134 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARUENER. 



C November 16, 1876. 



require light soil, l"ttle water, a b'g'a temperature, moist air, and roots 

 undisturbed. 



Propagating Mesembryanthehuiis (A Reader). — Cutting3 should be 

 inserted early in March, in a compost of equal part3 of turfy loam, sandy 

 peat, and silver sand, draining the pot or pan -well, and surfacing the compost 

 with half an inch of silver sand, watering before insertion, and putting in 

 the cuttings sii hours afterwards. In a gentle hotbed they will strike freely. 

 Seedlings may be raised by seed sown at the same time, omitting the sur- 

 facing with sand, and just or barely covering the seed. 



Raising Mtosotis fbom Seed [Idem) — Sow the seed nest April or early 

 in May in the open ground, pricking off the plants when large enough to 

 handle, and removing them to their flowering quarters in autumn. 



Geeaxttm Pots Covered with Mould (Idem). — It most likely arises 

 from the soil being too wet and eour. Eemove the mould with a stick, 

 loosening the surface of the soil. 



Planting Axstrozmerias (A. F B.). — Plant the roots now Sinche3 deep 

 iu good rich soil in an open situation but sheltered, surrounding the roots 

 with a little sand. Pot the bulbs of Brodiiea grandirlora at once in fibrous 

 loam, leaf Eoil, and sandy peat in equal part3, covering them about an inch 

 deep, and keep in a cold pit but protected from frost until roots are plenti- 

 fully formed, after which remove to the greenhouse or window, or you may 

 plant the bulbs 4 inches deep in a warm border. Tricbonema speciosa 

 requires to be treated the same as Brodiasa. 



Early Spring Flowers (C. T., Sussex). — There are maDy other good 

 spring bedders besides those you mention. Here are some of them, with 

 heights, colours, and time of coming into flower: Gentiana verna, blue, 

 4 inches, April; Gentiana acaulis, deep blue, 6 inches, April; Hepatica tri- 

 loba, 6 inches, February, single and double pink, the same of red, mauve, 

 and blue, and single white ; Iberis corifolia, 9 inches, white, March; Dielytra 

 spectabilia, 2 feet, deep piok, April; Cheiranthus Marshallii, 9 inches, rich 

 yellow, April; Aubrietia deltoidea, 6 inches, lilac, April; Aubrietia Camp- 

 bellii, 6 inches, purple, April; Arabis albida, 9 inches, white, February; 

 Alyssum sax.atile, 9 inches, yellow, April; Nemophila insignia, 9 inches, 

 light blue, April; Saponaria calabrica, 9 inches, pink, April; S. calabrica 

 alba, white, uniform in height with the pink sort, and flowering at the same 

 time, 



Baising Young Tulip Trees (Idem). — Tulip trees are propagated in this 

 country by seed imported from America. It is only in favourable seasons 

 like the present that the seed ripens with us. Sow your seed immediately in 

 pots placed in a cold frame, let the young seedlings remain in pots, plunged 

 in an open border the first year, in order to check their excessive tendency to 

 form tap roots. 



Casiellias with Foul Foliage (L. Sfcauj).— Es amine the stems and 

 branches closely and you will probably find them infested with scale, the 

 escrement of whicn being the "filmy black sticky substance" that you are 

 so much troubled with. The inspection must be close, and the cleansing 

 thorough. Do not, however, rest satisfied with a single washing, but repeat 

 it in a week or two, and you will ba7e little subsequent trouble. 



Black Heart Cherries not Setting (G. <?.). — Cherry blossoms are 

 Tery susceptible to injury from frosts. You do not say whether your tree is a 

 standard, or whether it is in the open ground or against a wall. In EBses we 

 have Governor Wood and May Duke bearing goad crops annually, while we 

 were obliged to grub a number of other good sorts out, including Duchesse de 

 Palluau aud Empress Eagenie. You cannot do more to your tree than you 

 have done. Grub it out and plant Governor Wood, which is a fine-flavoured 

 free-bearing sort. 



Raising Strawberry Plants fbom Seed (B. D.). — We sow our seeds 

 as soon as the fruit is lipe, and place the pots in a cold frame. Some of 

 the seeds vegetate at once, but the largest number of plants do not appear 

 until the following spring, and they form strong plants and produce a crop of 

 fruit the following season. You had better sow your seeds on a gentle hot- 

 hed in March. The Alpines would bear fruit late the same season. . They 

 require the same treatment as the other varieties. 



Bedding Geraniums not Flowering (Idem). — It is singular that your 

 Zonals do not flower freely, as the treatment you give them is right. What 

 sorts do you grow "? Corsair, Wellington, lanthe, Christine, Mrs. Halliburton, 

 Amaranth, and many others flower freely with ns in richer Boil than yours. 

