May 28, 1868. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



395 



Of the two kinds, black salphnr is tbo better. I nae for Roses 2 ozs. of 

 blue vitriol dissolved in hot water and then mixed with a stable bucketful 

 of cold water. 1 know not how it may act on the leaves of other plants. 

 When a tree is hopelessly mildewed I cut off the branches and leaves. 

 I have thus treated a second time tbis schboq a tree of Triomphe do 

 Rennes, 12 feet hiKh. AVith regard to inducing the soedlinn Hybrid Per- 

 petaal to bloum, do not attempt it if the plant is weak. U it is stronj? 

 take off the points of the shoots and side branches.— W. F. RAccLVFrE.*' 



Graves Xottinghamfnsis). — The Muscat Escholata is tbo same as 

 Whito Muscat of Alexandria. We consider Scbiras a very excellent 

 early Grape. Is yours the tree one ? We cannot discern what book your 

 third question refers to. 



Peabs Bestboyed by Insects (W. S.).— The beetle-like insect which 

 destroys your orclmrd-house Pears by eatiug through their stalks, is the 

 Curculio macularis, or Spotted Weevil. It conceals itself in the soil 

 during the day. and feeds at night. Your best remedy is to shake each 

 tree over a wliite sheet at night, and destroy the insects which fall upon 

 it. If this bo repeated on two or three successive nights you will extir- 

 pate the marauders. 



Eakly Pea. — Mr. G. Edgerton. Strawberry Hill, has enclosed us 

 (May 20th), some pods of Dickson's First and Best early Pea, and says 

 he finds it about a week earlier than Sangster's No. 1 and several other 

 varieties, so«-n January 2L'th in pots, and planted out on the first favour- 

 able opportunity. 



WiREWoRMs {Injelix). — We do not know of anything that will destroy 

 wireworms without causing injury to the crop. If, when you sow Peas, 

 Jtc, you were to give a good dressing of soot, and were to point it in 

 where the rows are to be, it would in a great measure drive the wirewoms 

 away from the Peas. You might also make a number of holes along the 

 sides of the rows of Peas, drop into each a potato, and cover it with soil. 

 These may be examined twice or thrice a-week. and the wireworms de- 

 stroyed. It is well to thrust a stick through each potato, for it will eerve 

 both as a mark and a handle by which to puU the baits up for exami- 

 nation. 



Calasthe testita (S.).— The young growths of the present year will 

 form the sUvery bulbs of next year, and from their base will proceed 

 flowers this or next year if they be properly matured. The present 

 silvery bulbs will die away after they have flowered, or when new growths 

 have been produced by them ; but they may not die for some time after 

 the new bulbs are formed. It is not liliely they will flower in autumn, or 

 that new growths will proceed from them next season. It is quite un- 

 nanal. 



CiELOGTNE cBisTATA WEAKLY (Wfm).— We think your plant is weak, 

 imd that last year's growth was very poor ; but according to your descrip- 

 tion it is progressing favourably, and will, with encouragement, produce 

 a better growth and bulb this season. 



Dendroeicm nobile Leaves Erowx (Irft-m).— The leaves turn brown 

 and rapidly decay from their being kept in too cool an atmosphere, and 

 from being too much watered over. Give more heat and maintain a moist 

 atmosphere, avoiding the wetting of the leaves to such an extent as to 

 cause water to hang upon them. 



PLUiis NOT S\\-zi.LiNG (K. £".).— We can only suppose that your tree 

 has suffered Hke many others from frost, and that we beheve has been 

 the cause of the fruit falling shortly after setting. We have not a heavy 

 crop on our standard, bush, and pyramid trees, although they gave great 

 promise. On trees against walls we have a splendid crop of 'Plums, and 

 the fruit is larger than we remember to have seen it in May. 



BroDiKG Plum Trees (T. T. 5.).— Plum trees are best budded ; indeed, 

 grafting Plums is not general. The best time to bud is as soon alter the 

 middle of June as the bark parts readily from the wood. All budding is 

 done in the same manner as for the Rose, only Plums are budded about 

 6 inches from the ground and on the side of the main stem. 



Budding Roses (Old Subscriber, Ireland). — There is no pamphlet on 

 Rose budding, but you will find full particulars in Rivers's " Rose Ama- 

 teur's Guide, ' published by the Messrs, Longman. Thomson's styptic is 

 not necessary for budding Roses, but it may be used lor the purpose, and 

 is thought by some to be an advantageous appUcatioa. It may be pro- 

 cared of any seedsman. 



