May 26, 1S7Q. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURK AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 

 Robert Parker, Exotic Nursery, Tooting, Surrey, S.VY.—Liat of 

 aneous Plants suitable for bedding and decorative purposes. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*■•• 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, M*C. 

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

 week. 



Tubes (W. H. V.).— Write to the Rev. 8. Reynolds Hole, Catmton 

 Manor, Newark. 



Cherry TftEE Blooms {A Constant Reader).— We have not received any. 



Leaves of old Pear Tree {A.E.F. C.).— Your brief qaery must have 

 a brief reply. Nght frosts are the cause— warm weather will be the 

 remedy. 



Csiuin Beet (E. S. 3.}.— The stalks and midribs of th 3 leaves ars 

 splendidly colo-ired, being crimson, orange, and a variety of other tints ; 

 the leaves themselves are bronzed and have a metallic lustre. 



Alpine Auriculas (C. W.).— Yon will see them mentioned in "The 

 Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary " under the word -' Auricula." Any florist 

 could supply them. Our correspondent adds, " I cannot agree with the 

 e-perience of Mr. H. Weir that Echeveria secunda is a hardv plant and 

 stands the cold well. Those that I had have died (from the effects, I 

 presume, of the cold), on the rockwork." 



Coleus Treatment (A. C. K.).— Yon have treated yourplants properly 

 We advise you to pot them in 4^-inch pota at once, and continue them 

 in the hotbed a little longer, or until they become established, but if you 

 could find room for them in the hotbed we would do so until they are fit 

 fjr decorative purposes. They will do much better in a hotbed or oven 

 cold frame than they will in a conservatory. Shift the plants into larger 

 pots as soon as those they are in are filled with their roots, or from 4\ into 

 7-inch pots, and then into 9-inch or 11-inch pots, which will be sufficiently 

 large for this season at least. To cause them to grow freely a moist at- 

 mosphere is necessary, and only a moderate amount of air, giving it early 

 in the day, and shutting up early so as to obtain a good heat from the 

 sun. A compost of two parts light fibrous loam, and ono part leaf soil or 

 old rotten manure, with a free admixture of sharp sand, will grow them 

 well. Good drainage is necessary, for the waterings mast be copious, but 

 no water should be given before the soil becomes dry, then enough to 

 show at the drainage. The watering must be done before the plants flag. 

 In the conservatory let them have a light position, and not where there 

 are currents of air. 



Ego Plant (H. A. B.).— The fruit is edible, and used by our neighbours 

 the French in a variety of ways, bat in this country it is Little used, so ft r 

 as we are aware. Those having employed it in cookery would ob!ig> 

 by particulars of the cooking needed, stating the purposi 



a 4A-inch wall in the middle. Two 3-inch pipes along the front would be 

 ample to keep out frost in a pit 7 feet wide inside, and the pipes need 

 not be made very hot, which is a great advautago. The lights should be 

 3 feet wide. They are handier of that width than wider. The pit would 

 be very usef al in summer for hard wooded plants — the small plants that 

 do not do well in lofty houses. 



Hoya cibnosa Seeding (J. P., jun.).— The seeding of this plant is 

 rather uncommon. The seed, we should think from your description, L3 

 abortive, but we would, nevertheless, sow it in a pot in light sandy loam 

 and peat, jast covering it, and no more, with fine soil, und place it in a 

 hotbed, covering the top of the pot with a square of glass, and keeping 

 uniformly moist so as to insure speedy vegetation. Sow at once. 



Teicolor Pelargonium Leaves Spotted (A Subscriber).— We think 

 the state of the leaves is a result of imperfect root action, caused, 

 perhap3, by the soil being too rich, or kept too moist. The food or sap im- 

 pelled into the leaveB is more than they can elaborate. Water sparingly, 

 and admit abnndanoe of air. 



Nitrate of Soda i or- Vine Boeder (Idem).— For watering a Vina 

 border with this salt, we advise 1 lb to twenty gallon* of water, and the 

 liquid to be applied fT warmer than tne temperatura of the border, as 

 shown by a ground thermometer with the bulb 1 loot from the surface. 



