February 11, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTIOULTOaa AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



127 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*.• All correapoudeuoe ahonW bo directed either to "The 

 Editors," or to "The Publisher." Letters addressed to 

 Mr. Johusoa or Dr. Hogg ofteu remain UQOpened unavoid- 

 ably. We request that uo one will write privately to any 

 of our correspondents, a3 doing so subjects them to un- 

 justifiable trouble and expense. 



Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 

 relating to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee sub- 

 jects, and should never send more than two or three 

 questions at once. All articles intended for insertion 

 should be written on one side of the paper only. We 

 cannot reply to questions through the post. 



Books {T. Bratlshaw). — Tho best illustrated book on flowera is the 

 *'BotaDical Magazine;" on birds we only know very espensive works, eaoh 

 conlined to the ornithology of one country. 



Veronica serpyxlifolia under Trees. — In answer to " Surrey's " 

 inquiry as to whether Veronica serpyilifolia will grow urnler trees where gi'ass 

 does uot do well, I may state that I have never tried it in such a situation. 

 Two years ago I recommended an amateur /riend to use it for carpeting 

 naiTOw paths between small flower beds, which he did, and ia now highly 

 pleased with it. One end of his little flower garden is pai-tially shaded, but 

 not much overhung, by a large Sycamore, and neir that end I notice that 

 the Veronica grows a little weaker and not so dense, although it does not get 

 patchy. I would not, however, expect it to succeed very well under the thick 

 shade of the Lime tree. — It. D. Tavlor. 



Crystal Palace (TT. Aijrc).—V/e never heard of the essay you mention. 



Passiflobas Pruning {F. H). — The Passitloras which have not flowered 

 and have foUage different from those which have flowered, may be different 

 varieties, but probably the foliage is not yet in character. Cut all the side 

 nhoots to within an eye or two of their base, and leave the main shoots at 

 15 inches apart. Do not ijnine these or the side shoots until the end of 

 Mai-ch or beginning of April, but before they grow shorten the main shoots 

 of last year's growth to Arm wood, say one or two-thirds their length accord- 

 ing to their strength and ripeness of wood ; if weak, two- thirds j if strong and 

 firm, one-third. 



Removino Worms from Lawn (Idem). — Dissolve 1 oz. of corrosive sub- 

 limate (bichloride of mercury) in thirty gallons of water, and with this water 

 the lawn. The worms will come to the surface and may be swept off. Take 

 care that fowls, &c., do not eat them, or they will be poisoned. 



Pruning Koses ( IF. TT.).— Strong-growing Roses ought, when established 

 to be pruned less than weak growers. In your case we should cut the weak 

 growers to two, and the strong growers to three or four eyes, or if they have 

 but little root cut them in to two eyes. 



Heating a Propagating Pit (P. E. M.).—Yout plunging bed will be 

 about 3 feet wide, and will requii-e two rows of 3-inch pipes. For top heat 

 you will require a pipe to be taken along the end and front above tho plung- 

 ing bed, and to the door, then along the plungiag bed side to the other end of 

 the pathway, alongside or beneath the stage to the door, contiauing across 

 the end, along the back wall, and return beneath the plunging bed, the pipes 

 being taken 9 inches from the walla of the bed and 1« inches between them. 

 Your house will have with this arrangement a cool stova temperature. 



Sowing Rose Seeds {St. Edmuud). — Sow them now, after breaking-up the 

 heps into parts with the hand, iu pots or pans well drained, in light rich soil, 

 and cover with fine soil about half an inch deep. Plunge in an open sheltered 

 situation outdoors, keeping moiat and protecting from mice, which are very 

 fond of the seeds. Very close wire netting is the best for this purpose. The 

 soil is to be kept moist, and when the seedliugs have three or four rough 

 leaves raise them with a piece of wood, and pot singly iu small pots ; place in 

 a close cold frame until established, shaded from the sun. When the pots 

 have become full of roots transplant in an open situation in good, rich, light 

 soil. A portion of the seed only may vegetate the lirst year. 



Transplanting Rose Cuttings (Idem). — Pot them at once if showing 

 incipient roots, and plunge in a cool frame uctil established, then plant out. 

 If intended for pot plants shift into larger pots, and plunge in the open air. 

 Hollyhock cuttings should be encouragod to fill the pots with roots, be duly 

 hardened-off, and planted-out in April. 



Plants for Surfacing Ground Beneath Chestnut Trees (Alpha). — 

 The best subjects are the Ivies, the common Hedera Helix with H. hibernica 

 (cananensis) being good. They should be planted with the roots as much in 

 the open parts as possible, so that they may have the benefit of moisture, 

 and the shoots should be trained into the shaded and dry parts. The Peri- 

 winkles are good. They should be planted a foot apart, the Ivies 6 feet, or 

 for qaick covering 3 feet. Rhododendrons and Laurels might also be tried 

 should the subjects named be too dwarf or their growth unsatisfactory. 



