372 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 31, 1805, 



Various ( W. J.).— The foUo\\inR arc Rood bakins Apples, and come into 

 •nse in succession as named: Kes\vick Codlin, Ha\\i-homden, Beauty of 

 Kent, Yorkshire Greeuinp, and Royal Russet. Plums for your south 

 wall: July Green Giige, Green Gage, Coe's Golden Drop, Ickworth Im- 

 piratrice. 



SUPPLY-HOCSE— Peaches and Nectarines re Pots (Rujttic).—li you 

 have to use your small pit in the stove-house for snppljing the conserva- 

 tory, we should advise you to think twice before you planted any sort of 

 Palm in it. We should think it better to keep everything in pots, with 

 the exception of n few cUmbers. The Peaches most suitable for pot- 

 culture in the late vinery, arc Early York, Early Grosse Mignonne, Acton 

 Scot, Grosse Mignonne, "Royal George, Barrington, Walburton Admii-able, 

 and Salway to come In very late after the Walburton Admirable. For 

 Kectarines the best are Pitmaston Orange, Vioktte Hiitive, Elruge, 

 Downton, and Red Roman ; for the back wall two Yiolette Hative Peaches 

 or BeUegarde, and two Violette Hiitive Nectarines; and for the trellis 

 Noblesse, Royal George, Teton de Venus, and Walburton Admirable. 



Wardian Case (So;)/im).— The best materials for making it are com- 

 mon red deal and sheet glass, 21 ozs. to the foot, as the size and propor- 

 tions must entirely depend upon your own requirements and taste. The 

 bottom part for hubling tlie earth should be lined with zinc, and the top 

 may be made to take oft" altogether, or one side may be made to slide. 

 The following are ornamental forms, but they may be made quite plain. 



Propagating Polemonium cit^ruleum varjegatum (Stnw^f).— This very 

 pretty edging, line, or ribbon-plant is increased by di\ision of the root, 

 which may be perfonncd when the plant commences growth in spring, 

 and in autumn after it lias done growing. In either case the offsets are 

 taken from the roots with at least a crown, and a root if possible, and 

 planted in a border of good light soil or potted into small pots, and 

 placed in a cold frame with the pots plunged in coal ashes. The only 

 difficulty is to obtain strong plants, and that is but small, as the plant is 

 perfectly hardy, and its propagation by division only a work of time. 



Raising Stock op Viola corncta (Wfrn).— This, like the above, is 

 increased by division, and the best time to operate is in spring, pricking 

 off the divisions in beds of moist earth about a inches apart every way, or 

 go far apart that they may not interfere with each other ; or they may be 

 planted at once where they are to remain during the summer, watering 

 copiously until established. On wet soils it grows freely, but on dry soils 

 it requires abundant supplies of water in order to bloom continuously 

 during the summer. It comes true from seed, which should be sown in 

 the spring in moist soil. For directions as to how to get up a stock of 

 Oxalis comiculata rubra, see answer to S. Edtcard* page 284. 



Thrips on Ferns in Plant-case (C. P.).~The fronds of Asplenium 

 adiantum-nigrum which you sent were suffering from thrips, which are 

 the small insects which you see on the fronds. Your best plan would be 

 to have the case removed to an outhouse, and there filled with tobacco 

 smoke until not a frond were \-isilile, taking care to have the Ferns dry. 

 If you do not object to the smell of tobacco the plant may be fumigated 

 in the room, and aftenvards whenever you find any insects on the fronds. 

 This would be the most effective mode of killing them, but if you object 

 to the smell of tobacco you may remove the insects with a wet sponge, 

 afterwards keeping the case more moist to prevent a recurrence of the 

 attack. 



Keeping the Apple-pie Melon [A Subscriber). — Keep it in a di-y cool 

 room free from frost. It will remain good throughout the winter, and be 

 ready any time for making into pics in the same manner as Apples, for 

 ■which it is said to he a good substitute. It cannot be eaten as a fruit 

 like the Melon. 



