46C 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. I December 16, 1869. 



any kind cnn bo burnt for nny period amonR plants, nnlesR there is a 

 flno to carry ofT the fiitues rosultinK from the combustzon of the faol, 

 without causing' the kjaves to bccomo yellow end fall. 



Flower- Gab DEN Plan (A Younrj Begimifr).— In " Flower-tiardon 

 Plant) " are drawings exactly suited for you, the foruis of beds, plants 

 for them, their arrangement, nnd culture. You can htivo it free by post 

 from onr office if yun enclose Cs. -id. in postage stamps, with your address. 



MsTEOROLOtiicAL (JCESTiONB {FairtfltAr).— Theso are not within our 

 province, you bad bettor write to the editor of some meteorological 

 periodical. 



Ax>DKSS8.~A gentleman wishes to know tho address of Mr. Pannell, 

 loimerly of tho Kouehaw Ironworks, Chesterfield. 



Size of Iron Wire for Cordon Tbaikino {T. jT.).— '* Galvanisod-iron 

 training wires should be of size No. 10. At every 4 feet is needed a 

 galvanised iron peg, with an eye for the wire to run through, and 4 inches 

 in length for stone walls, and from 2\ to 8 inches loug for hrick walU. A 

 long screw and nut will draw 20U feet iiuite tight. Should you wish to 

 try the Krouch " ntidisieur," or tighteuer. you can then have thinner 

 and cheaper wires and more of them. In8tead of I'i or 15 inches in- 

 terval, you may have 10 inches, which will not be too near for close 

 prun'ug. These littio raidisseur.s are cheap (some cost only SJ.) and 

 effective. There are several kinds, all fairly good. That exhibited in 

 1667 in the gardens may prove the best. Messrs. J. B. Brown, of Cannon 

 Street, Luudou, used to supply them iu liirge quantities. Soft lead wire 

 is a luxurious tie. Tho hard-frozen trees were, perhaps, rather precipi- 

 tately planted. Gradual thawing is safer, but it is wonderful what trees 

 will bear. The nature of the suil in which they now stand wi'l much 

 influence their recovery if warm and open. Protect the roots ciirefully 

 from frost and cold drenching rains. Maiden cordons under glass can be 

 pruned now, except in hard weather. But why not wn.it till Februai^ '.' 

 If they arc in the open air, by sdl means wait. Peach trees require more 

 heading-down than Pear trees, as a rule, because oue-year-old dormant 

 buds of the Peach are not easy to move. Only equalise the points of 

 Pear cordons the first season, and cut backiu the winter.— T. C. Brluaut." 



Applying Soda to Fernery Rockwork lA. E. F. C).— It is not 

 safe to apply a solution of soda to the rockwork of a fernery, as it will 

 destroy all the foliage it touches, making it quite black, and will injure 

 the roots of many Ferns. We do not think it would kill slugs and cater- 

 pillars without injury to the plants. You may capture the slugs by 

 searching for them at night with a lantern, and tlie caterpillars may be 

 taken by day. They will bo foimd secreted among the foliage. 



Manuring Pelargoniums fZJfm).~Removo the surface as deeply as 

 you can without injury to the roots, and replace it with a compost of 

 equal parts of fibrous loam, leaf soil, and old cow dung, or well-decom- 

 posed manure, raising it an inch or two higher than it was before. It 

 would be quite early enough to do that in February, but yon may do so 

 now if you wish to encourage growth at this season. I 



Ornamental Water Plants (A Subscriber).~ThGTe are no "Lilies" 

 with blue or red flowers that are hardy ; but there are several besides the 

 white Water Lily (Nymphma alba) and yellow Water Lily (Nuphar Intea), I 

 but these two are the best of each genus, and, except for variety, others ' 

 are not particularly desirable. ViUareia nymphoides, with heart-shaped j 

 leaves, and umbels of yellow flowers in June and July, requires deep 

 water like the Xympha'as. Richardia ;ethiopica, well known as a pot : 

 plant, is hardy if placed deep enough in the water to have the roots ' 

 beyond the reach of frost ; the flowers are white. Calla palustris should 

 be planted near the margin. For Alisma Plantago, flowers white marked i 

 with purple, 1 foot of water is required. Butomus nmbellatus, flowers 

 pink, in umbels on a long stalk, requires from 1 to 2 feet of water. Iris 1 

 pseud-Acoms, reed-like, with yellow flowers in June, needs from 1 to 

 2 feet of water. Ranunculus aquatilis, white flowers early in summer, 

 should be planted near the margin. Caltha palustris, and the double i 

 variety, with yellow flowers in May and June, should be planted on the 

 margin. Menyauthes trifoUata, mth white flowers in July, should also 

 be planted on the margin : Lysimachia thyrsiflora, irith yellow flowers 

 from May to July, is also suitable for the- mar^n ; Hottonia palustris has 

 flesh-coloured flowers appearing above the water, the plant entirely sub- 

 merged, and requiring from 1 to 2 feet of water. Apouogeton distachyon, 

 with fragrant white flowers, is one of the finest of aquatic plants, and in 

 1 foot of water it is quite hardy. It flowers from June to October. 

