May 2, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIGULTaRE JLND COTTAGE GARDEXER. 



349 



We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening' and those 

 <m Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to got them 

 aaiswered promptly and conveniently, but "vrrite them 

 on separate communications. Also never to send more 

 than two or three questions at once. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



Glass and Vines fou Greenhouse (II. Z).).— All things considered, 

 21 oz. sheet glass of pood quntity is the best for g^lazinp houses for fruib 

 culture. Hartley's rough plate is also ^ood, but better for plants than fruit 

 trees. You will need no shade for Vines. They cannot have too much light, 

 whilst they afford an agreeable shade to such plants as require it. The 

 Black Hamburgh, Trentliara Blacli, Buckland Sweetwater, Royal Musca- 

 dine, Foster's "White Seedling, and White Frontignan, do well iQ a cool 

 house. 



Draining Fern Case (Idrm) .—We cannot see in what way you can 

 improve your drainage, except that the cocoa fibre should be placed to the 

 depth of an inch on the perforated zinc instead of under it, and on this the 

 compost, which, instead of being of leaf mould and cocoa-nut fibre, should 

 have loam substituted for the leaf mou'd, and silver sand would be better 

 than dirty eand from the Trent. Two-thirds cocoa dustand one-third yellow 

 or hazel loam, with a free admixture of silver sand, would bo a good com- 

 post, and this well mixed and placcl on an inch of cocoa fibre over the 

 drainage ought to grow Ferns well. You write of cocoa fibre which is like 

 so much hair, and of no use except for drainage. The right stuff is like 

 sawdust, only it is of a reddish deep brown approachiog black when old. 



Makaqing Cockscombs {F, A. B.).~Fot them at once singly in small 

 pots, using a compost of turfy loam, and grow on in a moist heat. Keep 

 them near the glass, and give a fiir amount of ventilation to prevent their 

 becoming drawn, bhift them into pots a size larger when the pots become 

 filled with roots, and give the final f^hift when the crown show', using, as 

 before, a compost of turfy loam, with the addition of one-fuurth well-rotted 

 hotbed manure, or half well-rotted cowdnng two years old. Keep them 

 near the glass in a moist atmosphere, and a temperature of from 60" to 65" 

 at night, and a day temperature of from 70° to 85°. A Cucumber or Melon- 

 frame is a good place for bringing on the plants, and avineryor other house 

 ■will do after the plants have received their last shift. They require to be 

 kept well watered, using liquid manure twice a-week in order to produce 

 large combs. Keep ihem near the glass. 



Propagating Porcopine Holly (Wem).— Graft it on stocks of the 

 common Holly, now being a good time. Tongue or whip grafting is the 

 best. It is fliflicult to strike from cuttings, and seeds are not easily procured, 

 otherwise the latter is the readiest mode. Graft quite close to the" soil, and 

 on three or four-year-old stocks. 



So-sviNO Zinnia eiegans {Flcriim amaior). —Soyr forthwith in pans, 

 draining well, and using a compost of turfy loam and leaf mould in equal 

 parts. Sow thinly, and eoverlightly with fine soil. Place in a gentle' heat, and 

 keep the seedlin>:s near the glass. Keep the soil moist, and give air to pre- 

 vent the plants drawing. When up and the rough leaves anpear, prick off into 

 pans or boxes im inch or two apart, and place in a mild heat for a few dayp, 

 then remove to a cold frame and harden off. Plant out 9 inches apart in an 

 open situation in a bed of rich soil, watering during dry weather every ocher 

 day with liquid manure up to the time the plants come into bloom. An inch 

 of well-rotted manure placed on the surface between the plants will assist 

 them in dry weather. Any flowers intended for exhibiting should he pro- 

 tected from rain and sun by a paper shade. 



Applying LiQuin Manure (An Irish Zadi/).— You. may apply once or 

 twice a-week the liquid from the range of offices, diluted with sis times its 

 bulk of rain water, to Roses, and all flowering and fruit trees, flowers, and 

 vegetables, from now up to the time of thtiir flowering, or till the fruit is 

 fully swelled. If much diluted with water already it may not be necessary 

 to further dilute the liquid, but take care not to apply it in too powerful 

 doses. It is better not to pour liquid manure near the stem, for there are 

 seldom any active roots there, but by making a trench as you propose, a 

 short distance from the stem, the manure water is likely to be given in the 

 right place. Once a-week is not too often to apply it, and it may be niveu 

 in dry weather more freely than during moist, that being the litne when 

 watermg is most required. It is much too slrongwhen it leaves a sediment 

 to cake on the ground, and such powerful doses are more injurious than 

 beneficial, unless indeed the sediment remains after diluting the liquid with 

 six times its volume of water, Ptir it up, never mind its being muddy 

 looking. If it is not too strong you will gain nothing by keeping each 

 separate. 



