104 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 3, 1876. 



they are very easily injured by high winds. Phloxes are now in 

 £ull bloom, and well do they repay the little attention they have 

 received as to tying them to sticks and watering. The Phlox 

 suffers much if the roots are dry ; it requires abundant supplies 

 of water. — J. Douglas. 



HORTICULTUBAL EXHIBITIONS. 



Seoretabies will oblige us by informing us of the dates on 

 which exhibitions are to be held. 



London Eink, Camberwell New Road Station. August 3rd, 4th, and 



5th. 

 Rawtenstall (Rosendale). August 4th and 5th. Mr. M. J. Lonsdale, Seo. 

 Southampton. August 5th and 7th. Mr. C. S. Fuidge, 39, York Street, Sec. 

 Finedon. August 7th. Mr. G. C. Mann, Sec. 

 Taunton Deane. August 10th. Mr. F. H. Woodforde, M.D., and Mr. 



Clement Smith, Hon. SecB. 

 Filet. AugUBt 11th. Mr. Walter Fisher, Hon. Sec. 

 Otley. August 12th. Mr. Alfred Suttle, Hon. See. 



Clay Cross. August 15th. Mr. J. Stallard, Clay Cross, near Chesterfield, Sec. 

 Emsworth. August 15th. Mr. H. Moore, Hon. Sec. 



Weston-super-Mare. August 15th and 16th. Mr. W. B. Frampton, Sec. 

 Preston. August 16th and 17th. Mr. W. Troughton, Hon. See. 

 Shrewsbury. August 16th and 17th. Adnitt & Naunton, Hon. Sees. 

 Ledbury. August 17th. Mr. J. B. Masefield, Hon. Seo. 

 Norton, near Stockton-on-Tees. August 18th. Mr. C. Turner, Sec. 

 Mirfield. August 19th. Mr. G. Senior and Mr. J. RuBhforth, Hon. Sees. 

 Calne (Wilts). August 22nd. Mr. H. Blackford, Sec. 

 Newbury. August 22nd. Mr. H. Seymour, Hon. Sec. 

 Dorset County. August 23rd (at Dorchester). Mr. A. Pope and Mr. C. 



Parsons, Sees. 

 Chepstow. August 23rd. Mr. E. Thorn, Hon. Sec. 

 Garshalton, Wallington, and Beddington. August 24th. Mr. J, 



Baines, Leicester House, Carshalton, and Mr. W. Clark, the Nurseries. 



Wallington, Hon. Sees. 

 Largs and Fairlie. August 25th. Mr. D. G. Glen, Hon. Sec. 

 Seaton Burn. August 26th. Mr. E. Eichardson and Mr. W. Eliott, Seos. 

 Isle of Thanet (Margate). August 30th. Mr. C. D. Smith, 8, Marine 



Terrace, Margate, Sec. ■ 

 Pocklington. August 31st. Sec, Mr. J. E. Eoss. 

 Yarmouth. AugUBt SlBt. Mr. S. Aldred, Hon. Sec. 

 Thornton Heath. September 1st and 2nd. Mr. W. Eaines, 10, St. John's 



Villas, Bensham Manor Road, Thornton Heath, Hon. Sec. 

 Montrose. September 1st and 2nd. Mr. Ales. Burnett, 2, High Street, Sec. 

 Dundee (International). September 7th, 8th, and 9th. Mr. W. E. McKelvie, 



26, Euclid Crescent, Sec. 

 Glasgow. September 12th and 13th. Mr. F. Gilb. Doughall, 167, Canning 



Street, Sec. 

 Eoyal Caledonian Horticultural Society. September 18th. 

 Kilmarnock. September 14th. Mr. M. Smith, 11, King Street, Sec. 

 Ipswich. September 17th. Sec., Mr. W. B. Jeffries, Henley Eoad, Ipswich. 

 Northampton (Chrysanthemums). November 14th. and 15th. Mr. W. 



Gutteridge, 51, Denmark Eoad, Northampton, Sec. 



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 unavoid- 

 ably. We request that no one will write privately to any 

 of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to un- 

 justifiable trouble and expense. 

 Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 

 relating to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee sub- 

 jects, and should never send more than two or three 

 questions at once. All articles intended for insertion 

 should be written on one side of the paper only. We 

 cannot reply to questions through the post. 

 Books (Agricola). — No book gives the Bynonyma of kitchen garden 

 varieties. Paxton's "Botanical Dictionary " would aid you in other ways. 



