JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February £4, 1870. 



a moist atmosphere ; hut when the growth ifi complete reduce the supply, 

 exposing the plant fully to light and sir; and in winter keep the soil dry, 

 giving no more water than enough to keep the foliage from flagging. 

 Keep the plant near the glass in the greenhouse, and cut it down next 

 month if it has grown " leggy." 



LiyciD Manure for Camellia" ■/' To encourage a free 



growth it is well to water Camellias with liquid manure, if the roots are 

 in a healthy state. The " Fertiliser" you name is good for the purpose, 

 or 1 oz. of gaano to a gallon of water answers well. 



Transplanting Conifers (R. H, A.).— From now to the beginning of 

 April, before they begin to grow, is a good time to transplant the choice 

 Conifers you name, but we should defer transplanting lor a fortnight or 

 so until the ground is in better order. 



Applying Fullers' Earth to Rose and Fecit Trees (G, X.). — We 

 oannot conceive that fallers' earth can be more beneficial than a sandy 

 loam, for its chief constituents are silica (sand), -1-1; alumina (clay, 23; 

 lime, 4 ; magnesia, 2 ; protoxide of iron, 2. A good dressing of turfy loam 

 and well-rotted manure would be better, and if the soil is light we should 

 think cow dung and heavy lo^m would be more serviceable. 



Custard Apple Treatment [Idem).— We are not able to tell you how 

 long your plant will he before it fruit. It would be very desirable to graft 

 it if yon have means of obtaining BCionB from fruitful plants. Chow it in 

 turfy loam. It will succeed in a house having a temperature of from 5(P 

 to 55 in winter from lire heat, with a rise of I or 10 : from sun. In 

 summer a temperature of from GO' to 6fF at night, 75 -" by day. and 85 to 

 90 with sun and air, would be suitable. We should be obliged by par- 

 ticulars from anyone who has succeeded in the cultivation of the Custard 

 Apple, or other tropical fruit?, in this country. 



Shading a Conservatory [R. Fry).— The best plan for keeping the 

 heat of the sun out, which no inside blind does, would be to have a can- 

 vas or strong calico shade outside the house; but as the roof is orna- 

 mental, and not regular, there would be some trouble in getting this to 

 pull np and down with pulleys. The next best plan, if you did not mind 

 the shade in winter, wonld be to paint the glass thinly, and then follow 

 with a dry brush, so as to give the glass the appearance of ground glass. 

 For lasting a summer, a little whiting mixed with milk or weak glue 

 water, put on thinly when the glass is dry, and daubed with a dry brush, 

 will look very well, and can be taken off by washing late in autumn. If 

 yon do not mind the gla&s being permanently coloured, then the prettiest 

 thing of the kind we have seen was the dome-roofed conservatory at 

 Woodstock, near Incistioge. Ireland. The dome was of a beautiful 

 blue ; there was no burning nor scorching beneath, and every plant 

 seemed to thrive nnder the blue-coloured canopy. We forget what Mr. 

 McDonald, the celebrated gardener, coloured the glass with, but the 

 dome was a very effective object from great distances. For fixing shad- 

 ing material inside of a house, we have seen no plan more simple than 

 that adopted by Mr. Cox, at Kimpton Hoo, near Welwyn. Clean, white, 

 thin calico, and stout hook muslin, are chierly used. These are bound 

 round — the pieces of suitable size— and small rings are fastened at the 

 ends and sides, and the rings are attached to little hooks on the roof to 

 keep the shading somewhat tight. In a lofty conservatory, with several 

 ridges and furrows to form the roof, these pieces went across from fur- 

 row to farrow, shaded the roof well, and gave no trouble from the day 

 they were put up until they were taken down again. 



