102 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March a, 1668. 



Flower Garden Planting (South Cro>f'ion).—Yoivr plan is anything 

 but a good ooe. there are so many points without meaninj;. We do not 

 plant proups, but merely uritirise. However, the followintf would look 

 well: — Your central circle filled with Little David Pehirftoniuni, with an 

 cdgiup of Cinernria maritinin, or white-leaved Centaurea; llien till the 

 littk* circle with Aiirea floribunda Calceolaria, and the four pair of tailed 

 small beds j-ou may plant— first, next the little circle, with Purple King 

 Verbena ; second, with Cbriwtine Pelargonium ; third, with dwarf Agera- 

 tum or bluish Verbena, like old Blue Bonnet ; fourth, with Harry Hicovcr 

 Pelargonium or Monitor Scarlet Pelargonium, or a low-gi-owing Scarlet 

 Verbena, ap Lord Raglan. {A. H. IK.).— We must not begin to plant beds, 

 we must only help planters. However, the border No. 1, we would plant 

 thus— Cerastium, blue Lobelia. Aurea floribunda Calceolaria. Mrs. Fielder, 

 an improved Purple King Verbena; and back, Scarlet Pelargonium, 

 moderately strong. The little beds we would plant with Verbenas, as 

 more lasting than annuals. 



Planting a Chuhchvard (A. Z.).—\i is almost impossible to give an 

 outline of planting a churchyard in a smoky neighbourhood without 

 ■definite lOans or seeing the ground. In a very smoky place a row of 

 Maples. Tborns, and Oriental Planes might be placed round the three- 

 aided boundary, and by the sides of the walks. Mountain Ash and Poplars, 

 the latter to have their roots cut if inclined to grow too large ; or Weeping 

 Willows might be substituted for them. If very smoky few evergreens 

 except Aucubas and, perhaps, Box will live. If not very smoky, we would 

 place Weeping Willows and common Yews round the boundary, and plant 

 Cypresses by the sides of some walks, and Irish Yews by others. If room 

 can be spared in tlie centre, two or three gxoups of Aibor VitaiS and 

 Red Cedars would also be in character. 



Removikg and Heating Greenhouses (South Croydon).~\ou had 

 better make arrangements in writing with your landlord before you erect 

 your greenhouses and frames on brick pier?. In having no stokehole for 

 your boiler, your hot-water pipes must not be below the level of the 

 boiler. You may raise the pipes any reasonable height above the boiler, 

 if it is a close one. To your question, then, of so raising your pipes we 

 reply, Y'es ; but your plan shows your pipes falling below" the level of the 

 boiler, and that will not do ; neither does it answer well to take the pipes 

 under such circumstances below a doorway, and raise them again to the 

 general level on the other sida. Even without sinking a stokehole the 

 pipes might be so placed in the house as not to interfere with pathways 

 or doorways. When several houses are to be heated from one boiler, a 

 verj' simple plan is to have a flow and a return pipe at a low level all the 

 length of the houses, and from these take pipes to heat each house 

 separately ; but in that case there must be a sunk stokehole. 



Heating by Steam (Snhscribcr).—Wc have little faith in heating 

 houses, pits, and frames economically by pipes from a boiler heated by a 

 gas ring beneath it. With such a small fire we fear that the steam woiild 

 soon be condensed into water. Steam is economical when much is to be 

 done from one good-sized furnace. 



Employment in a Nursery (N. ir.).— You cannot do better than write 

 to the nurserymen as you propose. 



Hays's Stove (7*.).— We do not know where either it or the charcoal 

 for it can now be obtained. There is a firm at Banbury that could supply 

 the charcoal, but they do not seem to care about doing so. 



Books (A Plou(jUbo)t).~'* The Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary," and 

 Thompson's " Gardener's Assistant,'' will suit you.i 



Removing Phloxes— Sawdust as a Plunging Material (Brown).— 

 You may remove the Phloxes into good fresh soil with profit, and if the 

 stools are large, divide them, but, of course, if you divide them much 

 into small pieces, they will not bloom so well in summer as transplanting 

 and moderate dividing would insure. When small tender plants are 

 plunged in sawdust, the sawdust clings to the sides of the pot, and the 

 bottom hole in the pot is so apt to be blocked up that the plant will suffer 

 from want of drainage — how we know not, but we have had the sawdust 

 insinuating itself until it became as hard and as firm as a cork. It saw- 

 dust is mixed— that is, old and new, from soft wood and hard wood, it is 

 very liable to produce fungi and bad-smelling, quick-spreading Confervjp. 