Books about Grasses (W. E. L. ).— Scheuchzer's "Agrostographia," in 

 Latin ; and in English Sinclair's " Hortus Gramineus WoburnenBis " and 

 Lawson's " Agrostographia." We cannot name so many specimens. 



Lily of the Valley (F. S. T.).~ The leavea ought not to be cut off so 

 long as they continue green. Any that beeome decayed may bo picked off. 

 Wild Flowers (Mrs. Otter). — The work is not yet completed. 

 Exhibitors' Grievances (D. R. & Co.). — We can only recommend the 

 Royal Botanic Society to be more liberal, for if they are not thBir shows must 

 be injured. 



Carnation and Pink Showing (S. E. C.).— These flowers are rarely ever 

 shown without cards, and if the petals are simply arranged and none added 

 they cannot fairly be disqualified— i.e., provided the pods are not split. 



Gardeners' Benevolent Society (A. IT.).— Write to Mr. Cutler, Secre- 

 tary, Gardeners' Benevolent Society, York Street, Covent Garden, London. 



Perpetual Roses from Cuttings (Wilts). — Cuttings may now be taken 

 off such shoots as have just shed the flowers, such shoots being in the proper 

 order (or propagation, the wood being ripe. The cuttings may have three 

 joints, cutting transversely just below the lowest joint and removing its leaf, 

 the other leaves being left intact. The cuttings may be inserted an inch to 

 1£ inch in small pots in fibrous loam and sand in equal parts. Two joints 

 will answer for the cuttings, but it is important that the cutting have at 

 least one leaf attached. The pots may be plunged in a hotbed in tan or saw- 

 dust, the bottom heat of the bed at the bottom of the pots being 75°. They 

 will need to have the lights of the frame kept perfectly close, and the outtmgs 

 sprinkled overhead every morning lightly, and shaded from sun. In about a 

 fortnight they will have rooted, but they must not have air or be removed 

 till Bhoots are made 1 to 2 inches in length. After this air moy be gradually 



admitted, the plants by degrees being inured to light and air. They should 

 be moved into larger pots — 4£ to 5 inches, continuing in the frame until 

 established, but with moderate air only for a time. Atterwards harden well 

 off and plunge outdoors in ashes in an open yet warm situation. The cuttings 

 may, iustead of being placed in heat, be placed in a cold frame kept close, 

 shaded, and sprinkled every morning, treating in other respects as before 

 stated. They will root more Blowly, but not less surely in the cold frame 

 than in a hotbed. 



Melons Cracking (C. R.).— Cracking arises from the Bupply of sap being 

 too liberal aftur the fruit has commenced ripening, and is usually most pre- 

 valent wheu the growth of the fruit rub been made under very bright sun, 

 the ripening taking place with too much moisture in the atmosphere. Kinds 

 liable to crack — most of those with hard rinds and much netted — we usually 

 cut the vine carrying the fruit about halfway through when the fruit is full- 

 sized, and increase the cut in a few days to three parts the thiokness of the 

 stem, keeping the soil and atmosphere dry. The scarlet-fleshed kinds as a 

 rule are more liable to crack than the green- fleshed or white-fleshed, but with 

 proper moisture during the swelling of the fruit, and dryness when ripening, 

 cracking does not occur in any. 



Lettuces Running (F. JF.).— Your Lettuces run because their sowings 

 are made too distantly, the plants being sown too thickly, or left to grow too 

 long before thinning, with the soil dry and loose. We sow every fortnight or 

 three weeks from the first week in April to the first week in August where the 

 plants are to remain, the ground being well manured and trod firm as for 

 Onion beds before sowing, and sow in drills a foot apart, and thin out the 

 plants to a foot distance in the rows, and early before the plants are drawn. 

 We never water, and never fail of "big" heads— Cabbages they are termed — 

 from these sowings from June to November inclusive — after December if the 

 weather be mild. Though we grow half a dozen or more sorts, dependanee is 

 placed upon Paris White Cos— that fine selection of it known as Alexandra 

 Cos, and Neapolitan Cabbage, the two best Bummer Lettuces in cultivation. 

 All the Year Hound is much esteemed in thekitchen, but is too soft in hot 

 weather for the salad bowl. 



Stopping Tomatoes (Alex. BoyU).— You are quite right in your ideas as 

 to stopping — i.e., if you have two or three bunches of fruit Bbowing upon a 

 shoot atop it at or one joint beyond the uppermost show of fruit, taking out 

 the point of the Bhoot immediately the growing point is clear of the joint 

 having the fruit. The side shoots we should stop immediately you can 

 beyond the first truss of fruit. We prefer to go a joint past rather than 

 stop at the same joint as that the fruit is situated at, and "with these it is 

 likely you will have as much fruit as will ripen ; nevertheless keep on stopping 

 beyond each show of fruit — preventing overcrowding, much being done in that 

 way by removal of the old useless leaves. 



