154 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



1871 



Hot -BED Culture of Water Cress. — It is 

 generally supposed that this plant can be success- 

 fully grown only in a running stream of water. A 

 correspondent of the Gwrdener's Monthly, however, 

 says it may be grown in a hot - bed, and gives the 

 following directions for doing it : 



" Permit me to recommend through your valuable 

 Montlily, the most wholesome and most productive 

 of all salads grown in winter and in spring, and 

 yet the cultivation of it is little known, and almost 

 entirely neglected by those who do know. This 

 water cress is a native of Great Britiau, and is 

 found wild in the small streams more or less 

 through the whole country, and is cultivated on a 

 large scale around London. Although this cress is 

 considered amphibious, it thrives better in an ordi- 

 nary hot -bed from October until April, and 

 requires no re - planting. I Whitewash the glass, 

 and give very little air except when raining, which 

 saves watering, which it requires at least once a 

 week. A full crop can be cut every three weeks. 

 I generally cut one - third of a sash each time, so 

 always get a succession. About the first of April a 

 quantity of plants should be transferred to some 

 cool, wet place, where they will live during the sum- 

 mer, and be ready for the hot - bed in the fall." 



Canning Fruit. — A correspondent of the Small 

 Fruit Recorder says : " I have tried the following 

 for canning fruit for several yeai's with the best suc- 

 cess, and it is a great saving of time and trouble . 

 Bring the fruit to a scalding heat, and sweeten or 

 not, as you choose. When the fruit is ready to put 

 in the cans, take a piece of old quilt, or six or eight 

 thicknesses of cloth wet in cold water, and wring out 

 so that it will not drip ; lay the cloth on a table and 

 set the cans cold upon the cloth which has just been 

 wrung out of cold water ; fill the cans with the hot 

 fruit and seal up as usual, and do not move them, not 

 a hair's breadth, till the fruit is perfectly cold. There 

 is no danger of breaking the cans unless you move 

 them before tlie fruit is cold. This saves heating the 

 cans, which is the worst part of canning fruit. The 

 tops generally need tightening a little when the 

 fruit is cold. 



Burr's New Pine Strawberry. At a late 

 meeting of the Montgomery (Ohio) Horticultural 

 Society, the members present generally concurred 

 in recommending Burr's New Pine Strawberry to 

 amateurs as the best for table, if they can get gen- 

 uine plants. A few Wilsons or a male plant should 

 be planted with them. 



Winter Protection of Roses. Another member of 

 the above named Society remarking on winter pro- 

 tection of trees, vines, plants, etc., cuts down his 

 roses to twelve inches, filling around them with 

 coarse straw manure, then covers them up with 



boards, never fails to keep them through winter, 

 not even his tea roses. In the spring removes the 

 manure, leaving two to four inches of the finest as 

 a mulch ; has plenty of roses all summer without 

 watering. Another speaker said that the flowers of 

 rose bushes which remain in the ground through 

 winter, where they have been growing in summer, 

 will be much larger and more perfect than those 

 which are dug up in the fall, and planted again in 

 spring. 



Carbolate of Lime for the Currant Worm. 

 The Boston Journcd of Chemistry says the currant 

 worm may be almost immediately destroyed by the 

 use of carbolate of lime. It was used in several 

 instances last season, and found quite as eflective as 

 hellebore, less costly, less disagreeable to apply, and 

 perfectly safe. Neither the fruit nor the foliage is 

 in any way injured by its use. The method of 

 using it is to sprinkle it over the bushes as soon as 

 the worm makes his appearance, bringing it well 

 in contact with the leaves, and the insect is destroy- 

 ed. It will need but two or three applications, and 

 the work is done. 



Mildew on Roses. — Rub down in a gallon of 

 soft water one pound of soft soap ; with the solu- 

 tion, sprinkle the upper and under surface of the 

 foliage, and the mildew will disappear as if by 

 magic. Mr. Rivers recommends a cure in soot. 

 Perhaps soap is more cleanly ; it is, I am sure, as 

 ettectual — though I do not for a moment doubt the 

 efiicacy of soot — and an outlay of one shilling will 

 clean one hundred plants from every vestige of the 

 disease if properly applied. I find it useful to syr- 

 inge the trees with clear water, next day, to rid 

 them of the whitish deposit which fixes on the 

 edges of the leaves after the application of the 

 solution. There is no necessity to cut off the 

 blooms ; the solution could only damage these in 

 proportian to the force with which it hit them, and 

 as contact with the mildew is all that is required, 

 no force is necessary. — Cor. Cottage Oardener. 



Hints About Flowers. — House plants ought to 

 be stimulated gently once or twice a week. Rain- 

 water, so refreshing to summer flower, always con- 

 tains ammonia, which also abounds in all liquid 

 manures. If you take an ounce of pulverized car- 

 bonate of ammonia, dissolved in one gallon of 

 water, it will make spring- water even more stimu- 

 lating to your plants than rain-water. If you water 

 your plants once in two weeks with guano water 

 (one table-spoonful to a pail of water) they will 

 grow more thriftily. Chicken's manure dissolved in 

 water is excellent. Always keep the soil in your 

 flower pots loose. A common hair-pin used daily 



will stir the earth sufficiently. — Boston Journal of 

 Chemistry. 



