December 1, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



433 



Materials for a Geometric Winter Garden (T. T.).— Coal ashes, 

 black ; ground bricks, rot! ; wine-bottles broken small, green ; Derbyshire 

 spar broken email, sparkling white ; sholls pounded, dead whito ; sand or 

 gronnd yellow bricks, yellow. 



Various (A, H. 8. W.). — Peat charcoal may be purchased from Mr. II. 

 Baker, 17, Harp Lane, Great Tower Street, London. Calico or fine 

 canvas may be waterproofed by tho composition stated at page 874 "f the 

 present volume Nets are best tanned by lotting them soak for twenty- 

 four hours in a Strong infusion of Oak bark. Any tanner would allow 

 you to put a not into one of his tanning pits. 



Roses— Maukchal Niel and Austrian Briar {Lady K in $).— Mar t'-chal 

 Niel will do out of doors in summer. We have not had it long enough to 

 speak unerringly of its power of winter endurance, but I have no doubt 

 that it can be wintered out of doors with a covering over its roots, and a 

 little straw, or fern, placed against its wood. It is a veritable child <>f 

 either Isabella Gray or the Cloth of Gold. My specimen, sent by Mon- 

 sieur Eugene Vcrdier two years back, has never given me a flower. The 

 ends have been invariably blind. Still I shall go on with it on account of 

 its golden colour, which is its main feature of excellence. I have no 

 doubt that it is succulent at its tips, like the Cloth of Gold, and re- 

 quires spring protection to save its bloom. It does not follow because 

 nurserymen, with their scienco, fine land, and suitable appliances, out of 

 thousands of plants show a boxful of fine blooms, that it is a good Rose 

 for the general public. It is difficult without knowing circumstances to 

 say what would make the Austrian Briar blossom. Probably it wants 

 manure, or to be cut hard at the laterals, as Hybrid Chinas are cut ; or it 

 may be the pruner cuts it hard every year, in which latter case it will 

 not bloom. To bloom these trees in perfection there should be dupli- 

 cates, one plant should be cut hard at the laterals, which will bloom well 

 the yeor following; and the other should be only tipped, or thinned out, 

 and cut hard at the sides in the next year. Instead of having the Austrian 

 Briars I think it preferable to have a large stock of these most beautiful 

 and successful Roses: Gloire de Dijon, Triomphe de Rennes, and Celine 

 Forestier.— W. F. Radclyffe, Okeford Fitzpaine, 



Fungus on Peach Tree Roots (M. D.).— We believe it to he a species 

 of Erysiphe, but it is certainly not a cause of death— it is a result of the 

 trees being unhealthy. If the border were well drained, the trees pro- 

 tected through the winter and spring by glass lights leant against the 

 wall, and the surface of the border mulched in summer, the trees would 

 not die as you mention. 



Pinched-in Shoots of Wall Trees (C. P.).— You had better leave 

 the pruning-back of your pinched-in shoots a little longer, until you are 

 more able to cut surely to a wood-bud. 



Roots of Sea-kale Plants {Idem). — For forcing we like to take up the 

 roots of Sea-kale of a good length, but wo have had very good cuttings 

 from roots 6 inches long. We do not exactly perceive how you feel any 

 difficulty in disposing of long roots in a Mushroom-house. You might 

 take them uplong.and packthem in pots 12 inches deep, as mentioned by 

 Mr. Fish last week, and then if there were light in the Mushroom-house 

 you could insure blanching by placing an empty pot over the full one. 



Pit not Succeeding (L. M. W.).— If you had not told us that you ob- 

 tain as much heat as you require, we should have snpposed that one 

 pipe for bottom heat and the return for top heat would not have been 

 enough for a pit 40 feet long, and 5 feet 9 inches wide, and even now we 

 question if you have enough of heat, if yon commence usiDg the pit for 

 Cucumbers before the end of March, in such a pit we would have pre- 

 ferred your 21-haeh-wide inside pit to have been at the front instead of 

 the back"; but,- as it is there, we think your failure may be owing to two 

 causes — having the stems and foliage too near the glass, 15 or 18 inches 

 would be near enough ; and to the roots becoming too dry. We would ad- 

 vise in such a narrow pit from 15 to 18 inches depth of soil, an inch of 

 clean-washed fine gravel on the top of the brickbats, and an open drain- 

 pipe at every 4 feet, with one end among the clinkers and one above the 

 soil, furnished with a plug, through which to pour water and keep mois- 

 ture at the bottom. 



