April 7, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



259 



on the other hand, the ground bo stifl" and heavy, the effect will 

 not be bo good as a quantity of sea sand probably would. We 

 have, however, not had much experience with Asparagus so 

 treated. We would rather invite further communications on the 

 subject.] 



FUMIGATING WITH TOBACCO. 



I HAVE seen no plan more simple and effective than mine. I 

 have an iron bowl with a handle rivetted to it. The bowl is 

 made of good strong sheet iron ; the handle is about a foot long. 

 The price of it here is about 6d. I had mine given to me, it 

 being no more than a " waster " before being galvanised. I had 

 about twelve holes punched through around the bottom of it, 

 and I have had it in use about two years, and it looks as good 

 now as it did before it came into use. I think it beats 

 the flower-pot system of burning tobacco, for the pots are so 

 liable to break with the fire that is in them. I put a few bits of 

 wood on the top of the greenhouse fire, and in about ten minutes 

 the wood will be burned clown to a glowing heat bo as not to 

 cause any smoke from the wood when it is in the house. I damp 

 the- tobacco-paper, cut a few laurel leaves with it, put the wood 

 coals into the bowl, turn three small flower-pots upside clown, 

 set the bowl on them with the tobacco-paper put on the top of 

 the coals, go out, shut all up close, and in five or ten minutes 

 the house is full of tobacco smoke. There is no necessity for 

 stopping in the house, for the tobacco-paper will burn without 

 any trouble. — W. E., Wolverhampton. 



ESTABLISHING A KOOEEEY— ROOKERY 



FORSAKEN. 



The means of inducing a number of rooks to colonise any 

 given place is a subject which has already received various 

 answers from some of the many able readers of The Journal 

 OP Horticulture. But, though various suggestions have been 

 given on this point, there are at least two known ways of attain- 

 ing what in some localities is so great a desideratum ; and I 

 give them below, as they have not, I believe, been referred to 

 before in these pages. 



If upon any of the trees in or near the place where you would 

 wish to induce the rooks to nest, the nest of either a magpie or 

 a jay can be found, watch (if the former), the nest carefully, until 

 you are sure the old bird has done laying. This being known, 

 procure from some neighbouring rookery five or six eggs which 

 you are confident have not been sitten upon. Having obtained 

 them, watch for a convenient time to climb up to the magpie's 

 neBt, and change the eggs when the old birds are absent, which 

 they will be for a long time during the clay or two which occurs 

 between the date at which the hen ceases laying and com- 

 mences sitting. Should the old ones perceive you, proceed in 

 carrying out your object, trusting they may not forsake the 

 nest. 



The jay, though quite as good a foster-parent to the young 

 rooks as the magpie, is exceedingly shy of being intruded upon. 

 Should you have in your grounds one of their nests, from the 

 moment you know of its whereabouts studiously leave it to 

 itself until you suppose the old one is sitting, when eggs from 

 some rook's nest should also be procured — but this time, if 

 possible, in an early stage of being sat on. Keep them perfectly 

 warm until near the nest, where one should first proceed, dis- 

 turb the old bird, and, by following it whichever way it went, 

 endeavour to drive it further from the nest. This done, a second 

 individual having the eggs should quickly climb up and deposit 

 them in the room of those already in the nest, leaving as quickly 

 as possible, for of all the birds of which we have had experience 

 none will so readily forsake its nest as the jay. I have known 

 it do so repeatedly where an individual had but once climbed 

 up to it, and this without disturbing it in the least. 



Though I here give a suggestion or two, I would trouble 

 some of the many readers of this Journal for any further expe- 

 rience they may have in this matter also. We have here this 

 very season lost the rooks which had hitherto been as secure 

 upon the premises as their own new-made nests upon the trees. 

 They have unaccountably left abruptly and entirely, one and all. 

 Can any one inform me of the cause ? Some of them had 

 actually commenced their nests this spring, but this was no 

 sooner done than others came and destroyed them. I then acted 



upon the suggestion I found in these pages — namely, placing a 

 broom upon the trees. I did more, for I caused to be built-up 

 in one of the very crooks whero a nest rested last year an attempt 

 at a fac-simile of a rook's nest. This seems as yet to have been 

 of no avail : no heed have I seen taken of it save once, and this 

 by a rook Beemingly larger and darker than the generality of 

 them — a member of their gravest debates possibly ; for certainly 

 he seemed to treat this neBt with great derision, as was evident 

 by a species of ironical croaking and other strange sounds. 

