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JOUKNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



[ October 2, 1866. 



The Potato Disease (A 2?.).— Tlie fungus causing the disease is Eo- 

 trytis infestuns. It was tlrst noticed in. Great Britain in 1840, source 

 unknown. We do not think that a good Mushroom season is at all coin- 

 cident with the prevalence of the Potato murrain. There is no such 

 thing as a generating of fungi in the atmosphere. The fungus on the 

 Tomato fruit is not identical with that of the Potato tuber. The best 

 mode of avoiding the disease is to cultivate none but varieties that have 

 their tubers ready for storing by the end of July. 



Bottom of Pit for Wintering (J. C. Bealc).— Yon may tile, brick, 

 slate, concrete, or plaster the bottom of your brick pit intended for 

 bedding plants in winter, or yon may cover with the driest chalk you can 

 find ; but remember that the more yon prevent moisture rising, the more 

 careful you must be not to give a drop of onaeeeBsar; water in winter, 

 even to taking the trouble of Inking plants out when you water them, 

 and allow them to be drained before replacing them. If you use a stage 

 or platform at all you need not mind about the bottom of the pit, but you 

 may cover with dry ashes, and as they become moist replace with others, 

 or dry chalk, &e. For a permanent bottom on which the plants are to 

 stand nothing is better than bricks or tiles. 



Florists' Flowers [A Subscriber, Southampton).— A. flor'sts' flower 

 must be very remarkable to be named from a single bloom. There are 

 myriads so nearly alike thai we cannot venture to assign names to them. 



Na3ies of Insects (J. Colcgate). — The thread-like worm ia Gordiua 

 nquaticus. It belongs, like the leech, to the class Suctoria, or suckers ; 

 scarcely exhibits any maTks of articulation on its body, and has no dis- 

 tinct respiratory organs. Its oolouz is pale brown, and its being found in 

 such a twisted form suggested its name after the inventor of tbeGoidian 

 knot. The mouth is a simple pore at the fore extremity of the body, 

 which is conical ; but the tail being forked, as represented at a, has 



often been mistaken for its month. Its habits are little known, but we 

 are inclined to think it one of the friends of the gardener, for twi i | 

 observed one esc: pe from the body of a beetle, which they found writh- 

 ing on the ground. (J. Bryan). — It is Sires gigas. Its tame are deposited 

 in the wood of the Pine tribe, in which they bore holes. 



Greenhouse (A Subscriber^.— Though the house will not be in the beet 

 of situations, we see no reason why common greenhouse plants will not 

 do well in it. In fact, Camellias, Oranges, rftc., will do better than, if they 

 had more sunlight. 



Horseflesh for Vine -borders— Fruit for Walls (A. B. C). — Do 

 anything with horseflesh except putting it in a Vine-border. Does your 

 wall face east on one side and west on the other ? Then, if appropriated 

 to Apricots and Peaches, we would plant the north ends with Apricots, 

 and the south end with Peaches. 



Seeds for a Garden (Young Gardener).— The expense for seeds for 

 a garden such as you name would depend greatly on having esta- 

 blished or new kinds. As a rough guess for the one-and-half-acre 

 kitchen garden, one-acre flower garden, and the houses, we should say 

 from three to five guineas, and even more, according to the number of 

 crop?, &c. 



Variegated Jasmine (E. P. Francis rf* Co.).— "Your golden variegated 

 Jasmine is very pretty, and in the present rage for variegated plants and 

 shrubs it ought to be much sought after. While giving one the idea of 

 the Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera aureo-reticulata), it has the advan- 

 tage of free blooming to add to its beauty. It seems very constant in its 

 variegation." — D., Deal. 



Bowood Muscat Vote (G. S.).— The Royal Horticultural Society dis- 

 tributes cuttings of Vines and of other fruit trees to the Fellows on 

 application, but not plants of fruit trees. The other questions next 

 week. 



WAsrs in ViNr.r.Y [Carting).— Trap them after they are inside; but it 

 is better to prevent their entrance by means of perforated zinc, wire 

 gauze, or muslin. Hand-glasses form very good wasp traps, and there 

 are various other means of destroying the insects without resorting to 

 the nighly objectionable one of employing poisonous substances. 



Names of Fruit (J. B.).— Not Alfriston, and we cannot say what. 

