February 27, ' 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



171 



Remottnct Old Vines {W.Sheridan). — TN'e presume your employer has 

 power to take up the Vines next season. If ao, ami they can be lifted 

 with cure in October, and bo taken and planted carefully at onco, they 

 will be better than young Vines. If this cannot be done, then wo would 

 prefer Rood yonnt; Vines. If you resolve on lifting them, then your pro- 

 posed plan of treiitment is very good— that is, taking the crop this year, 

 but stumpinq-iu or shortening all the ahoots above the fruit, and bringing 

 up one siugle hhoot from the bottom, and cutting all but that shoot away 

 at planting-time. 



Green Pea3 (J. G. P.).— The Peas you saw had been preserved through 

 the winter. Those which are brought to the London markets from 

 Algiers are worth about lOs. per peck, but are only fit for soup, and for 

 that puri'ose not equal to those preserved in tins. The best Peas are 

 now worth iiJs. per quart. 



Pinery t.4. Burge). — We have published full particulars, with drawings, 

 in " The Pine-Apple Manual." You can have it free by post from our 

 office for thirty-two postage stamps. 



Kidney Bea\s' Blossom Falling {T. J.). — What nre'your dwarf Beans ? 

 If Kidney Beans, the temperature by day is rather too high in dull 

 weather ; I lut if all else i.s right, we should think that the drf>pping off of 

 the blossoms must result from dryness at the roots. Our Beans do not 

 drop a bloom until it is shoved off by the young pod. Temperature at 

 night from 55-, and by day from 60- to 65 \ with 10^ more in sunshine. 

 Very rich heavy soil over-watered, will also sometimes cause them to 

 drop their blooms prematurely. Of com*se, you do not mean dwarf garden 



Beans, or Broad Beans, for none of them will stand anything worth tfao 

 mamo of forcing, nor yet will they agree with a close atmosphere. 



Naxes of Plants (H. C. L.).~Y»ur Acacia is A. decurrena var. mol- 

 lissima, a native of Van Dieraen's Land, and may be called the Very-soft 

 Acacia. The other is an Eucalyptus, or Gum tree, native of New Holland, 

 but we cannot determine the species without seeing a flower. {W. R. J.), 

 —The fruit-bearing Aucuba is the common A. japonica. It never bora 

 fruit until recently, because none but female plants were in this country. 

 We believe your Jasmine is Jasminum heterophyllum ; it is deciduous if 

 grown against a wall, and may be, as you aav. evergreen in a greenhouse. 

 (.471 Old Subscriber, Surrei/).— We cannot usually name plant« from seeds, 

 but the scarlet black-tipped seed you enclosed is so well known as form- 

 ing a necklace for children, that we have no difficulty. It is Abrus pre- 

 catorius, a native of the West Indies (J. Jones).~Yon.T Calanthe arrived 

 in such a crushed condition, owing to the box having been smashed in 

 pas:^ing through the post office, that though wo endeavnurud to compare 

 it with the Calanthe you name, we could make nothing of it. {W. S.). — 

 1, Platyceriua alcicome ; 2. Phlebodium aureum; 3, Pteris cretica ; 

 4, Probably Pfeeris heterophylla. (Z). D. M.).~l, Scindapsus pictus ; 2, Ne- 

 phrodium; 3, Selaginella cwsia ; 4, Aspidium molle ; 5, Adiantum tra- 

 peziforme; 8. Phymatodes; 9, Fruit of a Clematis; 10, Erica camea. 

 The others insufficient for identification. 1 3*. C. Hote).—^ is impossible 

 to say what your plant is from the scrap sent. M. D.).— 1, Asplenium 

 dimorphum ; 2, Adiantum macrophyllum ; 8, Pellaea hastata ; 4, Selagi- 

 nella; 5, too young. 



POULTRY. BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



RAILWAY CHARGES. 

 Once more, then, on this subject. There are some who are 

 said never to touch a subject without adoniin.g it. At any rate 

 this is not mj- present object, I wish not to adorn, but rather 

 to annihilate ; and really, although my first thoughts on the 

 subject were penned somewhat doubtfuUy, these shall be 

 ■written cheerfully and hopefully. I received a communication 

 from the Honorary Secretary of the Poultry Club, that after 

 their Eochdale Show he would be prepared to take up the sub- 

 ject of r.iilway carriage. Doubtless, without any joke, •we, ex- 

 hibitors, all trust that the Club will not ta!;e it vp without 

 putting it down. Then the Club will have earned the good 

 ■wishes of all exhibitors, and ought largely to increase its ranks. 

