203 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 14, 1871. 



White Everlasting Flo^wers (F. A. S.).— They may he bleached by 

 submitting them to the fumes of burning sulphur. The caterpillar tbat 

 eats " the flesh of the Rose leaves," is the larva of a small moth, but 

 we could not identify it unless we saw specimens. 



AiLANTHUs GLANDtJLOSA Seeds. — Mrs. Corrie and others wish to know 

 where these can be procm-ed. 



Concreting Peach Border — Division Wali. (A decent Suhscriber). 

 — A depth of 2 feet will be sufficient for your Peach border. We would 

 not concrete it ; if the subsoil is dry it will require nothint?. if wet you 

 must drain it by laying the pipes iu a slanting direction across the border. 

 A main drain should be provided at the lowest point to carry off the 

 water. If your house is in two divisions you will require a wall, not 

 otherwise. It should be 9 inches thick to the ground line, and be carried 

 ap with 4.^-inch work as high as your front wall. The division wall will 

 support the plate of your glass division. 



Markchal Niel Rose in a Vinery (X. r.).— We should advise you to let 

 «,lone the vigorous Martchal. Grow it at present without stopping the 

 shoots, but shorten them back, about the end of February, to well-ripened 

 ■wood. Do not then take too much off, as it requires long pruning. An 

 occasional temperature of 70'- in the late vinery would not be too much, 

 though 60^ would be far preferable ; but as your plant is in a late vinery 

 ■it will not be kept at 70" for long, except in hot sunny weather, when all 

 plants can stand additional heat owing to additional light. Roses will 

 not endure a forcing heat in the short days of winter. 



Leaves Infested with Red Spider (C 2J ).— The whole of the leaves 

 aent are badly infested with red spider. Syringe them every alternate 

 night for a week with a solution ©f 3 ozs. of soft soap to the gallon of 

 water at a temperature of 120'-^, and water at the root with 2 ozs. of guano 

 to a gallon, giving a good soaking. 



PoRTULACA Wintering {Inexperience). — The majority of those used in 

 •gardens are annual, but some of them are perennial, as P. Thellusoni, 

 which is grown in a light open soil, loam mixed with crocks and old lime 

 rubbish, abundant drainage, and a little peat, giving only a little water 

 occasionally to keep the plants from shrivelling. The shoots should be 

 trained to a trellis. 



Chorozema Leaves Eaten (Idnn). — The leaf sent appears to be eaten by 

 Some caterpillar, but which we cannot say in the absence of a specimen. 

 At night, after dark, place a white sheet, stand the plant on that without 

 shaking it, and then shake briskly, and, if a caterpillar or beetle, it will 

 laM on the sheet and may be secured and destroyed. It may, however, 

 be slugs ; search for them after dark with a lantern. 



Wintering Hoya carnosa (Idem). — It will winter in a greenhouse 

 ■quite safely if you give no more water than will keep it from shrivelling. 

 There is no necessity to shade or syringe for the cause you name ; it 

 would only tend to make the plant go off. Water sparingly, giving 

 only j ast sufficient to keep the leaves plump or fresh, and do not syringe 

 ^rom now until the plants begin to grow. 



Glass for Early CncnnrBER House (Inquirer). — Hartley's rough plate 

 glass will answer perfectly, and the quarter-inch is the preferable thick- 

 ness. Thin plate glass is worse than sheet for breakage. 



Border Planting near Beech Trees (Li ::;ie).— The Beech trees, we 

 presume, shade the border, and the plants put in require to be such as 

 will grow under them. There is nothing that will look so well as Ivy, 

 because it is the only thing which will thrive. It will grow on the soil, 

 but not on the Beech, owing to the smooth bark. We would carpet the 

 ground with Rasgner's Ivy, margin the border all around with Stachys 

 ianata to the width of from 18 to 24 inches, and on both sides of the Beech 

 trees have circles iu diameter half that of the border from the Stachys to 

 the Beech trees. The circles should be twice their diameter apart, and 

 we would fill them with Vinca elegantissima. 



