JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 31, 1870. 



hand, and a piece of crock or oystershell in the other, placing the crock 

 inside the rim of the pot, and pouring the water on it until it circulates 

 all round, thus wetting tlie ball of the plant without drenching or greatly 

 wetting the collar of the plant. This is very different from watering 

 overhead with a rose, or watering with a spout, so as to send the water 

 at once to the centre of the pnt, and in time forming a hole close to the 

 collar of the plant— a common practice with waterers, and one which 

 destroys many plants. 



Stocks for Plums (.Vcmo).— Your Damson trees will make very good 

 stocks for Plums. Now is the time to graft them ; or bud ttiem in Jnly or 

 August. To graft now is the preferable mode. 



Plants for a Grave (Idem).— We think everyone should consult 

 his own feelings as to tho decoration of a grave! Your arrangement 

 of flowers will be very gay in summer, but all of them will die in winter. 

 The Cannas at the corners, and the sort of ribbons round of Pelargo- 

 niums, Lobelias, Cnleus, and Perilla, will be gay and slightly sombre. 

 Though we do not like to see a graveyard in a rough, neglected state, we 

 do not like making it a flower garden. We wonld prefer a preponderance 

 of evergreens, the grave covered with Cotoneaster micropbylla, and 

 CypreBSes and Irish Yews near it; for flowers, Snowdrops, Daisies, 

 Primroses, and Forget-me-nots rather than the more gaudy summer 

 ornaments of the garden, and especially we would add any flower admired 

 by the tenant of the grave. 



Cucumbers in a Greenhouse (A Beginner). — With one pipe below a 

 bed, and only one exposed in a house 11 feet wide, we think it would be of 

 little use turning out Cucumbers until May. Of course, if you made a 

 dung bed in the centre where yon have stink the pit, that would make 

 an alteration, and there you could protect the plants with handligbts, or 

 even frames, nntil the weather became warm enough to do without 

 them with the help of the pipes. 



Six Greenhouse Climbers (Idem).— These, to be trained on globe 

 trellises and to bloom in August, may be Manettia cordata, scarlet ; 

 SoUya hetcrophylla, blue ; Billardiera angustifolia, yellow; Rhodochiton 

 volubile, dark purple; Maurandya Barclayana, purple; and M. semper- 

 florens, pink. We have mentioned those likelv to cover a trellis and 

 bloom well, though chiefly herbaceous rather than woody. 



Various (Centurion).— A good average field crop of Potatoes is from 

 150 to ISO bushels per acre, or one bushel per rod, or30| square yards. 

 Passe Crassane Pear, being a new one, is not described in tho last 

 edition of the "Fruit Manual." It is described by Mr. P.ivers as of 

 "medium size, melting, rich, and excellent; one of the finest late 

 Pears known. February and March." It succeeds on the Quince, and 

 in cold situations requires a wall. Of course it is best on the Pear 

 stock for that purpose. The Horticultural Society's descriptive list of 

 fruits has been out of print a long time. The " Fruit Manual" is now 

 the recognised authority on such subjects. Aloes are quite as plentiful 

 as they ever were, and many valuable kinds have been recently intro- 

 duced. The value depends on the kind and size. Not knowing what 

 yours are, we cannot give any approximate estimate of their value. 

 They may bo worth 3s. M. each, or worth three or five guineas. We 

 could not give an opinion on those raised from seed from Abyssinia, 

 without seeing them. Consult a nurseryman. 



Azalea Culture (Idem).— We should think the plants are suffering 

 from bad treatment. We advise you to pot them, removing the old 

 loose soil and the drainage. Place them in pots large enough to hold 

 the roots without cramping, and to allow of a little fresh soil being intro- 

 duced between the ball and the pot, and make the soil firm round the 

 ball. In potting, good drainage must be afforded, and the hall raised so 

 that the collar of the plant shall be level with the rim of the pot. The 

 be6t compost is sandy brown (not black) peat chopped up and made fine, 

 but not sifted, with about one-sixth of silver sand. Place the plants in 

 a house with a temperature of from 50 ,: to 55° at ni-ht, with an increase 

 °l 1<r !,", n dul da '' s ' " I " 1 15 ° or 2U " TCith slln " n| l »ir- The atmosphere 

