature of about 5a^ at night, for at least three months of the year, cut 

 down the fronds when these became brown, and placed the plants in a 

 temperature of from 60^ U^ 65 ; they would then have become strong. 

 iTivc them plenty of moisture, do not roast them, and keep them shaded 

 and well watered, but not saturated. 



IN3ERTING MiSTLRToE Seed {W. TI'.).~You mav procure the seed from 

 any locality where the plant is found. The seeds' are within the berries, 

 and may be squeezed out and inserted in a cut in the bark of the tree, or 

 pUced on a smooth part of the bark on the under side of a branch. If 

 placed on the upper bide birds are apt to make free with them. Now is a 

 good time to insert them . 



Propagating Welungtokia and Chpressus Lawsoniana from 

 OtTTTiNOS iIdem).~The best time to put in cuttings of these is towards 

 0SL4 »?l^"™™"''^'" ^^^^ ^^« growths are complete. The voung 

 Shoots of the current year should be selected, taking them off quite" close 

 to the old wood. They should be inserted in pots or pans in silver sand, 

 the base of the cutting resting about half an inch above a layer of loam 

 at the bottom, over the drainage. The pots should be placed in a warm 

 greenhouse or propagating-house, or set in a frame with a mUd bottom 

 heat, and should be covered with a bell or hand-glass. The sand must be 

 fcept moist. Though plants will grow from cuttings they are not equal 

 to those raised from seed. o j 1 



fW^T^^^4'^ Plantains and Daisies (B/u^).-The best plan is to grub 

 !r T ? -^'*i^^ \^-^^ ^^^ ^^ old knife. This, though a tedious, is a certain 

 mode of eradicatmg them. 



1-^1^?^"^^ C-LTURE (Mcm).-You may sow the seed in April, in drills 

 }L =^^^ ♦ P^;!:"?r''^ ^,'P*'^ "^^^1' ^" ^° '^I'^'i situation. Do not scatter 

 \^%^l thickly, and when the plants are up thin them to 1 foot or 



m«nT>il. ^5^' '*^^*']' °'^5^ ^"""^ *^^ ^""^^ ^^'■^y i'^ August in the same 

 manner, and the plants come into use in the following vear. AU the 

 routine culture required consists in keeping them free of w'eeds. giving a 

 dr^siugof manure in autumn between the rows, and forking it in in 



o+f'^^*^^v^^^^' ^^- ■^- ,^>"«^^''. J""-)— You wiU do well to cut out the old 

 biems to the ground with a saw as you propose, and to cut back those left 

 to 4 feet, but If naked at bottom cut them away altogether, and leave 

 inose hranehes coming from the bottom. Do it at once. 



Cabbages fldf 77!).— The plants are too young to apply liquid manure 

 to. It should not be given until they begin t^ heart, and should then be 

 poured between the rows and not on the plants or on their stems. If 

 strong dilute it with water. Uiine will not hurt them if mixed with 

 water and other matter. Your plants are eaten at the surface of the 

 grnimd by what la known to gardeners as the Leather-coat, a dirty 'Tey- 

 ooloured grub as you describe it, about an inch long. Bv taking the soil 

 irom around the stems of the phrnts you may find more of these destruc- 

 tivo gmbB. Search for and destroy them, the only remedy we know 



Pipes Partially Heating (Ardavon). — You do not tell us how yoa 

 have placed the pipes. We suspect that the side of the house neKt tho 

 boiler has the pipes placed higher than those on the other side that do 

 not heat. Are the pipes at the farther end of the house higher than the 

 end next the boiler ? and is there an open air-pipo or small oii^tem at the, 

 farther end V These may make all right. Let us know. 



Vinery and FoacrNo Vines (If. IK.).— "We have looked to the 7th to 

 make sure of your case, and now with the further information we reply: — 

 1, We would keep up the division into two of the HU-feet range, as that 

 will enable you to have the end division next the boiler much earlier if 

 yon so wish it. 2, Whenever there is the necessity to keep the water 

 boiling in the pipes, and so boiling over at the Hupply-cistem, which is 

 placed at the end of the first division, there will soon be waste enough of 

 fuel to purchase extra pipes. If your stop-cocks are right we do not 

 clearly see how the running over a little of the supply- cistern empties 

 the pipes in the farther house. ;!, To prevent this running over of the 

 water a larger cistern must be procured, so that when the water is cool 

 it need not stand much above the level of the pipes, and then there will 

 be room for expansion as the water heats. If you fill a teakettle with 

 vrater the water will run over before the kettle boils, and all the more 

 quickly in proportion to the small quantity of water contained in the 

 kettle, and to the extent of surface exposed to the heating medium ; and 

 on the same principle the expansion will take effect more quickly in small 

 pipes than in larger ones, in three-inch pipes than in four-inch pipes. 

