March 25, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAPDENER, 



2n 



earth pit. The plants will be planted in the trench when tbey 

 have been inured to their new situation.— J. Douglas. 



HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 



SECREriRiES will oblige us by informiQg us of the dates on 

 which exhibitiona are to be held. 



Jersey.— May 5th, Roses June 16th, Antumn October 13th, Chrysanthemuma 



November lOth. Major Howell, Spring Grove, St. Lawrence, Hon. Sec. 

 Bath.— May 12th, September let and 2ad. Mr. B. Pearaou, 13, Milsom 



Street, Sec. 

 Coventry.— May 31st. Mr. T. Wig^ton, 3, Portland Terrace, Lower Ford 



Street, Sec. 

 Durham and NoRiiirMBERLAND.— To be held at Elswick Park, July 7th 



and Sth. Mr. R. Revelr, Sec. 

 Leeds.— Juno 9th, 10th, and 11th. Mr. J. Birkbeck, DelphLane, WoodhouBe, 



Leeds, Sec. 

 GLAsao\v.— June 16th, September Sth. Mr. F. G. Dougoll, 167, Canning 



Street, Sec. 

 Fareham —Jane 23rd. Mr. n Smith. Sec. 

 Exeter (Rose Show).— June 2ath. Mr. J. N. Gray, Queen Street Chambers, 



Hon. Sec. 

 WrsBEACH.— June 30th. Mr. C. Paiker, Hon. Sec. 

 Spalding.— July 1st and 2nd. Mr. U. F. Barrell, Hon. Sec. 

 Tonhridge.— July 14th. Mr. "W. Blair, Free Press Office, Hon. Sec. 

 WmnLEDON.— July 15th and 16th. Mr. P. Appleby, 5, Linden Cottages, 



SunnjHido, AVimbledou, Hon. Sec. 

 Brecon.— July 22Qd. Mr. W. J. Roberts, Sec. 

 Cleckheaton.— July 2Uh. Mr. S. H. Williamaon, Hon. Sec. 

 Preston.— July 28th and 29th. Mr. ^Y. Troughton, 4, Church Street, 



Hon. Sec. 

 Southampton.— July 3lsc and August 2nd. Mr. C. S. Fuidge, 82, York 



Street, Lower Avenue, Sec. 

 Ramsgate.— August 25th, C. D. Smith, Esq,, 8, Marine Terrace, Margate, 



Hon. Sec. 

 DoNDEE.— Augnst 26tb, 27th, and 23th. Mr. R. McKelvie, 51, Reform Street, 



Sec. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Charles Green {late Gardener to W. Wilson Saunders, Esq.), 

 Botanical Nursery, Holmesdale Road, 'Reiga.ie.^List of Green- 

 Jioiisc, Hcrbaceo'is, and Alpine Plants. 



William Paul, F.RH.S., Waltham Cross, London, ^.—List of 

 Moses {New)f Geraniums, Phloxes, li-c. 



James Backhouse & Sons, York. — Catalogue of Alpine Plants 

 and Hardy Perennials. 



James Carter A Co, High Holborn, London. — Illustrated 

 Catalogue of Prize Farm Seeds and Potatoes. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 •,* All correspondence should be directed either to *' The 



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

 Mr. Johnson or Dr. Hogg often remain unopened unavoid- 

 ably. We request that no one will write privately to any 

 of our correspondents, as 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. 



*;ic"'' We have many valuable communications \\'liich we 

 are obliged to omit until next week. 



Books (J. iTe/^y). —Keane'e "Indoor Gardening" may suit yon. You can 

 have it free by post if you enclose twenty postage stamps with your address. 



Constructing Cucumber Pit {M. A. H. B. L.). — We should have the 

 honse sunk about 2 feet, and the walls about the same above ground. A 

 span-roofed house would be best ■with a bed on bath aides of the house and a 

 walk up the middle. If you require one bed only, a half-span would be moat 

 Bnitable, having a walk along the back. The front wall we should have of the 

 height named, and the back wall the height required to meet the back part of 

 the roof. Not knowing the width we cannot give the height of the back wall. 

