July 22, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



69 



frighten birds by their jingUng ha3 been practised in cottage gardens as 

 long as we can recollect. 



VicoMTEssE Hj'ricabt de THtrttY Strawbeeey {Con.^tant Reader; €• 

 Wade).'-'We cannot recommend dealers. As we know of more than one 

 norseryman who has the variety, to single out one would be unfair to the 

 others. Those who have the variety shoold consuit their interests by 

 advertising the fact. 



Strawberry Plants (J. G. Pearson).— We cannot recommend trades- 

 men. .\ny of tho principal nurserymen who advertise in our Journal 

 could supply you. 



Blind Strawberry Blossoms' (A'. A'.).— Wo are at a loss to know 

 whether you mean blossoms in which the organs of fructification are 

 entirely wanting, or those in which they have been deshoyed or proved 

 inefficient. The first is of comparatively rare occurrence in this country. 

 It is sometimes caused through weakness, and sometimes by defective 

 constitution ; such plants ought to be discarded. Tho other is owing to 

 climatal or atmospheric infiuences, by which the parts have been injured 

 or prevented from performing their functions. The Vicomtesse Htricart de 

 Thnry Strawbeny will in our opinion suit your soil and locality well. We 

 agree with our correspondent. 



Glass over a Vine (J. It. P.). — We approve of your proposed plan, but 

 we would recommend the rafter sashbars being from 12 to 15 inches apart, 

 and the rods should be suspended from the rafters, so aa to be V2 to 

 15 inches from the glass. 



Grapes Decaying (J. S. Li<jhtbonnds).— They cire severely affected 

 with the " spot." as gardeners name the ulceration. The roots, probably, 

 do not supply sufficient sap. Plunge the pots in the soil down to their 

 rims, and water with tepid weak liquid manure. 



Vine Border— Str.iwberrv Plants (T. W. R. C.).— Wulch the Vine 

 border at once— you should give it a good soaking with water before 

 putting on the ■ mulch. Peg the runners into small pots. When well 

 rooted you may separate them from the parent plants and put them 

 into a cold frame as you propose. 



Vine Leaves Insect-Infested and Diseased (J. H. C). — The small 

 leaf is rusted — an evil mostly produced by too much heat, followed by a 

 sudden reduction of temperature; and the rust has been followed by 

 mildew, which you may destroy by dusting them with flowers of sulphur. 

 The large leaf is mildewed, and all in a similar state should be dusted 

 with flowers of sulphur. On the large leaf there are besides traces of 

 thrips, which you must destroy by fumigating with tobacco when the 

 foliage is dry, shutting the house up closely, and on a calm evening 

 densely filling it with smoke. The fumigation should be repeated the 

 nest night but one, and during the day keep the atmosphere moist, and 

 as close as the state of the weather will permit. In the following day 

 give a thorough syringing, and, whilst the leaver aro wet, dust them with 

 flowers of sulphur; the following evening, heat the pipes or flues to 1(>S"\ 

 shut up the house, and coat them with sulphur brought to tho con- 

 sistency of thiu paint by a solution of soft soap at the rate of 2 ozs. to 

 the gallon of water, using a brush, and going over them twice or thrice 

 so aa to thoroaghly fiU the atmosphere with sulphur fumes. This will 

 destroy the red spider, or reduce it considerably, and you may by heating 

 the pipes cause the sulphurous fumes to be given off, which will keep the 

 red spider under. There are evidences of thrills, red spider, and mildew 

 on the leaves sent ; it is a bad case, but nut so bad as one we saw lately 

 where there were thrips, red spider, mildew, and mealy bug, not a bunch 

 in mor-j than one large house, being fit for table. If the thrips reappear 

 repeat the fumigation. 



Cuccmeers for Early and Main Crop {Xdem). — You do not say 

 whether you require them for house or framework. If for houso. Tele- 

 graph is the best winter sort that we have gi'own, and Dickson's All the 

 Year Round is a good companion. For frames the first named or either 

 of them, and Newton Hero, or if you want one for exhibition Dale's Con- 

 qaeror. 



Arum Repotting (Young).~lt is now a good time to divide and repot, 

 keeping rather moist and shaded from bright sun for a few days. A com- 

 post of two-thirds turfy loam, and one-third leaf mould will grow them 

 well, adding sand liberally. The Clover is merely a dark-leaved Suckling 

 Clover {Trifolimu minus) otto of the best sorts for lawns, as it withstands 

 drought well. 



