September 21, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



269 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



%* All correspondence should be directed either to " The 

 Editors," or to " The Publisher." Letters addressed to 

 Mr. JohnBon 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 mis up on the same sheat 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 

 caunot reply to questions through the post. 



Names of Fruits. — Oar best authority for naming fruits is absent and 

 will not be back for some tim a , so applicants must be patient. 



Hollyhock Leaves Spotted (J. H. C). — Tho Bpots are a fungus, 

 Puccima maivaoearuin. A drawing and full account of it is our No. 687, 

 published May 28th, 1874. 



Mossy Balls on Bbiah {Mary Rockfort).—Thzy are called Bedegnars, 

 and are caused by a gall- forming insect called Cynips Bedegaris. It deposits 

 its eggs in a bud of the young Bhoots of the Dog Rose and Sweet Briar. The 

 grabs or larvre h»tched from these eggs produce thosa galls or lumps covered 

 with green and reddish fibres looking like moss so frequently found upon 

 those shrubs. 



Ixias (G. G.). — Your specimen is Ixia capillaris incamata. Ab yon say it 

 produces 6aedj, and seedlings from them self-sown in your greenhouse, we 

 think they ought to be raised more commonly in that way. 



Ivy for Borders (R. -D. G.).— For covering quickly large surfaces the 

 common Ivy— Hedera Helix — is the best. A quick-growing variety with 

 mottled foliage is H. canadensis maculata. Some of the small-leaved varie- 

 gated sorts are very ornamental, but are of slower growth than the above. 

 The best way of obtaining a stock is to insert cuttings in a north border at the 

 present time, planting them out where they are required after they are rooted. 



Constructing a Cucumber House (A Market Gardener). — The most 

 suitable width would be 13 feet inside, which would give you a 4-foot border 

 on each Bide of the house, with a 8-foot pathway up the centre. The flue 

 should pass beneath each border in a chamber, which should be the width of 

 the border, and be clear of the ground and of the flags or slates forming the 

 bottom of the border, having shutters in the sides of the chamber nexr, the 

 wall about 3 feet apart to let out any excess of heat, returning the flues along 

 the sides of the house to the end from whence they started, and having the 

 ohimuey at the furnace end. The sides of the Bide flues may form one Bide 

 of the bed, the top of the flue being level with the top of the border, and at 

 every 3 feet upon the cover of the flu6 Bbould be dishes formed of cement 

 to hold water n-t less than an inch deep and 15 inches long, and as wide as 

 the flue allowd. The flues should be three bricks (set on edge) deep, and 

 9 inches wide inside, and the length of the house should not exceed 36 feet. 

 The harder should be 18 icches deep, 6 inches for drainage, and a foot for 

 soil. _ The side walls of the house should be the height of the border, and 

 the side lightB need not be more than 1H inches in height. The trellis should 

 be 14 to 15 inches from the glass, and the wires 6 inches apart. You may 

 have the sides wholly of brickwork, and introduce wooden ventilators at 

 3 feet apart, the ventilators being 18 inches by 1 foot, opening on a pivot. 

 You will need ventilation at the ridge, a light not leea than 18 inches wide 

 made to open the whole length of the house, regulating it at will. A Bquare 

 cistern at eich end over the flue is good, it will give you tepid water for 

 watering with; but we think that with your two flues and consequently two 

 furnaces, you will expend more fuel the first year than would clear the ad- 

 ditional expense of heating with hot-water pipes, one fire and boiler being 

 sufficient for your purpose, besides much more satisfactory. 



Cyclamen Boots Grub-eaten (A Reader of the Journal). — Your only 

 remedy wiil be to turn all the plants out of the pots and examine the corms, 

 to do which it will be necessary to remove tlie soil and repot in fresh com- 

 post. We do not know of any remedy other than searching for and destroy- 

 ing the grubs. By frequently turning the compost in a heap and sprinkling 

 the layers in turning with soot the grubs may be driven from the soil. 



Pruning Zonal Pelargoniums (C. R.).— They Bhould not now be out 

 back, but any straggling growths may be shortened, deferring the general 

 pruning until February or early in March. Kepot them after they have made 

 shoots an inch long, removing most of the soil from amongst the roots, re- 

 turning to pots just enough to hold the roots, and when they have made 

 iresh roots and bafore they are muoh m-itted shift into the blooming pots. 

