February 18, 1866. j 



JOUBNAL OF HOHTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



133 



SniFTiNO FucHsiAH INTO LARGE PoT.H ( Eg»<'«).— Vou may pot your 

 FuchBias from five-int-b into nine or ten-inch pots, which ia no uncom- 

 mon practice in Fuchsia culture. The objections to large )*hifts are, that 

 plants grow more freely, have fewer flowers, ami have not the stiff close- 

 jeinted habit of plants more frequently iiotted. Another objection is, 

 that the roots make for the sides of the pot, leaving most of the soil un- 

 occupied with fibres, whereas when the plants are only shifted when the 

 pots become full of roots, every particle of soil is a mass of roots from 

 the centre to the outside of the hall. 



Soapsuds (S. N.]. — You may apply this washhouse liquid to Rose trees 

 whilst they are growing. We never heard of worms congregating where 

 soapsuds were applied. 



Asparagus for London Map-kf-t iA Worhitig Gardener). — Fortheaize 

 you mention you might average '3d. per 100 after deductiu{» carriage, &c. 

 The earlier iu the season you could get it to market the more you would 

 realise. The larger the better, and none should be sent less than 9 inches 

 long. 



Ants (A Larfi/).— Water their hannt daily with ammoniacal liquor 

 from a gas works until they disappear, which they usually do in a few 

 days. 



Ak.hctochilus Dominii (H*. Jnr/iTJtonV — It is a hybridbetween Goodyera 

 discolor and Aniectochilus xantbophyllu-!. The leaves are of a dark olive 

 green, with a pale vellowish copper^' tinge down the centre; the main ribs 

 marked out by fine pallid lines, and the intervening spaces sparsely veined. 

 Hyacinths Blooming Badly iX.Y.Z.). — The bloom of the Hyacinths 

 and Tulips being poor is in a great measure attributable to the inferior 

 quality of the bulbs, although your treatment would not conduce to their 

 blooming well. You excited them too much. A temperature of from 50" 

 to 55 from fire heat is sufficient forcing, and the pots should have been 

 placed on a shelf near the glass, and not in a bottom heat of 70'-. In 

 other respects yonr treatment seems faultless. 



Planting Lilies of the Valley (.S. £.).— It would be much the better 

 plan to take them up from the wood now and plant them in the border, 

 prescr\ing as many of the roots as possible. They would be much more 

 likely to succeed in this way than if yon waited until they were in bloom, 

 and then moved the flowering plants only. The latter might or might not 

 flower in the following year; most prob.ibly they would not. in conse- 

 quence of their removal when in flower weakening the gi-owth, so as to 

 prevent the formation of bloom for another year. The blind plants one 

 year are the most likely to flower in the next. You may now select the 

 strongest, and it they have thick and plump buds or crowns they will 

 mostly flower. The thin sharp-pointed buds rarely flower, but they are 

 likely to flower well another year. A soil of two parts leaves, and of sand 

 and loam, will suit them, but one-fourth more loam would be better in 

 place of so much leaf soil. 



Netting •£. C).— N'one is better for protw^ting fi-nit tree blossoms on 

 walls than Haythom's hexagonal netting, rather small-meshed. 



Botany [Economif). — Thera is no cheaper work of the same kind as 

 " The Treasun* of Botany." Henslow's " Dictionary- of Botanical Terms '• 

 briefly explains them, but nothing further. 



Saw-dust for Plunging Pots (H. JV/.).— Sawdust is a good material in 

 which to plunge pots of cuttings, and the proposed mode of forming a 

 hotbed over the hot-water pipes will answer very well. The temperature 

 of the hotbed, if the pipes are kept warm, will be from 70' to I'y , and that 

 is sufticient. The temperature of the atmosphere should range from 

 60^ to 65" at night, and from 70- to 75- bv day ; the place should be kept 

 close and moist. 



Azaleas Growing Prematurely (A Subscriber).— It is by no means 

 uncommon for Azaleas to make young or new growths before flowering, 

 and their doing so results from their being kept too warm, and from the 

 buds not being well ripened in the previous season. This premature 

 growth will not interfere with that subsequently made, and sometimes it 

 does not materially affect the present bloom, but in other cases the 

 flower-buds become abortive. Some varieties are more subject to this 

 peculiarity than others, and it is chiefly confined to those carr>ing an ex- 

 tra amount of foliage. These bloom as "well with the new growths appear- 

 ing as not ; whilst those that are spare in foliage through the winter and 

 start new growths early in the season, often have the buds abortive. We 

 know of no remedy except to secure a good growth after blooming by a 

 moist growing heat, to have the wood well ripened, and to keep the 

 jtbints cool and well aired in winter. 



