JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 81, 1SC6. 



Pbize for Model Garden {Exhibitor). —You sny that the prizes 

 offered were "No. 56, Desifm or Model," "No. 57, Model Garden," and a 

 miniature garden was exhibited with beds, sand for gravel, zinc painted 

 «*reen lor box, &c. There can be no doubt that it ought to have been ex- 

 hibited in Class 57. That was especially for a model garden. Class 56 

 was for a design or model of any other kind. 



Drying Ferns, &c. (E. T. W.).— No tools are required. Spread be- 

 tween sheets of thick blotting paper the specimens in their natural posi- 

 tion, placing every pinna or leaf flat and separate, and put on the top of 

 the blotting paper a flat board and a weight of seven pounds or there- 

 abouts. It is best to have a quire of blotting paper. 



Guano Water — Rose Buds not Opening {Agnes). — The guano should 

 be allowed to dissolve at least twelve hours before it is applied, and 

 being well stirred up, should be strained to free it of lumps. If you were 

 to give your Roses a plentiful supply of water, we think that they would 

 open the buds freely. The evil is probably caused by the dryness of the 

 soil and atmosphere. 



NUPHAR LfTEA SOWING — MtRIOPIIYI-LUM SPICATOM AND AOOBUB CALA- 

 MUS Planting {Peterborough}. — Now, or immediately after they arc ripe, 

 is a good time to sow seeds of Nuphar lutea, casting them into a pond 

 with a foot or so of water over a muddy bottom. You may tie a small 

 stone to the lower end of the Myriophylluni spicatum, and throw it into 

 a depth of 9 inches or a foot of water. Acorns calamus may have a large 

 stone tied to the root, and be cast into a foot or 18 inches deep of water 

 over a muddy bottom. Now is a good time. 



Raphanus caudatcs {S. WA.—U is a native of Java, and seed of this, 

 the Long-tailed Radish, should be sown in a gentle heat, and when the 

 seedlings are up and of a tolerable size, plant thrni out in the open air in 

 good rich soil. It requires abundance of water during dry weather, and 

 the ground about it should be frequently stirred. Sou will find full par- 

 ticulars at page 181, Vol. X., New Series. (Dfl Eoix). Smvyour single 

 seed in an eight-inch flower-pot filled with light rich soil, burying the 

 seed just the depth you would a common Radish seed. It needs no pro- 

 tection at this season. 



Vine Leaves Eaten — Leaves Specked (E. W.).— From your descrip- 

 tion of the leaves we should attribute their skeleton -like appearance to 

 the ravages of some caterpillar, which you may discover upon close ex- 

 amination of the foliage ; or it may be caused by some beetle, or even 

 -earwigs, and that you may ascertain by placing a white sheet beneath 

 the Vines after dark, and shaking the Vines will cause the insects to fall 

 upon the sheet. The specks, which we presume are in the shape of ex- 

 crescences on the wood, leafstalks, and bunches, are natural, and pecu- 

 liar to the Vine, and we do not consider that they eat into either the 

 wood or the footstalks of the leaves and berries, but form d part of it. 

 They are not injurious. 



Root of Vine Cut {Idem).— The large root you cnt from 6 to R feet 

 from the collar will not destroy the Vine if,"as you sny, it was not more 

 than 3 inches in circumference, and did not bleed from the end left. Tbc 

 Vine would only be weakened by the root being cut, and by bleeding 

 from the part detached. We cannot help thinking that a Vine forty years 

 old must have had more roots than this ; but if there were not, and the 

 Toot which was cut had all the fibres lower than the cut, then it is not 

 improbable that the part attached had not more eap stored up within it 

 than sufficient to cause the bafts to break weakly, and the shoots to fall 

 off. It is for you to tell whether the Vine is dead or not ; if alive it is pro- 

 bable that the few dormant eyes which are hard may break. 



Vines Mildewed (Idem). — The berries are mildewed, and the remedy 

 is to dust the parts affected with flowers of sulphur. The small red 

 Bpecks on the footstalks of the berries are too large for red spider, and 

 are in reality a part of the stalk itself — natural. We do not recommend 

 the fumigation of vineries, except for the purpose of exterminating in- 

 sects, and then smoking is only available for thrips. 



Flies in Vinery (Idem). — Make some beer very sweet with treacle, and 

 with it quarter fill a soda-water bottle. Tie a piece of string round the 

 neck of the bottle, and suspend it in the vinery from the roof. The flics 

 will enter the bottle and drown themselves. 



Bottom Heat for Pines (An Amateur), — We have no doubt that you 

 •will have sufficient bottom heat from the hot-water pipes, provided the 

 roots are not raised too far from the pavement above the pipes. In verv 

 severe weather yon might scarcely have enough of top heat without a 

 little protection. For ordinary occasions it would be ample. 



Ground between Strawberry Plants {Inquirer).— The ground be- 

 tween the plants, made hard by treading, may be pointed over with a fork 

 to the depth of a couplo of inches, but not more ; for Strawberries like a 

 firm soil, and hoeing or digging the surface deeply is to be avoided, as it 

 injures the roots. We cannot give the names of the best Pelargoniums 

 to be selected from a collection of fifty unless you state the names. 



