February 10, 2870. 



JOURNAL OF EOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Phoning Vines (Qoenden).— It is difficult, without seeing them, to say 

 how Vines should be pruned, but if they have been in a neglected state, 

 cat oat any very Ions naked spars, leaving & sufficiency of young canes 

 or wood of last year to produce shoots at every 15 or 18 inches along the 

 rod. Each shoot may be cot in to two sound plump eyes, and yet it may 

 be necessary to leave some shoots ilcag, others short, so as to give the 

 required bearing shoots at the places needed, and for the fall length of 

 the rod. Pruning having been deferred until so late, with a brush apply 

 to every cut the "patent knotting'' used by painter?, as yon have 

 little experience of Vines, we advise you to procure the " Vine Manual,'' 

 which may be had post free from oar office if you enclose 2t\ 8d. in 

 poBtage stamps with your address. 



Gas Lime foe Garden Use (Idem).— It is not suitable generally for 

 gardens, aB for some time afterwards nothing will grow where it has 

 been applied in sufficient quantity to be of use. It is very serviceable, 

 however, for ground which has been long uader the spade or plough, and 

 from which it is desired to expel slugs, wirewonxs, &c. In gardens, 

 however, it must be used with care. 



Rhynchospermum jasminoider Pruning (C. 31. lTaj or). —Yours being 

 an old, neglected plant, the beat time to prune- it is at the end of March 

 or beginning of April, or before it begins to grow. We should cut it 

 down as close to the soil as possible ii you can find any latent bads on 

 the shoots there, if not, to the shoots which, irom their not being too old, 

 would be likely to break freely. If your plant is well furnished with 

 shoots near the base, all that will be required is to thin out the shoots 

 where too close together, cutting out any old. Ion;:, bare shoots, and 

 training in their places young shoots which, from thair position, are di3 - 

 posed to fill the space. 



Coffee Plant Losing its Leaves [T. B.).— Wa should think the 

 plant had lo3t ail or most of its roots irom the soil being sour; but a 

 more likely cause is the plant having been attacked with insests— thrips 

 or red spider. From 45° to 50° will be a sufficiently high temperature 

 irom fire heat at this period of the year. 



Grafting Hollies (C. W. D.).— They may be grafted in the eame way 

 as Aucubas. The common Holly is the stock us el for all the 5 better 

 green and variegated sorts. It answers for the large-leaved sorts, as 

 altaclerense, Hodginsii, and maderense ; but we have no experience of 

 any of them as stocks, and not being so hardy as the common sort, we 

 think, they will not be so useful. 



Applying Night Soil [Mrs Bonncai).—Ztiz best mixed with dry soil, 

 a quantity being put under cover, so as to be always ready for use. The 

 whole process should be conducted under cover, as many of the fertilis- 

 ing properties of the manure are lost, from wet. The night soil should 

 be removed frequently and mixed with the dry earth, and enough earth 

 should be used to secure drynesB. After it haB lain for some time 

 covered with dry earth, it may be chopped up and mi^ed until like gaano ; 

 then applv it to the kitchen-garden ground you are about- to crop, 

 digging it'in. For thr- field it may be applied in February or early in 

 March, or in summer after the hay has been carried. If you use it as a 

 liquid manure, one peck to forty gallons of water is sufficiently strong. 

 Lime ought not to be added to it. 



Dividing Eucharis amazoniga (E. B. 3.).— In repotting the plant you 

 may divide it, but unless you can do so without any loss of rootB, we 

 should not advise you to divide it, especially as you require it to bloom 

 this year. In potting, all the old, loose soil should be removed, care 

 being taken not to injure the roots. We should keep it rather dry for 

 another fortnight, and then repot if you divide the plant; if not, the 

 potting may be dono early in March. 



Beechwood Melon [W. B.).— The old true Beechwood is very scarce. 

 Not one out of a hundred cultivators has the true stock. The Beech- 

 wood as we see it at the present day is a long elliptical fruit, ribbed, 

 very often deeply, seldom or never netted, thin in flesh, not melting, but 

 tough, and insipid in flavour, and. not often exceeding 2 lbs. in weight. 

 The true Beechwood is in form more spherical than elliptical, and 

 flattened at the ends like an orange, very slightly ribbed, and beautifully 

 netted; flesh thick, melting, and finely flavoured. Under good cultiva- 

 tion it usually attains a weight of 4 lbs., often much more, and is the bast 

 green-fleshed Melon for general culture. We cannot recommend one 

 nurseryman in preference to another, but if you send us a directed 

 stamped envelope we will send you a few seeds, as yon have experienced 

 bo much disappointment. 



