September 7, 1871. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



137 



and the soil being in a moist state no water will be required for about a 

 fortnigbt, otherwise the soil must be made moist- Place the bulbs in a 

 bottom heat of from 70° to 75^, if convenient, and continue them there 

 until the pnts are full of roots ; then gradually withdraw them from bottom 

 heat and give the plants a position near the glass; indeed, in all their 

 stages ihey cannot be too near it if room be allowed for their develop- 

 ment. When growing freely water copiously, and continue to do so until 

 the growth is complete and begins to turn yellow ; then withhold water 

 by degrees, and keep them dry in winter on shelves. They require the 

 temperature of a stove. 



Seedling Picotees (Maria). — The seedlings which have had single 

 flowers this year will not be double in the next, though sometimes semi- 

 double flowers of the first year are on the same plants double in the 

 following year. We have, however, no hope of single-flowering plants 

 becoming double in future seasons. We are unable to tell what cater- 

 pillar it is that is committing ravages amongst your Roses and Geraniums. 

 The best remedy would probably be to syringe the plants with 1 oz. of 

 white hellebore powder to a gallon of water ; let it stand in an earthen- 

 ware jar closely covered for twenty-four hour', then shake it up well and 

 apply it with a syringe on a mild evening, or sprinkle it over the plants 

 ^rith an old whitewash brush. 



Plants for a Stove (Young Begin7ier),-~Yonr list is upon the whole 

 good, but the twelve most select stove plants in our opinion are : — A.lla- 

 manda gi-andiflora, Anthurium Scherzerianum, Clerodendron Balfouri- 

 anum, Dalechampia Roezliana rosea, Dipladenia amabilis, Franciscea 

 calycina major. Gardenia radicana major, Hoya imperialis, Ixora acumi- 

 nata, I. coccinea superba, Medinilla maguifica, Roudeletia speciosa 

 major, an! Stephanotis floribunda. If vuu are restricted to twelve omit 

 •Clerodendron Balfourianum. Of Orchids for a stove, twelve are :— Aerides 

 odoratUm majus, Cattleya crispa superba, C. ITossiaa superba, Dendro- 

 bium fimbriatum oculatum, D. nobile majus, Epidendrum macrochilum 

 roseum, C^pripedium barbatum majus, LasUa purpurata superba, Odonto- 

 glossum AlexandriB, Phaljenopsis grandiflora, Vanda suavis, and On- 

 cidium splendidum. Three greenhouse clicabers are Tacsonia Van- 

 Volxemi, Rhyncbospermum jasminoides, and Lapageria rosea. The 

 " Orchid Manual" would suit you. It may be had free by post from our 

 office if you enclose 2s. l^d. with your address. 



Sowing Early Spring-flowering Plants (Mrs. B.). — It is now too 

 late to sow any but annuals, and those should be sown from the middle 

 to the close of this month. Full instructions are given in " Winter and 

 Spring Flower Gardening," which you have. 



Heating a Workrooiu: with Greenhouse Overhead (F.). — From 

 what we can make out, hardly anything in the way of heating could have 

 feeen done worse. You are quite right; you would heat ihe greenhouse 

 much better by taking the flow-pipe at once to the lowest part, and then 

 allowing the pipes to rise a little to the extreme end, where fix an air- 

 pipe, and take the return-pipe at once to the bottom of the boiler. You 

 can hare nothing worthy of the name of circulation in the low pipes g, 

 in your workroom ; in such a position they are practically useless. Any 

 heat they may have is more' from absorption from the heated chamber 

 round the boiler than from any proper circulation. That chamber round 

 the boiler heated by gas will heat your workroom just as an iron stove 

 would do. Do you heat the boiler by gas also, or have you a fire besides ? 

 Be that as it may, from the present position of the boiler you will never 

 ■heat the pipes g. Y'ou may go as high as you like, but not below the 

 boiler. 



Heating a Small Range of Houses (F. S. Worthin(iton).—V^e would 

 alter the arrangement of the houses to pit, stove, vinery, orchard house. 

 We would put the boiler then between the stove and vinery, and heat 

 rightand left as desirable. It matters little where the boiler is placed, 

 as if it is at one end, you could take a small flow and return-pipe from end 

 to end, having a complete circulation in'themgelves, and then by a valve 

 or tap take what you want for each house. For instance : for your early 

 winery you need from 7J to 80 feet of 4-inch piping. For Cucumbers 

 alone we find 1 and lA-inch piping very good. As to boilers, we can only 

 say, that after seeing and trying many, we have carried out what we 

 advise — simplicity, and put in two saddle-backs, and from one we shall 

 secure at least four difl'erent temperatures in winter. We have no fault 

 with other boilers, only we prefer the simple saddle-back. In glazing the 

 roof, the closer the one-eighth-inch laps touch each other the better. All 

 glass, especially if the squares are large, will be found to be a little 

 lounded, and there is a little tact necessary to place the rounds together, 

 otherwise there would be some open spaces between square and square, 

 the less the better, 



Geothermal Heating {C.Adams).— All that we know upon the subject 

 is contained in two of our back numbers — Nos. 143, new series, and 649, 

 old series. You can have them free by post if you enclose seven postage 

 stamps with your address. 



Blue Marl (New SuhscHher). — Without a chemical analysis, which we 

 cannot undertake to effect, we could not tell you with any degree of con- 

 fidence its worth as a manure. We believe it to be what is usually called 

 gault or blue chalk marl. If it be that it" is not siliceous. 



Names of Fruits (S. 0. i?.).— Nectarine, Violette Hative. Apple, Lord 

 Saffield. 



