September 14, 1671. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



207 



Nectarines in a Greenhouse Falling (A Suhscrihcr). — Very likely 

 your Nectarines droxi and shrivel up from want of water. From the 

 time the fruit is set the soil should never be dry. After fairly stoning, a 

 good watering to trees in-doors is necessary to secure a free swelling ; 

 not watering all the border at once, but at two or three times, with a day 

 or two between. A thorough drenching all over is apt to throw the fruit 

 off. 



Paying a Gardener's Moving Expenses (Tj/ro).— You were quite 

 tight in paying the travelling expenses of the man when he came, as you 

 express it, " to see and to be seen," before being engaged. In this respect 

 you set a worthy example that ought to be generally imitated. When a 

 wish is expressed to see a new servant before engaging him, then equity 

 requires that the man's travelling expenses should be paid, whether he is 

 engaged or not. We have known very distressing cases where this law 

 of equity has been totally disregarded, and the most defenceless had to 

 put up with what was to him a great loss. A case happened not long ago 

 in which, after a long journey, the gentleman declined to see the man alto- 

 gether, having in the meantime made other arrangements. All we shall 

 say is, we would have declined to serve such an employer on any terms. 

 We do not know what the lee;ality of the matter may be, but common 

 equity requires that the gentleman who wishes to see a servant before 

 engaging him, ought to pay the travelling expenses at least. It is also 

 common to pay the travelling expenses of a servant by rail or other 

 means in going to a new place. We know of many cases in which gar- 

 deners have had all expenfespaid at once. In other cases they received 

 nothing, chiefly because they were too proud to mention it. In a few 

 cases such expenses were refused when asked. There is, therefore, so 

 far as we know, no general rule on the subject that would at all take the 

 place of anything like a legal enactment. Still in most respectable 

 places the practice is to pay the new gardener his travelling expenses, 

 even without any previous understanding on the subject; but it is best 

 in every way that all such matters should be settled before moving, as 

 what would be a trifle to a gentleman, would in the case of long distances 

 be often a serious thing to a gardener. To lessen the expense of moving 

 we have known of many cases of great sacrifice in selling furniture, &c. 

 This would open a wide question on which we caouot now enter, as to 

 the propriety of gardeners' houses being furnished, and a per-centage 

 charged for the use of all that was bulky. If no arrangement as to money 

 has been made, and your new gardener is likely to suit, we would advise 

 paying the moderate expenses of moving, as that encouragement in the 

 case of a good man will flertainly be more than repaid in that attention 

 which nothing stirs up so thoroughly as a sense of kindness and a feeling 

 of gratitude. 



Scale on Myrtle (I(iem).— With regard to your fine Myrtle which has 

 «o much brown scale on it, you cannot do better than wash off the scale 

 with weak soap water. The best and simplest cure we ever tried is to 

 make some size or jelly glue water just as strong as, when you put your 

 finger and thumb in it, and squeeze them together, you will find a little 

 stickiness between them. Dip the head of the plant in such water, or 

 syringe it well all over, and place it from twenty-four to forty-eight hoars 

 in a shady place, then rub the dry head of the plant through your fingers, 

 and much of the glue, and insects, too, will fall ofl'; then syringe heavily, 

 ^with the plant laid down and turned over and over, with clear water at 

 VHy^. If there be only a few scale insects, it will be best to wash them off 

 with weak soap water, and then syringe with clear water. If there are only 

 a few, you may also try the phytosmegraa advertised in our columns. It 

 is just the thing for a lady to use— no tilth, merely to blow through a little 

 tube. 



Planting for a Fruit Border {Idem). — Whatever you fill your narrow 

 3)order with will injure your fruit trees more or less. The Pyrethrum is 

 best obtained from seed every year. We could easily satisfy you with 

 bedding plants, and bulbs would be splendid in spring and early in 

 summer. A row of Clarkia pulchella would give you rose purple, and 

 Erysimum Peroffsbianum behind it would give a row of orange, and, if 

 you cut off the seed-pods, would last the season. 



