August 17, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDEJ^ER. 



129 



EOYAL HORTICULTTJRAI, SOCIETY'S FlORAL ComilTTEE (G. BrOOTce). — 



The nest meeting is on September 6tli. Address to the Secretary of the 

 Floral Committee, Koyal Horticultural Society. South Kensington, Lon- 

 don. They most be delivered there not later than 10 a.^i. on the day of 

 meeting. 



Tekant REiioviNG Plants {Tom Jo n(!s).— Unless you are a nurseryman 

 or florist, or have an agreement to the contrary, you cannot legally re- 

 move Kose trees and other shrubs and plants ; you cannot dig up a Straw- 

 berry bed ; but you may take up Tulips and other bulbs. 



Collection of Fruit (H.). — Black and White Grapes must decidedly 

 be " different kinds," and therefore within the letter of the schedule, and 

 we believe its intention also. They are always admitted as such at the 

 Loudon shows. 



Deacocephaltbt canabiense Seedlings (T. S.).— The seedlings of 

 this (the Balm of Gilead), planted in the open ground, will require to be 

 lifted in aututnu before frost, potted in light sandy loam enriched with 

 leaf soil, and wintered in a greenhouse, giving no more water than enough 

 to keep them fresh. 



Cropping between Strawberries {Idem).—'^Q do not think it would 

 pay to plant Asters or have Onions between the Slrawberry rows ; indeed 

 it would spoil the plants! bearing another year. As you cannot plant 

 until March, why not take a crop of some early Potato, as Myatt's Prolific 

 Ashleaf, which would be cleared by the early part of July ? Then you 

 could at once plant with Strawberries, and take pains so as to have the 

 runners rooted early by layering. You would from a July planting have 

 a good crop the following year, quite equal to a planting made in ilarch ; 

 and the Potatoes would be profitable, and cause no injury to the coming 

 crop of Strawberries. 



Strawberries Dying Off(TF. P.). — We could find no insect. Send 

 us a specimen, and we will endeavour to help you. The gardeners are 

 probably right. 



Early Prolific Straweerrt {B. G. Goddard).— Write to *' The Gar- 

 dener," Morningside, Kidderminster. 



Chasselas SIusque and Golden Champio?! Grapes (C.R.JR.). — Chas- 

 selas Musque requ res exceptional treatment to prevent the berries from 

 cracking. It requires the same treatment as Black Hamburgh until the 

 process of stoning is finished, then the atmosphere must ba kept dry. 

 A night tempemture of from 65^ to 7'*^ must be maintained, with as much 

 ventilation as possible both by night and day ; and, as a farther preventive, 

 cut a notch in the branch quite in to the pith, just underneath the hunch. 

 This checks the flow of sap to the berries, and will most likely prevent 

 cracMng. GoHen Champion succeeds best when grafted on the Black 

 Hamburgh. We then obtain plenty of bunches and the wood ripens well ; 

 but we have never had a bunch ripening off to a fine golden colour without 

 a number of the berries being disfigured with dark-coloured spots just 

 under the skin, nor have we seen any thoroughly ripe without this fiult. 

 Being a very th n-skinned variety it is more liable to rust than most 

 other sorts. "We have it grafted on Trentham Black ; the berries are of 

 immense size and nearly round, but they did not set weU, and few of 

 them are perfect. 



Vines in Cool Hottse (C. iJ.).— Your list will do very well, but you 

 ought Jo leave out Mrs. Pin ce and Gros Colman, which require heat, 

 the latter especially. 



Grapes Scalded (Staff Surgeon Major). — The berries were quite 

 shrivelled. But for your giving air all night we should have said that 

 the Grapes were blotched and scalded by hot water. We feir, if the 

 roots are near the surface, that the excess of rain on tlie outside border, 

 with want of sun, has been the chief cause. Meanwhile we would let the 

 sun play on the border, and give more air, even if you gave a little fire 

 heat on a dull cold day. We regret we cannot give more definite advice. 

 The great thing is to use preventives ; when once scilded or failing little 

 can be done. One of our best gardeners, finding his Vine borders getting 

 too wet, had a lot of dry litter put next the earth, and turned other cover- 

 ing material over that, so as to keep the soil drier. 



Grapes not Coloitbing (A. W.). — Too much water is as injurious as 

 too little ; retention of moisture is a fruitful source of shanking. If watered 

 so frequently before, it would be well to see if the roots are damp enough 

 at the colouring period. We would thin out. but not quite remove all 

 laterals, those left encouraging healthy root-action. 



