eave gp aerate 
1843.] 
THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 
285 
Lantana Sellowii and Ruellia formosa; and as most of 
the plants used for bedding out are natives of countries 
warmer than our own, there is no doubt but they would 
be benefited by the beds they are planted in receiving 
similar preparation. 
f the plants which require to be prepared now for 
fl ing in or drawing-r , the 
Chrysanthemum is the principal one. Excellent direc- 
tions for its management have been already given ; but for 
the purposes of the Amateur, as being the least trouble- 
some—to plant them out next month in rich soil, layer 
the tips of the branches in August, and pot the dwarf 
plants in September, as will be detailed at the proper 
time, is the best system of management. The Chrysan- 
themum, when properly attended to, makes an excellent 
covering for a low east, west, or south wall ; and some of 
the earlier kinds will flower tolerably well on a north 
aspect in favourable seasons, and give, with a little pro- 
tection, a good supply of flowers up to Christmas. 
Propagate scarlet and other Pelargoniums for autumn- 
blooming in pots, and make a small sowing of Primula 
sinensis, for early flowering. 
ose-stocks for budding must now be looked over, and 
have all their superfluous branches removed ; and those 
in pots would be benefited by being plunged in a gentle 
bottom-heat, to get the roots as well established as pos- 
sible, before the plants are budded. The propagation of 
the Rose by cuttings I must defer until next week.— 
W. P. Ayres. 
HOME CORRESPONDENCE. 
[Erratum.—P, 265, col. 2, line 32 from the bottom, for “either”* 
read ‘ ether.”” 
Paulovnia imperialis.—At page 212 of the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle of the present year, a short notice is made o 
this ornamental tree, wherein it is stated that it may be 
propagated by cuttings, which is a fact, particularly if 
the young shoots are selected when they have advanced 
to about three or four inches in length ; it may also be 
propagated by eyes, in the same manner as the Vine, on 
account of the young shoots being of large dimensions, 
therefore containing within themselves a sufficient quan- 
tity of organisable matter whereon to exist, whilst roots 
are forming to support the nascent branch; but what J 
would invite particular attention to, is, the manner in 
which it may be increased by divisions of the root, the 
smallest particle even having that power which very few 
plants possess, of generating adventitious buds. Indivi- 
duals having plants in their possession in pots may 
easily divest them of a certain portion, selecting those of 
A moderate size, without the plants sustaining the least 
injury, provided they are repotted immediately, and 
placed in a shaded situation. ‘The best time to perform 
the operation would be when the plants commence their 
vernal growth. Both eyes and roots should be potted in 
soil Consisting of leaf-mould, peat, and sand, in equal 
Proportions, and the pots containing them should be 
plunged to their rim in a dung-bed ; any other ferment- 
ing material would answer the same purpose; where the 
atmospheric temperature averages from 75 to 80 deg. 
divisions of the root in particular will emit shoots at the 
expiration of three weeks, at the furthest. On account 
of the facility thus afforded, in a few years, parti larly 
when its hardihood has been fully tested, it will rank 
amongst the greatest ornaments which we possess.—— 
George Bishop. : 
Gold Fish.—Observing, in late Numbers of the Gar- 
deners’ Chronicle some entertaining notices of gold fish 
and deeming myself a successful manager of those inte- 
Testing creatures, I send some of the circumstances 
attending them. Five years ago I dug a tank six feet 
deep, twelve feet long, and six feet wide, and lined it 
With brick, well cemented all over. At a foot from the 
Surface of the earth (and water) is a shelf all round, a foot 
acs: so that the lower five feet of the tank are, by that 
On that shelf are 
Cot, smaller than at the surface. 
