212 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 17, 1870. 



. i . i„,.„,i ornnnrl the extremities or boundaries, at 15 or 20 feet di'a- 

 ^ceo^ThihTou.d L marked the determinate levels of the ground 

 Shnmwhclon the opposite Bides, levels in other cross ways at the 

 ^eZtamre should be made ; and then according to these levels, pro- 

 ceed by line and spade to form the ground to a proper surface, malung 

 ft nr, firmlv in lines from stake to Btake, tne panels or spaceB between 

 betag ™de up equally firm and regular, E o that no part may sink in a 

 ho fow^fterwards The whole should then be raked level, and finished 

 off evenly aXmoothlv ; 2 or 3 inches deep of light sandy Boil, or.any light 

 , ™,l,rinra then if necessarv, be laid evenly over the surface, as 

 e^aalmquanUty as possible. Living with fresh-cut turf, is much 

 eqoai in 1»™ i ..,',. ,,.,1; ti,,> turves s inn d be cut each a foot 



SSflS.ri toS 8 .S'ihS tin i«h ihtck, and laid with exactness, closely 

 SS edge to edge, then beating them well «°E™»**»JZg2t 

 heaters repeatedly rolling them with a large heavy iron roller. The best 

 seaBOn for performing work of this sort is the autumn, or very ear y in the 

 BeaBOn ioi ' P»"" r '^' u b . , , ( .,, w!l ,. n it can bo conveniently done, 



SttliiShS tfme to establish Sf well before the hot seasonsets in. 

 ,.„„,„«, Aprons (H. S.).— Shalloon is the best material for gar- 

 Gakdes.,rs aproks i i £ b blne . We could not 



ve'ry ? r well P de s n cribe T the C mak r e * Them. Procure one as a pattern from 

 Borne of the leading seedsmen. _ 



Striking Petunia Cuttings (Hcml.-Take off the growing points 

 JK twr?iointsbelow the point. Cut them across immediately below 

 tte lowesl ont remove the leaf from that, and insert the cut tings 

 rnnnd the sideB of pots or pans well drained, aud filled to within half an 

 Schof th rfmwif Tl compost of two parts turfy loam, one part leaf 

 Sou or sandy peat, and one part silver sand; then make level with the 

 rim with silver sand. The cuttings may be put in about an inch apart 

 Anthem in a gentle bottom heat of 70°, and in a top heat of from 60° 

 fo 7a -Stag them close and Bhaded from bright Bun They should be 

 kent mo st but avoid making the soil very wet. In a fortnight or three 

 week" hey wiU be well rooted, and should be removed to a greenhouse 

 Tfter being hardened-off, and then be potted singly in small pots. The 

 .»■ ™ „ni itrikn in anv house with a temperature a few degrees 

 wKhan that in which "the plants from which the cuttings are taken 

 arfgrown, taking care to shade from bright sun and keep them moist, 

 but they do not root so freely as in a gentle hotbed. 



Tacsonia Laterals Stopping (Wem):-The flowers being produced on 

 the laterals as well as on the leading shoots, the shoots ought not to be 

 stopped but tmined-in, unless doing so would cause overcrowding. 

 The? do best when the shoots are trained near the glass, and kept mode- 

 ™tdv thin so that every part is weU exposed to light and air. Ton may 

 thin them out where too thick, and cut them back if they grow too long 

 without flowering. 



Cocoa-nut Fibre Refuse (A Sub»cribcr).-The refuse or waste of the 

 mat o? brush makers, which very much resembles hair, will m time decay 

 like every other vegetable matter, and when it becomes so reduced as to 

 resemble soil, it may bo used instead of leaf soil, and is qui te equal to it 

 The Mcoa-nut dust resulting from the separation of the fibre is that so 

 much valued for growing Orchids, Ferns, and other plants. It is very 

 different from the fibre. 



Ltltes op the Valley after Forcing (Ru.rt).-Plants gently forced, 

 if reeved to a cold pit, kept there well supplied with water, not placed 

 out ol doors before June, and then set in a slightly shaded position, will 

 noier ?oTerabSy well ; but as a rule they do not succeed well the second 

 year Fresh plants are far preferable. 