Vine Leaves Withering lBlue).See what has been said in answer 

 to other correspondents. A great fall of rain on a badly-drained border 

 in such a sunless season, would help to cause the withering of the leaves, 

 and arrest the swelling of the fruit. That may be partly the cause, but 

 in the case of Vine and Geranium leaves, we believe the chief cause is 

 scalding or scorching, from want of air given early enough in a sonny 

 morning. 



Vine Koots Decaying (A. TF.).— It is rather singular that the Vine 

 roots should decay in an inside border in the manner stated. The wire- 

 worm, of course, would injare them, and should have been trapped and 

 Tendered uncomfortable with lime waterings, but they would not be 

 sufficient to account for the decay. We fear that your watering once 

 a-week has been too frequent, and we should not he surprised if fungus 

 has been formed from the fowl dung, &c., supplied. The wireworm, how- 

 ever, had better be eradicated by trapping with sliced carrots, &c. 

 Watering should ever be proportioned to the evaporation, and in such a 

 dull season as this it would be easy to over-water Vines, and thus so far 

 injure the roots. 



MusHROOiis (C. TF.).— So far as the preparation and management of the 

 bed have been conducted it appears to us that you have been most suc- 

 cessful, and there can be little doubt that the spawn you have used has 

 been spurious. 



CHRYSANTHEinrais GROWING AGAINST A WALL (St. Bridget).— Apply a. 

 mulching of well-decomposed farmyard manure to your Chrysanthemums 

 at once. They wiU require a copious watering alsout twice a-week. If 

 the ground is poor an occasional watering with weak manure water will 

 be beneficial, hut if rich we would not use it, or at least not before the 

 flower buds could be seen ; even then we have more faith in surface- 

 dressings, allowing the water to wash the nutriment down to the roots. 

 Decayed stable manure is most suitable. 



Aiierican Blight (Q. M. F.).— Slake some quicklime and add some 

 Salt ; make a paint of it, and apply it with a brush in winter. If lichens 

 or moss are on the trees it will cure that also. At Rushton I had several 



Eibston Pippin trees much affected by American blight. The above 

 recipe cured them entirely.— W. F. Eauclyffe. 



Covering a North Wall of a House {J. J. S.).— Try Rsgner's Ivy; 

 it has heart-shaped polished leaves, and is very handsome. If you want 

 flowers, put up a wire fence against the wall, and plant behind the wire 

 Cotoneaster buxifolia ; it has pretty white flowers and evergreen leaves; 

 the fruit is coral red. It is always cheerful -looking. At Rushton I 

 covered with it a north wall that was unsightly when seen irom my 

 dining-room. It is a strong grower, and will reach 8 or 9 feet high. Ivy 

 is an excellent covering for a damp wall. — W. F. Radcltffe. 



Wintering Castor Oil Plants in the Open Ground (D. Jlf.).— This 

 plant cannot be wintered out of doors even with protection, for it ie 

 destroyed by a few degrees of frost. Take up your plants on the first 

 approach of frost, place them in a house from which frost is excluded, ami 

 keep them dry. If the plant has flowered throw it away. Perhaps the 

 best plan to secure strong plants for planting out is to sow now, and have 

 the plants established before winti-r in small pots in sandy soU, keeping 

 them dry and near the glass during the winter. 



Fern Fronds Losing Colour {Idem).~lt is probably due to the plants 

 being much shaded, and not having a sufficiently high temperature. It 

 is usual, however, for the kinds you name, and, indeed, all those having" 

 pink fronds whilst young, to show less colour in the late summer and 

 autumn months than ia the spring and early summer months. We at- 

 tribute the difference to the greater amount of light, the plants not being 

 shaded untU the sun's rays become powerful. The remedy will be more 

 light. 



Two-acre Garden (Constant Eeader). — You and your one man have 

 enough to do ^vith this, the houses, frames, &c., if all is kept well; but 

 much will depend on the style of keeping. Where fruit and vegetables 

 are sold there is more labour involved than when nil is consumed by the 

 family. Early forcing, too, makes all the difference. 



Melon Ripening (An Irish JReader).~'Vo know when a Melon is ripe is 

 no difficult matter. You may know when it begins to ripen by the per- 

 fume or aroma given off, and then you will notice a change in the colour. 

 When it changes to one colour throughout— it may be white, yellow, or 

 yellow tinged with red according to the kind— it is fit for catting; and 

 another good crit'^rion is when the fruit commences to leave the vine by 

 cracking or parting from the footstalk; it should then be cut. We con- 

 sider it better to cut ilelons under rather than over-ripe, and to keep- 

 them for a few days in a dry airy room before sending them to table. 



