ApriU, 1865.] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOTJLTTJRB AJTO COTTAGE GARDENER. 



275 



Vines Brkaking-Stopi-tno Bleeding in Vines — Temperaturk for 

 Azaleas ANi. Camkllias {£!. C.).— When Vines are breaking tbey should 

 have a temperature of froQi 45" to 50^, and be sprinkled morning and 

 eveninK with aired water. When they break the temperature should be 

 increased to 50^ in nnother fortnight to 55", and when in l«af it should be 

 Increased to 60^ -with a rise of 10" by dny without sun, and from 15^ to 20" 

 ■with sun and air. The bleedinc; of the young Vines may be stopped by 

 sbaring the ends of the roda wiih a red-hot iron, and then dipping the cuds 

 in boiling pitch. If pruned quite close you will lose the uppermost eye by 

 this process. The cause of bleeding is pruning too late or not poon enough. 

 Do so in future Immediately the leaves have fallen. A temperature of from 

 55" to 60** is proper for Camellias and Azaleas to make fresh wood, and a 

 moist atmosphere. 



Cerastium tojikntosdm from Seed (J. C. iV.).— Prick off the seedlings 

 an inch or two apart in boxes, grow on in a frame or greenhouse until May, 

 and then harden off, planting out in May or early in June. It will make a 

 nice edging this year by August. 



CoBtEA scANDENs vARiEGATA CULTURE (G. 5-).— Sow any time in April 

 in pots filled with any liind of light soil not pressed in too tightly. Sow 

 thinly. The pots should then be partially plunged upon a genial warm 

 bed. You lost your young plants by allowing them to remain in the seed- 

 pots so long after they were up, and there was not sufficient heat for them 

 after they came up. On the second day after they were up they should 

 have been pricked off into fresh soil, taking care that it was quite as warm 

 as the soil they were growing in. If 48 size pots were used for the purpose, 

 ten or twelve plants should have been pricked in around the edge of the 

 pot; then after they had made the third pair of leaves they should have 

 been potted singly into sm;-!! pots. Want of early attention to the pricking 

 out young seedling plants is the cause of so many complaints of nurserymen 

 supplying bad seed. After pricking out the plants they should be placed in 

 a temperature of from 70'' to 75°. After the second potting the temperature 

 should be reduced to 55° or 60°. 



Lapageria rosea Culture {Idem). — It may be sown at once in a mix- 

 ture of peat, leaf soil, and silver tand. Before sowing the Heed it should be 

 steeped for six or eight hours in lukewarm water or milk. The seeds 

 should be sown thinly in pots or pans, taking care that the seed is at least 

 2 inches below the surface of the soil. The pots should then be placed in a 

 ■warm greenhouse or pit, where the temperature would range from 45° to 6u°. 

 As soon as the young seedlings appear they should be potted singly in small 

 60-pots, and placed in a close pit or frame for a week or two till established 

 in their fresh quarters. They should then receive the same treatment as 

 greenhouse plants ; but after they have become strong enough to bear it, 

 they will require abundance of water. 



Syringisq Geranidms— Lanky Specimens {Affncs).— 1)0 not syringe 

 Geraniums and Pelargoniums at all in these cold, cloudy, frosty mornings — 

 that is to say, if you have excluded frost. In fine sunny weather you may 

 syringe Scarlet Geraniums if you like; but no Pelargoniums, florist or 

 fancy, should meet the sun with wet foliage— it is a fruitful source of spot, 

 &c. The damp will do no harm to the Vines that will now, we piesume, be 

 beginning to break; but as they progress a drier atmosphere in dull weather 

 will be desirable, or you may have mildew. As you do not care about 

 cuttings it would be as well to leave your lanky Geraniuir "lone, and plant 

 them in the centre of beds. At this early season, and with your greenhouse 

 vinery, if you wished nice plants for dwarf beds, we would cut them back 

 some 6 or 8 inches from the pot, as no doubt they would break well, or you 

 may plant obliquely in May ; but recollect what Mr. Fish said last season 

 as to how such exposed stems were so much more liable to be injured by 

 frost than those that stood upright in the usual way. We think your black 

 turf or peat used for burning would be too expensive for cutting up to make 

 turves for bedding pi ants as a substitute for pots. Some peat so sold is rather 

 sweet, but a good deal is so astringent that the plants would not root well 

 in it. See the subject alluded to again in " Doings of the Last Week" of 

 to-day. 



Insects Destroying Fochsias (E. ^.).— The insects doing this mis- 

 chief are the young larvee of one of the field bugs (Phytocorls sp.). Their 

 habits are quite similar to those of the aphides, except that they do not 

 breed so rapidly and remarkably. They must consequently be treated in 

 the same manner as the green fly. — W. 



