160 THK FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Dahlia Cuttings. — J. 8., Croydon. — Your non-succe9s arises probably from 

 want of more bottom-beat. Test it by a thermometer, it should be from 85? 

 to 90°. 



Pinks. — J. Barnes. — Use liquid manure thrice a fortnight ; it will soon 

 improve their condition. 



Thunbergias. — E. D., Ebury. — These may be raised without a hot-bed if you 

 have a greenhouse, but it would be better to wait till June unless you can place 

 the pan containing the seed on the top of a boiler or on a flue to give them a 

 start. Where the me;ms are limited, it is as well to defer sowing seed of tender 

 things until the season is a little advanced ; after midsummer the ground is a 

 natural hot-bed, and by shutting a frame close in the full blaze of the sun, many 

 seeds that ordinarily require artificial heat may be started without it. 



Melon Culture. — Amateur — Your pit will do well if you make up a dung 

 bed inside, and ventilate and water frequently till perfectly sweet ; then form 

 hollows two feet deep and fill them with brickbats, with a turf, grass side down- 

 wards, on the top level with the surface of the bed ; then make small hillocks on 

 the grass sods to turn the plants out on, and keep up the heat as fast as it declines 

 by means of linings, and as the heat must be brisk, give plenty of water round the 

 sides to prevent burning, and maintain the heat just under 90°. Add more soil as 

 the plants require it, and turn and change the linings frequently ; a few drain 

 pipes laid in to the interior of the bed from the linings will assist in diffusing the 

 heat. The seedling plants should be stopped by pinching out the centre as soon 

 as the rough leaves appear and be got strong before planting out. Two plants are 

 sufficient for each light, and the runners must be trained regularly. Give plenty 

 of water while fruit is swelling, but keep rather dry as soon as ripening commences. 

 They require the fullest sunlight they can have. You ought to have sown sis 

 weeks earlier to have had them strong in pots for planting, so had better not be in 

 too great a haste to get the pit ready. 



Ericas done Blooming. — B. J., LougMon. — Ericas done blooming should be 

 repotted if they require it; if not, remove the surface soil and dress them with 

 fresh peat, full of grit and fibre, and put them in a cold frame setting each pot on 

 an inverted pot. All pots must be well drained, and the plants have air night and 

 day all through the season. Shade them from the fierce midday sun. 



Vines newly Purchased. — J. Chater, Highgate. — Your vine three feet in 

 length, the thickness of a cedar pencil, with a dozen buds on it will not do. Cut 

 it down to the plumpest bud, about six buds from the base, and rub away the 

 three lowest buds. You will thus have perhaps three buds and a leader. Let 

 the leader start strong with the buds left below it, till these side shoots are three 

 inches long. Then pinch them back and in a fortnight remove them. Altogether 

 you will thus get a straight strong rod to train along the trench. Next season cut 

 back the leader to twelve buds from the base and then the side shoots are to be 

 allowed to push until they show their branches, and then be stopped one bud 

 beyond the bunch, and all laterals must be stopped two buds from the base of the 

 shoots they come from. Every year you must leave on each spur a hud for fruit 

 and a bud for wood, the wood bud to be the one next the base of the spur, and 

 fruit bud to be the fourth or fifth from it ; the intermediate buds to be removed. 

 Geraniums and Hydrangeas. — Your rich soil and moist air ought to suit 

 hydrangeas, so we fear your system must be wrong. That geraniums grow rank 

 in it is quite likely, and that may be corrected by plunging instead of turning out ; 

 but take care that under every pot plunged there is a large piece of hollow crock 

 or tile, to prevent worms getting up into the roots and to keep the drainage safe. 

 ■But it would be better if you would make your geranium beds of the poorest soil 

 you have and raise them above the surface to make them drier. A mixture of old 

 mortar and brick rubbish would help to correct the richness of the soil for the 

 scarlets, but it would not be too rich for any of the variegated sorts. Placing pots 

 in saucers is not a good plan, except for plants exposed to a hot sun, where the 

 water is soon taken up. 



