March 27, 13G5. ; 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



239 



of his Vines : — Take half a pound of mutton suet, melt it, and 



while hot mix with it half a pound of chloride of lime, keep- 

 ing it stiireJ till it cools, to prevent the chloride of lime settling. 

 Put a ring of this about an inch wide round the stems of the 

 Vines, a little above the surface of the soil. I have used this 

 mixture for the last tiiree years on some thousands of young 

 trees. Pears, Plums, Apples, &c., and in not one instance have 

 I found the weevil cross it. 



I find that the best traps for catching the weevils are pieces 

 of rather stiff grafting clay, fitted loosely round the stems, 

 leaving suffii;ient room for the weevil to creep down between 

 the stem and the clay. Divide the clay on each side of the 

 stem. If these rings are examined every morning numbers of 

 the insects v,'ill be found to have crawled underneath after 

 their night's raid. — A Nueseey Fohf.man. 



A FEW HINTS ON THE CULTURE OF THE 

 BALSAM. 



After having obtained the seed of some variety which has 

 been very highly recommended, and seeing in perspective its 

 beauties developed in summer, nothing is more annoying to 

 the grower of this beautiful plant than to find, after having 

 grown the plants for a month or two, that they must be put 

 out of sight to hide their lanky stems ; and as now is the 

 proper time to commence growing them, perhaps a few hints 

 as to their culture would not be unacceptable to some of your 

 readers. 



Having procured seed of the Camellia-flowered varieties, if a 

 year or two old so much the better, sow towards the end of 

 March, in light sandy soil, about ten or twelve seeds to a 

 48-sized pot. Place the pot in a Cucumber or Melon-bed at 

 work, or wher^er there is a brisk heat to start them, taking 

 care when the seedlings are up to keep them close to the glass 

 to induce stubby growth. When the plants are 3 or 4 inches 

 high pot them off singly into small pots, using Ught loam and 

 leaf mould, with a sprinkling of sand. Place them on a hotbed, 

 and keep them close to the glass as before, using a little shade 

 in very bright weather. When the plants have rooted suffi- 

 ciently they should be kept rather dry and cool for a week or 

 two, which will induce them to show a few flowers, when they 

 can be sorte;l over, the worthless thrown away, and those with 

 double blossoms and the brightest colours retained. After 

 this the flowers should be rubbed off, and the plants shifted 

 into 32-sized pots, using richer soil than before, and plunging 

 them to the lim in an old Potato hotbed, or something of the 

 sort, where there is a httle bottom heat. Keep the lights on, 

 and supply the plants with abundance of water ; give plenty of 

 air, syringe them overhead every afternoon, and shut up for an 

 hour or two, tilting the hghts a little at night. 



As soon as the roots have reached the sides of the pot, and 

 before the plants become pot-bound, shift into the blooming- 

 pots ; ten-inch pots are the most suitable for that purpose. 

 Use a compost of two parts friable turfy loam, one of two-year- 

 old dried cowdung, and one of leaf mould and sand. After 

 potting plunge the plants as before, and shade them tUl esta- 

 blished, when the lights should be taken off altogether, except 

 in rough stormy weather. They should be liberally supplied 

 with maniu-e water tiU they are placed in the house which they 

 are intended to decorate. The flowers should be picked off the 

 main stems should they appear before the side shoots are fur- 

 nished with buds. 



A few plants treated as above will give more satisfaction than 

 a larger number grown indiscriminately, and they will be good 

 plants, and of select sorts ; and coming in as they do, when the 

 usual inmates of the greenhouse and conservatory are out of 

 doors, they will be as highly appreciated as they are easily 

 grown. — W. C. 



MESSRS. CUTBUSH'S SHOW OF SPRING 

 FLOWERS. 



To the admirable display which Messrs. Cutbush, of the 

 Highgalo Nurseries, have this year made at the Crystal Palace, 

 as well as to the very superior excellence of the flowers com- 

 posing it, we have already directed attention. It therefore now 

 only remains to say a tew words as to the arrangement. 



Along the centre of one of the naves is a double line of 

 tabling, divided down the centre, and 300 feet in length, and 

 on one side of this are arranged about 300 pots of Hyacinths 

 and a like number of Tulips, comprising the best varieties of 



those favourite spring flowers — flowers, be it remembered, 

 which can be cultivated by all, which display their full beauty 

 almost before the icy hand of winter has relaxed its grasp, and 

 which, by a little encouragement, may be brought forward to 

 adorn the conservatory, the drawing-room, or the window, even 

 amidst the frost and snow. Of the Hyacinths, it is not too 

 much to say that all the spikes are good, and a very large pro- 

 portion of them are of a size, and of a perfection as regards form 

 and colour, that no ordinary grower could hope to attain. The 

 Tulips, too, are extremely gay, and had the most showy varieties 

 not been noted as being shown at the recent exhibitions, it was 

 our intention to have named a fev,- of the most effective. They 

 are well worthy of more extended cultivation than they at pre- 

 sent receive, more especially as it is not difficult to flower them 

 well either for conservatory or out-door decoration. 



