300 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDKNEE. 



[ April 9, 1874. 



tion again . In small gardens some of the more showy herbaceous 

 plants' are far more interesting than masses of scarlet Geraniums 

 and others of that class. How cheerful our borders are just now 

 ■with Primroses (single and double), Polyanthuses, Hepaticas, 

 different shades of red and of blue, as well as the white ! Border 

 Narcissus, from the smaU N. juncifolius and N. minor to the 

 towering Uaflodil; clumps of the pretty blue Scilla amcena, a 

 wee modest flower, and the early Forget-me-not (Myosotis dis- 

 sitiflora) help to complete the picture. AU are hardy and quite 

 independent of the aid of glass. Tender alpine plants in open 

 borders require to be looked over at night with a good lamp, and 

 all slugs and other pests destroyed. Roses are making growth 

 in sheltered places ; the bud worm is troublesome and must be 

 destroyed. — J. Douglas. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Timothy Brigden, 52, King William Street, London, E.G.— 

 Selerl List of Floxoer, Vegetable, Agricultural, and Tree and 

 Shrub Seeds, &c. 



William Paul, Waltham Cross, London, "S.— Catalogue of 

 New Bases, Geraniums, Phloxes, Dahlias, Fuchsias, dc. 



A. P. Jones, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. — Semi-Annual Price 

 List of Bedding attd House Plants. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*,* It is particularly requested that no communication be ad- 

 dressed privately to either of the Editors of this Journal. 

 All correspondence should be directed either to " The 

 Editors," or to " The Publisher." Great delay often arises 

 when this rule is departed from. 

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

 correspondents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable 

 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. AU articles intended for insertion 

 should be written on one side of the paper only. 

 Books [E. Bathe).— Oxa " Fruit Manual " maj suit yoo. H vou enclose 

 five postage stamps with your address, you can have it free by post. 



CiNEiuaiA Seedlings {Filler IF. H. P.).— They are handsome flowers, 

 and No. 4 hne, but there are many lite them. Besides, much depends upon 

 the habit of the plant; it ought to be stout, bnshy, and the flowers well above 

 the foliage. (Inquirer). — You had better send potted specimens to the Floral 

 Committee of the Hoyal Horticultural Society. No opinion can be formed 

 from a written description. 



NoBSEHYMEN AT iNNspBncK (F. Bell).— We are sorry we cannot furnish 

 you with the name of any nurseryman at Innspruck. 



ANTHtmiuM ScHEBZERiANLTH (Ladjj in Cheshire). — It is not an Orchid. 

 It belongs to the natural order OrontiaceK. It is a native of Costa Rica, and 

 its scarlet inflorescence has occasioned its popular name, " The Flamingo 

 Plant." 



Select Pansies {Geo. Fenton).—U, is dilficult to say which are the best 

 twelve Pansies. The following ai-e good ones; — Ales. Tait, Cloth of Gold, 

 Isa Craig, Lady Lucy Duudas, Miss M. Carnegie, Mary Lamb, Pladda, Czar, 

 J. B. Downie, Orion, Prince of Wales, and Lord Derby. The best way to 

 grow them for exhibition is either in pots or planted-out in a frame. 



AtmicuLA,? IN THE OpEN GROUND [Alfred C. Si.'din).— We fear you will 

 hardly succeed in your attempt to grow Auriculas in the open air, certainly 

 not selfs. We have tried Alpines ourselves, but the highly-bred ones suffer 

 severely. It is not the cold, but the damp which destroys them. We know 

 of no treatise on their culture, but in the back volumes of the Journal there 

 are copious directions. 



Building a Conservatory [Inquirer, Sevenoaks). — Write to several of 

 the builders who advertise in our columns, stating the size and other parti- 

 culars, and ask them for on estimate. See what Mr. Kobson said the other 

 day about boilers. 



Peaches DROpp-mo {An Old Subscriher). — You do not state any tempe- 

 ratures, nor do you say whether the fruit has set thickly ; if it has done so a 

 number will be sure to drop. The bouse being so much shaded would also be 

 against them. See that the roots are all right ; well water the inside borders 

 if they require it, and mulch the outside with 3 or 4 inches of short manure. 