 Now, as we happen not to have either jays' or magpies' nests 

 here, the thought has occurred to me, Why would not the jack- 

 daws do as well or even better than either, still leaving the 

 broom and man's nest in the branches above? — W. Eablex, 

 Diffstoell. 



P.S. — We have been in the habit of destroying the jackdaws 

 for the last year or two. I thint'none remained in the rookery 

 this spring. Can this have caused our friends to leave ? 



CULTURE OF THE GENUS CHOROZEMA. 

 By Paul Progress, Esq. 



Of all beautiful New Holland plants, the plants belonging to 

 this interesting family are the mOBt beautiful ; for, blooming 

 almost throughout the year', and more especially through the 

 winter and early spring months, they contribute to the decorative 

 appearance of the conservatory, or yield a few flowers for the 

 bouquet at a time when they are especially acceptable and valu- 

 able. They are also plants of tolerably easy cultivation ; at least, 

 those who have learned the rudimentary principles of cultivation 

 will find little difficulty in managing some of the more Bhowy 

 examples of the family. Others, as C. Henchmanni, and angus- 

 tifolia, are more difficult to manage ; but, before we conclude this 

 article, we will endeavour to make their cultivation clear and 

 easy to all. 



•The Chorozemas are propagated by cuttings of the half- 

 ripened young wood, taken off in July or August, making 

 choice of the short, stiff, and weak, or medium growth, but 

 avoiding twigs of a robust habit. These, after being trimmed, 

 should be about 1 inch long, and must be inserted in sand, under 

 the protection of a bell-glass. In preparing the pot for the 

 cuttings, take care to drain it thoroughly, by filling it half full 

 with potsherds, then place fibrous peat about an inch deep over 

 the drainage, fill up with clean silver sand, and the pot is ready 

 for the cuttings. It is indispensable that a little peat be placed 

 under the sand, as it affords nourishment to the young plants, 

 until they are potted-off, and admits of their being allowed to 

 remain longer in the cutting-pot than would be advisable if 

 they were growing in sand only. After the cuttings are all in, 

 place the pot in a close, cold frame, water when necessary, and 

 wipe the condensed moisture from the inside of the glass twice 

 or thrice a-week. Here the cuttings must remain until they are 

 cicatrised, when they may be removed to a rather warmer 

 situation, the potB be plunged in a very slight bottom heat, and, 

 in a few weeks, they will be ready to pot-off. If it is late in the 

 season — say the end of October, before the cuttings are in a fit 

 state to pot-off, it will be the best plan to let them remain in the 

 cutting-pot through the winter, and to pot them off in February ; 

 but if they are fit for single pots in September, then they will be 

 much benefited by being potted-off early. 



The plants when sent out from the nurseries are generally 

 from twelve to eighteen months old, and, at that time, should 

 be established in five-inch pots. Presuming you have selected 

 dwarf, healthy, bushy, well-rooted specimens, prepare the follow- 

 ing compost : rich fibrous peat, two parts ; leaf mould, one 

 part ; turfy rich loam, two parts ; clean potsherds and charcoal, 

 broken to the size of horse beaus, one part ; with sufficient gritty 

 sand to make the whole, when mixed together, light and porous. 

 Time was, and that but a year or two back, when cultivators, to 

 secure porosity, used the soil in rough pieces, and " a down- 

 weBtward " cultivator, to show the strength of his affection, has 

 recommended pieces the size of a brick. Thus, though this 

 served the purpose of growing the plants rapidly for a short 

 time, they soon became unhealthy, for, the compost being de- 

 ficient in silicious matter, from the impossibility of mixing the 

 sand with the coarse pieces of turf, it soon became unhealthy, 

 and hence the plants were brought to a premature end, much to 

 the disappointment of the cultivator, whose labours were out 

 short just at the time when his anticipations were at the highest 



