174 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 27. 1868. 



Ballantyne tt Son, Dalkeith. — Catalogue of Forest and Orna- 

 mental Trees, dc. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



* •• We request that no one will write privately to the depart- 

 mental writers 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^ ttc, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.C, 

 We also request that correspondents will not mix upon the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 

 Books iHraton HaU).~\\hcn the volame on layinj?-out gartlens is 

 ready for publishing, which it will bo in a few weeks, its title and price 

 mil be advertised. It contains so manv plans, that the printing is delayed. 

 (C. J. D.).— Mr. W. Paul's " Rose Garden," price 6.t.6<;. 



Wild Flowers {T. J.).— There will be various indexes, so that the 

 plants can be at once refened to, for the plates are all numbered. 



Wir.E Net for Protecting Glass Roof (T?'. Z>.).— There are no notes 

 on the subject. You can obtain wire net of any of the makers who ad- 

 vei'tise in our Jourmil. Unleb3 small-meshed it would not protect the 

 glass, and il small-meshed then it would shade too much. 



Dressing Wheat with Arsenic [G. G.).— Many farmers mix this 

 poison with their seed Wheat, with the intention of destroying the spores 

 of the smut fungi that maybe upon the grain. It is a dangerous prac- 

 tice, and we believe does not effect the desired purpose. A much 

 more certain dressing is to wet the grain with strong biiue, and then dust 

 it thoroughly with lime. 



Gardeners' Examinations (Alpha).— Ty:o examinations are held an- 

 nuallv. Any gardener may be examined. If you write to Mr. Richards, 

 Assistant Secretary, South Keuj>ington, he will send you full particulars. 



Geonoma magnifica Flowering (If. C\nric).~\ie are informed by 

 Mr. Smith, Curator of the Kew Gardens, that the Geonoma magnifica 

 flowered in the stoves there last year, and is now showing flower again. 

 He does not consider it at all a rare occurrence, as all that is wanted is to 

 have the plant in goud health, when it will flower almost continuously. 



House Sewage for Strawberries {Oiu Who Wii*hf, tf'c). — As your 

 soil is light and diy, cover the surface of the bed with cocoa-nut-fibre 

 refuse an inch deep You may apply the sewage, diluted with eicfht times 

 its bulk of water, once a-week, hut not until the blooms of the Straw- 

 berry plants are ojien. 



Small Farming {Yardlry). — If you forward thirteen postage stamps 

 with your addi-ess, and order " How to Farm Two Acres Pi-ofitably," you 

 will have a email book sent you free by post that will give you the infor- 

 mation you need. It includes the management of cows and pigs, and if 

 you have twenty acres you have only to multiply by ten every space of 

 ground particularised. 



Mulching and BIanuring Roses (G. H. ilf.).—" Roses like mulching 

 at all times. If the mulching is not objected to as unsightly, it may be 

 allowed to remain. Peruvian guano may be used lightly; one handful 

 may be dissolved in a stable bucketful of water, and some of the liquid 

 poured over the pi-ound for an 18-inch radius round the stem. After the 

 first series of flower.s this may be practised with good effect, especially 

 where the cultivation is not high, or where the staple of the soil is 

 inferior. — W. F. Radclvffe." 



Round Plants at Battersea Park (L.).— Your query was answered 

 in our Journal on Januarj- auth, page 99. 



CoccoLOBA PLATYCLADA.— J. Biijaii wishes to know where this plant 

 can be obtained. 



Protecting Pyramtd Pear Tree Blossoms (H. F. JFoi/).— Your mode 

 of protection will be excellent if the stakes be made firm, and the protect- 

 ing material be put on so as not to touch the blossoms ; it should be se- 

 cured by string to the stakes. It will not be necessary to put on the 

 covering until the blossoms are far advanced towards opening, then you 

 may place it over the trees at night, and remove it in the moiniug if the 

 day be fine ; but if frosty it may remain on. When tlie weather is mild 

 and fine the protection should be removed by day— indeed, it should 

 only be used when the air is frosty. Protection will not be required after 

 the trees are furnished with leaves. Of the materials you name, tiffany 

 would be the best. 



