April 16, 1868. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTDBB AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



293 



dissima, I wonld advise to select a few of the strongest plants 

 any time in Jfarch or April, and to repot tliem in 12-incli pots. 

 These plants can ho used for decoratinij the flower garden by 

 plunging the pots in the soil, and when taken up in the autumn 

 are invaluable for decorating the conservatory in winter, and 

 likewise useful to those who choose to propagate the plant in 

 spring. 



There are various opinions respecting the propagation of the 

 Centaurea. Some are in favour of cool treatment, others are 

 for spring propagation. V>'e are all aiming at one point — that 

 is, good strong plants for bedding-out early in the spring ; and 

 for this I can with confidence recommend autumn for the 

 operation, and also a good bottom heat for the cuttings. Plants 

 thus treated will be double the size of spring- struck cuttings. 

 We find no difficulty in propagating and growing this Cen- 

 taurea, and think it "far superior to Cineraria maritima. — W. 

 Cl.\rk, Hubi/ Gardens. 



[The grub, though in a chip box, was smashed by the post- 

 oiEce punch ; but we think from the skin that it is the " leather 

 coat," or larva of the daddy longlegs (Tipula). — Eds.] 



SETTING MUSCAT GR.VI'ES. 



Havino lately observed in your pages a controversy respect- 

 ing the setting of ifufcat Grapes, and as your correspondent 

 " Nemo " seems to think that the remarks made by ilr. Bat- 

 tram are inconsistent with both rule and practice, the following 

 may perhaps help to convince him that setting JIuscats in a 

 damp atmosphere can be effected, and that Mr. Battram is not 

 the only one who has met with success. 



In one of the vineries at this place there are six rods of 

 Muscat of Alexandria, four of Alicante, one of Ingram's Prolific 

 Muscat, one of Lady Downe's, and one of White Nice. These 

 Vines were wrapped in haybands, and laid along the front of 

 the house until the middle of Februarj-, when we were under 

 the necessity of undoing the bands on accotmt of the forward- 

 ness of the Vines. At this time the temperature of the house 

 was kept at about i'lO" at night, on accoimt of a large Fig tree 

 which covers the back wall. 



The Vines were syringed twice a-day until they began to 

 show bloom ; the syringing was then discontinued, but abun- 

 dance of moisture was kept in the house by the damping of 

 the border and paths at least four times in the twenty-four 

 hours. This house is very flat, consequently it is always late 

 in the day before any air can be admitted : it is also the 

 furthest house from the boilers of four, two of these being in 

 forcing at the same time, and we could therefore admit no air 

 after 2 p. it. Under these circumstances the above Vines have 

 set as well as some of our Hamburghs which were setting at the 

 same time in other houses. The greater part of the bunches 

 are now thinned out. Ingram's Prolific Muscat is the earliest ; 

 AUcante and White Nice are very nearly together ; but some of 

 the bunches on the latter are taking the lead for size. Three 

 of them measure respectively 16 inches long by 15 inches 

 across the shoulders, 14 inches by 16J, and 13 inches by 12,J. 

 Muscats of Alexandria come next, and Lady Downe's is scarcely 

 set. — J. Tatlok, Foreman, Kuneham. Park Gardens. 



OLD FAVOURITES. 



I HAVE just received The .Jouf.xal of Hoeticulture for 

 April 2nd, and am reminded that I have lying in my desk a 

 letter addressed to you a week ago, detained through my indis- 

 position, which if not in the words of Mr. T. WiUiams, yet in 

 the same spirit, expresses my hearty welcome to two letters, 

 "Flowers of Other Days," and "Flowers Lovely Though 

 Common." 



To be thus anticipated is a real pleasure, showing that the 

 number of those whose hearts are " affected " in the good 

 cause is increasing. I am also grateful to you for so cordially 

 opening the way for information on the subject, so that the 

 neglected and forgotten may once more shine forth in their 

 native beauty, as they did uuder the eyes of our grand parents, 

 when in the " quaint parterre " they scented " the sweet 

 Musk Rose." 



In one respect I am disappointed. I bad hoped to supply 

 Mr, Harpur Crewe with the Narcissus triandrns or cemuus 

 but Mr. Williams has anticipated me ; to communicate is half 

 my pleasure in cultivation, and perennial roots increasing so 

 fast as they do, suggest liberaUty to our neighbour. 