Iresine Infested with Aphes (L. M.I.— We should place the plants 

 in a pit or frame if they a--e not in a house where they can be con- 

 veniently fumigated with tobacco, and having the foliage dry. It will 

 n^t injure the plants if care be taken to deliver the smoke cool. Fill the 

 frame quite fall of smoke so that you cannot see a plant from the outside 

 through the glass, and then cover with mats so as to keep in the smoke. 

 The lights should, of course, be drawn on closely. 



Annuals and Perennials for Spring Blooming (Idem).-Ot peren- 

 nials that you may raise from seed there are Alyssum saxulile compactum, 

 Arabis alpina. Au^rietia grreca, A., purpurea, Bellis perennis (Daisy) vars., 

 Campanula carpatica. and its white variety, Wallflowers in variety, IberU 

 sempervirons, Myosotis Bylvatica f Cliveden var ), Pansy (Cliveden Purple, 

 also Yellow) ; and of Annuals without giving au extended list there are 

 Silene pendula, and its white variety, Limnanthes Douglasii, Collinsia 

 bicolor, C. verna, Saponaria calabrica, and its white variety, and Nemo- 

 phila insignis. The perennials should be sown from now to July, the 

 earlier the better, pricking them offwhen large enough to handle, in good 

 rich light soil in an open situation, shading and keeping moist until 

 established, then expose fully, planting-out in October where they are to 

 flower. The annuals should be sown in an open situation early in Sep- 

 tember, and transplanted to the beds or borders in October, or about six 

 weeks after sowing. 



Compost for Mrs. Pollock Pelargonium [Idem). —We have not 

 found anything answers.) well aaloam from turves cut about H inch thicks 

 and laid up for about six months, then chopped up moderately line, adding 

 a fourth of old cow dung or well-reduced hotbed manure, and a sixth of 

 sharp sand, silver sand being best, though river sand answers very well. 



Rose Leaves with Black Upper Surfaces (J. L. B. and H. C.).— 

 The leaves have been eaten by the larva of Selandria sethiops, the Rose 

 Saw-fly. It eats the outer akin of the leaf, causing it to look as if 

 burnt by a hot iron. Catch and kill, also syringe with lime water.— W, F. 

 Radcltffe. 



Cool Vineries {Binder)*— By coM vinery, as we accept the term, we 

 think is meant a house devotod to Vine culture, but with mean3 of apply- 

 ing flre heat in cold periods, as in spring, to assist breaking and the 

 setting of the fruit, and at the end of summer the ripening of the fruit 

 ' to meet this requirement that our nurserymen name 



it has been used 

 for. The white and yeHow^sorta we should consider most suitable for I and wood. __ 

 culinary purposes. certain kinds as being suitable for such houses, and to distinguish them 



BtEf^TX E ™V A ' Kr™- leave9 ™ £*«*<* * "• ' ^eor^^ 



stagnation of the flap_by cold succeeding to warm weather. It is very , ictendad fop vme ries without fire heat, we agree with you that in all 



cases the kinds named will not succeed. So far north as York we have 

 known the "cool vinery" kinds ripen perfectly in a house having no 

 - I artificial heat whatever; but in the coM hilly parts of both Lancashire and 

 blistered will recover. Yorkshire, as you say, we have » known them (the cool vinery sorts), fail 



Protecting* from Ants— Paint for Greenhouse (M. F. IT.).— When ! until heat is applied as a necessity;" indeed, they and orchard houses 

 tho fruit on the standard trees is approaching ripening, d.aw a line | onh?ated are, as regards the Peach, Nectarine, and Vine, failures in 

 all round the stem cf each, clear of the ground, with gas tar. The j places north of the Hnmber, more than 20) feet above the sea-level, and 

 line need not be more than 2 inches broad, and over that the ants will not i we should not trust Vines or Peaches in an unhealed house north of 

 pass. It may be necessary to renew it every ten days or a fortnight, j York, whatever the altitude might be, unless local circumstances were 

 Mix a little fat with it to keep it from drying. In the meantime sprinkle j peculiarly favourable. 



common this year. The best remedy is to protect the trees from cold ; 

 bat as that is too late now, your only remedy will be to pick off the worst 

 leaves and leave the rest to the warm weather ; but none at present 



g'jano over their haunts or nests, which will drive them away, or pour 

 ammoniacal liquor from the gasworks into their nests, and they will 

 disappear. The beet paint for the outside woodwork of greenhouses is 

 light 3tone colour. It stands better than white lead, but that ought to 

 form the staple of the paint along with linseed oil. We have used Carson's 

 anticorrosion paint for greenhouses, and it answers very well— quite as 

 well as lead, and is not so costly. 