 Mrs. Pollock and other variegated Pelargoniums should not be cut back until 

 spring, and after they have made fresh shoots should be repotted. 



Cutting Down Broom (Idem).— It is desirable to cut down old Btraggling 

 plants, but if very old they do not start away freely. The beBt time to cut 

 them down is early ia March. 



Pruning Oleanders (Oleander).— They, if ill shaped and straggling, may 

 be cut down in April, but they will rot flower the same season, nor would 

 they flower next year were you to cut them down now. Defer heading them 

 baek uutil early in April, when they will produce flowering shoots for the 

 following season. 



Culture of Brunsvigia Josephine (Lowestoft). — It requires a light 

 airy pisition in the greenhouse, and to have a pot twice the diameter that of 

 the bulb, using a compost of fibrous yellow loam with a third of leaf soil or a 

 fourth of old cow duog. As your bulb has not begun to grow we should keep 

 it just moist over the winter, and in February or early in March plunge the 

 pot in a hotbed and continue there until fresh growth is made. After it is 

 somewhat advanced gradually withdraw from the hotbed and remove to the 

 greenhouse, keeping well supplied with water until the growth ceases, and 

 then only afford water to keep the foliage from flagging. 



Exhibiting Vegetables (J. R. Altoftsl— There is no book giving Bpecial 

 instructions. Grow the vegetables as well as you can, and exhibit them 

 according to the conditions stated in the schedule. 



Ripening Melons (M.E.N.).— "When the fruit commences ripening water 

 should be withheld altogether, as a moiBt soil and atmosphere causes the 

 fruit to crack, and is inimioal to its flavour. We cease watering totally after 

 the first indication of ripening, or a week to ten days before the fruit is ripe, 



though when a second crop is to be taken the plants are not allowed to suffer 

 for moisture at the roots, but in that case even the moisture is not nearly 

 one-half so much when ripening as during growth. After a Melon isfull- 

 Bized and netted completely moderate moisture only is required, and the less 

 the plants have after the ripening colour is assumed the more concentrated 

 are the juices — the higher the flavour. 



Dundee International Exhibition.— Messrs. John Stewart & Sons, The 

 Nurseries, Broughty Ferry, inform us that our reporter omitted to state that 

 they had first prizefor sixConiferie, one plant of which, a Cupressus Lawsoni- 

 ana lutea, was said to be the best plant cf it in the kingdom ; first prize for 

 a Tree Fern, first for Todea superba, first for Fern case filled, first for baud 

 bouquet, first for fancy Dahlias, first for Hollyhocks, and second for four 

 other entries. 



Cold Endured by Coleuses (T. Harlam).— You should have Btated the 

 name of the Bpecies. None of the tonder sorts should be exposed to a lower 

 temperature than 45 c . 



Sulphate of Ammonia (Chesterfield). — It remains in solution after add- 

 ing the sulphuric acid to the urine. We cannot name Ferns that have no 

 spores. 



Rhododendron Bed for Roses (Tyro).— Mix the soil thoroughly with 

 that of the surrounding border, adding some thorough decayed stab'e ma- 

 nure, and keep the surface over the roots of the Roses well mulched. 



Growing Melons in Strawberry Pit (A Constant Reader).— The pit 

 will, we preBume, be at liberty after May, and would after that be available 

 for growing Melons, the plants having been raised by sowing the seed in a 

 hotbed a month previous to planting in the house, being then stroDg plants. 

 They succeed well in pots— 11 or 12-inch pots being suitable, but we prefer 

 them 14 inches in diameter, as the necessity for high feeding is not so much 

 needed as in the case of smaller pots. 



Cactuses, Hoya carnosa, and Begonias (Nemo). — Cactuses flower in 

 April or May in a greenhouse, and Hoya carnosa in June onwards in a green- 

 house; but in a Btoveit flowers from April to November, the flowers being 

 most numerous in May and June. Begonias of the flowering greenhouse 

 section Bhould be kept rather dry now, and drier as colder weather approaches, 

 and dry during winter, but not dust dry, and in March should be repotted, 

 removing most of the old Boil, placing them in smaller or the same size of 

 pot. Water should be moderately given until growth takes place, increasing 

 it with the growth, watering freely when the growth is vigorous, and shifting 

 into larger pots, avoiding making the soil sodden by too frequent waterings. 