paced pots of the sweet-scented Rush, Buck-bean, and 
Toad-leaved Water-lily.“4The top of the brick-work is 
ee with the surface of the earth, and of the water, when 
a eae is full. A neat fancy iron palisading, about two 
the ae feet high, is carried all round the tank, outside 
oe Tick-work, affording room for pots of flowers, Bal- 
in a &c., inside. The tank is situated about 10 y 
a Tont of the house door, on an oval gra s-plot, contain- 
meu flower-beds, or baskets, they being inclosed by 
‘i ae le, short, iron, basket-like fencing. The tank is thus 
tains, Te object from the house and grounds. It con- 
wi an estimate, more than 2000 gallons of water. It 
ae Ay five years ago, by a water-cask, from a neigh 
- Was punning ditch, and has never been emptied. In 
refill ee 28 six or eight casks of water are brought, to 
wo on Oss by evaporation and absorption: this is done 
tank nree times in the course of the summer. The 
many Ne originally stocked with six red or gold fish, as 
aes hite or silver, and a dozen dark fish, of different 
Rite three inches to a foot long. {n the second 
fHeK a we observed five very small fish, less than an 
this es in the third, seven; in the fourth, five; and 
lhe Pring, April, 1843, the last brood has increased to 
@ Score, so that we have plenty of little ones. 
the earlier broods are two, three, or four inches 
au aia their black, or dark, colour, except two, 
all are tome us are turning red. J may here remark, that 
ee ack, or dark; some turn red while small, 
When large, others never. The red fish turn 
some a Sometimes when small, sometimes when large, 
last epiloes Oy: largest red fish was dark, or black, 
1s e watched erat ea * vine 
Closely, White fish ve the progress of his turning, 
no otherwise than from a 
shini 
ng) healthy, to a dull, chalky colour. The tank is 
now well stocked, for I have since brought half a dozen 
small red fish from Hungerford-market, where plenty 
may be had, for about 10s,a dozen. ‘The male may be 
known from the female, by the back fin; in one it isa 
small fin, on the middle of the back; in the other it is 
long, reaching, lessening, to the tail. Our fish seem very 
healthy and happy. At one period of the year, early 
summer, sundry chasings of each other are observed; at 
first we thought them hostile, but now believe them 
amatory. Last summer the tank was much infested by 
frogs ; we caught more than 40, large and small, witha 
hand-net, and removed them to some distance. Fearing 
they might destroy the spawn of the fish, or be otherwise 
unwelcome, I caused a slate, nine inches deep, to be 
carried all round, outside the railing. It is not unsightly, 
and has had the desired effect: one or two large frogs 
did, indeed, leap and creep over. A variety is observed, 
in some of the fish having three lobes to their tails, two 
being the usual portion. My tank cost me, on the whole, 
for digging, king, cementing, railing, &c., over 15/. 
Itis a pleasing appendage to dressed grounds, near a 
house, affording daily amusement for half an hour, and is 
highly amusing to children. We occasionally take a 
piece of bread, which being broken over the water, brings 
the fish more to the surface.' During winter they are 
seen but little; the ice is broken daily. Some of the 
fish die—two or three, perhaps, in a year, and sometimes 
float; our largest red fish did not float; he died in the 
third year, having showed symptoms of decay for some 
previous months ; inactivity and transparent projections 
over the eyes were among them. I believe the plants 
before mentioned are very agreeable to the fish. Several 
neighbours have tanks or ponds stocked like mine, but I 
do not think any one, on the whole, more successful than 
I am.— Suffolk. 
Sazifraga hypnoides for Edyings.—I beg leave, through 
the medium of your Journal, to direct attention to a very 
handsome hardy native plant admirably adapted for border- 
edging, viz., the Saxifraga hypnoides. My neighbour, 
J. Westgarth, Esq., 8, Maryfield, was the first in this 
quarter to apply this little plant to such a purpose. He 
found it growing plentifully among the rocky debris of 
Arthur’s seat, hard by, and the idea struck him that it was 
well suited for an edging. He accordingly collected a few 
plants and made trial of it, and he found it answer the 
purpose so well, that he made it the subject of a commu- 
nication addressed by him in April, 1842, to the Caledonian 
Horticultural Society. It excited some considerable at- 
tention at the time, and various gentlemen, members of the 
Society, visited Mr. Westgarth’s grounds, and bore testi- 
mony to its excellent adaptation to the purpose to which he 
had applied it, though he had then cultivated the plant 
only for about 12 or 18 months, and of course before he 
had had time to test it sufficiently. Though I had beard 
a good deal about it, it was only within the last three or 
four weeks that I first examined it. Mr, W. showed 
it to me undressed and rough, just as it had stood the 
winter, and ] was much struck with its beautiful uniform 
yelvet-like outline of light but untarnished verdure. There 
were two edgings of it, one running parallel to, and shaded 
by, 2 south wall; the other, running parallel to the north 
wall, and fully exposed to the sun. Both had the same 
elegant, equal, unbroken surface, and though undressed 
since last summer, there were but few straggling shoots 
or tufts rising above or stretching beyond the general 
height or breadth. The height is not above two inches, 
and the breadth (I speak from observation merely), was 
then about eight or nine inches. I have again seen it 
since it was dressed, by which operation its breadth is re- 
duced to six or seven inches, and I will venture to assert 
that a more elegant compact edging cannot be formed by 
any native plant whatever ; but if so attractive now, its 
beauty, Mr. ‘Westgarth mentions, is much increased when 
it comes into flower, which it does in May and June. The 
fiower-stems then present an elegant radiating outline of 
about two inches above the foliage, densely crowned with 
its elegant white blossoms, delicately tipped with pink, 
The plant is of the easiest culture, and can be rapidly pro- 
pagated by division of the roots, as well as by seeds. Mr. 
