November 16, 1S76. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



413 



yesterday (November 8th), I had in my garden, in various 

 stages from bud to blossom, blooms on Hare'ehal Niel (a 

 standard), Gloire de Dijon, Souvenir d'un Ami, Madame 

 Falcot, Climbing Devoniensis, Marie Cirodde, Pierre Notting, 

 and last but by no means least, that glorious autumnal Rose, 

 Souvenir de la Malmaison. I may add for the information of 

 all whom it may concern, that my garden is surrounded by a 

 wall 9 feet high, the soil being naturally light, with a substra- 

 tum of gravel, and that though the natives of this ancient 

 "borough (Bury St. Edmunds), will say it is a very healthy place 

 with a fine bracing air, I have heard strangers call it " beaBtly 

 <!old." — St. Edmund. 



P.S. — A snowstorm last night has not improved the buds of 

 yesterday. 



GRAPE-GROWING— INFLUENCE OF THE 

 STOCK UPON THE SCION. 



I have sent you a bunch of Grapes cut from the Madresfield 

 Court Vine which was some years ago inarched on a rod of the 

 Black Hamburgh. The length of the rod of the former was 

 about 8 feet long, while that of the Black Hamburgh projects 

 -about 4 feet beyond it. The Madresfield Court is growirjg in 

 a tab, and the Black Hamburgh in a large pot. You will see 

 'that the flavour, shape, and disposition to crack are changed. 

 The fruit on the rod of the Black Hamburgh projecting beyond 

 the graft continues unchanged. I sent an account of this ex- 

 periment to Mr. Darwin, who thought that the Madresfield 

 Court might have been a seedling of the Black Hamburgh, and 

 that the latter's sap caused it to return to the original type. 



At the same time that I made this experiment I also inarched 

 another Madresfield Court on the common Sweetwater. The 

 scion behaved in a precisely similar manner. I removed the 

 Madresfield Court from the Sweetwater, and was surprised to 

 "find that the former for the first year produced berries similar 

 in shape, flavour, and nature to those I now send you. There 

 is no doubt that the saps of the two original types ride over 

 ■that of the recently established seedling. — Observes. 



- EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS. 



This beautiful evergreen, having fine silvery blue-green 

 ■foliage, is of rapid growth, the whole plant emitting a balsamic 

 odour, and said to possess wonderful febrifugal properties. 

 From the supposition of its capability of destroying the mala- 

 rious elements in the atmosphere it has been recommended 

 as a sanitary plant. Unfortunately, however, its value in 

 freeing the atmosphere of malaria in this country appears, 

 from the doubtful hardiness of the plant, to be very much 

 restricted. The efforts which have "been made to acclima- 

 tise it in this country have not been veiy successful. It is 

 likely, however, to Bucceed in sheltered situations in the south 

 and south-western parts of the kingdom and in Ireland, from 

 which there are reported cases of success. Except in very 

 •warm sheltered situations in the midland counties and also 

 ■dry, securing sturdy well-ripened growth, little success has 

 attended its cultivation. In the north, however, I fear it will 

 need to be grown under glass. The west coast of Scotland 

 may be an exception, for, being so much under the influence of 

 the Gulf Stream, the west is much warmer than the east coast. 



It has been known to be cut down to the ground by 16° of 

 "frost, and as that is much less severe than may be expected in 

 an ordinary winter it is very unlikely that the tree will become 

 general throughout the country. Much may no doubt be done 

 by acclimatisation. If seeds could be perfected in this country 

 it is likely we should have an advance towards greater hardi- 

 ness in the progeny, resulting ultimately, no doubt, in the 

 origination of a hardy variety. This can only be effected by 

 a series of experiments with the plant in a variety of situations 

 throughout the country. I have seen it thriving luxuriantly 

 in an orchard house unheated in the neighbourhood of Brad- 

 ford in Yorkshire, and have also seen young plants cut off to 

 the ground in an unheated house, the plants having been grown 

 outdoors and the wood waB very unripe ; but if its hardiness 

 flan be sufficiently established to that extent — i e., loss of the 

 -growth made in the summer and renewed the following season, 

 no more protection being afforded than a slight mulch, the 

 plant becoming herbaceous, we may secure its advantages as 

 a very handsome distinct-featured plant with possibly its 

 malaria-destroying properties. 