Thinning Kectarixes (D. TD.^You should reduce the five hundred 

 Nectarines on a tree 15 feet by 6 feet, to half that number: but if your 

 tree is not very vigorous, we would not leave more than two Nectarines 

 per square foot, or 160, and if weak we would reduce the number to 150. 



Crop for a Vine (Id'^m). — Your Yine with three rods will certainly 

 bring to maturity twenty-four bunches, better than a Vine with the same 

 number of bunches on a single rod ; but you must bear in mind that the 

 size of the bunches has much to do with the quantity that may be left on 

 a Vine. If you have large bunches on the Vine witii three rods, then you 

 must not expect them to arrive at the same degree of perfection as if less 

 bunches were on the Vine with a single rod. If you have large bunches 

 you must allow fewer of them to remain than were the bunches smaller, 

 for a Vine with but eight bunches may give a greater weight of Grapes 

 than one with twenty-four bunches upon it. 



Boilers (Jmateur). — Your boiler may be a very good one. One charac- 

 teristic we contend for is simplicity, and we are also of opinion that the 

 setting and the management are more important than the mere form of 

 the boiler. Most boilers that need no brickwork, unless supplied with an 

 air-tight jacket, waste heat much more than if set in brickwork, for 

 what is absorbed by the brickwork will be radiated back again. Boilers 

 without brickwork are chiefly useful in small places, and where moving 

 the boiler and all appurtenances is a matter for consideration, A large 

 boiler on that principle we do not look upon as economical so far as 

 heating is concerned. (Anxious Ijiquirer). — We think that water tubes 

 are not so good for firebars as iron bars where inferior fuel is used. Your 

 obtaining so high a temperature so easily at one time, and the difficulty 

 of getting the water warm at another time, show that there is something 

 different in the management. If one course of management will so easily 

 heat the water, we can see no reason why that should not be done again 

 if the same draught is secured, and most furnaces require cleaning out, 

 to clear out clinkers, &c. By the management of the furnace bars, a 

 brisk or a slow combustion can be obtained. In the one case keep them 

 open for air, in the other keep them comparatively close to exclude much 

 air. We prefer a little smaU coal to mix with coke in lighting, and the ; 



little extra smoke is connterbalanced by the quickness of ignition. If 

 this is not allowed small broken coke sbonid be kept on purpose for 

 lighting. If you become tireman because your young men cannot manage 

 the fires, there will soon be something else they cannot do. 



CcTTiNGS OF Golden Chain Pelabgonicm (C. P.).— There are two 

 periods for striking Golden Chain— first, in July and August, in sandy 

 Bnil in the open air ; and in February, March, and onwards, in a hotbed. 

 We cannot say why your Mushrooms after sho^ving do not grow, but we 

 would reduce the temperature of the house to from 50^ to €0^, seldom 

 above 55 , and see that the soil do not want for requisite moisture. 



Rose Tree vtith Pendulous Branches (P. S.). — No Ro?e except a 

 drooping or weeping one will long endure having the principal branches 

 drooping down. If you have not irremediably injured the Solfaterre 

 Rose, pruning it and allowing the shoots to grow upwards, or at least not 

 below the horizontal, will give it :i chance of recovery. If you wish to 

 cover to the pot with such a Rose, you must not have a standard, but 

 shoots as low as the rim of the pot. 



Floweb Beds (Jacfctnani).— We neither exactly know what you aim at, 

 nor the position of the beds. The following would look well in the beds, 

 each 10 feet in diameter, and each having four bands and a centre — thus, 

 first bed. 1st row, Venub's Looking-glass and Virginian Stock; 2, Silene 

 pendula ; 3, Yellow Hawkweed ; 4, Blue Branching Larkspur ; 5, Prince's 

 Feather. Second bed— 1, Yellow Heartsease; 2, Blue Nemophila, 

 3, White Candytuft ; 4, Lobel's Catchfly; 5, Delphinium formosum. Third 

 bed— 1, Purple' and blue Heartsease ; 2, Tom Thumb Yellow Tropaolum ; 

 3. Purple Jacobiea ; 4, White and Blue Branching Larkspur ; 5, Love- 

 lies-bleedii2g. 



