April 10, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



279 



GvMNOGRAMMA CRRYSOPHYLLA CnLTCRK (H. G.).— Your plant doe3 not 

 f^ow hecaii<:e the temperature is too low. It requires a night tempera- 

 ture of not les^ than 55" in winter, and a moist atraosphero without the 

 foliaf^e heine wetted. Your plant is prnhablv old; such plants never do 

 So well as tho^e which, from l>eins very small, are liberally tr-^ated until 

 they becnme specimens, after which they ni'adually decline. If you have 

 nnw a small jilant in, say, a 4i-inch pot, we would pot it at once into an 

 ei'^ht-inch jint. dmininj? thepot to one-fourth it.s depth, and ufiinu a com- 

 port of uld ciH'oa-nut refuse one-half, turfy yellow loam one-fourth, and 

 fibrous bro\vn pent one-fourth, nddinc one-sixth of silver sand, the whole 

 well mixed and l»roken with a spade, but not sifted. Pot rather deeply, 

 but not so much so as to cover the crown. The plant should be set in 

 the lifihtest part of the house, have room on all sides, and bo not more 

 than 18 inches from the glass. The soil should be kept moist, but not 

 wet, until the roots are working freely, and the temperature may ranpe 

 from 60'^ to 65- by night. By diiv it may be 70^ without sun, and from 80- 

 to 85 with it, shade being atTorded from 9 a.ii. to 4 p.m., when the sky is 

 dear, but when cloudy do not >hade at all. Xo shade will be needed 

 from September to April. The plant must always have the soil moist, 

 but no water should be given until it is really needed, then afford a 

 supply sufficient to show itself through the bottom of the pot. If your 

 pLtnt grow as well as we expect, it wilt need n shift by the end of July, 

 or at liitest by the third week in August, so that the pot may lie 

 filled with roots before winter, as it will be in six weeks after pottJng 

 if a 10-inch pot be given. From this time no more water should be 

 given than is sufficient to prevent the soil becoming dry, and if a suffi- 

 ciently moist atmosphere be maintained, it will winter safely in a tem- 

 perature of CO^ at night, and occasionally as low as 55" or even 50\ but 

 this degree must be seldom reached. In March yon may give a shift 

 into a i5-inch pot, and we think you will have a specimen large enough 

 for anything by .\ugust, and it may remain good a year or two longer. 



Cinerarias Attacked by BRtJWN Aphi^ {A Suh^cribrr). — From your 

 description of the insect infesting your Cinerarias we should think it is 

 the brown or black aphis, and if so, it is most injurious, especially to 

 young plants. ^Ve find the following destructive to it : — Pour one gallon 

 of boiling water over 4 ozs. of the stronge-^t shag tobacco, cover it over 

 closely and allow it to stand until cool, then add to it 1 lb. of soft soap 

 dissolved in ii gallon of water, strain through a piece of muslin, and add 

 three gallons of water; there will then be nearly five gallons of liquid. 

 In this, at a temperature of 90", the plants should be immersed with 

 their heads downwards. A cure will thus be generally effected; if not, 

 repeat the application. 



Garden Designs (Bo6\ — It is a great mistake to suppose that variety 

 in the form of the beds contributes to the beiuty of a flower garden. The 

 simplest forms correctly planted and well balanced are the most effective. 

 Belladonna Lily (.4 {Suhacrihpr). — If you turn out the plants next 

 month in a warm sheltered situation, tliey will flower in the end of 

 September or early in October. 



Horticultural Glass (Mhs H.).— We do not know any of the manu- 

 facturers at Liverpool, Sunderland, or Durham. Yon will find their 

 names in the County Directory. 



Plunging-material {W. A. 0.).— The safest material for plunging pots 

 in is sand or coal ashes. Sawdust from old dried hard wood will do very 

 well ; but all fresh sawdust from green wood has a tendency to clog up 

 the drainage-holes in the bottom of the pot, and is also liable to become 

 a breeding-place for fungi and conferva-. 



Sheds ilfjnoramm, Dublin). — They arc the seeds of some Pinus or Abies, 

 but we cannot name plants from seeds. 



Destroying Red Spider [A Constant Rendcr).~Yoxxr% appears a very 

 had case, and we recommend the following remedial measures r—l-it. 

