300 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ April 21, 1863. 



watered an hour or two before it is shifted into a larger cot, and 

 more especially if the hall of the plant is but slightly broken or 

 merely a little ruffled at the sides to let the roots out freely. 

 Ever and anon men will be sure to stick dry balls into larger 

 and fresh pots, and no amount of watering will ever saturate 

 them afterwards. The water will pass through the fresh soil, 

 avoiding the dry ball as if it were rolling from a cabbage-leaf or 

 trickling from the wing of a duck. The only modes of moisten- 

 ing in such circumstances are either boring holes with wires in 

 the ball, and filling these with water, or setting the pot over- 

 head for half an hour in a tub of water. These Camellias we 

 probed and brought out the dry dust from the centre of the 

 ball to show there was no mistake in the matter, and before 

 repotting them the ball was soused overhead for a couple of 

 hours in chilled water about 80°, and then allowed to drain 

 before repotting. When any danger in this respect is appre- 

 hended the soil should not only be well firmed, but that next 

 the pot should be rather the highest, to send the water over the 

 bulk of the ball. We would advise in the case of all plants that 

 throw th ei r buds, or do not please in the flowering, that they 

 should be examined in this respect, and care taken that the 

 mam part of the ball is not dry. There is just another fertile 

 source of Camellias casting their buds, and that is the pots 

 being cooled much by frost before the plants are housed. The 

 roots are much more easily injured when expanded in a pot than 

 when planted out. 



FBESH SOIL. 



We have potted-off a good number of Golden Chain Gera- 

 niums spring-struck, as we think that small young plants pro- 

 duce the best foliage. There is something rather tender in this 

 still-general favourite. This winter our general stock has been 

 kept in rather a low temperature. To have them nice they 

 should rarely be below 45° in winter. They did not look so 

 nice as we wished, or, being mostly in 60 and 48-pots, we would 

 have turned the older plants into trenches with a piece of calico 

 over them. On examination the plants seemed to have made 

 few roots ; and the soil being about them all the winter, it was 

 not likely that it would be so sweet as to entice them to do so 

 Our intended treatment, therefore, was altered. A slight hotbed 



T + if 3 -? fly ^ f tre , e )eaves - The plant8 were shaken free 

 of the old soil, and replaced again in small pots in h^ht soil, 

 consisting of equal parts loam, leaf mould, peat, and sand, and 

 plunged in a mild heat. In less than a week the fine white 

 roots are getting to the sides of the pot, the leaves are increasing 

 in .size and yellowness, and in a fortnight they will stand any- 

 where and be fit to go out, and we feel confident in a favourable 



B ih«°Z ^ "u- u t r\ X e " re J' u9t as Bure > that if *<** in 

 fnal v ! W i ^ yhad b6en t0 ° mueh starved ^ winter, 

 ™,7 £ ^ lc \ th ° 80,1 > ,°7f g t° that coolness, had been slightly 

 soured, the plants would have done little good until the ground 

 had got warm m summer, and perhaps not even then. Most 

 likely, too they would have been as deficient in rich yellow as 

 those mentioned by a correspondent the other week. This re- 

 potting and a hitch on for a fortnight, will make them all that 

 we wish— at least we hope so. 



BEDDING PLANTS. 



We have gone beyond limits ; but we crave a few lines more, 

 so that no imetake may be made, as it seems some misappre- 

 hension exists as to planting-out into temporary beds, which is 

 a most economical plan where glass room is scarce, and would 

 be advisable as a saving of labour up to the beginning of April, 

 and putting the plants out singly. To amateurs, however, who 



TdvfIT P ° °!? gly ° T , kee P a11 tne y ha ™ in P°ts> we would 

 advise them to do so after the middle of April is past. We 

 have no glass for bedding plants, except what we use for other 



™rFh n.f f We T," r think 0f P° ttiD S a twentieth part, the 

 turnt P » „f l* 1 ?? C / er y- tren oh are our resorts after March, 

 is ? Zffn °? ^r^ firSt - ° ne fine feature ° f this system 

 a-'mon h^» Bering once a-day, once a-fortnight or once 

 moTed Z , JT the mSrl£; and When the slants are to be 

 1?C rln I » *■*"«•. *» Anally think the plants carefully 

 dav nf L 7 f hSU Wh6U eram P ed iu P° t8 - Af t<* this 16th 

 as form nl,i h R t Wever > T 9 w £, uld P^nt singly only such plants 

 toda^L fib 7, root 8 - For instance: on a north border 

 whit/^liT P noked out a good many hundreds of the double 

 vout^Zf W i g randlfl ora, which is very hardy, but we like 

 Hatt ■ ? ; 8Bd . W f ° annot P lant ifc °nt where it is 

 &c when h« ,° 80wih Ageratums and Scarlet Geraniums, 

 <sc, when these plants will lift with nice balls singly. But now 



after this time, unless we could give glass protection and a little 

 help beneath the roots, we would not single out in a bed pots 

 full of rooted cuttings of Verbenas or Geraniums, as they would 

 receive a check, and would scarcely get well established in time. 