It is most readily propagated by seeds (which may be pro- 

 cured from any of the principal seedsmen) sown in March in 



sandy loam and leaf soil with a little peat, and placed in a 

 hotbed haviDg a bottom heat of 75 s to 90'. The plants soon 

 appear, and should be potted-off singly when the second leaves 

 show, keeping them shaded until established and growing-on 

 in heat until May, when they should be well hardened off and 

 planted out in June. A plant may be put out against a wall 

 with a south aspect, another in a dry sheltered yet open situ- 

 ation, and otherB in different potitions where most needed for 

 testing their hardiness and sanitary properties. In the interim 

 information as to its hardiness is solicited. — G. Abbey. 



MANURING ROSES. 



In answer to the question of " Midland Counties Rose- 

 grower" on this subject, very much must depend on the ob- 

 ject he has in view. If it be for exhibiting, a larger quantity 

 will be required than for ordinary garden purposes. My object 

 in growing Roses is that I may have under my own eye those 

 which I am so constantly called upon to judge, and to obtain, 

 therefore, such newer sorts as are likely to make their way as 

 exhibition Roses. I have good flowers sometimes which I 

 should not be aBhamed to put into competition with any growers 

 that I know ; but, as I do not exhibit, cannot say that I could 

 make up a stand. I do not, therefore, bud a quantity every 

 year. My plants are two, three, and four years old on Manetti 

 or seedling Briars. My soil is a light garden soil, to which I 

 am adding some stiffer loam, and I manure as far as I can 

 with pig manure. This I believe (ead though it may be to say 

 so) is that which her majesty the Rose most likes. It is not 

 so hot as stable manure, and has not so much tendency to en- 

 courage fungus at the roots, and has moie strength in it than 

 cow manure, which, however, ie very good, especially in hot 

 soils. My rule is to plaoe it as a top-dressing on the beds in 

 the autumn, when it seems to protect the roots from the frost, 

 and then to dig it in in the spring. 



Mr. Hole, who writes for exhibitors, recommends farmyard 

 manure to be applied in November, and again to top-dress in 

 Jane. Mr. Rivers recommends a surface-dressing in March, 

 or cocoa-nut fibre saturated with liquid manure, and states that 

 brewers' grains, after being fermented in a heap for two or 

 three weeks and mixed with burnt earth, are a most powerful 

 stimulant applied in the months of November and December, 

 and for a summer dressing recommends a mixture of wood 

 ashes and guano in the proportion of a bushel of the former 

 to half a peck of the latter, quarter of a peck of the mixture 

 to be given to each tree, letting it remain undisturbed on the 

 surface and to be well watered in dry weather. Mr. Paul is 

 strongly in favour of spring manuring, and recommends night 

 soil prepared with an admixture of loam, to be placed in a pit 

 and used after six months, either to be forked-in or scattered 

 over the beds immediately after they are forked-in in the 

 spring. Mr. Cranston agrees with me in considering pig ma- 

 nure to be the best, next night soil, and then cow dung and 

 horse dung. Pig dung to be put on the ground during winter 

 or early in spring, and forked-in at once. 



It will thus be Been by your correspondent that in this, as in 

 most other things, doctors differ, and he can choose from these 

 various plans that which commends itself most to him and 

 seems best adapted to his soil. — D., Deal. 



HYBRID NOSEGAY GERANIUMS. 



I can assure "Age " that it is not from want of trying other 

 sorts of Geraniums that my preference has hitherto fallen on 

 the Hybrid Nosegay section, and that as yet I have found Mr. 

 Pearson's strain the best. I have still Jean Sisley, Harry 

 King, Lady Kirkland, Star of Fire, Rose Rendatler, Charley 

 Casbon, &c, but I have found it impossible to preserve every 

 sort from Tom Thumb and Stella to Vesuvius, Lucius, &c. 

 Geraniums are not like Roses where one can have mixed beds ; 

 nor are they, like Roses, hardy so as to tike care of themselves 

 if properly attended to when once established. 



Those who like "Age" prefer small trusses and a quantity 

 of bloom all at one time, can of course grow Vesuvius and 

 others of that stamp. I have always asserted that Violet Hill, 

 where it succeeds, is Btill, my type of a dwarf bedding Gera- 

 nium, and Charley Casbon is nearly equally good in its way, 

 but both these kinds require to have the old plants kept in 

 order to have early and good blooms. No doubt in wet weather 

 the centreB of large trusses are apt to be injured, but equally 

 so in wet weather the blooms of the smaller-trussed varieties 

 are knocked down and disfigured. 



