262 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 1. 1875. 



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. 



Potatoes (C. B. Q,). — The Lapstones you euclosod ai-e affected by what 

 is called "the Potato disease," about which bo much has been written but no 

 remedy ascertained. 



Cankered Fruit Treks (Jane).~lQ the caao of 'aged trcea there is no 

 cure for chronic canker. When it oecara on young trees a thorough draining 

 of the soil and a thin training of the shoots in the growing season to secure 

 wood-ripenins, are vital points to be attended to. 



Gas-heated Boiler. — A correspondent, "J. H.," wishes to know the 

 dimensions of the gas-boiler mentioned by " J. W." on page 178, and whether 

 he thinks it wouU be capable of heating 150 feet of 2-inch pipe, also the 

 amount of heat he was able to maintain in his greenhouse during the severest 

 of the recent weather. 



PaiMCLA SINENSIS METAMORPHOSIS {R. R. T7.),— We novtr before saw 

 such a total change of the flowers. All are green ; the petals are like the calyx. 

 Stamens and pistils are all green, and even the ovary is leafy and green. We 

 do not think the sport will be permanent. 



Garden Engines {E, B.).— Any one of those advertised in our columns 

 does its work well. 



Mowing Machine {M. ^.).— Write to Messrs. Green and tell them your 

 difficulty with the chain. They will give you the information you need. 



Bone M\n-l'res (F. J,).— All in the list are good manures. We believe 

 No. 6 the most durable. 



IRISE3 [W. A , Corc/j/r.'/).— Anyof theflorists who advertise in our columns 

 could supply fifty varieties if you explain to them what you require. 



Potatoes for Seed (fl". if,).— In the neighhouvhood of Liverpool and 

 Manchester all the varieties you name are grown. Inquire of the dealers iu 

 Potatoes there. 



Victoria Savoy (A Suhscrlbcr).~Th\s is merely a form of tlie Dwarf 

 Green Curled, and may be only a good selection. It is the best Savoy for 

 general crop. 



Cauliflowers (fdem).— Walcheren, Lenormand's, and Veitch's Autumn 

 Giant. 



Broccoli {rJs?^).— Snow's Superb Winter White, Perkins' Leamington, 

 Cai'ter's Champion. 



Gooseberries (/(fern).— Rough Red, Whitesmith, and Warriugton. 



Plants fur Screen (iJ/. C.)-— Having a hedge which will indue time give 

 you the desired seclusion we should not go to the expense of a permanent fence 

 of wire with climbers to cover, but content omselves with a summer screen or 

 two of such subjects as Scarlet Kunners, Sweet Peas, and Nasturtium, the 

 two last giving very useful flowers for cutting, and the first is one of the most 

 useful vegetables. We should have all three, a row of each as follows, com- 

 mencing from the back: — Scarlet Runners, a double row sown eai-ly in May, 

 sowing rather thickly 3 inches apart iu the rows, and providing with a double 

 row of stakes, the stakes a foot apart every way, and in quincunx order, and 

 with 7 feet stakes there will be little seen through it when covered. A double 

 row of Sweet Peas mixed, and containing about half Scarlet Innncible, being 

 sown at once and furnished with stakes tl feet high, completing with an inner 

 row of Nasturtium Tall mixed, and furnished with stakes 6 inches apart 

 6 feet high. This wiU give yon a complete block by attending to the growths, 

 tying and training to the stakes as required. 



Surface Plant for Fernery (Idtm).— The *' small pointed-leaved Ivy" 

 would grow luxuriantly in a stove fernery, but better far is Ficus repens, a 

 very close-growing and rapid evergreen, it clings to walls or stone remaikably 

 weU, in fact will cover speedily any surface. 



Grafting Magnolia (T. V.).—1he proper time to graft is in April just 

 when the plants commence swelling the buds, and the safest mode is by 

 inarching, which will take a year if not two to efiect a complete union, the 

 union of Magnolia scions with the stock being notoriously slow. Budding 

 may also be accomplished in July or August. Cover the ligature with graft- 

 ing wax, which is more neat, and is not so liable to crack as the usual grafting 

 pigment of clay and cow dung. The leaf you sent is one of the forms of 

 M. grandiflora, we think exoniensis, but the leal is too small to judge with 

 certainty. 



