March 20> 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AKD COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



229 



KAijnA LATIFOUA CULTURE IN A PoT (A Subscriber from the Begin- 

 mnp).— Your plan will be to give it a somewhat larpe pot, drain it weU, 

 and use a compost of turfy peat chopped with a spade but not sifted. If 

 you will do this, aud plentifully supply the pluut with water when making 

 ne-w growths, and keep it at all times moist, with the pot plun^'ed to the 

 rim in coal ashes in a warm open situation, you will find it a free-bloom- 

 ing shrub. This is all the pains we take ^Wth ours for forcing. Wc take 

 up good strong bushy plants, pot them in pots sufficiently lar^je to hold 

 them comfortably, draiuiug the pots efficiently, and using a compost of 

 turfy brown peat or bog soil, plimge the pots to the rim in coal ashes in 

 a sheltered open situation, and keep the plants weU supplied with water 

 throughout the summer, and at all times mois-t. and we find them set 

 plenty of bloom, which we bring out by placing them in a house with a 

 temperature of SO' bv night and not exceeding D5\ They are placed in a 

 house having a temperature of from 40 ' to 45 for three weeks, aud are then 

 introduced into the above temperatui-e. They are taken outside after 

 blooming, and placed in the same situation as before, where they remain 

 overwinter. Being potted in spring they make a good growth, and are 

 eligible for forcing Hgain in the following winter. They require a rather 

 large pot for their size, and plenty of water in summer. 



Soot Water for EvAPORATrao-PANfi (C. P.).— Take a peck of sooti 

 place it in the bottom of a butt or baiTcl, work it into a stiffish paste ^-ith 

 an old scrub-broom, with two or three quarts of water so as to wet the 

 powdery dry soot, then add from forty to sixty quarts, stirring all well to- 

 gether. If you wish the water to be clear, add a pound of fresh lime, and 

 in a day or two you may fill the pans with strong clear soot liquid. Take 

 flowers of sulphur, say "one pouud, mix it up in a paste with a small quan- 

 tity of water, then add a dozen (quarts, or more if you like, and put by it- 

 self in the evaporating-pans. or mixed with the soot or other water. In 

 this case the sulphur will fall to the bottom, and may want brushing up 

 at times. When the water in the pans gets hot, weak sulphur effluvia 

 will bo given oflf. This is a safer plan than putting sulphur paint at once 

 on pipes or flues. 



Heating a Moshroom-house fFM(i/7w-»).~Two three-inch pipes will be 

 ample for such a small Mushroom-hou8e (10 feet by 6 feet), if the walls are 

 secure. The house seems low {5i feet at back), to do work in comfortably. 

 The pipes should not go below the beds, there would be danger of over-heat 

 as well as over-drj-ness. It is of little consequence whether the shelf or 

 platform-bed have the bottom open or close ; when open. Mushrooms fre- 

 quently come through ; when polid. as slate. woodUce are less troublesome. 

 Open-spar slating is the worst roof for such a Mushroom-house, packing 

 with hay or straw will be advisable. A thatched roof would be better. 

 Have a stop-cock as proposed. If the bed out of doors has been wet. and 

 has been made four months, most likely the spawn has perished. Try a 

 bit of the bed and see. If the spawn is soimd, it will no doubt prtiduce 

 yet. 



Removing Leaves from Cuttings (TT. D. T.).— The propriety of allow- 

 ing leaves to remain ou cuttings, or removing a good portion of them, 

 depends entirely on the treatment you are able to give them. Remove 

 not a leaf, say some— and right enough too. if you can so arrange that by 

 a close atmosphere, shading from sun, &c., you can keep these leaves 

 from flagging, in other words, force them to absorb rather more than 

 they perspire ; then the more leaves on the cutting the sooner will roots 

 be formed, aud the plant established. Remove most of the leaves, say 

 others— and if cm >ugh are left to keep on gi-owth, the cutting will bo longer 

 in striking, but it will require less trouble in preventing flagging from 

 extra evaporation. Generally the medium mode is resorted to, a few 

 leaves are removed from the base of the cutting, and some of the other 

 larger leaves are shortened, the smaller allowed to remain to keep on the 

 growth. In the case of Calceolarias, to wliich you refer, we generally 

 remove the two leaves at the bottom, or the joint at which we cut across, 

 and leave tho others mostly as they are ; but then making the cuttings 

 in the end of October, they sufi'er little from the evaporation of their 

 juices. Were we making cuttings of similar plants in April, wo would 

 reduce the foliage or shade them. 



Forming a Vinery oct of a Pit (An Eight-years Subgcribcr).—U you 

 cement the bottom of the pit as you propose, place 6 or 8 inches of open 

 rubble over it, and then a layer or two of fresh tiu-f, grass side downwards. 