Grubs (J. H. B., Kingston).— -They are known as surface grubs or 

 Leather-jacketp, and are the larva of the Daddy-loug-legs, Tipula pra- 

 tensis. Any application strong enough to kill them would destroy the 

 plants. Take up every Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Broccoli plant, and 

 replant it with fee root* only an inch below the surface. The grubs can 

 only gnaw the tender collar of the plant where its leaves and stem join. 

 Send four postage stamps with your address, and order a pamphlet on 

 il Gas Lime and Ammoniacal Liquor," to be sent you from our office. 



Strawberry Growing {A Bromley Sealer).— Many excellent articles 

 have but recently appeared in our pages. We do not know how the person 

 you allude to cultivated the 8trawberry. 



Philodendron Ltndenianom: Treatment (Idcvi). — Grow in a stove, 

 keeping it moist and slightly shaded from bright sun. Drain thepotorpan 

 well, and use a compost of sandy fibrous loam and sandy peat in equal 

 parts, with a sixth part each of charcoal in pieces from the size of a pea 

 up to' that of a walnut, and silver sand. The compost should be rather 

 rough. Water freely with the growth, diminishing the supply in winter. 

 Being of straggling growth, you meat train it so as to make it as compact 

 as possible, but we could not advise how unless wo svw the plant. 



Acacias and Camellias m Conservatory Borter (B. T.). — We do 

 not see how so* many things oan do well in so confined a border. It is 

 only large enough for two, or at the most three plants, and we can fully 

 understand what an entangled mas= the shoots must be. As you cannot 

 obtain permission to reduce the number of plants, we should thin the 

 heads as much as possible before they began new growth, cutting out the 

 old and weak wood. 5'1° is too high a night temperature for Camellias 

 and Acacias, unless they nre wanted to bloom at a particular period; 

 40° to 45°, however, is better suited to their health. We do not see any 

 fault in the watering, only it appears you give water at stated periods and 

 not as the requirements of the plants dictate, and in too small quantities. 

 Do not water until the border require it, then give <mongh to reach the 

 lowest root?, and moisten tho border to ite lull extent. That is better 



than "little drops and often. ' Top-dress in spring with rich compost, 

 removing the old surface soil down to the roots. Let the liquid manure 

 be weak. 



Fumigator (H. Smytke).— Your letter is an advertisement. 



Vegetables for Exhibition at the End of June (D.N.).— You do 

 not say whether Potatoes are admissible or not, butwe presume they arc. 

 1, Improved Ashleaf Kidney, or Lemon Kidney; 2, Peas, Wonderful 

 (Maclean's), or Advancer; 3, Broad Beans, Monarch or Johnson's Won- 

 derful; 4, Cauliflower, Early London or Frogmore Forcing; 5, Cabbage, 

 Battersea or Fulham, or Early Dwarf Downton Castle ; 6, Kidney Beans, 

 Canterbury; 7, Carrots, Early Scarlet Horn ; 8, Turnips, Eirly Snowball ; 

 9, Celery, Champion White Solid; 10, Globe Artichokes; 11, Oniois, Tri- 

 poli; 12, Cucumbers, Dale's Conqueror or Cox's Volunteer. We have 

 omitted Lettuces and salad herbs, which mny or not bo excluded, aleo 

 Rhubarb and Spinach, but they are in season, also Aap tragus. 



Greenhouse Plants for Exhibition at End of June (Idem).- -Aphe- 

 lexis macrantha purpurea, Phrenocoma prolifera, Pleroma elegant, Erio- 

 stemon buxifolium, Dracophyllum gracile, Genetyllis tulipifera, Indjge- 

 fera decora, Leschenaultia biloba major, Pimelea elegans, and Treaiandra 

 verticillata. These may not be in bloom at the time you require, though 

 much may be done by forwarding or retarding as the case require, 

 and others should be grown in case any fail. Many of the Ericas are 

 good, as E. Cavendishii, ventricosa vars., tricolor vars., &c. If placed in 

 heat now it is very likely Lapageria rosea may be had in flower by the 

 end of June, but all depends on the present condition of the plants. 



Variegated Holly Propagation (E. L.).— 1, They may be grafted on 

 stocks of the common Holly in March, it being best to have the stocks in 

 pots, and after working place in a cold house or pit, shading from bright, 

 sun, and keeping close until the scions begin to grow. 2. The berries of 

 the variegated sorts will grow if sown in sandy soil when ripe, but ret 

 come up until the second year, or only thinly ; but the seedlings will 

 not, or only some of them, be variegated. :j, They may be raised from 

 cuttings, which should be taken at the end of summer (October), and be 

 put in in sandy soil on a north border and covered with hand-lights. The 

 wood of tho current year only should be used, therefore the cuttings urn* t. 

 be taken from free-growing plant?. 4, They may also be propagated by 

 budding in July. 