Westgarth very kindly supplied me liberally with both 
plants and seeds, and having mentioned to him that I con- 
sidered the subject well worthy of being communicated to 
the public through your columns, he has sent me a copy 
of the communication made to our Caledonian Horticul- 
tural Society, to transmit herewith, together with a pack- 
age of seeds, which I now beg to inclose. Mr. Westgarth 
has subjoined a P.S. to his communication, that he has 
since its date discovered from a passage in Withering, of 
which he had not before been aware, that the same species 
had before been applied to the same purpose.—Jsaae 
Anderson. [The following is the account of the plant 
with which Mr. Westgarth has kindly supplied us] :—A 
few years 2g0 T tock a plant of the Saxifraga hypnoides 
from among the fragments of rock in a hollow on the 
south side of Arthur’s seat, and put them in a shady 
corner of my garden. ‘They soon covered several square 
feet ; I then tried a few sprigs as a border-edging, placing 
them two or three inches asunder, In a short time they 
not only filled up the vacancies, but even required some 
paring. J was thus encouraged to extend them all along 
the borders, and they have turned out extremely well, 
flowering most abundantly, and presenting a very compact 
line. ‘The last of these border-edgings was planted, I 
think, not above 12 or 18 months ago. They seem to re- 
quire paring once in summer or autumn, and again in 
winter, or early in spring ; and, instead of cutting them 
perpendicularly with a spade, I would recommend scraping 
off the extraneous shoots with a light weedock ; at least, 
this mode should be followed on the side next the walk/; 
is avoided. _ This diminutive plant forms a much more 
efficient edging than one would expect from seeing it in a 
wild state. It needs no nicety of management; on the 
contrary, it is very tractable, and (if I may SO express 
myself), grateful for any little care bestowed on it. 
winter, as an edging, its general hue is a refreshing green; 
nor has it a less pleasing appearance at times when its 
coral-shaped stems and leafiets are all covered with hoar 
frost. But it is in its greatest beauty in part of April, 
and in May, then exhibiting numerous white flowers, 
interspersed with rose-coloured buds. There is no diffi- 
culty in keeping it clear of weeds; for sods of it may, in 
wettish weather, be turned over with the spade, and re- 
placed without injury, after the weeds are rooted out, 
Again, it is so easily propagated, that little cuttings 
dropped or left on the border take root of themselves 
when the-ground is moist. Lastly, this edging does not 
suffer much from being accidentally, pressed or trod 
upon—J. Westgarth. 
