216 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



C March 21, 1867. 



fair day plants were moved to the conservatory. In bad 

 weather plants were fresh potted, lots of cuttings inserted, 

 seedUng Petunias, Lobelias, itc, pricked out and planted where 

 a comfortable heat could be afforded so as to encourage them. 

 During this cold weather in plant-houses and forcing-houses 

 but little air was givec. Even in sunny days, as on Friday 

 and Saturday, the sun was allowed to raise the house from '/ 

 to 8° before any air was given, and then almost solely at the 

 apex of the roof. When sun was expected the fires were 

 allowed to go out, and the heating medium thus becoming 

 cool before the sun heat told powerfully on the house, but little 

 air was wanted to sustain a nice genial temperature. This in 

 a Peach-house, where the average temperature at night lately 

 has been from ."JO" to 55 . and the day temperature in dull 

 weather seldom above r.(t , we preferred in such a bright day as 

 Saturday, with a little air early given, that the house should 

 rise gradually to 75*^ or 8li' rather than have it lower by ad- 

 mitting more cold air, freezing hard all day, where the sun did 

 not reach. With the pipes rather cool, a few degrees more 

 merely of sun heat with a little air, to prevent any accumula- 

 tion of hot vapour, would be better for the plants than a lower 

 temperature from the introduction of more cold air. The 

 Peach-house was almoft the only place where more than the 

 exclusion of frost was aimed at. That had front air on Satur- 

 day, and only a little, not so much for the Peaches as for the 

 Strawberries in bloom : very small openings ensure a circu- 

 lation. Many plants suffer in such days from fire heat and 

 sun heat acting together. — R. F. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— March -iO. 



The present inclement w.^atber interferes much Imth with snpply and 

 demand, and interrupts our continental traffic. We have still a large 

 qaantity of inferior sorts < f Apples sent in, however, and a few good 

 dessert Pears may be had. Potato trade a little better. 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes each 



Asparagus .... bundle 

 Beans, Kidney, per 100 



ScarletRun.j sieve 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Brus. Sprouts h sieve 



Cabbage . . , doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



pickling .... doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish . . bundle 



Apples ^ sieve 



Apricots doz 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 



Currants i sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries .. quart 

 Grapes, Hothouse. .lb. 

 Lemons 100 



d. 8. 

 ttoo 

 l; 

 



d s. d. s. 



8 Leeks bunch 6 toU 



Lettuce per doz. 2 3 



4 Mushrooms .... pottle 203 



Mustd.A Cress, punnet 2 



2 3 Onions per bushel 4 5 



2 3 Parsley per sieve 6 8 



(' Parsnips doz. 9 1 



2 ." Peas per quart 



Potatoes bushel 4 6 



6 8 Kidney do. 5 6 



6 10 Radishes doz. bunches 1 t 



2 3 Rhubarb bundle 9 



2 3 Savoys doz. 3 



Sea-Kale basket 2 



2 ShaUots lb. 8 



8 Spinach bushel .5 



8 10 Tomatoes. ... per doz. 4 



3 Turnips bunch 6 



4 6 Vegetable Alarrowa dz, 



8. d. s. d [ s. 



2 Oto3 I Melons each 



' Nectarines doz. 



! Oranges 100 5 



10 18 Peaches doz. 



Pears (dessert) ,. doz. 3 



kitchen doz. 2 



Pine Apples lb. )> 



Plnms A sieve 



9 10 Quinces ". doz. 



Raspberries lb. 



15 30 I Strawberries oz. 3 



5 10 Oj Walnuts bush. 10 



d. 8. 

 OtoO 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Peter Lawson & Son. George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh, and 

 28, King Street, Cheapaide, London, E.C.—Catah(iue of Agri- 

 cultural Seeds. 



John Salter, Versailles Nnrsery, Hammersmith, London, W. 

 —Descriptivr. Catahgiie vf Chrysanthemums, Pyrcthruvxs, Hardy 

 Variegated Pla7its, dr. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

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

 mental writers of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottuge 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

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

 Street, London, E,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 promptly 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. 



Books {A Suhscriher). — You can have the Dictionary free by post from 

 our office, if you enclose sixty-eight postage stamps with your address. 

 I r/c-rtrnix).— Such a work as you require will be published about the close 

 of this year. There is none such at present. If you enclose twenty 

 postage stamps with your direction, you can have Keane's "In-door 

 Gardening " free by post. It contains much of the information you need. 

 Seaweeds {Ellen}. — No book answers your wishes so entirely as 

 " Common Seaweeds," by L. L. Clarke, published by Wame & Co, London. 

 It describes them in plain language, has some coloured portraits of 

 Seaweeds, is accurate, and the price only 1^. 



Old Tas for Ferns iE. M.). — You may safely mix it with the soil for 

 Ferns in your rockery under glass. No 1, Onychium japonicum ; No 2, a 

 Selaginella. but specimen imperfect. 



Glass Edging Tiles i Cardiff).— They are manufactm-ed by Messrs. 