Palms Growing from Seed [Sutton). —Z'q raise Palms from seed they 

 require a good heat— a hotbed of 90 '. Sow now singly in pots, in a com- 

 post of sandy peat two parts, and one part fibrous, covering each with 

 soil equal to the thickness of the seed. "The soil mnst be kept moist, but, 

 avoid making it very wet. The top heat should be 70° to 75°, and 90° or 

 more with sun heat. The seeds are usually slow in germination, but in 

 the temperature above named they must be continued until germination 

 is effected. When growth takes place admit air rather freely, still keep- 

 ing up a good heat ; and when they require repotting do it, returning to 

 bottom heat for a time so as to effect speedy good rooting. When esta- 

 blished, gradually harden off, and remove to the stove. Chauiierops excels, 

 C. Fortunei, and C. humilis are dwarf Palms, and two others are Corypha 

 australis and Rhapis humilis, of which there is a variety with variegattd 

 foliage. The preceding are greenhouse Palms, the two latter dwarf. Of 

 stove sorts the following are good : — Areca aurea, speciosa, Yerscoaffelti ; 

 Caryota excelsa ; Chamsedorea Emesti-Augusti, C. elegans ; Cocos coro- 

 nata ; Latania borbonica, L. Loddigesii ; Livistonui Jeakinsi: Phcenix 

 dactylifera, P. leonensis ; Raphia Hookeri ; Stevensonia, grandifolia; 

 Thrinax graminea, T. elegans, and Zalacca Wagneri. There is not a 

 work that we know specially devoted to Palms. 



Pruning Gooseberry and Currant Trees {Amateur).— An articloon 

 the subject will be found in our first page. 



Pruning Filberts (Idem).— Train them to one stem 2 feet in height, 

 and from that the head should branch out equally ; therefore you mast 

 head the plants down to 2 feet 3 inches from the ground, and remove all 

 suckers from the base, and all shoots or buds up the stem to a height of 

 1 foot 9 inches, or so. The shoots that are formed in spring should be 

 disposed equally all round, so that some amount of training will be re- 

 quired during the first two years, and care should be taken to keep tho 

 plants open in the centre. In summer all suckers should be removed, 

 likewise the long, watery, ill-placed shoots, which darken and impoverish 

 the plants. The annual pruning afterwards should be performed in 

 February ; the blossoms will then he showing. The centre of tho bu':h 

 should be kept open, cutting out any cross shoots and useless shoot-. 

 Any coarse or long shoots should be shortened back nearly half their 

 length, but the small twigs on which the nuts are borne must not be 

 interfered with unless too close together, which will hardly bo the eatie. 



Night Sou, for Garden (Idem).— See answer to another cor.'.yjnon- 

 dent in to-day's Journal. 



Soil for Rhododendrons {A Subsor :b<r).— The top spit of a bog in 

 which Bracken and Bilberries grow, and 6andy loam in which the Fox- 

 glove thrives, will grow Rhododendrons well if u?ed in equal proportion 1 ;, 

 well chopped up, and thoroughly mixed, especially if you mulch with 

 cow dung in summer, and water copiously in dry weather. 



Pruning Cordon Apple Trees (C. W. Izod).—We repeat, shorten the 

 shoots made during the past season to about half their length, as at .a, 

 according to their strength, the stronger being left tho longer. Do n« t 

 cut back into the older wood. The same has to bo done every seasru 

 until they fill their allotted space. Yours being double cordoni, tttey 

 should be planted about G feet apart, and single cordons at hi.lE that 

 distance. 



Red Beet.— "Will an7 of your correspondents kindly tell me their 

 experience with Beet last summer ? What is the best time to H'jw and 

 to transplant, also the best kind? There are very different opin ns ea 

 pressed about Beta chilensis, have any of your corresponds. 's tried it 

 near to the older varieties, either Dell's or Cattell's Blood Rod ?~C. P. 

 Peach." 



Vine Grafting (A. B.).—We are told since we inserted rr.r an&wex 

 last week, that the Vine should be grafted just when the first leaves ate 

 about fully developed, and able to elaborate the crude sap. This is just 

 about the time when they are in flower. So treated, ninety-niue in a 

 hundred will grow. A shoot with leaves should be left, in heading down 

 the stock, beyond the poiot of union, to draw off the superabundant gap 

 until the union is fairly effected. 



Small Flue-heated Greenhouse (Rupert).-— Fo* a multtm-in.-parvo 

 house, turn back a few numbers and you will find in answer to a eoirc- 



