Jannary 21, ISCO. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



51 



Asters— DovENNK t>v Comice Peah (Fl'>ri>it).—Tho Gorman or QnillcJ 

 and thfl Tassollod or Fron<;h are the cinfisoa Renerally exhibited. They 

 are to bo hud of diftorimt eolourB, but not in namod varictioa. Doyenuf 

 da Comice Poar Buccends well as a pyramid in the BouLh of England. 



Potted Peach Thkes in ttik Oi-kn (Iround {E. S., C7(( i.ica).— You 

 may plunge the pots in cnnl ashes in a dry warm (Situation during tlie 

 winter, placing litter over the surface of the pots in severe weather to 

 protect the roots. The trees should be moved in-doors by the time the 

 buds show colour, nnd on^ht not to be taken out ajjain until the fruit is 

 ripo and tho leiivca have be;.;iin to fall, the wood being well ripened. 

 You may, however, place them out of doors after the fruit is -well set and 

 danger from frost past, keeping them out until the middle or end of 

 August, when they ylinuld be placed in-doors or close to a south wall, 

 where they would prnb;il)ly ripen their fruit ; Imt unlcas your situation 

 is warm you will not tind the fruit so juicy aud highly flavoured as those 

 from trees trained against a south wall or under glass. 



Stopping Vine Leaders (Idem).— We understand your question to re- 

 fer to Vines that are partly up the rafters, and furnished with side shoots 

 or spurs a portion of the distance. The leading shoot or main rod should 

 not be stopped until it has reached to within 1 foot of the top of tho rafter. 

 The shoots from tho spurs ought to he stopped one joint above the fruit ; 

 if there be no fruit, stop them above the sixth leaf. 



Select Roses (Idem).— In your light soil we would have them dwarfs 

 nn the Manotti stock, and manure them well with cow dunu and bono 

 dust, giving a good handful of the bone dust at planting. Plant Jules 

 Margottin, Lord Macaulay, Senateur Vaisse, John Hopper, Due de 

 Rohan, and Charles Lefeb\TC. If you wish for more free bloomers, then 

 Madame Eug'-ne Vcrdier. Louis XIV., Grant des Batailles, Comte dc 

 Bobrinski, Souvenir de Lady Eardly, and Red Rover. 



Early- FLO weuino Gladioli (Idem). — We fear yon will find few good 

 blooming in June, but the following are ia general early bloomers, and 

 will probably answer your purpose : — Ad'He Souchet, Don Juan, Goliath. 

 Rembrandt, Mrs. Coudere, Nemesis, Rubens, Premices do Monli'ouge. 

 Madame Victor Verdier. Madame Snuchet, Gandavensis, Edith, .and 

 Comte de Momy. To bloom early they should be planted from the 

 middle of February to the middle of March if the weather is suitable. 



Corontlla glauca (E a. G ). — Its usual time of flowering is at this 

 season I January), though it will sometimes, according to temperature 

 and state of growth, flower earlier. We have had it in bloom from Decem- 

 ber to March. As your plant is bare and straggling it should bo well cut 

 in ; keep it rather dry, but not so much as to affect the foliage, for from 

 a fortnight to three weeks, and then cut it to the form required. Keep it 

 rather dry until it begins to grow, then afford moisture, and pot when the 

 young shoots are about an inch long. 



CoLEUSES FOR GREENHOUSE CULTURE {Idcvi). — We Consider C. Mar- 

 shalli, C. BerUeleyi, C. Murrayi. C. Bausei, C. Wilsoni, and C. Scotti the 

 best of the hybrids for greenhouse culture. The best time to purchase 

 them is in May, unless for some time after you receive them you can give 

 them a gentle heat, as that of a frame over a hotbed, then obtain them 

 n April. 



Vine Border Forming — Vines for Greenhouse (C. TT.).— We think 

 your border, if made up to the height of the side lights, will be too deep ; 

 but you do not say what the depth will be from the level of tho pathway, 

 which will, of coarse, be the level to which the border is to be raised, 

 though it may be raised 6 or 9 inches above that to allow for settling. If 

 you have a depth of 3 feet above the brickbats or drainage to the level of 

 the pathway, that will be sufficient for the depth of the border. We 

 would over the 15- inch drainage place a layer of turf, grass side down- 

 wards, and then put in the materials for the border, mixing all well 

 together, bones as well as the other ingredients, and lay the compost 

 regularly, but without treading it, and raise it 6 or 9 inches above tho 

 intended level. The border should be mado at once, and the Vines 

 planted early in March, shaking all the soil from the roots, and spreading 

 these out carefully, and covering them regularly with about 3 inches of 

 fine not very rich soil. The Vines should be procured forthwith, and cut 

 back, 80 that they will reach to the height of the front lights. If you 

 have plants in the greenhouse the Vines should not be nearer each other 

 than 4 feet, planting the two next tho ends IS inches from the endt-. 

