198 



JOUENAIi OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



1 March 14, 1887. 



firm without repeated diggings and trencbings for vegetable 

 crops. 



old, As frequently stated, we have no objection to fruit trees 

 in pots. It is an interesting mode for having good, compact, 

 fruitful bushes or pyramids of Cherries, Plums, and even 

 Peaches ; but what we chiefly object to is the trouble and 

 labour they occasion in watering. Our houses are lean-to's, 

 with trees against the back wall planted out iu the usual way, 

 and trees in pots in the front of the house. Now, as a mere 

 matter of economy in labour, we would prefer, as there are 

 trees on the back w;ill, that there should be trees planted not 

 far from the front, and trained on a rounded trellis high enough 

 to permit the sun to reach the bottom of the back wall. Then, 

 too. we could have the floor of the house at liberty in winter 

 and spring. True, we could gain that object to a great extent 

 now, by taking out the hardier trees in pots, and packing the 

 pots in litter out of doors all the winter, or even placing them 

 closely together at one end of the house ; but either of these 

 operations requires time and labour to move and move again 

 the plants ; and from a scarcity of that time the pots often 

 remain in their places all the winter, being merely lifted up in 

 the autumn to break off all roots that may have extended 

 themselves beyond the pots. Now, judging from the way large 

 lettuces stood in these orchard-houses with just a sprinkling 

 of hay over them iu the most severe frosts, and how dry and 

 comfortable such salading. Cauliflowers laid in in moss or litter, 

 and hundreds or thousands of Strawberry-pots could stand 

 secure in the wettest and coldest weather on the floor of such a 

 house, additional reasons will bo apparent for having the trees 

 planted out instead of in pots ; still, for all amateurs who have 

 little room, who wish much variety in it, and who will feel a 

 pleasure in attending to the wants of their favourite trees, the 

 culture of fruit trees in pots will always be attended with great 

 zest and pleasure. After a fair trial we have no fault to find 

 ■with the system but the additional labour in watering, the 

 greater attention required to avoid dryness, and either the 

 extra labour or the extra room taken up in winter, when the 

 other plan of planting out would leave the floor free for several 

 purposes, such as forwarding many vegetables, as Peas, Pota- 

 toes, Kidney Beans, &e., in tiles, turves, and pots, before 

 planting out iu tine weather. 



Vine-horikrs. — The cold wet weather having cooled and wetted 

 the slight covering of litter and leaves, we put on about S or 

 10 inches of hot tree leaves next the ground, placing the colder 

 on the surface, but collecting most of the litter previously em- 

 ployed into a ridge 2 feet wide back and front, and about a 

 foot or 15 inches higher than the bed in the middle. On these 

 ridges flat rails were placed longitudinally, on which old sashes 

 rested back and front. The mild heat beneath the sashes will 

 be taken advantage of for potting off lots of bedding Pelargo- 

 niums, or rather for fixing them singly in pieces of turf 3 inches 

 square and 2 inches deep, the hole cut out being filled with 

 light rich soil. 



0RSA3IESTAI, DEPAETMEST. 



Eolled the lawn, switched walks, turned over ridged-up beds 

 and borders, potted plants, made cuttings, hardened oft cuttings, 

 took flowering plants to conservatory, and iu such cold winds 

 gave but little air, and as little flring as was necessary to keep 

 plants healthy. A little air constantly or early given is better 

 than open hghts iu such biting north winds, ^E. F. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— March 13. 



Supply, demand, and quotations remain unaltered. 



Avtichokes each 



Asparagus bundle 



Beans, Kidney, per 100 



ScarletRun-i sieve 



Beot, Kod do2. 



Broccoli bundle 



Bru9. Sprouts .] sieve 



Cabbage .'. doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrota bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



pickling .... doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



GarUc lb. 



Serbs bunch 



Hocaeradish .. bundle 



VEGETABLES. 



d. B. d ; 



6 too 8 



12 



4 



Leeks bunch 



Lettuce per doz. 



I Mushrooms pottle 



j Mustd.rt Cress, punnet 



j Onions per bushel 



I Parsley per sieve 



u ' Parsnips doz. 



8 I Peas per quart 



I Potatoes bushel 



8 I Kidney do. 



8 Radishes doz. bunches 



3 1 Rhubarb bundle 



3 I Savoys doz. 



' Sea-Kale basket 



1 Shallots lb. 



I Spinach bushel 



1 Tomatoes per doz. 



I Turnips bunch 



6 1 Vegetable MarrowH da. 



FRUIT. 



B. d. 8. d 



Apples i sieve 2 to 3 



Apricots doz 



Clierries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 10 18 



Currants ^ sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs. 