Heating a Span-roofed Cucusiber House (Signature illegible). — 

 There need be no difficulty in taking your main flow-i)ipes at the sides of 

 the house to jc5In the return beneath the bed. Such things are done 

 every day. You might thus, with the exception of the return, have your 

 top and bottom heat independent of each other. A very simple mode oS. 

 heating such a house would be to take the side and end pipes as flows, 

 and make all returns in the chamber beneath the bed, but by this mode 

 you must heat the sides before you could heat the chamber. The more 

 flows and the fewer return-pipes, the more regularly will the pipes be 

 heateci. Assuming that the boiler is at one end of the house, and you 

 can have only one pipe at the side, we would take that right round and 

 drop at once to the return-pipe near the boiler ; then, so far as this pipe 

 is concerned, that would be quite under separate control by means of a 

 throttle valve. That would not in early forcing be enough for top heat, 

 and you would still have to borrow from the chamber for that purpose* 

 With foar or five pipes in the chamber, and the slides spoken of, you 

 might dispense with side pipes. 



Breakage of Glass IC.Z.). — With ordinary 15-oz. glass, we have lost 

 few squares, size '20 inches by 12. We are sorry you have lost so much j 

 the glazing must have been too tight. We would in respect to the large 

 house leave well alone, and reglaze with 21-oz., say 20 by 12, or 20 by 

 15, not larger. 



Second Early Potatoes (Cottage Gardener).— The Lapstone is the 

 best second early Kidney Potato, and Early Oxford the best second 

 early round kind Neither has large hauhn, though in both it is larger 

 than in Myatt's Prolific. Large haulm is in a great measure due to the 

 richness of the ground, and to giving manure at planting, or just before. 

 We do not know of a second early having shorter haulm than those 

 named. They are unequalled for quality and yield. 



Transplanting HEaTHER (J. P., York], — Transplanting pieces of 

 young Heather over the burnt moor at a few yards apart should be done 

 in autumn after the growth ia complete, or between September and; 

 March in mild weather. The younger the Heather the better it wiQ 

 grow; but we are informed that the large pieces moved in October 

 sooner cover the ground with Heather, for though they may not grow so- 

 well as young tufts, tbey seed nauch more freely. We should try both, 

 and also cut off the Heather in full seed and strew it over the burnt 

 portion. 



Select Tall Phloxes (Mrs. C). — Axirantiaca superba, vermilion 

 orange; Madame Marie Saison, white, shaded red ; Duke of Sutherland^, 

 dark rosy crimson ; Etoile de Neuilly, white, with purple eye; Madame 

 Andry, deep crimson ; John Laing, rose, tinged with purple ; Vierge 

 Marie, white, purple eye ; Miss Melville, light rosy crimson. They caii 

 he planted in autumn. 



Insects (J. W.). — Your Willow branch is infested with numerous 

 specimens of a species of aphis, just in the same way as Roses or Beans- 

 may he observed every day. — I. O. W. 



Names of Plants (A Lover of Flowers). — You seem to have choseii 

 your pseudonym very well ; but if you do love your flowers we must ask 

 you, when you next request us to name " the enclosed flowers," to send 

 us a few more than yuu do now, or we shall think you selfish. Two 

 flowers only did we find — one, a Campanula, No. 3 of list, not in a state 

 in which we could name it ; the other (No. 1), being that of Agapanthus 

 umbellatus. No. 4 was Sedum Sieboldii ; and as for No 2, we can only 

 say it is the leaf of a monocotyledon, probably a Lilywort, and possibly 

 that of Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum racemosum, but this last is a mere 

 guess. (H". r.).— The long leaf is that of Goldfussia isophylla, the other 

 of Fiitonia argyroneura. Bnth are stove plants. (F. W. C.).—\, Drynaria 

 propinqua ; 2, Ph^matodes vulgaris ; 3, Gymnogramma tartarea ; 4, Adi- 

 antum hispidulnm ; 5, A. diaphanum ; 6, A. Capillus-Veneria. [Oswell). — 

 1, SelaginellaHartensii; 2, S. Braunii (S. pubescens of gardens) ; 3, Chloris 

 verticiilata, an American Grass. (Ben Bridges). — 1, Prunella vulgaris^ 

 Self-heal ; 2, Listera ovata, Twajblade ; 3, Phalaria arnndinacea fol. va» 



