JuJy 9, 1871. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND OOTTAGK GAltDENEE. 



37 



mental; it has bokl gla-ioous foliage and strong racemes of 

 large white flowers tinged with lilao. Salvia chionantha is 

 one of the most ornamental ; it has narrow leaves at the base, 

 and the panicles are tall, bearing large pure white flowers ; the 

 branches are pecuUarly slender towards the point. Polygonum 

 (Miihleubeckia) complexum, from New Zealand, forms a dense 

 mass of slender black stems, with small round leaves. It is of 

 trailing habit, and may be grown as a climber in the green- 

 house. Eryngium maritimum, from its silvery spiny foliage, 

 might surely be used with good effect in combinations of fine- 

 foliaged plants. 



Bouvardia triphylla, an old species with scarlet flowers, is 

 very pretty in one of the beds in the Temperate house. It 

 appears to do well planted out, and though not so valuable as 

 sc#ne of the hybrids, it is still worth cultivation. A decoction 

 of the branches is used in Mexico as a cure for hydrophobia, 

 and it is said with considerable success. 



THE SUSSEX ANCHOR HOOK. 



OoB illustration represents a very useful implement which, 

 having used, we can speak of in the best terms. It com- 

 bines the means of performing 

 more than one operation ; but 

 the principal use to which it may 

 be applied is that of a lawn- 

 weeder, the forked ends of which 

 being well adapted for eradicat- 

 ing Plaintain, Cocksfoot, Hawk- 

 bit, Cat's-ear, Thistles, Dande- 

 lions, and other coarse-growing 

 herbage. We have used it very 

 much for this purpose, and have 

 found it the best lawn-weeder we 

 have ever had. Then there is a cutting edge on one side of 

 the form of the letter L, which is serviceable for cutting over 

 Thistles, Docks, Brambles, and other tall weeds, while at the 

 end there is a semicircular blade to serve the purpose of a spud. 

 It is a very handy and useful tool, and we heartily recom- 

 mend it. 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBURBAN GARDENING. 



Those that have Asparagus beds just now, ia the midst of the 

 growing season, and while the soil is moist, slinuld apply soakiugs 

 of manure water with good portion of salt added thereto, taking 

 the precaution of applying in due season stakes and lines to the 

 outside rows at least, to prevent the heavy rains and winds 

 breaking down the plants, which is very injurious to the crowns. 

 Sea-kale, too, is particularly fond of manure water and salt 

 applied, and this is the season of the year to assist it in forming 

 strong crowns to ensure good cuttings of luxuriant fine-flavoured 

 Kale another year ; take care too that the crowns are duly 

 thinned. Give every encouragement to late Strawberries by 

 applications of manure water mixed with a good portion of 

 clrimney soot, which Strawberries particularly delight in. Such 

 attention will prolong the bearing a considerable time. Keep 

 the surface of the soil well stirred among the growing crops of 

 Onions, or they may be seriously injured by mildew or maggot if 

 showery weather continue to prevail. If the aphides make 

 their appearance about the Carrot and Parsnip crops, dredge 

 them well early in the morning with dry ashes, charred wood, 

 or wood dust, or chimney soot, either of which are good drivers 

 of these pests ; but the three mixed together have a most bene- 

 ficial effect, not only by clearing away the nuisance, but also in 

 fertilising the soil and producing healthy luxuriant crops. If 

 any of the Brassica family are infested with any of the above 

 pestiferous vermin dredge them in a similar way, and if infested 

 with root-maggot apply it in a liquid state. Continue to put out 

 winter stuff in every spare piece or corner of land, and prick-out 

 young plants for future planting. Do not allow either Peas or 

 I5eans to encumber the land after the bulk of the crop has been 

 secured, but clear them away and crop with other articles, 

 among which do not forget a portion of Leeks and Celery for 

 winter use. Get a spare corner, too, well forked and pulverised 

 in readiness for sowing the principal crops of Cabbage for 

 another spring. 



This has been a peculiarly trying season for the florist. 

 Auriculas and Polyanthuses must be kept well watered and free 

 from insects, and shaded from the bright sunshine. Thrips, fly, 

 and red spider are apt to make sad havoc on the leaves of the 

 Polyanthus in such a season as this; nothing is better for 

 eradicating these pests than syringing under the leaves with 

 tobacco water, lime water, or clear soot water. Where the seed 

 is ripe it should be carefully removed and kept in the seed 

 vessels until sowing time in February or March. Carnations 

 and Picotees will require rich waterings to give size to the 



flowers, but if too rich expect the colours to run and be foul. 

 Pinks may be struck by cuttings, aud so may the forwardest of 

 Carnations and Picotees, though layering is the surest process, 

 unless you can command a nice gentle bottom heat and a tight 

 hand-light. Ranunculuses should be raised when the foliage is 

 quite withered, the roots separated before they become hard and 

 brittle, aud placed aside when properly dried in bags or drawers 

 until planting time returns. 