 The fresher and the less mixed, therefore, the better. A heap from 2-4 to 

 30 inches in thickness by itself, will yield a mild lasting heat, but when 

 large pots are set in it, it is advisable so to place the bottom of the pots 

 that the sawdust do not reach the holes for drainage. 



Ripening Black HA:irBURGTi Grapes at Christmas (G. B.).—To have 

 good Black Hamburgh Grapes for sale or otherwise at Christmas and after- 

 wards, we would advise a diflerent treatiueat from that which you propose, 

 since economy is your object. We would ad\ise keeping the Vines as late 

 as possible from starting, by ventilation and shade in bright weather, but 

 after fairly starting we would let them have no check, but rather assist 

 them, so as to have all fully ripe by the beginning of October. Grapes not 

 ripe then will not ripen well afterwards, unless started very late, and that 

 ■would involve the exercise of much skiU. Grapes well ripened at the 

 time specified will hang under fair treatment four or five months. The 

 treatment they require is thinning the bunches a little more than usual, 

 and keeping as much berft in the pipes in winter as will exclude frost, 

 and, with ventilation, will secure a dryish atmosphere, as damp will be 

 yom- chief enemy. It is in your favour that the Vines are planted inside, 

 and the outside border should be protected with litter and means for 

 throwing off the wet after the cud of September. If you wished to have 

 ■very late Grapes up to March, you will require such kinds as Lady Downe's 

 Oros GuiUaume, and Calahrian Raisin. 



Painting a Greenhouse— Propagating Frames (3Mrv).— Nothing 

 answers better than white, or light stone colour for the inside of the roofs 

 of houses, but it will be more pleasant to the eye if striped with blue. 

 We have no objection to your having your stage pink, or any other 

 colour that plcises you best, but most of us are content with stone 

 colour because it shows the dirt less. Invisible green is sometimes used 

 for the outside of houses, but white secures most lead in paint. Such little 

 trames, 2 feet square, are most useful in propagating houses, and have 

 been frequently recommended by Mr. Fish. He also advises that the 

 top should be moveable, as that in the case of delicate seedlings guards 

 against damp with little trouble, by merely reversing the glass and 

 placing the under side uppermost. In raising seedlings, especially small 

 ones, in a hotbed, provided the seeds are three-quarters of an inch from 

 the rim of the pot, a square of glass laid over the pot answers remark- 

 ably well, and that may also be quickly turned. Of course, as soon as 

 plants are growing freely, they need no glasses of any sort in a hotbed or 



hothouse. Even when no such little frames are at hand, much can 

 generally be done by keeping all tender plants by themselves, giving less 

 air, and more dewing with the syringe and shading, than to established 

 plants. 