Various (A Yotma Garde7ier). — The best plan of getting a stock of Cal- 

 ceolarias for bedding is in October, before frost, to prepare a frame for 

 cuttings, choosing a sheltered and well drained situation. Put in about 

 6 inches of good moderately rich loam with about a third of leaf soil well 

 mixed, and cover with an inch of sand ; then, before frost, take cuttings 

 of the growing shoots with two joints and the growing point, removing 

 the lowest pair of leaves ; insert the cutting well up to the leaves and at 

 iibout 1^- inch apart, water after putting in, and give protection only from 

 frost. In severe frost protect with a double covering of mats ;ind straw, 

 and allow them to remain until a general thaw, then remove them gradu- 

 ally. In mild weather give abundance of air. At the end of March pre- 

 pare ia the open ground a place like a Celery trench, and plant in it the 

 Calceolarias at 3 or 4 inches apart, watering well, and protecting from 

 frost by mats over hoops. In May plant out where they are to remain, 

 lifting with good balls. The best Peas for sowing in November are Dilli- 

 stone's Early and Sangater's No. 1. It is not a good plan to burn the 

 " noses " of Onions to make them keep, though it may be done if care be 

 taken not to overheat the bulb nor burn too closely. 



Tuberose Bulbs the Second Year (S. IF.).— As a rule they are not 

 worth keeping for a second year's flowering. They are so weakened by 

 flowering as scarcely to be good for anything, though by taking care to 

 have them well ripened the first year we have known them flower fairly 

 the second season. 



LoPHosPERMUM AFTER FLOWERING (ZdcTJi).— Cut away all the old bare 

 parts, encourage fresh shoots from the base, and keep the plants dry but 

 without flagging. Keep them in a greenhouse. 



Hyde Park (Sarah Ann, Clara, and Amy AUce).~A report will appear 

 in a week or two. 



Acacia lophantha, Mandevilla suaveolens, and Eucalyptus 

 Wintering Out of Doors (De/ia).— Except in a dry soil your prospects 

 of wintering these safely even with protection is not great, though it is 

 likely they would succeed against a south wall with protection. As you 

 have duplicates it is well worth trial, and we should like to know "the 

 results. Sanchezias and Allamandas would probably winter in a green- 

 house if you kept them dry, giving no more water than sufficient to 

 maintain vitality. Six ornamental-leaved Begonias to grow in a green- 

 house are— Marsh alii, Victor Lemoine, Masterpiece, Amabilis, Picturata, 

 and Beltine Rothschild. Now is a good time to plant out Roses from 

 pots, they become established before winter. Mulch before frost with 

 litter. 



Propagation of Lemon-scented Verbena and Heliotrope (J. C. H".). 

 — The Aloysia citriodora (Sweet-scented Verbena) and Heliotrope strike 



from cuttings of the growing points of the shoots inserted in sandy 

 loam with a surfacing of sand, placing in a cold frame, shading from, 

 bright sun, and keeping close. After August, however, they require a 

 bottom heat of from 70° to 75^. We think you fail from putting them in 

 too rich soil not sufficiently sandy, and from keeping them too wet; the 

 soil should only be moist. The cause of the Geranium cuttings turning 

 black at the base and falling down is too much humus in the soil, and the 

 evil may arise from watering with pond water containing decomposing 

 matter. Why not put the cuttings in the open ground and let them take 

 care of themselves ? They do much better in that way than when pam- 

 pered in pots, and do not need a tithe of the care in wintering. 



PHAL.ENOPSIS GRANDIFL0E4 TREATMENT (E. M. ^.).— GrOW it On a 



block of wood or cork. Oak wood is to be preferred, removing the bark, 

 and place a little fibrous peat on the block ; then put on the plant, cover- 

 ing the root slightly with sphagnum, and secure the plant firmly with 

 copper wire. Sprinkle lightly with water two or three times a-day accord- 

 ing to the season. The temperature you name is rather low for this 

 Orchid, but it will succeed, only do not keep it too wet. The damp heat 

 will lessen the necessity for sprinkling. Give it the warmest part of the 

 house. 



Treatment of Echeveria metallica glauca {H". T.).~Vot the plants 

 in a compost of light loam two parts, one part old cow dung, one part 

 crocks or broken bricks, and one part sand, with good drainage. Keep 

 them in a greenhouse in a light airy position, and give no water in winter 

 except to keep the leaves from shrivelling. When growmg, water as the 

 soil becomes dry. It may be planted out of doors at the end of May. and 

 is very fine as an edging plant for beds ; take up and pot before severe 

 weather sets in. 



Stopping Zonal and Double-flowering Geraniums (T. B. S.).— 

 For flowering in November the last stopping should be given at once, and 

 the trusses of bloom removed up to within six weeks of the time when 

 you require them to flower. If the plants were recently stopped do not 

 stop again now. 



