288 



JOUBNAL OP HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ October 15, 1888. 



address and order Keane's " In-door Gardening," yon will have it sent 

 free by post. It contains directions for the colture of potted plants 

 onder glass. Yon must send another leaf and flower in a bos. The 

 others are smashed. (Ivy Green).—" The Pine-Apple Manual ;" you can 

 have it free by post from our office if you enclose thirty-two postage 

 .stamps. 



Tnonns Ditng aftee Bceding (C. Ellis).— Vfe are quite at a loss to 

 account for your Thorns dying after budding, and after the fresh buds 

 had pushed vigorously. Perhaps you cut awav the old parts of the trees 

 rather soon, and thisparalysed root action ; biit that could scarcely be the 

 case when the fresh buds grew so vigorously. 



CccnMBER FOR WINTER (A SiJjscri^fr).— There is nothing better than 

 the old Lord Kenyon, or Sion House, or some of its smooth-skinned 

 varieties. Volunteer is a very good kind, a little longer, but not so long 

 as the Telegi'aph or Manchester lands. We would say Lord Kenyon or 

 Sion House. Take care your flue does not become too hot, or allow gases 

 to escape. 



Grapes Shankikg and Red (/. JV. i?.).— With Vines that have been 

 bearing forty years, it wonld not be advisable to raise the roots and re- 

 plant, except in rare cases. We think that as the Vines are healthy, 

 faake good wood, and bear well, but have shanked bunches, we should be 

 inclmed to try what raising the gi-avel path would do, placing good soil 

 instead, and sinking a drain in front deeper than the bottom of the 

 border, using fire heat now to harden the wood. If you resolve to 

 make a fresh border and raise the Vine roots and replant, we wonld re- 

 commend a concrete bottom, SO inches from the top, and the bottom 

 sloping well outwards, a drain 18 inches deeper in front, three inch drain 

 tiles laid across at every 8 feet, and 8 inches of open rubble round and 

 over them. Have upright pipes communicating with the cross pipes 

 and open rubble, and the upright pipes furnished with plugs to aUow hot 

 fi'' iJ"''^"'"'"""'""''''*'"' border and keep cold air out. But for having 

 the old Vines we would rather plant strong young Vines. There is much 

 labour involved in taking up the roots of old Vines carefally and keeping 

 them properly wrapped up before replanting. 



Pegging Down Roses— Stopping Side Shoots (E.J'. IT.).— "The side 

 shoots from the strong shoots, stopped six weeks ago, may be left till 

 spring, and then be shortened to the first plump eve in sound wood. The 

 more you cut a strong-growing Rose the stronger'and more blind will it 

 become. I do not peg-down Roses. I prefer them upright, as more 

 manageable. It is difficult to weed beds of pegged-down Rosea ; moreover, 

 yon cannot go among them. Whynot try growing them espaUer fashion ? 

 A lew Roses will make more show when pegged-down than in an upright 

 position. Roses that do not break well at the eyes, and cast their flowers 

 at the tops of the shoots, are suited to pegging-down and to espalier 

 traming.— W. F. Radclyffe." 



EosEs for Contrast (il. R.).—" These as standards in three colom-s 

 wonld look well :— Charles Lefebvre, Gloire de Dijon, and Senatenr 

 Vaisse ; or Prmce CamiUe de Rohan, Celine Forestier, or Triomphe de 

 Kcnnes, and Madame Victor Verdier. For white vou cannot have a more 

 excellent and beautiful Rose than Baronne de Mavnard. It has been 

 covered with flowers throughout the season, and without intei-mission, 

 and IS still flowering abundantly. Comtesse de Chabrillaut, Madame 

 Vldot, and Madame Rivers do best as dwarfs on the Manetti stock. The 

 last two are the most beautiful and perfect light Roses known, but very 

 dehcate and difficult to keep in health. Buy Marguerite de St. Amand 

 and Carohne de Sansal instead of these. Mario Baumann is here, but 

 not yet proven. Mr. Keynes speaks very highly of it. Buy Alfred Colomb 

 and Antoine Ducher and you will be right. Due de Cazes or Charles 

 Lefebvre would make an excellent climber for your south-east wall. 

 Maance Bernardin is a most superior crunson Rose.— W. F. Radcltffe." 

 Forcing Vines and Peach Trees for Frciting in May (Old Sub.).— 

 10 have Grapes ripe in May, the Vines should be started gently in the 

 begmnmg of December. If now in full leaf shorten the shoots and keep 

 the border rather ib-y, so as to prune in November. Peach trees to pro- 

 duce m the end of May should be started slowly at Christmas. 