Leaves op the Male Aucdba (Lizzie).— Fo:: the most pnrt the leaves 

 are variegated, but we have seen some specimens with the leaves nearly 

 entirely green. 



Soil for Carrots in a Frame (B. W. C),— Any common light loam, 

 such as is the usual soil of a fertile garden. ^ 



Umbrella Tents (T. C. M. i?.).— "We have no doubt that; Messrs, 

 Edgmgton could supply umbrella tents like those exhibited at tbe June. 

 Show at the Horticukural Gardens, South Kensington, last season. 



PiNE-STovES (D. p. B. T.).— Making, as tou propose, that part of ths 

 bed lowest which is farthest Irom the pathway would be very inconvenient 

 indeed. 



Pea Leaves Thjured (South Not(s). —The scollops eaten cut of the edges 

 of your Pea and Bean plants are the work of the striped Pea weevil (Cur- 

 culio lineatus). In Hcot'and it is called the " Cuddy," because of its grey or 

 donkey-like colour. Dusting the plants witb soot whilst the dew is on them 

 might check these marauders. 



Flower-beds, Planting (Dorset).— In your arrangement of a square into 

 sixteen beds we would keep to the same cross-planting as that with which 

 you have commenced— thus carry out the principle embodied in 1 1, 2 2, 

 6 3, ana -i 4^ To do this you must cross : you must cross 6, 7, and 5, 8, 

 lepeated. Your proposed plan, thoughnodoubtit would please many, is just 

 nating a scarlet wheel on one side, and a purple wheel on the other side of 

 J^^J^^'^l^P ' °^ liavmg that carriage drawn by a black and a white herself 

 mfiteaa of by a matched pair. It is lor you to determine which you like the , 



Fungus in Fern Boil (Bessie). — Your Ferns will never thrive so long as 

 they remain plunged in the leaf mould full of sticks. Remove them at 

 once, and never u^e mould containing wood for the growth of Ferns. The 

 decomposition of the leaf mould and rotten wood is the cause of the fungus 

 appearing. We know from experience that Ferns grow much better with- 

 out either. It is not necessary to plunge the pots in which Ferns are 

 grown, doing so tends to sodden and sour the soil. The fungus is that 

 usually found on decayed wood when surrounded by a moist warm atmo- 

 sphere, and is very destructive to vegetable life. It is not usu^illy found on 

 wood exposed to the atmosphere, nor indeed does it appear anywhere in a 

 well-ventilated structure. Fresh air is its destruction, though it is very 

 tenacious of life where it once becomes firmly seated. Remove the leaf 

 mould and all the wood it contains, and sprinkle fresh lime where it was. 

 Repot the plants most affected, and frequently stir the soil in which the 

 others are growing. Keep the pots clean, placing them on gravel about the 

 size of a bean. It has a cleanly appearance, and aasista in keeping the 

 atmosphere pure, besides preventing the drainage choking. Admit fresh 

 air dailVj always avoiding draughts. Many people stew their Ferns — 

 giving them a great heat and an excess of moisture, with very little ventila- 

 tion. Very few Ferns require a temperature of from 70*^ to 85" in early 

 spring. Pteris argyrcea with us attains a very larse size in a vinery from 

 which frost Is just excluded in winter. It will do in a greenhouse, but 

 better in a house where the temperature is from 45^ to 50° in winter, and In 

 summer from 69° to 80^, It is not a stove Fern, though it will live there 

 and make fronds 6 to 8 feet long. As you use cocoa dust we may put you, 

 on your guard against keeping it dry under cover, in the potting-shed, or 

 elsewhere to become dry. When this is the case it becomes infested with 

 dry rot and other fungi, and when it is used for potting, a plentiful crop of 

 fungi, more or le^s inimical to the plants, is the result. It should be laid in 

 aheap in an open situation out of doors, mixeJ with one-third loam, and 

 turned over twice in twelve months. It is better when it is old, or black, 

 and will then grow almost any kind of plant. Tour refuse we see is fresh 

 very slightly decomposed. Use it old. 