Raising Vines from EvEStH. 2".). — You can raise them in the dung hot- 

 beds, and now is a good time to begin. The eyes should be taken from well- 

 ripened wood, and cut over transversely above the eye and just clear of it, 

 and from the back of it make a slanting cut downwards and through the 

 shoot, commencing opposite the eye, and brioging out on the samo side as 

 the eye about an inch below it. You may put them singly into small pots 

 filled with light turfy loam, moderately drained, and gently pressed. The 

 wedge-like end of the eye is to be thrust into the soil and level with the sur- 

 face. The pots are to be plunged in the hotbed and kept moist. In due time 

 they will put out a shoot, and when this is about 6 inches long shift into 

 larger pots and grow on in a light warm house. 



Early Rhubarb (D. D.).— The best kind for earliness and quality is 

 Johnson's St. Martin's. Chrysanthemums — detach a shoot from the base 

 when about 3 inches long, and pot either singly or three in a small pot, and 

 place in a close cold frame or mild hotbed until rooted, then remove to a cold 

 rrame, and shift into larger pots as the pots fill with roots, and in and after 

 April they may be stood on coal ashes in an open situation, but sheltered 

 from winds. Half a dozen large-flowering varieties are Empress of ludia, 

 white; Blonde Beauty, white, delicate rose stripe; Lady Hardinge, i-ose ; An- 

 tonelli, salmon orange ; John Salter, red cinnamon ; Mr. George Glouny, 

 pale yellow ; and Jardin des Plantes, golden yellow, the best of the yellows. 



Vines for Greenhouse (A. II. S.). — Your prospect of Vines succeeding 

 is uot good, the house having an east aspect, a wall to the south, and no 



means of heating. Besides, they would not succeed well did it get sun in 

 summer, unless they were trained to the roof at about 15 inches from the 

 glass, and were grown in large pots (18-iuch), and had top-dressings of rich 

 compost. The beat kinds would be Black Hamburgh and Buckland Sweet- 

 water. 



Cittting-in a Laurel and Holly Hedge (A'. F.). — Cut the Laurel 

 hedge in about the middle to the end of March, and the Holly hedge from the 

 middle to the end of April. Both will bear cutting severely. 



Plants for Carpet Bedding {Idem). — A few are Sedum glaucum, S. an- 

 glicum, Pachyphiton bracteosum, Howarthia cymbifoUa, Altornauthera.-t 

 amo'na, A. magnifici, A. amabilis, A. paronychioides, Ajugareptans purpurea, 

 Osahs comiculata rubra, Pyrethrum Tchihatchewi, Lobelia pumila grandi- 

 flora, and the double variety llore-pltuo, Antennaria toraentosa, Sautolina 

 incana. Those are the plants, or gome of them, usually employed for covering 

 the ground, but there are others which require to be associated. Arrauge- 

 meuts of the kind have beeu given from time to time in the Journal, notably 

 last year, the last volume, pages 217, 279, 298, and 323, containing much in- 

 formation on the subject, with practical illustrations of the bedding at 

 Hampton Court Palace. 



Soft Putty {Mootec).—I>v. Hogg, in the "Year Book," states, "My 

 friend, Rev. W. Kingsley, has long used a composition which he has found to 

 answer the purpose admirably. It consists of boiled linseed oil nine parts, 

 tallow one part ; let these bo mixed with whiting to the required consistency, 

 and they will form a putty suitable for all garden glazing, and which can be 

 removed at any time without dilficulty." 



Double Furze Propagation {Idem). — By cuttings ia March of last year's 

 growth in sandy soil, better it a little peaty, in a slightly shaded border; or at 

 the end of summer of the growth of the current year, on an east border. 



Fruit Trees for Wall of Melon House {A Lady hi Cheshire).— The 

 soil being light and little of it will not suit Peichos, unless you were to 

 remove it aud form a border of a more retentive description ; or you may 

 enrich it and make firm. Cow dung would be the most suitable stimulant. 

 In this case it would be best employed for Peaches and a Nectarine; or you 

 might have one Apricot, and a Peach and Nectarine. The soil as it is would 

 best suit Apricots and Plums. It is too light for Pears. Figs would be 

 suitable if this fruit is liked. 



Tenants Removing Sukvbs, &c. {Wishful to Do Rightl.— So soon as the 

 Rose and fruit trees were plante4 by you, the law is that they were affixed to 

 the soil and belonged to the landlord. You cannot legally remove them with- 

 out his permission. 