Are Decayed Latjrel Leaves Injurious to Plants ? {A Gardener). — 

 Your question is fully answered in your own words " I gave my flower- 

 beds an extra diessing of leaf mould made from Laurel leaves and my 

 tedding plants throve exceedingly well." In this we fully concur ; and 

 we think it was not the cause of the Calceolarias failing, unless the leaves 

 were not fully decomposed, when they would render the soil too open 

 and dry. We do mit know what will keep Calceolarias from dying off 

 soon after planting out. 



Latanu Commersonii {Quaxtor) is identical with what is generally 

 sold as Latania rubra, ajid requii-es the same treatment as other tropical 

 Pulms. 



Stella Geranium Cuttings not Rooting — Wintering in a Spare 

 Room {An Amateur). — You do not state under what conditions Stella 

 refused to root. We suppose the pots have been out of doors, and have 

 been kept very wet in a shaded situation, in addition to which we should 

 think that the cuttings were put in very close together and the soil very 

 rich, or of a hea\7 instead of a sandy nature. We put in ours about the 

 same time — the first week in September — and placed the boxes containing 

 them on boards about a foot from a south wall, and in the full sun. We 

 put 150 in a box 4 feet long and 4 inches wide, and counted them the day 

 we received your letter, and 143 were struck and fine rooted plants. The 

 mo^t frequent cause of the cuttings damping is rich soil. The best soil 

 is poor, light, sandy loam. You may keep tht- uld plants in your spare 

 room, covering them with hay in severe weather to protect them from 

 frost. When the weather is mild remove the h;iy, and givu them air and 

 light. Keep the soil dry, giving no more water than sullicieut to prevent 

 the shoots shrivelling, and only dmiug mild weather, 



Cccumber-house {J. S.). — We can only repeat again what was stated at 

 page 3*25. As you have reasons to object to a high wall for lean-to houses, ■ 

 then we would decidedly recommend a span roof for both %inery and 

 Cucumber-house. Keeping in ^iew that economy in building is your 

 chief object, then for the Cucumber-house we would recommend a house 

 20 feet in length. 12 feet in width, 10 feet in height to the ridge-board, 

 and the side walls 3^ feet high. We would divide the base Une into 

 4^-feet beds at each side, including the inside walls, and 3 feet of a path 

 in the middle. At the bottom of each of these side beds we would place 

 two four-inch pipes, and 4 inches above them a slate to receive the earth, 

 or for economy from 5 to 6 inches of rubble covered with line clean- 

 washed gravel, and, above that, from 15 to Itj inches of soil. Two pipes 

 would also be required on each side for top heat. If Cucxunbers were 

 wanted all the winter, a third pipe would be desirable on the north side. 

