March 28, 1B67. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



333 



matter we cannot decide. So far as our experience goes, the 

 cast metal would carry the day. We know some very common 

 cast metal bc'i'ers which have stood their work more than 

 thirty years. We have seldom known a wron-ht iron saddle- 

 back last much longer than sixteen yeirs — fifteen years might 

 be looked npon as a fair average; some may tt-ind longer, and 

 others go before that time. Our experience and observation 

 point to cast iron as the most durable. As it is a matter of 

 some importance, for there is generally much trouble when 

 one gives way, we hope correspondents will give the results 

 of their experience. We find, too, that, unlike some other 

 of our servants, the more regularly they are worked the 

 longer they will last, as a general rule, and hence the boiler 

 for a greenhouse or a lean-to forcing-house will not last so long 

 as one more constantly used. 



The general work, potting, cutting-making, changing plants, 

 and moving Strawberry pots, &c., has been so like that of pre- 

 vious weeks that we will defer particulars. — E. F. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET,— M.ir.cH 27. 



Wira better weather we may expect some improvement in the tone of 

 business : bnt at present there is nothiug inthe eharacterof either supply 

 or demand that merits pnrticular remark. Continental supplies comprise 

 Radishes, Lettuces. Endive, Artichokes, Tomatoes, and Kidney Beans, 

 and reach us in gnod condition. Forced fruits of Pines and Strawberries 

 may be had at rather lower prices. 



Artichokes each 



Asparajnis bundle 



Beans, Kidney, per 100 



ScarletRun.^ sieve 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Bms. Sprouts i 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 



VEGETABLES, 



s. d. s. d I 



6 too 8 Leeka bnnch 



8 12 0, Lettuce per doz. 



2 SO' Mushrooms pottle 



Mustd.A Cress, punnet 



2 3 Onions. ... per bushel 



2 3 I Parslev per sieve 



Parsnips doz. 



2 3 Peas per quart 



Potnt.3e3 bushel 



6 8 Kidnev do. 



6 10 I Radishes doz. bunches 



2 3 Rhubarb bundle 



9 2 6 Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



2 Shallots lb. 



3 1 Spinach bushel 



8 1 Tomatoes.... per doz. 



3 I Turnips bunch 



4 6 0' Vegetable Harrows dz. 



FRUIT. 



s. d. B. d 



Apples i sieve 2 to S 



Apricots doz 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 



Currants ^ sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 9 10 



Goosaberrie=i . . quart 



Grapes, Hothouse. .lb. 12 25 



Lemons 100 5 10 



Melons esch 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges 100 



Peaches doz. 



Pears (dessert} .. doz. 



kitchen doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plnms j sieve 



Quinces doz. 



Raspberr>3s lb. 



Strawberries oz. 



Walnuts bush. 10 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



••• We request that no one will -write privatel}' to the depart- 

 mental writers of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Grardener, and Country Gentleman." By bo doing they 

 axe subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

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

 Street, London, E.C. 



We also request that correspondent a 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 conyeniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Alec never to send more than 

 two or three questions at onee. 



"BooKa (A Tounf} Bfdinner). — Thcmson's book on Grape Vine culture is 

 a good practfcal work. We know of no separate work on Melon culture. 

 Milla on Cucumber culture is n good work. (Jn ^ma/fHr).-** The Vine 

 Manual," a new edition just published, which you can have free by post 

 from our oiRce if you enclose thirty-two stamps with your address. (A 

 Bvd). — "Thompson's Gardener's Aspistant" is an excellent work. You 

 must have mr.re practical knowledge before tou can write for the in- 

 Btruction of others. (Jlf. S.r>.).— The want which you truly point out will 

 be supplied at the close of the present year. The work is preparing. 

 (J. ff.l. — Yon can have '• The Modem Peach Pruiier " free by post from 

 our office if you enclope 8j. t^rf. in stamps with your address. Berkeley's 

 ••British Mosaes" is good. It contains twenty-four plates, and its price 

 IB one gTiinea. 



EvERL.vsTiXG (IT'".). — The two flowers enclosed are different forms of 

 Gnaphalium arenarinra, or Sand Everlasting. " French Lavender " is 

 Lavasdula stachns of botanists. It has been extensively grown not only 

 for its fragrance but as a medicinal herb. 



TEJirERATUEE OF GnzENHorsE (lifTiorancc). — Your question is fartoo 

 indefinite for us to answer. If you enclose seven postage stamps with 

 your address, and order '• Greenhouses for the Many." you will have the 

 hook sent you free by post. It will give you probably information adapted 

 to your wants. 



AccuBA Japosica (H. L.).—lf you place a male plant of Aucuba ja- 

 ponica by the side of the old variegated sort it ivill enable the latter to 

 produce berries. Those plants which have borne berries this year will 

 not continue to do so without the pollen of the male. 



Granite Sand (Mrs. C. Galloiray). — Fine granitic sand, such as voa 

 And on the banks of the Deo, if not soaked by sea water, is excellent for 

 Ferns and Heaths. Even if impregnated with salt from the sea this 

 may be removed by two or three washings in fresh water. 



GBA5DtARS Potatoes.— Mr. Frederick Gill, of the Dorset Niu'series, 

 Blandford, sold four hundred sacks of the sorts named by me for eating 

 purposes, and has none loft. This notice may stop fruitless applications, 

 tjf which he has had many. — W. F, EADCLyrFE. 



