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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 3, 1870. 



emit roots, and ere long from the flesh;- base thus formed they 

 throw np tiny Ehoots. They like a rather close atmosphere to 

 do this, and the base of the cuttings not to be too moist. For 

 this purpose, and helping on, as now, some young Cucumber 

 plants where the heat is not tco much, we find little boxes very 

 handy for setting over them. Thera boxes are 21 inches 

 square, 9 inches deep at back, and i J or 5 inches deep in 

 front, with sloping sides to suit. Tliey are msde of 1 J -inch 

 deal, and one square in a slight frime covers them. The 

 square can be reversed at will, so thai all trouble with damp 

 glass is avoided. In the case of young Cucumbers, as they 

 grow too tall for these shallow boxes, we have only to elevate the 

 boxes a little at a time. A very mild bottom heat does for 

 auch plants as Cucumbers when small, and for cuttings when 

 first inserted. AVhon we can place such a handy little box 

 over them beneath the sash of the pit, air can thus be given 

 to a nicety, and in the sunniest day there will be little or no 

 necessity for shading, as the double glass and the space 

 between make the light more diffused, though bright, before 

 it reaches them. Even fresh-potted young Cucumber plants 

 never flinched in the least in the brightest day we have had, 

 and the more direct light cuttings will stand the more quickly 

 will they root, and the more sturdy will the young plants be. 

 We strike many plants in a slight hotbed or pit with merely 

 the common sash over them ; but they will root more speedily, 

 and require less attention, if they Lave such a covering in 

 addition. These boxes cost very little — we forget now how 

 much exactly— and, of course, there is a little loss of wood 

 from the sloping sides, though that Liakes them more handy 

 to move, and when set in a bed sloping with the outside sash, 

 the light has greater effect inside than if the box were equal in 

 depth all round. Boxes thus made, with a moveable square of 

 glass over them, and of any suitable eize, become very useful. 

 In this Cucumber pit, heated by hot vrater, the pit for soil is 

 only about half the width — 3 feet. V/o shall not want it for 

 Cucumbers until the plants are 6ti'0D<», after being several 

 times repotted. Meanwhile, in this shallow pit, we have put 

 some of our hottest tree leaves, covered with dry ashes, and 

 as we can lay hands on some old window sashes about 3 feet 

 ling, with small diamond panes held in their places with lead in 

 the old-fashioned way, we shall lay these across from side to 

 side, and thus have at once a good propagating bed. These 

 will not be so good as the boxes referred to, as the cross-dia- 

 monding of the lead will give more shade. The cottager who 

 can nail four pieces of wood together, so as to make a box 

 without a top or bottom, and then Lave a piece or pieces of glass 

 to cover the top, may any day have a propagating box to put 

 into his small hotbed. If he made a tin or iron bottom to it, 

 and a waterproofed bottom 3 inches beneath it, he could have 

 a warm box for cuttings and seeds in his window, or any pro- 

 tected place where light could reach t rem. Such a box, a foot 

 square, set on the ground, with a square of stout glass on the 

 top of it, would winter a dozen Cauliflower plants. — R. F. 



W. Samson & Co., and W. & T. Samson, Kilmarnock. — General 

 Cn'ulnfpij' of Seals, PUivls, &c. 



Edward Taylor, Malton. — Catalogue of Agricultural, Kitchen Oar- 

 den, and Flower Seeds. 



Thomas Sampson, Preston Road, and Honndstone, Yeovil. — Cata- 

 Inftve of Vegetable, Flower, and Agricultural Seeds. 



26.— Sharp frost ; frosty fog ; clear and very frostv. 

 27.— Frosty fog ; dense fog ; fine at night. 

 28.— Sharp frost ; densely overcast; clear and fine. 

 29.— Dense fog ; very fine ; clear and frosty. 

 35.— Sharp frost ; very fine ; clear and fine^ 

 31. — Densely overcast ; drizzling rain ; clear. 

 I..— Cloudy ; overcast, but fine ; drizzling rain, brisk wind. 



iRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



E. G. Henderson & Son, Wellington Road, St. John's Wood, 

 London, N.W. — Catalogue of Flov.cr, Vegetable, and Agricultural 

 Seeds. 



C. Pocock, Wincanton. — Catalogue cf"ceds, &C. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



* *.* We request that no one will write privatoly to any of the 

 correspondents of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 arc subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, dtc.% 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.C. 

 We aso 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 (Inquirer). — 01 "British Wild Flowers," 108 numbers are 

 published. Eighty plates are included in each volume, tnat each may be 

 charged a guinea. The work will be continued until our native plants 

 have all been portraited. 



