Qiicnes and A/iswers. 24<5 



drenched with the heavy autumnal rains before they are housed. There 

 may be others which combine with these to aggravate the disease. 



The best preventive is placing the plants, during summer, behind a wall, 

 hedge, or other shelter, so that they may be shaded from the rays of the 

 sun for five or six hours in the hottest part of the day, with.out having 

 recourse to awnings of any kind : likewise to house them early in autumn, 

 in houses where the sashes can be drawn off in fine weather, and put on 

 to protect them from heavy rains. For the more delicate species, generally 

 kept in pits and fr;ames in summer, the best preventive is to use lights 

 glazed with green glass, keeping the lights on from 9 o'clock in the 

 morning till 6 in the evening, and giving plenty of air by tilting the lights 

 up at the back of the pits and frames, but never to use shading of any 

 description. The lights to be drawn entirely off during the night, except 

 in rainy weather. With this mode of treatment, slight waterings over- 

 head occasionally are beneficial. 



I believe that heaths, or ericas, are nearly exempt from mildew in 

 Scotland, owing to their sunmiers being cooler than in England. Nearly 

 all the varieties of the garden pea are exempt from mildew there, whilst 

 all varieties here are more or less subject to it in autumn. 



I do not consider a pure country air as being indispensably necessary to 

 the growth of this graceful family of plants, but believe they may be 

 successfully cultivated within the i'ange of the smoke of large towns. 

 Some of the more robust-growing species would be well worth trying out 

 of doors in a suitable soil in Cornwall. Wishing that some one may be 

 able to give a more satisfactory answer than mine to R. W., I am. Sir, 

 yours, Slc. — E. B. Feb. 13. 1833. 



What are the fittest Situations and Soils, ^c, for acclimatising Exotic 

 Plants in? — Sir, The great number of showy flowering plants introduced 

 of late years, from warmer climates, into this countrj" has stimulated 

 gardeners to plant oat more freely, into the open ground, spare plants from 

 the houses, either for the purpose of enlivening the flower-garden during 

 summer and autumn with their flowers, or for the purpose of detecting 

 such as will endure the rigour of our winters, and add permanently to the 

 number of our hardy shrubs and herbaceous plants. If the object of 

 planting out be for the former purpose only, it will be attended with 

 considerable success, however unfavourable the soil and situation may be, 

 when the selection is made from herbaceous plants, and the free-flowering - 

 soft-wooded frutescent genera, such as O'xalis, Lobeh'«, Cineraria, 

 Pelargonium, Calceolaria, (Salvia, Maurandy«, Jnagallis, Lophosper- 

 mum, Sec. 



For the purpose of acclimatising, the favourable situations are com- 

 paratively few : therefore, yourself. Sir, or some of your correspondents, 

 would, I conceive, render the science of gardening a useful service, by 

 indicating the conditions and provisions necessary to make a situation 

 favourable for the successful acclimatising of tender plants ; such as soil, 

 shelter, altitude, whether upon the coast or inland, the latitude of the 

 place not alv/ays being a sure guide, there biing probably as many favour- 

 able situations for the purpose to be found upon the banks of the Forth and 

 the Tay as upon the banks of the Thames. The required information 

 would induce gardeners, in favourable places, to plant out house plants 

 more freely, of the hard-wooded genera, such as Camellia, Melaleuca, 

 Hakea, Leptospermum, Grevillci?, i^rica, EdwardsM, &c. A description 

 of situations most unfavourable for the purpose would also be a con- 

 solation to gardeners living in such situations ; as serving to show to their 

 employers the impossibility of their competing with perhaps even a near 

 neighbour living in a mora favourable locality. I am. Sir, yonrs, &c. — ■ 

 E. B. Feb. 13. 1833. 



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