February 14, 1S65. ] 



JOITENAL OF HOUTICULTUEE A^D COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



137 



Heatiko Small Grkeshocse (Ticicl-enham'},—ToT soch a small house 

 (8 feet by 5A) a. small cast-iron, stove, with flat head for an iron vessel of 

 water, would be much the handiest ; or a small brick stove set inside of the 

 house. The next best would be a small furnace outside, siv 10 inches wide, 

 12 inches deep, and IS inches long, and a small flue, say 5 inches wide inside 

 measure, and 7 inches deep, below the tiled floor. 'The principle of the 

 Kiddean system is just a slronc furnace, with a smoke chimney from it, 

 with damptr to regalate it, a chamber all round the furnace, and from this 

 chamber an inlet ic'.o the house for the heated air, and a lower opening for 

 cold air to keep up the circulation less or more on the Polmaice principle. 

 Practised men can make any mode of lieatint? answer. In such a small 

 house you need h-ive no ditBeulcy with tha chamber, bnt the furnace must 

 be very secure, or you i\-ill be troubled with smoke. &c. The small flue 

 below the floor, supposing the floor to be tiles, &2., would be the neatest for 

 such a narrow house. See what Mr. Fish says of such a house in a late 

 Number. Your IpomaciHorsfaUii will not succeed in such a house. I.Learii 

 will do so. We would cut neither down, but you may thin out to one shoot. 

 The plants will require pots of from 13 to lo'inches'to bloom Trellin. 



Vises is Bad CoNnmos (<1 5H&?<rr/6er).— We think no g-srdener makes 

 his cjse better by dwellini^ on the failings of his p»-e.iecessors. It is much 

 better to do that which is right yourself, and never mind what your prede- 

 cessors have done. Your successful efforts ae improving the pUce under 

 your care will shine the more bright'y becau-e undertiikeu unassumingly. 

 Your first objection is to the road dirt or scrapings. We have seen veiy fine 

 Grapes prown on Vines in that material alone. You removed two spits of 

 road dirt, and it was replaced with equal quantities of turf, good; hotbed 

 manure, little better thin poison — one-fourth would have been ample, and 

 that ouefoorth more than we like; half-burnt cby, good as far as it goes, 

 but charcoal would have been better; and lastly, 1 cwt. of manure was 

 added— I cwt. of boiled half-inch bones would have been preferable. We 

 should have formed the border of three-fourths turves 3 inches thick, 

 chopped with a spade, but neither beaten nor made fine, these being taken 

 from a s>il neither strong nor very lieht, but betterthe latter than the former, , 

 the remainder equal parts of boiled half-inch bones and charcoal. This is 

 a CO opos; very suitable for the Vines, and durable. You took off two spits 

 and pot on a like quantity ; this did not biing the roots nearer the surface. 

 From three to six inches, of compost over the roota would have been snfflcient, 

 and a covering of hot dung would have attracted thera upwards. Your pro- 

 ceeding is making bad as had as it was beiore. Your best course would 



Flower-bed Planting (I). C.).— We presume that the groups are to be 

 cross-planted, and we have no doubt but that they will look well. As you 

 want criticism, we should not like to have the quarter or Ktoup on the left 

 side all pink, or nearly so. Thus, of the seven beds you have two Trentham 

 Rose, four Slanglesii, and the long centre bed Golden Chain. With the 

 esceotion of the whitish foliage of Manglesii, and the yellow foliage of 

 the Golden Chain, the whole colour of the flowers will be pink- What 

 would you say to surrounding your two Trenthim Rose with Manglesii, and 

 then filling the four beds, 2, with brown, purple, or blue? We have just 

 noticed that you propose Flower of the Day as a border to Trentham Rose — 

 well so be it. Then you could use Mangles' on the richt-hand side, which, 

 we like tetter than the other side, nndvou coultl use Golden 

 Ivy-leaf for Xo. 7, or Calceolaria floribunda. We do not 

 consider that Alyssum is good enough for your central bed 7, 

 and you should have'a yellow to listh^ up your four beds 6 

 01 Purple King. The beds would then stand 7, yellow ; 5, 5, 



6 



5 



7 

 5 6 



scarlet, with JIanglesii; 6, 6, 6, 6, Purple King', with Variegated Alyssum 

 sprinkled through it. 



