518 



JOURKAtj OP liORTIOtliTtJllE AKD dOTTAGK GAEbEi^EIi. 



I Juue 26. 1873. 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 



J. Van der Veldt, Florist, Wagenwefr, 302, Haarlem, Ilollaiicl. 

 cc Current of Flower Roots and Bulbs. 



-Pri 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until nest 

 week. 



HoRTicuLTURAT, Siiows {T. Z-cc.)— Wo cau only know of them by their 

 committees advettiulD^' them. 



Grubs in Pottino Soil. {Wm. A., jun.). — We ehnnid turn the soil over a 

 few timoB before using it, ami pick out all the grubs we could see, sprinkling 

 with BOot each layer of soil as turned over, using juet enough auot to make 

 the soil appear black, say to every 2 or 3-inch luytr of soil a dusting of the 

 soot. It may not destroy them, but usually drives them away, and is a good 

 manure. 



Gas Tin to Young Tree Stems (Idcvi). — It is decidedly injurious, es- 

 pecially to youne trees, and is a pi'Or preventive of the attacks of rabbits. 

 We had Fevftral Laburnums that wore coated with gas tar, and all of them 

 hav« died. It seems to affect trees with a smooth bark the most. Those 

 that swell considerably in a year from the annual growth do not appear to 

 Buffer much from the gas tar. We should not repeat the application. 



Burnet Rose (J. O.). — The petals were all ehed. A^ far as we can judge 

 we see no departure from the noi-mal form, except stunted growth. 



Pelarooniums 'and GERANiitMS (L/iiovaiuus) —The difference is very 

 pmall. What are commonly called Geraniums are not Geraniums at all, but 

 Pelargoniums. There is un doubt that there is a -.'reat difference between the 

 Stork&bill and Cranesbill— they cnustitutb two different genera; but there ia 

 no very great difference between what are commonly called the Geraniume 

 used for bedding purposes and the Pelargoniums used for in-door dowerings 

 Both ore Pelargoniums. Pelargonium is characterised by having usually 

 seven stemens, and unequal-sized petals; Geranium by having ten stamens, 

 and equal-Kizcd petals; and Krodiura, by having live fertile anthers usually. 

 The three genera aie nearly allied. 



Seeds of Perennials (J?. Muir.) — Any of Ihe leading seedsmen who ad- 

 vertise in our columns could either supply them out of their own stock or 

 procure them for you. 



Skeletonising Leaves (An Old Sub.^crihir).—V^e know of but one book on 

 the subject with the veiy attractive title of "The Phuntom Bouquet." Its 

 author is Mr. Parish, and it was published at Philadelphia. We have a copy, 

 and it is a vei-y beautiful little volume. You might obtain it through Messrs. 

 Sampson, Low, & Co., Booksellers, Fleet Street. 



Double Petunia iMiUi<ja>t ti- Karl— Vie think very highly of your seed- 

 ling double Petunia, so far as we can judge from the two blooms you sent us. 

 Send a potted plant to the Floral Committee of the Eojal Horticultural 

 Society. 



Vine Shoots Diseased {Ivquirer).~Hail the two Vine shoots been re- 

 ceived they would have been noticed, but we do not remember them. Send 

 other specimens. 



Glendinninr Fund.— We have received 5^. from " C. L. W.," and £i from 

 Lady Harriett Lindsay and N. A. Lindsay, Esq. 



Cauliflowers and Broccolis Dyinq-off (7i. D.l.— The grubs at the roots 

 of your plants are probably ambury or club root. The remedy is a difficult 

 one. Gas lime at the rate of twelve bushels per acre is, perhaps, the best 

 preventive, sprinkling it on the surface, and pointing it in with a fork before 

 planting. At planting, the root-stems should he examined, and if they have 

 an excrescence or knot on them, that should be opened with the thumb nail, 

 and a giub will be found. The root-stems of the plants before planting should 

 be dipped in a puddle farmed of equal jtarts lime, soot, and cow dung brought 

 to the consistency of mortar, thoroughly coating the roots and stems with it, 

 and then planting. The disease is most prevalent on ground that has long 

 been in cultivation and often ciopped wi(h the Cabbage tiibe. 



