March 31, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



249 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 

 In the Suburbs of London for the week ending March 29th. 



23.— Sharp frost ; overcast, cold wind; clear and cold. 



24. — Fine and frosty ; overcast ; densely overcast. 



25.— Clear and frosty ; very fine ; clear and fine, frost. 



26. — Snow ; scow and sleet ; overcast, very cold. 



27.— Densely overcast : cloudy but fine ; clear at night. 



23. — Densely overcast ; cold and overcast; densely clouded. 



29.— Overcast ; densely overcast ; clear and fine. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



fcff* Being pntblislied in time for transmit. 1 . inn by the Thursday morning 

 mails, The Journal of Horticulture should, with but few ex- 

 ceptions, be delivered on the same day in all parts of the country. 

 If there is any delay, let our readers apply to the nearest railway 

 bookstall, an I by paying their subscriptions in advance their copies 

 will be regularly supplied. If country booksellers cannot obtain 

 the Journal in time, we shall be obliged by their communicating 

 the fact to our Publisher. 



*** We request that no one will -write privately to any of the 

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, <&c, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.C. 

 N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 •week. 

 Index, &c. (G. B.). — Yon can have the index and title price for vol. viii. 

 if you enclose two stamps with your address. Of No. 303 wo have not 

 one left. 



Cocoa-nut Fibre Refuse (C. Gf.).— You can obtain it from Messrs. 

 Barsham, Kingston-on-Thames. 



Subsoil (An Amateur).— It is a yellow loam, with a slight preponder- 

 ance of clay in it. An admixture of half a spit deep of the subsoil with 

 one spit deep of the surface soil will be beneficial. Lime or chalk would 

 be beneficial, but the soil needs also a liberal addition of escrementitious 

 manures. 



Hybridising Pelargoniums.— The extract we made at page 206, from 

 the Toronto Globe, is published in that paper as original, and signed by a 

 Mr. Craig, but we are informed by Mr. Mason, Prince's Park, Liverpool, 

 that he wrote it, and that it appeared in the "Gardeners' Magazine" 

 laBt year. 



Rose Picotees, &c. (Forest Bill).— Any floiist who advertises 

 pages could supply you with the Picotees. Looker's boxes would 

 lor the purpose you mention. 



Potato Manuring (E. F.).— As you do not mention the kind of arti- | 

 ficial manure we cannot advise you as to the quantity. Whoever you buy | 

 it of will give you the information. Do not pat it into the drills with the 

 sets, whatever it is. 



Rhododendron Edgworthii Treatment (G. Williams).— We thin'; 

 your plant must be kept too warm, or in an insufficiently ventilated struc- I 

 tore. We advise you to repot it now in sandy fibrous peat with plenty of 

 silver sand, draining the pot well, and using the compost rather rough, 

 bat potting firmly, and not leaving any interval between the sides of the 

 pot and ball. A moderate shift is better than a large one, and is turning 

 out the plant remove the crocks and any soil not occupied with roots. 

 Place the plant in a light airy position in a cool greenhouse, and water 

 sparingly, but keep the soil moist until the roots are working in the fresh 

 soil ; then water freely, and copiously when the plant is growing fast, not 

 allowing the foliage to flag. Whilst the growths are young slight shade 

 from bright sun is very beneficial, together with a moist growing atmo- 

 sphere, the moisture being accompanied with abundance of air. When 

 a good growth has been made the plant should have full exposure to 

 light, taking care to have the foliage dry before the sun shines powerfully 

 npon it. After the growth is perfected keep the soil moist, and let the 

 atmosphere be moderately dry, and cool and airy. The plaat ought to 

 flower next year. 



Nigbtsoll for Garden Crops (A New Subscriber).— Yon may ad- 

 vantageously apply it to every part of your garden now. It may be spread 

 not very thickly, and then dug in so as to take away all offensive smell. 

 We consider it a very powerful and valuable manure. It is best when 

 mixed with dry soil and laid up for two or three months ; it thus loses 

 none of its fertilising properties, and when well mixed forms a kind of 

 guano. It will not injure anything if applied in moderate quantity, and 

 dug in before sowing or planting. Cuttings can be safely transmitted by 

 pOBt. They answer very well except for very long distances. 



Holcus saccharatus Culture (W. B. 17.).— It Bhould be sown in 

 May in rich light soil, brought to a good tilth. It may be sown broadcast, 



I 011- 



or in drills at the same distanco apart as for Wheat, and at the rate of four 

 bushels per acre. Home time ago it was highly extolled as a forage plant, 

 but has proved utterly useless in our climate, being for nutrition inferior 

 to Rye Grass and Trifolium incarnatum. 



Aster Seed Sowing (Joseph Uobson).— The frames, filled to within 

 4 inches of the glass with soil, will answer well, the seed being sown 

 early in April, and the sashes kept close until the plants appear, when 

 air should be given to keep them from being drawn up. Keep the soil 

 sufficiently moist. In sowing, a drill a quarter of an inch deep made 

 with the finger will answer very well, covering with about that depth 

 of fine soil. In very frosty weather, and at night, the lights should be 

 protected. 



Garden Netting (J. G. JU.— It is made waterproof by immersing the 

 netting for a few hours in a saturated solution in water of sugar of lead 

 and alum, but a better plan is to soak it for a few days in a tanner's pit. 