Trees FOR Natal IE. S. B. G.).— Almost any plant or tree that would 

 succeed in the south of Italy would do in the middle terrace of Natal, but 

 from the specimens of woods shown in the Exhibition of iHGii we should 

 think that it would not answer to plant for timber. Yellow-wood may 

 readily be procured in the colony in logs of 40 feet long and 5 feet in 

 diameter; and though not durable when exposed to the weather, it 

 answers well for in-door work. Sneeze-wood, which is produced by a 

 species of Pteroxylon, is on the contrary very hard and durable; in- 

 stances are known of its continuing sound in the ground for more than 

 half a century. Besides these there are Stinkwood, and many other 

 woods useful for furniture and wheelwrights' pui-poses. We think that 

 the best varieties of fruit trees and vegetables would be a far more useful 

 importation. 



Names of Plants (E. S.). — It is Chimonanthus fragrans, a native of 

 Japan, introduced exactly a centurv since. It is hardy, though it 

 flourishes better in a conservatory. (K. 3T. H.). — Chimonanthus fragrans 

 (J. S.) — 1. Goldfussia isophylla; 2, .Justicia ilavicoma ; 3, Sempervivum 

 tortuosum. (Old Snbscrih^rt. — The following Ferns were unaccompanied 

 by numbers : Adiantumtenerum, A.pubes?cens, Aspidiummacrophyllum, 

 Pteris cretica, Allosorus rotundifolius. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



HOW OUR POULTRY-YARD IS MANAGED. 



I SEE in your Jonmal of December 12th that " .J. S. 

 how he is to obtain thirty eggs weekly, and I see you have 

 given him very good advice respecting the breed and number 

 of pullets he should keep. If you v,iU allow me, I wUl state 

 how we manage our small poultry.yard, as we have for the 

 last eight or nine weeks collected as many as from ten to 

 thirteen eggs per day from twenty-six fowls, chiefly pullets. 



In the first place, we selected six good hens, chiefly Dorkings ; 

 we then crossed them with the Cochin-China, so as to have a 

 little of the Cochin blood in the chickens, just enough to show 

 that they had been crossed with that breed, and under the 

 first two hens that will sit we put twelve or thirteen eggs each. 

 We find that it is an excellent scheme to sit two hens at one 

 time, as they will both hatch their chickens nearly at once, 

 and then if there be a few eggs longer in hatching than usual, 

 one htn will take the chicks, and the other will finish the 

 hatching. Be sure to sit hens, and not pullets. If you choose 

 you can put both broods together ; for very often, and espe- 

 cially at this season of the year, you will seldom obtain a fuU 

 brood — more likely six or seven chicks from each hen, and I 

 nothing, I think, looks so bad as a hen going about with two or | 

 three young ones. On the other hand, it is very pleasing to 

 see a hen with a good brood — say fifteen or sixteen chickens — 

 something for the hen to do. 



I last year noticed several remarks made by persons visiting 

 our place (I say our place, although I mean my employer's 

 place ; when a man makes use of the word " our place," it 

 shows that he feels himself at home, and I think he takes 

 more interest in whatever he may have under his care ; but 

 perhaps some employers may not hke to hear their servants 

 make use of the word) ; they would say, " What a fine brood of 

 young chickens you have ! How do you manage to hatch so 

 many ? " But the above are not all the advantages gained by 

 sitting two hens at one time, for one of the hens can be shut 

 up for a few days till she forget her young ones, and iu a little 

 time she will recommence laying. I find that hens crossed as I 

 have already stated turn off their young sooner than some other 

 sorts, besides being first-class hens to sit. 



As a rule we never kill any of our early pullets, although we 

 are sometimes forced to do so ; we generally kill all cockerels, 

 except when we see a promising young bird, and then we save 

 him. The young pullets lay plenty of eggs for Christmas. It 

 might be supposed that our stock must increase veiy fast, but 

 we generally sell or kill as many old hens as we save puUets, 

 never keeping a hen longer than four years, unless she has 

 some good quality, and then she has a reprieve. A new young 

 cock should be introduced every season ; it is a good plan to 

 import some fresh blood into the stock every year. 



Now, as regards food. Perhaps it will be said the chickens 

 must live well. I will admit that they do ; they have plenty, 

 not enough to waste. I have seen some men take a gallon or 

 peck of corn and throw it all out at one time on the ground, 

 whether the fowls wanted it or no. Now this is very wrong 