PrNE Apples (A Seotehman). — If by "gills" you mean the snail leaves 

 at the base of the fruit, it is not well to remove them until the fruit is 

 ripe; but the euekers, if any, that not unfrequently rise from their axils 

 should be removed, doing it with care, as soon as they can be laid hold of. 

 Indeed, nothing should be tolerated but the crown and small leaves at 

 the base of the fruit; all suckers on the fruit stem, or those calculated to 

 interfere with the swelling of the fruit should be removed. 



Winter-f lowering Plants for Conservatory (A Beginner).— It may 

 be the back wall is shaded, and in that case no plants would serve you so 

 well 33 Camellias, than which nothing is finer for winter and early spring 

 flowering. Four planU would be sufficient, and as to sorts, Bealii (Leeana 

 Siiperba), crimson; Valtevaredo. rose; Mrs. Cope, white, striped with 

 crimson; Alba plena, or Fimbria;!. If the house is not much shadeJ, 

 the wall having abundance of light, especial'y in winter, then we con- 

 sider Habrothamii'is elegans, H. aurantiaens, and Luculia gratissima 

 would 3uit. They flower late in autumn, in winter, or early spring, and tho 

 latter is sweet, and the others very fine for cutting. We Bhould place the 

 L'iculia in the centre. The three plants will be sufficient for tha length. 



Cold Pit (Idem).— We consider 7 feet a very good width for a cold pit, 

 access being had to it on both sides ; but if on one side only, we think 

 5 feet sufficiently wide. A pit 30 feet long, 1 foot deep in* front, and 

 2 feet at back, would be very useful for growing Cinerarias, Primulas, 

 Calceolarias, Cyclamens, and Pelargoniums in winter, being a better 

 place for them than a conservatory, but it would not answer unless it 

 were heated so as to keep out frost. * You might have it in two parts, with 



Spur-pruning Vines (Idem).— We could show you two houses full of 

 voung Vme3 that have at every 16 to 13 inches, on each of the rods, a 

 shoot carrying a bunch of fruit, and between each of these a shoot stopped 

 at the fourth leaf with no fruit, end the lateral* from all have the point3 

 taken out at the first leaf, and are to be kept to one leaf-that is, every 

 au needing growth throughout the season. We require fruit this year, and 

 we want it without detriment to the Vines next, therefore the extra foliage. 

 With older Vines we think this extra foliage useless, as each shoot has a 

 sufficiency of foliage for tho perfecting of the fruit it boar3, and the 

 having unfruitful short shoots at every lb" or 18 inches, in addition to those 

 earning fruit, we think a needless waste of the border and the Vine's 

 energies ; indeed, we think it would crowd the useful leaves, bidder their 

 due development and proper performance of their functions. Except for 

 Vines, or thoso that aro debilitated from want of the foliage needful to 

 secure a good root action, we think the extra foliage an evil. We consider 

 the spurs quite close enough at 16 to 18 inches, for the proper exposure 

 of the leaves to light, so necessary for the elaboration of the sap, and if 

 this be not sufficient leaf development then cut away the fruit from every 

 other shoot. 



Lamps in a Conservatory (W. B ).— We consider that gas lamps with 

 means to carry off the fumes cannot in any way affect the plants, and we 

 know instances of gas being employed for lighting conservatories on par- 

 ticular occasions, or as you say three or four times a-moutb, and no ev:l 

 result to the plants. It is very likely you have an escape of gas, or that 

 the house is defective in some of the essentials of plant cultivation. 



Liquid Manure of Fowls' Dung (O. CI.— A peck of tho dung to thirty 

 gallons of water are good proportions. Mixed in the morning, stirred 

 two or three times during the day, it will be fit for use in the evening. 



Tereaos Flower Bed (H. B.).— As you say that you have abundance 

 of material, then we thiok you might imp ove your proposed plmting.but 

 you must julge. We seldom like to put white flowers or whitish foliage 

 in juxtaposition with yellow. For your terrace bed youpropoGt centering 