 The highest of these pipes should be close to, and fully a foot from, the 

 tops of the side walls. Five openings should be left in each side wall 

 opposite these pipes for ventilators, say each 15 inches long and 8 inches 

 wide. For top ventilation we should propose a double ridge-board, the 

 boards being braced together by cross pieces keeping them about 9 inches 

 apart. That space would be filled with a wooden ventilator hung on pivots, 

 and protected by two boards forming a cowl ridge-board, with an opening 

 on each side to let the air in. These ridge-boards, and the two wall-plates, 

 would be almost all the large wood necessarj'. These modes of ventila- 

 tion would permit of all the roof being fixed. As the length of glass roof 

 on each side would be lonly a little more than 8 feet, sash bars 1^ inch 

 wide and 3 inches deep would be sufficient, if placed not further than 

 from 15 to 16 inches apart. Glass of that size and of good quality, com- 

 monly called thirds, can be bought at 2d. per foot if 16 ozs. to the foot, 

 and at from 2^*/. to Sd. perfootha\ing an average weight of 21 ozs. to the 

 foot. Of course fourths would range considerably cheaper, but we would 

 not advise its being used. Taken in the lump and lea\ing out the wall- 

 plates, the wood cut to size, planed, &c., by machinery', would cost pretty 

 much the same as the glass. If economy is the sole object, the orchard- 

 house style of Mr. Rivers must be adopted. Such a house as the above 

 would be verj- neat, lasting, and also economical. It would be cheaper 

 to have a number of squares made to open at the ridge instead of the 

 double ridge-board, but it would not be so 8atisfactor>*. By the double 

 ridge-board and cowl air can be given in all weathers. We would 

 recommend a similar house for the vinery, whether the border were 

 made outside or inside, say 20 feet wide, 3i feet high at sides, from 12 to 

 14 feet at the apex. For such a house deeper rafter sash-bars will be 

 required, and an iron rod should go longitudinally along the middle, 

 screwed to each, aud there should be a neat iron column for support at 

 cverv 10 or 15 feet. Such a hou^e mav be modified to any shape, and be 

 from SO to 00 feet long, and 14 to 16 feet wide, and 11 to 14 feet at the 

 apex; or even the same size as the proposed Cucumber-house would 

 grow a good many Grapes, and, if of narrow width, the Vines could be 

 planted on the south side, trained up the rafters there, taken to the top 

 and down the other side. This is how the Vines ai-e trained in the large 

 vinery at Messrs. Lane's at Berkhampstead. For such a large house as 

 we have first supposed, of 20 feet in width, &c., two pipes would be 

 required on each side to have Grapes in the beginning of July. To have 

 them early would require three piiies on each side. Muscats will do well 

 enough either for the early or late house. It will be easy to turn either 

 of these houses into a hjp-roofed one, by having the north wall from 

 5 to 7 or more feet in height, and then taking the hip to the apex, making 

 the south front all the longer. By the mode proposed all the sash-bars 

 would be fixed at once to the ridge-board and the wall-plate at such a 

 distance from each other as to suit the width of the squares of glass. 

 Gardeners are quite right in what you say as to the expansion and con- 

 traction of iron roofs and the breakage of glass in consequeuce, but that 

 is altogether neutralised in Mr. Beard's patent by placing non-conducting 

 material between the glass and iron. If found successful, puttying and 

 painting will be altogether dispensed with. 



House for Bedding Plants (G. Smith).— V!'e do not consider it advis- 

 able to have a lean-to facing the north for growing bedding plants. No 

 doubt, as you say, they would do very well in summer, but in winter we 

 would usesuch a house chiefly for keepiug plants and not growing them 

 much, as the absence of sun will cause them to draw, unless abundance 

 of air is given with the artificial heat needed. We do not quite see 

 whether the ten-inch pipe attached to the end of the fiu-nace, with a sis- 

 inch pipe added in the propagating-house, acts as a flue or merely as a 

 means of conducting heat from the furnace, but as surrounded with 

 chnkers and covered with cockle shells it gives much heat, or we presume 

 too much heat. In the first case, pots may be plunged or set on the 

 shells with or without a hand-light over them. If the heat is too strong, 

 it would be advisable to form either an open chamber over the brick-bats, 

 or make a rough chamber with more brick-bats, before adding the shingle 

 or shells, with openings to let the heated air into the house whenever it 

 wa5 too hot for the cuttings. The old kitchen boiler placed over the 

 furnace, and holding twelve gallons of water, with a pipe inserted near 

 the top and carried far enough, say 6 or 10 feet into the propagating- 

 house, and the end of the pipe open, would enable you, by plugging, or 

 opening the end of that pipe, to have moist vapour thrown into the pro- 

 pngating-house at will. You can also carry a two or three-inch pipe 

 from that boiler through the pit near it, but, unless the top of the boiler 

 is close to prevent all outlet of steam, and the water is kept at or near 

 the boihng point, you would not get so much heat from the vapour as 

 you might expect. If the boiler and pit were suitable, you had better 