StTLPHATE OF LiME AS A MANURE (IF. J. L. Forw).— We are quite in- 

 clined to believe the .statement of your friend, that his sugar plantations 

 in the West Indies have produced much larger crops since he applied 

 sulphate of lime igj-p-sum) to the soil. It is composed of forty-three 

 parts sulphuric acid and thirty-three parts hme. It is a constituent of 

 Lucerne, Saiutfoin, Clover, and of many of the Gramineas, the Sugar 

 Caue being one of them. It is also a constituent of Turnips. Potatoes, 

 and Buckwheat, and to all those crops it has been applied advantageously. 

 Xo more than four or five bushels per acre, sown by hand, are required. 

 One farmer has recorded, that of Clover bay, his land manured with 

 gj-psum, produced three tons per acre, and the land an-gypsumed only 

 one ton. 



Zinc Cisterns as Floweh-pots (W. A'jijm).— As we observe that our 

 MjTlles, Coronillari, Vines, Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, Figs, &c., axe 

 becoming too large for their pots, we are tempted to envT,' you the posses- 

 sion of the fifty circular zinc cisterns, 16 inches in diameter, and the 

 same in depth. Excellent pots, indeed, they would make to shift the 

 above into nest October, by first taking the precaution to bore in the 

 sides of each, close to the bottom, three circular holes of about an inch 

 in diameter, and in that ca^e a central hole in the base may be dispensed 

 with ; the side holes are better for the exclusion of worms. The outside 

 may be painted stone colour, and be made to resemble stone by sand being 

 dashed on the paint whilst it is wet, or the appearance of terra cotta may 

 be given by putting on a coating of red paint and dashing sifted brick- 

 dust against it whilst the paint is wet. 



TEicoLotJRED ZoNALE PELARGONIUMS (/. TT.). — Your tricolor Zoualcs 

 are the finest of the kind we have ever seen. They have all a rich golden, 

 well-defined margin, ^vith a decided green centre. In Florence we have 

 broad, distinct mai'oou zone, fringed with dark crimson ; the leaf is large 

 and very handsome. Aurora Borealis is a somewhat smaller leaf, and 

 with a larger and paler green centre, a narrower zone, and its colour a 

 mottled mixture of bright crimson and maroon, the maroon prevailing. 

 Fanny is a smaller leaf still, with a small pale green centre and a broad 

 ven.' lively bright crimson zone, with a few mottles of pale maroon. 

 Northern Star is much like Fanny, but with less maroon in the zone. 

 Beauty of Hnntroyde has a large green centre, with a pretty nai-row zone 

 of mottled crimson and maroon. Lotty "Wills is also a small leaf, the 

 gold margin rather paler than in the others, and with somewhat of the 

 same zone as Beauty of Huntroyde, but with a smaller centre. 



Aspect op GnEENHocsE (IT. Bradford).— The difference is so sh'ght 

 between a south-eastern and a south-western aspect that we should be 

 guided in our choice by other considerations, such as appearance, 

 facility of access, tte. If all these are matters of indifference, then give 

 the preference to the south-western aspect. 



Pollen of the Male Aucuba (C. T. fl".!.— Shake the pollen on to diy 

 tissue paper, fold it up Hke a medical packet of powder, then put it info 

 a wide-mouthed phial which has been well dried ; cork it tightly whilst 

 warm and keep in a dry place until required. The seedlings will come 

 verj- various, both green and variegated. 



Growing Potatoes on the Kidge and Furrow Svetem {J. Curric), 

 —Suppose that the ground has been half or bastard-trenched for a 

 few weeks, and is lying quite even upon the surface — viz., the top spit 

 and crumbs of the first trench, a yard broad, were cast or wheeled to where 

 the ground is to be finished, in order to fill up the last trench. The bottom 

 spit of the first trench, or subsoil, must then "be broken up with a Parkes's 

 steel fork and kept down ; then fork the top spit of the nest trench on 

 Ut it, and cast out the crumbs clean with a shovel on to that, and so on, 

 working-in raw manure throuc;h the whole body of the soil only in the 

 autumn. Now measure out the ground for the Potatoes, and strain a 

 line across, row after row, to pegs where the rows are to he. Place the 

 sets upon the surface of the soil at quite a foot distance for the earlier, 

 and 18 inches at least, if the gi-ound is good, for the late and lai-ger-topping 

 sorts. Then readjust the hues to the foil width, or, what is better, rather 

 wider than a shovel— say a foot, to markoutthe trench centrally between 

 the two rows of Potatoes. Cut down with a spade, aud rather slanting 

 inwards, to the full length of the lines, in order to leave the sides of the 

 trench even, and to form as it were a rather pyramidal base to the ridge. 

 Then dig, and cast out every other spadefij of earth, right and left, on_ 

 the shoulders of the corresponding ridges, by which you avoid plump- 

 ing the soil on the shoots of the sets in the centre, and leave that part 

 hollow to become filled directly with part of the crumbs through the 

 a^rency of the shovel, aud cover the sets about 3 inches deep. In about a 

 fortnight afterwards shovel the crumbs, or loose soil, clean from th«- 

 trenches, which will fill up the centres of the ridges, and leave them about 

 a foot broad, flat upon the top, and gently sloping at their sides, about 

 18 inches deep to the liottom of the trenches, and leave the Potato seta 

 covered about 6 inches deep. Should a propitious season occur, and the 

 crop be free from the disease, nothing further will be required, except 

 picking off the blossoms of those which are disposed to berry, and clutch- 

 ing away any weeds which may be showing themselves too prominently 

 till the Potatoes are ripe. Mr. Fish gives excellent advice for a light 

 soil and open situation at page 18S.— Upwards anj> Onwards. 