Daphne indici rubra Treatment (Mem).-The plant having bloomed 

 and mad? vigorous growth, all that will be required is to keep it duly 

 SppUedwItnwaterfand in a light, coo, airy position in a greenhouse 

 Hit need oottin™ VOU mav repot now, but it is well to keep it unuer 



"ther than over potted, as in the latter case it will grow much too freely 

 for blooming well. 



Potting Ixia and Sparaxis (7<if m).-The plants being in smail pots, 

 and very much crowded, vou may now shift them into larger not dis- 

 tatrSgthe balls, however, more than scratching or loosening tne sides, 

 which it is necessary to do for free rooting into the fresh soil. 



Grub at Daisy Roots (JA-ml.-Without seeing a specimen it is diffi- 

 cult to ascertain what it is that feeds on the »«J«y'* ta ^S 

 hend it is the wireworm, which is very partial to them. Daisies are 

 often Planted as edgings to Ranunculus beds, as the wireworms being 

 ve^ fond of the Daisy roots, arc by themtempted from the Ranunculuses 

 vjur best plan will be to put some potatoes in the soil or carrots about 

 the nlants. and examine them frequently when you find them at work at 

 thl Sntato or carrot baits and you can destroy them. The baits shou d 

 to iSserted about an inch 2, the soil. We do not think the grubs would 

 interfere with the roots of Verbenas, but it would be well to give a good 

 dressing of lime and soot, and point it neatly into the soil before plant- 

 ing out. 



Poinsettia pulcherroia Losing its Leaves (J. K.).-We should 

 attribute the fallin • of the leaves before the flowers, or rather b. '.c . 

 have attained a good size, to the want of free growth S.probably the root- 

 action was defective. To do well they require a position near tie glaBB, 

 a rather moist atmosphere, and a temperature of from 55 to W at 

 night, and from 6'.' to 70° by day, with a rise from sun heat to 7o or 80 . 

 Allamandas usually lose most of their leaves in winter but the dying. 

 back of the shoots' results from there being too little heat and light to 

 ripen the wood well. 



Row from a Quart of Peas (T. F.J.-A quart of gangster's No. 1 

 Peas will bow a drill 12} feet long, but allowance must be made foi 

 casualities, therefore the row should be one-third less, or 90 met. If 

 sown from autumn up to March, the seed should be set twice as thickly 

 as in March and afterwards. A quart of Advancer Peas will sow a row 

 20 feet shorter, for it is not so large a grower and the seeds ibemg [Urser 

 there are fewer in a quart. Four-inch-wide drills are sufficient, but not 



t0 pBnw«8 Gooseberry Bushes (H<- m ).-In pruning Gooseberry bushes 

 the Bid shoots should be spurred-in, or cut back at the winter pruning 

 to within half an inch of the place whence they proceed. The leading 

 snoots, or the extremities of the main branches, may be shortened to one- 



half or two-thirds their length, more or less, according to their position 



or their desirability for extension. 

 Plants Failing {A. Kerr).— Almost all kinds of paint will injure rlants 



when exposed too soon to the fumes that escape from it. When forced 

 to use a house soon after fresh painting, it is a good plan to U3e a little 

 more beat, and leave air on night and day. If your walls were coated 

 with Carson's anti-corrosion paint, we should not have expected any 

 such result. We should not have expected it if the paint was whitish. 

 white lead forming the chief constituent with oil, as, when well dried, 

 such paint would soon lose the Bcent. For a permanent light colour 

 barytes is often used instead of lead, and when exposed to the heat 

 ol /oat forcing house it would continue to give off unhealthy exhalations 

 longer than lead. We think that arsenic use! in paint is very prejudicial, 

 but we beli< ve it is chiefly used in greens, and you do not say what is the 

 colour of the walls. We should be glad if some one of more experience 

 in these matters would help you. We cannot see anything else except the 

 paint that could do the mischief, and we should think it would Boon lose 

 its injurious effect. 