Salting Asparagus Beds (Hal/pay).— iinlt is best given to Asparagus 

 over the surface as a top-dressing. Employed in the making of the bed 

 it would be merely thrown away. Bishop's New Long-podded Dwarf and 

 Advancer are excellent dwarf Peas for early crops, and Hairs* Dwarf 

 Mammoth is very good for a main or late crop. 



Select Achimenes (JJ-;//fV^i.— Ambroise Vcrschaffelt, lilac white with 

 radiating lines and carmine spots; Baumanni hirsuta, violet purple; 

 Margaretta, white ; Longiflora major, blue; Sceptrum, vermilion, with 

 rich markings ; and Carminata elegans, rosy carmine. 



Select Gloxinias (/(/cm).— Robert Fortune, rose belt and lips, tube 

 white, finely mottled ; Cjerulea variegata, porcelain blue, streaked with 

 wiite: Striata maculata, rosy salmon with white stripes; Thomas Lobb, 

 pink-spotted tube, dark violet belt, margin blue: Georgiana, freckled; 

 Princess Alice, reddish tube with spotted base, and crimson belt. From 

 your description we should say the Rose is Souvenir de Malmaison. The 

 Fern is Pteris cretica albo-lineata. 



Cineraria Potting (C. ir.).— In potting it is not desirable to give 

 large shifts, but to proceed gradually, and pot frequently. You may, how- 

 ever, place an established sucker in its blooming pot at once without 

 giving two, three, or more shifts. AVe have tried both methods, and ob- 

 t:iin the best plants from increasing the pot room as soon as the roots 



become slightly matted round the sides of the pot. The same remarks 

 apply to Chrysanthemums. 



Sowing Peas in Small Pots (.4 Comtant IifnfhT).—K:iU a dozen Peas 

 will be sufficient to put in a 6t)-sized pot. The heat munt be very mild, 

 and they should bo kept near the glass, and be well hardened-off before 

 planting out. You may sow three or four more Peas of Tom Thumb in a 

 pot tJian of Dickson's First and Best. You may turn the plants out in 

 the ojien ground when well hardened-off, so as to make a good row. A 

 quart of Dickson's First and Best Peas will sow a row 33 yards long ; a 

 quart of Tom Thumb, iiO yards. 



Peach Pruning [Idem).— You will find full directions in the book you 

 name for the futm-e management of the spurs. They wlU admit of the 

 alternate shoot-cutting. 



Charcoal {H. C. J.).— It may be used with advantage in the compost 

 for all descriptions of greenhouse plants. It would benefit Bignonia 

 radicans. Charcoal, however, is chiefly used in composts that have a 

 tendency to become close, and especially for subjects having very delicate 

 fibres, as New Holland plants and the generality of hardwooded plants. 



Pruning Ayrshire Roses (Kate). — You may peg down the shoots now, 

 cutting clean out any weak shoots, and the old if auj*, and limit pruning 

 to merely taking off the ends of the shoots, for the less these Roses are 

 pruned the better they bloom. Only the old wood and the very weak 

 growths should be removed. 



Plants in an Out-door Fernery (Idem). — We would advise your 

 leaving well alone. No plants whatever look well in a well-arranged and 

 flourishing fernery. We have tried it, and find the plants introduced 

 have an anything but pleasing effect. Nothing can add to the beauty of 

 the gi-aceful and delicate forms of the Ferns. The plan you propose for 

 protecting the Fenis from frost will answer admirably, only make the 

 protection strong to withstand wind. You could not employ anything 

 better than tiffany. 



Manuring Roses with Guano fI(Z<'ml.— There is no advantage in ap- 

 plying so many Itinds of manure at once ; one sort will be quite sufficient. 

 A sprinkling of guano round each tree in April and again in July, so as 

 to make tbe smface yellow, stirring the gi'ound lightly with a fork, 

 will be sufficient. Bone dust is excellent for Roses. A couple of good 

 haudfuls may be scattered around each tree and neatly pojnted-in with a 

 fork. It may be apphed now, and you may then give a dressing of guano 

 during moist weather iu May. Wood ashes may be ajiplied in the same 

 manner as bone dust, and probably a dealer iu artificial manures would 

 supply them to you. 