Heathjo a Vinery by a Stove (W. Mash).— It is impossible by any 

 one mode to obtain all advantages. All stoves to be economical must 

 nave rather small fireboxes, and therefore want frequent attention, and 

 at least should be cleaned out every morning where fuel that wiO cake or 

 leave a clinker is used. A brick stove, 30 inches square outside measure, 

 and from 4p to 48 mches in height, with a firebox 12 inches square, and 

 16 inches deep, would keep the frost out of a house 20 feet long and 

 10 feet wide, and gently force the Vines. The top of the stove had better 

 have two plates .if iron, one to rest on the bricks, bedded in mortar, and 

 to be covered with sand, leaving a ledge of brick outside, into which the 

 plate fits, and then another plate all over with a sand joint between, 

 lie small chimney should go out at one side, 6 inches below the plate, ex- 

 tend 18 inches horizontally, and then pass perpendicularly throngh the 

 roof. U the stove is placed near the front of the house, the fuel-feeding 

 door and the ashpit door might be outside. If it is necessary to feed the 

 stove inside of the house, it will have to be emptied carefully every 

 mornmg, damping ashes, &c., previously to prevent dust. Such a stove 

 must have the draught regulated by the ashpit door, which, therefore, 

 must ht closely, but we did not expect you would be able to obtain such 

 doors absolutely air-tight, nor is that required. With all improvements 

 lor heating a small house, there is no plan so economical as a brick or 

 even an iron stove. There are few of the latter, however, that would 

 ?'"i f/°" '° 'lispeuse with lighting, as tho Are space is not large enough 

 to hold enough of fuel, and then if it did it would require some experi- 

 ence so to manage it as not to have too much heat, and so to regulate tho 

 air that enough be given, and no more, to secure slow combustion, as, if 

 not enough reaches the fuel, it wiU go out from want of oxygen, which is 

 as necessary to keep fuel burning as to enable us to breathe. If the 

 Ireedom from relighting your fire cannot be secured, then we would 

 recommend a email conical boUer, to be led from the top, and only the 

 best broken coke, or the best coal that leaves nothing but a Uttle ash, 

 ttsed. All cakemg coal will leave clinkers. Your crop of Grapes is fair, 

 oat not heavy. To have larger bunches, you had better begin afresh 

 next season, and take up a fresh rod from each Vine. Give that rod tho 

 second season more room, and take fewer bunches. Yon will thus have 

 no difficulty m obtaining larger bunches, but otherwise you will have 

 more trouble. It will also be ad-visable to allow more growth. With 

 Vines spurred 2 feet apart up the roof, we have no hopes that you will do 

 much with \ mes against the back wall. It would be better to have 

 BDOlvea there for various plants before the Vines covered the roof. 



Hippophae rhamnoides {J. S. H.). — This is the Sea Bnckthom, or 

 Sallow Thorn, as it is sometimes called. In a sandy soil and sheltered 

 situation it might succeed and ripen its berries in the midland counties ; 

 but not unless care be taken to have male and female plants growing to- 

 gether. The female flowers are produced on separate bushes from those 

 which produce the male flowers. 



Amaryllis Belladonna (H. r.).— Your Belladonna Lilies have done 

 very well indeed ; but we have seen quite as good specimens when the 

 bulbs were well established. 



Nectarine Leaves Unhealthy (A. S. A.). — The leaves have been 

 attacked with red spider, and we think thrips has also been present, but 

 we are not sure. If many of the leaves are green they might be well 

 washed with soft-soap water. If as bad as the specimens sent, we would 

 pull them all off, wash the part of the tree, the wall, &c., with warm soap- 

 water— say at 140 , and when dry paint the wood with Gishurst com- 

 pound, or clay and sulphur. 



Pears of Astringent Flavour (.-f Suh^criber, IVor/oR).— Many va- 

 rieties of Pears have deteriorated both in flavour and appearance owing 

 to the extreme heat and dryness of the summer and the autumn. This 

 has been especially noticed on sandy soils like yours. Such deterioration 

 would have been prevented by mulching the surface over the roots and 

 occasional watering. Some varieties will endure much higher tempera- 

 tures than others. 



Forcing Roses and Strawberries in Cold Pits (A Subscriber). — To 

 keep Roses and Strawberries in a brick cold pit, they will do best with 

 I just enough of tree leaves to plunge them in, whilst the pots rest on the 

 hard bottom. If you wish to force gradually, then a bed beneath them of 

 fermenting material would be an advantage, and it does not in the least 

 matter whether the bed is of sweetened dung below and leaves above, or 

 all leaves, but it is of importance that the heat should not be strong at 

 this season, not above 70, and also that the Strawberry roots should not 

 be encouraged to run through the hole in the pot into the leaves. It 

 would be well to move the pots frequently, or set the pots on boards and 

 slates when plunging them. 