 For all such filings, however, we need the room they occupy, 

 and most likely will need the pots several times over : and there- 

 fore, though it was only for a fortnight or a month we would 

 turn them out into rough lumpy soil of which leaf mould formed 

 a part, breaking the ball of the cluster of plants little or nothing. 

 By this mode the fresh roots keep near home, the plants grow 

 on without check, and a very little care at planting time enables 

 you to divide the mass and plant separately ; and individually 

 they will suffer the moving but little. When obliged to econo- 

 mise room, means, labour-power, and command of water, many 

 shifts must be resorted to ; and the plan of turning out at this 

 time lots of struck things just as they are is one of the best for 

 us. Had we plenty of room under glass and pots, most likely 

 we would pot a good many separately. — E. P. 



TRADE CATALOGUES EECEIYED. 



C. Turner, Slough. General Spring Catalogue of Florists' 

 Mowers, Bedding Plants, S(c. 



Lucombe, Pince, & Co., Exeter. Descriptive Catalogue of 

 Hoses, Softwooded Bedding Plants, l(c., 1863. 



J. Scott, Merriott Nurseries, Crewkerne. Descriptive Cata- 

 logue of Bedding Plants. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



%* We request that no one will write privately to the depart- 

 mental writers of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to The 

 'Editors of the "Journal of Horticulture, $c." 162, Fleet 

 Street, London, JE.C. 



We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them answered 

 promptly and conveniently, but write them on separate 

 communications. Also never to send more than two or 

 three questions at once. 



We cannot reply privately to any communication unless under 

 very special circumstances. 



Americas Gooseberry (IF. CMnnick).— It is the Cape Gooseberry, 

 Physalis edulis. The postage stamps were received. 



Currant-branch Grub (J. T. Jones) .—This is not at all an uncommon 

 assailant. It is the larva of the Currant Sphinx (Trochilum tipuliforme). 

 Not only the extremity but the entirety of a branch is destroyed by the 

 grab eating Ihe pith throughout its length. The brown grains are not 

 eggs, but excrements. The parent moth, not the grub, lays the eggs. 



Lycopodiums [if. 3. B.).— There is a work devoted to Lycopodiums. 



Australian Flora (Tasman).— A work on this Flora is announced by 

 Mr. Lovell Keeve as about to be published, the author being Mr. Bentham, 

 President of the Linnaean Society. 



Stove Ferns, &c. (P. 3. 67.).— The work is now printing. The plates 

 are very numerous, and require great care. You can obtain the Ailanthus 

 Silk-worm eggj by writing to Lady Dorothy Nevill, Dangsteln, Petersfleld, 

 Hants. The fronds of the Gold and Silver Ferns must not be sprinkled 

 with water at alL 



Ventilating-pane [S. 31., Bacup).-<- There is no difficulty if a projecting 

 lap of lead is fixed on the rafter over the upper half ot the pane, and a 

 similar flap is fixed on the lower half of the pane. 



Hairpins for Pegging Plants (B.).— If you require a large quantity, 

 you had better apply to some wholesale house at Birmingham. 



Oxltp {J. W.). — Whether it be an Oxlip or Polyanthus we cannot tell 

 from seeing merely a truss of the flowers. Whichever it is, the limb of the 

 corolla is larger, deeper in colour, and more sweet than any we remember. 



Caladium zebrinum ( W. W. W.).— We conclude that the plant you 

 have under this name is Alocasia zebrina. If so it requires stove culture, 

 is a native of the Philippine Islands, and was imported last year by Messrs' 

 Veitch. 



Peat Soil (H. B.).~ If you live near London, apply to Mr. Kennard, 

 Swan Place, Old Kent Road. If at a distance and you require a quantity by 

 rail, apply to Mr. Short, Reigate Heath, Surrey. You will see their adver- 

 tisements in our Journal last week. 



Dwarf Yellow Calceolaria and Geraniums for Chain-border (A 

 Midland County).— Vie have not seen any Calceolaria ire like better than 

 C. Aurea floribunda. The dwarfeat Scarlet Geranium we have is Little 

 David. One of the prettiest variegated varieties is Queen's Favourite. 

 Dandy is the dwarfest, but it is a poor thing. Golden Chain is perhaps as 

 good as any— certainly it is better than Golden Fleece. The white-edged 

 class are so numerous that it is no easy matter to particularise. Countess 

 of Warwick is admired by some, but we like Jano, Bijou, and Alma 

 quite as much. 



