September 17, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



compost, as old manure and leaf Roil, ami water freolj ia dry weather. A 

 north or east border is better than a sonthern one. 



Cutting-back Rhododendrons (Hermit). — They may bo cut-in to any 

 extent and form desired, and will start af,'aiii freoly, but will be a few years, if 

 cut-in much, before tbey become cood specimens. The beat time to cut tbo/c 

 back is in April, thouRh jou will by cutting so early lose next season's crop of 

 flowers. It ia well if in cutting-back you can leave some younj? ^Towths, as 

 they start mure freely frnm young growth than wood of considerable a^e. If 

 weak as well as old, it is likely they may not start again freely if cat-back to 

 the old strong wood. Wo have cut-back some from appearance over fifty 

 years old, which have started freely and are forming good specimens. 



Sowing Winter Greens in Autdmn(J. T. TV ) — Savons, Bru3>)el3 'iproutst 

 sown in August at the same tiraa as the spring or early summer Cabbage* 

 come in much earlier than those sown in spring, they being prickod-off in 

 autumn and planted-ont in March or early April. They will be in use in 

 August onwards, and attain to larger proportions than spring-sown. The 

 sowing them in drLlls a yard apart aud thiuniug-out appears to ns a waste of 

 ground, and one that can ill be spared in most gardens. Spring- sowing is 

 mostly adopted, as very few care to have Savoys or Brussels Sprouts when 

 Cabbages, Cauliflower, and other subjects are plentiful, and from the cround 

 employed for Winter Greens can be had a crop before the winter stuff need 

 he planted— in time for their attaining a size large enough for table by 

 October onwards. 



Taking-cp Bedding Geraniums lldnn). — The end of the present or 

 beginning of next month is sufficiently early to remove bedding Geraniums. 

 They may, as a rule, be left until the first frosts in October. The choicer 

 kinds should be removed before frosts occur which cut off Dahlias, the early 

 part of next month being sufficiently early for most aud generally all ; but the 

 Beasons vary somewhat, though, as a rule, it is not until the middle of next 

 month that damaging frosts occur. 



Wintering Seedling Pansies (H. P.).— If very choice kinds they may be 

 potted now in good turfy loam with a fourth each of leaf soil and well-rotted 

 manure intermixed, employing 3 or 4inch pots, according to their size, and 

 placing in a cold frame in a dry sheltered situation, plunged to the rim of the 

 pots in coal ashes. Here they may remain over the winter until spring, 

 having air whenever the weather is mild, shifting into larger pots iu February, 

 or 60 soon after as the weather is favourable, if they are to be flowei-ed iu pots ; 

 if not, harden-off and plant-out early in April. The lights ought to be 

 drawn down in mild and fair weather, be over the plants when mild but wet, 

 the lights being tilted so as to let the plants have air ; in frost only should 

 they be down over the plants, and in severe weather the ligbt.^ should have 

 a covering of mats in addition to the lights. If of ordinary kinds they may 

 be planted at once iu the b^ds or borders where they are to flower, or if small 

 pricked-out in a sheltered border 3 to 6 inches apart, according to their size, 

 planting them out where they are to flower in March or early April, lifting 

 each with a ball, and watering if the weather be dry. 



Bulbs in Bed of Brompton Stocks {Frank IF.). —It will not answer 

 to plant bulbs between the plants of Stocks, but you may transplant the 

 Stocks so as to have a centre of them with the bulbs arranged as to height 

 arouud them so as to form the front lines of the bed. 



Helichrysom Flowers Drying (Idem). — Cut them on a dry day with all 

 the f-talk yon can before they show the centre, and lay them thinly on paper 

 or on trays, and place out in the full sun daily for a few days, or if wet keep 

 in a diy airy room, keeping from wet, and when the stalks have withered tie in 

 bunches, aud suspend in a di-y room free from dagt.. The bunches should not 

 be large, or the flowers may mould, which they will also do if in a place with 

 a moist close atmosphere before they are thoroughly dried. 



Storing Potatoes (T. Bu^O.— The best mode of keeping Potatoes is iu a 

 dry outhouse in layers, alternating with layers of dry *;aod, and the heap 

 covered a inches deep with sand. In boxes with layers of sand would do. 



Yellow Tea Rose (R. H. TT.) —The yellow Tea you refertoi", we believe, 

 the old Sulphurea Odurata, the ttrst true Tea introduced from (,'bina, called 

 sometimes Crystalline; the bud egg-shaped, lone in form, good-shaped petal, 

 very sweet, of the distinctly Tea-sceuted type. We believe this was introduced 

 into England by Mr Parkes in 1821, though there were other vaiieties called 

 Teas known before then— even as early as 1793, but none, we believe, are still 

 in existence except this Sulphurea Odorata; and it is a question whether they 

 were of the true type, so that we may consider the Sulphuraa lorata crossed 

 with others to be the pai-ent of the true Teas. One of the oldest, Devimiensis, 

 is not true to this type, but has evidently NoiHette blood, just as Gloiro de 

 Dijon has Bourbon blood. We shall be glad of further notes on Teas. 



