496 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jane 18, 1874. 



JULY. 



Devon and Exeter (Eoses) 3 



Tanbridge Wells S 



Soathgate 4 



"Winterton 7 



Midland Coonties (BlrmiagUam) 



7,8,9. and 10 



"Wiltshire 7 and 8 



Koyal Caledonian Hort. Soc 8 



Kelso 8 



Hereford (W. of England Rose) .. 8 



ilaidstone 8 



Chelmsford 8 



Bishop Stortford 8 and 9 



Peterborongh 8 and 9 



Manchester 8, 9, and 10 



Hertford 9 



Darlington I?) 10 



Chipping Norton 10 



Altrincham and Bowdon ..10 and 11 

 Kilmun, Strooe, and Blamore .... 11 



iionghbjrough 15 



Derby 15 



JtTLY. 



Oundle 15 



Brighton and Sussex 15 and 16 



Ealing, Acton, and Hanwell 16 



Gloucester and Cheltenham 16 



Woodbridge 16 



Grange on-Sands 17 



Bury (Lancashire) 17 and 16 



Cleckheaton IH 



Bramley 20 and 21 



I Ere wash Valley 21 



Elford 22 



I Cambiidgeshire 23 



I Grantham 23 and 24 



. Tong and Dudley HUl 25 



I Hales Owen and Hagley 28 



Buckingham 28 



Tewkesbuiy 28, 29, and 3U 



Errol 29 



I Castle Donington (Derby) 29 



j Royal Osfordahire 30 



Woolton 30 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



"*,* It is particularly requestecl 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, 



■Correspondents should not mix upon 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 articl*^s intended for iasertion 

 should be written on one side of the paper only. 



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

 correspondents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable 

 trouble and expense. 



Books (Ti/ro).— The latest editinn with appendix of .Tohnson's "Cottage 



Gardener's Dictionary " is that of lisijs. Its price is 6.t. 6rf , or post free from 



onr office 7s. 'Id. iPollie). — The above-named Dictionary may suit you. 



(C R. R.). — The book you mention is published by Messrs. Groombridge. 

 Late Pears for S.W. Wall (F. C.).— Duchesse d'AngouK-me, Beurre de 



Bance, and Easter Beurre. 



Ferns {J, Q. Lencick). — The two specimens seem to be of the same species* 



Polypodium alpestre. Alpine Polypody. Thev wore smashed up along with 



4he other leave?* by the post-office punches. The malformed Daiay is curious 



2}at not attraciive. 



Gloxinia Seedling (Inquirer).— The flowers are lar^e. * There are others 



of a similar colour. 



Lois Weedon Wheat Cl'lture (T. G^p).— Particulars are in a pamphlet 



published by Mr. Ridgway, Piccaiilly, London, entitled " A Word in Season." 

 Foxglove Flower IRamalho). — The white Fox:^love flower ia an instance, 



not uncommon, of a combination ot corollas so as to form one monster. It is 



like the combination of several Aspara^jus stems, and the same term might 



he applied— faaciated. 

 CvsToPTERis DiCKiEANA (Inquirer). — What you mistake for disease are 



the seeds, called spores by botanists. 



Myrtle not Flowering (Knut.'tford) — The Myrtle should be kept in a 

 light, airy position in the greenhi>use, he sprinkled overhead morning and 

 evening, and be well supplied with water until the growth is complete, then 



discontinue watering overhead, and wa^er only to keep the soil moist. Do 

 not give water in winter before the soil becomes dry, but before the foliage 

 becomes limp affofd enough to moisten the soil through. The plant can 

 hardly have too light and airy a position so as to thoroughly ripen the wood, 

 opon which depends the flowering. Repot at once if needful, giving only a 

 moderate shift, and using a compnst of sandy fibrous loam two parts, one 

 part each sandy peat and leaf soil, and a sixth of silver sand, with good 



drainage. Yon may obtain Gold-laced Polyanthus seel through any seedsman 

 advertising in our Journal. 



Propagating Bedding Geraniums (C. S). — It is quite early enough to 

 commence propagating these in August, and propagation may he continued 

 ihroughout that month up to the beginning of September, commencing with 

 the weaker kinds and ending with the stronger-growing sorta. AVe should 

 have at least four cuttings in a 4j-inch pot — in fact six, and winter them in 

 the cutting-pots, as they take up much less room, potting them in spring. 