OvEE-HEATfso ViNE RcoTS (A MarJzet Gardener). — When we saw your 

 little piece of a leaf, we thouglit you must either have mildew or thrips, or 

 both, from your account now, we have no doubt you have overheated your 

 Vine roots, and, probably, also the top. We should have liked the shoots to 

 be the length you speak of, after the Vines had besn shut up sis. or ssven 

 weeks instead of four. As to the stems outside, we fear you have injured 

 them and the roots much by over-lieating-. Your hot duag should have 

 been kept away from the stems. Now, you must cool the border, bnt not 

 over-much espose the stems, and cover them with dry hay or straw. SjTinge 

 your house, keep it. moist, with, afair amount of air, and remove the covering 

 from the bori:;er until the earth is about 70^, and then cover a little. Your 

 processes seem all right, except overdoing the thing. You would see in 

 " Doings o' the Last Week," thut it was safer to keep heat in by a loose 

 covering, than to use such a mound of hot fermenting matter. The flue, 

 if hot, may have contributed to the mischief, but with :l nine-inch wall 

 between it and the border, we lay no great blame on it. We fear the 

 excess of dung has done the mischief, bui with care and reducing the 

 heat, we would not yet despair Are you sure that fresh lirne has nothing 

 to do with it? We think the over-lieaiing is the cause- If you lessen the 

 heat and these shoots should be injured, most likely side-shoots will come 

 from the same buds. We shall be glad to kiow the result, and we are only 



„ .. beiore. .., 



have been to have lifted the roots and brought them to the surface within i sorry that the case seems so bad 



5^?Il/?l'\f5J?.^^ ^^-7 "^oa\d,bave been raised abont 1^ foot* and be just j Aedisia cax.srLATA CcLTcnE (XtJr/o?A-).— This is anything but hardy. 



Ic would have been better It is a native of the West Indies, and requires a cool atove, or a warm con- 

 j servatory, in winter, though doing very well in a greenhouie in summer. 

 I In some warm places it will thrive out of doors in summer — sny for three 

 I months after the end of June. Its generic name is derived from ardis, a 

 I spear-heid, in reference to the pointed petals of the flowers. Tha flowers 

 I are small, greenish white, and but little attractive to the eye, but are followed 

 j by Clusters of berries, which, as they apptoacli maturity, vie with the bright 



G inches below the sunace of the new horde: 



to have done it at once, and not delayed it; nn^il another yar. The Vine^ 

 can do no good whf n two spits of the border can be taken off without iojar- 

 mg the roots; and. as you do not start them until Apri., you would be 

 acting wisely to get your employer's consent to lift theni'in March, m:ik'ng 

 the drainage good, and a border' 20 inches deep. Spread the roots out, and 

 cover them with from 4 to 6 inches of soil. Yon have cut half the spurs 

 back to see if they will break nearer tbe rod. If they do not, which is quite 

 likely, your proposed improvement will be necessary. It would have been 

 belter to have trained a shoo; or cue from the bottom to replace the old 

 rod. .^gam, the Vines have been kept nearer the class, but you have had 

 the irons lengthened to a foot or IS inches. Sixteen inches is a proper 

 distance to have the;n from the glass. Your painting the Vines is good. 

 we should think the young Vines will be as unfruitful as the old. A little 

 top air at night is desirable, especially when the Grapes are colouring. 



■WHiTE-w.xsaiyG A Garden Wall (X. 5.).— Tiie proposed whitewash 

 would not improve the appearance of your will. All tha good it would do 

 would be to fill up tne smaller crevices in the joints and in the face of the 

 bricks, and in this way it would act as a destroyer of mo5^', and of insects 

 to a certain ext^i-nt. Its efficacy is increased by adding soot and urine, so as 

 to make it of the consistency of thick paint, applying the mixture with a 

 brush, working it well into every hole and crevice. If it is applied at the 

 temperature of boiling w.-iter it would kill many more of the insects' eggs 

 than used cool. Our opinion is that it would not improve the appearance 

 of the Wall, but that it would be useful as a destroyer of insects and moss. 

 PiGEOs-HOLEs IS CccDMBEH-PiT (I>ro7>»io).— It is Hccessary to have the 

 inner walU of a Cucumber-pit pigeon-holed, so ihiit the heat from tlis 

 linmgs may pass into the bed. If the bed is not lined, and Cucumbers are 

 not required e-iiiy, it is not necessury to have the walls pigeon-holed ; but , 

 then no linlugs can be given, and conseoueutlv no extra heat afforded when i 

 the heat of the bed declines. When the wuUs are built solid linings placed ' 

 against them give little beat to the bed. I 



Ross Seed So«-ing {Idem).— The first week in March is h. good time to 

 sow Rose seed. Sow in deep pans, well drained, in a compost of rich sandy ' 

 loam, and plunge i.i the open ground. The pUnts w.ay appear in April 

 or May, but the seeds verv often do not vegetate until 'the spring of the 

 second year. 



ScorcE SsupF IN Paint foe Fhuit Trees {A. 5.\— Scotch snuff is 

 simply powdered tobacco, and that is well known to be one of the best 

 insect destroyers. Yosr mixture of sulphur, lime, soft soap, clay, and soot, 

 IS good, bnt we should have mixed it with tubacco water to tbe consistency 

 or pam:. Scotch snuff being stronger is considered eligible for the purpose. 

