August 31, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



151 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 



■yT. Dillistone, Muuro Nursery, Sible Hedinghani, Essex. — 

 Catalogue of Choice New Plants of 1866. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



•«* We request that no one will write privately to the depart- 

 mental writers of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, <&c, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.C. 

 ■\Ye also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 

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

 week. 

 Azaleas (A. A. H.). — Your Azaleas are attacked by a grub which is 

 eating the young tips. Syringe them with Gishurst compound. 



Books (A Constant Bender). — ,We think that the "Vine Manual," 

 which may be obtained at our office for 2s. G</., or free by post for 2s. 8d., 

 and "Vine Culture under Glass," by Mr. Pearson, Is., or free by post for 

 thirteen penny stamps, would suit your requirements. (F. J.). — 

 Hogg's " Fruit Manual." price 5s., or free by post 5s. 4d. (A Young 

 Gardener). — You can obtain " The Modern Peach Pruner " at our office 

 for 3s. 6*7., or free by post by enclosing forty-four postage stamps with 

 your address. 



Egg Plant (A. Foot).— The plant was introduced into this country in 

 1597. The fruit is cut in slices, aud fried with lard ; or, after cutting it 

 in half, parboiling it, and scooping out the seeds, it may be stuffed with 

 various herbs ami bread-crumb, and fried or baked until brown, adding 

 various seasonings according to taste. 



Geranium Leaves Eaten {A Subscriber). — We have had to encounter 

 the same enemy in our greenhouse. The pest is a green fleshy grub, 

 abont 1 or 1$ inch long, which you may detect by examining the under 

 surface of the leaves of your Pelargoniums. The'only remedy is to hunt 

 closely after them and destroy them. They do burrow in the earth ; hut 

 only to go into the chrysalis state. 



Blanching Cardoons (F. N. S.).~ The Cardoons, now 18 inches high, 

 may have the leaves tied closely and regularly together with strips of 

 matting, and have a little earth placed around them, as in earthing-up 

 Celery. By the middle of September they will have grown amazingly, 

 and will need final earthing-up for blanching. This you will best do by 

 means of a hayband ; gathering the leaves regularly together and be- 

 ginning at the bottom, wrap the hayband round the plants to within a 

 few inches of their tops, and lay up soil, broken fine, about them as high 

 up as they are tied. If the haybands cannot be procured, then tie-up 

 the leaves with mat ting and place straw or dry litter about them, tying that 

 np with matting, and earthing-up as before directed. The plants eartbed- 

 up from the middle of September to the end of that month, will he tit 

 for use in the end of October and onwards to December, earthing up 

 again if necessary, aud protecting in frosty weather with a covering of 

 dry litter. In gathering, the plants are taken up like Celery, and the outer 

 leaves removed until the blanched heart is reached. This has the same 

 appearance when dressed as an immense stick of Celery, is stewed like 

 it , and used in soups. 



Garden Wall (AUerton). — The thickness of "single brick." with 

 which yon intend to raise your wall, supported by piers at 4 feet distance, 

 will answer perfectly. The only difference will be, that you will not 

 secure such an amount of radiation from the 4{ that you would from the 

 9-inch work. The contrivance for a coping is very ingenious, and will, no 

 donbt, be effective ; but why do you give it an upward direction '.' We 

 should prefer it inclining downwards, as it will more readily prevent the 

 free ascent of warm air passing off from the wall. We should have these 

 copings of nine-inch boards, to be screwed on the brackets and removed 

 after the spring frosts have gone; they are always unsightly. We cannot 

 advise you on the price of the masonry, as that varies very widely in 

 different parts. 



Planting Anemones (G. C). — The tubers are beat kept on a shelf in a 

 cool dry shed, and covered with an inch or so of dry sand. The boat time 

 to plant them for oarly blooming is October. In January go over the bed 

 and stop up any holes made by worms, or the leaves protruding, and top- 

 dress with an inch of half-decayed leaves. Choose a rich light loamy soil, 

 and an open situation. Plant 2 inches deep, and from 7 to 9 inches apart, 

 with a gentle pressure only, as the tubers are fragile, employing a little 

 care in placing them so as to set the right end upwards, and let the 

 ground be dry rather than wet. 

 Tobacco Drying (Nicotiana). — The leaves are to be gathered when 

 i they assume a yellow tint, tied in small bunches, and hung up in some 

 I shady airy place to dry. When crisp watch for the first humid state of 

 1 the atmosphere, when they will become soft, and pack them evenly in a 

 I box with the ends or butts all one way ; press moderately, and a slight 

 I heat will be generated. Whilst warm take out the bunches, shake in 

 ' the air to' let off the heat, repack lightly, and, when thoroughly dry and 

 cool, store tightly in a barrel, and keep there for use. The leaves which 

 turn black and smell disagreeably will not be spoiled if you dry them, 

 ; but if fungus attack them they will lose their virtue. 



