874 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICCLTURE AND COTTAGE OABDENEB. 



( NoTCffllxr 11, UN. 



are groira, exhibitors have recoar.°e to tbi3 variety early in the 

 season. Buy two balbs of Penelope, there is seldom a stand 

 without it ; one Ophir, one Vesta, one Comte de Morny, and 

 one Velleda, nhich is one of the very best kinds for opening 

 «iaickly in hot weather — a great advaotsge. Where the stock is 

 small yoa will thus procure for your money ten bulbs that, 

 with good management and ordinary good fortune, will pro- 

 dace spikes all fit for exhibition. Your Crst year's ex|<erience, 

 And patting down the names of any varieties that take your 

 fancy, choosing those as round in the petal as possible, will 

 enable you to hold your own in future. Tue six sorts that I 

 have chosen to add to my collection next season are Adolpbe 

 Srongoiart, Princess Mary of Cambridge, Milton, Thomas 

 Methven, Piccioli, and Madame Furtado. 



I inLeaded next to have said a few words on Dahlias, of which 

 X have grown about three dozen varieties, but I shall feel 

 greatly indebted if some one more qualified would give a little 

 plain advice on their management, and name a few sorts suit- 

 able for cottagers. We want free bloomers, and kinds which 

 are easily got up. as a cottager cannot be expected to grow 

 more than one of a sort. One that has especially taken my 

 fancy is Purple tiem, a good bloomer ; and every bloom, thoagh 

 rather small, has been fit for exhibition. 



I intended to have made a few remarks about nurserymen 

 and their assistants at exhibition?, and possibly I may do so 

 at some other time. I think nurserymen will agree that it is 

 not by prizes, but by the sale of their plants, that they live ; 

 and how can they expect to sell their plants if they continue 

 to allow their asf'istants to exhibit in the amateur class at 

 many of onr flower shows ? What chance has an amateur or 

 cottager with his dozen plants against the nurserymen with 

 their thousands ? The result will be that the amateur who 

 laves to exhibit will lose heart, and cease to grow Howerp. 



Asters like good rich soil ; do not be too late in sowing ; sow 

 in a cold frame to prevent their spindling np. I know notbiog 

 go good for exhibition as Truffant's and the Dwarf Chrysanthe- 

 cnam-flowered. 



.Stocks are especial favourites of mine ; apart from their 

 beauty, in the dusk of the evening what is half so sweet :' Du 

 not be in a great hurry to sow, as it is a pity to see them 

 going off when everything else looks gay. I like the dwarf 

 and large-flowering German the best. Much has been said 

 about their damping ofl. I fear we occasionally go to the 

 other extreme, and dry them oil. Sow in boxes in a cold 

 frame, and be sure that the boxes are placed level, in order 

 that moisture may not tend to one side. Give gentle waterings 

 from the rain-water tub, do not be too late in pricking-out the 

 plants into other boxes, and on no account let them become 

 drawn up, but rather let them grow like little pyramids as 

 broad as they are long. What is worse, ou passing along the 

 border of a garden, than seeing Stocks some B inches long flat 

 on the ground, or just turning up an inch of their heads, as if 

 ashamed to be seen in such a pitiable predicament? I will 

 describe a bed of Stocks I had this season containing 4Ui plants, 

 the colours being kept separate. I planted eight rows by six of 

 scarlet in the centre, and then arranged rows of different shades 

 all round, with dwarfs at the outside. I never tired of looking 

 at them, and I felt it was quite a compliment to be told by 

 both ladies and gentlemen who employ gardeners that it was 

 the tinest bed of Stocks they had ever seen, the plants so 

 shrubby, and not one failure. 



Another favourite of mine is the Verbena, of which I have 

 grown about twenty-six varieties this season. It likes rich 

 jiealy soil, and in a few words the secret of success is to keep the 

 plants growing, never allowing them to become infested with the 

 green fly, or to be stunted. This season in cleaning them I 

 'nave used nothing but water with a little soft soap, af'er taking 

 the chill off a little, placing those in pots on the sides of the pots, 

 ■and giving them a good syringing as much underneath as 

 {lossible. Should the plants became affected with mildew, give 

 tiiem a slight dusting with sulphur. For pot culture choose 

 ehrubby growers. Cannell's Beauty of Kent is a very desirable 

 kind for this purpose. For cut blooms, the best I have grown. 