Peg down Verbenas, or insert short bushy twigs among them. 

 Tie Dahlias and Hollyhocks. Look to climbing Roses on poles 

 and chains in these windy days ; clear away the decaying Rose 

 buds from Rose trees ; transplant from the reserve garden, so 

 as to fill all vacancies. Sow early-blooming annuals for autumn 

 flowering. Remove everything dying and decaying to the rul)- 

 bishheap; mow aud sweep, hoe and rake, aud give to every 

 place an appearance of neatness. 



Achinienes. — There are few plants more beautiful or that will 

 better reward the cultivator for any extra attention than the 

 different species and varieties of Achimenes. I have had fine 

 specimens of the grandiflora in bloom for six weeks, aud thoy 

 look as if they would continue to bloom in fiue condition for as 

 much longer. The longiflora, though not so fine with me as I 

 have seen it with others, has also been beautifully in flower; 

 whilst hirsuta and peduuoulata, the latter with bloom little 

 inferior to picta, are just showing their flower buds. One ad- 

 vantage which picta possesses over the others is, that it will 

 f^row and flower more freely in the winter months when placed 

 m a stove temperature ; but then all the others will flourish 

 for a longer period in a greenhouse temperature. One of their 

 great recommendations to amateurs of limited means, and to 

 persons who wish to make a great floral display in summer and 

 autumn, with but limited means for keeping-up a stock during 

 the winter, is that during the cold mouths of the year as soon 

 as done flowering, they require no attention more than keepiug 

 the roots dry and free from frost. My plan with these, as well 

 as Gloxinias and several of the Achimenes, is merely to lay the 

 pots on their broadsides, and pile them up in brick fashion in 

 any snug corner below a stage. The Achimenes will stand a 

 greater degree of cold with impunity than the Gloxinia will do, 

 unless the roots of the latter are very dry, when they are apt to 

 become so much shrivelled as to impair their future luxuriance. 

 To preserve them safe neither of them should be exposed to a 

 lower temperature than 35°, and if 40° is made the lower tem- 

 perature so much the better. The roots will keep better iu the 

 pots in which they were previously growing, than if taken out 

 and put away in drawers, &c. The soil to be equal parts of 

 turfy loam and turfy peat, with an addition of about one-sixth 

 part of silver sand, rotten dung, and lumps of charcoal in equal 

 proportions, using more charcoal if the soil is not lumpy aud 

 full of fibre. It is a little matter whether they are grown in 

 pots or pans, as though the roots are inclined to run sballow, I 

 have found them at the bottom of the largest pots. Whether 

 pots or shallow pans are used there should be no deficiency of 

 drainage. To keep-up a succession of bloom as long as possible, 

 succession tubers should be excited in February, April, and the 

 end of June, or any time between those periods. If excited 

 later they will be of small service to the amateur who has got 

 nothing but his greenhouse, frame, or pit. There will be no 

 difficulty in exciting any of them except the rot, and that diffi- 

 culty will not exist with the amateur if he has a pit heated by 

 any means except dung for his early Melons and Cucumbers. 

 For accomplishing that object the scaly tubers should be shaken 

 out of the pots and placed with a little earth about them iu 

 small shallow pans, and at once transferred to a situation com- 

 manding a temperature of (50° or 70° with abundance of atmo- 

 spheric moisture. This can be as easily done in a dung-bed 

 frame as anywhere else, with this difference, that after the plants 

 have sprung aud after they are potted and commence growiug 

 the frame must have a little air night and day, and in bright 

 weather the plants require shading, or the action of the sun on 

 the leaves of the young plants when covered with the dense 

 vapours arising from the dung beds will mark them with brown 

 blotches, which will mar their beauty, however well they may 

 be grown afterwards. In moving the plants from the pans in 

 which they were excited (which should be done when the plants 

 are an inch or two in height), they may be transferred inlio 

 small pots to be again shifted, or they may be put into their 

 flowering pots at once, which is the method I prefer. In doing 

 so some cultivators place the requisite number of tubers at 

 regular distances over the pot, but in general, and especially 

 with such sorts as pedunculata, grandiflora, hirsuta, &c., I 

 prefer bringing all the growing ends of the tubers to the centre 

 of the pot, and placing the other ends in a line to the circum- 

 ference, like the spokes of a wheel, so that the specimen may 

 resemble a amgle plant, and not a potful of suckers. — W. Keane. 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND PRESENT WEEKS. 



H.IBDY FIIUIT GARDEN. 



Two weeks ago we said that bush and pyramid fruit trees 

 should be looked over and have the young growths shortened 