Erecting a Pine Pit (South erner).~The height of the walla of your 

 proposed Pine pit must be regulated according to the mode of culture 

 you decide upon— that is, whether you are to depend on fermenting 

 material for bottom heat, or on hot water. The back wall of your pit is 

 to be the front wall of a shed now existing, containing a boiler which 

 heats other houses, and from that boiler the pipe passes through the 

 ground intended for the pit, 3 feet beneath the surface. There need be 

 no difficulty about the heatiug, thertfore, as you can either keep your 

 pipes in the pit at that level, or raise them to a higher level. To make 

 the most of such a pit, all the space would be occupied, and there would 

 be no paths in the house, and, therefore, all necessary work would have 

 to be done by moving or holding up the sashes Now, using hot water 

 alone, we would have the back wall 7^ feet, and the front wall 5 feet high, 

 which would make the back 4^ and' the front 2 feet above the groimd 

 level, provided you excavated the ground 3 feet or 3 feet 3 inches. At 

 this depth we would have 3 inches of concrete ; on that, la inches from 

 back and front, we would have a 4-inch pipe going round the pit for 

 bottom heat ; between the pipes we would lay brickbats as open as 

 possible, and cover 4 or 5 inches above the pipes, making the last covering 

 of clean pebbly gravel. On that we would have a foot of plunging 

 material, or 15 or 18 inches of soil in which to plant the Pines, keeping the 

 tallest at the back and the lowest towards the front. Above the level of 

 this plunging material we would have two pipes round the ends and front, 

 and one along the back as a return. At back and front we would have three 

 iron or earthenware pipes standing up above the plunging material for a 

 couple of feet, the upper end furnished with a plug, and the lower end 

 open among the rubble round the bottom-heat pipes, and by these we 

 could let air and moisturo into this rubble chamber at pleasure. If 

 you mean to secure bottom heat by fermenting material, then your walls 

 would have to be at least 2 feet more in height. Even with such a 

 narrow pit or house as 8 feet we would bo strongly tempted to have a 

 passage either at back or front, which would permit of work being done 

 without opening the sashes. To your specific inquiries, then, we would 

 say, that we sec no difficulty in heating, whatever the plan adopted — of 

 course, the return must coramnnicate with the bottom of the boiler, or 

 with the return pipe already in work — that one pipe round the pit will 

 not be nearly enough for a pinery, but the height nf the pipes is of no 

 consequence provided those intended for top heat have a free exposure 

 to the atmosphere of the pit to be heated ; that the size of the sashes, 

 8^ feet wide, will do well enough ; and that the walls should be 9 inches 

 thick. We are much obliged to you for the seeds of tho Spanish Melon, 

 and as you speak of it so highly we will endeavour to give it a fair trial. 

 Unless the varieties are very good, we always decline trying batches of 

 Melon seed, as to do them justice much room is required. We once grew 

 forty kinds, all with high characters, and as wo had little room we gave 

 each a large pot in a very light house, and though wc had tine healthy 

 fruit, there was not one we would have cared to grow again. 



Propagating Proliferous Ferns (An Old Suhsrribrr). —When the 

 plants proceed from the ends of the fronds they may bo left on until they 

 are of a size fit for potting, and may then be removed and potted ; or 

 they may be established in pots whilst on the parent frond by placing 

 them on soil in a small pot, and securing them with a peg. The plants 

 being situated on the surface of the fronds, they may be left until they 

 fall off, or when of good size and the old frond becomes mature, it may 

 be laid on a pot or pan filled with soil and pegged down by the midrib, a 

 little sand being scattered over the frond so as to partially bury it, and if 

 kept moist the young plants will soon root, especially if covered with a 

 bell-glass. The young plants proceeding from the stipes near the crown 

 of the plant should be left on the old plant until they are of a size fit for 

 potting, when they may be removed and potted-off. In most instances 

 the young plants will have emitted roots by the time the old frond is 

 mature, and that will be the proper time to remove them. They should 

 be potted into sandy compost, and not in sand only. Two-thirds fibrous 

 peat or old cocoa-nut refuse, and one-third sand, will be better than all 

 sand. 



Propagating Viola cornuta and Viola lutea (Lincoln). — The old 

 plants of Viola cornuta maybe taken up this month, divided, and planted 

 as you propose. If the weather at and after planting prove dry the plants 

 should be watered, and a slight shade be given from bright sun until 

 established. Seeds of Viola lutea sown now in pans and placed in a 

 gentle heat afford fine plants for autumn bloom ; but they do not bloom 

 so freely as older plants. The seedlings should be kept near the glass, be 

 prickod-off when large enoueh, grown on in heat, and well hardened-off 

 previous to i>lanting out. They will bloom in August, earlier or later, 

 according to their forwardness. 



Turf Soil (.4 Subscriber).— Your soil or turf will answer for potting 

 Camellias. The limy matters, we presume, form only a small proportion, 

 of the whole, and in that case will not prove injurious. Your soil from 

 the turf will be too light for the culture of Pear, Apple, and Peach trees ; 

 but it will answer for a compost for Apricot and Plum trees if enriched 

 with one-fourth cow or sheep droppings. It will do for a Vine border, 

 but we should have Uked it better had tho sand been sharper or more 

 gritty. 



Forwarding Seedling Zonal Pelargoniums (Dt-ron). —Y^'our seedlings 

 should be kept near the glass, and have a fair amount of air, avoiding 

 cold draughts, otherwise they will become drawn. When large enough 

 to handle they should be potted-off singly in small pots, be placed in a 

 gentle heat, and be kept rather close, moist, and shaded from bright sun 

 until they recover from the potting, when they should have a position 

 near the "glass, and an abundance of air on all favourable opportunities. 

 The plants, having made two or three leaves in addition, should have the 

 growing point removed with the point of a knife, and should be shifted 

 into pots a size larger wlienever the pots become filled with roots, and 

 this may be continued until the plants are in 6-inch pots, which will be 

 quite large enough for you to test their blooming qualities the first year. 

 When the plants are in free growth they should have a light and airy 

 situation in a cool house, where they will do much better and flower 

 more in character than in a heated structure, which is not suitable for 

 them after they become established in pots. 



Sowing Buckwheat (J5f?/asO.— Buckwheat should be sown early in 

 April ; but if the weather is favourable it may be sown in Dlarch, the 



