92 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ August 3, 1871. 



before fixing the tiles, and after that being careful not to disturb them 

 by digging too near. 



Frcit Trees (J. F).— No donbt you may use the clear water from the 

 tank with advantage to the fruit trees. 



VniEs Diseased (IF. E.).—lt appears to us, from the leaves you have 

 sent, that your Vines have had too much water, and probably some 

 liquid manure. 



New Show Roses (J. G. S.).— The best sis exhibition Roses which 

 have been produced within the last three years are, in my opinion — 

 1, Madame la Baronne de Rothschild ; 2, Perfection de Lyon ; 3, Madame 

 Chirard ; 4, Edouard Morren ; 5, Louis Van Houtte ; 6, Marquise de 

 Mortemart. No 5 is the finest dark Rose, but it is not, I fear, a good 

 grower. No. 6 is also a delicate grower, ^>nt is lovely. I mentioa two 

 others that are good Roses and fair growers— 7, Duke of Edinburgh, and 

 8, Dapay-Jamain ; they are both handsome R-ises, and all are free- 

 bloomers- The four first-named Rnses are strong growers; delicate 

 growers will not last long in ihis dim -te.— W. F. Radcltffe. 



Cutting down Jeeusalem Artichokes (H. 5.).— If you cut off the tops 

 of these at the middle of July at 1 foot high they will produce tuber?, but 

 these will be considerably smaller than were the plant'= not headed down 

 at all. It is advlstd by some to cut oflf the stalks about half way early in 

 August to admit morn freely the light and air, and when large tubers are 

 not wanted doing so gives a nice even-sized tuber, by some preferred to 

 large, knotty, irregular-shaped tubers, and not nearly so watery. We 

 ihave known the tops cut off three times in a season, and fresh shoots 

 still produced. The Jerusalem Artichoke is almost as difficult to eradi- 

 cate as the Horseradish. i 



CLiiiBER FOE Covering a Low Teellis (A New Subscriber). —It would 

 he best covert'd with Ivy, which forms a verv close covermg in a short 

 time, and affords warmth which you need. The Irish Ivy (Hedera Helix 

 canariensis) is free -growing and fine, but we should plant Rfegner's Ivy 

 (Hedera Eaggnerinna). Procure at once some strong plants in pots and 

 plant them out. watering well if the weather he dry. The plants would 

 become well e,-tablished before winter. Virginian Creeper, and also Am- 

 ■pelops-is Veitchii, would suit, but you seem to forget that they lose their , 

 leaves in vrinter. I 



Cabbage Plants Blind (W. L.).— The cause of the Cabbage, Broccoli, 

 and others of the Brassica tribe coming blind is some defect in the seed ; 

 but blindness does not result from what is known as bad seed, being more 

 frequent in true selected stocks than in impure samples. There is no 

 mo'^e of guarding against such occurrences; but in planting out all the 

 Cabbace tribe the plants should be examined, and those not having centres 

 should be rejected. The evil is apparent when the plants have made 

 three rough 'eaves or never. 



Stavesacbe { Idem). ~li is the seed of Delphinium Staphisagria. Dr. 

 Hogg, in his " VeRetable Kingdom," says, pase 18, 'From the seeds of 

 DelphiniuT) Staphisagria, or Stivesacre. an alkaloid substance called del- 

 phine is extracted, wh'ch exerts violent poisonous properties in very 

 small doses, acting chiefly on the nervous system. The seeds of the plant 

 are so violently emetic and cathartic as never to be administered inter- 

 nally, but are principally applied to some feinds of rutan ous eruptions, 

 and in powder for destroying the pediculi of the head. A strong tincture 

 has also been used with advantage as an embrocation in rheumatic affec- 

 tions. In some countries the seeds are used to intoxicate fish in the 

 same manner as Cocculus indicus."' If you try the S'^eds along with 

 quassia chips for destroying insects, as stated at page 352 of last volume 

 of The Journal of Hoeticultdse, we should be obliged if yoa would j 

 communicate the result. 



Cheilanthes elegans Fronds Falling (A Constant Subscriber). — I 

 The fronds are always liable to breakage at the base, and in your case i 

 this tendency is increased by the temperature 60^) in which it grows, ; 

 the footstalks being long and unable to support the frond. Plice it in 

 an airy and but slightly shaded position in a sreenhoase. Water the 

 plant well, bat do not keep the soil in a saturated state, and besides givin<; 

 abundant drainage, add one-fourth sandstone in lumps between the sizes 

 of peas and walnuts to the compost, whi-h may consist of two parts 

 sandy peat, one part loam, and one part silver sand, with the sandstone 

 above named. 



