September 2, leGO. J 



JOURNAL OF HOUTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



193 



been watered mnch more seldom that they would have thriven 

 better. In dusty, exposed places a slight syringing overhead 

 is different from always drenching the roots. — R. F. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— SEriEMBEr. 1. 



Large quantities of the coarser descriptions of vegetables and frnits 

 are eopplicd and exchange hands freely. The supply of pood Plums, 

 with the exception of Victoria, is nnusnally short ; and owinfi to the 

 heavy importations of foreign varieties, high prices cannot be obtained. 

 Apricots seem to have gone altogether for this season. Potato trade dull. 

 FRUIT, 

 d 



Apples ? J sieve 1 



Apricots dox. 3 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts.... bushel 



Currants >.< sieve 4 



Black do. 5 



Figs doz. 2 



Filberts lb. 1 



Cobs Ih. 1 



Gooseberries ..quart 



Grapes, Hothouse . lb. 2 



Lemons 100 8 



Artichokes doz. S 



Asparagus 100 



Beans, Kidney }■■• sieve 2 



Beet, Red doz. 2 



Broccoli bundle 



Bras. Sprouts ^^ sieve 



Cabbage doz. 1 



Capsicums 100 2 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 3 



Celery bundle 1 



Cncnmbers .... each 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish ..bundle 3 



d. 



Otol 

 6 



Melons each 2 



Nectarines doz. 6 



Oranges 100 10 



Peaches doz. 8 



Pears (dessert) .. doz. 2 



Pine Apples lb. 3 



Plums J^ sieve 3 



Quinces doz. 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries .... lb. 



Walnuts busbel 10 



do 100 1 



d. s. 

 Oto 5 



VEGETABLES, 

 d 



d. 8. 

 Oto 6 

 



Leeks bunch 



Lettnce score 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustd.& Cress,punnet 

 Onions., doz. bunches 



Parsley sieve 



Parsnirs doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney ditto 



Radishes doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Veget. Marrows, .doz. 



d. B. 

 4 too 

 



TRADE CATALOGUES KECEIVED. 



Downie, Laird, tt Laing, Stanstead Park, Forest Hill, Lon- 

 don, S.E., and 17, Sonth Frederick vStreet, Edinburgh. — 

 Descriptive Catalogue of Dutch Flower Boots. 



George John Child, 49, Darlej Street, Bradford, and Bradford 

 Nurseries, Shipley.— Ca/a%ut' of Dutch Bulbs, cCr, 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



••• We request that no one will write privately to the depart- 

 mental writers of the "Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, tf-c, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, B.C. 



"We also request that correspondents will not mis up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



Seedling Plum and Apple (TT. C/ia?H;ji()n).— Neither your Plum nor 

 Apple is good enough to be introduced as new and desirable. 



Williams's Bon Chrktien Pear (Old Suhscriber). ~ It should be 

 gathered before it becomes yellow. If allowed to ripen fully before 

 gathering, it turns mealy and decays at the core. 



Fungus on Plum Leaves (Cleric hs).— The fungus on your Plum leaves 

 is Puccinia prunorura, Lk. The yellow base is the early Uredo form of 

 the same species. It occurs, we believe, wherever Plums are cultivated. 

 — M. J. B. 



GOOSEBEREY AND CURRANT TrEES AFTER FrUITING {Amateur).— YoU 



need not do anything to yonr Gooseberry and Currant trees for the 

 present. Let them ripen their wood, and prune them in winter in the 

 way we intend shortly to explain at full length. 



Pruning Bush and Pyramid Fruit Trees (Idem).— If your trees 

 have been properly attended to in respect to the summer pinching, they 

 should require but little pruning. You may, however, shorten some of 

 the shoots any time after the fall of the leaf ; then pinch the points of 

 the growing shoots as they appear, in the same way as we continually re- 

 commend in these columns. Before transplanting, give your tenacious 

 «oi! a liher«l (ii-^qeing of unslaked lime and burnt soil, bo to render it a 

 little more friable. 



Peach Leaves Injured (FiVar). — We incline to think that earwigs 

 and woodlice are attacking the leaves of your Peach trees, and Bean- 

 Btwlks, &c., would be good traps. We discovered a few red spider; and 

 plenty of the syringe, and wenk, clear, soft-soap water would be the 

 quickest cure, unless you used Gishurst, after making it and allowint? it 

 to settle in a pail before putting it into the engine or syringe-pail. The 

 curl and blister at the points of the shoots show there is a want of re- 

 ciprocal action between roots and shoots; these blistered parts should 

 be removed, nothing will make them healthy again. So much for the 

 first look at the leaves. On examining them more minutely, we fear 

 that fungus will be found at the roots, and if so nothing will cure it but 

 a little sulphur in the soil, which should be removed from the roots when 

 these are at rest, replacing it with fresh sandy loam. 



Grapes Colouring Without Swelling (An Old Subscriber). — Your 

 case of usually productive Vines, now refusing to swell their berries 

 before colouring, is one of those apparent mysteries which it is most diffi- 

 cult to account for. Perhaps the tendencv to shrivel and shank in the 

 earlier house may form some clue as to the cause, and as the Vines are 

 so healthy, it is not likely that the same result would be repeated. We 

 throw out the idea that the crops of previous years may have somewhat 

 exhausted the fruitfulress of the Vines, and as the later houses chiefly 

 suffer, we should be inclined to think that the wood had become over- 

 indurated in the excessive heat of last summer, with, perhaps, an in- 

 sufficient amount of moisture at the roots. We have suffered a little in 

 a late vinery, and more particularly in a late orchard house, and we 

 think from the latter causes, as the early houses had more attention as 

 to moisture, &c., than the late ones could have, when we could scarcely 

 keep tbem, alive in the excessive beat. 