 That will give you seven Vines, which we would have three Black Ham- 

 burgh, one Lady Downe's if your house is heated, if not, one Trentham 

 Black, two Foster's Seedling, and one Calabrian Raisin, or, if not heated, 

 one Buckland Sweetwater. 



Lawn Bf.owniko in Suhjier iJ. I.).— The lawn should be well 

 scratched with an iron rake, and have a little fine soil spread over it in 

 April, and you may then sow over it Suckling Clover (Trifolium minus), 

 rather thickly, or at the rate of 12 lbs. per acre. After sowing give 

 another light scratching with an iron rake, and roll well. It should be 

 done in April when the ground is dry, but with an early prospect of rain 

 Antirrhinums (Idr.m) .—The old plants if kept the second year should 

 have the old flower stems cut away, leaving none but the young growing 

 parts. It should be done when tho plants are making fresh growths. 

 Young plants are preferable to old; therefore, fresh cuttings should be 

 put in every year. Cuttings made this summer will make fine plants for 

 flowering nest year. 



Centaurea ragusina from Seed {/(Zem).— If seed is sown now in a 

 hotbed and the seedlings grown in heat, these will make fine plants by 

 the beginning of June. The plants come true from seed, but are not so 

 silvery ia foliage as those from cuttings. 



Seeds Home-saved (Jdrmi.— The seeds you have saved, if the plants 

 were well grown and of a good strain, the seeds being taken from the 

 best only, will produce plants equal to the parents, but we have known 

 them to be superior, and at other times somewhat inferior. Home-saved 

 seeds (except of particular sorts and when there is a good strain), are in 

 general less satisfactory than those purchased from persons who make 

 seed-saving and gelling a business. 



Grass Edging not Cutting Clean (J'ifm).— Your grass edgings do 

 not cut clean because the soil is not sufficiently matted with fibres of 

 the grass, or, perhaps, it is hght and crumbling. We do nut recognise 

 the seeds you have sent us, and not knowing from what part of India 

 you had them, we are unable to advise. 



Clerodendron Ealfodrit to Flotver in June (A Bcxlcy Header).— 

 The plant should receive the needful pruning eai-ly next mouth, aud 



about tho middle of tho month should bo placed in a somewhat higher 

 temperature and rall\or moist atmosphere, and when it has pushed fresh 

 fiho(;tH a few inches long pot it, and place in a mild hotbed if convenient, 

 keeping it moist and shadod for a few days until tho plants recover from 

 the potting, being careful not to ovorwater, hut to keep the soil no more 

 than moist until the mots are working freely in the fresh floil. Keep it 

 iu a brisk heat of from GO'^ to f rr-' at night, and 75' by day, with a rise of 

 from 10'^ to ir>^ from sun heat. Tlio plant should bo encouraged with a 

 mni.st atmosphere, and should have plenty of room and unobsitructcd 

 light, placing it as near the glass as practicable. Water should bo given 

 Icsrt plentifully from the middle to the end of April, hy which time we 

 iuiiigine a good growth will have been made ; and then by keeping it dry, 

 but not so as to cause the plant to flag, it is likely a check will bo given 

 that will throw it into bloom, which you will soon see by tho formation 

 of tho buds, and the plant can; be retarded or forwarded, so as to flower 

 at the tune required. 



LAPAGERtA rosea PROPAGATING [H. D.]. — The readiest and best mode 

 of propagating this fine climber is by seed sown early in March in a 

 brisk bottom heat of 75^, and a top heat of from 6J^ to 80-. It may also 

 bo increased by suckers taken off when the plant is beginning to grow. 

 Layers may be made when the shoots are sufficiently long, cutting a slit 

 upwards below a joint, and layering that part into the soil or a pot filled 

 with soih 



Compost for Coleuses {Jrfem).— The whole succeed in a compost of 

 two parts turfy lonm, sandy rather than strong, and one part each of leaf 

 mould or old cow dung, and fibrous sandy peat, with a free admixture of 

 sharp sand. 



Aerides Stems [IdcTti). — W e admit that it is common to see thein with 

 but one &tem or shoot, but the great desideratum is to obtain them dwarf, 

 and the greater the number of stems the larger are the plants, and, of 

 course, the more valuable for every purpose — exhibition or ornament. 