 And those I can recommend, are Gi'ant des Bitailles, Warrior, 

 lleine des Roses, King of Verbenas, James Birbeck, and Miss 

 Wimsett. Not having the means of wintering Verbenas satis- 

 factorily, I generally obtain by post a new supply at a very small 

 ntXa, from a nursery, my transacticns with which have been so 

 thoroughly satisfactory that I feel tempted to give the address, 

 did you not justly refrain from giving the preference to any 

 particular firm. It cannot, however, be too widely known, that 

 «ith our cheap postal and railway communication, it is in the 



power of anyone to stock his garden with the most choice plants 

 from nurseries three or four hundred miles ofT. at a singularly low 

 cost, though, of course, if one can be sappjied as nell from nur- 

 series at home, by all m^ans I would give them the preference. 



The Pansy is another old flower that never seems to go out 

 of fashion, though I cunfe^s it has each a host of enemies that 

 I have nearly promised to let it grow at the outside of my 

 garden in future. The wireworm seems never so happy as 

 when snugly ensconsed in the heart of your favourite Pansy. 

 A troublesome little insect, which I think is the red spider, ia 

 quite a pest. Snails and caterpillars have an especial fancy (or 

 Pansies. The plant requires plenty of river sand, made rich 

 with sheep droppings. Let your bed be so situated, that it will 

 be exposed to the morning eno, and cover it entirely with 

 charcoal, or one half burnt sawdust. Pansies like this, and 

 slugs do not. In dry weather damp them as often as yon like. 

 The only means that I can find of destroying the red spider is, 

 if the blooms are eaten, to pay them a visit at night with a 

 candle, and most likely the depredators will be secured. In judg- 

 ing the quality of a Pansy- -say a yellow ground, yon mnst have 

 the eye as small and distinct as possible, the blotch, too, 08 

 distinct as possible; the ground or yellow portion all of one 

 shade, with the centre petals touching each other at the top ; 

 and the belt as distinct and regular as possible. Having ob- 

 tained these qualities you must grow your blooms as large as a 

 crown-piece, and they will be lit for exhibition. In a stand of 

 six, I like to see a good black, a yellow, a white, a yellow 

 ground, a straw-coloured ground, and a white ground. 



I will reserve a few words on vegetables for a future time. — 

 .JosEiu WiTHEusrooN, Chester U-StTcel. 



MARINE AQUAUIA. 



Many of the lady readers of " our .Journal" no doubt annu- 

 ally visit the seaside, and while there, in addition to gathering 

 up health and spirits, will abo find inteUigent amusement in 

 collectiug specimens of seaweeds. Those who happen to be 

 botanically incUned will mount and classify them scientifically, 

 while those whose proclivities are merely artistic will put them 

 together in picturesque groups, quite wonderful in their way, 

 and carry them off as souvenirs of sea breezes, pleasant days, 

 and sundry happy incidents. But the delicate forms of the 

 finer Algii', to be duly appreciated, must be seen in their native 

 element, and a little bit of the great ocean imprisoned in a 

 handsome glass case forms a most interesting object either in 

 the drawing-room or conservatory. Salt-water aquaria are by 

 no meaus rare in first-class gardens throughout the country, 

 but they are mostly of the large expensive sort, and are devoted 

 principally to the keeping of marine animals. Of these carious 

 creations, with their mysterious forms and habits, it ia not my 

 intention to say much, but there ia a strange fascination about 

 them, and those who have not made themselves a little familiar 

 with them will find on doing so that they had hitherto left 

 uncut one most interesting page of the great book of nature ; 

 only a few of them must be kept, tven when seaweeds are the 

 first consideration, the presence of each in the aquarium being 

 essential to the health of both. 



The tanks themselves can be had of many forms and sizes, 

 and constructed of various materials, tbe bottoms being stone, 

 terra-eotta, slate, wood, iron, or zinc. The last two are, how- 

 ever, objectionable. The most convenient and symmetrical 

 form is, I think, an oblong, twice as long as it is wide and 

 deep. For those of small size, such as 18 inches by 9 inches 

 and under, common 'lloz. glass will do; if above that size 

 heavier plate must be used. I have seen some very neat con- 

 servatory tanks made with only the two sides of glass, tbe ends 

 as well as tbe bottom being of inch elate ; they are thus much 

 easier of construction, and therefore cheaper, as well as cooler 

 and less apt to leak, than those with four sides of glass, though 

 perhaps not quite so ornamental. 



Having the tank, where to place it becomes the question. 

 Tbe body of water it contains being comparatively small, it 

 must not be exposed to ilie full glare of the sun, neither should 

 it be continually under a cloud. The north or east end of a 

 greenhouse or conservatory, where it can have a few hours' 

 morning or alternnon sun daily, and where there is a free cir- 

 culation of air, will do very wtU in summer; at other seasons 

 it should have the lightest place in the house. Tbe aquaria also 

 do admirably before a drawing room, hall, or staircase window 

 it it can be fifquently open, but dust must be guarded against. 



Before filling the tank some miniature rockwork vtill have to 