Names of Plants (D.M. G.).—Vallota purpurea, sometimes called the 

 Scarborough Liiy. (SrM&areei.— Dolichos lignoaus ; certainly not the 

 plant yon mistook it for. (A New Subscriber, Kilniciek).~l, ^schynan- 

 thu'* longiflorua ; 2, Begonia strigillosa, otherwise known as B. dadalia ; 

 Z, ^chmea discolor. {R B. I,.).— By no means trust to your Cucurbit as 

 being fit for food. We have not yet recognised what species it is, but 

 warn you at once that we recommend you by no means either to pickle 

 or in any other way to eat the fruit till you know more of them, or have 

 certain knowledge that they are not injurious. The general character of 

 Cucurbits is deleterious. Some are very poisonous, and very few indeed 

 are to be trusted. (A. B. F.).— 2, Doodia caudata ; 3, Selaginella Martensii ; 



4, Asplenium flibellifolium. The other specimens were too young and 

 fragmentary to be determined, especially as thev have no spores, and 

 were not recognised ofi-hand. (Acton Castle).— Tlhe shrubby plantis Ame- 

 lanchier Botryapium. with racemes of white flowers [A. C.).—2, Eryngium 

 alpinum ; 3, Spiiasa Fihpendula, Dropwort ; 4, Lilium Martagon ; 8, Alys- 

 sum saxatile ; 9, Lonicera japonica, Japanese Honeysuckle. (Alpha).- 

 1, Phymatodes vulgaris; 2, Selaginella Kraussiana ; 4, S. Martensii; 



5, Cyrtominm falcatum; 8, Platyloma cordata, (TT. F. B.).— Oxalis arti- 



culata, native of Chili. (Ignoramus). — Cornus mas. (George). — Vallota 

 purpurea, also known as the Scarborough Lily. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



DE OMNIBUS REBUS.— No. 4 .^^•D last. 



We left off last week on the subject of food. We borrowed 

 a " wise saw " in illustration, which is, we are afraid in many 

 cases, a " modern instance." The love of overfeeding is general. 

 It is more developed in servants than in masters. Perhaps it 

 is, that while the former feed the latter pay. We would not 

 be misunderstood ; we do not speak of wilful waste, hut the 

 carrying out of the idea, "that they cannot bear to see any- 

 thing short of food," and that putting food in front of them is 

 feeding. 



Good and proper feeding is first to get a proper description 

 of food, next to give it regularly, and lastly in such moderate 

 quantities as shall be entirely eaten with an appetite at each 

 meal. Whether it be for fattening or for breeding stock, the 

 rale applies equally. In the former case they consume more 

 food, as they get only that which is given to them, bat they 

 must only have as much as they will eat at once. In our great 

 poultry-feeding county, S asses, not only is the trough changed 

 and scalded every day, but the food is fresh mixed for each 

 meal. These are the conditions of success. If the food is 

 allowed to remain in the trough and acquire the least acidity 

 the fowls take a dislike to it. No more thriving after that. 

 Fowls will only fatten while they enjoy the food. The taste for 

 luxuries soon fails unless they are moderately and judiciously 

 given. . , 



We recollect many years ago being asked by a lady of high 

 rank to visit her poultry establishment, as the expenses in- 

 creased daily and the results were less satisfactory every week. 

 The poultry had been kept in till we came. Turkey house first. 

 The doors were opened, and the poultry-woman stood with 

 meal and barley ready to dispense it by the handful. We 

 forbade anything of the sort. When the doors were opened 

 nearly all the birds flew and scrambled away into the fields, 

 spite of the attractions of some furtive bandfuls that were 

 thrown down. " There, my lady," said the old woman, " that's 

 the way ; they wo'n't eat." Let us look in the house. There 

 was the secret : the ground had been covered with food, and 

 much still remained. " Poor things !" said the old woman ; "no 

 doubt they waked up hungry, same as other people." We found 

 that on the ground outside their roosting house the food was 

 trodden down more than an inch deep. The same in the Duck 

 run ; we dug up the barley inches deep, looking like a " nougat 

 made of very small almonds. But now for the fattening hou^. 

 On entering, a most unpleasant odour met us. There was suffi- 

 cient food mixed for six fowls to serve a dozen for three days. 

 "Poor things!" said the woman, "they don't eat as they 

 should ; they wants their liberty. That food as aint touched 

 has been before them ever since yesterday." "Yes," said we, 

 " that is the cause. If it bad been given properly, a^ httle at a 

 time, they would have eaten it and done well upon it. You, 

 we continued, " would get sick of the sight, smell, and taste of 

 turtle and venison if it were on the table every time you went 

 into your house." The woman looked for a moment at us, 

 and then took to audible muttering. " Turtle and venison, 

 turtle venison, venison turtle, always ready and get tired of it I 

 Well, I never heard the like of that ! Wish my lady would try 

 us, that's all. But he don't know much, and it's no use mind- 

 ing what he says." We never could command attention from 

 her afterwards, but the result of our visit was to diminish the 

 consumption of food two-thirds and to establish a healthy and 

 profitable breed. 



The contempt for order and common sense leads to more 

 than half the disappointment and loss. When we are eonsulted 

 why fowls will not feed, or why they cost so much to feed, we 

 often think if fowls were gifted with speech they would answer 

 as Master Adolnhue did the day after Twelfth-night, when the 

 doctor who was called in asked him whathe had eaten : "Only 

 supper as usual, and a sailor, and a windmill, and a y'gser. 

 and a ship, and an elephant, and the queen oil the cake." The 

 truth is, everybody likes to keep poultry, and to eat poultry 

 and eggs. How many can look back to the small beginning of 

 the fulfilment of the day-dream of many years, when the first 

 egg laid by our own hens has appeared on table, or the first 

 Ducks or chickens have contributed a meal. From the owner 

 of thousands of broad acres and half a dozen castles, each 