Wintering Bulbous Plants (I(lem).—The Liliums will keep very 

 well in the cold pit, and will need no water in winter if a few damp leaves 

 be placed over the surface of the pit. The soil should not be wet, 

 but it should not be dust dry. They would keep well in a cellar, or under 

 the stage iu a cool gi-eenhouse, before they begin to push, when they 

 must have light and water, and fresh surfacings with rich soil. The bulbs 

 of the Tropaolum should be kept dryish before they begin to push. It is 

 well to repot them when in a dormant state, and place at once in the 

 flowering-pot, and water as the roots advance. The Vallota purpurea 

 will not need much water in winter, but it should not be dry, and the 

 leaves should not wither. A cool greenhouse will suit it best. 



Insects {J. S. E., IJortini?).— Your " red daddy" was, doubtless, Ophion 

 luteum, one of the Ichneumonid;e ; all the females of which family are 

 furnished with a sting, but it is very weak, and used chiefly for depositing 

 eggs, and very rarely as an instrument of defence. — W. 



Gardening Catechism {E. S. B.).— There is one in the " Finchley 

 Manuals," but it only relates to cottagers' gardens ; and there was one 

 by the Rev. Mr. Edwards, but we believe it is out of print, and only 

 relates to vegetable and fruit culture. 



Large Sunflower (0. S. Sound).— len feet ten inches is a very great 

 height for a Sunflower ; and the flowers 10 inches in diameter, and the 

 leaves 22 inches long, are large in proportion. 



Masters' Troubles {Nemo a?td Others). — You all quite mistake 

 " Maud." all her banter and pokes are at the exceptional characters. 

 She is the friend, not the enemy of the profession. You will see what 

 she says ere long about " Gardeners' Troubles." 



Address (A. Z.).— Messrs. Betham & Blackith, Cox and Hammond's 

 Quay, Lower Thames Street. 



Treatment of Rose Cuttings {Rose). — The cuttings put in six or 

 seven weeks ago, and how struck, may be potted-off singly into small 

 pots, care being talien not to injure or break the roots. The pots should 

 be well drained, and the compost may consist of two-thirds turfy sandy 

 loam, and one-third leaf mould, or old well- decomposed manure, adding 

 one-sixth of sharp sand, well incorporating the whole. After giving a 

 gentle watering plunge the pots to the rim in coal ashes in a cold frame, 

 and put on the lights, keeping them rather close for about a fortnight, 

 and then well hardening off. The plants cannot have too much air, but 

 protection should be given from frost and heavy rains by drawing on the 

 lights, and in severe periods the protection of a mat or other covering 

 should be afforded. 



Aralia .taponica Culture [T. C.).— It is a deciduous shrub, and re- 

 quires to have the stems protected by a liand of straw and hay, wrapped 

 round them from the ground upwards. Y'ou may, if convenient, take up 

 the plant, place it in a large pot. and winter it in a cool greenhouse. In 

 summer the plant*may be planted out, or the pot plunged in the ground, 

 and in autumn be lifted. In this way it would give you greater satisfac- 

 tion, as iu cold di.-tricts it is liable to lose its side branches in winter 

 when left out of doors. It is grow-n for its foliage; its flowers are pro- 

 duced iu panicles, and are greenish. 



Propagating Magnolias (Cornuf»ia).— As propagation by layers is in- 

 convenient, you might succeed in striking cuttings of the^ ripened 

 wood, taking "the growing points after they become firm, cutting them 

 across below a joint, and removing the leaf from that and the joint above. 

 The cuttings should be inserted in pots singly in sandy loam, and with 

 one or two joints in the soil, and tho same number of joints above it, 

 the surface of the soil being covered with about half an inch of sUver 

 sand. A gentle watering should be given, and the pots plunged to the 

 rim in taii or sawdust over a hotbed of from 70 to 75 '. 11 in a house, the 

 , cuttings ought to be covered with a glazed frame, or if the hotbed is in 

 the open ground, the frame should be kept close and shaded from bright 

 sun. No water should be given beyond a sprinkling occasionally to keep 

 the soil and atmosphere moist. In about six weeks they will be rooted. 

 The best times to put in the cuttings are September, and about the 

 beginning of April. 



Propagating Laurels, Privet, and Arbor-Vit.^ (An Imrperienced 

 Amateur). — Laurels and Privet are propagated by cuttings. The Laurel 

 cuttings should have been put in some time ago, the end of September 

 and beginning of October being best, but they will yet succeed. The 