It was with great pleasure I observed that in your Journal 



for March 2fith, we are promised a further sight of the Orston 

 Vicarage garden, so that we may compare notes with Mr. 

 Mellish, for our borders have presented the same gay flowery 

 appearance since the first week in February, and this will con- 

 tinue till the end of November, although Scarlet Pelargoniums 

 and some other bedding out plants will only find a place to fill 

 up spaces, and give variety of colour. We are often asked by 

 our neighbours whose borders lie fallow for six months, •' How 

 is it that you are never without flowers ? " Our invalid friends, 

 too, have been cheered by gifts cut from our early spring 

 flowers, and London homes have been made fragrant with the 

 breath of Primroses and Violets. 



I have cultivated an old-fashioned garden for many years in 

 the beautiful valley of the Dove, and in Cheshire ; and when we 

 came into Kent, though our garden plot is small, being so near 

 London, where land is too valuable to afford large space for 

 pleasure grounds, we still continued our old custom, and 

 gathered together most of our " flowers of other days," but 

 not without much inquiry, and some disappointment. How- 

 ever, we were fortunate in meeting with a nursery garden of 

 long standing, where the intelligent master still kept np his 

 stock of old-fashioned plants. There with many others I found 

 Dodecatheon meadia, Scilla bifolia, Fritillaria meleagris, which 

 grows wild in Dove meadows, Grape Hyacinths, blue and 

 white, and the singular Fringe Hyacinth, which Mr. Stidolph, 

 of Bromley, our good nursery gardener, says has become ex- 

 ceedingly scarce. 



Should you not deem as an intrusion in your pages a few 

 remarks as occasion offers on the cultivation of some of our 

 handsomest wild flowers, I shall be glad to give you my ex- 

 perience, for we have never been without our " English 

 border ;" and having myself derived health of body and mind 

 in the pursuit of English botany, and the cultivation of our 

 best flora, I am desirous to interest the young and active of 

 the present generation in the attainment of the same blessings 

 by the same means, for 



-Anna H.utRisoy. 



' Musins in a woodland nook, 

 Ea<'h flower is as an open book.' 



I AM well pleased to find that your readers are giving more 

 attention to the hardy plants of our cottage gardens. 



Your correspondent " H. Harpur Crewe " need not fear that 

 his bulbs of Triteleia uniflora will remain dormant. They 

 sometimes rest from being kept too dry. A friend has three 

 pots of bulbs growing in a cold frame with his alpines ; some 

 years since they remained dormant for two years, the third 

 year they grew and flowered very well, and now, although they 

 are growing in the same pots of soil, they are very healthy and 

 promise abundance of flowers. 



Eamondia pyrenaiea, the plant your correspondent Mr. Wil- 

 liams so much desires to have, was in my collection last 

 spring ; but it was lost by a black snail eating the root in two. 

 As I hape never seen it in flower I very much regretted the 

 loss. " The pretty little plant from Lapland," Cardamine tri- 

 foliata, is eaten up by the same pest, which eats oil the roots 

 from the bulbs of one of my favourites, Scilla prajcox, leaving 

 untouched twelve or fourteen other kinds. 



I have two beds of Narcissus bicolor just coming into flower. 

 They promise to be, as they have been for some years past, a 

 great ornament to my cottage garden. May your correspon- 

 dents go on with their notes on our hardy favourites ; if they 

 do they will please your readers, and none more so than — 

 Piusiic Robin. 



PREPARING LILIES OF THE VALLEY FOR 

 FORCING. 



As it may not be very generally known that by a very simple 

 mode of procedure the forcing capabilities of this most deservedly 

 popular plant may be materially enhanced, no excuse wUl be 

 necessary in introducing a few remarks upon the subject in 

 this Journal, more especially when it is considered that it is 

 next to impossible to have a too large supply of them in flower, 

 from the earhest months of the year onward until it may be 

 possible to gather them from out-door beds. As a British 

 plant, it should be essentially within the province of our craft 

 to push the " Lily of the Valley " to its utmost cultural limits, 

 without the aid or intervention of foreign ingenuity, or even 

 more favourable climate. Yet true it is, nevertheless, that the 

 Dutch, or others, are now making a profit by growing patches 