 Afford a light position when growing, and safety from frost when at rest. 



Ripening Peaches, Nectarines, and Plums (Y.).— Any leaves over- 

 hanging the Peaches and Nectarines should be cut so as to expose the fruit 

 to'the light, that being necessary for colour, and, as some think, flavour. 

 High colour and flavour usually go together, but we have had Peaches quite 

 as high-flavoured upon the under side of the trellis Bhaded by the leaves as 

 upon the upper side and exposed to the sun. Inequality in colour is very ob- 

 jectionable, for when a leaf covers one-half the fruit, the other being exposed, 

 the expoBed part will be very deeply coloured, while that part covered by the 

 leaf will be very deficient in coloor, and the exact outline of the obstruction 

 may be impressed upon the fruit. Expose the fruit, but do not remove the 

 leaves, only those parts of them covering the fruit. Plums, if Bummer prun- 

 ing has been properly attended to, ought not to have any foliage removed in 

 order to expose the fruit to light. 



Cucumbers Gummed (W.). — The exudation or gangrene arises from a too 

 rich and moist soil, and too moist and cold an atmosphere. Afford a brisker 

 heat with freer ventilation, and soil lees rich and moist. The disease is very 

 common, especially in dung-heated frames in late summer. 



Preparing Tobacco for Fumigating (Constant Reader). — We take the 

 following from the " Gardeners' Year-Book :" — " When the leaveB have attained 

 their full size and become of a yellow hue they are taken from the stalk, tied 

 together in Bniall bunches by the footstalks, hung in a dry airy room, and left 

 there until dry and crisp. The first damp weather after this the leaves will 

 become soft, and they should be watched to ascertain when this occurs; then 

 pack them in a box evenly, with the butts or stalk ends of the leaves all one 

 way. They are then to be pressed moderately, and in a few days a slight fer- 

 mentation will take place, when the bunches should be taken out and Bhaken 

 to let the heat escape. When this has been done repack lightly. The leaves 

 will not re-heat, but it is best to let them remain for a few days laid lightly 

 in the box, and when all fermentation is over pack tightly in a barrel, and 

 keep in a dry place ready for use. As the leaveB of British-grown Tobacco are 

 not all mature at one time they muBt be successively gathered as they ripen." 



Protecting Geraniums in Beds (Wyld Savage). — You may, perhaps, 

 succeed in your mild climate if you cut the plants down after the first froBt to 

 about 6 inches from the ground, and remove all the leaves and weedB from 

 the Burface, and cover with ashes 6 inches deeper than the topmost shoots, 

 and over this in very severe weather, if snow do not fall, should be given a 

 covering of litter. The ashes may remain on until April, when they should 

 in mild weather be removed, having at hand protective material as mats to 

 throw over the bed in case of frost. 



Planting Trees and Shrubs (H. T.).— Marshall's " Planting and Rural 

 Ornament " would suit you. It was published by Messrs. Nicol, but we think 

 can only be obtained from a second-hand bookseller. 



Grapes Diseased (Mrs. Cooper). — They are shanked— that is, the stalks 

 are dead from the want of sap. The roots are deficient in action, and they 

 might be stimulated by removing the surface Boil and watering them copiously 

 with tepid weak manure water. 



Ferns (IF. D., Guernsey). — Only one specimen, and that not numbered, 

 came. 



Nitrate of Soda (C. P., Herts). — It may be applied to your Vines and 

 all garden crops at the rate of 1 lb. to 30 square yards, at any time whilst 

 they are growing. 



Destroying Ants (Inquirer). — You might entice them to a saucer smeared 

 with honey and destroy necatombs at once. Scotch snuff sprinkled on and 

 around the flower bed would exclude them. 



Sewage (J. Tho mas).— Collect it in a cistern ; you can then dilute and 

 apply it where it is required. No spray of a Vine was in your letter. 



Heating by a Paraffin Lamp (N. G.). — We do not see bow you propose 

 to heat the tank in your propagating frame by means of a paraffin lamp, as 

 ti will be necessary to dispense with a glass, and then you will have smoke 

 which will need to be convejed clear of the frame and greenhouse by a chim- 

 ney. H you have no greater difficulty than regulating the heat, that you 