 We insert our cuttings about the end of August. It you keep your Verbenas 

 free from red spider, green fly, &c, and supply the plants^with water during 

 drought they will grow and flower well. 



Glazing T inert and Making Vine Border (D. P. B.). — We d) not 

 know of any vineries glazed with the roof glass butted. We think yon would 

 be able to grow good Grapes by mixing a quantity of turfy loam and crushed 

 bones with your rich garden soil. It is necessary to see that the border is 

 effectually drained. 



Grapes in Early and Late Vineries (J. A ). — We do not think Lady 

 Downe's Seedling would be a good stock for an early White Grape. As you 

 already have Dr. Hogg, it would be a3 well to train a rod of that sort up, and 

 replace Lady Downe's with it ; or if you want a Sweetwater, inarch Buckland 

 Sweetwater on one of the Hamburgh rods. Bjyal Muscadine will bear freely 

 -enough if you train up a young rod, and the stronger the wood it makes the 

 more freely it will bear. We cannot advise you to plant another variety for a 

 conservatory. 



Heating by Petroleum On,.—" W. L. 0." wishes to koow the expense 

 of heating a greenhouse 20 feet by 12 feet by burning this oil in a stove. 



Rose Planting (Alpha).— The Rose trees now planted do not require 

 watering. Cocoa-nut fibre refase 2 inches deep will exclude severe frost from 

 the roots. 



White Ischia Fig. — "A very old Reader of the Journal" will be obliged 

 by " K." saying how bis trees are trained, and for full information how best 

 to grow Figs for market. In our " Fruit Gardening Manual," price 4d., full 

 directions are given for cultivating the Fig. 



Planting Rhododendron (South Devon). — In answer to your query — " Do 

 cattle crop, or rabbits aDd hares eat, Rhododendrons ? " Our reply is that we 

 have thousands of Rhododendrons in variety disposed in groups over about 

 15 acres of pleasure ground, the Rhododendrons having shoots within reach 

 of hor3ea, cows, and sheep, and hares aud rabbits are very numerous, 

 especially the latter, and have free access to the evergreens, yet none of those 

 quadrupeds interfere with the growth of the Rhododendrons. We, however, 

 question the propriety of placing the Rhododendron within the rea^h of do- 

 mesticated animals, as a casual partaking thereof may lead to disastrous con- 

 sequences on account of the narcotic properties of this shrub. We shall 



prune ours so as to place them beyond the reach of cattle. Everyone wishing 

 for evergreen growth should plant Rhododendrons. The eommon varieties 

 are now as cheap as Laurels, and their growth, though not so free, is more 

 dense, having an additional advantage in flowers. They grow in any soil, 

 except sand and limestone, devoid of vegetable matter. 



"Blind" Primulas (Amateur). — The trusses you sent ns are anything 

 but devoid of flowers ; some, indeed, had flowers opened when the box reached 

 us, and those were perfect in style, stigma, and ovary ; the opened calyx of 

 the others had perfect pips, and would in due time have developed. The 

 footstalks of the trusses are very weak, and the flowers are the worst we have 

 ever Been. It is usual for the flowers to expand successionally, which may 

 have led to your concluding the trusses were blind. Weak liquid manure 

 would improve the size of the flowers, assigning the plants a light- airy posi- 

 tion near the glass. Your plants are from a poor strain, not worth culture. 

 On comparing the flowers of yours with ours, we find yours are not much 

 over half an inch across, ours averaging 2 inches in diameter. 



Error.— On p. 403, column2, and line 25 fromtop, for "two" read "too.'' 



Names of Fruit (R. E. HorsfaU).—!, Comte de Flandre; 3, Susette de 

 Bavay ; 4, Beurre Diel; 6, Thompson's; 9, Van Mons Leon le Clerc; 10, Tri- 

 omphe de Jodoigne. {E. H. B.).— The tall Apple is Catshead, and the round 

 one Striped Beefing. (Af. C. £>.).— Crataegus tanacetifolins. 



Names of Plants (J. Dukes). — We cannot name from leaves only. 



POULTEY, BEE, AM) PIGEOK 0HE0NI0LE. 



THE CRYSTAL PALA.CE SHOW OP POULTEY, &c. 



We wonder what the owners of the four thousand pens of 

 birds thought when they were packing-np on Monday morning 

 to consign them to the Sydenham meeting. No doubt many 

 expected prizes who have not had a card, and very probably the 

 less sanguine have had their share of success, for in the Palace 

 lottery, sad to say, there are so few prizes in comparison to the 

 blanks. But it is always well before these great meetings to 

 demolish all one's airy castles, for it is often hard to have to do 

 it afterwards. Many must be disappointed, for new birds make 

 their debut here, and old favourites have to be put upon the 

 shelf, perhaps only temporarily, until, having rested, they are 

 once more fit for battle, like 



" Suns that set and moons that wane, 

 Rise and are restored again." 