 The roof only we should have glass, with one or both ends level with the 

 front brickwork. Ventilating should be provided at the upper part of the 

 roof. You will need two pipes for bottom heat to each bed. and four for top 

 heat. The surface of the bed should be about 2 feet from the plafs, and the 

 trellis a font from it. Your boiler will not beat more than 200 feet of 4-inch 

 piping. We should have one a size larger, as it is hotter to have one above 

 rather than under its work. Such a i oiee wo believe would not be portable, 

 and it is well to bo certain on that point before you erect. 



Seakalk after CrTTii^G {C, KiUarncy). — The Seakale not having been 

 forced, should have the blanching material removed when the weather is 

 mild, yet before the growth is advanced. In cutting, the cut should be ju^t 

 at the base of whence the new growth proceeds. Ju^t below tliis will proceed 

 shoots which will give the crowns for next year's crop By kcepiog the 

 crowns covered you will certainly secure a second crop of weakly stalky, but 

 the growth afterwards made will be poor, and the produce resultiug another 

 year vei-y indifferent. 



Purple Broccoli {Idem). — These are not so desirable as the white, but 

 are by many esteemed. The Purple Cape is ready for use in autumn. Dwarf 

 Danish Purple and Sprouting come in during March and April, and Howden's 



Dwarf Purple in May and June. The seeds should be sown at tha c'oBe of 

 April or early in May. 



Heating House.s (J. P. of 5'or7:).— We do not approve of the 2-inch Uow- 

 and-return pipe from and to the boiler. We know the water will cuter the 

 huiler in a similar ratio as that passiiig out of it, but we maintain tho water 

 has not bo free an egress and ingress to the boiler when 2-iuch pipes are em- 

 ployed instead of 4-iuuh. The 2-inch pipes we should alter to 4-inch, and 

 take them tho entire length of the cold pit, across its end through into the 

 stove, and through the stovo in tho way you show, but with the water llowing 

 the reverse way to what is represented in your ekotch. This will give you 

 four rows of active piping, whereas by your plan half of the piping would bo 

 of no use only when you have heat in the vinery, and that will be in suromei, 

 when you want least in the stove. The advantage of the change will be 

 equally grtat in the winter, as the vinery will then need to be cold. The flow 

 pipe after entering tho stove b.s far as you show may have a branch to the 

 right and left, the tight for stove, and left for cool vinery, upon which should 

 bo a valve, and the like arrangement of the return pipes of those houses will 

 give you all you require. Wo should have the pipes in the vinery as shown 

 in stove and greenhouse— i <:., 4 inches from the eJge of border insteod oj 

 8 inches, and they must be raised so as to be on the same level as those in 

 the stove, or the circulation of the water will be sluggish, if not altogether 

 arrested. Three-inch pipes will be ample for the vinery, but all the others 

 ought to be 4-inch. 



Adiantdm farleyense not Tiirivinq {R W. B.).—lt is a stove FerL» 

 and to having been kept in a greenhouse wo should attribute its present 

 sickly appearance. Remove to a stove, affording a moist atmosphere, and 

 shade from bright sun. Repot when it is growing freely. The bad appear- 

 ance may, however, have been caused by fumigating witii tobacco, of which 

 it is more susceptible of injury by than any plant we know. If in a pot, as 

 we presume it is, remove from the house whenever the house ia fumigated. 

 It does tolerably well in a warm greenhouse, being kept in the moistest part 

 and shaded, but to have fine it requires a stove. 



Orchabd-house and Greenhouse Arhangements (H. W.). — The height 

 of the back wall for a house the width you name, with a height in front 7 feet 

 ought to be 15 feet, and you will need to provide efticient top and front 

 ventilation. This is a very important point iu greenhout-e and orchard-house 

 construction. You can have pipes put in on the opposite side of the boiler — 

 ■((?., branching from tho flow of the greenhouse for the orchard house, and 

 taking it along that house, returning by the return pipe from the greenhouse. 

