244 



JOURNAL op horticulture and cottage gardener. 



[ September 25, 1866. 



6th, Hyacinths, especially, do well in glasses in rooms, and 

 might often do better if a little more attention were given 

 to their needs. Fill the glasses with soft water, put in several 

 pieces of charcoal, place the bulb on the top just with its 

 bottom touching the water, and set the glasses in a dark 

 place until the roots are freely formed. Until this is the 

 case fill up with water if it sinks, renew with fresh and slightly 

 warmed every six or eight days, and place in the lightest part 

 of the room as soon as the flower-stem begins to rise. It will 

 thus come strong and stubby, and if it offers to be too squat 

 and stubby it will be helped by placing a small inverted paper 

 funn?l over it, especially at night. 



When the plant is to be grown in a pot, place the bulb so 

 that its upper surface shall be a quarter of an inch below the 

 rim of the pot, do not press the soil much below the bulb, but 

 make it firm all round it at the sides. If moderately moist, 

 the pots will want no water. Set these pots in a damp, dark 

 place in-doors, as on a cellar-floor, and cover over with a cloth or 

 two, to prevent the surface drying, and to keep the bulb warmer. 

 Ere long roots will be protruded, and the stem and leaves begin 

 to expand, and then the pot and its contents must gradually be 

 exposed to more light until you give it all you can in the win- 

 dow, and water will be wanted as the growth increases. 



When, in addition to the window, you can command a frame 

 or pit to bring these bulbs forward with a little forcing heai, 

 then the pots should be filled nearly full, just slightly pressed, 

 the bulb placed on the surface, and soil placed round it, so that 

 the upper surface of the bulb shall be quite as high as the rim 

 of the pot. Then these pots should be set on a hard bottom in 

 a bed, and be covered with 2 or 3 inches of ashes, leaf mould, 

 &e. The plants in the pots will then be more like being 

 planted at once in the ground. The weight of the covering will 

 press the bulb deep enough in the pot, and make it firm 

 enough without much firming at planting, and when the pot is 

 pretty full of roots, you can take it out, gradually expose it to 

 the full light, and give it more heat, and before you take it to 

 the window, harden off again by degrees. 



The same process may be adopted with all bulbs usually 

 forced for winter;and spring; but let it be borne in mind that 

 Snowdrops and Crocuses will force but little. 



6th, When bulbs are wanted for early blooming in the flower- 

 garden, and the plants in beds now are wished to remain as 

 long in bloom as possible, then the best plan is to fix upon a 

 dryish place for a bed out of doors, and with a firm bottom. 

 On this place about 3 inches of loam and rough leaf mould, 

 and on it set your garden bulbs at 4 or 5 inches apart for 

 Hyacinths, 2 or 3 inches apart for Tulips, and from 1 to 

 2 inches for Crocuses, and then cover over with the same com- 

 post to a depth of from 1 to 2 inches, giving a little protection 

 if the weather should turn out very frosty. These bulbs will 

 be growing away nicely, rooting in the rich, rough material ; 

 and when you have cleared away the summer and autumn 

 flowers, dug your beds, enriched them with rotten dung, and 

 exposed them well to the air, you can lift your bulbs with little 

 balls adhering to them, and place them in the best circum- 

 stances for their vigorous growth. This plan would also answer 

 well for balconies, vases, &c, as the bulbs would be growing 

 freely when planted. 



7th, For whatever use bulbs are intended, the sooner they are 

 planted permanently, or, as in the last case, temporarily, the 

 better they will succeed. They will always bloom weaker in 

 proportion as they are wasted by exposure to air, and roots and 

 stems are made before planting. These processes are then 

 essentially wasting ones, and the bulb has no chance to help 

 itself by catering for the means of continued existence. — R. F. 



VEGETABLES. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— September 22. 



We have no alteration worth recording, and last week's remarks apply 

 generally to this. 



FRUIT. 



Apples % sieve 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bush. 



Currants J -sieve 



Black do. 



Firs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs 300 lbs. 



Gooseberries . . quart 

 Grapes, Hothouse, .lb. 

 Lemons 100 



Melons each 2 



Nectarines doz. 2 



d. b. 

 6 to 5 

 4 



Oranges 100 12 20 



Peaches doz. 



Pears (dessert) . . doz. 

 kitchen doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plums Jjj sieve 



Quinces .... & sieve 

 j Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



I Walnuts bush. 10 



6 



S 



2 



5 



















14 



Artichokes each 



Aspr.ragus bundle 



Beans, Broad. . bushel 



Kidney . . ^ sieve 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Brus. Sprouts J£ sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish . . bundlo 



d. s. 



2 toO 











3 























4 











4 











S 







3 



4 i Leeks bunch 



', Lettuce per score 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustd.dt Cress, punnet 

 Onions. . doz. bunches 



6 Parsley % sieve 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas per quart 



Potatoes bushel 



6 Kidney do. 



Radishes doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



' Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes per doz. 



I Turnips bunch 





 1 

 1 

 



4 

 2 

 

 



a 



8 



o 





 



d. s. 