Aphelexis Dying (Amateur). — The watering " with a mixture of cow 

 dung and soot cleared with lime " iB sufficient to account for the death of the 

 plants. You will not find any such instructions in our " Greenhouse Manual." 

 Avoid lime for all plants requiring peat soil, and as a rule liquid manure for 

 most hordwooded plants. The plants appear to have been too liberally 

 watered for recently-potted plants. We do not know a book treating of New 

 Holland plants. Sufficient instructions are given in the " Greenhouse Manual," 

 which we must remind you has not been followed, but deviated from with 

 disastrous results. 



Salisburia adiantifolia Propagation (S. M. W.). — Layering is the 

 most certain mode, it being done in autumn or spring, the lajers not unfre- 

 quently requiring two years to root, but if kept niDist they will root the first 

 year. Cuttings of the well-ripened shoots with a heel of last year's wood 

 inserted under a hand-light in a sheltered situation in September. 



Phlomis Fruticosa Propagation (0. W. D.). — It is a low-growing 

 shrubby plant, requiring a warm situation and a well-drained soil, and 

 moderately rich. Cuttings or slips inserted now in a shady border, or better 

 under a hand-glass, Bhading from bright sun; seeds, which you may save,, 

 sown in early April in a warm border in light sandy soil. The plants from 

 seed are best, though those from cuttings flower earlier. 



Cucumbers Swelling Irregularly (Siibscriber since 1856). — The plants 

 are affected with gangrene, a result usually of the roots being in too rich 

 soil, too wet, and cold. A little increase of bottom heat would induce more 

 regular swelling, affordiug moderate moisture, too much probably arising 

 from the tank, making the soil sour. A brisker heat with freer ventilation 

 should give you healthier growth, and with that you will have better-swelled 

 fruit. 



Cytisus, Calla, and Double Primula Culture (Lancastrian). — The 

 Cytisus we should at once shift into a pot that will admit of an inch of fresh 

 soil all around; the plants being turned out of the pot, remove the old 

 drainage and loosen the sides of- the ball -with a pointed piece of wood, 

 potting rather firmly, and keeping the collar of the plant slightly raised in 

 the centre of the pot, employing a compost of three parts fibrous loam, one 

 part leaf soil, and a free admixture — about a sixth — of sand, providing good 

 drainage. Richardia (Calla) aathiopica we should now repot, removing most 

 of the soil from the roots ; in fact, all coming away freely should be removed, 

 and the plant returned to the same Bize of pot, or one that will hold the roots 

 and admit of fresh soil amongst and around them, potting moderately firm, 

 UBing turfy loam, with a fourth of dry cow dung or well-decayed manure added. 

 Place outdoors on ashes and keep moist, and by the cloBe of August fresh 

 growth will appear, removing to a light airy position in the greenhouse at the 

 close of September, and in early October shift into a pot 4 inches larger in 

 diameter, keeping duly supplied with water, and in spring water liberally. 

 The double Primulas snould be kept in the greenhouse or in a pit or frame 

 rather dry until the early part of this month, when they should be repotted, 

 loosening the sides of the ball a little, and shifting into a slightly larger size 

 of pot. A compost of fibrous loam and t<andy peat in equal partB, with a 

 fourth of leaf soil and a half part each of silver sand and pieceB of charcoal, 

 well mixed and moderately firmed in potting, providing good drainage. Water 

 carefully, especially during winter. 



Zonal Pelargoniums for Exhibition (Zonal).— As there are two classes 

 in the Bchedule — one for zonal Pelargoniums and the other for the section 

 named " nosegay," it would be wrong to show the ordinary or florists' type 

 in the nosegay class ; the collection would most likely be disqualified. Any 

 variety with a plain leaf would be distinguished by its flower: if it had a 

 nosegay flower it would be exhibited in that class, and vice versa. It cannot 

 be the desire of the. committee to exclude plain-leaved soitB from the zonal 

 clasB. As to distinguishing an ordinary florist variety from a nosegay, they 

 have been so intermixed that it iB difficult to eay where the one leaves off and 

 the other begins. Stella, CybiBter, Lord Palmerston, Amy Hogg, and all the 

 varieties with large trusses and narrow petalB are the true nosegays. Welling- 



