October 8, 1874. 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



325 



as well not to have too many on one plant. We usually grow 

 two or three plants in one pot, and from three to bLx flowers 

 on a plant, according, to the variety. Some sorts have not the 

 least tendency to become coarse, ^row them an strongly as it is 

 possible to grow them. Of this class may be named Antonelli, 

 Mrs. Rundle, Little Harry, Little Pet, Her Majesty, Lady Tal- 

 fourd, and all small and medium-sized flowers. Not all the 

 large flowers have a tendency to become coarse ; Princess Teck, 

 Piuk Perfection, and others of that class, are never coarse, 

 (jueen of England, Prince Alfred, Jardin dea Plantea, and more 

 especially the Bronze variety of it, White Globe, &c., should be 

 allowed to carry six flawers on a plant. In this, however, 

 as well as setting the buds, experience is the best teacher. 

 For instance, the buds of such sorts as Princess of Wales and 

 Princess Teck should be set about the last week of August or 

 the first week of September; whereas such varieties as Mrs. G. 

 Kundle may be set two weeks later. In tying into position the 

 growths of such Pompon varieties as are intended to make 

 specimen plants, do not tie-in closely, which causes the plants 

 to assume an unnatural appearance. Pyramid-trained plants 

 look well, but are not quite so effective as those trained in the 

 bush form. A few standards placed amongst the others serve 

 to heighten the effect. The specimens of the large-flowering 

 varieties will not require any training until the flowers are well 

 advanced, when each flower will require to be trained sepa- 

 rately to a neat stick. It has been necessary to dust the plants 

 occasionally for mildew with flowers of sulphur, driving the 

 dust underneath the plants with au appliance made for the 

 purpose. 



A few weeks ago, when writing of the Camellias, it was ad- 

 vised to place some of the plants early in heat and keep them 

 there until the buds were well formed. Such plants will be 

 openiDg their flower buds now, and will continue to do so for 

 four months. Of course the plants are large. Those plants 

 that have not been forced in any way will just succeed them. 

 Tree Carnations have also been removed from out of doors into 

 the house ; the plants tied-up to the sticks and cleansed from 

 green fly. The secret of success in the culture of the Tree 

 Carnation is to pot in good loam, leaf mould, and a little rotted 

 manure. The plants must be kept free from green fly, and should 

 be placed near the glass in a temperature of oU^for a minimum; 

 a rather dry atmosphere suits them best. 



Potting the earliest Tulips and Hyacinths ; this should have 

 been done early in September if the plants were wanted in 

 flower about Christmas. AU those intended for early flowering 

 should be potted in 5-inch pots, and plunged out of doors in 

 some light material free from worms — spent tan, cocoa-nut 

 fibre refuse, leaf mould, or sawdust from any hardwooded trees. 

 Coal ashes, which have sometimes been recommended, will oft- 

 times injure the crowns when they begin to push. Potting 

 Roses, some of them being large specimens ; others which are 

 new varieties are smaller. The large specimens are potted in 

 the same sized pots after reducing the ball of earth sufficiently 

 to alio vv of an inch or 1 i inch of fresh compost all round between 

 the roots and the sides of the pot; good turfy loam with a small 

 portion of crushed bones and a little rotted manure is well 

 adapted for them. Smaller plants are potted in a size-larger 

 pot from that in which they had been previously. Ram the 

 compost in pretty firmly, and plunge the pots out of doors the 

 same way as that recommended for Hyacinths. Tea Roses 

 should be kept under glass, as they will not succeed if they are 

 drenched by the autumn rains. Double Italian Tuberoses are 

 also showing flower, and are a very nice feature in the furnish- 

 ing of the greenhouse at this season. We pot these much in 

 the same way as Hyacinths, and start them into growth in the 

 early summer months by placing the pots in a frame in a gentle 

 bottom heat. Red spider is the inveterate enemy of this plant; 

 it attacks the leaves furiously, and will soon cause the whole 

 plant to look sickly if not washed off. 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



It is now quite time that all cuttings of zonal Pelargoniums 

 and other such bedding plants as were struck out of doors in 

 boxes were placed in their winter quarters. Even if they are not 

 liable to be destroyed by frost, it is not desirable to have the 

 soil in which they are growing soaked with rain. We have put 

 in all cuttings of such bedding plants as Verbenas, Heliotropes, 

 Lobelia, &c. Calceolarias will be in good time about the end of 

 the present month. Lobelia speciosa is invaluable as a blue 

 bedding plant, and is most readily propagated from seeds, a 

 superior stock being kept up by saving seeds only from the best 

 coloured and best habited plants. It is not yet too late to e^ow 

 the seeds, though ours were put in about three weeks ago. The 

 double blue variety of L. speciosa has been much lauded by a 

 few, and as resolutely condemned by the many. It is certainly 

 not to be depended upon to flower as freely as the single sort''. 

 Old plants flower well ; spring-struck cuttings have made a miser- 

 able figure. No doubt if it would flower as freely as the single 

 sorts it would be a very useful plant. Messrs. Downie, Laird, 

 and Laing have a very fine free-flowering variety at present in 

 their winter garden ; it is named Lady McDonald. The flowers 



are very large, and said to be almost white in the summer 

 months ; at present they are creamy white, edged and suffused 

 with ccerolean blue. — J. Douglas. 