On the opposite side of the stage to that on which the Hya- 

 cinths and Tulips are ranged is a miscellaneous collection of 

 spring-flowering plants, including some of those already named, 

 Snowdrops, Crocuses, and other bulbs ; Dracsenas, Azaleas, 

 Kalmias, Ehododendrons, Andromedas, Camellias, Heaths, 

 Epacrises, Acacias, Deutzias, Cytisus, Gueldres Eose, Cinera- 

 rias, double-flowering Peaches, and the pretty httle double 

 white Prunus sinensis. 



The whole of this excellent display is covered with a new 

 canvas awning prepared for the occasion, and this, whilst it 

 serves to prevent that dwarfing effect which all large structures 

 hke the Crystal Palace have upon plants, by the subdued Ught 

 which it affords, is most favourable to the brilliant colours of 

 the flowers being seen to the greatest advantage. 



This exhibition will continue open up to, and including, the 

 31st instant, and we can commend it to our readers as one that 

 will weU repay an inspection. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Florai. CoirsirrxEE. — New Hyacinths and Roses were on this occa- 

 sion exhibited by Mr. WUliam Paid. The foi-mer consisted of Vmixbaak, 

 Sir Henry Havelock, and Bird of Paradise, to each of which a first- 

 class certificate was awarded ; and of Princess Maiy of Cambridge, 

 Sir E. Landseer, and Adelina Patti, all of which have been already 

 noticed in recent reports. The Koses from the same exhibitor con- 

 sisted of Dr. Lindley, large, full, and rich in colonr ; Elizabeth 

 Vigneron, very large, rosy pink ; txlory of Waltham, said to be a iine 

 climbing Rose ; and Black Prince, a dark crimson, shaded with black. 

 To this was awarded a first-class certificate. Of Orchids there was a 

 very good display. W. W. BuUer, Esq., Strete Raleigh, was awarded 

 a special certificate for a collection in which were Dendrobiam spe- 

 ciosum with two very fine spikes, D. aggi'egatum, Vandas, &c. ; and a 

 similar award was made to Mr. Anderson, of Meadow Bank, Glasgow, 

 for cat spikes of Lycaste Skinneri, Odontoglossnms, Epidendrnm rhi- 

 zophorum, &c. Mr. Robson, gardener to G. Cooper, Esq., Old Kent 

 Road, had a first-class certificate for Dendi-obium densiflorum thyrsi- 

 florum. with an orange lip and white sepals and petals ; and from the 

 same came also Odontoglossum Alexandra? ; O. Cei-vantesii, white with, 

 some crimson bars ; O. hystrix ; and O. gloriosum. Mr.Wdson, gardener 

 to W. Marshall, Esq., Enfield, also exhibited the Dendrobiam above 

 referred to ; and Mr. Willcock, gardener to Dr. Pattison, St. .John's 

 Wood, had a special certificate for a collection of Orchids, in which were 

 included Dendrobiam ehrysotoxum, Oncidiam sarcodes, Epidendrnm 

 atroparpai-eum. an unnamed Odontoglossnm, Lycaste Skinneri, and 

 Cattleya pallida. From Messrs. Backhouse, York, came Odontoglossum 

 luteo-purpuream, referred to in the report of the Scientific Meeting. 

 Mr. Bull famished a large collection of new plants, &c. Special cer- 

 tificates were awarded him for a group of Imantophyllum mmiatum 

 in fine bloom, and for the handsome Bignonia argj'rffia violescens. 

 Dammara Moorei received a first-class certificate, and Camellia 

 Emilia Lechi, rose-coloui-ed, one of the second-class. Of Chinese 

 Primulas, a fine collection of twenty came from Messrs. Windebank 

 and Kingsbury, of Southampton, who received a special certificate for 

 the collection, and first-class certificates for the following varieties — 

 viz., P. sinensis magnifica, rosy pink, very double ; alba gigantea, 

 large, single white ; tilicifolia rubra, single, very large, glowing 

 rosy purple, beautiful in colour; and filicifolia alba, a fine single 

 white. Mr. Toombs, gardener to W. S. Roots, Esq., Kingston-on- 

 Thames, received a first-class certificate for P. sinensis filicifolia 

 rubra plena, the first of a new strain of double-flowering Fem-leaved 

 varieties, and as such an impoi-tant acquisition. The flowers were 

 perfectly doable, of a purplish rose, bat pale at the edges of the 

 petals; Mr. Shepperd, Bedford, likewise exhibited a variety called 

 Distinction, but no award was made for it. From Messrs. Osbom, 

 Fulham, came a yellow Sinningia ; from Mr. Brown, Elmdon Hall, a 

 dozen cut blooms of CamelUas ; and lastly, from Mr. Green, gardener 

 to W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., Sonchus platylepia, iptereating om 

 account of Orobanche minor succeeding so well upon it ; NicotianA 

 wigandioides, loaded with white blossoms ; Maxillaria picta, Pleoro- 

 tliallis dichroa, Comparettia rosea, and other plants of botaaioal in- 