Markchal Niel Rose in G reenhouse (Consfani Sw&smbcr). — Toamay 

 thin-out weak wood and slightly shorten strong shoots of Marcchal Niel, but 

 do not let your gardener overprune. 



Tea Roses for Border {Ladij Jane). — Adam, Alba Rosea, Belle Lyon- 

 nais, Catherine Jlermet, Devoniensis, La Boule d'Or, Louise de Savoie, 

 Madame Levet, Madame Willermnz, Marie SisIey.Cheshunt Hybrid, Souvenir 

 d'Elise, Souvenir d'un Ami. NoiscttcH—U.QXcch.'aX Niel and Celine Forestier. 

 The above fifteen will most probably succeed well in the situation named. 

 To those we might add Veitch'^^ Duchess of Edinburgh, Madame Falcot, 

 Madame Margottin, Homure, Madame Bravy, and Perle de Lyon. 



Apple and Pear Trees Diseased (J. M. ^.).— The vast number of 

 swellings on the branches you enclosed are all the results of the American 

 blight. That blight is the Aphis lanigera, and if it still attacks the trees the 

 insects at this season are down upon the roots of the trees, where they 

 winter. Remove the earth from over the roots, leave them exposed for a few 

 days, pour over them abundance of ammooiacal liquor from the gasworks, 

 and then return the earth. 



Lily of the Valley (C. B.).— Mr. Standish, Royal Narseries, Ascot, 

 imports extensively the foreign rhizomes you need. Write to him and 

 explain your requirements. 



Growing Ferns {Alpha).~\^Q have no doubt that " H. L." would show 

 his Ferns grown in common garden soil, but your cheapest and most certain 

 test would be to grow two or three in such soil yourself. 



Bark of Fruit Trees Partially Destroyed [J. H.). — As the rabbits 

 have only eaten oH part of the bark the trees will not be killed. Cover the 

 wounds with a plaster mide of equal parts clay and cowdung. To prevent 

 farther mischief wrap a hay or straw band round each stem to the height 

 a rabbit can reach. 



He\ting Greenhouse (Gf. W. J.), — A colza-oil lamp will be of no use for 

 heating your house. You will require a stove boiler and two rows, a flow and 

 return 2-inch hot- water pipes all round the house, exceptiog doorway. The 

 stove boiler may be either in a shed at the back of the house or within the 

 house, but it must have an iron funnel or pipe to take away the smoke and 

 other obnoxious products of combustion, being careful to keep it clear of 

 woodwork. 



Annuals for Ssioky Gardens {A Ladij Qardrner). — We presume you 

 wish for hardy kinds only; such are -'Alyssum maritimura, white; Leptosi- 

 phon densitlorus, lilac, aud its white (albus) variety, but the last two do not 

 bloom well after the beginning of September; Nasturtium Tom Thumb, vavs. 

 *Beauty, orange- spotted, "^crimson; N. King of Tom Thumbs, scarlet, aud 

 -'King of Tom Thumbs, goldeu ; Nolaua atriplicifoUa, blue, white, aud yellow ; 

 N. lanceolata, blue; Sauvitalia procainbena, flore-pleno, yellow; ""Saponaria 

 calabrica, rose ; ■'S. calabrica alba, white; and Calendula ofticinalis superba, 

 orange, though of no good for bedding, stands smoke remarkably well. Those 

 marked with an asterisk will bloom as late as you wish, but the others will 

 not. To make up your number we name some which are half-hard}' annuals, 

 or may be treated as such : Ageratum Imperial Dwarf, Lobelia speciosa, 

 Pyrethrum Golden Feather, Seneeio elegans — double crimson, lilac, purple, 

 red, and white; and Tagetes signata pumila. (Euothora macrocarpa aud 

 taraxacifolia, yellow and white-flowered respectively, are sometimes used for 

 beds, but they do uot bloom late enough. The Passion-Flower against a 

 south wall ought to have flowered within four years, but probably it is in too 

 exposed a position, the wood not ripening well. It is not likely it will flower, 

 though if it grow freely we should give it further trial. Glory of Waltham is a 

 good x'ed Rose for a wall. 



Propagating Apples, Arbor-Vit.^, and Thuja Lobri by Cuttings 

 (J. 17.).— Apple cuttings should be of last year's growth, with or without a 

 short heel of the old wood, and they should be about 10 inches in length, and 

 be inserted in the soil two-thirds of their length, and from this the eyes 

 should be removed. They are to be cat transversely below the lowest joint, 

 and if they have any old wood an inch is sufficient. Plant lirmly in rows 

 ^ y inches apart, and 3 inches asunder iu the rows. A sheltered aud slightly 