 Wash the glass inside with clear water. 2nd. Wash the woodwork with 

 ! a strong solution of soft soap, 8 ozs. to the gallon of boiling water, using 

 I it as hot as possible, washing it clean off and all the dirt with a flannel, 

 but keeping the soap from the glass. 3r(l, Whitewash the walls with two- 

 , thirds lime, one-thu-d flowers of sulphur, brought to the consistence of 

 'i whitewash by adding a solution of 4 ozs. of soft soap in a gallon of boil- 

 ing water. 4th, Keep the evaporating-troughs full, and the floors sprinkled 

 I twice or thrice daily with guano water, made by dissolving 2 ozs. of 

 guano to the 'gallon of water. 5th, Sj-ringe the plants vigorously twice 

 daily, morning and at shuttiog-up, with water of the temperature of 

 the house. If you do this, and still have red spider at the end of ten 

 days, then, Gth, Mix sulphur to the consistency of thick paint with the 

 soft soap solution previously named, and apply this to the pipes, hoated 

 to 160", shutting-np the house quite close, and coating the pipes from one 

 end to the t>ther. Put on the sulphur wet, and when done commence 

 syringing gently with water at 120^ until you fill the house with steam. 

 7th, Syringe the plants in the morning with soot water, made by putting 

 a peck of soot in a tub, pouring over the soot 30 gallons of wator, and 

 stirring it up until it sink. Allow the whole to stand until clear, and use 

 the clear water for syringing the plants morning and evening, conticuing 

 to moisten the floors with guano water as before, and within a week of 

 the first coating of the pipes with sulphur repeat the process. The only 

 danger you have to fear is not giving air by the time the sim shines 

 powerfully on the foliage whilst it is wet. We should think that the 

 houses have been kept as dry as dry stoves were in fonner times, to bring 

 about the state of affairs described in your letter. We agree with you, 

 that the fact of the houses not having been washed and thoroughly 

 cleaned for a long time has been favourable to insect life ; thorough 

 cleanliness is the great safeguard against tiisease and vomiin. The 

 two inches of soot over the crocks at the bottom of the Strawberry pots is 

 one-eighth in excess ; that and the frequent applications of manure water 

 in winter fully account for there being few roots in the pots of fruit- 

 ing Strawbenies. Liquid manure cannot benefit plants when at rest. 



Names op Plants {G. H. A.). — The leaf sent is that of some Caladinm. 

 (A. No(/man).—We believe it to be only a fragment of a Moss, Hypnum 

 proUf crura. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week ending April 7th. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



ROUP IN POULTRY. 



We have felt thankful for months that we have had no pest 

 among our poultry ; but we eauuot help remembering what we 

 sufiered years ago, and the recollection of it gives us hope that 

 the sore visitation under which we are now lying, may in like 

 manner either yield to remedies, or disappear before pre- 

 cautions. 



^Vhen first poultry was imported in quantities from Holland, 

 almost every bird within a week of its arrival sickened with 

 roup of the most virulent kind, and carried it wherever it went. 

 We have a painful recollection of turning down two Polands 

 bought out of a Dutch lot, at a small farm where we had about 

 a hundred good sound fowls. We heard of their being sick in 

 about five days, in a fortnight all in the yard were so. Nearly 

 all died. The place was whitewashed, tlie house new gravelled ; 

 but it was long before we got rid of the infection. Some 

 amateurs will recollect at the tirst show at the Surrey Zoological 

 Gardens, the rows of empty pens labelled " Removed on ac- 

 count of disease." It was in those days oue of the duties of 

 the judges to cause diseased birds to be removed. Those ex- 

 hibitors who thoroughly understood the question, used to have 



their fowls put as far as possible from the Hamhurghs and 

 Polands. Roup was considered to be the natural state of both 

 these breeds. The poultry mania, as it was then called, had 

 just sprung into existence in England. It had always existed 

 in Holland, and when the Dutch found tliere was a ready sale 

 here for anything they could send over in the way of fancy 

 fowls, they" loaded every steamer with huge basketsful of 

 them. They were on dsck, and in bad weather were closely 

 covered with tiirpauling ; they had no food during the voyage ; 

 many died : the rest were lauded reeking with steam, half 

 starved, and then exposed to cold draughts and bitter winds on 

 quays. After fasting many hours they were allowed to eat any 

 quantity of any sort of food, and worse than all, to drink an 

 unlimited quantity of water. Disease always, and death often, 

 followed. So long as the loss was confined to the buyer in 

 this country, no alteration took place ; the fowls were still sent 

 as before, but as soon as purchasers became wary, and only 

 those parcels could find a market which were carefully packed 

 and tended during the passage, then an alteration took place, 

 and birds were properly sent over. From this time the disease 

 that had raged fatally, and that had been carried wherever one 

 of the birds went, began to decrease, and now for years past our 

 " pest " has been a thing of the past, unknown to many, and 

 dreaded by none. Among the fifteen hundred or two thousand 

 pens at the Birmingham Show, there is never a thoroughly 

 roupy pen to be seen. This is the result of a little painstaking. 



