494 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 2, 1875. 



potaf^h. DiBSoIve the potash in vater, mixing with freshly- slaked Hme, and 

 afier the mixture has s&ttled pour oft the clear liquid for u^e, keepiug the 

 pipes wet with the liquid, and removing the varnieh with a coarse cloth ; but 

 A Btil) better plan Ih to remove th epipeH,andmaking-upa wood fire burn-' fi the 

 tar vanish. The beet paint for hot-water pipes iamade of lamp black mixed 

 to ih'i pruper cousibteuce with linseed oil, and applied to the pipes whilst hot. 



Cltcdmber Leaves Shrivelling {A. B. C.).— The plants are probably 

 affected with diuca^e, the symptoms yoa describe being attributable to it. 

 There is no known remf dy, bat it is moBt prevalent when the soil is rich and 

 with too much moigtnre in the atmosphere, and a high night temperature, 

 with a defective arrangemeut for bottom heat, it being too low. 



BoiLEB lE. T. B.). — There is practically very little difTerence between the 

 boilers named, both are good. Either would suit you. Your present boilsr is 

 a ),!ood one, and must be of too small a size for the work it has to do. By 

 raisiijg the boiler you wonld lose heat, as ihe size of the furnace would be 

 incieasea without incrensius the f-urfaces of the boiler for the abt-truction of 

 heat. A great waste of fuel is the result of a large furnace with a small 

 amount comparatively of boiler surface exposed to the direct action of the 

 fire. Hollow grate-bars do not prevent clinkering, as anyone having the 

 Btoking of them can testify. No boiltr with the return pipes at the lowest 

 pait of the builer, and the flow at the upper part, can possibly have the water 

 in the return pipes bolter than in the flow pipes without the circulation of 

 the water heiug obstructed, and this is what we think is the matter with your 

 apparatus — improper arrangement. The fire actiug on the boiler, the heated 

 water should rite by the flow dislodging the cold, which from its greater 

 prftvity will sink to the lowest point, and the return pipes are consequently 

 the coolest until euch time as the whole volume of water becomes heated. 

 Any result different to this is indicative of defective Eirrangemeut. 



Stubmer Pippin a Keeping Apple (jB. F.). — Tour fruit-room mast be 

 in fault.. It is one of the lon^^est keeping. In 1857, July 26tb, we had on the 

 table Eiirly Harvest Apples of the same year, and Sturmer Pippins of 1856. 



Sowing Seeds op Shrubs and Trees (C. E,). — All the trees and f^hrubs 

 nnmed in your list would succeed except Nob. 1, 9, 12, 13, and 1-4. We do 

 not know the Honeysui kie you describe. Of Lupressua you may add 

 Lambeitiana; of Pinus, Cembra and Laricio; of Juniperus, chinensia, 

 ooumunie, and drupacea. Pent eaith shrubs would not succeed in the seedling 

 Btate uLlefrs you were to give them fiom 4 to 6 inches of soil of thi»t descrip- 

 tioD, and at no time wnuld they do well in a soil euch as yours appears to be. 

 Tlie best variety of hiirdy Daphne for pots is D. Caeorum. 



Ibon Pillars for Roseb (i?. I. S.). — Yoa can have iron stakes of inch- 

 round bur iron, which should have four prongs, each of about 18 inches in 

 length, for securing in the ground, or you may have the iron rods leaded into 

 stone. We should not. however, have solid iron, but procure lengths of 

 wrought-iron piping l^-inch bore, and let the socket end into stone 6 inches 

 arid run w th 1< ad. Ihe stoneB should be about 15 inches square and 

 covered about 4 inches deep. The pipes should have lour coats of red-lesd 

 paint. To keep water from the pipe a screw cap or plug may be employed. 

 Any h-onmoDger would supply the pir«B, and any mason wonld fix them in 

 the stobts. A wire from each pillar would do more harm than good, as they 

 are in a curved line, unless you were to have a stay to each and on the inside 

 of the carve. 