As the Show is this year one day later in the week we cannot 

 give our annual report until nest week. Suffice it to say now 

 that the quality is as good as ever, and the number of perfect 

 specimens in the various breeds very large. Some names are 

 missing from the catalogues — old household names in that body 

 of exhibitors — some of them because ttre ranks have been 

 thinned by death, and some of them from declining the fancy. 

 Of the former we miss two very much, for we had for years 

 been in the habit of going over the French and Cochin classes 

 with them. 



In other respects the Palace Show of 1876 much resembles 

 the Palace Show of other years, for we see Mr. Billett walking 

 about among his pens as usual. We see the same managing 

 Committee rosetted and courteous. We recognise nearly the 

 same faces, and in many cases the same birds. We can almost 

 imagine we have slept for a twelvemonth and have woke-up 

 and found the Crystal Palace Show where we left it in 1875. In 

 appliances there is the same show houses, polished and var- 

 nished like drawing-room furniture; incubators, too, hatching, 

 when they will never hatch at home ; stalls of medicated com- 

 pounds, and spices in tins and canisters, poultry baskets, poultry 

 books, poultry papers — in fact all that is wanted at the Palace 

 Show to make one become a poultry fancier is a "pocket full 

 of rye;" and from the number of " sold" cards about, in spite 

 of the money market, trade stagnation, rumours of wars, and 

 many such disturbances, we can fnlly believe that there are yet 

 left many who can, king-like in the nursery rhyme, go into their 

 counting-house and count out their money. 



Thus much, then, for preface; the stem reality of criticism 

 will come next week, and in the meantime we give our readers 

 the prize list of this gigantic Show. — W. 



POULTEY. 



Doeibos- Coloured.— Cock.— 1. Mrs. Arkwright. 2, G. Ellis. S. H. Verey. 

 Sen.-l and Cup, F. Parlett. 2, F. Parlett 3, T. C. Bamell. Cockerel— 1, 

 Cnp. and 4. O. E. Cresswell. 2 and S, T. C. BuraeU. 5, F. Caws. Pullet— 1 

 and Cup. E. Pontine. 2, Dr. SnelL 3, H. Brown. 4, H. Kilsey. 5, P. Ogilvie. 

 Silver-Grey.—Cock.—l, Hiss Paaley. 2, "W.W. Kuttlidge. 3. O. E. Cresswell. 

 Hen.— 1, Cnp. and 3. T. C. Burnell. 2, O. E. Cresswell. Cockerel— 1, Cup, and 

 2, T. C. Bomell. S, O. E. Cresswell. Pullet— 1. O. E. Cres»weU. 2, T. C. Bur- 

 nell. 3, Countess of Dartmouth. Blue or Cuckoo— 1 and 3, T. C. Burnell. 2, 

 H. H. Young. White.— Cock —1, Mrs. Hayne. 2, 0. E. Cresswell. 3, K. A. 

 Boissier. Hen— 1. Cuo, and 2, O. E. Cresswell. 3, *W. Clementson. Any 

 variety— 1, Lord Tumour. 2, P. Ogilvie. 3 and i, F. Caws. 



Cocarss.— Cinnamon or Buff.— Cock.— I and Cup, G. H. Procter. 2, Mrs. 

 Christy. 3, Lady Gwvdyr. Hen.— 1, G. H. Procter. 2. Mrs. J. Davidson. S, A. 

 Darby. Cockerel— 1 "and Cup, Mrs. A. Tindal. 2 and 3, W. A. Barodl. 4.R.P. 

 Percival. Pullet.— 1, B. P. Percival. 2, H. Tomlinson. S, A. J. E. Swindell, i, 

 W. A. Burnell. vhc, Lady Gwydyr. Partridge.— Cock.— 1 and Cup, H. Tomlin- 

 son. 2, T. Stretch. 3, Lady Gwydvr. vhc, E. Tudman. Hen.-l, Mrs. A. 

 Tindal 2, E. Tudman. 3, J. N. C. Pope, rfte, R. P. PerclvaL Cockerel.— I, 

 w. A. Burnell. 2 and 3, E. Tudman. vhc, Mrs. Gordon. Pullet.— I, C. Sidg- 

 wick. 2. E. Tudman. 3, Mrs. A. Tindal. vhc, A. W. Burnell, E. Tudman. 

 White.— Cock— 1, Cup, and 2, B. A. BoiBSier. 3, R. P. Percival. Hen— 1, Mrs. 

 A. TindaL 2, G. H. Procter. 3, R. A. Boiseier. Cockerel.— 1, Mrs. A. Tindal. 

 2, R. A. Boiasier. 3, Kev. H. J. Borrow. Pullet— 1 and 2, Mrs. A. Tindal. 3, J. 

 Booth, v he, J. Turner. Black— 1, T. Aspden. 2, A. Darby. Cockerel.— I, E. 



