116 
[ August 8, 1878. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Pelargoniums.—Barly-flowered plants of the Show, Spotted, 
Regal, and Fancy kinds will be ready to be cut down, the soil 
being moderately dry, otherwise the roots will suffer. Old plants 
should be cut back to two or at most three eyes, young plants to 
three or four. Place them in a cold pit or frame, tilting the 
lights to admit plenty of air, and in fine weather they may remain 
off, but over the plants tilted during rain. In bright weather 
syringe lightly every afternoon, giving no more water than to 
keep moist. Zonals showing signs of exhaustion feed with liquid 
manure, and they will bloom until late in autumn. 
Azaleas if placed out of doors must be stood upon a bed of 
ashes or other bottom impervious to worms, and the plants during 
heavy rains be placed on their sides, or, what is better, erect a 
wood framework over the plants to carry a roller and canvas 
covering to let down during very bright weather for two or three 
hours after placing outside for about a week, and during heavy 
rains, but do not allow it to remain over the plants longer than is 
absolutely necessary. The pots must be protected by canvas 
from the powerful rays of the sun, or they will be so heated as to 
destroy the roots. 
Kalosanthes—Cuttings may now be struck, taking cuttings of 
about 6 inches in length, stripping off the leaves one-third their 
length, and inserting singly in small pots in a cold frame fully 
exposed to sun, where they will soon root. Vallota purpurea 
should haye a light airy situation, and manure water after the 
scapes appear and until the flowers expand. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*,* All correspondence should be directed either to‘ The Editors,” 
or to “The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Mr. Johnson or 
Dr. Hogg often remain unopened unavoidably. We request 
that no one will write privately to any of our correspondents, as 
doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
GLASTONBURY THORN.—* £bba” wishes to know where he can obtain 
the Glastonbury Thorn and the green-flowered China Rose. 
Labour REQUIRED FOR GARDEN (An Irish Subscriber)—Three men 
with a working gardener would be sufficient to keep what you name in good 
order and high cultivation. 
GAS-HEATED BOILERS (7. K.)—We have heard that they are sufficient 
to exclude frost from small greenhouses. 
PARSLEY COLOURED (£. B.).—We think the pink tinge ornamental, and 
should not try to remove it. The addition of a little manure to the soil 
and plentiful watering would soon restore the green colour. 
FORCING AND INTERMEDIATE HOUSE (S. S.).—The cheapest and best 
description of house is a span or half-span, both of which are shown by 
Sections at page 274, vol. vii.. New Series. We should prefer the half-span 
With the ends east and west, front wall 3 feet high above ground, back wall 
5 feet, height of house from floor to ridge 7 feet 6 inches, length of back 
light 5 feet, front lights 9 feet 6 inches long, lights for ventilation on the 
south side of the house 2 feet 6 inches wide, opening the whole length of the 
house by rod, crank, and lever apparatus. Pathway directly ander the ridge 
2 feet wide, affording a bed in front 5 feet 6 inches wide, and one at back a 
little over 2 feet wide. The forcing house should have two rows of 4-inch 
pipes beneath the front bed, and one at the back to afford bottom heat, 
surrounded by and covered with rubble to a depth of about 6 inches, and 
upon this 9 to 12 inches depth of plunging material. No bottom heat will 
be required in the intermediate house. Three rows of 4-inch pipes will be 
required for top heat in both houses—i.e., two along the front and one along- 
side the pathway, but as there is no saying in pinching for piping we should 
have four pipes in the forcing end, and three in the intermediate house. A 
fair proportion would be 16 feet length of forcing house, and 20 feet inter- 
mediate house, but all depends upon the requirements. 
PEAS DISEASED (0.,.A Subscriber).—The pods enclosed to us by you are in- 
fested with thrips, there being traces also of mildew. The remedy is to afford 
copious supplies of water in dry weather, pouring the water along the sides 
of the rows, and mulching with short manure. The pests may be destroyed 
by syringing the plants with a solution of soft soap, 2 ozs. to the gallon of 
water, after the Peas have slatted. Liming will improve the staple of the soil } 
by liberating its pent-up organic substances, but it will not keep crops from 
the ravages of thrips. 
