284 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



r October 3, 18£g. 



Orange Trebb Unhealthy (T. C.TT.).— Fruin what you state we should 

 think that they are old, and have been growTi in the tuba for a number of 

 years without 'shiftiiiiir, until retubbcil Inst year in May, and that pieces 

 of the old tubs, into which the roots frequently peuetrato, were buried 

 in the new tubs. We do not affirm that thiw waa the case, but it is very 

 likely, and we know that f:iucb pieces of wood aid in the production of 

 fungus, and its mycelium spreadingtakea possession of nnydecayed roots, 

 and eventually of live roots also. The roots perishina, the shoots die 

 back, and the leaves fall, until at Inst the tree dies, and this we have our- 

 selves experienced from the same cause. In any case the condition of 

 your trees shows an unhealthy root-a^tion. Examine the draina^'e at 

 once, and, this being perfect, the trees will become no worse until Feb- 

 rnarj-. In the end of that month, or early in March, take the trees out of 

 the tubs, and with a wedge-Uke and pointed piece of wood pick out the 

 old soil from amongst the roots, taking great care of the fibres, aud 

 catting out all dead roots with a shari) knife. If the roots are very much 

 diseased and decayed the soil should be washed entirely from them, and 

 the dead and decayed roots thoroughly cut out. The tubs being pierced 

 with holes at the bottom (half & dozen l\ inch in diameter will be ample), 

 put in crocks for drainage, previously washed clean, to one-fourth the 

 depth of the tubs, placing the largest at the bottom and some smaller 

 ones upon them. As regards soil, though we have tried many kinds, we 

 have foimd none so good as turfy loam from turves cut 1^ inch thick 

 from a pastm-e of good hazel or yellow loam, and if rather strong all the 

 better. Lay this up for twelve months and turn it over twice, mixing 

 with it at every turning a bushel of soot to every cartload of turves, to 

 render it distasteful to wireworms, and it will be eminently suitable for 

 Orange trees, and, in fact to all fruit trees in general cultivation. This 

 compost should be kept under cover for a short time so as to bo neither dry 

 nor wet, and may then be chopped up with a wpade into pieces lor 2 inches 

 square. Some of this is to be riddled with a sieve having inch meshes, 

 and what remains in the sieve is to be placed at the bottom of the tubs 

 upon the drainage to the depth of 3 inches. Then introduce the trees, 

 using the ct>mpost chopped but unsifted, and work it weU but carefully iu 

 amongst the roots. Place the neck or collar of the trees a Uttle higher than, 

 rather than a little below, the edge of the tubs. Spread out the roots, and 

 place soil between the layers as they rise. Do not cover the uppermost 

 roots with more than 1^ or 2 inches of soiL Make the soil pretty firm, 

 but neither vei-y firm nor loose. Leave space for watering, give water as 

 soon as the trees are rotubbed, and at once place iu a temperature of 55" 

 by night, sprinkling the trees morning and evening with water of the 

 same temperature as the house, and maintaining a moist atmosphere. 

 If the tubs could be plunged in a bed of tan, or other fermenting 

 materials, at a temperature of 75'^ or 80^ for a fortnight or three weeks, 

 quick root-action would be ensured, aud they should be gradually with- 

 drawn when top-growth commences. The temperature by day should 

 not exceed 65- with sun at this season, and with all but leafless trees, 

 little water will be needed; none to be given so long as the soil remains 

 moist. If the heads are full of wood they may be thinned out before 

 groTvth takes place. After growth has recommenced if the soil become 

 dry water copiously and at once, but never until really necessary. Give 

 abundance of air after growth takes place. To keep the roots cool the 

 tubs may be surfaced with an inch of cocoa-nut refuse. The trees will 

 not need anything in the way of manure or manure water during the 

 first season after retubbing, but in future top-dress the trees in February 

 with an inch of cow-dung, kept Ary for six months and then broken fine, 

 ond on this place a little loam for the sake of appearance. After the trees 

 liave been a number of years in tubs the old soil around the sides of the 

 tubs should be removed' annually in February along with the looec sur- 

 face soil, and any that can be picked out with a stick from between the 

 roots without injuring them ; then replace with turfy loam mixed vnth an 

 equal quantity of cow-dung not more than a year old nor less than six 

 months. Weak litiuid manure may also be given duriug summer. The 

 rich compost aud liquid manure are only for plants iu good health, though 

 they may be weak. From some cause or other your trees are in a very bad 

 coudition; bad drainage, sour and too rich soil, will produce the effects 

 which you mention, and so will treating the Orange as a bog plant. 

 "When the roots are iu a suitable mctlium the trees will thrive, but once 

 these are in a bad way they are slow of recovery. 