 3 toO 

 1 

 6 



3 6 

 2 6 

 



6 4 Vegetable Marrows dz. 9 10 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 



William Bull, King's Road, Chelsea, London, S.W. — Retail 

 J.i t of New , Beautiful) and Rare riant*. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Violas cornuta, lutea, and Montana (N. K.). — Too can procure 

 plants of V. eornuta true from the Messrs. E. G. Henderson. Lutea and 

 montana are not yet in the trade, but it is to be hoped that Mr. Tyerman, 

 of the Liverpool Botanic Gardens, will place his surplus stock in the 

 hands of si.me mu\ser\ kkui, mi that tin -■<• valuable bedding plants may be 

 distributed to the public as speedily as possible. They are perfectly 

 hardy, and do nut require the slightest protection during the winter 

 months. 



Scales on Oak Lrai- ( W. H. €.).— They are known popularly as Oak 

 spangles, and are caused by a minute insect— a Cynips— calledDiplolepis 

 lenticularis. In the centre of each scale a grub is hatched. 



Nuts {Hugh). — The specimens are common Filberts, one being the 

 usual white-cuticled, and the other the red-cuticled variety. 



Hedges (En/iVM i.— In No. 87, Vol. III., of our New Series there is a long 

 communication by Mr. Robson upon the subject. 



Bedding Roses (2*. G. Oxten) . — Marechal Niel will not do as a bedding 

 Rose — in fact. Tea-scented Roses are not adapted for the purpose. It is a 

 free bloomer. Marguerite de st. Amand, Duchesse de Caylus, Dr. Andry, 

 Mademoiselle Marguerite Dombrain, and Alfred Colomb are more likely to 

 be good bedding Roses. 



Shrubs tor Plot often Covered with Water (Flora). — Alder, 

 Willow, and Dogwood generally will succeed, while most evergreens like 

 a place the reverse to that winch you mention. You may try Privet of 

 various kind-. Box, Portugal Laurel, ;;nd Juniperus recurva, but we are 

 not sure that the Portugal Laurel will do; Aucuba also does not succeed 

 amiss in a damp place. Try also Ribbon Grass and Arundo conspicua. 



Fuchsia Leaves Blighted (J, R. Mc Quire). — The leaves are very 

 severely attacked by the thrips. Write to Messrs. Webber &. Co., Covent 

 Garden Market, for the information you require. 



Gladioli at the Crystal Palace.— Has Mr. Prince ever read the 

 story of the two knights and the gold anil silver shield? Has he ever 

 read the dispute anent the battle of Sadowa or Kouigratz, and the con- 

 fusion that arose about Kluin? If so, he will see that people may dis- 

 pute and argue about the same thing, and both Le right and both wrong. 

 Now, as one of the Judges of the Gladioli, I think I ought to know, and 

 I can assure Mr. Prince that Mr. Kelway did obtain first prize for the 

 collection, and that he obtained an equal first prize, not so much for the 

 collection as for the trouble of arrangement and number of blooms ex- 

 hibited.— D., Deal. 



Vine Roots in Outside Border f A. Henderson), — If the roots of your 

 Muscat Vines have not descended too deep, which we rather think they 

 have, the covering of your borders with Bashes, say from September, or 

 even earlier, up to May, will do away with the effects of excessive wet, 

 and by putting on beneath the sashes about 18 inches of dry litter, fern, 

 &c., by the end of September, there will be enough of heat in the border 

 to commence forcing about February and onwards. If you wish to 

 force earlier, hot dung a foot deep may go under the litter. Any simple 

 means to take the end of the sashes will do. With a regular frame or pit 

 over the border it might be useful for keeping many things, besides the 

 roots of the Vines, and then the proposed hot-water pipe round the out- 

 side of the border would be useful for keeping out frost ; otherwise we do 

 not think the pipe will be of much use to the Vines, either above ground 

 or sunk beneath it. If the pipes had gone through open rubble beneath 

 the border for the Vines, and there had been a circulation of air through 

 that rubble, it would be a differeiit affair. We would try what the sashes 

 would do first. See "Doings of the Last Week," page 206, and article by 

 " H.'' as to wood and asphalt covers. 



Vinery (ir. Turner).— Your hipped-roofed vinery as proposed will have 

 all and mure than the advantages described in the reply to '*H. W." at 

 page L97, which see, and also the comment on that answer by "H." at 

 page 236 r to-day. We should prefer pillars to arches if you can secure 

 a strong sill, and have the earth kept close up to it if there be no danger 

 from mice and rats getting under it. The border could slope from the 

 sill both outside and inside as you have shown by your lines. Such a 

 house we would plant in front, about 2 feet from the front outside, and 

 also against the back wall. We would prefer fourths British sheet to ribbed 

 or rough glass, but thirds would give you a better glass, and if the place 

 is exposed to hail storms at all you would be safer with 21-oz. glass at 

 about one- third more in price. As your borders inside dip to the pathway, 

 a good drain beneath tnat will be desirable, as well as outside. You 

 need not make the border outside at all the first year or two. 