PLANTING IVY UNDER TREES (A Constant Reader) —Ivy may be planted 
any time in mild weather from September to April inclusive, and all the 
year if the plants are from pots. We should plant in February or March, 
and sufficiently close so as to cover the ground quickly, pegging the shoots 
oyer the surface in all directions, and keeping the soil moist until the plants 
are established. Cuttings will not be likely to answer, as the soil will be 
too dry to ensure their speedy growth, but they may be inserted now in 
a shady border in rather poor light soil, where they will root freely if kept 
moist. 
ERUIT TREES FOR SLOPING GROUND (G. Holme).—It is of primary im- 
portance in fruit culture that water does not ledge in the subsoil. If the 
ground be wet superfluous water must be carried off by drains placed 6 to 
7 yards apart, and not less than 3 feet deep, having proper falls and outlets. 
With this and trenching the ground 2 feet deep we do not think you need 
fear forming a fruit garden with a variety of fruits. But you do not say 
whether you intend to form it into an orchard, keeping in grass or breaking- 
up the sward ; but as you mention half-standards we presume it is to be kept 
in grass; therefore our answer to your queries, as tabulated, is—l, We 
should not plant Apples only. 2, Standards or half-standard trees should be 
planted 24 feet apart. 3, Plums, Pears, and Cherries would be likely to 
succeed, but Apples and Plums are most likely. 4, The failure of the Black 
Currant bushes is probably due to excessive moisture, probably a sour soil 
induced by stagnant water, or it may be poverty of soil. Destroy the old 
bushes and plant fresh ones in new ground of such kinds as Black Naples and 
Lee’s Prolific. 5, Standard trees do not require any lifting, but root-pruning if 
they are growing too vigorously is occasionally necessary. 6, As to kinds of 
Apples—Kitchen : Cox’s Pomona, Bedfordshire Foundling, Dumelow’s Seed- 
ling, Warner’s King, Lord Suffield,and Northern Greening. Dessert : Dutch 
Mignonne, Sturmer Pippin, Blenheim Pippin, Irish Peach, Cox’s Orange 
Pippin, and King of the Pippins. Plums: Early Prolific, Orleans, Diamond, 
Prince Englebert, Victoria, Wyedale, and Crittenden or Cluster Damson ; 
those for culinary purposes. Dessert: Oullins Golden Gage, Green Gage, 
Jefferson, and Kirke’s. Cherries : Downton, Empress Eugénie, May Duke, 
Bigarreau Napoleon, and Morello. Pears: Jargonelle, Williams’s Bon 
Chrétien, Beurré de Capiaumont, Marie Louise, Beurré Diel, and Jules 
d’Airolles, with Catillac for stewing. 
CULTURE OF FILBERTS (C. A.).—The Kentish Cobs raised from seed and 
now 4 feet high will bear heavy crops of nuts in due course, but you must 
be content to wait three or four years till the branches have become suffi- 
ciently large to yield fruit. When the leaves fall cut down the seedling 
plants to within a foot from the ground. Next spring young shoots will 
cluster thickly upon the stem. Rub all off but four or five of the strongest, 
and when these are a couple of feet in length nip off the tops of each to 
induce a-lateral growth of side shoots, all of which except a couple of top 
shoots must be pruned to form spurs when the leaves fall, the two upper shoots. 
being shortened slightly for a new lateral growth in the following season. 
The best form for each tree is that of a basin very wide and shallow. This 
form may be imparted to some sorts by judicious pruning, but most kinds 
require some slight training by pulling down the young branches and 
fastening them in the right position with string to pegs driven in the 
ground. Be sure and keep the centre of each tree open, or you will only 
have nuts upon the upper branches instead of right down to the bottom of 
the tree. We have tried several varieties of Nuts and Filberts, and find 
Kentish Cob the most robuss and prolific of them all; not a summer passes 
without some nuts being had, and in most seasons we have a full crop. 
