100 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICOLTUBE AND COTTAGK GARDENER. 



[ January 30, 1868. 



Salvia ON THE Col oe Tknda.— Several correspondents suggest that 

 it IS Salvia herminum, or Purple-topped Clary. 



Cyclamens (Woohton).—!! you enclose twelve postaM stamps and 

 order Nor 297, 298, and 299 to be sent to you, vou will find in them a luU 

 essay on tho culture of Cycl.ameus. 



Scale Insect on Cohrant Boshes IT. Oarnett, aill,eroe).—Tbe scale 

 insect, with white wooUy envelope over the eggs, is the Vine scale (Coccus 

 vitis). We do not remember seeing it on the Currant bclore. Scrape 

 away the rough bark, and paint all the stems with a creamy mixture of 

 half a pound of soft soap and 1 lb. of flowers of sulphur, boiled for a few 

 minutes m two gallons of water. 



Roses on Manetti Stocks-Molching {J. G. B.).-" You had better 

 Eot prune at all the Manetti-stocked Roses just planted, than cut them 

 down to four or hveeyes. Such short pruning usually causes them to 

 push from the neck of the stock. Thev rarely send forth suckers from 

 the roots. Thin out useless wood, cut the shoots to a good eve at tho 

 summit of the plants, and shorten the side branches a little to a good 

 eye. Prune them nt once, and place litter over their roots. This should 

 have been done be. ore. As soon as blooming is over I shorten my plants 

 a Uttle, and cut them pretty much as above. Sanders's book on the 

 Vine 13 puWished at the office of this Journal. The author was Mr 

 Ashton Smith's gardener. If you enclose is. Id. in postage stamps with 

 your addi-ess, you can have it free by post.— W. F. Radclyffe." 



Cost of a Pit (E. 7!.).-Whetber i8 would be too much or not for the 

 budding of your pit. would depend very much on the quality and size of 

 the stones you used for walls 2 feet in height beneath the surface, and 

 the thickness of the brick walls above the ground. At first si^ht the 

 sum seems fair; but, then, much depends on these considerations. In 

 aU such matters, where the proprietor finds lime and stone, and clears 

 out the ground, it would be better he found also the bricks, tiles for flue, 

 4c., and then contracted for the mere workmanship ; or, better still, had 

 it done by day wages by a good workman. You will know better than 

 my one at a distance how many bricks you wUl use, according to the 

 thickness of the walls, and if you calculate the expense of this you wiU 

 easily see what is left for labour. In general, it rarely suits either party 

 to have so much material provided, and the workman to find tho rest and 

 the labour. It is better to give no materials, or all, and in the last case 

 contract for the labour, or, which would be as weU in such a job, have it 

 done by day wages. 



Steawbekry Leaves Spotted (G. Pinet.-The leaves of vonr Straw- 

 hemes are spotted by the frost and other ungcnial weather, those leaves 

 wiU aU decay, but fresh ones will come, and you need not trouble about 

 them. It is just as natural for Strawberrv leaves to become thus dis- 

 coloured in winter as It is for an Oak leaf to turn yellow and fall. Wo 

 hope that the leaves are old ones, as we believe them to be. If young 

 leaves of this year in houses, we should judge they had smlered from ex- 

 tremes of wet and drj'ness. 



. J'^''f'^\ ^f J"'?" ^^'■^'^ {Savannali'n Winding Shore).— -Ke do not 

 thmk the half-hardy annual, Venidium calendulaceum, so good as Gazania. 

 It belongs to much the same class, is orange in colour, and about 12 inches 

 in height, but generally goes ofl' in the autumn. 