 Others are Sngittaria sagittjefolia. white flowers from June to August, 

 1 foot of wat. r, leaves arrow-shaped ; and Stratiotes aloides, white flowers 

 in June, 1 foot of water. In planting, all that is required is to secure 

 them erect in the mud at the bottom. You will find a more extensive 

 list in pages 225, 247, 312, and 330 of vol. v., Kew Series, as well as cul- 

 tural hints. 



\yEEPiNG Willow (S. S.).— "The good old Weeping Willow " you re- 

 quire is the Salix bafcylonica. The Kilmarnock Willow has larger leaves. 

 Any nurseryman could obtain them for yoo. 



Grapes and Pears (G. B. F. s.).— We think that your Muscat Vines 

 are perfectly healthy. The Grapes you sent are over-ripe, and passing 

 into the state of raisins. The wood not being quite ripened merely in- 

 dicates that a little more heat should be given. Your Pear No. 1 is Beurru 

 d'Aremberg. The other Pear was smashed and nndeteiminable. 



Clinkers F^iuiing Rapidly (Devon).— 7hf greater the draught and 

 the quicker the combustion of the coke, the more likely are clinkers to 

 be formed. Tho making the coke small will not prevent it. Mixing tho 

 coke with blocks of wood would lessen the evil, ami to would using coal 

 that has little bitumen, and bums to a while ash without leaving a 

 cinder. Where clinkers are an annoyance such coal woHld be an ad- 

 vantage, and the greater quantity of smoke would be lessened by a small 

 aperture to admit air over tho fireplace. 



H^-pocaust Heating {A. B.).— What wo nnderstand bv hypocaust 

 heating, is heating from beneath, and wo do not think it signifies how the 

 beat is obtained, if it is obtained and equally ditTused. Heating from a 

 furnace without pipes or flue would do as well for Pines as any other mode, 

 provided the smoke could not come in contact with the roots of the plants, 

 and more especially could not by any possibility escape into the atmo- 

 sphere of the Pino house. 



Weymouth Pine (J. li. P.).— Seventy-two feet in height, and 15 inches 

 in diameter at 3 feet from the ground, are not extraordinary dimensions 

 for the trunk of this tree grown in England. It is of slower growth here 

 than in Nurth America, its native place, where it attains a height of 



150 feet. The timber it makes is called CanadUn white pioo and Ptuu- 

 kin pine. In America the wood Is more cmplovad than that of any other 

 Pine, and in tho Northern States masts are cxcWivcly made of it. 



Manaoeuent of an Ice Pit (P. IP. /'.iir<;rrVrf).— We rather qaostiou 

 the propriety of the Fir branches at the tides of the earth pit for fee , they 

 are so apt to enclose air. If anything, clean straw would have been 

 better, or nothing at all, letting tho ice come close to tbo earth. Then 

 the keeping of the ice will mainly depend on the exclusion of wet and 

 heat by the thatching, and this would hv improved by letting the thatch 

 come over the ground for a width of 4 feet all round.' The ice would be 

 still safer if tlierc weru a narrow trench 3 feet from it, as deep as the pit 

 inside, nnd that made airtight by the thatching passing over it. The 

 heat of the summer would then little afi'ect the earth immediately round 

 the pit. For our.-jolvcs we have been as successful with mounds entirely 

 aboveivound as when the ice was altogether or partly sunk in an eartii 

 pit, chiefly because the thatching kept out heat, and nil moi<^ture passed 

 easily away. Nothing melts the ice so soou as confined moist vapour. 



Removing Strawberry Leaves, and Old Raspberry Canrs (E R.P.). 

 — Wo would remove no decayed or other leaves from Strawberrj' plants in 

 tho open ground until all danger from frost was over. Even then they will 

 soou be out of sight and be covered by the young growth. The sooner 

 the old bearing eanes of Raspberries are cut down close in the ground the 

 better. The bearing wood of last summer's growth should merely be 

 shortened a little according to ild strength, suy from S to 3j and 4 feet. 

 Tho smallest should be thinned out. 



Heating by a Sto\*e(C. B.).— We do not think that any mode of heating 

 by gas would be lees expensive than by Joyce's stove, neither would it be 

 safe. Strong arpand bnmers in such a stove would be the most likely to 

 answer in so small a greenhouse, and we .^bould think would be safe if a 

 small gas-pipe were taken from the top of tho stove into the open air. 

 There is this trouble with all stoves with prepared fuel, tlmt one may run 

 out of fuel when it is wanted most. .\ small stove oucht to heat your 

 house (15 feet by 9). and keep its temperature above ;12 during all' the 

 frost we have had. Yon may say you cannot have a flue, but you might 

 have a pipe 3 inches in diameter passing from your stove into tho open 

 air, and then you could bum coke or common' cinders. Could not the 

 Joyce's stove be so altered '? 