Mushrooms Failing (An Anxious One). — Our Muehroom beds have ptone 

 Bhelves for bottom?, and answer admirably ; they are at^out the same depth 

 as tie detcrii-tion given of yours. We are not surprised at the failure when 

 you inform us that " pieces of sjawn were thri)wn in at the time of making- 

 up." We give a brief summary of our practice, from which you may pro- 

 bably gleau the information that will secure success in future efforts. Fresh 

 horse droppings are collected with a portion, about a fourth, of short litter, 

 and laid thinly in a dry airy place, and nnt so thiuk as to heat. When a 

 Biifficient quantity ie had to make a bed of 15 inches to 18 inches in depth — 

 which we can obtaiu in about three weeks by shaking out the long litter, 

 freeing the short of as much of straw as may he done with a fork, and 

 plaeiug it in a ridge-like heap on one side until the whole has been shook out 

 — we take the short litter, which will have been well mixed, the fresh being 

 placed at the bottom and the heated at top; and though we have tried the 

 ire^h droppintjs not allowed to heat, and the litter shook out of the manure 

 beap not older than three weeks, we failed to notice any difference iu the 

 reEUlt. The dung is placed in the bed 2 inches thick, and beaten very firm 

 with a wotden mallet about 6 inches square, and with a short wood haudle. 

 Lajer after layer is put ou the bed, and each laver is beaten as firm as the 

 first, and the whole is made to have an even surface and of equal depth — not 

 less than 15 inches, nor exceeding 18 inches. The heat will have declined to 

 a suitable spawniDg temperature in about ten days. Not until the tempe- 

 rature has fallen to 90^, and before it falls to 75", the spawn must be inserted. 

 The temperature at which to spawn is that of the bed 4 inches deep. The 

 epawn ifret-h is best, which, if it be good, will smell very strongly of Muah- 

 roomsi is broken up iiito pieces about 2 inches square, and in-erted so as to 

 be covered about 2 inches deep, and after spawning a light beating is given 

 the bed so as to firm the dung over and about the jiieces of spawn. In a 

 Week or ten days after spawnim; the bed is earthed 2 inches thick with rich 

 turfy loam chopped-ap r ither fiL.e, and in a condition as regaids moisture 

 that it may be beaten very firm without forming a muddy maas, and yet be a 

 close, compact, hard surlace. In six w«eks the bed will have Mushrooms 

 appfar ng on its surface, or soon afterwards, and should be li^jhtly watered, 

 and after this be kept moist, but avoid making the soil very wet— just moist 

 is hufficient. The floor and walls as well as the bed should be sprinkled with 

 wal«r and kept moist, for the Mushroom is impatient of a dry atmosphere. 

 The house must be dark, and the temperature 55" to 65". The sample of 

 epawn was good. 



Colour-Wash for Garden Wall (Lady C). — A solution of carbolic powder 

 with «attr and thickened %^ith lime to the proper consieteuo, would be a good 

 mixture to apply to the old wall. We should add soot buflicjent to tone down 

 to a dull grey or very tight lead colour as may be most agreeable. By mixing 

 a small quantity, and applying it to the wall, letting it become thoroughly 

 dry, more or less soot can be added to make the wall lighter ur darkt^r as 

 dehired. Wash the vail at once, choosing dry weather; a brush would be 

 preferable to a syringe to apply the solution, which should be thoroughly 

 brushed into the seams and crevices. 



Names OP Fhuits I IT. Dnir&fri. — 1, Gloria Mundi; 2. not known; 8, Loan's 

 Ptarmain; 4, Bull's Goldeu Keinttte; 5, Herefordshire Pearmain; 6,NoLesuch 

 Park. iF. F.\. — Van Mons Leon Leclerc. [J. P., H ighgate ).~^etBiie Je&u. 

 (Coimfivght Sv-bscribcrj. — 1, Crasanne ; 2, Beurr^ Diel ; iJ, not known. (Lady 

 C). — Neither of the Apples is the old Golden Pippin. No. 1 is Franklin's 

 Golden Pippin, and No. 2 the Stone Pippin. {W. A. K.).—l, Beurre Diel; 



2. Beurre Bose ; 8, Benrr6 Ranee. (F. Jellico), — The Apple is Gloria Mondi, 

 and the Pear Doyenne Boussoch. 



Names of Plants (Miss M. May). — The specimen is very imperfi'ct. Ik 

 appears to be Trachelium cferuleum. {M. I. jB.i. — 1, Nephrodiara fet'gerum; 

 2, Pteris arguta; 3. Adiantum cuneatum; 4, Polypodium appeodicmatum; 

 6, AMpleuium lucidum ; 6, Aspidium (Cyrtomium) falcatum. {J. B.i. — Den- 

 drochilura fiufurme; very healthy and vigorous. {Zenas). — Euonjmua enro- 

 pceus, the Spindle Tree or Prickwood. 



POULTEY, BEE, AND PiaEON CHEONIOLE. 



BIRMINGHAM POULTRY SHOW. 