 See also weekly " Doings." Dnke of Buccleuch Grape has not been tested to 

 any great estent, except in the hands of the raiser, but it promises to be one 

 of the very best early white Grapes. 



Aerial Boots on Vines (M. P., Balham).— These are in no way injurious 

 to the Tine, and whether you cut them off or leave them it will not make 

 any difference. They are caused by an over-moist atmosphere in the house. 

 Sulphur water in the evaporating-troughs will not kill red spider nor check 

 them in the least. You mast paint the hot-water pipes with it, but not when 

 the Grapes are in flower, otherwise the berries may become rusted. It may 

 be done two weeks after the Grapes are thinned. 



Muscat Grape Blossoms Blind [Museat).— This is not, as you suppose, 

 caused by woodlice, but from the wood being imperfectly ripened last year, 

 We have also seen the same thing happen when a very heavy crop had been 

 taken from the Vines the previous year. 



Select Dahlias (J. C.).— The following are good and not expensive. 

 SlLOvr. — Alexander Cramond, Andrew Uodds, Chairman, Charles Backhou.se, 

 Charlotte DorlinK, Criterion, Flag of Truce, High Sheriff, James Cocker, John 

 Staudish, Kate Hnalam, Leah, Lord Derby. Loid Palmerston, Maid of Essex, 

 Mrs. Hensbaw, Ne Pins Ultra. Sam Kaylor, Toison d'Or, and Umpire. 

 RiBC!/.— Chameleon, Dolly Varden, Ebor, Fanny Sturt, Flossie Williams, 



Marqnls of Lome, Negress, Pauline, Queen Mab, Sam Bartlett, Sparkler, and 

 Viceroy. 



Scale on Vines (V. P. G.). — It is the Vine scale (Coccus vitis). The usual 

 application of soft soap and sulphur will destroy it. The Selaginella will do 

 beet on the border of a greenhouse or conservatory. It requires plenty of 

 moisture. The purple flower is Polygala grandiflora, and the white flower is 

 Eriostemon myoporoides. 



Watercress (J. W.). — The specimen was too bruised for us to determine. 

 Send us a specimen when it is in flower. 



Peaches — Tomatoes and Cucumbers in Gbeenhouse [A New Beginner). 

 — Peaches do not require Bimilar management to Vines, differing materially 

 as regards temperature, &c., particulars of which you will find in " Eeane's 

 In-door Gardening." It may be had by post from our office for Is. 7Jd. To- 

 matoes and Cucumbers may be grown in a small greenhouse if it is kept 

 rather close, and heat afforded by the flue. You might grow Tomatoes with- 

 out the heat of the flue, but not the Cucumbers, unless the house were kept 

 too close for the health of any other plants requiring greenhouse treatment. 

 The Tomatoes would succeed without extra heat or keeping the house close. 



Waterproof Cape {Petite'). — A cape, from its being easily put on and off, 

 would be very useful for a gardener. It ought to be a good long one, so as to 

 throw the water clear of the loins, and should be accompanied with long 

 leggings. Inquiry of a tradesman in a large town would secure you the need- 

 ful information as to where they could be procured. 



Longevity of Heliotrope Planted-out ( W. J. W.}. — It will live tot a 

 number ol years in a conservatory border, probably fifty or more years. We 

 have very vigorous plants at from twenty to thirty years old covering a large 

 extent of trellis. 



Planting Savoys {Idem). — It is rather uncommon to plant Savoys at this 

 time of year, but it is sometimes practised, the seed being sown in August 

 and treated the same as early summer and Bed Cabbage. They form large 

 heads, and are as good in summer as in winter, only the popular idea is that 

 Savoys require frost to make them tender. 



Ants in Vinery — Vine Shoots Dying {C- S.). — The ants do no good, but 

 we cannot say we have experienced any injury from them in a vinery. Take 

 some pieces of sponge throughly dried and clean, fill them with powdered 

 loaf sugar and place them in the runs. The ants will enter the sponges in 

 quest of the sugar and may be thrown into boili n g water, and the sponges 

 washed clean, dried, and refilled with sugar. Small jars with an inch of 

 salad oil poured in may be placed in their haunts, and be emptied when the 

 number of ants entrapped prevents others sharing the same fate. "When the 

 oil becomes rancid replenish with fresh, first cleaning the jars thoroughly. 