Heating a Pit (J. T. L.) .— As vour flue runs through the middle of 

 your pit, unless that pit is very wide, of which you say nothing, we do not 

 think you would gain much benefit by having dung on each side of the 

 flue from 18 to 24 inches deep. We would rather advise you to turn your 

 moveable stage into a platform across, S3y 6 or 8 inches above the flue, 

 and on that place your soil, as suggested to another correspondent to- 

 day. About four openings at back and the same in front, as upright 

 4-inch drain pipes, furnished with wooden pl«g^, would enable you to 

 have top heat at will. As your earthenware 7-inch flue is apt to become 

 so hot, we would surround" it with clinkers, brickbats, &c,, for from 4 to 



6 feet of its length from the furnace. There is no doubt of the plan 

 answering for a Cucumber bed if the flue be strong enough. With a pit 



7 feet wide, and a stout brick flue in the middle, we rough-chambered 

 each side with clinkers made into a sort of air flue, and covered with 

 rough and then fine gravel. Havina left spaces at the sides communicat- 

 ing with of en rubble, we could then have bottom heat and top heat at 

 command, and moisture by pouring water down these openings among 

 the stones, &c, a very different affair from pouring it on a flue. Even in 

 your case we would advise a heap of clinkers, &c, beneath each opening 

 for this purp ~-se, as it would not be safe ever to pour water over your flue. 

 The best covering for your chamber would be slate. We have had ser- 

 viceable covers made .: f rotigh slabs of wocd laid across, and the spaces 

 between them stuffed with bricks, stone3, Ac, and roughly plastered 

 over. The boards should be from 9 to 12 inches from the flue. We have 

 seen boards that were only f> inches from a flue kept rather warm, yet 

 they had not a trace of u-inering from heat when they began to decay 

 after being used ior such a purpose for ten years. If your flue had been 

 in the front of the pit we would have advised differently. We would 

 then have run a wall of brkk-on-bed 2 or 3 inches from it, and depended 

 on a dung bed at back. The flue could also be made then to help to 

 maintain the bottom heat. 



Emigration to America (F.Jordon; IT. Chlppenfidd).— Write to Mr. 

 C. F. Palmer, 4, Ludgate Hill, London, E.C., for information. 



Old Yew Tree (G. S.I.— Unless we knew the size of the hollow, we 

 could not advise about topping it ; we must know the size of the open- 

 ing also. If the stem is quite hollow, nothing beneficial can be done 

 except fastening a piece of sheet lead over any opening that admits rain. 

 Orchard House Ventilation (A. F.).— In such a house as you de- 

 scribe, 40 feet long, 10 feet wide, 7 feet huh at back, and 3 feet "high in 

 front, we think that a ventilator 9 inches wide all along the front, and 

 6 inches wide at the top, will keep all safe, especially if you have a tri- 

 angular piece to open beneath the apex of the roof at each end, and can 

 open the doors at the ends in very hot days. The heat from such a plane 

 of glass with large squares will seldom do anv harm if there are no 

 knots or spots in the glas», and if the beat rises gradually, as when 

 air is left on all night or givt-n gradually. In excessivelv bright sun you 

 might dull the glass outside by syringing with water Blightly whitened, 

 as by dissolving a piece of whiting twice as large as a small walnut in 

 four or five gallons of water. In such extreme cases, the floor inside may 

 prinkled with clear water. The comparatively 



vigorous growth late in autumn must be surmounted by comparative 

 <lryiH'-H uf the roots. In the hottest weather, with nir all night, the 

 Peach trees will rejoice in a high temperature during the day. We give 

 the above advice from our own practice under similar circumstances, 

 but with less ventilating power. In the other house you cannot do 

 better than let the chamber remain as it is. Put some rough rubble over 

 the covering, and then the soil, and have five drains set upright, back and 

 front, to let up heat from the chamber when desirable, also for pouring a 

 little water down. If you find it necessary, three or four brickR might be 

 taken out in front, and their place supplied with moveable wooden plugB. 



Grafting Vines [J. U.).— The adaptability of certain varieties for 

 grafting on particular stocks is a subject in Vine cultivation not yet 

 understood. As a rule, however, it may almost be taken, that if the stock 

 is bad, so will the scion be, that is to say, if a Vine is constitutionally bad 

 it will prove a bad stock to graft upon. The Golden Hamburgh is con- 

 stitutionally rather weak, and has proved to be a bad stock for any 

 variety. The White Frontignan is not so, however; so that we are in- 

 clined" to think there is some cause for its not doing well. If it do not 

 Bncceed well on its own roots, we do not believe any variety that may be 

 grafted on it will succeed any better. In short, we do not think by graft- 

 ing in your case you will in the least improve your stock of Grapes. The 

 only varieties likely to succeed so treated would be Black Hamburgh, 

 Alicante, and Royal Muscadine. 