 should be kept moist, and the plants sprinkled overhead morning and 

 evening. They should have shade from bright sun ; that afforded by 

 Vines is suitable. Water must be sparingly given, but keep the soil 

 moist until the plants are rooting freely in the fresh soil, then water 

 copiously. In the course of June their growth will be complete, when 

 they should have more air and a lighter position, and in July they may 

 be removed to a cool house with an east aspect, and have all the air 

 practicable day and night. In winter thev will succeed in a house from 

 which frost is excluded. They ought not to be placed out of doors in 

 summer. We advise you to treat the other plant in the same way. 

 When the growth is complete the shoots ought to be tied down with 

 Strips of bast, disposing them equally and systematically all around, so 

 as to produce a well-formed specimen. Care must be taken in tying 

 down or out not to break the shoots, which are very brittle. Your plants 

 ought to flower next year. 



London Nurseries (Little Sea).— It requires influence and consider- 

 able qualifications to get employed in a large London nursery in the way 

 yon wish to be, and the only mode is to enlist in your favour some one 

 who has influence with the great London nurserymen. 



Insuring a Greenhouse (J. #.).— The only " accident " you can 

 insureit against, except fire, is injury by hail. The Farmers' Insurance 

 Company will do this. 



Variety of Citrus (R . Fry).-It is a well-known seedless variety. 

 The green points pr. jecting from the fruit's apex are the ends of the 

 carpels uncovered by the rind. 



Removing Tar from the Stems or Trees (Cbr<Kcrt!air«).-PaintiDg 

 the stems of Apple trees with tar to keep off rabbits, especially if gal 

 Sm,-'£ a V ev ! 'v.""* trees nearly as bad as the damage done by 

 fnrir,i .J ! 1* ^'"S ! 'ecome d ry, it M "°»' be removed "without in- 

 juring the bark of the trees. We advise von to wind round the stems 

 haybands, which will keep the sun from acting on the tar° and also ke"p 

 off rabbits. Your arrangements for planting the two vineries are excel- 

 lent, and we have not a suggestion about tho selection of varieties There 

 TT„ E ,Y e[1S £ a "iff, 1 l > ! :mti "^ '" " back wall of No. 2 house with Black 

 Hamburgh or Buckland Sweetwater Vines. 



Guano for Lawn (Norwood).— There is no better top-dressin" for a lawn 

 than ground bones, and yet for fie destruction of nV, ;s .„ , ,. |„., t ,,,. 

 It should be applied at the end of Ap.il or earlv in 3I: 1 "i b slowerv 

 weather, and at the rate of lit ovt. per acre, or 1 oz. per square vaS 

 Heavier dressings may be given, but if the weather prove dry after its 



application it is liable to bnrn the grass. We therefore think it better 

 to apply the guano twice — namely, in April and again in July, during 

 showery weather, and at the same rate per Bquaro yard or acre. 



Wireworms in Cucumber Border (Charles Wells).— Your beBt plan 

 will be to insert whole raw Potatoes in the bed at 9 inches apart, making 

 with a dibber holes from 3 to 6 ieches deep; then, if yon point sticks 

 about 9 inches long, you can thrust one into each Potato in the holes, 

 leaving part of the stick above the surface so as to draw up the baits 

 every second or third day in order to destroy the wireworms. The holes 

 should be closed with Boil after the Potatoes are place! in them. The 

 eyes of the Potatoes should bo taken out to prevent growth. The Potatoes 

 will serve a long time. Pieces of Carrot make as good, if not better, baits. 

 After examination return the baits to their positions, closing the soil 

 lightly round them. The use of these baits persisted in will clear the 

 bed of the wireworms, or at least keep them from the Cucumber roots. 

 We use, both for Cucumbers and Melons, fresh turf chopped up, and 

 though wireworms axe plentiful in such compost, we have not suffered 

 from them. 