Heating from a Boiler at the Back of a DiNtNG-BOOK FniE 

 (J. F. C). — Your proposed plan will answer very well, of course with a 

 rise of 8 inches from the boiler to the small tank. The top of the boiler 

 will require to be close, not open. The front exposure of the boiler in the 

 fireplace would do, more especially if the fire play on th'.- bottom as well 

 as tho front. The tank, though small, should be' divided, and the flow- 

 pipe enter at one side and the return come from the other side. Iron 

 will be the best material for the tank for your purpose, but wood aides 

 would retain the heat longer, and, covered with iron or slate, would give 

 you enough heat at the top. You would require to have a small box over 

 the tank, with room for at least 3 or 4 inches of sand or other material to 

 plunge in, and from 4 to 6 or more inches above that to let the cuttings 

 grow. Cover with a small frame of glass, moveable, so that you can 

 reverse the sides, upper and lower, as often as you need. For your tank, 

 3^. by 2^ feet, we would have a little box 7 inches deep in front, and 10 or 

 12 inches deep at back, and have two squares of glass m slight frames to 

 cover it. These moveable, yon can reverse them whenever the inside 

 surface becomes damp, and thus avoid all wiping tho glass. The tank 

 should be 4 or 5 inches deep ; it would be of little use were it deeper. With 

 fire in the room all tho evening the heat will be quite enough. In ver>' 

 cold nights you might pack the cinders in front of the boiler. 



Flue-heating a Greenhouse (D. J. J>.).— See " Doinf:s of the Last 

 W'eek," page 423, only below the line in italics, instead of "top" read 

 " bottom " of flue. To make sure the depth there given is ample; there 

 ought never to be less than 18 inches dificreitce between the grate bars 

 and the bottom of the flue. See also page 4.5G on beating by a flue. Our 

 impression is, that the reason your ungliztd pipes will not heat except 

 close to the furnace, is, that your pipes are too much on a level with the 

 furnace bars — not raised enough above them. This you cculd easiest 

 remedy by sinking the furnace. Possibly also the furnace, which yon 

 say is large, may be too large for the size of the pipes. Such pipes should 

 at least be on a level until they reach the chimney, and better still if 

 there be a perceptible rise all the way. Possibly, too, the pipes and ciiim- 

 uey have become filled with damp air, which needs to be dislodged. If 

 you could make a small fire at the bottom of the chimney, where most 

 likely you have an iron plate for 8wee]>ing, that might make a keen 

 draught, and if so the flue-pipes would draw well afterwards. If yoo 

 cannot do that, light some dry straw or sha\ings, small ^visps, and place 

 them burning down the open end of your iron chimney, repeating the 

 dose several times, and immediately aftenvards burning such dry stuff 

 and dry wood in your furnace. If your furnace bars and pipes are right, 

 most probably the smoke and heat will go along the pii)cs afterward?, 

 instead of coming back and out at the furnace door. We should give 

 these simple remedies a trial. In fresh-made flues, and flues long unused, 

 we have had frequently to light a fire, as above, in the chimney, to 

 draw out the damp heavy air. If these remedies do not answer, then 

 there is something wrong in the position of the flue. If so, were we in 

 your case, as the house is so small (15 feet by 6 fcet\ and the brirk fur- 

 nace is large and built inside the house — though fud and attended to 

 from the outside, tho furnace, as we presume, against the back wall— we 

 would be perfectly satisfied with turningthat f urnare into a stove, making 

 it from 3 to 3^ feet or even 4 feet in height, covering the top with tiles, a 

 flag-stone, or an iron plato, and making a hole in the back wall 9 inches 

 from the top, to be connected with your short iron chimney. With close- 

 fitting doors, and a small ventilator in the ash-pit door to regulate 

 draught, you would be sure to have enough of the latter, and plenty of 

 heat to keep out any frost, and yon would have no trouble with flues, or 

 sinking the furnace. Meanwhile, as you have the pipes, tr>* the above 

 simple modes for encouraging a free draught. If you can keep an average 

 heat of 45 at night, except in very cold nights, uhen the temperature of 

 the house may fall 5 lower, you may easily have a few flowers all the 

 winter. For instance — say that the winter txtcnds from November to 

 March, you can have for the first two months Scarlet and other Pelai- 

 goniums, Chrysanthemums, Chinese Primulns, Cyclamens, Heliotrope.", 

 Polyanthus, Violets. Mignonette, Wallflowers, Ac. 'The bulbs would come 

 in after ChHstmas : nnd from December onwards there would be of shnibP, 

 Camellias, Ericas. Epacrises, Cytisus. Coronilla, Daphne indica odora, 

 China Hoses, Myrtles, &c.; also, such Faclisias as senatlfolia, and sacb 