Cucumbers and Melons (A*. Y. Z.].—Tht Box-like border will be better 

 than pots, but the depth ought to be not less than inches, as in a shallow 

 soil the roots are subject to suffer from drought. We should not give them 

 all the soil at once, but add to it as the plants advance in growth. The 

 netting, which we presume is wire, wo should have fixed at a foot distance 

 from the glass, and train the Vines to it. Ordinary netting we fear would 

 not answer, and wire is not more costly than netting. It should be painted- 

 Telegi'aph is a good Cucumber; more prolific but smaller is Munro's Duko of 

 Edinburgh ; Blue Gown is larger and very free ; Tender and True has a vei-y 

 fine fruit, and is free-bearing. Melons: Meredith's Hybrid Cashmere, Cox's 

 Golden Gem, Duke of Edinburgh, and Read's Scarlet-flesh ; but if you have 

 only sun heat Munro's Little Heath. 



Echeveria PU3IILA (C. TF.).— Judging from the small offset you sent ns, 

 the preceding is its name. It is one of many succulents at present so ex- 

 tensively in use for flower gardens, and is very suitable for an edging to beds. 

 It is easily grown in light turfy loam, with a fourth of well-rotted manure 

 ftnd a sixth of sand or old mortar rubbish broken up small, good drainage 

 being necessary. Water in winter carefully, keeping only from shrivelling, 

 and during growth water more. It is a greenfiouse plant, and should have 

 a light airy position. 



Thinning Grapes (Idem).~lt is difficult to describe this operation, there 

 is so much diversity in the shape and size of berries, in their setting, and 

 form of bunch. The shoulders of the bunches should be tied-up, and the 

 smallest berries ought first to be taken out, and leave the largest and best 

 three-quarters of an inch apart for the small round and oval-berried kinds, 

 and an inch for those which have large berries. The berries inside the 

 bunch should be removed, leaving them as much exteriorly as possible, and 

 with plenty of room to swell. The earlier they ai'e thinned after setting the 

 greater prospect is there of large berries; hut it must not be practised until 

 it is clear which berries are taking the lead (some are email, and will be 

 always so from being seedless), and those that ate certain to attain a full size. 



SEAK4LE— CacuMOERS (Idem).— It is not proper to blanch Seakale the 

 season of planting, but it should bd allowed to make a good growth, and in 



the winter following it may be forced, or blanched by covering with pots, and 

 then with litter, or it may be blanched by covering with ashes or any light 

 material. Liquid manure for Cucumbers may be made by a peck of sheep 

 droppings to thirty gallons of water, and the same quantity of cow dung, 

 horse droppings, and soot to twenty gallons, or lib. of guano to the latter 

 quantity of water. 



Cyclamen persicum Planting Outdoors in Summer (G. S.).— We do 

 not recollect iu what number the plauting-out of these plants is recommended. 

 After the middle of May the plants may be turned out of the pots in the 

 open border in light soil, and there thoy may remain until August or early iu 

 September, when they should be potted and placed iu a cold frame. 



Musk Tr'EZ (Idem). — The spray is, we think, Guarea Swartzi, which is a 

 stove tree from Jamaica. The whole plant has a strong odour resembling 

 Musk, and so has Guarea grandiflora, neither of which are in general cultiva- 

 tion. Its foliage is good, and its perfume renders it vcrj- desirable. Propaga- 

 tion is effected by cuttings of ripe shoots in April or May in sand under a 

 bell-glass in brisk bottom heat. It is not at best other than a tardy-rooting 

 subject from cuttings, and even layers root slowly. 



Ci'CLAJiEN 1'ERSicu.M (All Amat' ut). — 3ow the seed at once in turfy loam, 

 leaf soil, sandy peat, and silver sand equal parts, and cover about a quarter 

 inch deep with fine soil. Place in a hotbed and keep moist. The plants will 

 soon appear, one leaf first, then two, and when they are showing the second 

 pot them off singly in 3-inch pots in the same compost, but with only a sixth 

 of silver sand. Pot so that the corms are just covered with soil. Return to 

 a hotbed, or place on shelves in a house where there is a brisk heat and moist 

 atmosphere; keep moist, but avoid making the soil sodden by too heavy and 

 needless watering. They do well in a stove, a Cucumber house, or anywhere 

 near the glass iu a warm and moist bouse. When they fill the pots with 

 roots shift into 4t-inch pots, and again as these fill with roots into fJ-inch, 

 selecting the largest for this size. If kept gi-owing during the winter they 

 will flower well next spring, hut to do this they require a cool stove or warm 

 greenliousa temperature. 