 Were you to have double the quantity of piping, or more, you would be 

 less troubled with the water boiling over, and most likely would not re- 

 quire to enlarge the cistern that supplies the pipes. 4, For very early irork 

 you would need three three-inch pipes to be added to your present two ; 

 or, if it pleased you better, you might make two four-inch pipes answer. 

 For the farther house you might allow it to remain as at present for a 

 late crop; or, if to succeed tbelirst, and pretty early, add one more three- 

 inch pipe to that which you have already. As you have the three-inch 

 piping it would be best to finish with three-inch pipes. They are sooner 

 heated than four-inch pipes, but they are also sooner cooled. 5, Of 

 course the circulation in your first division is complete in itself, and is 

 only prevented going on by the stop-cocks, by which also yon regulate 

 theheat in the farther division. If you worked both divisions at once, 

 then your supply-cistern might be at the farther end of the farthest 

 house ; but to work them separately you had better allow it to remain 

 where it is. (), We cannot advise you as to the best and most economical 

 mode of making additions to the piping, as we do not know how your 

 present pipes are placed. The best plan would be to alter your pipes at 

 each end, and connect them with a y-piece, and aa many holes in it as 

 you wish to have pipes. Supposing your present two-inch pipes are 

 placed, the flow above the return ^ , then suppose you add two pipes, 

 your cheapest plan would be to make the two additional flows where they 

 would stand thus — - r^ -, and the two side ones would be connected with 

 the centre one by means of bent one-inch pipes. A similar pipe would 

 connect these again with the one return at the farther end. The best 

 way to do this is to have caps to fit the ends of the three-inch pipes, and 

 have strong inch pipes, one end fastened into a hole out out of the side 

 of the present flow, and the other end screwed into the socket cap, and 

 the same connecting the additional flows at the farther end with the re- 

 turn-pipe. Thus, with four socket caps and four pieces of one-inch piping, 

 you may connect two more pipes with your present ones with little more 

 trouble than drilhng the holes in the present pipes. This plan we know 

 will do very well, but we do not say that it is as good a plan as having 

 all the pipes connected in the usual way. yet it is a very handy one for 

 making additions to the heating medium, as we have several times 

 proved. These caps and one-inch connecting pipes are suppUed by all 

 dealers in hot-water piping. 



Planting out Forced Strawberries {E. C.),— The matter has so 

 often been alluded to by us. that it is hardly necessary to say more than 

 that, as a general mle, we uniformly plant out the greater part of our 

 forced Strawberries, not when the fruit is gathered, if that is at all early; 

 but all the earliest plants are generally turned out of their pots against 

 a fence, where they can be protected from changes in the weather by a 

 few branches, or a little rough litter in severe weather. We should not 

 expect much from Strawberry-pots taken out in frosty weather in March 

 from a medium temperature of 60 . All or most of the latest-forced — ■ 

 say in May and June, ore generally turned out at once. The earliest 

 wouJd be as well kept in their pots until planted out, but we generally 

 want the pots, and in that case the balls are placed cloKe together, a 

 little leaf mould thrown among them, and a few evergreen boughs kept at 

 hand to protect them from severe frost, and then we generally turn them 

 out in well-stiired and moderately well-enriched soil about the beginning 

 of May. If a few plants do not show fruit at all we goneraUy throw them 

 away at once. The earliest-forced, if thus treated, generally yield some 

 good gatherings in autumn. For extra crops in the following year (that is 

 the forced plants of 1866 bearing out of doors in the summer of 1867), 

 we know of no mode that will equal this for quantity of produce. Such 

 plants, however, do best the firbt season. They will not be nearly so 

 good in 1868, and very poor in 1869. As far as our experience goes, the 

 first crop from such plants is far superior to that obtained by any other 

 mode the first season after tm-ning out young plants. As stated above, 

 however, the tirst crop is the only one out of the common way. 



Seedling Rhododendrons {A Lady Gardener). — The seedlings from 

 the Hybrid Scarlet and other Rhododendrons would certainly produce 

 flowers finer in size and colour than the seedlings or even old plants of 

 the common Rhododendron. If your garden is of limited extent, and 

 only a few plants are required, we would advise the best named sorts only 

 to be planted, though the others would do well for borders. We do not 

 know the Rhododendron respecting which you inquire ; but we think 

 Victoria, one of the Hybrid Scarlets, would suit you as to colour, its 

 flowers being of a rich plum or claret crimson hue. 



Cutting Back Fig Trees (An Old SHh.^cribcr).~'Tho best time to do 

 this is when danger from fi-ost is past, and that will be in the early part 

 of May for trees against walls or in the open ground. 



Salt for Sea-kale— Running to Seed (A Camhrw7r).—SB.\t is goiid for 

 Sea-kale beds; you may sprinkle it over the ground in about half the 

 quantity required to kill weeds on gravel walks, keeping it away from the 

 croT\-ns. When the plants begin to run to seed you will ensure crowns 

 by cutting off the flower-stems at the second or third leaf before they 

 flower. Never allow seed to be produced if you wish, for good plants and 

 many crowns. 