South Australian Seeds (A Leaimcr^. — Sandy loam, or loam and a 

 little peat, will grow the Mimosas, or Wattles, from Australia, and a green- 

 house or conservatory will suit them. From what you say we suspect you 

 have some of the strong-growing Acacias, and they will require much 

 room to do them justice. 



Thinning Fruit of Pot Tref.s (Idem).— You do not state the size of 

 the Peach and other trees in 11-inch pots; but on an average you had 

 belter not take more than from twelve to eighteen fruit from them if you 

 ■wish the fruit to be good. See what was said iu " Doings of the Last 

 Week" lately, and any specific information we shall be glad to supply. If 

 in an orchard house, keep them as late in blooming as you can, and be- 

 ware that the soil does not become too dry, or the blossoms may drop. 

 Wake sure that there is no stoppage to drainage, or the plants will suffer 

 from stagnant moisture. 



Raising Plants from Seed in Boxes (D. Rj/nn).— We think you will 

 obtain tbe gieater part of the desired information in " Window Garden- 

 ing," which you have ordered. We do not think you will do much good 

 in the backyard enclosed by walls and houses, and the space so small; 

 but to give you a chance of succeeding, you should raise your plants in 

 pots in your box that faces the south, and when tolerably well established 

 plant them out in the yard. Mignonette and Stocks would do as well 

 as anything, with Nasturtiums to climb up the wall. For your front 

 box few jilants would beat Mignonette and Stocks, and a fine display 

 would be made with Ncmophila, and Na.->turtiums hanging over the sides, 

 and Canary plants (Tropjeolum canarieusc) climbing up by the sides of 

 the window ; we would prefer it mingled with twining Convolvulus out- 

 side instead of inside the windows. You could have all these earlier by 

 sowing iu pots next month, and placing them in your box and covering 

 with a square or two of glass. We do not approve of your proposed soil 

 — that taken from an old shrubbery, an equal part of horse stable dung, 

 and a third part of sawdust steeped in urine. We would not much like 

 the sawdust, but would not dislike it so much if previously heated and 

 decomposed with the dung. In all towns old shrubbery soil is the worst 

 for such boxes ; and we are sorry to say that the soil srpplied from nur- 

 series, which you say is so expensive, is very frequently not much 

 better, being a mixture of old composts that have done work previously. 

 To all amateurs who can by anv means manage to do so, we advise ob- 

 tainjig a barrowful of soil from the sides of a highway, if nowhere 

 else. If j-our boxes are shallow, say 7 or 8 inches deep, we would use but 

 little of your prepared compost. If a foot or more in depth, and you 

 tura the "mixture over several times before using it, then you may fill the 

 boxes one-half full, and procure better soil lor the remainder. If yea 

 have a kitchen garden, or a flower plot that has been dug up roughly or 

 ridged during the winter, then scraping-off as much from the surface in 

 a dry sunny dav as woulil do, would answer admirably ; verj- likely better 

 than what you could purchase. You had better have a few holes in the 

 bottom of the boxes fur drainage. Your sandstone over them will do 

 very well, and so would oyster shells. A little moss over all would do 

 well, and so would half an inch or an inch of chopped straw or Utter 

 before you place the soil in. 



Limy Rubbish {J. Anderson).— We should spread the mortar and plaster 

 rubbish, after reducing it to powder, over the surface of the black loamy 

 soil and dig it in. 



N\MES OF Plants (T. A. Allen).— li is quite impossible for us to name 

 plants from their seeds, (if. 3*.).— 1, Cornus mas ; 2, Daphne mezereum ; 

 a Deutzia gracilis ; 4, Heliotropium peruvianum (garden variety) ; 5. Jas- 

 minum nudiflorum. {A Constant Reader).— Both specimens are varieties 

 of Sela-^inella Brauuii. (A. if ).— Lonicera, fruticosa ('.'). [A. B. C.).— 

 Nothochliena squamata. [ W. M.).—l. Cheilauthes f ariuosa ; 2, Adiantum 

 pubescens • o, Pteris argyrea ; 4, Aspleninm marinum ; 5, Pteris cretica ; 

 6, Nephrodium moUe. lA'areJ.— Pteris argnta, (H. Brtr(on).— Iresine 

 Herbstii. 



