December 16, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



487 



Tropseoloms as Lobbianum. We would haveentered more into details, but 

 as you wish to have a book recommended, we wonld advise you to obtain 

 •' Window Gardenins? for the Many," from our office, price 9rf., or free by 

 post lOd. You will there find mumte details how to treat these plants, 

 and the only difl'erence would be that you have better chances than any 

 mere possessor of windows. If you want any definite information we 

 shall be glad to give it. Meanwhile, as a beginner, do not be disheartened ; 

 the best and simplest instructions will never teach yon so well as your 

 own practice, and, rightly looked at, a failure is often as valuable a teacher 

 as a success. It was not kindness to lead you to expect crops of Grapes 

 so soon after planting the Vines ; and by the way, with Vines in such a 

 house, it will not be advisable to have the temperature higher than 45- 

 with fire heat all the winter. 



Vinery Flue-heated (IT. B. £.)-— The door is to be in the south end, 

 and the house is to be against au east wall, with a walk, we presume, 

 from the door at the south end and along the east front merely. As the 

 south san will strike only on the end of the house, such a house will not 

 do so well for Muscats as if it had a more southern exposure, but it will do. 

 The flue, if single, should come in at the south end facing the doorway, 

 or low enough there to come in beneath it, go along the front, and cross 

 the north end to the chimney. If the doorway were reversed to the north 

 end, we ehould propose the flue to enter there in preference. If you want 

 much heat better have the flue above ground. The border had better be 

 made the full breadth of the house. The Vines may be planted in front, 

 if fully 6 or 9 mches from the flue, if the pathway is latticed ; but if 

 the pathway is solid the Vines had better be planted against the back 

 wall and brought down the roof. The flue above ground will not inter- 

 fere with the Vine roots. If you supported the front of the house on 

 arches or piers, the roots could run outside ; but 8 feet wide, with rich top- 

 dressings, would keep the Vines prolific and healthy. With such a sandy 

 bottom you would do well to brick it as you propose, or concrete the bot- 

 tom, place over that 6 or 9 inches of open rubble, with a drain in front, 

 and then from 18 to 2-1 inches of the best fresh fibrous loam you can find, 

 and in such a border mix with it 6 cwt. of broken boiled bones, about 

 oae-tenth part of lime rubbish, and an equal amount of very rotten sweet 

 dnng. More bones may be used if boiled and merely broken. They will 

 afi"or(i nourishment for a long time. The Grapes numed will suit each 

 other, but they will be late, and requ're more heat than such kinds as 

 the Black Hamburgh and the Sweetwater. 



Raspberry Planting IVicar). — Your proposed plan of planting is very 

 good, if the rows are at least 5 feet apart, but a rail 2 feet high will not 

 be suflScient after the first season. We would recommend you instead to I 

 have stout elm posts 4 feet out of the ground— say 3 inches in diameter, 

 and from 10 to 15 feet apart, and on these fasten two rows of wires one- 

 twelfth of an inch in diameter, one 18 inches, the other 3 feet from the 

 ground. The simplest way to do this is to straighten the wire by pulling 

 it round the bole of a stout tree, then place one end against the first 

 stake at the right height, drive in an iron nail close to itj say 3 inches 

 long, for half its length, then bend the other half and knock it down 

 firmly over the wire, and so with all the rest. Run a tar brush over the 

 wire, and when dry tie the stems to it. You will soon save in ties the 

 price of the wire over a rail. Of course, iron posts and stays, and wire 

 properly strained, would be better and neater, and, perhaps, as economical 

 in the end; but as you spoke of having a rail, we merely mention the 

 above mode as a great improvement, and being also more economical. 



Vinery Roof and Planting (M€rlin).~Givine the height of a house 

 9 feet at back and 6^ feet in front, will not enable us to say exactly what 

 the slope would be^ as that slope would be diflerent in a house 7 feet 

 wide, from what it would be in one 12 feet wide, being much flatter in the 

 latter case. If the half or so of the front, upright were glass, then if the 

 house were 11 or 12 feet wide, the roof would throw ofl" the rain, and the 

 perpendicular light would be so useful that the house would do well for 

 general purposes. How can we tell the number of Vines you should 

 plant, as you say nothing of the length of the house ? We can speak 

 more definitely of the kmds in an unheated house, as Black Hamburgh, 

 Black Champion, and Black Prince, White Frontignan, Buckland Sweet- 

 water, and Royal Muscadine. For Vinea alone, and a moderate width 

 of house, the Vines may be planted 4 feet apart; but as you wish to 

 have Peaches, Figs, &c., you may have Peaches and Nectarines against 

 the back wall, and Peaches and Nectarines in pots on the front 

 border. For these to do well, the Vines should be 6 or 7 feet apart when 

 established. For the back wall, select such Peaches as Bellegarde and 

 Noblesse, and such Nectarines as Elruge and Violette Hative, and for 



pots or tube, or trained to a low trellis, such kinds as Royal George, 

 Barrington, and Walburton Admirable Peaches; Downton, Rivers's 

 Orange, and Hardwicke Nectarines ; and such Fif.s as Brown Turkey 

 and White Marseilles. If you heat the house a httle, the same plants 

 wonld do, but if fond of the Muscat flavour, you might have the Muscat 

 of Alexandria in the warmest place, the Muscat Hamburgh anywhere, 

 and Trentham Black. We are sorry to say, however, that we have little 

 faith in your proposed mode of heating. The simple fire-brick furnace 

 8 feet below the ground level is all right enough, but the two 3-inch pipes, 

 one from each side going round the house and out at a comer, are a 

 very problematical affair. These, if at all horizontal, would, we fear, 

 soon clog up, and require constant looking to, even if fuel producing 

 little smoke were used. We have little faith in fluee placed horizontally, 

 if not fully the double the diameter proposed. From 8 to 12 inches in 

 diameter would be safer for cylindrical pipes. See answers as to stove and 

 flue-heating to-day, and pages 423 and 45G. The Pelargoniums referred 

 to in page 366 were packed firmly in earth, watered, surfaced as de- 

 scribed with dry soil, but all the lops were left exposed. The lime and 

 charcoal on the cut parts were to prevent bleeding and decay. 