 Gooseberries 



lb. 9 

 . quart 



















Grapes, .Hothouse, .lb. 

 Lemons 100 



1 

 

 6 10 

 5 10 



Melons each 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges 100 



PeacJies doz. 



Pears (dessert) ..doz. 



kitchen doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plnms \ sieve 



Quinces '. doz. 



KaspbeiTios lb. 



Strawberries oz. 



Walnuts bash. 10 



d. 6. d 



0to4 

 

 10 







6 



4 



8 















5 



TKADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



William Paul, Paul's Nurseries, Waltham Cross, London, N. 

 — Catalofjuc of New Hoses, Jieatoji'.s Hybrid and other Gera- 

 niums, Hollyhocks, t&c. Also, Plate of Villarje Maid Pelargo- 

 nium, a beautiful Nosegay variety. 



Johu Bruce &: Co., 52, King Street, Hamilton, Canada West. 

 Descriptive Catalogue of Seeds for the Farm, the Kitchen Gar- 

 den, and the Flower Garden. 



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. AU 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

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

 Street, London, B.C. 



We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating -to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered i^romptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 



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

 week. 



Letters kot Prepaid. — We have so many of those that we are 

 obli-i'ed to declim; receiving them ; so the writers •! them will under- 

 stand the reason of their being unanswered. 



Boors (A Four-ycan Header). — It is published by Messrs. Houlston and 

 Wripht, Paternoster liow, London. [Brown). — You can have '* Out-door 

 Gardening" free by post from oui" office if you enclose twenty postage 

 stamps with your address. 



Extent of Piping Reqihred (C TT.).— Yon would require for a span- 

 roofed iron conservatory, one end glass, 25 feet by 15, height from ground 

 to p.pex of roof 15 feet, and the roof curvilinear, at least two four-inch 

 pipes all round the house, or three on each of the sides. 



Renovating Old Vines (.4 Subscriber for Manij Kear«i.~What yoa 

 propose doing is nood, but you should lose no time in performing the 

 lime-washiug, and iu thoroughly cleaning the house. To the lime yoa 

 may add one-third its bulk of flowers of sulphur bpfoi'e forming the wash. 

 This may help to prevent attacks of red spider. We would advise you to 

 remove the old soil to the depth named, or even deeper if it can be done 

 without injming the roots, and then to point-in the crushed bones and 

 lime rubbisli, :uid cover the border with 6 inches of fresh soil. The best 

 is turf, 2 or 3 inches thick, chopped with a bpade in its fresh state, mixed 

 with one-fourth lime rubbish, and one-sixth crushed bones. The turf 

 should be from a good loamy soil. If you could cover the border with 

 18 iuches or 2 feet of hot stable manure, it would tend to attract the 

 roots upwards and make them active iu the new material. It may be 

 removed in May. 



Hotbed Making {Inquirer). — Mark out a space a foot wider than the 

 frame all rouud. place a Inyer of long litter on the bottom, mix the hopd 

 and stable manure together and put them in layers, shaking out and 

 beating well down as the work proceeds, until you have made a bed a 

 yard high. Put on the frame, close the lights, and in a week the bed will 

 have heated Take ofl'the lights, level the bed. and if it is very hot put 

 on the lights, but leave them open a little at the back. Thrust a stick 

 about a yard long into the centre of the bed from the outside under the 

 frame, and by drawing this out you will ou fei.'ling it ascei'tain when to 

 cover the dung with 3 iuches of sand. The tiuic to do so is as soon as 

 the stick can be lipid tightly in the hand. The bed should be levelled 

 before putting in the sand, which will Iteep down the rankuesa of the 

 bed. The temperature within the frame shiuld range from 65^ to 75^, 

 and in this the cuttings will strike iu ten days or a fortnight. If yoa 

 have sawdust you may put iu 6 inches of it, and in that plunge the pots 

 of cuttings, taking care that the heat is not greater than the hand can 

 bear when thrust into the sawdust and kept there a few minutes. If 

 so hot that the liand has to be withdrawn the pots or pans must not be 

 plunged, but should be wet on the material. Shade from bright sun» 

 and lieep moist but not very wet. 



LiLinM AUP.ATUM (E. M. B.).—\on will see the information yon ask for 

 in an answer to a correspondent last week. To write ou Lilies generally 

 wpuld occupy pages of our Journal, which we cannot spare just now. 



Rain Water Becoming Hard (G. jB.).— If it does become hard, but 

 which is improbable, it must be from tho lime, or salts of lime, which it 

 dissolves from tho bricks and cement. Exclusion of air from the tank 

 would not cause hardness. 