TKEATiiENT OF IMPORTED Feens (Idem). — The Ferns you are exoectiog 

 from the West Indies should be placed on arrival in pots just suf&cient 

 to hold the roots, using a compost of two parts peat, one part yellow 

 loam, and ouh part silver sand, with eood drainage. Place them in a 

 house with a temperature of from 60^ to 65- at night, and 70^ to 75' by 

 day, with a rise of 10^ from sun heat, shading frim biight sun. Sprinkle 

 lightly overhead morning and evenincr. and frequently sprinkle the path 

 and other surfaces with water during the diy, so as to maintain a moist 

 atmosphere. Water so as to keep the soil j ust moist, and when the Ferns 

 begin to grow water more freely. 



Ceoton VARiEGATuai CULTURE (Idem). — Use a compost of two parts 

 Bandy peat, one part light turfy lo^m, one part leaf soil, and half a part of 

 charcoal, in lumps from the size of a pea to that of a hazel nut, and silver 

 sand, with good drainage. Th- watering should be moderate, and copious 

 when the plant is growing freely. Pot in spring before it begins to grow, 

 and again in June or July, if necessary. It requires a li^ht, moderately 

 airy position ia a house with a temperature of, from April to October, 

 60° to 65' at night, and 70'' to 75^ by day. with a rise to 80^ or 85^ with 

 sun; from October to April a night temperature of 55- to 60°, and 65^ 

 by day. with a rise of from 10° to i5° or more from sun heat. A moist 

 atmosphere is essential for free growth. The botanical name of the 

 Artillery Plant is Pilea mnscosa. 



Liquid Manure for Asparagus (W. P., J.^para(7iis).— Guano water at 

 the rate of 1 oz. to the gallon of water is an excellent manure for As- 

 paragas. and, indeed, all kitchen-garden crops. For the Asparagus you 

 may make it of the strength of 2 ozs. to the gallon, and add 1 oz. of salt 

 to every gallon, giving a good soaking as often as you like from now till 

 the farlypart of September, and up to the middle of that month if the 

 weather be dry. 



Vine Leaves Rusted (A Constant Reader). — The leaves enclosed to 

 cs are not infested with red spider, but slightly rusted, otherwise they 

 are quite healthy. Having the red spider on the upper part of the Vines, 

 it i'« very likely the lower part will be attacked. 



CLEiiATis Propagation (TF. S.).— The surest way is to layer the firm 

 Ehoots in September, and by the following autumn they will be well 



rooted. The layering may be done in pots sunk in the ground, and the 

 shoot tied to a stake. Clematises may also be increased by cuttings of 

 the side shoots in summer, when they become firm, or about August, 

 putting them in in light sandy soil on a shady border, and covering with 

 a hand-glass. 



Pe-a^h Tree Casting its Fruit (T. G.).— The dropping from imperfect 

 stoning was most Likely owing to an imperfect fertilisation at the bloom- 

 ing period, though the same thing eocnetimes takes pi ice when a tree ia 

 over-vigorous. The growth seems to leave an insufficient amount of 

 vigour for stoning perfectly. Hence, watering must be managed with 

 care at the second swelling. 



Flue-heating a Small Greenhouse (B.).— The proposed earthenware 

 drain pipes will be ample for your purpose, but you will require to have 

 at least 2 feet from the stove or furnace brick, to prevent breakage. In 

 going round the sides and one end of such a house, it is best to take the 

 pipes into a square place instead of having roundi^d pipes for the corners, 

 as each of these square receptacles would enable you to clean the flues 

 easily by placing a tile on it. Tbe great drawback to these earthen- 

 ware pipes is that they are apt in such a small place to become over- 

 heated, and tbe pipes or joints to burst. For such a small hou=e as yours 

 we would prefer, instead of your pipes, a small furnace outside, and a 

 5-inch flue beneath the floor, the flue being covered with tiles as tbe floor, 

 or rather part of it. In your case we would advise you to have a lap for 

 your glass of rather more than one-eighth of an inch, and to g'aze in the 

 usual way. Unless the house roof is very flat indeed you will not be 

 troubled with drip from the laps. True, you might place your squares 

 edge-to-edge without laps, and if straight-cut you would need nothing 

 whatever between the squares ; but whether you place the squares in 

 grooves or not, at tbe sides there must be room left for tbe side-t-xpansion 

 of the glass, or the squares will soon chip where they join edgt-to-edge 

 on the slope. You may pack the squares in the grooves with cord, list, 

 &C-, but you cannot do it in the best way, we fear, without infringing 

 patents, and therefore for your small house we would say, Glaze in the 

 usual way. 