Setting A Saddle-eack Boiler (U-.)._if saddle-back boilers are 

 smaU we like to set them 2 or :; inches higher than the fire bars, 

 or Rrating, on fire bncks or fire lumps, and wo used to have a block 

 of fire lump at the farther end, so that the fire should go over it at 

 the top, come round the outsides of the boiler, and then along the top 

 to the smoke shaft; but, latterly, if the boilers were large we do not 

 care about this break-draught lump, but let the end of the furnace 

 servo the pnniose. One object is thus gained without a lump-there 

 IS no chance of a careless stoker choking-up the space or flue be- 

 hind it. Terminal saddle-hacks save all this trouble. We hardly know 

 what you mean by hollow bars or burs. If you mean pipes for grating, thev 

 J?".°.?^ ^'' "-f^ '^'',"' fO'inected with the boiler, and w-e do not think 

 that they are of much advantage, as they present a coolish surface at the 

 bottom to the fuel, and therefore there at least the combustion is less 

 perfect. If by ' burs' you mean fire lumps, we see no objection to their 

 ^eing^hoUow, though when the hollow was reached in wear they would 



Heating and AnnANOixG a Greenhouse (B. JB.).— To do what vou 

 propose-namely, heat a propagating house, 8 feet long by lu! feet wide 

 and a greenhouse adjoining, 12 feet by 2U feet, by a flue," we "would pro^ 

 oecd as foUowb: -Having due regard to your doorways, so that the flue 

 will not interfere with them, nor descend below them, at the north-west 

 corner of the propag.atmg house place the furnace and chimney, and take 

 the flue along tho end and front of the house and back again, which will 

 pve you heat enough there for a propagating bed, as alluded to in answer 

 fl . r'S?. i" .T'^K' ^'''^ y"" '"'° man^se by a circular turn to the 

 flue, but fitted with a damper, to be used when required. With the ex- 

 ception of this curve, which will enable you to heat the propagatin" 

 house only, we would continue and return the flues straight, which will 

 place them in the middle, or nearly so, of the greenhouse, and dampers 

 m the flues there will enable you to let the heat in there when wanted. 

 Ton should have a tank inside the house for rain water, with an overflow 

 to a dram. The greenhouse will do admirably for Grapes; six Vines 

 'hints"' " '^^"'^ ^''■8'^ '° ""^ middle, and a shelf all round for 



Fdrnace of a Flce-heated Greenhouse (J. B.).-We do not think 

 the fuiTiace much too large if your furnace bars do not occupy a space 

 more than 15 inches long by from 9 to 12 inches wide. If for such a 

 amall house you find the space is too large, then brick-up the f.irther 

 end, merely leaving space above for the draught to pass into the flue In 

 a case similar to yours we advised a fire lump to be jilaced at the farther 

 «nd of the furnace to lessen the bulk of tho furnace fully one-thii-d, and 

 it answered perfectly. 



h?^'''^^? \ ^'"i^^ ^"F'"!"^ ^°^f^ '^ Rfader, B.).-Ia the forcing 

 ^;?? on ",''.' ^Z-^-' "H!* '." '°"^ ^'"■'y' y" will need for heating it from 

 60 to 80 feet of 4-inoh pipes. A flue well made would cost you less at 

 fir.st, and less for fuel afterwards, but it will not be so safe and pleasant 

 as hot water. ^ 



V'iNE Border for Muscats— Wood for Drainage, &c. IA Subscriber 

 io the Journal).~Ttxo Muscats will keep well in winter without heat at 

 the roots, and more especially as the border is inside the house. Wood 

 and old roots do not do so well for drainage as stones, &c., as they are apt 



to produce fungus. Why not use earthenware drain pipes ? The old 

 Vines outside will not interfere at all with the Muscats planted inside, if 

 you give the Muscats light and room enoush, and cut away the old Vines 

 as the young ones become established. The Muscats would ripen and colour 

 better if you had more glass, larger squares, and less timber and laps in 

 the house. -^ 



Late Vines— Royal Ascot Vine (H. S.).—As a selection of the best 

 late Vines, you cannot do better than take Muscat of Alexandria, Muscat 

 Hamburgh, Lady Downe's, Alicante, West's St. Peter's, and Trcbbiano. 

 The Royal Ascot was e.'thibited at the Great Show at Bury St. Edmunds 

 last summer, and obtained the first-class certificate of the Fruit Com- 

 mittee. Y'ou will also see notices of it in our report of tho meeting of 

 the Fruit Committee in our last number, and in another column to-day. 

 It is a valuable Grape, particularly for " winter work." 



Fruiting Grape Vines (£. ^.).— If you grow young Vines strong and 

 ripen the wood well, you may take a crop from them the following sea- 

 son ; but in proportion to the crop taken you injure the Vines forever 

 afterwards. When you want to obtain a crop at once in your house, turn 

 out well grown canes from pots, and keep some in pots, and fruit these ; but 

 those you wish to have as permanent Vines, treat in the way recom- 

 mended, and only take full crops after three or four years from the plant- 

 ing. The latter plan w-iU be the more economical in the end. To gain 

 both purposes we have planted double the number of Vines— one half 

 to fruit, tho others to be established, and then the first to be cut out. 



Vinery 15 Feet Long {A Yotmn Amateur).— If you do not want to 

 grow much below the Vines, then have five Vines — vi:;., one Royal Musca- 

 dine, one Buckland Sweetwater, two Black Hamburgh, and one Trentham 

 Black. 



Plunging Pot-teo Vines (Broijle Plaee).—'The Vines will be safe 

 I enough treated as you propose ; but, of course, they will do little good if 

 left in the border. 