 The pipes, as you have an open cistern, must all be on the same level. An aii 

 pipe on the highest part of the orchai-d -house piping will allow of air passing 

 out of the pipes. The pipes in both houses when cold need not be more 

 than three-quarters filled with water in the flow pipes, so as to allow for ex- 

 pansion, but taking care to have them so full as to insure the circulation of 

 the water. Two pipes 4 inches in diameter along the front and across one or 

 both ends of each house will be suflicieut to exclude frost in severe weather, 

 and by having valves on the orchard-house pipes you will be enabled to work 

 them separately or together. We consider it a mistake to have Vines in the 

 orchard house, especially on the roof, for though you may havo good Grapes 

 it will ha had at the expense of the trees beneath. We should not have any 

 on the roof, but you may have them as pot plants or planted out, but trained 

 upright. You can have Viues in tho greenhouse trained to wires 15 inches 

 from the glass, and at 4 feet apart you will have room for five Vines. You 

 will have space in your house for two rows of trees at 5 feet apart, which will 

 be quite close enough. This will give you sixteen trees, and having the frees 

 not nearer the back wall than 5 feet, and the pathway about 18 inches from 

 it, and 2 feet 6 inches wide, enough light will be admitted to make the back 

 wall available for Peach trees. We should have two — viz.. Royal George and 

 Grosse Mignonne, with an Elrugo Nectarine in the centre. This plan will 

 leave the front space available for other fruit trees. 



Hedge fob Hollow (VaUnmhrosa). — It appears you intend to make a 

 ditch or trench, and you want to know what to plant in the ditch, and not 

 upon the bank or side of the ditch. If the former we can only recommend 

 Birch, which will grow well and does not make a bad fence, but is not good 

 against cattle, though answering well as a screen. If upon the bank we 

 advise Thorn or Quick, which is unquestionably the best of hedge plants. We 

 think you mean in the trench, and therefore advise Birch, which kept well cut 

 will meet your requirements. Birch, Alder, and Willow are the only trees 

 suitable for such a position. 



WiRE3 FOB Pear Espaliers (J. E.). — Six whes 10 inches apart, the first 

 afoot from the ground, will be proper for your trees; but wo should have 

 had the trees vertical traiued and planted 5 feet apart, each tree with six 

 branches, and the trellis 6 feet high, and the wires a foot apart. Horlzon- 

 tally-trainel Pears on the Quince have the lower branches very often weak. 



Fig on Greenhouse Wall (TiJ-:m). — With Viues on the roof at 3 feet 

 apart you will have little chance of fruit from a Fig tree against the back 

 wall. We have, however, known them do fairly, the Brown Turkey bsiog 

 most suitable. The wall, if you have the tree, which we do not alvise, would 

 be best wired. 



Drainin'g Fern Case (Cryplogamia). — At the bottom there should b3 a 

 clear space of an inch; at this height have a second bottom of perforated 

 ziue. A small pipe at one end coming outside the case from the open ppice 

 will enable you to run off at will any surplus water, the end of the pipe being 

 fitted with a thumb screw. Over tho perforate! zinc you will still need an 

 iuch of drainage ; the best is charcoal broken up in pie-:e3 from tho size of a 

 hazel to a walnut, and passing it through an eighth-of-an-lnch sieve to free 

 it of the dust, and over this a thin layer of cocoa-nut fibre, or thfe rougher 

 parts of the compost. The fioo charcoal siftings will do to mis with the 

 compost at the rato of one-sixth charcoal to the other parts of the soil. The 

 Ferns have not hitherto grown because they are waterlogged. 



Ribbon Border (A. F. N.).—T\i^ arrangement would look welL The best 

 blue ARcratum ia Chater's Imperial Dwarf. It comes readily from seed, hut 

 we prefer raising our stock fr.^ra cuttings taken from plants selected for that 

 purpose last season. Little Trot is by far the best ond most compact white- 

 edged Geranium, but as it is only just now being sent out you had better 

 take May Queen or Miss Kingsbury for the present season. They are both 

 excellent varieties. 



Auriculas in House Facing North (A. C. S.).— The Auriculas might 

 do in the situation proposed during the summer and autumn months, but I 

 question their doing so during winter and spring. I never saw the varieties 

 named, and so can say nothing of their merits. — D., Deal, 



Hardy Rhododendrons (C. T. S.).— The following twelve are good:— 

 Atrosangulneum, dark crimson; Titian, reddish pink; Queen, white; StelU, 