Pruning Gooseberry and Currant Trees (Gregory). — Yon must 

 now wait until the leaves fall, and then thin out the main branches so 

 as to leave them from 6 to 9 inches apart, keeping the centre of the bushes 

 open. The shoots of the current year are to be cut in to within an inch 

 of the branches whence they take their rise, leaving untouched any short 

 shoots having the buds very close together, as these spurs and the buds 

 set closely together at the base of this year's shoots produce fruit in the 

 following year. The upper shoot of this year on the main branches may- 

 be cut back to four or six buds according "as the bushes are required to be 

 larger or kept to their present size. Any old branch destitute of spurs 

 may be cut out, and a well-disposed young shoot retained to replace it. 



Pruning Plum and Apricot Trees (Hem). — The foreright and all 

 shoots not required to train in at P inches apart should now be shortened 

 to four leaves, leaving the shoots necessary to cover the wall regularly at 

 9 inches apart, and the leading shoots at their full length. Nail these 

 loosely to the wall. 



Manuring Fruit Tree Borders [Idem).— You may dress them in 

 autumn with H or 2 inches thick of stable or hotbed manure, leaving it 

 on the surface, and pointing it in in February or early in March, but 

 not so deeply as to injure the roots. The rains will wash the manure 

 into the soil. 



Manuring a Vine Border (Idem).— You may cover the border in 

 November with inches of litter or half-reduced manure, aud allow it to 

 remain until March ; then remove the strawy portion, and fork the short 

 dung in without going so deep as to affect the roots. In April you may 

 give a surface-dressing of bone dust, leaving it to be washed in by rain.-,. 

 Bed for Tulips (Idem).— After the Geraniums arc removed, dig the 

 bed a foot or 18 inches deep, work in a dressing of rotten manure 3 inches 

 thick, or leaf mould. Plant in November, or early in December. 



Lawn Mowings (Idem)".— These are of no use for the formation of leaf 

 mould; that and garden refuse generally form, when rotten, a good 

 manure for kitchen garden crops. 



Excrescences on the Stems and Branches of Vines (A Subscriber). 

 —Tlie warts, we apprehend, are caused by the roots having gone down 

 into cold bad soil, and to a considerable depth below the surface. The 

 Vine,, ronseqnentlv, having lost most of their fibres are seeking to furnish 

 themselves with surface roots, and the excrescences are the parts from 

 which such roots would be emitted under suitable conditions. Your only 

 remedy is to have the roots brought nearer the surface. 



Roses for a Wire Fence (Ambleside).— The best Roses for either a low 

 or high wire fence are the climbing Avrshire Roses :— Dundee Rambler, 

 Ruga, Queen of the Belgians, Mvrrh-scented or Splendcns, Thoresbyana. 

 and Alice Grav ; Rosa multiflora vara., Purpurea, Russelhana, and 

 Laure Davoust'; and of the Evergreen kinds, Bruoni, Rpmpante, Felicit-* 

 Perpctu. , and Myrianthes. On a fence 4 feet high these should be 

 planted from 9 to 12 feet apart. 



Red Spider in Melon-frame (Cypher).— Your only plan is to syringe the 

 nlants on a sunny day about 2 p.m., and, whilst wet, to dust over them 

 flowers of sulphur ; then close the frame, cover the lights with a thin 

 mat, and keep the plants well supplied with water at the root. Syrian 

 overhead every alternate dav early in the afternoon, and close the frame, 

 throwing a ma't over the lights if the afternoon be clear, removing it at 

 4 p.m. In a week dust again with sulphur on a clear day. having pre- 

 viously sprinkled the foliage with water, close the frame, and cover up. 



Strawberries for Forcing (Idem).— Take pots 4} inches in diameter 

 for the Black Prince, and six-inch pots for Keens' Seedling ; place a 

 piece of crock over the hole, over that an inch of the rougher parts of the 

 compost, and then sprinkle over the latter a pinch of soot ; fill the pots to 

 the rim with a compost of two-thirds turfy loam from rotted turves, ami 

 one-third well-rotted manure, making it very firm in the pots. Having 

 prepared the pots, take them to the beds, and place in the centre of each 

 a good runner, keeping it in its place by a stone set on the side next the 

 old plant. If well supplied with water, the runners will by the middle of 

 September be strong, and may be detached from the parent by cutting, 

 and removed to a sunny open situation, where they should be well 

 supplied with water up to the middle of October, after which the soil is 

 onlv to be kept moist. After November plunge the pots in coal ashes to 

 protect the roots from frost. In February set them on a shelf in the 

 vinerv about 15 inches from the glass, the shelf having previously be.-:: 

 covered with turves 1J inch thick, placed grass downwards. Keep the 

 soil moist, but not very wet, until the plants come into bloom, when they 

 should be very liberallv supplied with water and air, admitting a little 

 at night. With abundance of air, a moderate temperature, and a light 

 situation, we think your plants would please you. Give them liquid 

 manure after the fruit is set. 



Proliferous Rose (A. J?., Bromley).— Yours is not a singular case of 

 morphology. It arises from an elongation of the axis beyond the point 

 where it is usually arrested in the normal form of the Rose. 



Insects on Pear Leaves (W. Berry).— The insects were slimy grubs, 

 the larva* of Selandria a*thiops. which are of common occurrence m July, 

 August, and September. Dust with lime. 



Insects (S. B.).— We do not know what the insects are, but they are 

 quite harmless, and are certainly not thrips. 