 In my last, however, I wrote that independently of the Club's 

 efforts, I thought that exhibitors collectively shoidd endeavour 

 to influence railway authorities, and I now suggest the follow- 

 ing form of requisition to be signed by exhibitors and forwarded 

 to the various Boards : — 



" TO THE DmECTOBS OF RAILWA'V. 



" Gentlemen, — We, the undersigned, being breeders of esbibition 

 poultr}-, desire to Itring the foUouTng facts under your notice : — 



" Ist. That poultry eihibitions have largely increased passenger 

 trafEc on railways. 



" 2nd. That all exhibitors cannot be successful, yet the expenses 

 of entry aro large, and the addition of railway carriage tends to 

 diminish the number of exhibitors, and thus imlirectly passenger 

 tralfic. 



" 3rd. That railway expenses form a very heavy item to exhibitors. 



" 4th. That in the case of a crate, or hamper, containing goods 

 being returned ' empty,' the charge is merely nominal, although it 

 cannot have added to the passenger tratiic of the line. 



** Lastly. That exhibitors consider that their poultry hampers, if 

 not carried free on the return journey when unsold, should at most 

 be charged only as ' empty,' and they believe that with an abolition of 

 the return charge altogether railways would be gainers, as distant ex. 

 hibitors would send more specimens, and, in consequence, probably 

 attend themselves, whereas, now, they are often deterred by the double 

 railway expenses. 



" ■W^e, ther^jfore, beg you will give the matter consideration, and 

 give such orders that in future all poultry returning from exhibitions 

 may be carried free. 



" We are. Gentlemen, &c." 

 This, it appears to me, embodies the inatter in aa few words 



as we can, but I throw this out merely as a suggestion, and it 

 depends on exhibitors themselves whether such requisition 

 would be successful. It requires to be, like that presented to 

 me when I was a -visionary " railway king," influentially 

 signed.— Y. B. A. Z. 



Provided the means are forthcoming, I should advise the 

 printing of some fifty copies or more, with the names of those 

 signing the requisition, which I am now quite ready to receive, 

 if the requisition is considered to meet the circumstances of 

 the case. One of these copies, with the printed signatures, I 

 ■will then forward to the head quarters of every large railway 

 company, requesting a reply, and the names of those respond- 

 ing favourably can at once be pul)lisbed in " our Journal," 

 perhaps in " letters of gold." — Y. B. A. Z. 



P.S. — I have only to add, that since the matter has been 

 mooted some of our most successful exhibitors have expressed 

 their willingness to assist — a proof, were any needed, of the 

 fact that the grievance i.s deeply felt even by those who have 

 been supposed to show successfully. It needs not much con- 

 sideration to determine how the shoe must pinch the unsuc- 

 cessful class. 



The following breeders have communicated ■with me, and I 

 shall be happy to add others, and wUl, as time serves, commu- 

 nicate with others. 



■Viscountess Holmesdale, £1 



Sir St. George Gore, £1 



J. Roilbard Rodbard 



J. K. Fowler 



Charles Peaso 



R. B, Postans, 10». Bd. 



H. Beldon 



E. Pigeon, ,£1 paid 



G. llannng, 10.<. 6<i. paid • 



Rev. C. Spencer, 10a. 6d. 



Rev. .1. Ellis 



Rev. J. G. A. Baker 



Rev. A. K. Cornwall 



Rev. W. Shaw, 10». 6d. paid 



H. Lane 



" Caxtns " 

 John Rhodes 

 Miss Milward 

 Mrs. Pettatt, 10s. 6ii. paid 

 Mrs. Seamona 

 Charles Cork, 10s. M. 



E. Shaw, 6s. 



F. P. Edwards 



H. Yardley, 10«. 6<i. 



S. Lang, jun. 



C. Jennison 



F. King 



Capt. Heaton 



T. Stretch, 10s. ed. 



Joseph Hinton, IDs. M. paid 



Most of these have also signified their intention to help in 

 the " sinews of war," but have not mentioned any amount. 

 I must apologise to many for apparent neglect in not answering 

 their queries. I feel I must do this chiefly through " our 

 Journal " as a public print, for the time I am able to devote 

 to the matter is but hmited ; still, now that we have set the 

 wheel going, I hope we shall not let it stop till we have Cfim- 

 pleted our work successfully. 



• Onareateea £2. 