Storing Diseased Potatoes (J. H. C.).—'* In 'clamping' your dis- 

 eased Potatoes, however careful you may have been in sorting out the 

 rotten ones, some that are beginning to turn bad will certainly have been 

 overlooked, and these will propagate the evil throughout the mass. The 

 whole will be lost if you thus store them. At this time of tbe year, 

 especially, you will most likely have at liberty the bays of the barn, or 

 cattle-feeding and other sheds Cirefully sort tbe Potatoes, spread them 

 out thinly in the tsvilight of the bays of the barns or sheds, and have 

 them looked over and turned once a-week. Those showing tbe least sign 

 of the disease should ba collected and boiled down, with about a handful 

 of salt to each bushel, and used for the pigs. Let the water be well 

 strained away fr m them when cooked. Should there be more than the 

 pigs can consume within a reasonable time, h-tve the bulk well rammed 

 down into the hog-tubs, to be used as wanted. In a month or so the crop 

 of the tubers operated upon as above may be considered safe, and 

 unless 'clamping' is absolutely necessary, I would far prefer storing 

 them in lofts, or any cool and dry place where there is twilight, so as to 

 have them under observation and secure from the winter's frost I 

 would not allow them to be heaped to^iether too thicklv, so as to en- 

 courage long and exhausting sprouts ; and thus managed capital seed 

 may be expected of them nest sprin«. The largest and most-matured 

 tubers, should you require them for consumption, miy be sorted as taken 

 up, then housed in a dark place, and the diseased ones as they occur 

 singled out from them as stated ; but, of course, their balk must he kept 

 in the dark, for if allowed to become greened they would be unwhole- 

 some for human food. I trust the later-planted eleven acres may escape 

 the disease, and this is possible from the favourable change which has 

 taken place in the atmosphere. When lightning and thuoder, and ' white 

 rain ' occurs just as a crop of Potatoes is sufficiently mitnred — viz., about 

 setting the skins of the tubers, the energies of the foliage are then taxed 

 to the utmost, and possibly weakened to a degree which makes it more 

 susceptible oi the attacks of the disease, and then a continued sultry 

 moist atmosphere bee mes fatal. Dryness and the ridge-and-trench 

 system of cultivating the Potato are the only preventives of the evil, as I 

 have for so many years explained in these pages, but at the present 

 moment I have satisfactory proof of their efficacy before my eyes. — 

 Robert Fenn." 



Screen feom a Railway (An Ignorant Amateur). — The quickest way to 

 get a screen between you and the railway is— fir^t, trench the ground two 

 spades deep, even although you may have to disturb the few trees you 

 have already planted. The best of the Fir tribe for your soil is the 

 Austrian Pine, which will succeed Wc-li, and you may plant thickly as 

 nurses Black Italian Poplars, which will run np rapidly, and which you 

 can cut out after the Pines have attained the desired height. The Pines 

 ought not to be more ttian 2A to 3 feet high when planied, and you will 

 find that these will make a screen much more rapidly than larger plants, 

 which in all probability would remain stunted for some years before they 

 began to grow. 



Insects {R .S).— So far as we can judge from the smashed state of 

 the insects sent, they appear to be Nematus Capreae, one of the many 

 species of Saw-flies. Cannot you tell us something of their habits? 

 (T. v.). — Your caterpillar on the Pear was completely smashed, but from 

 what remains it seems to be that of the common Vapourer Moth, Orgyia 

 antiqua. (R. G. iV.).— The insects sent, which have attacked your Vines, 

 Cucumbers, &c., are the common Weevil, Otiorbyochus sulcatus. They 

 hide under the loose earth by night, and coma out to feed after dusk. 

 Lay a towel under the plants and shake them well some time after dusk, 

 when the insects will fall on the cloth, looking like bits of earth, with 

 their limbs folded up. They may be killed with boil n g water. — L O. W. 



Names of Plants (Lady King). — It is a very beautiful variety of Acer 

 Pseudo-Platanus, which we have never seen before. (A. S.k — Nostoc 

 commune, an Alga, not a fungus, very common on dry exposed surfaces, 

 scarcely visible except after rain The structure is very pretty under the 

 microscope.— M. J. B. {A. R.). — Melilotus arvensis is the name of your 

 yellow-flowered Trefoil, and Hypolepis repens that of the Fern. (Mon- 

 viouth).—!, Ruellia maculata, or, if you wish to be very correct, Strobi- 

 lanthus macula- us, a very shy-blooming plant; 2, Cassia laevigata, 

 (J. D.}. — The leaf of some umbelliferous plant, not recogni-ed at sikjht. 

 Be Hood enough to send when it blooms. (W. D.)- — 1, Malva Tourne- 

 fortiana ; 3, Campanula pusilla alba ; 4, Achillea Millefolium ; 5. Stat'co 

 Limonium; 6, Gentiana asclepiadea alba; 7i Epilobiam ii.*satnm« 