 You may use from 9 inches to a foot of such fresh turf with a portion of 

 broken bones ; you may use the rest of the turf, mixed with other soil, 

 for another layer, and a portion of the bones and lime rubbish, but have 

 nothing to do with the stuEf dug out of the foundations for the green- 

 house. Surely you might get a couple of loads or two of good loam from 

 the sides of a highway to mix with lime rubbish. &c. ; if not, take some of 

 the best aired sweetened soil from the kitchen garden. Any Vines may 

 be grown in such a pit, heated as it is by flues. We have given hsts to-day 

 and last week to suit cold houses. Four Vines will be enough, or thi-ee if 

 you confine them to the rafters. If entirely for Vines you might try five 

 — Bay one Sweetwater for earliness. one Muscat of Alexandria, two Black 

 Hamburghs, and one Lady Downe's for late cutting. Use spur pruning. 



Radishes in Potato Frame (Cantab).— You did quite right to keep on 

 the Ughts, the Radishes will not become tlrawn, air being given in mild 

 weather, especially as the bed is cold. After the seed leaves appear it is 

 necessary to give air plentifully, but when there are rough loaves it is not 

 possible to keep the Ughts otherwise than closed in frosty weather, air 

 being given in mild periods. They will not draw up so much as to sustain 

 injury, only they do not stand too close or rank a heat. 



Rhdbarb Forcing (Idem).— The roots should be laid on a few inches 

 of soil, and pretty closely together, and soil should then be packed or 

 placed between them so as to fill up the intervals ; soil should likewise be 

 placed agaiust the sides so as to cover the roots. They will assuredly 

 root into the soil if it is kept moderately moist. The rotting of the stalks 

 is due to the roots being so closely packed, cei-tainly not from the ab- 

 sence of soil. Good strong roots only are eligible for foi'cing, those 

 planted three or four years answer well. 



Brown Varnish for Woodwork (W. J".).— Sorted gum animo81bs.; 

 clarified oil '6 gallons ; Utharge aud powdered dried sugar of lead, of each 

 i lb. ; boil till it strings well, then cool a little, thin with oil of turpen- 

 line 5^ gallons, and strain. 



Pine-Apple Plants (M. W.).—Wii do not Imow where you can obtain 

 any. You had better insert a short advertisement stating precisely what 

 you require. 



Hyacinth [N. C, AVrioflft).— The spike you mention is fine ; but at the 

 Royal Horticultural Society's Show last week there were many still finer. 



Caqiellia Flowers Poor (A Lady Gardener).— V>'o fear that it is now 

 too late to thin the blooms of your Camellia plants, which you say are 

 five or six on the tip of each shoot on trees only 2 foet high. The 

 bloom-buds ought to have been removed in September or before, leaving 

 only one at the point of each shoot. It is, however, good practice to 

 thin such buds by degrees, taking ofl' a few at a time, and, when they are 

 about the size of a Pea. You may remove some of the smaller ones now, 

 but it is too late to expect large blooms this year ; after blooming, if the 

 plants want potting, let that be done, and keep them rather close and 

 warm until .Tune, when they may be gradually inured to the open air, and 

 buds will then be forming. Thin them in .\ugust, or at latest in Septem- 

 ber, and you will have more success another year. 



Flower Border Planting {A Regular Subseriber).—l( your border 

 abuts at once on gravel, with a box edging, or tile or stone bordering in- 

 tervening, then wc would like the " master's " choice as well as your own ; 

 but if there is a grass verge between the border and walli, then we prefer 

 your proposed mode of planting— namely, beginning at the front with 

 Bijou Geranium; second row, Calceolaria Aurea floribunda ; third, 

 Perilla nankinensis ; fourth, Punch Geranium. 



Ventilating Two Adjoining Greenhocses {D. 7).).— By opening the 

 door of your first house, or having larger openings above the door, and in 

 the opposite end, you would have a lower temperature and a rathi;r close 

 moist atmosphere to suit your Ferns, and there we would chiefly place 

 them. lu your new house, 10 feet by G. and with glass merely on the roof, 

 if you did not open the door we would either have three openings, say 

 12 inches by 18 each, in the front or back wall, or two large openiugs a 

 yard square in each end. Then on the shelves you propose, you could 

 glow Fuehsiag, Geraniums, &c. ; and if you wish. Ferns, Ac, as you inti- 

 mate, then we would keep them chiefly on the shelf inside of the front 

 wall, as that would keep them from a tierce sun. 



Six Roses for North Wall (J. TW B.).—For quick growth and 

 flowering early in the season, we would have Felicitt perpetue, lone of 

 the best-foliaged Roses known; then you might either have Jane Hardy, 

 Yellow Noisette, and Fellenberg, a crimson of the same class ; Bouquet 

 de Flore, one of the best Bourbons; and Aimee Vibcrt, a good old Rose 

 of the Noisette section. We fear the Bauksian Roses would not succeed 

 against a north wall, but you might ti-y Gloire de Rosomine, a showy Rose 

 less rampant than some others. We would not recommend you to try 

 Teas, as they are too tender, and so, too, is the Macartney Rose. 