 We prefer buxes made of three-quarter-inch deal, abuut ii feet long, 12 inches 

 ■wide, and 3 inches deep, external measurement, whit^h allows of our wintering 

 in a little room a number of plants in each box, putting about a hundred into 

 «ach. Some of the best bedding Pelargoniums are Aigburth Beauty, deep 

 rose; Bayard, crimson ; Crimson King, dark shaded crimson : Diadem, bri^jht 

 scarlet; Dr. Tait, crimson ; Jean Sisiey, scarlet; Master Christine, rosy pink ; 

 R. Evans, rose; Mrs. Upton, pink; Vesuvius scarlet; The Bride, white; 

 Warrior, scarlet ; and White Wonder, white. Ooldtm-variefjated: Alhambra, 

 Flambeau, Lady Cullum.Sir Robert Napier, and Prince of Wales. Gold and 

 Bronze : Constantine, Marshal MacMahon, Rev. C. P. Peach. Silver-i-arie- 

 ^ated : Mrs. John Glutton, Prince Silverwings. Qoldm-havcd and Oold- 

 edged : Crimson Banner, Golden Banner, Pillar of Gold. Silver-edged: 

 Bright Rtar, Miss Kingsbury, Princess Alexandra. Ivy-Uavcd: L'Elegante, 

 Stiver Gem. 



Calceolarias a Second Year (Newport Pagnrll). — Instead of seeking 

 by cuttings to preserve the old plants we should advise you to save the feeds, 

 placing the plants in a light airy position until the seed is ripe. Take off the 

 cipsuies as they ripen, and sow the seed in July and up to Aaf,ust. The old 

 plants are difficult to keep until the second year, and neither these nor plants 

 continued by cuttings grow satisfactorily : but you may take cuttings of the 

 "healthy root-growths, insert them singly in sandy soil, and place them in a 



shady spot nnder a hand-light, keeping moist and shaded from sun. When 

 the roots show at the sides of the pots shift the plants into larger pots, and 

 grow them in a cold frame, shifting as the pots become full of roots, and 

 moving to a cool airy house safe from frost in October or November, Seed- 

 lings are far preferable to plants from cuttings. 



Hollyhock BLifiHT (F. Manriing). — The leaf sent is attacked by that new 

 fungns scourge we fully described and depicted in our number of May 23th. 

 Pull up every plant affected and burn it at once. No remedy is known, and 

 the spurffs will spread the infection if allowed to ripen. 



CiTANOPHVLLUM MAGNiFiccM CcLTURE (Om^^a). — You givo US no particulars 

 of your treatment; we are not able, therefore, to point out what may have 

 caused the plant to grow ao indifferently. We give a few hints for its culture. 

 To do well it requires a brisk heat of 65- to 70" at night, aud 75^ by day on 

 dull days, and 8r to 85" or tW^ with sun and a moderate amount of air. The 

 atmosphere requires to be kept moist by frequently sprinkling the paths, 

 walkn, and other surfaces three or four times a day, leaving a little air on at 

 night to prevent moisture condensing and drippiug on the leaves, which must 

 never be sprinkled. The roots are not healthy, otherwise the growths would 

 he more free. Tui-n the plant out of the pot, remove all the soil coming away 

 readily from amongst the roots, aud repot in a size that will hold them com- 

 fortably, and wheu the plant is showing roots at the sides of the pnt, and 

 bef<ire they hecnme matted, shift into a size larger; and the next shift, when 

 the loots are showing at the sides of the pot. should be a good one. Moderate 

 watering only is required until the root action and growth are free, aud then 

 the wateiing should be liberal. Equal parts of sandy peat, turfy loam, and 

 leaf soil, with one-sixth of silver sand, and a similar proportion of pieces of 

 charcoal, the whale well mixed and chopped up, but not sifted, with good 

 drainage, will grow it well. 



