JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 6, 1870. 



will depend on the top-dressing. 2, We presume that your pipes suffi- 

 ciently heat your slate bottom of the bed now ; if so, the simplest plan 

 wonld be to make the bed waterproof, with such a waterproof ledge at 

 the sides of at least 1 inch high, or at any rate with openings at that 

 height, to let the water out. Then 2 or S inches of open rubble, pebbles, 

 &c, would be enough, covered with an inch of small washed gravel to 

 make a bud for the soil. With upright drain-tiles through the bed you 

 can always keep the slates moist ; and if you want vapour you have only 

 to unplug tbe upper ends. We are supposing all along, however, that 

 you have plenty of heat to your bottom slates. 



Vines im Pots (In triumph?).— Ton had better thus cultivate theBlack 

 Hamburgh. Pots not less than 1U inches wide at top, nor more than 

 15 inches, are required. "The Vine Manual " will give yon full informa- 

 tion ; you can have it free by post from our office if you enclose thirty- 

 two postage stamps with your address. 



Preserving Rough Ice {E. B. P.).— The following|is successfully prac- 

 tised by Mr. Shearer. A smaller-sized pit might be made. Make a long 

 hole 26 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep, with a drain to take away the 

 water, and 3 feet of stones put in the bottom for drainage ; then fill it with 

 ice. The hole holds 170 or 180 cartloads. Two carts are used, and four- 

 teen or fifteen men fill the hole in a day. The carts, when the ice comes 

 up to the level of the ground, are driven over the top of it, and eight or 

 ten men are kept breaking it with wooden mallets. When the ice is so 

 high that the horse cannot get np, it is thrown up with shovels as high as 

 it can be raised, and then covered over with straw, laid on about 2 feet 

 thick in bunches, and made a little smooth ; a few straw ropes are thrown 

 over this, and these ropes are tied to a piece of stick at each side to pre- 

 vent the wind from blowing away the straw. The stack should be shaded 

 from the sun. 



Strawbebries Bearing in Df-CE^iter (C. Colli7i(is).—lt is not unusual 

 for some kinds of Strawberries to flower, and if kept in a greenhouse or 

 frame to ripen the fruit late in autumn or in winter. Black Prince | 

 frequently shows flowers in autumn, the plants which do so being mostly I 

 runners of tbe current year, and if the weather be favourable the fruit '< 

 ripens, though glass is in most cases necessary to insure its ripening. We 

 have known runners which exhibited this tendency layered in b'-inch pots, 

 well supplied with water, and not detached from the parent until the 

 beginning of October ; then the pots were placed in a cold frame and 

 removed to the greenhouse as the weather became colder. Such plants 

 we have Eeen fruiting well in December. May Queen is another variety 

 that has a disposition for autumn fruiting. The trouble required is 

 hardly compensated by the results. 



Removing Autumn-fruiting Raspberry Canes (E. R. P.).— Our former 

 reply was based on summer-fruiting kinds— as Antwerp, Fastolff, &c. 

 The new kinds of autumnal Raspberries require different treatment. 

 They do not usually bear good fruit on last year's canes, or if they do, it 

 is in July like our summer-fruiting sorts, and the yield inautumn'is but 

 small. It is good practice, as advised by Mr. Rivers, to cut down all the 

 canes close to the ground in February, and in May pull up all but three 

 or four of the strongest, leaving them about 1 foot apart. Except in the 

 south, and warm sheltered situations in the midland and northern 

 counties, they do not always ripen their fruit well in autumn. 



Coleuses Damping-off (P. F. H.).— We think the Coleuses have gone 

 off from the dampness of the pit or frame, though they would suffer 

 equally m the cold of the greenhouse. A temperature of 40° is too low 

 for wintering them safely. To grow them well cuttings should be struck 

 in September, and the plants, when rooted, potted singly in 3-inch pots. 

 Give them an airy position well exposed to the light, in a house with a 

 temperature of from 50 to 55 ; at night. Keep them near the glass and 

 give a moderate amount of air. When the pots are full of roots transfer 

 the plants to larger pots, and afterwards shift into 6-inch pots which 

 being done in November or early in December, you will have fine plants 

 for winter decoration. The plants being thus kept gentlv growing all the 

 winter, should be encouraged in spring bv shifting them" into larger pots, 

 stopping them, and maintaining a moist atmosphere ; vou will thus have 

 splendid plants in June, and by striking the stoppings von mav have a 

 good stock of young plants. During winter thev should* not have more 

 water than is necessary to keep the leaves from flagging. If you have no 

 other place than a greenhouse to winter them in," the plants should be 

 well-established iu pots by October, and removed to the greenhouse before 

 frost and dull damp weather set in. The soil used for potting should be 

 \ l 5 ht , and sa°ay, and good drainage must be given. They should have 

 the driest and warmest position the structure affords. Do not stop or 

 interfere with the growing points, but let them grow at will. In spring 

 you may cut-in the plants to the shape required, and make cuttinas of 

 the prumngs. 



Select Chrysanthemums (W. H. B.).~ For three kinds, hardy free- 

 Dlooming, fine lor specimens, and coming into bloom together, we re- 

 commend of the colours you name, Princesi of Teck, white; Fingal, rose 

 violet ; or Prime of Wales, purple violet ; and Golden Beverley, yellow. 

