344 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April SO, 1874. 



BiGNOxu Chambeelayitii. — Evergreen climber, with yellow 

 tmmpet-shaped flowers in August. Brazil. 



B. SPECIOSA. — Pink or mauve-coloured flowers, produced in 

 early summer. Uraguay. 



B. vExnsTA. — Orange flowers, very fine, at the end of 

 Bummer. 



There are several other species, but the above are fair repre- 

 sentatives of the genus. They are magnificent climbers, but 

 do little or no good in pots, requiring to be planted out. The 

 shoots must not be closely crowded, but placed so as to be 

 everywhere exposed to air and light, so as to secure the ripen- 

 ing oj the wood. The flowers for the most part are produced 

 on short shoots issuing from well-ripened buds of last year's 

 growth. The chief point in the cultivation of these plants is 

 to get the wood well ripened, therefore they should be kept 

 dry in autumn, and the shoots, with the same object, should 

 be thinned and regulated so as to be folly exposed to Ught. 

 Water the plants abundantly when growing and flowering. 

 Prune in spring before growth commences, cutting out the 

 old wood and replacing it with the well-ripened shoots of last 

 year, shortening to well-hardened wood. 



The most suitable soil is sandy peat and fibrous light loam 

 in equal parts, one-fourth leaf soil, a sixth of silver sand, and 

 a few nodules of charcoal, with efficient drainage. Propagate 

 by cuttings of short stiff side shoots, taken off close and 

 inserted in sand over peat and loam, covered with a beU-glass, 

 and placed in bottom heat, shading and keeping moist. — 

 G. Abeet. 



EFFECTS OF GAS ON SEEDS IN NUESEETMEN-S 

 SHOPS. 



Having been in the habit of purchasing flower seeds from 

 various nurserymen, I had often remarked the great difference 

 in the results both as to the proportion germinating and the 

 quality of the plants produced by them, but it never occurred 

 to me until quite recently what might possibly be the cause of 

 the failures. On looking round at the various shops to see 

 how the seeds were kept, appearances were strongly in favour 

 of the belief ; and on purchasing about a score of varieties 

 from a little nurseryman, who has no shop and no gaslights, I 

 was more than ever convinced there mast be some truth in 

 the suggestion. 



The products from the combustion of gas are known to be 

 highly destructive in many respects, such as to the binding of 

 books, the rings and cords of pictures, and brass work in every 

 shape, but more especially so to growing plants, and if any 

 oxidation should take place in the germ of seeds it would of 

 course destroy their vitality. The remedy which naturally 

 suggests itself is, that seeds should not be kept on shelves 

 or in lockers above the level of the gaslights, but as much 

 below, and as near the floor, as is consistent with dryness ; and 

 they would be far safer in wooden boxes or casks than in tin 

 or metal cases. It is not improbable, also, but that some qua- 

 lities of paper — from the bleaching powder not being got rid 

 of — may be injurious by the gas acting upon them, and I 

 strongly suspect that common coarse brown paper would be 

 far prtferable and safer than any description of bleached or 

 coloured paper can be for the purpose. — W. Kekedy Bbidg- 

 JIAN, Xortrich. 



AoErATUM Imperial Blue Tom Thumb. — I can fully endorse 

 all th.";! was said last week by Mr. HamUton about Ageratum 

 Imperial Dwarf ; and I have made inquiry and find that others 

 have shared the same fate. — Enos Jackson, Gardener to Col. 

 E. Stmjthe, Welton-le-Wold. 



BED-LEADING SEEDS. 



It appears to me very singular that Peas have been taken 

 by rats or mice after having been coated with red lead. I 

 presume the sufferers have not followed the method I re- 

 commended as the first discoverer, but have acted upon that 

 described by your late lamented correspondent, Mr. R. Fish, 

 who, if I understood him aright, moistened the seed with 

 water. Instead of giving a slight coating of linseed oil. During 

 an experience of sixteen years I have never but once discovered 

 the felonious presence of either rat, mouse, or bird ; on that 

 occasion I missed six Peas, which I found about 2 yaids dis- 

 tant quite uninjured. I have at the present time rows of 



Peas and Beans which have not been molested in the slightest 

 degree, and I am fully persuaded that if properly prepared 

 it will prove the most simple and effectual preventive to this 

 annoyance. I last year sowed some Broccoli seed without 

 dressing, when, before I could perceive the appearance of the 

 young plants, the birds had pulled up the greater portion of 

 the bed. As soon as I made the discovery I threw some seeds 

 which I had dressed on the bed, and not another plant was 

 disturbed. 