Apricot Sprat (/. II., Todmorden).—'The branches, or rather spray, of 

 Moor Park Apricot which you sent have no fruit-buds on them. The wood 

 is not sufficiently ripe to produce fruit-buds, ^^'e should think from their 

 appearance that the trees from which they were taken had been summer- 

 pruned, and that the branches you sent had grown after midsummer. This 

 is often practised, and the loss of the crop to a great extent is the conse- 

 quence. This plan is often resorted to for the sake of nea tness. As few as 

 possible of the first shoots should be cut or stopped; they should be laid in, 

 and the principal pruning should be lefc till the winter. A western aspect 

 is more suitable, and where the re is a good circulation of air the trees 

 should be planted very shallo w. The sod most suitable for them is a strong 

 loam. We shall shortly ente r more fully into the proper details necessary 

 for the successlul cultivation of the Apricot. We should think the trees in 

 the orchard-house have not been sufficiently exposed during the past 

 summer and autumn. The pot s should be placed in the most exposed 

 positions after the crop of fruit has been taken frcm them. 



Names of Plants (A JBroadelyre Subscriber).- 

 scaudens, but the specimen is insufficient. 



-Apparently Begonia 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSEEVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for tlie Week endin? April 1st. 



DiTf;. 



BAROMETER. 



THERMOMETER. 



Wind. 



Kain 



in 

 inches. 



General Remarks. 



Air. 



Earth. 



Max. 



29.674 

 30.073 

 30.049 

 30.091 

 30.236 

 30 210 

 30.058 



Min. 



Max. 



Min. 



1 ft. deep. 



2 ft. deep. 



Sun. 26 

 Mon. 27 

 Taea. 28 

 Wed. 29 

 Thnrs. 30 

 Fri. ill 

 Sat 1 



Mean 



29.272 

 29,978 

 30.021 

 29.999 

 SO. 225 

 30.074 

 30.019 



41 

 44 

 44 

 46 

 50 

 57 

 66 



24 

 19 

 28 

 23 

 25 

 42 

 24 



41 



40 



40J 



40 



40 



41 



43 



41 

 40A 

 41 

 40i 



41 

 *14 



N. 



N. 

 N.W. 



E. 



W. 

 S.W. 

 S.W. 



.04 

 .00 

 .00 

 .14 

 .00 

 .07 

 ,00 



Cloudy and cold ; stormy, with snow showers ; frosty. 

 Cloudy, with intervals of clear blue sky ; fine ; sharp frost 

 Hoarfrost; fine; overcast; snow. [at night. 

 Snow in broad iial^es; deothabout 2 in. ; overcast; frostyat 

 Clear; very tine; fine at night; frosty. [night. 

 Fine ; very fine in forenoon ; overcast ; rain. 

 Uniformly overcast ; snow-lilie clouds; fine; frosty. 



30.056 



29.941 



48.29 



26.43 



40.79 



40.86 





0.25 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOITSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



THE APPOINTMENT OF POULTET JUDGES. 



As no one has attempted to disprove any of the state- 

 ments contained in my former letter, I think it will not be 

 out of place in me to ask the members of the Poultry Club 

 if they think it right, considering their rule prohibiting any 

 dealer from judging, that one of the most extensive dealers 

 in the country should continue to hold the office of Steward. 

 Injustice to the dealers excluded by this rule, this gentle- 

 manought to resign his office ; and I have no doubt that he 

 win immediately do so, for he must see that his continuing 

 to appoint the judges is virtually a breach — it may be an 

 indirect one, but it is still a breach— of the very rule he 

 professes to uphold. 



The gentleman to whom I refer is Mr. Henry Beldon, who 

 advertises that himself and daughter are the owners of the 

 most suoce?sful poultry-yard in the kingdom. Now, when 

 it is considered that the daughter is a child— I believe not 

 more than ten or twelve years old — it becomes pretty evi- 

 dent that her ownership of the yard is, to say the most of 

 it, merely nominal, while Mr. Beldon is the real exhibitor 

 of the birds, although the catalogue often states Miss E. 

 Beldon. (I have no idea what object he has in showing in 

 his daughter's name. It is a ridiculous practice; but even 

 this, like other ridiculous practices, has found its imitators). 

 This circumstance is an additional reason why Mr. Beldon 



should give up his Stewardship ; for, should he continue to 

 hold the office, ill-natured persons may say that the reason 

 why his yard is so successful is because he is one of the 

 persons who appoint the judges. Now, whether such is the 

 case or not, it wovild not be altogether pleasant, and I think 

 Mr. Beldon wiU do well to avoid it. 



There has been a great deal said at various times about 

 the best method of choosing a poultry judge, and many sug- 

 gestions, both good, bad, and indifferent, have been made ; 

 but none worse, nor so bad by a long way, as the one now 

 adopted by the Poultry Club. 



Can any one give a satisfactoiy reason why two or three 

 interested exhibitors should appoint the judge for a show, 

 numbering, perhaps, hundKids of exhibitors, in preference 

 to the gentlemen who have had all the trouble and expense 

 in getting up the show, and whose interest it is to see that 

 the prizes are awarded fairly, in order to secure the con- 

 tinued support of the main body of exhibitors, on whom it 

 may be said the society depends for its very existence ? But 

 I would have all committees introduce into their schedxde a 

 rule which I see has been wisely adopted by the Beverley 

 authorities — ■" That no member of the committee be allowed 

 to compete for prizes." If poultry committees would only 

 appoint the judges themselves, and obstinately refuse to 

 receive any suggestions on the subject from Poultry Club, 

 Club steward, exhibitor, or any other person, it would be by 

 far the best plan they could adopt, and the one most likely 

 to inspire exhibitors with confidence, and insure a con- 

 tinuance of their support. 