Culture op Heaths (Vicar). — After flowering remove the irregular 

 growths, and repot the plants in sandy peat, with good drainage. In pot- 

 ting make the soil firm about the ball, not giving a huge shift, but one 

 sufficient to allow about half an inch of fresh soil all round. After potting 

 place the plants in the greenhouse in a cool airy place near the glass, 

 watering them so as to keep the soil moist, as it should be at all times, 

 avoiding heavy waterings, ytt giving enough water at once to thoroughly 

 moisten the soil. In June the plants would be the better of a cold frame, 

 using the lights for protection from heavy rains by day, but well tilted 

 back and front so as to afford plenty of air ; at night they would be better 

 drawn down. House the plants early in October, placing them in the 

 coolest and most airy part of the greenhouse, and give sufficient water 

 to keep the foliage fresh. It is not unusual to lose plants of this class 

 employed for drawing-room decoration. 



Beet Sowing for Ribbon Borders (Idem).— For lines in ribbon 

 borders, we think the seed is best sown early in April where the plants 

 are to remain. You would see what was said on the subject by " Q. Q.," 

 in the Journal of March 10th, page 180. 



Selagtnellas for Rockwork in Conservatory (T. B. T.).— The 

 Mosses of the lanes will not succeed in a conservatory ; but the following 

 Lycopods are very suitable and may be planted now in the chinks and on 

 the ledges of the rockwork in sandy fibrous peat soil. The compost is all 

 the better of being light, open, and sandy. Those kinds having stems, 

 as S. formosa, should have 2, 3, or more inches of the stems placed 

 in the compost, whilst such kinds as S. denticulata should have 

 no more soil placed on them than enough to secure them in position. 

 It will be necessary to 6hade from sun, and to syringe or sprinkle the 

 rockwork and the plants two or three times a-day, so as to keep them 

 moist. It will be sufficient to allow the water to drip until the rockwork 

 is thoroughly moist. If the water be allowed to drip constantly, the soil 

 will become too wet for the plants. If the roof is covered with climbers, 

 that will be sufficient shading. Selaginella denticulata is the most use- 

 ful of Lycopods ; make it the general one. It will grow almost anywhere 

 and over everything. S. cassia, S. apoda, S. apothecia, S. helvetica, 

 S. stolonifera or formosa, S. involvens, S. umbrosa, S. Schotti, S. pubes- 

 cens, and S. Wildenovii, the most elegant and Fern-like of all Lycopods. 

 We are not aware that cork is liable to fungus when used in rockwork, 

 and though we have not used it for that purpose we have employed it 

 largely 3or blocks for Orchids, and we have not found it injurious to 

 them or favourable to the production of fungi. 



Climbers for Conservatory (Idem).— Blost plants are liable to the 

 attacks of insects. For the back nothing answers so well as Oranges or 

 Camellias, though if the wall is not shaded, or but slightly so, Habrotham- 

 nus elegans, Luculia gratissimn, and Habrothamnus aurantiacus, are fine 

 winter or early spring-blooming plants, the last two sweet-scented and 

 fine for cut flowers; so, too, are Oranges and Camellias, which are what 

 we recommend. If you wish for a plant for the back part of the roof, 

 Lapageria rosea succeeds well in such a position. For the front Jas- 

 minum grandiflorum, Kennedya Marryattse, Mutisia Clematis, Passiflora 

 crcrulea racemosa, P. Comte Nesselrode, Mimosa prostrata, Sollya hetero- 

 phylla, and Tacsonia Yan-Volxemi. A Vine in a pot plunged in ordinary 

 garden soil, and the cane introduced into a greenhouse, would not, we 

 think, grow sufficiently to furnish efficient shade. It would be better to 

 keep the Vine inside, and shade the greenhouse by brushing a thin coat 

 of whiting and milk over the inside of the glass. This shading may 

 be washed off at will. The proper name of " Creeping Jenny "is Glechoma 

 hederacea, the variegatbd variety of which is very pretty. The Celandine 

 is a fast-creeping plant with yellow flowers, succeeding best in moist 

 situations. 



Protecting Vine Borders (S. M.).— Whether the Vines are forced or 

 not protect the roots from excessive cold and wet in winter, and from 

 drought in summer. About the pipes you mention write to Mr. Caven 

 Fox, Arcades, Royal Horticultural Society's Garden, South Kensington. 



Weight of Ltme and Soot (J. Currie). — We do not know the weights 

 of a bushel of the one and a peck of tbe other. Cannot you weigh them 

 yourself? 



Repotting Fruit Trees (C. 1**1, — We have orchard- house fruit trees in 

 pots that have not been repotted for more than six years, and they do 

 not seem to want it, as they have had rich top-dressings. We have 

 others potted not more than two or three years in rather small pots, that 

 we would have repotted in autumn if wo could have done so. When the 

 pot is large, a plant may remain many years in it if afforded rich dress- 

 ings, &c. 



Orchard House (Sanpiunea).— We have no doubt that your orchard 

 house with air night and day in all weathers, will so far act as you 

 suggest, save all trouble v?itli ventilation, and give you an increased tem- 

 perature in sunshine, but still there may be injury sustained by the 

 tree3 in very severe winters and springs, when by your plan you can 

 neither keep frost nor keen winds out of the house. 



Glazing a Geeenhouse (Poplar), — Unless your greenhouse roof is very 

 flat you need not be afraid of drip if you use grooved rebates, and place 

 the squares edge to edge without laps. The chief point is to have the 

 groove wide enough to take the glass easily, so as to give room to expand 

 laterally. We hardly know what it would be best to pack the squares 

 with inside. 



Sailing (0. K.).— What is meant by sailing the outside of the ball of a 

 pot plant is simply this— taking the spout of a small watering-pot in one 



