462 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
{ December 12, 1878. 
this house affords we may impart an air of elegance, and at 
the same time ayoid the considerable outlay which the con- 
struction of pit, walls, and staging necessarily involyes.— 
EDWARD LuUCKHURST. 
OUR BORDER FLOWERS—-MEADOW RUE. 
WHILE so much interest is taken in plants for outdoor de- 
corative purposes, especially choice border plants, I have thought 
it somewhat surprising that the Meadow Rues have so long 
escaped attention. Perhaps these plants may be thought too 
common for choice positions; be it so, yet nevertheless they 
have their charms. There is something pleasing. and graceful ! 
too, in their Fern-like appearance when associated with other 
plants of more brilliant hues. My idea is that no collection of 
border flowers approaches perfection without an admixture of 
Meadow Rues. They are a numerous and widely distributed 
family, and ought no longer to remain in the background, 
but should find their way to every rockery and border of any 
pretentions where such plants are cultivated. They vary in 
stature from a few inches in height to as many feet. The 
taller-growing kinds are very well adapted to large borders 
and open spaces in the shrubbery and other semi-wild places. 
The Columbine-leaved Meadow Rue (Thalictrum aquilegi- 
folium) is a grand old border plant which lasts a long time in 
bloom, but is seldom met with in cultivation. T. flavum is of 
somewhat deeper colour; avery pretty border flower, the more 
interesting by its being one of our own. T. glaucum, elatum, 
dioicum, and others might be named that are worthy of the 
attention of cultivators. Thalictrum anemonoides flore-pleno is 
avery choice plant ; it loves moisture, but not stagnant soil, and 
is all the better for having partial shade. It is well adapted for 
the rockery. Thalictrum minus is the most interesting of the 
family. Some day it may be seen doing good service as an 
edging plant ; it needs only to be seen in that position, and 
then interest will be taken in its cultivation. It is useful, too, 
as a pot plant, having the appearance of an Adiantum, 
_, halictrums thrive in ordinary garden soil, but all the better 
if a sprinkling of lime rubbish and well-decomposed vegetable 
matter and coarse grit are mixed in the compost. They are 
best increased by division after flowering ; they may also be 
imereased by seed sown in the spring in light sandy soil ina 
shaded situation. When the seedlings are large enough plant 
them out where they are intended to remain ; when established 
they last many years.—VERITAS. 
WINTERING PLANTS—DAMPING-OFF. 
THE damping-off to which plants and flowers are so liable 
during the winter months is simply the result of injudicious 
treatment. Such popular plants as the Chinese Primula and 
the Cyclamen may be taken as illustrative subjects. These 
two plants are considered by many who cultivate them as 
difficult fo manage, and as requiring special care in the matter 
of watering, more jparticularly throughout the winter months. 
Itis during the close of the year, when the cold of winter is 
in some degree presented to us, that decay is first noticed on 
these plants, and when precautionary measures are first con- 
sidered necessary and acted on. 
Ihave had my share of trouble with those plants during the 
winter, having had to deplore specimens of the former which 
would, notwithstanding all care, sever connections ‘twixt top 
and root, and in the case of the latter have had leaf after leaf 
and flower stalk after flower stalk decay, leaving the parent 
corm crownless. I have aiso enjoyed a good share of success 
in growing the plants referred to. I am in a position, therefore, 
not only to sympathise with any who are in difficulty but can 
point out a remedy for the damping. 
But whatis the cause of damping, and what the remedy? Some 
conclude that potting the plants too low is a primary cause of 
the evil complained of, and that watering induces damping- 
off, and consequently that keeping the plants with the base of 
their stems elevated sufficiently above the soil so as to secure 
them from contact with water is the remedy. Others consider 
attention to keeping the roots in a half-dry medium the best 
preventive, whilst a moist condition of the soil is a sure cause 
of the affection. Though I am not prepared to say these points 
of culture may not be in some degree good, they yet neither 
Suggest the real cause of the plants damping off nor afford a 
true remedy. 
Both Primulas and Cyclamens are here potted low, are kept 
moist at the roots, and yet the plants do not damp off, ‘The 
very simple means taken to secure success is to treat them 
throughout the winter as growing plants from countries 
favoured with a warmer climate than that of a cold pit. 