PROVINCIAL HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 



[Secretaries will oblige us by informing us of the dates on 

 which exhibitions are to be held. Although we cannot report 

 them fully, we shall readily note anything especially excellent, 

 and we wish for information on such specialities to be sent 



to us.] 



OCTOnER. 



Meldrum 13 



Jersey 14 



NOVEMBER. 



Bory St. Edmunils (Chrysanthe- 



mumaj 17aud 18 



NOVEMBER. 



Jersey II 



Cambridgeshire 19 



li. H. S. of Ireland 26 



DECEMBER. 



York l,2,aQd3 



TRADE CATALOGUKS RECEIVED. 



William Paul, Waltham Gross, London, N. — Bose Catalogue. 



Louis Van Houtte, Ghent, Belgium. — Catalogue of Azalea 

 indicay Rhoilodendrons, Hard// A::aleas, ti-c, 



Davison tV- Whittem, White Cross Nurseries, Hereford. — Cata- 

 logue of Selected Hosts. — Catalogue of Shrubs, Fruit and Forest 

 Trees. 



Groux et Fils, Valine d'Aulnay, Sceaux {Seine).^Prix Courant 

 des Arhres Frititiers, Arhres et Arhustes d'Omement. <&c. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 *.* It is particularly requested that no communication be 

 addressed privately to either of the Editors of this 

 Journal. All correspondence should be directed either to 

 " The Editors," or to ** The Publisher.'* Letters ad- 

 dressed to air. Johnson or Dr. Hogg often remain unopened 

 unavoidably. 

 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 also request that no one will write privately to any of our 

 correspondents, as doing so subjects them to unjaatihable 

 trouble and expense. 

 Potatoes { T. P., Cantp.rbiiry).— There will ba collections of Potatoes at the 

 Royal Horticultoral Society's Show on November 11th, also at the Cattle 

 Show. 



Variegated Plantain (An Old Subscriber). — This ia a very pretty 

 variegated form of Plantago major, and is not at all common, tboagh we 

 have seen it before. If you can ^'et enough of it no doubt it will make a good 

 permanent edging. Do not risk the whole of the plants exposed all the 

 wioter, for we once found a beautifully variega'.ed plant of P. lanceolata, and 

 thiokins it would be perfectly hardy lefr, it out in the open ground, aod it 

 perished by the frost. We hope you will have better success. The Forget- 

 me-not is Myosotis dissitiflora. 



laEsiNE LisDENi LosiNG ITS LEAVES (A. W.). — The leaves fell owing to 

 the plaots being kept in too cold an atmosphere, and not being well estab- 

 lished before winter. To winter fre^h they require a temperature of not leas 

 than 5I3-, doing better in one of 55^ to 60"^ at night. In a low tempera'nre 

 they should not have more water than sufficient to keep them fresh, intro- 

 ducing them to heat in spring. Alternantheras can be wintered in a lower 

 temperature than Iresine, but not much less than 4T, watering caie'uUy and 

 only as required to keep the plants from shriveUing. They are also the better 

 of heat in spring. 



Edging Plants (Diligent Il"ader).—Sa.ntoUaa. incana and S. Chamaecypa- 

 rissus are not identical. S. incana we consider the better for edgings, bub 

 both are good. Golden Feather Pyrethrum is better as a golden edging plant 

 than Arabis lucida variegata, which does not grow freely nar is so certain as 

 could be wished, but Stellaria praminea aurca is more effective than the 

 Golden Pyrethrum; both, h )wevcr, are excellent. Dactyli:* glomera'a e!e- 

 gan'issinia differs from D. glomenita varie^-ata in being of dwarfer auJ finer 

 growth, the latter being strong in t^rowth and subject to become green or lose 

 its vavie^'af.ioo. In well-drained light sandy soil it 1^ perfecoly hardy, but. in 

 wet heavy soil it ia not so, the plants dying off. Dell's Crimson Beet ia the 

 dwarfest and best. 



Wintering Seedling Cinerarias (An Amateur of One Tear's Standing). 

 — The seedling Cineraria-i may be wintered in a pit or other place where they 

 are near the glass and eafe from frost. They caunot ba winterel in a hou'^e 

 from which frost is not excluded. They ought to have a temperature of 40"" 

 to -15° from die heat so as to keep them slowly growing. Admit air freely. 



Camellia Eijd3 ih Clusters {JtZfm).— Your Camellias with the buds in 

 large bunches or clusterd of seven to ten should be reduced to at. most three 

 on a shoot. Reduce the number at once, but gi-adually at iutervals of a few 

 days, removing the smallest first, and carefully, so as not to dislocate the 

 remaining buds. 



Camellia Bctds Thinning (Anxious to Learn).— Thin the buds to two or 

 three ou a shoot, removing the smallest buds. Weak shoots ought not to be 

 allowed more than one bud. The liowers w U be larger than were you to 

 leave all the buds, and the plants will grow more vigorouslj acorher season. 

 If all are left they would b-i small ; probably a great many WMuld fall, often 

 most. The centre stage will be the most suitable place for them, also for 

 Azaleas. Cobtea acaodeus should not be cut down now, but have only water 

 to keep it fresh, and be pruned in February or March. 