 Kiiner Brothers, Bottle Merchant?, Thames Street, Loudon. 



Chinese Sugar Grass (A. T.). — It is totally worthless in England for 

 any other purpose than as a green fodder for cattle. As to making sugar 

 or wine from it, as you say Mr. Hullett states you cau, it is a statement 

 like those made by the same person reliitive to ripening Mangosteeus, a 

 Passiflora producing fruit of 14 lbs. weight, &c. The Sugar Grass has been 

 tried even in the south of France and failed. The seed may be bought at 

 Is. Gd. per lb. of many wholesale seedsmen. 



Rutherford's Day and Night Thermometers {F.E. G.).— Any mathe- 

 matical instrument maker can supply them. 



Iris K.kmpferi {G. S.) — We have never seen it in flower^nor do we 

 know any one who has. There is a coloured drawing of it in "L'lllus- 

 tration Horticole " for 1858. There is much that is pleasant in what you 

 call "twaddle." 



Clematis Around Trees (Sunny). — This plant does not injure trees 

 so much as Ivy, but it does to some extent diminish their vigour. It 

 certainly will not smother forest trees. 



Pruning Roses (Idem). — Larly in March is a good time to prune Roses, 

 and if not now done pruning should be completed forthwith. From the 

 middle of Februai-y to the middle of March, during mild weather, we con- 

 sider the best time for pruning Roses. Mignonette sown in the circles 

 will not injure them to any great extent, the trees being well watered in 

 dry weatlier. 



Passion-Flower for Open Air (Idem).— There is but one Passion- 

 Flower that will do iu our climate, and then it must have a wall with a 

 southern aspect, and protection in winter. It is Passiflora crerulea. 



Irish Yews Open {Idem). — You may tie the branches more closely 

 together, and in that way secure a more compact appearance. You must 

 not prime them, beyond removing irregular growths. Try tying and 

 removing the shoots, but do not draw them too closely together. 



Camellias in Bed of Conservatory (Subucriber, B.). — The border is 

 not, perhaps, properly made. We would have the plants taken up now, 

 remove all the soil, and at the bottom of the bed place 9 inches of rough 

 stones or brickbats, and then 3 inches of smaller stones or gravel. There 

 should be an outlet for superfluous water at the bottom of the bed beneath 

 the drainage. You may make the drainage any depth, only allow IH inches 

 above it for soil for the Camellias. If the bed be narrow and the plants 

 trained to a trellis, the bed may be from 2 feet to 2 feet inches deep. 

 We would place a layer of sods, grass side downwards, over the gravel or 

 drainage, and fill the bed with tun"es cut from a pasture where the soil is 

 a ctJod hazel or yellow loam, and if rather sandy all the better. The turf 

 should be from 1 to 1^ inch thick, and chopped with a spade roughly 

 for the bottom, and rather finely for the top. Raise the bed rather high, 

 tread it finu, then plant the Camellias, covering the surface with an inch 

 of fine soil. Give a good wateriug after planting, maintain a moist atmo- 

 sphere, and give frequent syringings overhead. We think your plants 

 will then thrive. 



Grapes Shanking {A Cottage Gardener Reader).— We should attribute 

 the shanking to the lowness and consequent wetness of the border, 

 coupled with its being badly drained. We are led to this conclusion from 

 the wood ripening so badly. The aspect also is not good. 



Shrubland Pet and Prince of Orange Pelargoniums for Bedding 

 (Inquirer).— Tiicse may he used where Tom Thumb %vill grow, but they 

 are not eflective bedding plants. The Alternanthems lately recommended 

 for beddiug purposes, will, so far as we have hnd experience of them, do 

 fairly in a cold climate during the summer months. 



Vines with Terminal Shoots Killed ( H'. C. D.I.— As your Vines are 

 ripening their wood we would recommend you to encourage this process 

 atj much as you can, and about the time they naturally commence vege- 

 tation out of doors you can cut them down, and during the summer you 

 will obtain a growth of wood which may produce a few bunches in 1H6S. 

 We do not know how the stock of bedding plants is in the country, but 

 you could not do better than advertise. 



Snow Plough. — " G. Bond" will be obliged by a drawing and a de- 

 scription of a good snow plough. He has one but it requires to be loaded 

 with stones and there must be a team of horse to drag it. 



JlAKJNii Peat Charcoal. — " T. M." asks information respecting making 

 peat charcoal. The peat should be dry, enclosed in an iron vessel with a 

 tube for the escape of moisture, from which pjroligneous acid may be 

 made when peat is charred on a large scale, the iron vessel made air- 

 tight, and placed in an oven with fire round it. I had large works near 

 the Solway in my charge for making peat charcoal for maniu-ing purposes, 

 and about one hundred acres of pent ground for thiit purjiose. — H. O. 



Cotton-gbowing (J. ir. //.). — We inserted the best possible answer to 

 your inquiry— namely. Major Trevor Clarke's directions for Us cultivation. 

 , See page 127, of present Volume. 