 We do not kno\vwh>it properties; resin and riraaon's blool possess to recom- 

 mend them forwinter-dressins: Vines, i-c We never found auybeneSt from 

 such nostrums, and we must know whut they kill before «-e use them. For 

 these reasons we employ sulphur, lime. soot, and soft soap, along with 

 tobacco water. The first is a powerful antidote against mildew and red 

 spider; lime, a wholesale destroyer of fungi, is usefnl in destroving the 

 spores of mildew; soot is the best of a:l antidotes against the attacks of led 

 spider on account of the ammonia it contains; soft soap, because it is a cer- 

 tain destroyer of the Col-cus or scale insect famiiv ; tobacco, whether in the 

 shape of snuff, tobacco water, or in the leaf, as it is a certain destroyer of 

 the Aphis family ; and clay, because it gives consistency, and smothers "many 

 insects by forming a cjat over them. Clay also prevents the mixture bein^ 

 so easily w^ished off. 



Sbedling Cinekaeia ( IF. L., £aglesclife).~--So fair opinion csn be formed 

 of three single flowers of any Cineraria; the whole plant in flower should 

 bs seen. The seedling received has no good propertie-- as a florists' flower, 

 though it may be, as we have no doubt it is, useful, as a decorative plant. 

 The i>uter belting of colour is very irregular, giving a coarseness to the 

 petals, which are much too long. Cjmpire it with a named variety from 

 Mr. Turner of Slough, or Messrs. Smith of Dulwich, and vou will soon I Garden Hygrometer. 



detect the imperfections pointed out in your own flower. 



I red berries of the Holly for beauty. These give the plants a very pretty 



' appearance, and fine masses will be produced on young plants from a foot 



I to IS inches in height. The pi int gro -ts freely in sandy loam, fibry peat, 



: and leaf mould. The more loam is u-ed, the more compact will the plant 



I be, and the closer will be its rings of berries. It is easiest propagated by the 



[ seeds, sown on a hotbed, or in pots on a stage ia the hothouse ; but, as in the 



' case of the Holly and the Thjrn, you muse wait a good while for their 



! coming up ; but after that you can pot off, and the seeJlings will give little 



' trouble. Young shoots, slipped off with a piece of last year's wood, root 



I readily in a pot of sandy soil, inserted in a rhady place on a hotbed; and 



I pieces of the root will also grcv and send up shoots if placed in a similar 



position. Cuttings will make the finest and quickest-flowering plants, and 



seedlings are attended with least trouble. Wnere two or three plants are 



grown in a stove, seedlings will often b^ found springing up in other pots 



from the dropped seeds. This, and the red berries of the Rivina humilis, 



which aiso blooms in a small young state, are useful for ornamenting dining- 



tables. The plant will not thrive if the winter temperature falls below 



from 4-5° zo 50°. It would like a few degrees above 50'^ better. 



Scale ox PEAa-sHOOTS (A Reader).— Tht scale on the Pear-bark and 

 shoots enclosed, which have been twice dressed w ith Gishurst compound, one 

 dressing at ji strength of 12 ozs., and the second at a strength of 16 ozs. to the 

 gallon of water is, we should tbiuk, dead. Y'our tree is the worst inftsted with 

 the small Pear sole of any that we have seen. If you get rid of the enemy 

 with half a dozen dressings you will do well; but we fear the dressing is 

 only partially applied, or your Gishur-t is weaker than ours. A solution of 

 theGishurst'at the rats of S ozs. tu the gallon, we find quite strong enough 

 for dressing fruit trees. Half the battlu in destroying insects is to dislodge 

 them, aud this we do by applying the dressing with a brush, working 16 

 well in. We find the brushing dislodge a great" many, aud the wood looks 

 very clean afceiwards. It is astonishing what havoc a brushing with water 

 makes with scale insects. The eflnc icy uf any cure depends quite as much 

 on the mode of application as on the destructive character ot the mixture 

 applied. A composition applied as a winter dressing should be used at the ■ 

 temperature ot 160'', brushing it we. I into the cracks and crevices of the 

 bark, care being taken not to injure the buds. Oi.e thorough application 

 will do more good than half a do/.en partial ones. 



Tea CtrLTL'SE.— -J Suhscrther would he much obliged by an answer as 

 £or>n as possible to the following qnestions. How is the Tea plant best cul- 

 tivated in India? How soon it comes into produce of leaf for gathering? 

 How 1. ng it continues productive? What is the best way of pruning the 

 Tei plant.' Ought it to be pruned every year? How many plants on an 

 acre ! What is a good average crop off an acre? What is the best work on 

 Tea cultivation? {Inquirer}. — If you write to Mr. Smith, Curator. Botanic 

 Gardens, Kew, he wiU tell you whut information you can obtain there. 

 There is " An Essay on the Cultiv;ition and Manufacture of Tea in Java," 

 triin.-lated fiom the Dutch by Dr. Hor>field. If we required the best infor- 

 mation on the subject we shouldapply in ladia to the Curator of the Sahurun- 

 poor Garden. 



Bedding Geranicsis {A Zover of Floicei's).—The two-coloured section 

 of (ieraniums you speak of do well out of doors in a warm place and a dry 

 season. In the wet climate you speak of we woidd not depend on them, as 

 the blooms run, and look washy. 



Moistl'se in Aia of FEaNfiRv {S. C. (5.).— There are many hygrometers 

 which indicate the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. Try Casella'a 

 Its price is 135. 6d., and Mr, Casella lives in Hatton. 

 Garden, London. 