Names of Insects ( W. N.).— Your "chrysalises" are the eggs of some 

 Bpecies of Bnail. (W. B ).— The chrysalis sent is that of the common 

 small white Butterfly, of which the caterpillar feeds on the Cabbage. The 

 specimens of the caterpillars which you have found filled with young, as 

 many as twenty being in ono caterpillar, have been attacked by the 

 female of a small species of Ichneumon fly, which deposits her eggs 

 beneath the skin, and the young grubs which you found have been 

 hatched from such eggs, and are consequently pirasites, which will turn 

 ultimately to small black four-winged flies of the genus MicrogaBter. — W. 



Names of Plants (R Clarke Roy).— Scilla bifolia. (H. C. Castleton). 

 — PteriB semipinnata. (R. K. 0.).— Pteris serrulata. (IF. B.).— 2, Poly- 

 podium plesiosorum ; 3, Pteris cretica albo-lioeata ; 4, Asplenium flac- 

 ciduin; o, Pteris serrulata; 6, Davallia canariensis ; 7, Selaginella Mar- 

 tensii. (D. Bf., Dublin). — Most probably your plant is correctly named 

 Fittonia argyroneura. It appears to us to be that plant Stove treatment 

 in winter is quite essential to it, as indeed it is at all times, and if yours 

 is so small a plant yon will find placing a bell-glass over it a very useful 

 expedient. It should not be allowed to goto rest in winter, indeed, it 

 has no tendency to do bo, and it retains its beauty through the winter; 

 the careful use of the watering pot is to be specially enjoined at that 

 Beason. It roots freely from the joints of the stem, so that a good plant 

 can readily be divided. Cuttings in summer strike with the greatest 

 ease. (Mi.ts Af. B., Wellington}.— Ko leaf came, but we cannot name 

 plants from their leaves only. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



TRIMMING FOWLS. 



All who remember the long discussion which took place on 

 this subject last season, will Dot need any assurance from me 

 of the deep gratification with which I read Mr. Hewitt's paper 

 in the Journal of March 10th ; and in one sense I by no means 

 regret the flagrant Torquay case of the week before, since it 

 has produced from our " Lord Chief Justice" such a manifesto. 

 As Mr. Hewitt invites co-operation, I hasten to add mine; and 

 I am sure he will not take it amiss if I first state a point 

 where I think his utterance not sufficiently clear, before I pass 

 on to the part where I go with him altogether. 



When Mr. Hewitt says that he looks upon the abstraction 

 " of a body feather or two " as a very different affair from 

 certain other more glaring fraudulent practices, I do not by 

 any means object, if the words are taken literally ; but I fear 

 there is some danger they may he understood in a far wider 

 sense than he would intend. If a fine Spanish hen has a stray 

 white feather or two, or two or three red feathers are found on 

 the shoulders of a Brahma, I would not particularly condemn 

 anyone who pulled them out. In all I wrote formerly I ex- 

 pressly excepted such cases, as a bird may be really first-rate 

 in spite of such minor blemishes, and we may all be satisfied 

 if people will be fairly honest as times go. But the abstraction 

 of feathers may be carried so far as to have precisely the 

 effect of a dye. At last Birmingham Show one of the prize 

 pairs of Buff pullets had been extensively plucked in the 

 hackle, so as to remove all the black feathers, which had evi- 

 dently been rather abundant. Now, the pure-coloured hackle 

 is a point of great moment in this breed, and a bird possessing 

 it will be of far greater pecuniary value, besides being quite a 

 different fowl for the show pen, to one with black feathers. 

 And certainly, as by plucking all these black feathers out the im- 

 perfect bird is represented as being perfect in colour, it practi- 

 cally amounts to a change of colour, and seems to me a fraud 

 exactly similar, both in kind and degree, to that of the Torquay 

 exhibitor who represented the imperfect wing of his cock as 

 being perfect in colour by using a dye. As Mr. Hewitt says, 

 a rigid line cannot be drawn; but I think common sense 

 leaches that mere abstrae'inn of feathers may be, aud often 

 is, as serious a fraud as dyting or cutting combs. The point 

 seems to me to be, how far the charae'er, appearance, or value 

 of the bird is real!y transformed by any operation whatever. 

 In just the proportion that there is real transformation, it 

 seems to me there is tho f:aud. 