Cultivating MushromMS in the Open Air (TVcnr).— What are your 

 resources, the position of the place, or the circumstances in which you 

 propose to cultivate ? for without knowing these we might specify many 

 modes, and yet not one of them suit you. For instance : we have in- 

 serted spawn in a piece of ground, much as we would Potatoes, ii inches 

 deep from the surface, beat the ground rather firm, and covered it with a 

 I little litter to keep the place in a medium condition of heat and mois- 

 ture. We have done the s.anie, drawn out a ridge as for dwarf Peas or 

 Beans, put in from 3 inches to 6 inches of horse droppings, in these in- 

 serted the spawn, and covered up as above. Again, we have used a deeper 

 ' furrow or trench, treated it in the same wny, and 18 inches on each side 

 sowed with Altrincham Can-ots. and by the time the Mushrooms ap- 

 peared, the Carrots kept them sufliciently shaded to render it unneces- 

 sary to have any litter. We have also had good produce in beds in the 

 open air intended for Vegetable Marrows and pickling Cucumbers. In 

 all cases, however, where large continuous gatherings were wanted, we 

 would make regular beds in the open air, say of litter and horse drop- 

 pings ; if on the flat, from 12 to 18 inches deep ; if in the ridge form, 

 from 30 to f!6 inches wide at the h.ise, and almost as high to the apex. 

 In both kinds of beds the Mushrooms must be protected from the changes 

 of the weather, as too much dryness, too much moisture, and too much 

 heat are equally prejudicial to the Mushroom. In the hottest days in 

 summer and autumn, with the thermometer ranging from 85° to 90^ in 

 the shade, we have bad the surface of these ridged beds, and in an open 

 space too, not more than 62", owing to the rough litter keeping off the 

 heat, assisted, too, in this respect at times by a sprinkling of water over 

 the litter, which tended to cool the bed and produce a moist close atmo- 

 sphere close to the surface where the Mushrooms were. The advantage 

 of a shed open on all sides, or on one side, or even closed all round, is 

 chiefly this, that you have your bed so far protected from heavy rain, 

 snow, &c. 



LucERN (T.).— By all means plough it up and sow again; or if yon 

 would rather not, give a dressing of superphosphate of lime or wood 

 ashes. 



Basket Plants for a Greenhouse ( W. £.).— Convolvulus mauritanicns, 

 Sasifraga sarmentosa and S. Fortune!, Sedum carneum variegatum. 

 Campanula garganica, and Tradescantia zebrina. 



Sedum carneum (T.).— It is hardy in light, sandy, dry soils, especially 

 in soils which are gravelly ; but in heavy, wet ground it is liable to injury 

 from frost, and sometimes perishes. The variegated form ought to be 

 wintered in a cold pit cr greenhouse, hardened-off, nnd planted out in 

 spring, but it survives the winter in open, well-drained soils. It forms a 

 fine edging to a flower bed. We winter it in a cool, dry pit, where it 

 needs no water all winter. It is readily propagated by cuttings in sand 

 during the summer. To winter tho plants thus obtained, they ought to 

 be well rooted by September, potted in poor sandy soil, and well exposed 

 before severe weather sets in. 



Spring Gardening (P.).— With the common Primrose, white and red 

 Daisies, common and variegated Arabis, you vriU be able to make a tole- 

 rably good display, if you have Crocuses, Hepaticas, Winter Aconite, and 

 Snowdrops, all of'which will flower some time before those you name, and 

 the Tulips and the plants first mentioned will succeed them. Wo would 

 add Alyssum saxatile, Aubrietia deltoidea, and the Aucuba-'eaved Daisy. 

 Of annuals you may now sow Silene pendula, Limnantbes Douglasii ; 

 Candytuft, purple, crimson, and white; Erysimum PeroflTskiannm, Vir- 

 ginian Stock, Siiponaria calabrica, and Eschscholtzia californica ; andii 

 the winter be not unusually severe they will be very useful for blooming 

 next spring and curly in summer. We have found them withstand the 

 winter farther north than you, and in a more smoky town than Man- 

 chester. 



Propagating Stachys lanata (/(f^m).— You may sow the seed now in 

 sandy soil in a warm situation, and keep the ground moist but not very 

 wet. The plants would then, perhaps, gain sufficient strength to stand 

 the winter, and might be planted out next May. The best mode of propa- 

 gation is by cuttings, or by slips which in most cases have roots partially 

 formed. A"11 that is required is to pare the end smooth below a joint, 

 trim off a few of the lower leaves, and insert the cutting in sandy soil in 

 a shady place now, early in April where the plants are to remain, and 

 throughout the summer. Plants from cuttings are better than those 

 from seed. They do not grow so vigorously, are of more prostrate habit, 

 and of far better colour. Stachvs lanata is an excellent plant for carpet- 

 ing, edgings, and broad lines, especially in shady positions. PJ^nts are 

 not expensive. In some places cuttings could be had by the cartload. 



PELARGONIU5IS Stanstead Rival AND Lady Hawley.— In the Floral 

 Committee report, page 144, the colour of Stanstead Rival should have 

 been stated as dark crimsoi-, that of Lady Hawley as light orange scarlet 