Hot-water Pipe Joints (J. R. Proctor).— To do your joints well and 

 be able to take them to pieces, you may head them with tow or hemp, 

 and then fill up with that and red lead. After the pipes enter the house 

 you may pack the sockets as above, and fill up with Portland cement, 

 which is easily cracked and taken out by applying a dry heat beneath it, 

 and for such a house will do very well. Your house will heat all the 

 better from the boiler in the cellar being 6 or 8 feet below the level of the 

 pipes in the house. There is no necessity for the return-pipe being of 

 the same length as the flow-pipes; all that is wanted is that the flows 

 should come from the top of the boiler, and the return enter the bottom. 

 In fact, in your house, 30 feet by 14, you might take one or two flows 

 along the end, the front, and the farther end, and along the hack, either 

 to a cistern or an air-pipe, and from thence take a return-pipe right to 

 the bottom of the boiler. All that is wanted is a connection. 



Canker in Apple Trees (A Gardener, Shepton Mallet'.— If canker 

 arises from the trees' old age there is no remedy ; but if the trees are 

 young canker may usually be avoided by keeping all their roots near 

 the surface, manuring that surface, and mulching it during the summer. 



GnAPE {Constant Reader, Lincoln).— It is quite impossible to tell its' 

 name from three berries. A bunch and a leaf are required to insure 

 correct identification. 



Canaries Aim Plants (K. Grefjson).— The plants will not injure tho 

 canarioH, but these will disfigure the plants. 



Fruit Trees for an Orchard-house {F. T.).— You propose in your 

 houso, only slighl heated, to have a Peach, a Nectarine, and an 

 Apricot against the back wall, and in the border in front two Peaches, 

 two Nectarines, and two Apricots, and to have four Vinos planted outside 

 to go up the roof. Of the proposed arrangement, without knowing moro 

 of the house, we can say nothing farther than this, that the less heat 

 there is in the house the better the Apricots will do, and ns they require 

 even more free air than Peaches, wo would either have them entirely at 

 the back of the house, or we would have them back and front at ono 

 end, so as to keep them more cool and airy. The kinds we would select 

 are— Apricots : ono Largo Early, one Peach, one Moorpark. Peaches : 

 one Noblesse, one Harrington, ono Wnl burton Admirable. Nectarines: 

 ono Elruge, ono Violette Hative, one Pitmaston Orange. Vine* : one 

 Buckland Sweetwater, one Royal Muscadine, one Black Hamburgh, ono 

 Trentham Black. Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridge worth, is the author of tho 

 " Orchard-House," &c. 



Reflexed Chrysanthemums for Exhibitions (B.,a Constant Reader). 

 — These are shown at many of the country shows, but seldom near 

 London. The following are the best :— Invincible, white ; Bixio, crimson ; 

 Annie Salter, yellow; Nell Gwynne, rose lilac; Triomphe du Nord, red; 

 Ariadne, blush shaded; Edwin Landseer, rose purple ; Pelagia, orange; 

 Christine, rose peach ; Progne, crimson ; Cardinal Wiseman, bright red ; 

 Wonderful, crimson. 



Grapes not Keeping (Sevcnoaku). — Owing to the recent heavy rains 

 your border has no doubt become excessively wet, and that is unfavour- 

 able to the Grapes hanging, and equally if not more so to filling the 

 house with bedding plants. For the present crop we fear little can bo 

 done, and in future cover the border with wooden shutters or tarpaulin, 

 so as to keep it dry, and maintain a dry atmosphere. Do not fill the 

 house with plants requiring watering. Your plant is Pernettya empetri- 

 folia, sometimes called Arbutus pumila. 