PropA(.ating Shrubs (IFcs/ Coast). — Your soil will grow almost any and 

 all kinds of shrubs. To give you names would he to enumerate an extensive 

 list, which you may do quite as well as om-selves from any catalogue. Peat 

 is the best soil for Rhododendrons, and they will flower this season if trans- 

 planted now. Sweet Bay cuttings under hand-glasses in a shady border at 

 the end of August or early September. Portugal Laurel by cuttings, with 

 about an inch of old or last year's wood, in a shady border iu a sheltered 

 situation about the middle of September. Aucubas same time and position, 

 but better under a hand-light or glass. Luurustiuus in sandy soil at end 

 of September in a sheltered shady border. Pyracantha, layers in autumn. 

 Pyrns japonica, suckers, whieh spring freely from the root ; layers in autumn; 

 or ripe-wood cuttings after the leaves are fallen. Slahonia, Berberis Darwini, 

 B. dulcis, all three from seed sown in spring, of which you may save plenty 

 of weed, only keep from birds ; or by suckers, but seedlings are every way pre- 

 ferable. Box by cuttings about (J inches long in sandy soil in a shady border 

 in September. Euonymus japonicus, cuttings of ripe shoots in August 

 under a hand-glass in a shady border in sandy soil. Ai-bor Vitic, cuttings in 

 sandy soil under a band-glass in a warm shady border, hut better by seed 

 sown iu April in a warm border. Junipers by cuttings in September in sandy 

 firm soil in a ahady border under a hand-glass; or seeds, which do not vege- 

 tate under a twelvemonth, often two or more years. Yews, cuttings in sand 

 in a shady border, and a heel of old wood ; better by seed, which will not 

 appear until the second or third year. Esoallonia, cuttings of shoots in 

 August in sandy soil under a hand-glass. ■ 



Roses — Primula japonica (Idrm). — For your soil we should have the 

 Roses on Manetti ; upon own roots they do not grow nearly so vigorously. 

 They will not answer upon Manetti stocks for standards ; those will need to 

 be on Briar stocks. Primula japonica flowers at this time of year, April, and 

 May, and it is perfectly hardy. Primula cortusoides amuena is increased by 

 division, as you will see particularised in the article to which you allude. 



DtiUBLE White Violets (i^ora).— The double white Violets mentioned 

 in Bacon's Essays as flowering at Easter were no doubt the same as those 

 now cultivated under that name, and which may be had of any of the 

 principal florists advertising in our columns, t^ueen of Violets is large, white 

 with purple blotches, and very sweet. 



Geranilm Leaves Crumpled (Idtin). — The leaf sent is not diseased, but 

 the atmosphere in which they are growing is too cold and dry, the crumpled 

 state of the leaves being caused by a chill or sudden check to growth. There 

 is also an appeai-ance of thrips having been active upon them, which may be 

 destroyed by fumigation with tobacco. 



Sfaraxis not Thriving (Idem).— Tho treatment of these plants in pots 

 is as foUows :— Plant in September or October five or six bulbs in a 5 or 6-inch 

 pot, using a compost of equal parts turfy loam, sandy peat, and leaf soil, with 

 a sixth of silver sand. They should have the soil made fii-m about the bulbs, 

 inserting them about an inch deep, and place iu a cold pit or frame, plunging 

 in ashes, and keep cool, no water to be given untU the foliage appears, then 

 give it spai'ingly, increasing the supply with the growth. Early iu March they 

 may be removed to the greenhouse, placed on a shelf near the glass, and be 

 duly attended to with water until iu flower. We apprehend youi- plants have 

 been kept at a distance from the glass, have been too heavily watered, and 

 not had enough light and air. 



POULTRY, BEE, AJJD PIGEON OHEONIOLE. 



A VISIT TO MR. VANDER MEERSCH. 



" I u-V^E over four hundred birds to show you, and shall be 

 very pleased for you to see them. Balham is the best station to 

 reach me by, as more trains arrive there than at Tooting. Just 

 drop me a line." Thus wrote Mr. Vander Meersch many months 

 ago, but no opportunity came for my accepting the invitation 

 until recently. 



Now, there are many stations at which the traveller's only 

 wish is to get on, and the wish to get out never enters his head. 

 Many such are around London, but there are others where the 

 country looks so pleasant, or the town or village looks so bright, 

 that one quite longs to get out and take a ramble. Such a one 