 The Vine shoots are probably dislocated at their junction with the cane by 

 tying or being "knocked." 



Cucumbee Stems Cracked (I<i«m).— The oraoking is not prejudicial to 

 the plants. It mainly arises from the plants being weakly in their early 

 stages of growth, and afterwards becoming vigorous owing to richer soil or 

 more liberal treatment. 



Disbudding Vines llgnoramtt^). — We should reduce the eyes or shoots to 

 three, commencing with the base of the rafter or where you have the wires, 

 train the uppermost up as the principal rod or cane, and the two below as 

 side shoots to the riqht and left of the cane, securing them to the wires, and 

 stopping them at the sixth leaf. The leader need not be stopped until it 

 reaches the top of the house, and the laterals may be allowed to grow, 

 especially those at the base of the cane ; but on the upper half of the cane we 

 should stop them at the first leaf so as to encourage those lower down, and so 

 keep the cane as thick there as higher up. They may be allowed to grow 

 until the growth is complete, and then be gradually removed, finally taking 

 them off when the cane is pruned after the leaves have fallen. The cane from 

 which the eyes have been rubbed may be cut off when the young shoots are in 

 good leaf. "We would not disturb the Vines in pots until we bad seen them 

 show for fruit, and we would then reduce the number one-half, or to 8 inches 

 apart ; and only half the number of shoots at that distance should be allowed 

 to carry a bunch each, or say from eight to a dozen bunches per Vine accord- 

 ing to its strength. 



Gardenia Unhealthy (A. S. C.).— The plant is in a bad condition, we 

 think at the roots. We should at once cut-back any irregularity of growth 

 but not very closely, and, after keeping rather dry for a few days, repot, re- 

 moving any old soil coming away freely from about the roots ; in fact, all 

 that can be taken away without destroying them. Bepot in a compost of 

 equal parts of fibrous loam and sandy peat, with a few pieces of charcoal and a 

 sixth part of silver sand, providing good drainage. Place in a moist bottom 

 heat of 75° to 80-, and a moist atmosphere ; water sparingly at the root until 

 the plant is growing freely, then more copiously. Continue the plant in 

 the moist heat until the growth is complete, and towards the end of summer 

 expose fully to light, and water only at the root to keep the plants from 

 flagging during the winter. Placed in a moist heat in February or March it 

 will most likely flower next season. Pruned now it would not flower m 

 autumn. 



Grape Bunches Curling and Shrxvelling (Idem).— The evil is mostly 

 due to the roots being deep in a cold and wet border, and in your ease probably 

 outside border. The removal of the soil a foot deep and replacing it with 

 fresh would not occasion the mischief. But why cover the roots a foot deep .' 

 Some heating material ought to have been placed on the border a fortnight 

 before commencing to force. This would have excited the roots before the 

 tops, and then it is likely the bunches would not have curied. while the 

 covering would also have induced the roots to come to the surface. The 

 heatint' material ought to remam on the border until May, and then by 

 de-^ees be withdrawn. We leave ours on the early-house borders unta after 

 the fruit is ripe. Too high a temperature in the house when the bunches are 

 shon-ing, and too dry an atmosphere, too low and variable a temperature from 

 high to low in a short time, too tree air-giving, or a cold dry current of air, 

 will sometimes cause the bunches to curl, but the main cause is the roots 

 not supplying sap to meet the demands of the fohago m bright weather. See 

 to the border, and make it dry and warm. 



Fuchsias in Greenhouse (Mr*, r.).— Cut-in the shoots of last year to 

 within two or three joints of the old wood, and keep the plants rather dry for 

 a fortnight or three weeks. When they are making fresh shoots a gentle 

 sprinkling overhead may be given twice daily, and when they have shoots an 

 inch long turn the plants out of the pots, remove all the old soil that can be 

 taken from amongst the roots, and repot in the same or a smaUer size of pot— 

 a size that will hold the roots and allow of a little soU aU round. A compost 

 of fibrous loam three parts, half a part each of old cow dung and leaf soil, with 

 one-sixth each sUver sand and nodules of charcoal, and emoient dramage, wUi 