Planting an Esrly and a Late Vinery (S. E. H'.).— In the early 

 vinery you might have all the border (17 feet in width), inside, and plant 

 2 feet from each side ; or plant in the middle and train down. As you 

 can have a border outside on the west side, you might, as you propose, 

 give the most of the inside border to the Vines on tho east side of the 

 span roof, and, planting the Vines on the west side for that side, allow the 

 roots to go out beyond the wall, protecting the outside border in winter. 

 For the late house ve would plant the Vines inside on both sides of the 

 house, and, .allow the roots to go out into a border on the one side, and 

 beneath the lawn on the other side. Little protection will be needed for 

 these borders, except protecting them from wet in autumn and winter. For 

 each house we would have eight Vines — four on the side. In the first 

 iiousewe would pl.ant one Dutch Sweetwater, one Royal Muscadine, four 

 iilack Hamburghs, one White Frontignan, one Black Muscat of Alex- 

 andria. For the late house we would have two Muscat of Alexandria, 

 two Bo'wood Muscat, two Lady Downe's, one West's St. Peter's, one 

 Trebbiano. These will want heat, especially when coming into bloom, 

 and they will keep well. 



Vines in Pots {Youn(i Bcfjinncr\. — Did we wish to obtain what fruit wo 

 could from these rather strong Vines in 8-inch pots, we would leave 

 them in the pots, but set them inside of your 12 or 14-inch pots or boxes, 

 make larger holes in the bottom of the smaller pots, fill up with good 

 compost, and give rich mulchings. However, if you do as you propose — 

 repot at once into 12-inch pots, we should merely loosen the roots a little 

 outside the ball, and place the fresh compost firmly between the ball and 

 the pot, on the clear understanding, however, that success will be greatly 

 owing to the practice you propose — namely, plunging these repotted 

 plants in warm manure, whilst the tops are kept cool or exposed, so as to 

 encourage fresh rooting before the buds swell. See " Doings of Last 

 Week " in last number. 



Forcing Strawberries {Idem).— In the new house, 60 feet by 18, in 

 which you propose having a central bed and two side ones, wo cannot 

 say that in these beds you will be able to make StrawbeiTies in pots pay, 

 as we fear they would be too far from the glass for early work. After 

 March and April they would do. The sorts we would recommend are 

 Keens' Seedling, British Queen. Oscar, Sir Charles Napier, and Sir 

 Harry. We have not much faith in the plan of clearing ofi" the Straw- 

 berries in the middle of April, and filling with 150 Vines in pots, so 

 far as making money from the plan is concerned. You may use pet 

 Vines for a season or two before other Vines grow ; but if you want the 

 house to pay, you should plant Vines to continue at once. Vines in pots 

 if fruited heavily will do little more good. 



Potatoes for Exhibition (Murphy). — The earliest Potatoes for a 

 show in the middle of June, whether from frames or from the open borders, 

 are Hogg's Early Coldstream and the Early Handsworth (Round). Tho 

 former is a first-rate variety for eating, and the latter, though handsomer, 

 is inferior for table use. Soden's Early Oxford is a variety that will give 

 tine round tubers by the above date, but " few in a hill." Of early Kid- 

 neys. Sutton's Racehorse, o^rts Mitchell's Early Albion; Menu's Pride» 

 alias the old Early Ashleaf ('.'); Almond's First Early, olJo* the old Walnut- 

 leaved Kidney!?), and Webb's Telegraph, are four Kidneys which will 

 prove the best for the early show table. The first three cannot be beaten 

 for quality. For show varieties in the first week of September, Edgecote 

 Second Early and Almond's Y'orkshire Hero — superior strains of the 

 Lnpstone family, as being very handsome and very first-rate for eating. 

 It is doubtful if Wheeler's Milky White could be in perfection thus early 

 in the open ground. It is first-rate. Of round kinds, Transell's Seedling 

 and Daintree's Seedling Round. 



Evergreen for Arcade (A. G.).— Crataegus pyracautha will suit you, 

 and so will the plant you name. 



Evergreens for Py-ramids (An Old Subscriber). — Thuja Lobbii, 

 Cupressus Lawsoniana, and Thujopsis borealis aU form pyramids, and 

 will bear cutting, but it spoils their natural elegance and gracefulness. 



Forcing Peach Trees in Pots (Grefjorij). — Your plunging the pots 

 in a bed of leaves will be proper, providing the heat is not violent, and 

 the pots are gradually withdrawn from it, so that no check may be given. 

 You must not keep them plunged until the roots strike thi-ough into the 

 leiives and then withdraw the pots, as the check may cause the fruit to 

 fall or be poor ; but it will be lieneficial if you can leave the pots in the 

 leaves until the fruit is ripe, otherw-ise you had better not plug e t hem. 

 The only danger of plunging is a check being given to the trees by the 

 ^ loss of the heat and moisture, or the destruction of the roots that Bifty 