Propagating Pit Arrangejients (G. D. Lyon). — We have a bed along 

 the front of the house 8 feet wide, and another of the same width at the back 

 of the house, which will allow of a 3-feet pathway np the centre. The front 

 border we should use for Cucumbers or Melons, and heat with two rows of 

 3-inch pipes, having openiugs in the wall of the bed nest the path, aud also 

 in the wall of the other bed. The openings need not be large — say 9 inches 

 by a foot long, aud should have sUdmg doors. By means of these shutters 

 yon can regulate the buttom heat, and utilise any excess of heat by admitting 

 it to the air of the house. The pipes we should have in a chamber, which 

 need not be more than a foot deep, placing over them slates, having a foot of 

 space for soil over them. The back may be formed in the same way ; and 

 instead of ao deep a space for plunging material, 6 or 9 inches deep over the 

 slates will be sufficient. Two pipes will not be sufficient fur top heat, though 

 with the heat from the chambers of the beds you might mtinage with two 

 pipes; but we should prefer four 3-inch, the flows at the sides, and the 

 returns along the pathway, which will give you suScient heat without warm- 

 ing the piping to & high temperature. If you were to have the back border as 

 deep as the front for soil, you could have Cucumbers in it trained to the back 

 wall on a trellis, or Tomatoes aud Melons in front, on a trellis about 12 inches 

 from the glass, not taking them nearer the top than 2 feet, so as to admit 

 light to the plants on the back wall. You might use the front border in 

 winter for Cucumbers, the back one for propagating and forcing, and when 

 done with for that purpose plant Cucumbers, and when the Cucumbers on the 

 fi'ont were going off you could replace them with Melons. 



Binding for Rosk-budding (T. D. L.).— For binding the buds of Roses 

 the cotton twist as used by tallow-chandlers is preferable to matting. It 

 should be of the best. Japan flax is also good. 



Fish for Pond and Water Lilies {C. L.). — We do not think flsh would 

 live in your pond, the water of which is very chalky. Water Lilies would 

 probably succeoi if the pond has mud at the bottom. The Nuphar lutea. as 

 also the Nyraph.Ta alba, would most likely succeed. Wo have not had the 

 experience that prompts our giving a decided answer to your queries, and 

 sUmuUI be glad if some of our corrc-spondents would state their experience of 

 fish in a pond supplied with water containing chalk, also Watur LiUet>. 



lins and Rockwork (Norton). — You need not he surprised that yonr 

 imitation does not satisfy yuu. Rockwork is most difficult to construct so as 

 to lo.ik natural. A poet and man of taste justly wrote a ceutury since — " I 

 weut to see a fine piece of ruins built at a great expense, which, the day after 

 I ^a* it, tumbled down for nothing. It must have been much improved by 

 this foitunate incident. It is hardly possible to put stones together with 

 that air of wild and magnificent disorder which they are sure to acquire by 

 faliini^ of their own accord." Mr. Pulham has recently very Buccessfolly 

 arrauged some rockwork at the Battersea Park. 



I.vsECTS Gnawing Base of Buds of Apple Trees (A. H. E.).— As you 

 havt) ^eut no specimen of the insect doing this mischief, we can only conjec- 

 turt! that it is the young caterpillar ol a small moth, must probably Tortrix 

 fujellaui, which gnaws into the stems of the buds and destroys them. The 

 diseased buds should be carefully picked off below the space apparently 

 gnawed, so as to secure the giub which has burrowed dowuwaids, aud burnt. 

 —I. O. W. 



Anemones from the Sodth of France {dnemone, Co. Dublin).— 'Vfe 

 should not take them up, but leave them in the gr«.und if it is light and well 

 drained. Loosen the surface in September or early in October, and mulch 

 lightly with leaf soil. 



Ci-'cuMRERS IN Frames (F. J.)— When the plants are established the 

 ventilation will require to be regulated by the state of the weather; but as 

 you are absent frum home daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., yon will have to give 

 air according to your prognostication of the fineness ur dulness of tho day at 

 a little before 9 a m. If likely to be a dull day you may lilt the lights a 

 couple of inches, or push them down to that extent ; if likely to be a cloudy 

 day bat with clear sunny intervals, you may leave an opening at back of 

 4 to G inches according to the prevalence of cloud, aud if clear and hot you 

 would not be safe withuut leaving 9 inches of air ol. In your case we think 

 it would bo best to push down the lights, but you may tilt them if you make 

 them secure against wind. The lights should not be raised in front. In very 

 bright and hot weather you will need to water tho plants every second or 

 third day, whilst in partially cluuded and clear weathtr twice a-week will be 

 sufficient. It is well not to overwater, but the soil ought to be kept moist, 

 otherwise the growth will not be free. 



Hose Piping {Idem).— We have no recolleclion of canvas-hose piping for 

 watering purposes, aud do not know of any cheaper or better than india- 

 rubber. Leather hose was some time ago advertised, perhaps it was that to 

 which you allude. We do not know where it may be obtained. Manufac- 

 turers of these articles should advertise. 



Aloe in Summer (r.j.— Keep the soil moist as for other greenhouse plants 