Forcing Vines {An Anxlow J».jui«r).-Your Vines have not had 

 justice done them in two respects. A plant turned out of a pot with the 

 roots in a ball is apt to grow in the same way, or the leading roo.s at 

 once Btrike downwards, instead of spreading in the soil more nonzon- 

 tallv You did right, therefore, in taking up the plants and spreading the 

 roots out. The absolute propriety of bending down tne canes and rab- 

 bin" off all the eyes except three, would depend very much on the con- 

 dition of the canes, whether they had started to grow, or the sap was 

 moving If the Vines were in a state of rest, you might with only a little 

 loss have cut off the buds and even shortened the cane to the three buds 

 left, but if the Vines were the least on the move, yon acted prudently in 

 rubbing ofl the buds instead cf cutting, aud leaving the disbudded cane 

 uncut- in this case there would be no bleeding, in cutting there would 

 be Heeding '.and so far exhaustion. If the Vines have at all commenced 

 ?omov? allow your disbudded shootto remain until .the : buds left .produce 

 shoots pretty fully in leaf. By that time the disbudded plan t w U be 

 tolerably dry and free from sap. As you say many gardeners fare > ""onsly 

 waitin» our reply, then we should Bay, that except in respect to the 

 untfgntliness of the disbudded shoot, there would be no harm in leaving 

 it until the buds fairly broke, and the young shoots hadleaves 3 or 4 inches 

 in diameter, and that whether the Vine is now m motion or not. In such 

 - ca*. our opinion is, that the expanding buds left would be nourished 

 from the sap and roots beneath them, and in a less degree, until exhausted 

 by the matured juices stored up in the shoot above tnem. A inein leal 

 may always be cut as safely as when it is in a state of complete rest. 



Training Pear Trees-Garibaldi Strawberry {A ?™ r ZfW;- 

 Tour horizontally-trained trees may be very easily adapted to the 

 v, rU- ' form as 'you desire. Thus, whatever be the length of wall you 

 devote to each tree-say 10 feet, carry out the lower branches as you 

 have them, horizontally/to 5 feet on each side, and then turn the points 

 and train them upwards after your own form. The eecond branches 

 being 9 inches higher up the wall, tram them in the same manner 4 feet 

 Hindi's out on each side, and then upwards, and so on tie. upon tier. 

 This is one of the prettiest and best modes of all in training the Pear 

 tree on walls, and is styled bv the French palmetto Verrier. We 

 have ™e Garibaldi Strawberry in our collection, and it is a moderately 

 good sort. It is tolerably well known. Vesuvius Strawberry we do not 



""vTvions (Centurion* —A Fig tree will do very well on the back wall of 

 a greenhouse, provided it is not too much shaded by the Vines in front 

 Fig trees require full exposure to the sun's rays. w « on, J^ now 7 a ™ h "8fi 

 Apples one variety named Magnum Bonum (Ronndway-s). We 'Should 

 suppose vour three examples to be.all the same »£«g£*Lg£gEg 

 locality and exposure whether certain varieties of Pears will succeed best 

 in the open pr-md or against walls. Around London Beum, de «ance 

 does tolerably well as a low bush on the Quince, and the fruits are finer- 

 flavoured than those grown on walls, but it does not bear fruit so freely. 



Vine Roots Covered bt a Floor (C. EUU) -It is a pity you did not 

 ^Z^^of^o^^t SB !='« in^ 



£S£S ropen^ounroutsid 1 ! tjie GEM ES 

 aRe^rseiras'Tes^ects moi/ture 61 Meanwhile the , above will be safer 

 than guano. Let the water be warmed a little, say to oO or <o . 



Incrustation in Boilers and Pipes (P. T f^C^t^t £ 

 ammonia should be added when the boiler is fresh fl JJ«^». w i 1 l? th *2 

 ir>m«h*™ It is a great preventive to furring and choking up tna 

 pfp™ We s™w some pip's broken the other day, and there was scarcely 

 an inch of space left in a 4-inch pipe. 



SHADE FOR A GREENHOUSE ,{E. Sa^.-Tb* ibeSt -£•£;£■«• 



'"pain^'for a Vinery (Brfa).-Anti-corrosion of a white or light colour, 



RrNCHEs of Gripes DWINDLING {A Country SuiscrioerV-The cause 

 of^ur^n^hefo. Grapes doling off before showing boomismo^t 



lor^Loln^inTof S^SSSJteS eac'lnu 3d. for postage. Fifteen 

 stamps with your direction will therefore insure a cover 



FncHARis (W B ).-The following is extracted from the '•Supplement 

 to toe CoUage Gardeners' Dictionar^:-" Eucharis {Uomeucbans, agree- 