Herbaceous Plants — Azalea Le.\.ve8 Browned (W. D. B.). — "Flower 

 Gardening for the JIany"' contains a lull and descriptive list of herba- 

 ceous aud other border plants, which you can have by post from our 

 office for five stamps. The Azalea leaves are browned from allowing 

 water to stand upon them duriug very bright sun, aud from the plants 

 being gi-own without a sufficiency of air. SjTinging with a solution of 

 soft soap will also produce the same result. AVhat Cyclamen is it you 

 wish to know huw to cultivate ? Write us, we shall be glad to furnish 

 the information necessary. 



Screen fob a Garden (S. S. S.). — There is no question about a Beech 

 hedge best serving your purpose. It is of rather slow growth for the 

 first two or three years, but after it becomes established it makes shoots 

 fi-om 1 to 2 feet long iu a seasou. You may perhaps be able to get trees 

 6 feet or more in height, but of whatever height they must be feathered 

 to the ground, or have side shoots not more than 1 foot from the surface. 

 The common Eeech (Fagus sylvaticai is the most suitable, and it stands 

 smoke pretty well. The larger the trees for your purpose the better, as 

 they will form a hedge almost at ouce if planted 2 feet apart. If smaller 

 ti-ees are planted, say 3 or 4 feet high, a foot or 18 inches is the proper 

 distance. The ground where the trees are to be planted should be dug 

 deeply, 2 feet if possible, and a liberal dressing of manure given if the 

 soil is poor. Trees S or 4 feet high will not make a hedge 12 feet high in 

 less than seven or eight years ; trues 6 feet or more high in half that time. 

 If a thick hedge be wanted the trees shoidd be planted in double Unes, 

 18 inches apart in the Unes, and 1 foot from line to line, planting quin- 

 cunx fashion. The first year the trees will need no clipping, only any 

 long side shoots may be cut in after the growth is made and the leaves 

 have fallen, or, if they remain on dead, cut during the winter. In future 

 years clip the sides after the fall of the leaf and before fresh leavos are 

 produced. Allow the heads to grow, cutting at the sides only until the 

 hedge attains the desired height, but if any much overtop the others 

 they should be reduced to an equality ^ith these. Immediately after the 

 leaves fiUl is a good time to plant, and from that time (November) to 

 March. When once estabhshed the hedge will grow fast, watering in drj- 

 weather dxuTng the first year will enable it to become more speedily 

 estftbUshed, and rich soil" will do the rest. Poplars would grow more 

 rapidly, but soon go ofi' where there is much smoke. 



Potting Vallota Pcrpurea— Lilium Bclbs Dried (P. P. P.).— The 

 best time to pot Vallota purpurea is when the plants are growing freely, 

 but any time will do except when the flowor-scape appears, and during 

 flowering. From March to May is as good a time as any. So long as the 

 drainage is good and the soil not sour the plant will bloom all the better 

 of the roots touching the sides of the pot ; repot, therefore, only when the 

 soil becomes sour or the plants too large. The best of the white Liliums 

 for pot culture is LiUum spcciosum (laneifolium) album, but all the 

 varieties of that species have white flowers spotted with red in its various 

 shades. Bulbs purchased wtiuld bloom well another year if large enough. 

 Nursen'men keep such bulbs iu the soil until ordered, so that they are 

 not long enough iu their seed-shops to be injured to any gi-eat extent. 

 The sooner they are potted after being taken up the better. 



LiLifis OF the Valley not Blooming {A. V.). — They ought to bloom 

 next spring if taken up from the bed and potted at this season. We never 

 pot any except thnso with large plump buds, feeling them with the finger 

 aud thumb, and if they are large and firm you will, on oiieuiug one or 

 two, find the flowers within them. Such roots are the right ones to take 

 up and pot, nine out of every ten of them will bloom if not forcedBO 

 hard aa to go bUnd. To your having potted the roots last year with 

 small thin crowns is to be attributed the coming up of the leaves with- 

 out flowers, unless, as before stated, the plants were too rapidly forced 

 jnto gi-owth. 



Wintering Rose Cctttngs (S.).— The cuttings recently potted off, and 

 which are well rooted, will be best plunged quite up to the rim of the pots 

 iu coal ashes in your cold frame. If placed on the stage the frost will 

 injure the roots. Give them abundance of air in mild weather, with a 

 covering of mats, or something dry over the glass, iu severe nights, and 

 during the day so long as the plants remain frozen. 



Evergreen Plants for Covering a Trellis {lioitery). — You confine 

 us to evergreens for your shaded east and open south-east aspect, and 

 yet you say you do not wish for Ivy on the east shaded aspect. Ivy is 

 the very plant for a corner. However, though we do not know any suit- 

 able evergreen climber, the following plants may answer, if not too much 

 shaded — Cratx-gus pyracantha, Cotoneaster microphylla. Berberis Dar- 

 winii, and Photini-.i serrulata. South-east aspect : — Viburanm suspen- 

 sum, Raphiolepis ovata, Escallonia glaudulosa and organensis, Garrya 

 elliptica, Cotoucastcv Simmonsii and buxifolia, Ceanothus azurens 

 pallidus and floribundus, Buddlea globosa and Lindleyana, Arbutus 

 Menzicsii aud pmcera, Oleaeuropieaand ihcitolia, Ligustrum japonicom, 

 and the Exmouth variety of Magnoha graudiflora. 