Tank Heating {C.Ii. C. Vigurs). — Why not continue the tank in the 

 cast house the same as in the weht house ? You would require to do so — 

 that is, have more heat, if you wished early Cucumbers and Melons ; but 

 merely for summer Cucumbers and winter vegetables the heat will be 

 quite sufficient without the help of a flue, as you have in the western 

 house. You will not gaiu so much by continuous heat from a tank over 

 hot water as you may imagine ; but if slate is cheap that is a consider- 

 ation, and if so, you might have the sides of slate as well as top and 

 bottom. The size of the tank in two divisions, 'd feet wide, will bo ample ; 

 and so would 6 inches in depth, or even less, as the deeper the tauk the 

 colder will the water be at the bottom, however warm it maybe at tho 

 top. In either house, to prevent damp from the tank, it shoiild be fixed 

 secure on the top with red or white lead, which is better than cement. 

 Three feet would be too far from the glass for Lettuces, &c., in winter. 

 18 inches would be better, but the first will do if j'ou give plenty of venti- 

 lation. We have had fine Lettuces farther from the glass. The same 

 remark applies to Cucumbers and Melons, but in their case, after plant- 

 ing them out, you could train them to a stem and then on a trellis 

 16 inches from the glass, A few bits of wire, or even a few pieces of wood 

 and string, would make a good trellis. W'e depend most on the flue for 

 heating the greeuhuuse. The tank covered with earth banks, will be 

 of little benefit in heating the house, as only one side next the path will 

 be exposed, and thus give out heat to the houso. This will answer well 

 enough with you in Cornwall, where you have no frost to speak of ; but 

 if you should want more heat in the atmosphere of the house, you could 

 easily have it by placiusr 6 inches of open rubble over your tank and then 

 the earth, oi- ralher wo should use gravel and sand for setting the pots on. 

 We would have pipes, say 2 or S inches in diameter, rising from near the 

 slate, through earth or sand, both ends open, the upper one plugged, and 

 by moving this plug wo could let heat out as we wished, and either a 

 damp or a dry heat at will. We would like this house the best for early 

 Cucumbers and even Melons, and with the flue in front there would be 

 an abundance of heat. You are quite right as to the advantage of 

 such aa earth or Band platform over wooden shelves, for they retain 



moisture, and make the plants more independent of the water-pail. Many 

 plants, as Fuchsias and Scarlet Pelargoniums, do exceedingly well oa 

 such earth platforms; but the finer kinds of fancy and florists' Pelargo- 

 niums do better on wooden shelves than on anything else, except slate. 

 When standing on a damp bottom they are apt to be troubled with spot 

 and discoloured leaves. What we have stated as to the open rubble over 

 the tank, is of importance when you do not merely set plants on the 

 earth or other covering, but grow them iu it, as with a close cover to the 

 tank, as there ought to be, the soil becomes too dry, and with the rubble 

 and pipes referred to it is alwavs easy to have moisture beneath without 

 directly commuuicatirg with the tauk. It is a fact that many are slow 

 to beheve, that a close-covered slate tank gives out as dry a heat as iroa 

 pipes. 



Pine Scale {Robin Boiv).— You aro quite right. When plants are verj- 

 much infested the best plan is to burn the whole. The scale is very 

 difficult to eradicate when the roots are infested. If tho leaves only are 

 infested continued applications of warm soap water will clear them, es- 

 pecially if you daub everyone that appears with gum arable or glue water, 

 just strong enough to stick on them. All the recipes are good when per- 

 severed in, and everybody likes their own the best. If the scale (the 

 shell of the mother, beneath which the almost imperceptible young ones 

 are brouaht to maturity), is on the roots, they must be disrooted and 

 washed. We like simple methods, and have found nothing better than soft 

 soap water, say 1 lb. of soap to sixteen gallons, well dissolved and cleared 

 a little, and the plants turned into it in a tub at a temperature of 110^, 

 kept there for half an hour, and then roots, stems, and leaves washed. 

 When the roots were but little affected, we have found no better and 

 simpler remedy than rank horse dung. We have let the steam in from 

 the Unings ; but we prefer in such a pit as yours to set the plants closer, 

 and put half a dozen barrowfuls of fresh horse droppings in a place, and 

 provided no Pine plants are very near, let the fumes escape all over 

 the house, shutting up early, making plenty of steam from watering 

 floors, walls, pipes, and turaiug tho dtuag over when you shut up. If 

 you can scarcely see your finger before you, all the better. If the heat 

 rises in such a damp ammoniacal vapour to from OJ"^ to 10j°, no harm 

 will be done. Hardly an insect will stand such treatment, and no growmg 

 plant that we know of will stand it except the Pine Apple. With such 

 doses repeated, and dislodging, or rather covering evei-y one that ap- 

 peared with size water, we have cleaned very dirty plants, but with labour 

 and trouble. The advantage of the dung or tho ammoniacal fumes is, 

 that it penetrates all the crevices of the house, and thus saves washing. 