Peaches Falling (Old Subscriber).— "W&nt of ripeness ef wood, owing 

 to the strong growth, is, no doubt, one of the reasons why your fruit 

 buds fall and do not set. Try what less watering will do ; if that do 

 not give firmer wood, and root-pruning in winter is so ineffectual, 

 try lifting and replanting the trees in the first days of October. We do 

 not like much root-pruning in summer, but we have done a little to over- 

 vigorous trees with advantage. See " Doings of the Last Week " of May 

 21st, on thinning buds, &c. Watering with guano, or with lime and soot 

 water, will start the ants from your houses. Sugar and arsenic mixed 

 together in a saucer, and a saucer put over it, with a thin slip of wood 

 between the two, to leave room for the ants and for nothing larger to 

 enter, will soon put an end to those which partake of such a dainty. 



Peaches, &c., in Orchard House (W. H.,Dt'pt/ordi.—See the previous 

 reply, and we also refer you to *■ Doings of the Last Week " in last week's 

 Journal as to thinning buds and fruit. We think two circumstances are 

 against vou— the smoke of the town to which you are so near, and the 

 using old kitchen garden soil for your orchard house, especially after so 

 well securing drainage, &c. Meanwhile we do not see anything wrong in 

 the colour of the foUage, and a little soot water would help to make it 

 darker. As the trees grow so well and strongly there cannot be much 

 the matter with the soil, though we would prefer it fresher, but our own 

 trees are just in the old border. However, aa the bushes do best, it shows 

 the soil is not so much at fault as free growth, and if these pyramids were 

 ours, and we could not ripen them, we would lift and replant in October. 

 The size of the wood does not look as if they were too luxuriant, and 

 it strikes us that vonr soil may be rather dry in winter and spring before 

 the bloom opens." Try what a little more moisture will do. The speci- 

 men shoot Lf Nectarine sent seemed to indicate that the fruit had too 

 much exposure to the full sun, and the small fruit showed the tree was also 

 making a selection for itself. Trv a thinning early in spring of the buds 

 that cluster too thickly; hut above all, see that the soil is moderately 

 moist before the buds begin to swell ; and to hasten the matnration of 

 the wood give little water, and a dryish atmosphere after you gather the 

 fruit. 



Grcb, &c. (Anxiety).— How to get rid of the " grub" that is eating up 

 yonr Cerastium plants, is a question difficult to answer, not knowing what 

 insect your mean by "grub." If it is the larva of the cockchafer that 

 has eaten ap the roots below the surface, then we can advise no better 

 plan than to take the Cerastium up, examine every bit carefully to see 

 that there is no fat grub concealed in it. remove the soil to the depth of 

 a foot, and add fresh before planting. Before doing so try what a strong 

 watering of lime and soot would do. Birds are our best friends for 

 thinning these marauders, and, as they remain in the larva state fully 

 three years, the destruction thev do to crops, to pastures, and even to 

 such ornamental plants as Cerastium, is very great indeed. The wirewonn 

 is even a worse larva if possible, as it exists in that state some five years, 

 but a little tar scattered on the ground in winter before digging, or even 

 the application of soot and lime to the ground will generally send it off, 

 and when present among crops. Potatoes and Carrots may be inserted in 

 the soil as traps, and be examined every mornmg. The Musk plant will 

 make a good bordering for bedding Pelargoniums and other things, but 

 unless well watered it will die down early in the autumn. The herbaceous 

 plant enclosed is Arabis alba variegata. The variegated Vinca makes 

 a good edging plant. 



White Blotch on Peaches (Dorset).— V^e think you must have had a 

 little mildew on the Peaches last season, and that has increased this 

 season. The blotches on the fruit are cither the result of mildew, or of 

 sunstroke when the fruit was wet, and little or no air admitted to the 

 bouse. We think it is mildew, and in that case would dust the parts with 

 sulphur, daub sulphur paint on any open parts of the wall, give more air, 

 and keep the atmosphere drier. 



Pruning Labuencms (1?'. JT. B.).— The Laburnums may be pruned in 

 winter, but better still in spring, before the buda break, but when they 

 show signs of moving. If for timber and planted rather thickly they 

 will need no pruning, and if for picturesque ornament they will merely 

 need a little regulating, and that will often be as well let alone. 



Golden Feverfew (W^m).— The Golden Feverfew makes a good bed- 

 ding plant, and will do best as an edging. It bears nipping or cutting 

 to any height well. 



Ants (31. A. E.). — Ants do harm in greenhouses and hothouses, especi- 

 allv where fruit is grown. A little sugar and arsenic, either dry or in a 

 liquid state, vrUl tempt them. Cover it over to keep animals getting to 

 it. leaving an opening, say of one-eighth of an inch for the ants to enter. 

 We have also put honey and water in a pot, and then the honey stuck to 

 their legs and trapped them by hundreds. Watering their haunts with 

 guano or other ammoniacal water will expel them. A gentleman lately 