Tiffany-houses (Foj-kshire). — Calico-covered houses, or pits covered 

 with the same, are better than tiffany-covered, and very useful in summer 

 for plants needing a little protection ; and in one sense they are better than 

 glass, as admitting enough of light, and yet giving sufficient shade. We 

 have no faith in such covering keeping out li° of frost, and fur nothing 

 besides the above do we consider them comparable to glass-houses. Few 

 tiffany-houses will resist a storm unless extra well secured. For summer 

 purposes they are useful. 



Greenhouse Arrangeuents (Inexperienced Annateur). — We would, under 

 such circumstances, prefer a border inside, and planting inside; but if the 

 border must alone be outside, then there need be no diSculty with a borcler 

 7 feet wide at one end, curving to 3 feet wide at the other, as at the narrowest 

 end you need sot plant within 5 or 6 feet at that end. We have had heavy 

 crops for about ten years in a small pit, and the earth space is only 2^- feet, by 

 15 inches in depth. Your border will do very well for a 12-feet-wide house. 

 If there is good soil there now, a little fresh might make all right. If, 

 however, you can, as you say, obtain plenty of fresh loam, then it certainly 

 would be better to use it, and concrete to prevent tlie roots going down. 

 The concrete sbould slope from back to front at least 12 inches in the 7 feet, 

 and there sbould be a good drain lower than the concrete. The concrete is 

 best formed by using the sharp land sand and red gravel, five barrowloadsto a 

 barrowload of quicklime, made up quickly as you go along, with just enough 

 of water to mix, aud spread out at once 3 inches thick, levelling the top 

 as you go along with the hack of the spade. When somewhat set, sprinkle 

 a little dry sand over the surface, roll the whole well, and let it become dry 

 before you put earth upon it. It will then set very hard. The soil will be all 

 the better the nearer the surface it is tatfen, and maybeplacpd in the 

 border at once, or in heaps, to ferment and sweetsn previously. We would 

 make the horde:' from 20 to 26 inches in depth, and in that we would incor- 

 porate from twenty to thirty bushels of broken bones, and two or three loads 

 of horse droppings that had been previously heated, and, if possible, some 

 half a dozen loads of lime rubbish. We would add no other manure. 

 Every summer you might give the border from a quarter to a half cwt. of 

 gtiano, if given at four or fi^e times, and washed in. About 2 inches of 

 hoisedung would he safer, raking off the decayed portion when the strength 

 was exhausted. We have no doubt that Lady Downes* Grape, so treated, 

 will bear every year; but early in autumn the border should be covered with 

 dry litter; and if rain and snow are kept out by shutters or tarpauling so 

 much the better. We- have so often entered on the subject of the strength 

 of liquid mamire^ that we would only be giving wearisome repetition by 

 detailing what we meant by weak manure, &c. In many kinds, as house- 

 sewage, drainage from the farmyard, &c., practice must alone determine. 

 It is safest to err on the side of weakness. Thus, we haye had drainings 

 from the farmyard, after rain, that we have used freely without the further 

 addition of water. In dry weather we have diluted with from three to 

 five times its bulk with clear water. For good guano we consider I oz. 

 strong enough for two gallons; of superphosphate of lime 2 o?,s. may be 

 used. For a thirty-six-gallon barrel of water, a peck of soot and a quart 

 of lime will give a strongish clear liquid. For the next filling we would 

 use half the quantity. This will do for such things as Strawberries, Kidney 

 Beans, fruit trees in pots, <S:c. ; but for many pot-plants it would be too 

 strong, and, when used clear for syringing trees and plants, we would 

 dilute more than half. A bushel of horse-droppings, or those of sheep or 

 deer, would, after a week's fermentation, do for sixty gallons of water. 

 We generally make our liquid manure strong, and dilute as we use it. We 

 like all liquid manure to he clear. 



Watering Hardy Ferns (E. M.). — It is not only desirable but necessary 

 to water out-door Ferns during dry weather after growtli commences. To 

 grow them well the soil should never be allowed to become dry; sprinkling 

 overhead is very beneficial. Rain water is the best, but hard pump water 

 will do if exposed to the air in a tub for a few days prior to using it. By 

 having a tub in the most convenient place, and refllling it after watering, 

 you will always have water ready for use when required. Soapy water will 

 not do, though a weak solution might not cause immediate mischief, yet ifc 

 is better not to use it, otherwise the more delicate kinds will suffer in con- 

 sequence. 



Insects (/. B. Gilhert). — The insects are the immature states of one of 

 the Froghoppers or "Cuckoo-spit" insects, the white frothy secretion of 

 which must have been visible on the plants, and, if so, the insects might 

 easily have been destroyed by hand. If there were no such " cuckoo-spit," 

 these larvaa might have been killed by ordinary fumigation.— W. 