The preparation should be made in the following way : — Say 

 to a pint of Peas pnt into a vessel large enough to be shaken 

 about, let fall six or seven drops of linseed oU, shake round well, 

 then sprinkle a few pinches of dry red lead, and shake round 

 again until the coating is perfect. The seed is then fit for sow- 

 ing. Wrinkled Peas require rather more trouble than smooth 

 ones. Mr. Fish was unnecessarily cautious about handling the 

 red lead, as well as not to dress at once more Peas than re- 

 quired ; I have used the foOowing season some that I had left, 

 and found them equal to those fresh dressed.— Joseph Bueoess, 

 Knutsford. 



[Tour Raspberry had been noticed by us in onr report of th» 

 Society's meeting. — Eds.] 



FOUNTAINE'S VINEET AT BLENHEIM. 



I see in The Jocknal of Hoeticultube of last week that 

 Mr. Temple, the gardener at Blenheim, has made some remarks 

 upon my vinery there which I am desirous of answering. 

 AJthough he says he has read my pamphlet on the subject, he 

 certainly misapprehends some essential points therein stated. 

 I may have expressed myself badly ; if so, there is the greater 

 reason that I should correct the mistake. He says it is of no 

 use wheeling-out the trees where Vines and Peaches are not 

 grown overhead. It is true Tines ought to be grown overhead- 

 though certainly not to cover the whole roof; but, whether 

 there are Tines or not, the flavour and colour of the fruit are 

 immensely improved by the trees being wheeled-out into the 

 open air in favourable weather, and much saving in watering 

 thereby effected, especially in wet seasons. As to the question 

 of stone fruit grown immediately under Tines — that is to say, 

 not the lower half of the house stone-fruit trees and the other 

 half Tines, as is sometimes the case, but trees absolutely 

 under the shadow of Tines which cover the whole house, if 

 Mr. Temple asserts that such fruit is worth eating at all, that 

 is a point upon which we must differ in toto ; but if he means 

 only half each sort of fruit, as stated in the parenthesis, it is 

 entirely beside the question ; though, even then, a division in. 

 the house, or two houses half the size for each kind of fruit, 

 would be much better, as the stone fruit requires much more 

 ventilation than the Grapes. 



He mentions Mr. W. Thomson as having been successful ia 

 this process of fruit-growing. If he alludes to Mr. Thomson, 

 of Galashiels, formerly gardener to the Duke of Bnccleuch, he 

 could not refer to a higher authority in England upon the 

 subject of fruit-growing. It so happened that I submitted a 

 plan of my house, as a vinery, to Mr. Thomson before the 

 house at Blenheim was erected; he was kind enough to writ* 

 to me in answer, " that nothing could be better than the sketch 

 I sent him," and he volunteered to put an engraving of it into 

 " The Gardener," of which he was then the editor. He spoke 

 most favourably of the system, adding, " Our opinion is that 

 by this contrivance a crop of Grapes could be grown in every 

 orchard house, which without it would be nearly impossible." 

 This does not look like being an advocate for growing stone 

 fruit in the shade. But I surely think I must misunderstand 

 Mr. Temple on this point. He goes on to state that he saw 

 the house at Chiswick ; and though he admired the Grapes as 

 very fine, he was not favourably impressed with the system as 

 " a profitable method of growing fruits," and he feared that 

 " market men would not be ready to adopt the plan." In this 

 latter view I quite agree with him ; and further, if it resolves 

 itself in a question of " £ s. d. " (as he puts it) I strongly re- 

 commend Covent Garden as superior to all systems, and cer- 

 tain as a panacea not only for watering but all the other labours 

 to which gardening is heir. He will, however, find on refer- 

 ring to the pamphlet that I especially disclaim growing fruit 

 for market, as requiring a totally different process from that 

 required for a gentleman's table, the one being for quantity, 

 the other for quality ; not but that we can grow quantity, bnt 

 this is in all cases at the sacrifice of quality — what I maintain 

 is, that, by the same saaiflce of quantity the same quality ot 