Daphne indica Leaves Rusted (P.).— The leaf sent appears to us 

 rusted through being kept in a damp, ill-ventilated structure. We do 

 not observe any trace of insects. A rather warm greenhouse suits it, 

 affording plenty of air and a moderate amount of water at the root at 

 this and indeed at any season. A soil which is too wet, and too much 

 pot room, are the chief causes of failure. 



Weed (Maria).— You expect as much from us as the lover did from tho 

 wizard, " What is the name of the lady, a lock of whose hair is enclosed ?" 

 We really cannot say which of the weeds it is from the scraps of root 

 which you enclosed. If the leaves are grass-like it is probably Twitch, 

 or Couch-gross, and if so you can only destroy it by having the ground 

 repeatedly forked over, and every fragment of tho roots picked out and 

 burned. 



Early Spring Flowers for a Renovated Garden {Inquirer). —It is 

 too late to sow seeds now ; but you may obtain plants of Primulas, 

 Mimulus, Alyssum saxatile, Aubrietia purpurea, and others, Iberis sem- 

 pervirens, Cheiranthus Marshalli, and ochroleucus; the variegated forms 

 of Arabis albida and lucida ; Christmas Rose, Hepaticas, Auriculas, and 

 Polyanthus, as well as the early-flowering Dutch bulbs, such as Crocus, 

 Hyacinths, Tulips, and Narcissus. To these you may add Phlox verna 

 and subulata, and many other plants, as Wallflowers, Giant and Brompton 

 Stocks, which may be followed by Rockets, Catchfly, Dielytra spectabilis, 

 and a host of others. You might also, perhaps, be able to raise a few 

 Calceolarias from cuttings if you had the means to shelter them from 

 severe frosts and could obtain cuttings now. They grow with very little 

 trouble. 



Plants for a North Border {A Subscriber).— Several herbaceous 

 plants of great beauty do best on a north border, as Phlox, Primroses, 

 Rockets, Polyanthus, and Mimulus, of many fine varieties, some Saxifrages 

 and Veronicas, but most of the Sedums like sun. Of bedding plants 

 Calceolarias are the most likely to succeed, and Iresine Herbstii is al3o 

 good. Lobelias will do, but Pelargoniums and Verbenas like sun. That 

 fine herbaceous plant Dielytra spectabilis will also do well ; and if there 

 be portions of the border very much shaded and damp, it is not impro- 

 bable that some of the hardy Ferns might succeed. Most shrubs will 

 do well iu such a place. 



Names of Fruit (J. Scott).— The Apple is Alfriston ; the Pear No. 2, 

 Beurre de Ranee. We shall be glad to know something further about 

 " Gansel's New Bergamot." Is it the same as " Late Gansel's?" 

 (Rodolph).— 2, Lewis's Incomparable; 3, Winter Quoining; 4, Nelson 

 Codlin; (5, Golden Pearmain; 7. Winter Bon Chretien; 8, Catillac ; 

 9, Sans Pepins. (J. Robinson).— 1, Beurre Clairgeau; 2, Gansel's Ber- 

 gamot ; 4, Swan's Egg. We do not recognise any of the Apples. 



Names of Plants {M. Wild).— It is Gilia coronopifolia, by some bota- 

 nists called Ipomopsis elegans. It is a native of Carolina. You will find 

 it best cultivated as a biennial, and in a greenhouse. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending December 1st. 



Gekbral Remarks. 



Fine ; cloudy ; windy ; fine ; very slight frost. 



Cloudy ; clear and fine ; overcast. 



Very slight rain ; overcast ; clear ; a few white clouds ; fine ; frosty, 



Hoar frost ; cloudless j bright sun ; foggy ; frosty. 



Foggy ; clear and very fine ; foggy at night. 



Light hazy clouds ; clear and fine ; very fine at night. 



Overcast ; cold uniform haze ; overcast ; rain. 