Cyclamens after Flowering (J. iV. S.).— Plant them out in a cold franie 

 in light soil on au east border, and allow them to remain with abundance of 

 air day and night, using ihe lights only to save the plants or soil from being 

 drenched by heavy rains, wheu, though the lights are to be kept over the 

 plants, they should ho tilted at the back. Early in August take up the pltints, 

 remove from the ball the soil not occupied with roots, and reptit in a size of 

 pot that will hold the roots comfortably. Set the pots on a&hes in a cold 

 frame, admit air freely, and water so its to keep the soil moist, sprinkling the 

 plants overhead every evening. 



Propagating Roses and Convolvulus mauritanicus {A, G.).— Tho 

 Roses succeed best budded on the Manetti stock. Budding may be dom- 

 Boon after the flowering is over. They strike freely from cuttings taken oft' 

 after the (lowers are shed, and inserted singly in pots in handy soil. Place 

 them in a cold frame, keep them close and f^haded from sun, sprinkle the cut- 

 tings overhead evei-y morning lightly, but replace the lights immediately. 

 After they begin to grow, or in about six weeks, admit air freely, gradually at 

 first, expope fully by the end of another six weeks, and ehift them into loi-ger 

 pots in September. Winter them in a frame, the pots plunged in ashes, 

 and with protection over the lights in severe weather. Convolvulus mauri- 

 tanicus is increased by cuttings of the young growths inserted in sandy soil 

 burfaced with sand, and placed in gentle heat shaded from bright sun. Eock 

 Cifitus is propagated by cuttings of the haU-rJpened shoots put in now in 

 sandy soil in a sheltered shady border and covered with a hand-glass. 



Vine Border Making (X(/(hi)-— The border should bo well drained, and 

 the drains should have a proper fall and outlet. The depth of the border 

 should heS feet 9 inches, and the bottom should be covered with brickbats, 

 stones, &c., to the depth of 9 inches, the roughest at the bottom and the 

 smallest at the top, and on this a layer of sods, grass side downwards. The 

 border to be filled 9 inches higher than the intended level with a compost of 

 turf cut tl inches tliick where the soil is a good light loam and chopped up 

 moderately small, say in pieces 2 or 3 inches squaie. Use of this eight parts, 

 old mortar rubbish from an old building one pait, chaixoal halt part, and half 

 part crushed bones. The whole should be well mixed. If the soil is rather 

 Ktroug add two pojts freestone broken up as for making a road. The border 

 should be the width of the house. 



Improving Asfaiiacus Beds (Tf?cnil.— You would do well to sow seeds n^w 

 in the hods you have planted and which aie growing weakly. Sow the seed in 



drills a foot apart, and Ihin out to 6 inches apart in the rows. The Martchal 

 Niel Rose which you have in a pot is not healthy at the routs. It succeeds 

 much better planted out. Could you not plant it out and train the shoots 

 near tlie glass ? It would give more satisfai^tion. If yon keep it in the pot, 

 repot in turfy loam with a fourth of well-rotted manure added. 



Dark Climbing Roses (Amateur, Circncster). — There are no really good 

 dark clirabiug Roses to train on walls to match Marechal Niel or Gloire de 

 Dij^m. Crimson Boursault is only a summer bloomer, doe.<i not last long, and 

 but an indifFerent Rose after all. Such Roses as G'-nOral Jacqueminot, John 

 Hopper, MadantG Clemence Joigneanx, and a few others of the strong-growing 

 Hybrid Perpetuals will with cai-e grow some height. As a pink, Blairii No. 2 

 is well worth growing, but it is not a second bloomer. 



Shortening Gooseberry Shoots {A Ni-ic Subscriber). — The young shoots 

 from the spurs of last year may be cut back to within two or three leaves of 

 thoir base early in July. It admits light and air- to the spurs, and favoora 

 their ripening. 



Thinning Grapes (Q. Q.). — Your Vines with from eighteen to twenty-four 

 hunches on a 12-feet rod phould not be allowed to caiTy more than one bunch 

 per foot, or twelve bunches each, and to that number we should reduce them 

 at once. If the bunches aie largo we should not leave more than eight bunches 

 to each Vine. They will have a better finish than a hea\iercrop. Very heavy 

 crops are seldom satisfactory. 



CuflRANT Tree Shoots Withering (Nottingham).— It you had split the 

 shoots down theii- centres you would have found the pith consumed, the tube 

 where it had been blackened, and nothing remainiug but the excrements of a 

 cateiiullar, which may also be caught at his work of destruction if the exajni- 

 nation is made so soon as the branch first shows symptoms of withering. 