Transplanting Strawberries (^ Constant Subsciiber). — We would 

 not remove the plants until the beginning of March, and then we would 

 preserve good balls of soil, planting them firmly, and giving a sufBcient 

 watering to settle the earth about the roots. 



Repotting Liliums {Licm).— They are best repotted every year. It 

 should he done as soon as the stems decay, but in potting do not disturb 

 the roots more than can be helped. 



Double Primulas (Flora). — All the double Primulas have been ob- 

 tained from seed, or arc sports from the single varieties. A good double 

 variety does not produce seed ; the best double flowers are propagated by 

 cuttings or divisiors. There are many very good doubles that are in- 

 creased in that way, and there are semi-double varieties, both pink and 

 white, that are tolerably constant from seed, which they, of course, 

 produce. It is likely the partially double flowers which jou have will 

 seed, and the seedlings will not unlikely produce double flowers, but 

 quite as likely single ones. The seeds of the semi-double varieties are 

 sold by the seedsmen, and this will show to you that the semi-doubles 

 are general. We do not consider the double any improvement on the 

 single, as they are niether so sweet nor so free in gi'owth and flowering. 



Oleander Infested with Scale {E. C). — The insect on your plant is 

 the Oleander scale. Washing with vinegar and tobacco water is of no 

 practical use in promoting its destruction. Wash the plant with a solu- 

 tion of Clarke's Iuse(^t-destroying Compound, S ozs. to the gallon, apply- 

 ing it to the under side of the leaves with a soft piiint brush, brushing it 

 well in, and washing every shoot or stem. Every part must be dressed 

 with the solution, and in two or three days wash the plant thoroughly 

 with a sponge, usiug the solution as before. No further dressing will bo 

 required except on the re-appearance of the scale, which is a pest the 

 plant is not long tree from. 



Potted Narcissuses Rooting Outside {An Amateur). — The plants 

 being required for house decoration, you have no alternative but to 

 remove the roots that extend through the pots' drainage holes, which 

 ought to be done at once, before Ithe plants are too far advanced for 

 bloom. It will not do them any material harm. 



Coleus Verschaffelti from Seed (Idem). — We think that this 

 Coleus could be successfully raised from seed, but the difficulty is to pro- 

 cure the seed. It should be sown in a hotbed early in March, and 

 treated the same as a tender annual. 



Select Tricolor Pelargoniums (Idevi). —Juucy Grieve, Miss Burdett 

 Couttp, Howarth Ashton, Florence, Lizzie, Sophia Dumaresque, Italia 

 tinita, aud L'Empereur, presuming you have Mrs. Pollock and Lady 

 Culhim. Your mode of culture would be first-rate to furnish plenty of 

 tine leaves, which appear to be your object. 



List of Kitchen Garden Seeds (Rouen).— We propose in an early 

 number to furnish a list of the best varieties of vegetables, in the hope 

 that it will be of use to others of our readers. 



Procuring Seeds {M. G.). — You may procure Henderson's Conqneror 

 Celery and Winningstadt Cabbage through any of the principal seeds- 

 men. We cannot depart from our rule not to recommend dealers. 



Conifer;e for Exposed Situation (/'^'wi.— The best of all is the 

 Piuus austriaca, and we would principally plant Scotch Fir and Larch^ 

 that in, presuming you require them for shelter, and in such positions it 

 is of little use planting unless the trees are close together— not further 

 apart than 4 feet, so as to shelter and protect each other. Without pro- 

 tecting belts of the above, isolated plants or small groups ore of little 

 value, and never thrive. A few of the hardiest are— Abies excelsa, 

 A. Douglasii ; Cedrus atlantica (argentea) ; Jimiperus communis. J. hiber- 

 niea, J. suecica, J. virginiana ; Picea nobilis, P. grandis, P. Nordman- 

 niana ; Pinus austriaca, P. Benthamiana, P. cembr'a. P. excelsa, P. Jef- 

 frey!, I*, laricio ; Taxus adpressa, T. baccata, T. fastigiata ; Thujopsis 

 borealjs; Thuja gigantea, T. Lobbi, T. occidentalis, T. plicata, T. War- 

 reana ;. and Wellingtonia gigantea. 



Protecting Fruit Trees (Amateur). — Your mode of protection will 

 not answer, but is, nevertheless, good as far as it goes. It is far more 

 important to cover the trees than to protect them at the sides. The side, 

 protection is, however, necessary, and you should have it, as you propose 

 the height of the trees, and it need not reach the ground by a foot* 

 Tifitiny will answer well, but you must have it over the trees, so as to 

 protect them from descending dews and frosts. The sides may be per- 

 manent, but the top should be moveable, and only placed over the trees 

 in case of frost, taking it off by day and putting it on at night. The 