Roses from Cuttings fff ). — This is a good time to put in cuttings of 

 Roses. Any of the firm shoots will do, they having three joints, inserting 

 them in a light sandy soil on a north border, cuttin.,' transversely below the 

 lowest joint, removing the leaf from it, and inserting to the next iu the soil, 

 pressing the soil firm around them. By the April following they will be fit 

 to take up and pot. or may be planted where they are to remain. The cuttings 

 may be 6 to 8 inches long, in'ierting them half their length in the soil, but 

 moderately strong shoots with three joints are best. Roses on their own 

 roots are not nearly so free in growth as those on the Manttti stock. They 

 will have the advauta':;e for a hedge on their own roots of not troubling you 

 ■with suckers, those they give being of the right sort. 



Ill-frciting Moorpark Apricot {Idein).~Yon do not say if the tree is 

 vigorous. We presume it is not. Remove the surface soil djwn to the roots. 

 clear it away and replace with fresh loam, not strong, mixed with a sicth of 

 old mortar rubbish and a fourth of well-rotted cow manure, and put on firmly, 

 not covering the roots deeper than 6 inches, and mulch with short littery 

 dung; water well next year in dry weather. The Peach is a very good one. 

 We have known larger, but a Royal George 9 inches round and weighing 

 6.J ozs. is good. 



Orange Seedlings Grafting (Idem).— The stocks may be gi-afted in 

 spring when they are beginning to grow, the stocks being had slightly in 

 advance of the scions, they being kept close uniil the union is effectei. We 

 do not know where you may secure suons ; probably Mr. Rivers would supply 

 you. It would be better if you had plants of the kinds named— St, Michael's 

 Tangerine, St. Michael's, Maltese Blood Oval, Pernambaco, Botelha, and 

 Selecta. 



Wintering Bedding Geranittms fr;i9uirfr).— Your plants beingin boxes 

 Ttill be safely wintered in the t^reenbouse, assigning them a position near the 

 glass, and watering once or twice a-week as the state of the weather raiiy 

 require. We could not say how often they will require water, so much depends 

 on the position of the plants and the state of the weather. If on a shelf or 

 stage over the flae, water may be required every other day, or the plants will 



part with moisture more freely than were they in a cooler and less dry posi- 

 tion ; but if away from the flue, water will not bo required often^r than onre 

 in dull weather and twice a-week in bright weather. The soil should be bo 

 moist as to keep the plants from flagging, otherwise it should bo dry. The 

 plants should bo potted-off in March, placing in a frame, and ennoura^ing 

 growth with a moist aud rather close atmosphere, and free waterings at the 

 roots when they are well rooted. 



Magnolia (Jrandifloha Overorowjno its Position (M. B. M.). — If the 

 tree is perfectly safe from the wind we would let it remain as it is until 

 March, when large portions of it may be cut away, leaving stiil son^e to occupy 

 the whole space, or nearly so, which tie up, and the after-summer growth will 

 efface all tokens of the knife. We prefer March to cut all kinds of evergrepn', 

 for the reason that the unaigbtUness caused by cutting is the sooner remedied 

 by the spring growth which is fast approaching. We do not think any harm 

 would ensue by the operation being done in autumn, but the plants would 

 only remain all the longer in an unsightly condition, although in the cage of 

 a Magnolia with plenty i^f foliage all over it this need not be the ca'-e; but we 

 have known Magnolias so thinned in autumn, which of course exposes the 

 ivmaining leaves to moro exposure than would have had if others had been 

 there to protect them, that we have seen the trees almost denuded during the 

 winter, that we prefer the March cutting-in. 



Destroying Thtstles and Coltsfoot (Camjee). — We only know of one 

 way of keeping the Thistles down, and that is by close and persevering spud- 

 ding them as they come up, not allowing them to get a foot high or more. 

