326 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 13, 1869. 



leaf as well aa flower- stalks, and the plant will cot be com- 

 pletely recovered that season, even if the evil be detected in its 

 earlier stages. I mention this becanse occasionally, with ex- 

 treme vigilance, it will occar in the most unsuspected way, and 

 I would advise some of the blooms and leaves to be removed, 

 and the centre dusted over with sulphur, as the only means of 

 saving the plant, which is sometimes of consequence if a well- 

 known good variety. 



The soil best suited, in all stages of the Cyclamen, is one 

 composed of two-fifths coarse leaf mould, the same cxuftntity of 

 very light soft yellow loam, one-fifth dry cow dung, and suffi- 

 cient fine white sand to prevent running togelher. The dry 

 cow dung should be collected in line weather, and it would be 

 advisable, after rubbing small, to pour some nearly boiling 

 water over it to kill all seeds, which are very troublesome if 



not destroyed in this way. The leaf mould should also be well 

 wetted, and mixed with cow dung and sand ; the loam should 

 be ground down quite fine in a dry state, and mixed with the 

 other ingredients, and yon will then have the very best com- 

 post it is possible to make to grow the Cyclamen in. 



The corm is always seen above the soil, but this should never 

 be so, for the simple reason that the roots in this case will only 

 arise from the lowest portion of it, whereas if buried they will 

 do so from all parts alike ; and this must be a very great advan- 

 tage to so gross a feeder as this plant really is. When the 

 plants are put into their blooming pots I always place a hand- 

 ful of crocks in the bottom, and on the top of them some small 

 pieces of dry cow dung, which is without doubt one of the 

 secrets of success in the cultivation of this gem of the winter 

 season. — H. E. I. C. S. {The Gardener). 



VINE LEAVES TURNING THEIR UNDER SURFACE TO THE LIGHT. 



I HAVE a seedling Grape Vine here which has the strange pecu- 

 liarity of turning the backs 

 of all its leaves to the light, 

 and no constraint will in- 

 duce it to turn the upper 

 side to the light. I send you 

 leaves from it, which show 

 how the leaf-stalk bends to 

 effect the purpose. It is 

 inarched on a Muscat, the 

 leaves of which are in their 

 normal state. On entering 

 the house where it grows, 

 the conclusion at once is 

 suggested that some one has 

 severed the Vine's connec- 

 tion with the earth, and that 

 it is in the act of dying, 

 yet it is perfectly healthy, 

 though it has shown no fruit, 

 while seedlings of the same 

 batch are in fruit beside it. 

 It is a cross between the 

 Golden Champion and Black 

 Alicante. I shall be glad to 

 know if any of your readers 

 have met with a Vine hav- 

 ing the same habit. — W. 

 Thomson, Dalkeith Park. 



[A phenomenon so singu- 

 lar, and, we believe, with- 

 out a parallel, induced us 

 to ask from Mr. Thomson 

 some further information, 

 and we append his reply : — 



" The seedling Vine while 

 making its first year's growth in a pot showed no tendency | pelegrina, and Pharns latifolius. 



I to turn the backs of its leaves to the light as it does now, 



when inarched on the Mus- 

 cat. I have no other plant 

 of it except one from an 

 eye struck this spring This 

 has only four leaves on it, 

 and they show no ten- 

 dency to turn round. There 

 are two seedlings inarched 

 on the Muscat in question, 

 and a closer inspection 

 shows that the other seed- 

 ling's leaves have to some 

 extent the same tendency 

 to be reversed, as you will 

 observe by leaf No. 2. No. 3 

 is a leaf from a seedling 

 of the same parentage in- 

 arched on a Muscat grow- 

 ing on the next rafter to the 

 other, but showing not the 

 slightest tendency to turn 

 round. The same may be 

 said of other seedlings on 

 neighbouring Vines. The 

 whole of the leaves on the 

 Muscats are perfectly nor- 

 mal, and it looks most sin- 

 gular to see one Vine with 

 the whole of its leaves re- 

 versed, and those on Vines 

 on either side all right." 



Some few plants hav« 



the under sides of their 



leaves turned upwards (re- 



supinate), as in Alstrcemeria 



_Eds.] 



HOW CAN I BECOME A FIRST-CLASS GARDENER? 



[The following may be useful to other young men besides a 

 correspondent who asked the above question.] 



But for your telling us that you " are very quick at learning," 

 I should say that there are great drawbacks to your becoming 

 a first-rate gardener, as you are now twenty-five years old. Two 

 things will be essential — first, you must learn to write better, and 

 to spell better, and the second is best attained by reading largely 

 and studying the spelling of the words, and also by frequently 

 consulting a dictionary. There is nothing, however, that a 

 man of energy and perseverance cannot accomplish. Besides 

 improving yourself by private study and night schools, if you 

 aim at being a gentleman's gardener, and as you have already 

 worked in gardens at different times, your best plan would be 

 to get into some large well-managed garden, and enter into 

 some arrangement with the gardener to pass through all the 

 commoner out-door work and mere manual labour, such as 

 digging and sweeping, as soon as possible, and then obtain as 

 soon as you can be trusted a charge of one of the departments, 

 as the flower garden, plant houses, forcing houses, fruit depart- 

 ment, keeping a diary, and making notes as to every day's work. 

 When you have thus passed some two or three years, then go 



into one of our large nurseries, and observe how the work is 

 conducted in the various departments. If you incline to the 

 commercial department of gardening, then choose a market 

 garden, or a nursery, according to the bent of your inclination. 

 It would in ordinary cases be advisable to have a little expe- 

 rience and practice in all the different branches ; but at the 

 age of twenty-five it would be more prudent to select one branch 

 and adhere to it as as a means of livelihood, as well as of enjoy- 

 ment. Be assured, whatever department you fix on, yon will 

 find that gardening is not all rose water ; that there is plenty 

 of difficulty and unpleasantness to contend with ; and 1 men- 

 tion this all the more, as I have met many who, like yon, 

 stated that they " cared for nothing else whatever," who came 

 to care for each and everything except that which they once 

 80 much loved. Be assured there is no royal road to success, 

 and ground yourself well at first ; learn to use every tool dex- 

 terously, and strive to be first-rate in wheeling a barrow and 

 cleaning furnaces, as well as in dressing-up a plant or arrang- 

 ing a flower bed. From want of this grounding it is not un- 

 common to find a man who has been in a garden for years who 

 could not level a piece of ground, mow without leaving his 