Planting Gladioluses (W. H. St.).— Plant them in rows 12 inches 

 apart, and 9 inches from bulb to bulb in the row3. Plant at the end of 

 March. 



Cineraria Flowers Green (Nobstick). — Whenever the parts of a 

 flower usually coloured are green, the plant bearing that flower is also 

 usually abnormally luxuriant. This is the cose with your Cineraria. If 

 the flowers were ail removed, and the plant not bo highly fed, nor kept in a 

 very moist atmosphere, other flowers, we think, would be produced 

 normally coloured. 



Orchids foe: Winter (J. W.). — The information you seek is in the 

 series of notes now publishing in our Journal. 



Granitic Paint (An Old Reader).— It was advertised in our Journallast 

 week. 



New Warm Frame (Amateur, Dublin).— We find that the suggesterof 

 the frame (not Mr. Pearson, who is more liberal), objects to drawings of 

 the frame being published. 



Potatoes with Holes in them (Ennu). — We presume that the holes 

 were made by slugs, or a small centipede (Geophilus electricus). If by 

 slugs, lime or salt applied to the soil at the time of digging, preparatory 

 to planting, and a top-dressing of lime early iu the summer, will be the 

 best applications. If the centipede is the cause of the evil, we know of 

 no remedy except searching for the vermin when the soil is dug. The 

 Kemp variety is not more liable to insect attacks thin are other varieties. 

 If your soil is heavy or wet, try Mr. Fcnn's ridge-and-trench system; it 

 must check slugs by keeping the tubers drier. 



Thermometers Discordant (Veritas).— We believe that the authorities 

 at the Kew Observatory correct the errors of thermometers for a very 

 small charge. If you have one corrected, and make that your standard, 

 you can compare the others and mark upon them, whethix a degree or 

 two must be added or subtracted from the temperature they indicate. 



Grafts of Pitmaston Dcchess Fear.—" C. Z." wishes to know where 

 he can buy some. 



White-edged and Golden-leaved Pelargoniums (G. M'Dougall).— 

 We sent your queries to the best of authorities, and the following is his 

 reply: — "There are several very good pure white-edged Pelargoniums in 

 commerce. I think Waltham Bride may be considered amongst the very 

 best. Castlemilk is also good, as are also White Lady and Silver Chain. 

 The two last-named I know to be excellent bedders. The finest Golden- 

 leaved or Golden Self Pelargoniums I have tried are Yellow Gem and 

 Star of Gold. Stella Variegata is not a spo^t from Beaton's Stella, but a 

 seedling from Mrs. Vernon, fertilised by the pollen of Mangles' Varie- 

 gated. See ' History of Ornamental-foliaged Pelargoniums,' second 

 edition, page 24. Beaton's Stella has a constant tendency to throw off 

 variegated sports, which I believe have all proved identical, while 

 Stella Variegata is quite distinct from them in habit, foliage, and colour 

 of flower.— P. Grieve." 



Pea3 for Succession {Jack, a Young Gardener).— Sis. sorts of Peas 

 for succession are :— Dickson's First and Best, Laxton's Supreme, Prize- 

 taker, Champion of England, Princess Royal, Lord Raglan, and Ne-plus- 

 ultra. A crop of the first early kinds ought to be sown at the same time 

 as the first of the general or second crop is sown, so as to secure a suc- 

 cession. 



Early Potatoes.and Lettuce (Idem).— To have Potatoes by the third 

 week in April, you Bhould lose no time in making up a bed of leaves 

 about 3 f^et high, with a little stable litter for tbe sides. It should be 

 about a foot wider than the frame every way. Put on the frame and 

 lights ; when the heat h*s risen place C inches of good, rich, light soil in 

 the frame, and when this is warmed through plant sprouted Ash-leaved 

 Kidney Potatoes about 15 inches apart, and 3 inches deep. Keep the 

 lights clo^e until the plants are up, and then admit air whenever the 

 weather is mild, and protect at night from frost. As you want the frame 

 in March, earth them when about 4 inches high, and put up a temporary 

 frame of boards for the sides and ends, which should be 15 or 18 inches 

 high ; and having laths placed across it, you can over the Potatoes at 

 night, and in the day if tbe weather is cold. If you cannot obtain boards, 

 then bend some sticks over the bed, so as to form a support for the pro- 

 tecting material. The Potatoes must be kept from frost. The Lettuces 

 I you may forward by now makiDg up a bed of leaves, about 2 feet high, in 