Tacsonia Van-Volxemi not Thriving [Joseph Clark). — Having had it 

 three years without progressing, we would make for it a border 2 or 3 feet 

 wide, and 2 feet deep, draining it well, and filling it with a compost of two 

 parts fibrous lo^m, and one part each of peat and leaf soil, adding sharp 

 sand freely. Plant out at once, and water so as to keep the soil moist, 

 but no more, and as the shoots grow train them about a foot from the 

 glass, though it puts out shoots with us and grows partly beneath a stage 

 occupied by plants, and flowers and fruits quite as freely as on the roof, 

 though it is there a mass of fruit and flowers. The other Passion-flowers 

 treat in the same way. It is little use striving to grow them fine in pots. 

 In a border they are magnificent. Water freely in summer. 



CoLOURED-LEAVED PLANTS (Eve). — Your qucstious are rather indefinite. 

 The plant which is red is, doubtless, Alternanthera magnifica ; the one in 

 black maybe Coleus niger. If not, it may be Alternanthera amcena 

 which is very dark this season. 



Heating from a Kitchen Fire {An Amateur).— ThQ Dublin firm are 

 quite right. You cannot heat your greenhouse from the kitchen fire if 

 the top of the boiler is higher than the level of the floor of the green- 

 house. If the difference of level is small, and the top of the boiler is 

 close, and you could have a slight rise to the farther end of the green- 

 house, by raising the pipes above the floor, and taking the return-pipe to 

 the bottom of the boiler, then it would do, not otherwise. Hot water will 

 not go down. A small boiler, conical or saddle-backed, costing about £,Z, and 

 54 feet of 4-inch piping, would be necessary for such a house; 36 feet, 

 would barely keep out frost. That would cost from Qd to lOd. per foot, 

 if good piping. We would make the border as you propose, only all 

 through or wider inside, and we would use no ashes. As economy is 

 your object, a small stove, if of iron, with a flat head, better of brick 

 with a stone or iron for the top to receive a vessel of water, would suit 

 your purpose. If you wish to combine cleanliness, efficiency, and economy, 

 have a tiled patnway either at the back or middle of the house, and 

 underneath the tiles a small flue from a stokehole sunk at a so low 

 that the bars of the furnace may be IS inches below the bottom of the flue. 

 You must have ventilation at the top as well as in front. Openings in the 

 back wall would do, and so would a good opening at each end of the 

 house under the apex of the roof. 



Strawberries for North Yorkshire {W, D.).— Keens' Seedling, Dr. 

 Hogg, and Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury. Plant now a foot apart each 

 way. They do not require a strong clay; a moderately adhesive loam is 

 best. Trench the ground before planting. Mulch the surface during the 

 summer. If you enclose twenty stamps with your address, and order 

 the *' Garden Manual," you will have it post free. 



Half-ripe Grapes Cracking {Sussex Vicar). — The box arrived in a 

 deplorable state, with the juice dripping from it. Cut half through each 

 lateral— th>it is, down to the pith between the bunch and the main stem, 

 and keep the house as cool and as freely ventilated as you can. The sap 

 is supplied to the berries faster than they can swell. 



Mushrooms Eaten by Vermin (A Subscriber). — We never beiore heard 

 of red spider attacking Mushrooms, but snails and woodlice are to be 

 expected and to be guarded against, the first by looking for them at 

 night with a lantern, the second by trapping in small pots with a little 

 soft moss in them, along with a piece of potato or carrot. We think you 

 must be mistaken as to the red spider in a cellar. We are rather iu 

 doubt as to your success, as we hardly know whether you have had a 

 quart or a quarter— a vast difference. We like more heat in a Mushroom 

 bed than 6')^ at spawning time. When the spawn is running, that is high 

 enough. We should not think of making a bed anywhere from dang iu 

 an unprepared state, unless from experience we knew what we were 

 about. It would be better to have the dung in a good state before taking 

 it to the cellar— that is, all the extra steam gone, not wasted, and in that 

 nice position when it is neither wet nor dry. We think with you that 

 very likely your bed was too wet — a rather bad state, as then you cannot 

 water. When tolerably dry, not dry, and well beaten, the manure will heat 

 enough and keep a regular heat longer, and the spawn runs freely. 

 When too wet we have wrapped the bits of spawn into a good handful of 

 short dryish litter before putting it into the bed, and the plan answers 

 well. Keep these things in mind in making the proposed new bed, but do 

 not trouble yourself about the spawn in the old bed, as to how you are to 

 get it out. Let it remain, or go and get fresh spawn for the new bed. Th9 

 seedling Pansies have their petals eaten into holes probably by the Pansy 

 fly (Agromyza violffij. We know of no remedy. 