Unless the plants are kept in a growing condition with sufti- 
cient heat, plenty of light, and no stint of water, no matter 
how much care may in other respects be taken, the best_results 
must be unattainable in their cultivation. 
The particular degree of temperature must be left to cireum- 
stances, as I find the kind of structure the plants are grown in 
determines this to a great extent. Ina pit where they can be 
placed with their heads 9 inches from the glass a minimum of 
50° and a maximum of 55° will be sufficient. In a structure 
where the conditions with regard to light and air are not so 
good a higher temperature is necessary. Under such con- 
ditions the roots are preserved in a state of continued activity 
throughout the winter, the assimilating powers of the leaves 
are not interfered with, and as a consequence the plants con- 
tinue to thrive. 
The same general remarks apply to any plants wanted to 
flower during the winter season. Bouvardias, for instance, in 
a too low temperature lose both foliage and flowers, whilst in 
such a temperature as just quoted the plants thrive perfectly. 
Geraniums, Abutilons, Heliotropes, Callas, and other plants 
which will do well out of doors till late in the season, some of 
them even being proof against a few degrees of frost, all 
require a growing temperature to induce them to flower during 
winter. 
Precisely the same remarks apply to bedding plants or 
others which are kept through the winter merely for stock. 
Unless they are kept in a somewhat active state of growth 
it is impossible to winter them with the same degree of suc- 
cess, either in‘regard to the quantity kept alive or the state 
of the plants for propagating purposes in spring. Of course 
there are plants which cannot be kept too cool during winter, 
Cinerarias and herbaceous Calceolarias may be mentioned as 
instances of this, Pansies and shrubby Calceolarias also; but 
in order to winter. or grow these with the greatest amount of 
success moisture at root and plenty of light are just as much 
required as in the case of those plants which require heat. 
The only safe practice with regard to plants which make 
growth or flower during winter is to keep them “ moving.” 
Stagnation results in decay and death—R. P. BROTHERSTON, 
Tyninghame. 
WORK FOR THE WEEK. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
BEYOND the constant work of sweeping, rolling, &e., that the 
season entails little remains to be done in this department, pro- 
vided the work as treated of in former calendars has been well 
advanced. There is little to attract attention in the herbaceous 
borders now, yet there is considerable risk at this time of year in 
digging those borders, especially where the positions of all plants 
and bulbs are not indicated by stout hardwood pegs placed near 
them. In the case of bulbs and such plants as are well known 
this method of indication answers very well, yet it adds much to 
the study and interest of plants to have them properly named. 
See, therefore, that any pegs or labels becoming rotten or haye 
the names illegible be renewed. The borders should be made 
neat, loosening the surface if it has become very firm, and giving 
ata convenient opportunity a top-dressing of decayed manure or 
leaf soil, which=will both enrich the soil and form a protection for 
the plants against the severity of the weather. Slugs are often 
troublesome ; a sprinkling of quicklime or soot prior to the surface- 
dressing will do much to check their depredations. Rats and mice, 
the latter particularly, commit much mischief in a short time 
among bulbs when once they find them out; hence the necessity 
of keeping a sharp look-out and promptly trapping the marauders, 
We find small steel traps baited with cheese prompt killers. 
Protecting Plants—Pyrethrums, Delphiniums, «c., liable to have 
the crowns preyed upon by slugs should have the soil taken out 
about them, a sprinkling of quicklime or soot given, and the 
openings filled up with sitted ashes. Before severe weather sets 
in plants of doubtful hardiness should receive the needful pro- 
tection. A few leaves with bracken over them placed around the 
crowns, and a few Laurel or evergreen branches thrust into the 
ground to keep them from blowing about, will afford sufficient 
protection to such plants as Bambusas, Aralias, Phormiums, Cha- 
mzerops Fortunei, Gynerium argenteum, &c. Plants on walls of 
doubtful hardiness, such as Edwardsias, Ceanothus, Magnolias, 
Myrtles, &c., are best protected by mats m severe weather, double 
mats being usually sufficient protection from the severest frosts. 
Beds of Roses should be well protected with litter, which is gene- 
rally sufficient for Perpetuals, but Teas and Chinas should have 
some evergreen branches stuck amongst them in seyere weather ; 
but with the roots protected it is astonishing what an amount of 
rie. 