Dactvlis glomerata variegata Culture {S. Edwards). — This is a 

 somewhat tall aud rather coarse Grass, besides not being permanent in 

 its variegation. It is quite hardy, simply requiring to have the roots 

 divided iu April aud planted 6 inches apart where it is to remain, water- 

 ing after planting, and during dry weather until established. If it bo 

 Dactylia variegata elegantissima that you mean, which is of closer and 

 more* dwarf gi-owth, and the whitest and most permanent of variegated 

 Grasses, it is only hardy in diy well-drained soil. It is best taken up in au- 

 tumn, potted in sandy loam, and wintered in a cold greenhouse or frame- 

 In sprmg if the phiuts are divided evei-y shoot will come away with a little 

 root or one partially formed at the base of the divisions. Put these in 

 sandy loam in pots 2^ or 3 inches in diameter, and set the pots on coal 

 ashes or plunge them therein in a cold frame. If watered and kept rather 

 close and moist for a few days roots will soon be emitted, then harden ofi", 

 and plant out iu May. at 1 foot apart iu lines, or from 6 to 9 inches apart 

 when planted iu curves. This grass will grow in any soil, but best in. 

 light loams, with a little leaf rnould added. In rich soil it gi-ows more 

 strongly, :uid attains a height of 1 foot or 15 inches. We mean to try 

 planting it as a permanent edging, and cUppLng it with the shears until 

 it becomes thick, and then mowing it with the machine like a gi-assverge^ 

 as we think it will become less strong in stem by cutting. 



OxALis trop.eul<)II>es CULTURE {Idcm\.~This is synonyinous with 

 Oxalis eoruiculata rubra and O. comiculata foliis atropm-pm-eis. It is a 

 hardy perennial, forming dense tufts of deep purphsh-browu leaves, and 

 does well in loam or gravel. It strikes as freely from cuttings as the 

 Verbena, and at any season ; but to have good plants they should be 

 struck in July or August in a close cold frame, and when weU rooted 

 pricked off 3 inches apart every way, and planted out in spring where 

 they are to remain. Cuttings struck in March make nice plants for 

 planting out in May. It is easily raised from seed. Good plants may 

 also be secured by sowing in pans iu a frame late in summer, and w^hen 

 large enough to "handle pricking off 3 inches apai-t in saudy or well- 

 drained ground, or potting off in small pots in sandy loam with a little 

 leaf mould and sand, and wintering in a cold frame. If sown in February 

 and March like LobeUa speciosa aud treated like it, nice plants are 

 obtained for phiutiug out in M-.ty. It is an edging plant of dwarf compact 

 habit and withstands rain well ;' it is of the colour of Beetroot leaves, not 

 so dark as Perilla, but deeper than Amaranthus melancholicus ruber, and 

 better than either for small beds and narrow borders. So common a 

 plant deserves move extensive cultivation. It is a charming plant for the 

 lower fissures of rockwork. The flowers are bright yellow. 



Sowing Nemophila insignis (T. ■S.).~To have it in bloom in Septem- 

 ber ond October, it should be sown dm-iug the third week in June, in 

 wai-m situations, and on dry sandy or stony groimd, and dm-ing the first 

 or second week in that month, if the soil is heavy and cold. 



Leaking Tank (A. A'.).— The tank being of bricks laid iu Roman 

 cement and leaking after frost, there is no question as to the leakage 

 beiug caused by the expansion of the water converted into ice. We have 

 a tank of this kind sunk so as to be covered i\'ithl foot of soil, and having 

 a moveable hd to get at the water, and the latter was never kno%vn to be 

 frozen, nor the tank to leak. It is used to hold soft water for watering 

 the garden. We only wish we had more tanks of a similar description. 

 The only suggestion we can make is to have yours covered with soil upon 

 the tiles to the depth of a foot, and thus render it proof against frost, or to 

 ram clay firmly round it. so that if the bricks and cement gave way from 

 frost, the clay would prevent leakage. 



Dessert Apples and Pears (S.).— The six best dessert Apples and the 

 six best dessert Pears for a small garden iu the south, the trees to be 

 groira as espaliers, and the fruit to come into use from November to 

 April or May, are— -Apples : Cox's Orange Pippin, Reiuette Van Mens, 

 Stnrmer Pippin, Scarlet Nonpareil, Dutch Mignoune, Wyken Pippin. 

 Pears : Conseiller de la Cour, Winter Nelis, Beune Diel, Zepliirin Gre- 

 goire, Eeurre de Rauce, Josephine de Mahues. 