 When using such fumes and steam the houses should be shaded during 

 the day instead of giving much or any air. We would not scruple in such 

 a vapour bath to let the houses in the shade rise to from 95^ to 100". You 

 might try on a small scale what such fumes would do by pouring some 

 muriate of ammonia or quicldime in a confined place, bat we like the 

 fresh stable dung. 



Custard Apple ((r- H.).— The Vegetable Marrow you have sent must 

 have come from a seed accidentally mixed in the soil. It could not have 

 been produced from a seed of the Anona, or Custard Apple. 



Yellow Bedding Flowers (C. H.).— Besides Calceolarias, the Tagetes 

 tonuifolia and dwarf yellow Marigolds are good for bedding, but the 

 best substitutes for the Calceolaria are the Yellow and Tricolor Pelar- 

 goniums. If you give yourself a little trouble in disleafing, yellow Nas- 

 turtiums of the dwarf Tom Thumb kinds make brilliant beds. To 

 secure a fine displav, all extra foliage must be picked off, and all faded 

 blooms and seeding* prevented. If you can command water and rich top- 

 dressing, yellow Pansies, as the Cliveden Yellow, keep fine all the season, 

 but they will become poor without that attention. 



Gas- HEATING {T. L.).— Before you do anything with heating with gas, 

 read what was said on the subject, and notice the figures given in illus- 

 tration, in our No. 341. Gas is chiefly useful for small houses, and m every 

 case the products from the burnt gas must have a tube for their escape 

 into the open air. Argand burners decompose the gas most thoroughly. 



Orchids for a Greenhouse (F. G.).— Orchids cannot well be grown 

 under bell-glasses, as the atmosphere is too close; but these, especially 

 if made with moveable tops, would be of service when the plants are 

 makiug new growths. Tho glasses would only be r^-qmred from the time 

 of tho plants commencing to grow until attaining their full development, 

 when they should be removed. Whilst over the plants, they should be 

 taken off twice a-day and wiped dry, and take care to admit air, so as to 

 have the foliage dry at least once in a day. Orchids cannot endure a 

 still, stifling atmosphere, but like air in constant but gentle motion, and 

 the only advantage of bell-glasses would be. that you could give the 

 Orchid the moisture necessarj^ to a free gi'owth without making the 

 whole atmosphere too moist for the other occupants of the greenhouse. 

 The following would succeed in a greenhouse with or without beU- 

 glasses :— *Acropera Loddigesi. Angnloa Clowesi, A. uniflora superba, 

 Bai-keria ele«ans, E. Skinneri, Erassia ven'ucosa, * Jalanthe vestita lutea, 

 *Ccelo^-nc cristata, C. maculata, C. lagenaria, C. pr^ecos, Cymbidium 

 aloifolium, Cypripedium insigne, *C. venustum, Epidendrum vitelhnnm. 

 ♦Leptotes bicolor, -Lycaste cruenta, 'L. Skinneri vars., •MaxiUaria Har- 

 risonire Odontoglossum •.Uexandne, bictouiense, citrosmum, cnstatum, 

 Dawsonianum, gloriosum, -grande, Xnsleayi, -^maculatum, nebulosum, 

 *0 Pescatorei, "O. pulchellum, Oncidium cornigerum, O. divancatum, 

 *0. sphacelatum. Disa gi-andiflora would not thrive under a bell-glass, 

 as it requires as much air as a mountain Daisy. Those marked with aa 

 asterisk would be most likely to succeed under the hand-glass treatment. 



Wistariv Shoots Dying (S. A. C.).— Wo aro unable to account for the 

 shoots dying, but think it mainly due to a want of proper moisture, as we 

 find a few good waterings in spring and early summer prevent the dying 

 away of the young shoots to a great extent. Holes should be made witfi 

 a crowbar a foot deep or more, and the holes repeatedly filled with water; 

 when tho soil has been well moistened, fill up the holes with fine sod. 



Destroying Beetles (Luc as). —They may bo poisoned by placing 

 phosphorus paste on thin slices of bread, or on strips of paper, near their 

 haunts; but you must be careful to keep it from the reach of domestic 

 animals and 'birds. A hedgehog is an efl'ective but despised natural 

 destroyer of such pests. They do no harm, and destroy great numbers 

 of garden vermin. 



Plants and Climbers for Conservatory IMhs Tr.).-For the centre 

 bedweehould advise Camellias, interspersed among the Aloes and Dra- 

 c^n^s! to take away their stiffness. nH we understand your question 

 rightly, you wish to know what plants and cUmbers would be suitable for 