Reineckia caenea {Schubert).— It was introduced by Mr. Evans, of 

 Stepney, from China in 1792, and was then called Sanseviera camea, or 

 S. sessUiflora. It is a Liliaceous plant of the sub-order Aloeie. It was 

 flowered for the first time in the January of lb03, by a firm then at 

 Kensington, Messrs. Grimwood & Wykes. They cultivated it as a stove 

 plant, but it is said to be nearly hardy. We shall be obliged by in- 

 formation relative to its culture by those who have bloomed it. 



Mdscat Troveren Grape {J. Anderson). — I* is best known as the 

 Trovtren Frontignan. It is an excellent Grape, requiring as high a tem- 

 perature as the Muscats. We cannot tell the parent of the grub withont 

 seeing a specimen. 



Pears for Doijble Grafting {Centurion).~7ry any of the following 

 which are arranged in the order of the value we set upon them : — Doyenne 

 du Comice, Mareohal de la Cour, Marie Louise, Alexandre Lambre, Gloa 

 Mortj-eau, Jargonelle, or Citron des Carmes. 



Chrysantheiiums Flowering Imperfectly (Roche).— "We should 

 think it arises from the plants being weak. Not hrving sufficient water 

 and support in summer would cause it ; or it may be a result of the plants 

 being kept too warm and close in the greenhouse, or of the roof being 

 shaded and covered with climbers, A dozen good large-flowering Chry- 

 santhtmums are; — Fleur de Marie, WTiite Beverley, and Rotundiflorum, 

 whites or blush ; Lady Talfourd, Pink Perfection. Fingal, rose-coloured ; 

 Hercules, Ossian, and Lord Clyde, or Purpureum Elegans, purple and 

 crimson shades ; Golden Beverley, John Salter, and Guernsey Nugget, 

 yellows. They are rather new, but not very expensive. 



Training Gourds against Walls (A. T. J*.).— The Gourds may be 

 trained against walls, but not well without a trellis, though by careful 

 tying and nailing you may probably keep the Vines from breaking. They 

 wonldrequiretobe raised in a hotbed in spring, and be put out, when strong 

 well-hardened plants, at the end of May. Abundant supplies of water 

 will be required in dry weather. We think the other two you inquire 

 about would require glass. We have no experience of them out of doors. 



Names of Fruits {G. Godhold).—'We cannot name the varieties of 

 florists' flowers. Your Pears are :— 1, Eeurre Diel ; 2, Napoleon ; 3, Nouveau 

 Poiteau. The Apple is Pearson's Plate. 



Names of Plants {A.E. C.).— Libonia florihumla. (Miss Sophy Webster) 

 — Your Deudrobium most probably is D. chrysanthum, the other 

 Orchid is Zygopetalum Mackayii. bend U8 jour Conifers again when 

 convenient, and vre will do our best to assist you. [W. M. B.).—2, Blcch- 

 num occidentale ; 3, Adiantum cuneatum ; 4, Asplenium, probably A. di- 

 morphum ; 5, Diplazium svlvaticum. {Mary JT.).— Your flower is that 

 of Aspidistra lurida. The flowers are always produced round the base of 

 the leaves close to the soil. [J. Turner/.— You.]: Conifer is the Cedar of 

 Lebanon. {R. TT.l.— Nerine undulata. (J. AM.— /our Orchid bloom was 

 dreadfully crushed when it reached us, so we can merely guess at it. We 

 believe it to be Epidendrum cochleitum. \,W. C.i.—Your ''Blechnum" 

 proves to be Doodia caudata. (.4. Lee). — Hakea eemipleaa, with entire 

 leaves; Hakea purpurea, with three or four-partite leaves. {R. L.). — 

 Your Orchid spike is certainly that of a Cymbidium, and we think, also, 

 of the species C. bicolor, but you give us no information as to its foliage, 

 or whether its spikes are drooping or erect. The flowers had changed 

 colour, but so far as we can tell, it is identical with Cymbidium bicolor. 

 {A. W. M irji eld '.—Oncidium barbatum. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of Loudon for the week ending December 14th. 



POULTRY. BEE, AUD PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



VARIATION OF COLOUR IN POULTRY STRAINS. 

 One of your correspondents last week, writing on this sub- 

 ject, asks, la not white a sign in most animals of impurity of 

 strain or cross? I believe it is a sign of deterioration in 



physical power, and I see no reason why it should not bs so as 

 to colour and other hereditary dispoailj'ons. This, even esta- 

 blished as a fact, would not "affect my statement quoted by 

 your correspondent — namely, that whJte and black, and white 

 and yellow, seem to be iuterchangeabla colours, whilst red 

 remains unchanged. 



The results of your correspondent's attempt in maficg Cochin 

 hens of a uniform sandy buff colour for one season with a 