GRAPES SCALDING IN LATE VINERY (Jdem).—The best remedy is to 
afford full ventilation for a week or two till all risk of injury is past. 
Remove tall plants from the house, thin crowded growth, and see that there 
is not the slightest obstruction to a free circulation of air. Take care also 
that the roof ventilation is thorough. You will find fuller notes on scalding 
in another column. 
CABBAGE LEAVES EATEN BY INSECTS (Alexander Boyle)—The Turnip fiy 
(Athalia spirarum) eats the succulent green part of the leaves, and leaves 
the membrane of veins; but then it usually makes clean work, and as you 
say the mischief is done at night we are inclined to attribute it to some 
nocturnal weevil—which we cannot say out of the five hundred known 
British species of these destructive insects, and probably many more un- 
known. 
RAISING CLEMATISES FROM SEED (Amateur).—If Clematis seed is sown 
early in the year and the pots plunged in gentle heat it germinates freely. 
Tf your seed had no heat and the pots were placed in a cold pit or frame 
the soil may have become sodden with moisture at some time and the seed 
has decayed. If it is still sound the seedlings will probably soon appear, 
and if so encourage the growth by keeping them in gentle heat after they 
are potted, so as to have them as strong as possible by winter, when the 
growth will very likely die. Place them then in a cool pit or greenhouse, 
keep the soil moist but not sodden, and in spring you will be rewarded by a 
strong vigorous shoot pushing up through the soil, and by attention to the 
necessary repotting and watering the plants will soon gain sufficient size to 
yield flowers. 
SEEDS AND BULBS FROM SOUTH AFRICA (Stirling)—The bulbs will 
probably thrive in warm sheltered borders in the open air, but it will be 
well to pot most of them immediately, as spring time at the Cape is fast 
approaching, or rather may be said to have come. The Aponogeton and 
Richardia which we haye established in the open air are both now in full 
activity, putting forth new foliage abundantly, and the seed of Aponogeton 
is germinating by hundreds. Pot the bulbs and place them in a cold pit, 
removing them to the greenhouse for winter; water them regularly after 
the blossom fades until the foliage is perfected, in order to impart full 
vigour to the new bulb ; then gradually withhold water, and repot the bulbs 
after a period of a few weeks’ rest. If you have plenty of duplicates by all 
means try some in open borders, protecting with ashes in winter. The seed 
should be sown now, and the seedlings be repotted from time to time and 
kept in full growth during winter in a greenhouse, or better still an inter— 
mediate house if you have one, but if you cannot afford space under glass it 
will be better not to'sow till spring. 
NAMES OF PLANTS (W. J. B.).—We cannot name plants from their leaves 
only. (A Constant Subscriber) —1, Lysimachia vulgaris ; 2, Lysimachia sp. > 
3, Clerodendron. (W. H. F.).—1, Clematis sp.; 2,Sagina nodosa; 3, Much 
too young to determine; 4, Lomaria alpina. (Young Gardener)—t, Lysi- 
machia vulgaris; 2, Geranium sanguineum; 3, Aster puniceus; 4, Aster 
levis; 5, Bupthalmum salicifolium; 6, Centaurea montana. , (7y70).— 
3, Ginothera biennis; 4, Hypericum perforatum; 5, Lopezia racemosa > 
6, Heemanthus puniceus. 
THE HOME FARM: 
POULTRY, PIGEON, AND BEE CHRONICLE. 
HARVESTING OF OATS. 
Ir is often said that oats being an inferior grain compared with 
either wheat or barley, the harvesting of the crop is not of so 
much consequence, and that we need not be so particular as to 
the condition at harvest as for other crops. This idea used to 
prevail formerly much more than at the present time, as we 
haye known parties carting oats to the rick when the straw was 
yery damp and eyen when it rained; but the straw is now so 
valuable that we are, as it were, bound to have the straw in 
good condition, and thereby we save the grain in a valuable 
state. Although the oat crop may be inferior in comparison, 
yet in some of the northern and western counties, in the hill 