 Of Pompons, White Trevenna, white ; Capella, reddish chestnut; and 

 5SShi\ C « r .' c ma ?r° D ^ Salter on the Chrysanthemum, published by 

 EEfol hftle & h S a°nd S book. r - Br °° me ' ° f ^ ^ ^^ *"»*>*> ha3 * l ™ 



^L°rI,c E u^ 



Names of Plants (Q. H.). — We have no remembrance of your yellow 

 Daisy-like flower. (P. E. 8.). — The tree you refer to is Araucaria im- 

 bricata, or Monkey Puzzle. (W. Webster).— Your Orchid clearly is Epi- 

 dendrum ciliare. It is quite exceptional to find only a single flower 

 emerging from the spath<\ giving it an appearance different from its 

 usual character. (Brill, Bucks). — 1, Jasniinnm Sambac ; 3, the narrow- 

 leaved New Zealand Flax, Phormium Cookianum, long known as P. Co- 

 lensoi ; 4, Stachys lanata. No. 2 puzzled us considerably ; it appears to 

 be some species of Cestrum, but we decline to guess what. Can you not 

 send us a second and better specimen? 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



bitor's name is written 

 or frnit exhibited, and 



': awards refer 



turned face downwards in front of the plants 



ly a number written on the baek. Tbe Judges in 



i, and ought not to know 



nly to the numbe 



the exhibitors' names until afterward 



Snow-berry ( Tyro).— It was a mistake in "A. C." when he recom- 

 SWdrop Tree!' 11 ''" ^ ^^ the s y m P hori ««P<"'- The Halesia is the 



Jeo d'f.sprit (TV. Adderley).— Yonr notes on the gardener have been 



published too many times to need a reappearance. 8amener naTe Deen 



Orchard Houses at Chit, well (Norman). — Whv not r/o them nnd 



™ in Mr p PearS °. n * p Th6 , f ° r ^ ° f the r °° f ' **■ and S*fi directions 

 v„„ 1,, i f n a . , Cl,ns "-t"=tion and Management of Orchard Houses." 



Jtap™wtth yo'or'lStoS. fr ° m °™ ° ffiCe " y ° U enCl0 " e tWe "* *>° Bt3 8° 



Rose for E S.E. Aspect (BerkhampXead Sufc.wiftcrl.-Climbing Devo- 



niens.s or Celine Forestier. Mrs. Pollock or some other^ariegated 



Pelargonium would look well along with the blue Lobelia vaneRatei1 



ANNALS OF POULTRY IN 1869. 



We know no feeling for which we are more grateful than for 

 the elasticity of the human mind, and the facility with which 

 it accommodates itself to circumstances. The king can do 

 nothing that the king has not done, and there is nothing new 

 under the sun ; still, even in an old, or at least an accustomed 

 task, there lacks not something of freshness. It is not in the 

 human mind to be satisfied. With some there is continual 

 craving; with others, having everything else, they want the 

 Eoc's egg, but with all there is the desire to attain something, 

 or to get rid of something; and although these feelings may be 

 of many years' duration, and there is an inward conviction the 

 object will never be attained or accomplished, yet that is stifled 

 in order to allow the mind to dwell on the coming time as 

 that which is to surpass its predecessors, and to crown the 

 edifice. This is more especially true of the new year ; even 

 those who can count their Christmases by threescore, and who 

 during forty of these have looked for great things to come, and 

 looked in vain, are still listening to the fond promise that all 

 their wishes will be fulfilled, and their desires accomplished in 

 the new year. The worst we wish them is that it may be so. 

 It is always painful to talk of self, and we have deferred it as 

 long as we could, but it is a duty we owe, and we desire to dis- 

 charge it in full. We are not more free than others from the 

 weaknesses incidental to our nature, and we have a lively re- 

 collection of wishes and anticipations that did not, perhaps, 

 meet with immediate fulfilment, but they were fulfilled, and 

 we are grateful for it. We should deviate from our usual 

 course did we not say our first and chief feeling is gratitude 

 that we have been spared with so many of our friends and 

 good supporters. It is by their kindness, in great part, that 

 we have possession, instead of being perforce content with 

 anticipation. While we heartily thank them for it, we promise 

 to them and to ourselves a continuance of the effortB that have 

 met their approval. We shall, therefore, look in 1870 for the 

 support we have received in 1869. 



The review of the classes need not be a long one. The ex- 

 perience of nearly a quarter of a century has not been thrown 

 away, and we verge on perfection ; still, so much has been 

 done, that it is hard to fix a limit. We know that German 

 breeders will produce any Pigeon that can be put on paper, 

 however difficult the plumage may be, and, judging from what 

 has been done, we should be almost disposed to think poultry- 

 breeders can do the same. 



How great a change may be seen in Dorkings by those who 

 can look back twenty years ! Formerly the cock weighing 9 lbs. 

 was a marvel ; the average of hens 7 lbs. each. Now cocks 

 weigh over 12 lbs., and hens from 9 to 10 lbs. each. If this 

 increase of weight were purchased by the loss even of appear- 

 ance or symmetry, there might be found some to regret it ; but 

 tbe birds are not only heavier, they are handsomer and hardier. 

 They have more than held their own throughout the year in 

 every way. The White Dorkings are now as heavy as the 

 Coloured were formerly. 



Cochin-Chinas keep on the " even tenor of their way " — 

 good, quiet, stay-at-home fowls ; when they were unduly 

 valued they tried to reach the value put upon them, and when 

 they were abused they went on "never minding" till they 

 lived their detractors down. The Buff and White have been 

 excellent, the Grouse and Partridge hardly so good as usual. 

 Cochin entries have been numerous everywhere. 



We are told there are still people who call the Brahma 

 Pootras " Shanghaes," and deny them the rights and standing 

 of a "distinct breed." We can imagine such people calling 

 for a chair, and, addressing the chairman as " sirrah," desire 

 him to carry them to Banelagh, Vauxhall, or it may be the 

 Mary'bone Gardens. Industrious people the manufacturers 

 of Brahmas ! They showed at Birmingham 233 pens— large 

 beautiful birds of most undeniable purity. These have formed 