Once more we are ia Bingley Hall. The great Show has come 

 round a^ain, and with it " cattle-show weather," as they call it 

 in Birmingham — if., a mixture of frost, fog, and sleet; but this 

 matters little iu Bingley Hall, where we are too much interested 

 in the yearly contest in many a class to think of the temperature 

 outside. The poultry, alas ! save Geese and Turkeys, are not 

 in Bingley Hall proper, but in the same annex as before — a 

 draughty place, its sides overhung with galleries, which cause 

 many pens to be seen to great disadvantage. We used to look 

 upon the Birmingham Show as an institution venerable from 

 its antiquity, and like many such institutions somewhat out of 

 date and needing internal reform. The reforms, however, come 

 tardily indeed, but they do come at last. We observed several 

 innovations last year, among them the displacement of Dorkings 

 from their old position in favour of Brahmas, which, by-the-by, 

 we do not consider an improvement, and this year we see more. 

 Pigeons are shown singly ; the objectionable water dishes on 

 the floors of the pens have been replaced by zinc vessels hung 

 up, and we have watched officials distributing chaff in the pens. 

 There are many more practical reforms which occur to us as 

 desirable ; The awards might be posted up in some more sys- 

 tematic way instead of being written indiscriminately over three 

 or four cards ; green food might be given to the birds, and more 

 barley meal, or better still, Spratt's food and barleymeal mixed. 

 But these improvemerts we trust to see another year, and rejoice 

 at what we have. The numbers (1950 pens of poultry and 541 of 

 Pigeons) have, we believe, been exceeded in other years; but 

 280 more than last year, and few classes are not well filled, and 

 any reduction iu entries arises, we fancy, from the rise of stan- 

 dards and the consequent inutility of sending rubbish. Dark 

 Brahmas head the list. We should not be at all surprised, after 

 what we have heard and seen lately, to see this popular variety 

 fall off somewhat in estimation ; they do not fetch the price they 

 did, and the wheel of popularity seems returning again, as it 

 always muet, to the most valuable of English fowls — the Dorking. 



Bkahma, DaWc, cocks are a good class with thirty-seven entries. 

 As a rule they are well through the moult and in guod condi- 

 tion. First as usual is Mr. Lingwood. We only hope that his 

 well-merited successes will not drive other fanciers to abandon 

 the breed. The first and second prize birds happened to be 

 opposite each other, and we had a good opportunity of com- 

 paring them. We thought the awards good, the first beiug the 

 broader bird and best in the rise of back towards the tail, and 

 the most heavily feathered on leg. We preferred, however, the 

 deeper stripes on the hackle of Mr. Ansdell's bird. Third is a 

 slightly hocked bird, well-shaped but too long in tail. We did 

 not much admire the fourth. His comb is too high behind and 

 inclined to a peak. Among the highly commendeds is a bird of 

 Lady Gwydyr'a with splendid foot-feathering, a nicely shaped 

 hocked bird of Mr. E.G. Peake's, and a strikingly large one of Mr. 

 Lingwood's. Cockerels.— First is a cockerel almost faultless in 

 fize and points, though we have seen better combs. Second a 

 beautifully shaped bird apparently young, for his spurs have 

 hardly appeared. He has a neat Brahma head ; his hackle- 

 markings are light. Third is a very dark bird, small, and higher 

 in back ihan we like. His foot-featheriug is prodigious, but does 

 not extend well up the leg. We should have put the fourth 

 third ; he is a little deficient iu breadth of back towards the tail. 

 Fifth a narrow bird, but he has a good black breast and beautiful 

 orange- coloured legs. Hens. — The first winners are we think 

 well known. One of them not very good in leg-feathering; but 

 they are grand hens, evenly pencilled all over. Second are a 

 little brown, good in shape and size ; third are fair in pencilling, 

 heavily feathered on legs, still a trifle brown, and one not so 

 sprightly as her companion ; fourth fine in shape, with pencil- 

 ling like that of Mr. L. Wright's strain. Pullets, — Certainly 

 the Crystal Palace does show off all birds to advantage, though 

 the superior birds are chiefly the same as those we saw there; 

 they do at Birmingham look strangely different. To the first 

 pair of Dark pullets was awarded the twenty-guinea cup for 

 the best pen of Brahmas in the Show. An exquisitely-pencilled 

 pair they are, just the type of birds which last year were bred 

 by Mr. Peake — not very large or heavily-feathered, but with the 

 fine truly Brahma head; of a beautiful ground colour, and 

 crisply and uniformly pencilled all over. Second did not look 

 to us like Mr. Lingwood's best; their wing and back marking 

 ' is beautiful, but they are a trifle light on breast. Third a light- 