Potato Disease (R. Whitehorn).—1he cause of the Potato murrain has 

 not been successfully explained even by the wisest of vegetable physiolo- 

 gists. To electricity, manures, inclement seasons, and other circum- 

 stances have been assigned the origin of the disease, but the Potato had 

 been exposed to them all for centuries, yet the disease only appeared re- 

 cently. We do not discern any novelty iu your suggestions. 



Burning Sulphur in a Vinery {Inquirer). — Of course such a proceed- 

 ing would, as you describe, destroy the leaves, the Grapes, and the young 

 shoots. Often in this Journal have wc warned amateurs against such a 

 destructive proceeding. By burning sulphur it is converted into sul- 

 phurous acid, which is alike destructive of animal and vegetable life. 

 Dusting the leaves with flowers of sulphur, and painting the hot-water 

 pipes with a mixture of sulphur, water, and clay arc the best modes of 

 employing sulphur against red spider. 



Chalk in Soil for Fig Trees {A Grouper of Figs).— A little chalk in 

 the soil of your Fig-house will do no harm, and, though we would rather 

 apply rough lime rubbish, rough chalk will do very well. However, wc 

 have had and seen fine Figs innothing but good loam, with top- dressings. 

 In your proposed border 2 feet deep, on concrete, we would manage as 

 follows : — Have from 6 to 9 inches of open rubble above the concrete, and 

 then you enn use water freely, and the 15 inches of soil will he ample for 

 the Figs. The Castle Kennedy Fig is a very good one. 



Black Alicante Grape (.1 Combo/fit Reader).— 'The large oval berries 

 were fertilised; the small berries were not fertilised, and tin- tauses the 

 difference in the size. Your Grape is Black Morroco, rather a shy setter, 

 and should be assisted at the time of blooming. 



Roses for Exhibition (J. S.).— High-coloured Roses are :— Charles 

 Lefebvrc, Senateur Vaisse, Due de Rohan, Maurice Bernardin, Prince 

 Camille tie Rohan, very dark; Emperenr de Maroc, not large, but fine 

 form, and very dark; or Pierre Notting, dark crimson. Light-coloured 

 Roses are : Comtesse Cecile de Chabrillant, pink ; Aeidalie, white ; Gloiie 

 de Dijon, yellow ; Triomphe de Renues, yellow ; Baronne Gouella 

 (Bourbon), dove pink ; Souvenir de la llalniaison, blush; Duehesae d'Or- 

 leans, lavender blush ; Soeur des Angos or Caroline de Sansal, blush. 



Melons not Setting {T. F. B.). — The Melons do not set in consequence 

 of the soil being too dry. If you water them well without malting the 

 surface wet, and give them more air, we think the flowers and embryo 

 fruit will not turn yellow. Keep the plants healthfully moist at the root, 

 and admit abundance of air. and they will set fruit freely if care be taken 

 to fertilise the blossoms. To name a plant from its leaf is hazardous. 

 The leaf sent is that of some Coleus, probably Coleus VerschafFelti. 



Zonale (North Ridinn). — When thus spelt it is pronounced Zo-n;'i-le. 

 Many persons prefer spelling it Zonal, and then it is pronounced Zu-nal. 



Cinerarias for Bedding-out (/rfewl.-Wc have used Cinerarias as 

 bedding plants, but they do not make a good bed, except, perhaps, 

 for late blooming. The time to sow the seed for this purpose is the 

 middle of February; then grow the plants in a gentle heat, and harden 

 them off for planting-out in the beginning of June. 



Lobelia Snowflake (Idem).— This Lobelia is with us as good and as 

 useful as Lobelia speciosa, only it is white instead of blue. Lobelias are 

 more free in growth from seed, but they do not flower so soon nor so 

 freely as plants from cuttings. 



Rose Stocks (Devonieneis). — You can only procure the Rose stocks, 

 Shanghai and Fortune's White Banksian, spoken of by Mr. "Will*, by buying 

 plants of each and raising stocks from cuttings of them. 



Names of Plants (T. W.).— Common Henbane, Hyoscyamus niger. 

 (TV. West).— It is the Lesser Dodder (Cuscuta epithymum), a pomatte, 

 which attaches itself to the Vetch and other plants. [H. Hirtwistle). — 

 Pernettya mucronata. {W. ~D. A.). — Hydrangea quercifolia. <F. M. C.).— 

 1, Onoclea sensibilis, N. America; 2, Nephrodium molle, Tropics. 

 (Aquatic). — The water-weed you send is a species of Enteromorpha. The 

 only way to get rid of it is to persevere in clearing it out as often as 

 possible. We remember a similar case where a large piece of water was 

 infested with the same weed, which was eventually destroyed in the 

 manner mentioned. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending Jul 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



OLD AND YOUNG BIRDS AND DIFFERENT 



BREEDS RUNNING TOGETHER. 



When -we were younger we spent much of our time — that is, 

 all we had to spare — in a quiet Hampshire village. The church 



was one of the old country churches ; the less we say about 

 the music the better, except that the flute and bassoon players 

 were marvels to the children who attended church for the first 

 time. About once in every quarter the choir sang an anthem, 

 when it was strengthened by the assistance of a fiddle and two 

 or three voices from a neighbouring village. It was a great day 

 for Harley church when the anthem was sung. The pitch- 

 pipe was brought into requisition, the instruments were tuned 