 In a large extent of grass land we have in hand it has been our practice for 

 many years to allow our shepherd, who is a decent industrious man, Bd per 

 aero iny keeping them down all the year, and he certainly has decreased them 

 very much by the spud alune, or, what I find he likfis better and is equally 

 the same, a s()rt of narrow hoe — one nob more than 2 inches wide, used in the 

 same way as the spud, but he says quicker. We certainly object to mowing 

 Thistles where sheep is kept: a nasty hard stump is left, very hurtful to 

 sheep's feet. Some pastures are very much addicted to Thistles, and the only 

 remedy we know of is the constantly attacking them as they come up ; even 

 with that it will take some years perhaps to extirpate them, but they will be 

 reduced. Coltsfoot we have not had so much experience in, an it is seldom 

 they are f.iund in the same place. With us Coltsfoot grows mostly in moister 

 places, and often underneath trees. We confess not to have had much expe- 

 rience with it in grass lands, bat believe it may be considerably cbecked by 

 frequent mowing. Attacking the roots, we fear, will ho a difficult job, as we 

 know of nothing that roots deeper. Usuallj-, however, it is a weed more 

 troublesome in tillage than pisture lands, and in the latter there seems a 

 difference of opinion about its effects on cattle. Certainly in some conditions 

 they eat it with avidity, bat whether to the hurt or not the small quantity 

 that has come under our notice has not been sufficient to enable us to judge 

 of. We would, however, endeavour all we could to extirpate it, and if sheep 

 eat it without harm it would not bo a bad plan to pen them upon it daring its 

 growing season. A friend of ours who had a field addicted to growing Ox-eye 

 Daisies (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), which no amount of weeding could 

 extiroate, fed it off one season very closely with sheep, and was very little 

 troubled afterwards. Perhaps the same will follow in your case. 



Mealy Bug in YitiERY [Subscriber). — You probably keep your vinery too 

 dry and close. Admit more air, and keep the air raoister. Have every brauch 

 and stem brushed over sedulously with a hard brush, and then with a 

 painter's brush as thoroughly painted over with this mLxtare: — Soft soap, 

 2 Ibi. ; flowers of sulphur, 2 lbs.; tobacco, 1 lb.; aud a wineglassful of 

 spirit of turpentine. Mix the sulphur, turpentine, and soap into a pa^te 

 with warm water ; boil the tobacco foi- an hour in a covered saucepan in some 

 more water, strain it, mix it with the soapy mixture, and then add enough 

 water to make five gallons. 



Names of Fruits iF W. P., Dublin). — Pears — 1, Red Doyenne ; 2, Marie 

 Louise; 3, Williams' Bon Chretien. Grapes— Apparently either Black Ham- 

 burgh or Black Prince. If the former the leaves will die-off yellow, and if 

 the latter purple. Apples — 1, Hollandbury ; 4, Nonesuch; 5, Hawthornden; 

 7, Emperor Alexander; 9, Boston Russet; 10, Ravelston Pippin; 11, Russet 

 Nonpareil; 13, Braddick's Nonpareil. {J. Green).— Lt ia one of the orna- 

 mental Crabs. 



Names of Plants (W. W. IT.).— 1, Centrostemma multiflorum, Dnr. — 

 (Bot. Maff., t. 5173.) 2, Eranthemum Andersoni. Ma.<t.~{Bot. Mag., t 5771.) 

 3, Saxifraga sarmentosa var. ; 6. Pteris aquilina; 7 and 13, Polypudium vul- 

 gare; 11, Lastrea Filix-mas. We do not undertake to name more than six 

 specimens at a time. (Alice). — 5, Corydalis lutea. Remainder too withered, 

 (fl. P.I. — We do not name more than six specimens at a time even when they 

 ai"e in a fit state, which most of yours are not. 3, Humea elegans; 10, Nie- 

 rembergia filicaulis; 16, Ageratura mexicanum; 1, Polygala oppobitifolia, or 

 anally; 15. Escallonia sp. ; 9, Rhynchospermum ja^minoides. (J. W.). — 

 Populus tremulft. Aspen, and Alchemilla vulgarin, we believe, but cannot be 

 sure without seeing the inflorescence. (R. Co rrf^'ii). ^Datura stramonium, 

 Thirn-apole. (Birdie). — 2, Amaranthus caudatus, Love-lies-bleeding ; 7, Au- 

 brietia purpurea. Veronica speciosa is not numbered, and is the only other 

 specimen with its flowers. The others are mere leaves. (S. S.).— The yellow 

 fljwer Corydalis lutea, Yellow Fumitory ; the blue, Linaria oymbalaria, Ivy- 

 leaved Snapdragon, 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEOU OHRONIOLE. 



ENDEAVOUR TO AVOID DISEASE. 



It ia said a geutletnau one? ■waited on the celebrated Sir 

 Astley Cooper. When asked his malady, he said he had none. 

 His motive for cocniag was of a preventive nature, bat it could 

 be attaiued only by couaultiug a competeat medical authority, 

 and he had therefore sought the most eminent. He wished to 

 know when, in this clitnate, a man mi^ht safely leave off flannels, 

 and when take to them again? Sir Astley smiled, aud said, 

 ''You ask me when you may 6nfely leave off flannel, and when 

 take to it again. You may leave it; off on the eve of Midsummer- 

 day, aud take to it again on Midsummer morning." 



The climate of our country is as trying for fowls as for human 

 being's ; and as after the long drought we may look for broken 

 weather, we venture to advise our poultry correspondents, just 