Peach Tf.ees Shedding their Fruit (NorfoVc),—We think that your 

 trees cast their fruit in the process of stoning, and this is mostly due to 

 over-cropping, and in some cases to the roots being deep and wet. In 

 the former case thinning tho fruit bo as to leave three to every two square 

 feet of wall covered will prevent it to a gi-eat extent ; but if it proceeds 

 from the roots being deep and wet, thorough draining is the best remedy, 

 the trees being removed next autumn and the roots brought nearer the 

 surface. If the fruit drops when the second swelling takes place, then 

 it may result from want of moisture. A good watering a fortnight 

 previous to the swelling for ripening, would cause the fruit to swell well, 

 but it is of no use giving surface waterings, one good soaldng is worth 

 ten of them. The fruit drops very often prematurely from the leaves 

 beiug destroyed by led spider. Frequent sjTingings will prevent this evil. 



Gladiolus Seed Sowing {Idem).~The seed should be sown in pans 

 of good, rather light, turfy loam two thii-ds, and sandy peat one third. 

 PUce the pans in a steady heat of from 50' to 55\ The seeds if sotsti in 

 October will produce by this time nice little plants from 1 tQ 3 inches 

 high, and these, rested and hardened for a month, may be planted out in 

 a warm border. In autumn they will have plump Uttle bulbs calculated 

 to bloom in the following year. 



Plants for Walls or Piers in Conservatory lSnmex).—Cissn3^ ant' 

 arctica, Cobcea scandens variegata. Clematis indivisa lobata, Dolichos 

 lignosus, Hibbertia gi-ossularisefolia, H. volubilis, Kennedya inophylla 

 floribunda, Habrothamuus elegans, Sollya linearis, Mimosa prostrata, 

 TropiEolum speciosum, Solanum jasminiflortmi variegatum, Jasminum 

 heterophyllum, Bignonia jasminoides splcndida, and Abutilon striatum. 



Roses for Conservatory (Idevi).— Noisette : Celine Forestier. Miss 

 Gray, Jane Hardy, Aimee Vibert, Ophirie. Tea-scented : Adam, Gloire 

 de Dijon, Devoniensis, Alba rosea, Josephine Malton, La Boule d'Or, 

 Madame Falcot, Marechal Neil, Niphetos, Triomphe do Luxemboui-g, and 

 Smith's Yellow. 



Acacias for Pot Culture (Id^m). — Acacia Drummondi, A. juniperina, 

 oleifolia elegans, gi'andis, hybrlda, longiflova magnifica, and eriocarpa. 

 None is more beautiful than A. ai-mata, which you have. 



Flo^ver-beds {J. P. M.).—We think either plan would look very well, 

 but viewed from the window, we ourselves would prefer more variety — 

 thus, 1, 1, centre Golden Chain, band of blue Lobeha, edging of Cerastium ; 

 2, 2. Scarlet Geranium and Manglcsii for edging ; 3, 3. yellow Calceolaria 

 and Pui-plc King ; 4, 4, Scarlet Geranium, edged with Flower of the Day, 

 thick, and the flowers removed ; 5, 5, the same as 1,1. In order that all 

 the edgings may be light, you might sltirt round 3, 3, vith a naiTOW belt 

 of varfcatod Arabis or variegated Alyssum. Notices of Shrublaad Park 

 by Mr Beaton will be found in Number 261. '262, 417, 418, 421. Old Series ; 

 and by Mr. Fish in Numbers 472, 473, 47G, aud 477, all of which may be 

 had from our office. 



Raspberry Canes having Lateral Shoots (A Lady Gardener).— It is 

 seldom that much good is done with them, and they may as well be cut 

 off or shortened ; if, however, these shoots have produced fruit last year, 

 we fear your chance of a crop this season is not good. Some kinds, as 

 the Fastolfl, are with us very liable to bear on the current year's shoots, 

 and as a consequence these shoots are useless for the next year, and 

 ought to be cut out at pninmg-time ; but. as you say yours are vigorous, 

 it is likely they have not borne fruit, aud may do well. We shoiUd be 

 disposed to leave some of these shoots on the canes newly planted, for 

 their foliage will help the plant to make fresh canes, and much fruit can 

 not he expected. 



Names of Fruits (Ov. D.).— Old Colmar Pear. 



N\MES OF Plants (I/fa;).— Your correspondent's handwriting must be 

 diflicult to decipher. The plants intended by him are Bursnna spmosa, 

 a native of New South Wales. Melaleuca dccussata is also from New 

 South Wales. Sida mollis, a native of Peru, requu-es stove culture. 

 Isopogon anemonifoUus, a naUve of New South Wales. Arthropo^mn 

 paniciUatum, a bulbous-rooted plant, also from New South W ales. The 