Madresfikld Court Grape {(Hftonieima).— We know of no pecu- 

 liarity which should render this Vine more difficult to fruit under one 

 system of pruning than another. The experience your gardener has had 

 of it can but render his opinion a mere assumption. The Gros Guillaume 

 does slightly possess this peculiarity, but the Madresfield Court, we 

 should say, is quite the contrary, and the want of fruit is more to be attri- 

 buted to "immature buds or something of that sort. We do not think 

 either this variety or Golden Champion can be grown very successfully 

 without a little artificial beat, although requiring much less than the 

 Unseat of Alexandria. 



Names of Fruits (F. IF. Horn*).— Your p ear is Vicar of Winkfield. It 

 does not rank among first-rate Pears. In some situations it is good, and 

 in others bad. Those you sent were so far gone that we could not form 

 an opinion on them. 



Names of Plakts (W. B.).— l, Adiantum cuneatum ; 2, the same, with 

 smaller segments; 3, A. hispidulum; 4, A. tenerum ; 5, Pelkea hastata. 

 (A Constant Reader).— Habrothamnus elegans. 



also be syringed 



POULTRY, BEE. AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



FANCY TAILORING. 

 From a few notes I receive, it appears that some persons 

 have gathered from my silence lately that I have lost my in- 

 terest in fraudulent practices at poultry shows. Such is by no 

 means the case, but increasing and pressing engagements have 

 absolutely prevented me, of late, from giving the time and atten- 

 tion to several matters which I was formerly able to do ; and 

 I have had a further reason for remaining quiescent in the fact, 

 which I can assert both from personal observation and from in- 

 quiry, that the judges are now earnestly and actually endeavour- 

 ing to put these practices down. I repeatedly see pens passed 

 over at every show ; and if in many cases the ignominious ticket 

 of disqualification is not also affixed, it is chiefly because com- 

 mittees refuse to let it be done. Sufficient is done, however, as 

 I can vouch for, to deter many who formerly trimmed. I 

 could mention many who used to be great sinners, who now 

 generally show their birds honestly ; and so long as the judges 

 shall act as they are acting now, I do not see that much more 

 can be done beyond an occasional " reminder," which I am sure 

 they will take in good part, and which can do no possible harm. 

 There is plenty to be done yet, however. I feel compelled to 

 remark, that one of the most extensive Brahma trimmers this 

 last season has been a " reverend gentleman " — how far really 

 reverend or really a gentleman, I do not trouble myself to say. 

 I also add, that at the Crewe Show the other day, a Mr. G. F. 

 W., of Birmingham, was disqualified for dyeing the white fluff 

 of his Brahma cock till it appeared of a purple shade. As I am 

 often asked why I harp so upon Brahma trimming, I reply, 

 once for all, that it is simply because I am popularly supposed 

 to know more of that breed than any other. I wish to speak 

 with authority. I see lots of Hamburgh combs scarcely healed 

 over at almost every show I visit ; but when I once pointed one 

 out, I was met with, " What do you know about Hamburghs ? " 

 I wish to avoid this. This dyed cock was an unusually gross 

 case, and one I regretted not to see in your " prize " list. I 

 venture to suggest, while I can sympathise with the desire to 

 i try at first the milder measure of simply passing over, that the 

 time is nearly or quite come when honest committees should 

 authorise their judges to affix the disgraceful stigma of '• dis- 

 qualified " — stating the form of attempted fraud — and that such 

 should be published in " our Journal " along with the prizes. 

 — L. Wright. 



PENS AND THEIR ARRANGEMENT. 

 As an old exhibitor I wish to publish the following brief 

 notes on poultry shows, and poultry pens in particular. I 