 Apples arc very difficult to name this year. {C.Marsden). — Summer 

 Golden Pippin. (J. E. A'.).— Apples : 1, Alfriston ; 2. Yorkshire Greening; 

 3, Royal Russet ; 6, Scarlet Crofton ; 9, Ribston Pippin ; 13, Coe's Golden 

 Drop; 14, Brabant Bellefleur ; 15, Yorkshire Greening; 3 9, Barcelona 

 Pearmain ; 17, Calehasse (not Beurre Boscl, Pear. (H. Bing). — Jersey 

 Gratioli Pear. {Carting), — 1, not known; 2, Down ton Apple. 



Names or Plants i.I. B.).— Most likely your leaf belongs to some 

 species of Senecio. (Anricola). — 1, Davallia cauariensis ; 2, Pellsea fal- 

 cata ; 3, doubtful ; 4, Scolopeudrium ofiicinarum, var. [A. D.). — It appears 

 to be Francoa sonchifolia. {A Young Gardener near Lincoln). — The fruit 

 is Staphylea pinnata ; and the Grass a Digitaria, perhaps D. sanguinalis. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending September anth. 



POULTRY. BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE 



VULTURE-HOCKED BRAHMA POOTRAS. 

 Things change, and the change is so gradual as to be almost 

 imperceptible. It is like the alteration in our features — it comes 

 on by slow degrees, and though we have a sort of recollection 

 of what we were, it is the present that is always with us. We 

 pass by a shop tenanted by a man with a name " ending in t," 

 and at the counter we see three or four errand boys enjoying 

 their ices on a hot summer's day. As we walk along the 

 streets we are struck by the sight of costermongers' barrows 

 laden with Pine Apples. The meanest public-house entices its 

 customers by placarding in hot weather that all its drinks are 

 iced. And then our costume ; beard, moustaches, gaiters ; our 

 colours (immortal honour be to Uwen Jones, who in 1851 broke 

 up the conventional drabs, blacks, and blues), sober colours 

 for those who like them, but men or women may choose for 

 themselves, and wear what they like. The Polish Jews some 

 years since were the only men who wore beards. What would 

 be said now if one of that creed appeared, as formerly, with 

 three hats stuck one on the other on his head ? Such a gear 

 was a Jew's sign-board. A humorous wiiter says, speaking of 

 them, " Old bats, oranges, sealing-wax, and all." To wear a 

 white hat was to be hooted or admired, as the case might be, 

 for a radical ; any alteration in the accustomed costume caused 

 one to be looked at and pointed at as a foreigner. There was 

 but one hat, and that was —well, what was it ? I will try to 

 illustrate it. A savage, or one considered such, was once brought 



to France where the process of civilisation was begun, and he 

 was soon sufficiently advanced to be left by himself. He was 

 provided with proper clothing, and showed an evident inclina- 

 tion to become a dandy, bestowing much attention on dress. 

 He was provided with a cap, but longed for a hat. This luxury 

 was refused him. He was left one winter's day in a room 

 where there was a stove. It stood, as they often do, in the 

 centre of the room, and had a pipe to convey the smoke into 

 the chimney. After he had been some time by himself the 

 house was observed to be rilling with smoke. There were fears 

 that our embryo dandy had set it on fire. No such thing, 

 however ; he had only cut out a length of pipe, and having 

 flattened the bottom of it all round, he sat in conscious 

 dignity — he had a hat. All sorts of caps were taken in pre- 

 ference to a " chimney-pot," as it is sometimes called ; but, 

 save for boys, caps do not take in England. Then (the day 

 shsuld be marked with a white stone), appeared a soft, pliable 

 hat, that you could sit down upon, or put in your pocket, or 

 crumple up. People, however, did not dare take to them 

 openly. They wore them in out-of-the-way country places ; 

 at the sea-side, in their gardens, and wherever they could 

 not be seen ; but the wearer of one of them was always sup- 

 posed to be a careless, reckless fellow, one who had roughed it, 

 or one who had ceased to mind the world's opinion and could 

 hold his own — was, in his own language, " up to a thing or two;" 

 and so the hat was called a " wide-awake." We used to see 

 Tyroleans with feathers and flowers in their hats, and think 

 what odd men they were to wear them ; now everybody, gentle 

 and simple, wears a fancy hat ; and one puts in a feather, 

 another a flower, but all wear decorations of one sort or 