Cellar for Roots.—Your correspondent ‘ Totty,” 
p. 245, asks for information as to the best method of con- 
structing a root-cellar for Potatoes ; T would caution him 
against trusting to his proposed thatch of furze, as I 
believe it will be a very poor defence against frost. Some 
five-and-twenty years ago, I was tempted, by the regular 
chamber-like appearance of a limestone-quarry, to use it 
as a winter receptacle for Potatoes. It had three sides, 
about seven feet deep, as smooth as a wall, and a goo 
floor. I built an earth wall on the remaining side, of 
many feet in thickness, and for a roof I placed seven 
large waggon-loads of stubble ; I deposited in it about 40 
tons of Potatoes, and closed every opening as securely as 
possible. In the spring, on opening the repository, ex- 
pecting to find my Potatoes kept in fine order, what was 
my disappointment at seeing the whole surface of the heap 
one mass of rotten Potatoes, to the depth of a foot or a 
foot and a half! I think not less than 10 tons were thus 
destroyed. Iwas for atime unable to account for the 
disaster, till one windy day, as I stood in the quarry, I 
felt the air coming strongly through the stubble roof, 
though it was several yards in thickness; the frost, of 
course, entered the same way, as the Potatoes were 
damaged on the surface of the heap only. Unless ‘‘ Totty ” 
can contrive to place a better non-conductor than furze 
between it and the straw thatch, such as dry sawdust, 
coal-ashes, or something of the kind, I fear his cellar will 
not be frost-proof; and I have doubts of the efficiency of 
double windows and doors, in keeping out severe con- 
tinued frost. It does not need a very low temperature to 
injure the flavour of a Potato, probably not even so low 
as 32° Fah. I believe ‘ Totty ” will find a full description 
of the method of building in ‘ Pisé,’” in the ‘‘ Encyclo- 
peedia Britannica,”’ or ‘‘ Rees’s Cyclopeedia.”’—Lusor, 
Insects.—The “ nutritive” effects attributed by same 
to oils, and unguents, and tar, applied to the bark of old 
and sickly fruit-trees, are imaginary. The health thus 
restored is derived from the destruction of insects and 
their ova lodged in the bark, which they render diseased, 
and incapacitate for performing its proper functions. I 
know that distilled coal-tar will effectually destroy the 
“American blight” on the bark of Apple-trees ; and I 
infer that the same application would prove a remedy for 
the ‘¢ Aphides,” which sometimes infest Rose-trees for a 
series of years. The time of application should be imme- 
diately after pruning.—C. 
Pear-Trees.—1n confirmation of the method of train- 
ing my Pear-trees, noticed by you 25th March last, I now 
beg to inform you I havea Beurré D’Aremberg, planted, a 
very small tree, in 1837, which has on it 72 spikes af 
blossom, and a Glout Morceau, same age, with 140. 
Almost the whole of the blossom is on such wood as in 
the usual system of training and pruning would have 
been cut out.—E. Corbett, Darnhail. 
Glazed Flower-pols versus porous ones.—The subject 
of glazed flower-pots having recently been revived in the 
pages of the Chronicle, I am desirous of offering a few 
arguments in its favour. There are many people who, 
because they have always performed certain operations 
after certain methods—whether founded upon rational 
principles or not—because ‘ their fathers did so before 
them,” have an aversion to the introduction of any 
improvement which may tend to explode the theory 
of their operations. This appears to be the case with 
those who assert that plants will not flourish in glazed. 
pots—the fallacy of which idea there is sufficient evidence 
to prove. Many of your readers have no doubt noticed 
healthy Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, and other similar plants, 
in the window-conservatories of those whose limited means 
furnish them with no better place for their reception ; and 
if the attention of the observer had not been entirely taken 
up with the luxuriance of their growth, he would have 
observed that many of these beautiful specimens were 
growing in highly glazed pots—even in Chinaones. Who 
is there that will not acknowledge these pots to have a far 
prettier appearance than the rough, dirty-looking porous 
ones? Tven the half-dozen plants in the window of the 
humble amateur proves the theory of glazed pots to be 
correct. There we may behold them growing, not in orna- 
mental China pots, but in a jug, a basin, or a tea-pot, 
minus a handle, a rim, or aspout. Let not those who 
oppose the question laugh ; although mine are simple and 
not very philosophical arguments, they are facts not to 
be disputed. The comparative superiority, therefore, of 
glazed pots over porous ones is, that they are handsomer, 
and more easily cleaned ; and being impervious to moist- 
ure, are, Of course, considerably stronger; end with these 
advantages, who will object to their general use ?— T'yro. 
Thawing Plants.—1 should suppose from ‘ J, M.’s’? 
remarks at p. 211, that he is incredulous as to what has 
and thus any scraggy or withered appearance after paring 
been stated at p. 84 respecting the power which water 