 Ibis catei-pillar ia fleshy, whitish, with four yellowish brown spots near its 

 head. It is the larva of the Currant Sphinx tTrochilum lipuliforme and the 

 Sphinx lipulifoimis, Sesia, or .Egeria, or Bombecia tipul:folmi^', and Bern- 

 becia tipuliforme of others i. The parent moth ia beautilul, and may bo seen 

 at the end of May and early in June during hot sunshine, either settled on 

 the leaves of the Currant, or flying ai'ound the flowers of the Syringa and 

 Lilac. It is about three-quarters of an inch across the wings when these are 

 quite opened. The prevailing colour is bluish black, with various parts yellow; 

 the antennte black ; the breast with a yellow line on each side ; the abdomen. 



or lower part of the body, has three yellow liugs round it in the females, and 

 four in the males ; the tore wings arfl hoiTed and veined with black ; it has a 

 brush of fine scales at the end of its abdomen, which fan it can expand as it 

 pleases. The Red, White, and Black Currant, and, we tliiuk, the Goosebem', 

 are nil liable to itu attacks. It lays its eggs at this time in openings of the 

 bark of a young shoot, and the caterpillar immediately it is hatched pene- 

 trates to its pith, and eats its way down this until it reaches the pith of the 

 main branch. The only securitive measures are to kill the moth whenever 

 seen, and to split open the withered branches and Eervu the caterpillars 

 similarly. 



Gardener's EMPLOVirENT (F. W.). — We really must decline to enter into 

 particulars on such cases; there are circumstances, appliances, and needs we 

 know not. But wo may say that we have known some such places done by the 

 gardener and an assistant, and again by an assistant and a boy, but we have 

 known double that amount of labour required. Besides, you gave us no 

 sulficient data as to flower garden; we presume that is on the grass, and a 

 thousand plants is nothiug in thoao days. Then, where are the fruit trees ? 

 Ai'e they contained iu a quarter of an acre of a kitchen garden ? If so, and 

 if from what is left you have to find ^c■getabk■s all the year- round for a family 

 of twelve persons, all weha,ve to say is that they must be easily sex-ved. With 

 a constant demand for vegetables wo do not see how it can bo done. 



Strawberries Bliciited (J. L.). — There is little doubt but that the 

 white floury substance on your Strawberries is mildew. The chief causes of 

 mildew are a close atmosphere and a want of reciprocal action between tlio 

 roots and the leaves and fruit. For instauce, if the roots ai'e rather dry, and 

 the atmosphere is close, and warm, and moist, it will have a tendency to pro- 

 duce mildew. On the other hand, if the roots are kept extra clogged with 

 moisture, such as a careless everyday waterer might supply them with, and 

 more especially if the pots stood in saucers, and water was left iu the saucers, 

 and there were several dull sunless days in succession, and consequently little 

 demand made on the leaves and fruit, there would be a tendency to a diseased 

 dropsical condition, such as some of the fungi, and mildew among the rest, 

 delight to flom-ish. As to the remedy, a slight dusting of sulphur over loavoa 

 and fruit when it first appeal's is the best; but that will be valueless, so far 

 as the fruit is concerned, if not applied as soon as the first speck of the dust 

 appears, for if delayed longer the remedy will be as bad as the disease, as the 

 fruit will he too blotched to be fit for going to table, though it might come in 

 as a constituent for creams, ices, &,c. That is the chief mechanical remedy 

 after the evil apjtears ; liut we have more faith in prevention in such cases 

 than cure, and the chief preventives are gi-cat cluauliness in the houees, 

 washing the wolls with sulphur and Lime, placing sulphur and lime on the 

 heating medium, provided that is not above 160'"^ in temperature, and giving 

 air to the houses iu good time, so that the atmosphere shall not be contined. 

 In fact, but for the coal heap we would leave a little air on houses all night 

 at the highest part. As soon as the warm weather seta in we uniformly do 

 so. Kvcn from half an inch to on inch along the top of a house all night 

 preventt) all scalding and burning, is a great bugbcai' to that little enemy red 

 spider, and does much to keep off mildew by preventing that close atmo- 

 sphere in which it generally delights. 



