288 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



lupins, forget-me-not*, pentstemons, potentillas, saxifrages, veronicas, and violas, 

 may still be sowd, aod will have the best chance if in pots and kept in frames all 

 the winter. If sown in the open ground, a dry slope would be the best place, 

 and some seed should be saved to be sown early next spring, and the majority 

 will bloom the same season. 



Roses. — C. Brown. — To turn roses out of a greenhouse into such a bed as you 

 describe would be a very likely way of losing them altogether. They should be 

 wintered in a brick pit or well-protected frame. A preservative bed is only 

 adapted for things that are nearly hardy, or at least to keep tender things in till 

 the turn of the year. It is, in fact, a mere contrivance, to be resorted to in a case 

 of difficulty, when the stock of potted plants exceeds the accommodation under 

 regular tdas* structures. 



Mulch for Roses. — Ignoramus. — Anymanurial matters that are of a solvent 

 nature, and not unsightly wheu laid on the suriace, will answer the purpose. 

 Two or three inches of fresh pig's dung, or short stable manure only half-rotted, 

 are the dressings generally mosi accessible, aud nothing can be better. It is of 

 little use to mulch roses with well-rotted manure, because it is only what washes 

 down by the rain that feeds the roots, and the stuff should be tolerably fresh and 

 strong, to convert every shower into liquid manure in passing through it to the 

 roots. It should be remembered that mulching not only feeds by manuring the 

 roots, but also keeps the soil moist — au object sometimes of much importance, 

 especially in dry seafons. The beet time for mulching roses is either in the depth 

 of winter or early in the spring. 



Crocuses.- — E. W. P. — Crocuses may be lifted when in flower in order to get 

 them into harmonious arrangements, or to remove any of the wrong colour that 

 may have got mixed with the clumps. The best bloom is obtained by taking up 

 and planting every year. They should be planted four inches deep, and one inch 

 and a. half apart. Where the planter has the convenience, they may be planted 

 in clumps in a reserve ground, lifted in clumps when in bloom, lifted again when 

 the bloom is over, and the bulbs ripened in the reserve ground. This applies 

 either to old clumps, which would be improved by it, or new ones, which wo'Jd 

 i ot be harmed. Of course they must be lifted with care, so as to avoid injury 

 to the roots ; rough handling would be very injurious. 



Berbkkis Japonica. — Minnie. — Berberis Japonica will grow in company 

 with any of our hardy evergreen shrubs. It would be a handsome thing any- 

 where, even in a poor soil and an exposed situation, because quite hardy and not 

 over particular as to soil. But as its great leaves are apt to be injured bv storms, 

 and as those leaves grow to double the dimensions in a rich sandy moist soil to 

 what they attain in a poor soil, we should advise for it, shelter, shade, and a pre- 

 pared compost. Turf from a sandy road-side, chopped up with rotten dung, will 

 grow to perfection. 



Asparagus — Constant Reader. — It is an expenditure of force to allow the 

 flower-stems of asparagus to ripen their seed. We always snap the flower-stems 

 through near the root, and leave them till they perish, and then cut them clean 

 away. 



Wood-lice. — C. M. — Cut a few windfall apples, put the slices under flower- 

 pots in the frames and nits, and every morning lift them up and kill the vermin. 

 Slices of boileit potatoes will do, or little heaps of brewer's grains. 



Rose Fence. — T. i?. P. — You had best have common China, of at least three 

 years old, aud plant them in November next; on your rookery they would do 

 better than any hybrid perpetual ; otherwise, Jules Margottin or Charles Duval 

 would be grander and of rapid growth. 



; Chalk Soil. — Beginner. — By all means avoid American and heath plant- 1 , 

 which detest chalk. It takes time to create a surface soil on such a bottom, but 

 it may be done; and the way to do it is to economize every scrap of material, 

 animal and vegetable, that will rot into mould. 



Exposed Flower-pots. — M. C- S. — We should advise you to protect the pots 

 by inserting them in larger ones, filling the interstices with moss. This method 

 has beeu tried, and found very effectual. One pot placed within another in this 

 way has been exposed to the blazing sun, and the moisture of the inner pot has 

 very successfully withstood the heat. 