Paving Tiles in Orchard House (G. C.).— The coolness of the tiles 

 in the ground vinery must be owing, when the sun is shining, to the 

 «hade of the foliage or the amount of air. With your opening for air at 

 each end at the top in such a season as this, we would have greatly re- 

 duced, except at midday, the 4-inch openings between the bricks on which 

 the vinery rests. Everything's late this season, and to ripen fruit at all 

 early and well we would shut in more sun heat by lessening the amount 

 of air at bottom. We would also sprinkle the tiles with sulphur, or rather 

 brush them over with a paint of water, soft soap, and sulphur. Even the 

 top air we would much reduce from 3 p.ai. to 9 a.m. 



Lifted Vine (D. M.). — We think the Vine has recovered from the 

 lifting, as the growth is better. Well ripen the wood this year, and we 

 think you will have fruit in the next. When Vines are twenty years 

 old it is much better to plant young ones than to lift and replant. Young 

 Vines will bear well the second year, and are far superior to old Vines 

 lifted. 



Stove and Patent Fuel ( ).— No flueless stove is fit for heating a 



conservatory. The fumes from the fuel always injure the plants. 



Propagating Bedding Plants — Transplanting Apple Trees 

 ,{3. W. L.). — After the middle of September it is well to put Geranium 

 cuttings in boxes or pots, and place them in a frame, pit, or house. Ver- 

 benas and plants of a similar nature strike in a sweet mild hotbed of 

 irom 70*^ to 75°. The Apple trees you ought not to remove nntil fully 

 half the leaves have fallen, and in lifting preserve all the roots practi- 

 cable. The Geranium leaf enclosed to us belongs, we think, to Culford 

 Beauty, but we cannot name plants, and especially florists' flowers, from 

 leaves. 



Propagating Poinsettia and Clematis Jackmani^i (CTemaifs).— It is 

 now high time to return the Poinsettia under glass, giving it a light airy 

 position in a cool stove. The Clematis may be propagated by cutting off 

 the ripened side shoots, putting them into sandy soil, and covering them 

 with a hEind-glass. A safer plan is now to layer the firm side shoots in 

 pots sunk in the ground, making a cut at a joint as for Carnations, layer- 

 ing that part in the pot, and securing the shoot with a peg. The layers 

 will be well rooted in twelve months. 



AcHraiENES and Gloxinias Failing {Disappointment). — From the 

 head of Achimenes sent, which is very fragmentary, we fail to recognise 

 any recent attack of insect pests, and can only conclude that the plants 

 are grown in too cold and too dry a structure, and have had too much or 



too little water, improper soil, and inefiicient drainage. Which of these 

 causes is the right one we cannot say, as you give us no particulars of 

 your treatment. 



Lawn Sand {Mrs. A. S.).— The lawn sand does certainly destroy weeds 

 on lawns, especially Plantain, but our experience with it is limited. 



Various {Mrs. C.).—An old but fine Peach is Violette Hitive (English 

 Galande), of hardy constitution, succeeding where most others do not. 

 Red Rover is a good Rose, fiery red, and succeeds well against a wall, 

 and so does Glory of Waltham, a crimson; both are Hybrid Perpetuals. 

 Either would contrast well with the Tea varieties. Remove all the canes 

 of the Raspberries ol last year's growth, whether they have borne fruit 

 this year or not, retaining only those of the current year, and of these 

 select about six of the strongest on each stool, and cut all others away 

 close to the ground, or, if fm-ther from the stool than a foot, pull them 

 up. Remove about a foot of the points of the canes left, and secure 

 them to stakes after the leaves have fallen. 



Topping Potatoes (H. C.).— The chief objection to topping Potato 

 haulms is that it tends to check the growth of the tubers, and if the 

 Potatoes are about half-grown it is apt to cause second growth, and so 

 bring on supertuberation. The chief causes of large haulm are too 

 fresh manure and close planting. See Mr. Fish's remarks in "Doings of 

 the Last Week" this day. 



Placing a Vine out of Doors {Suhscriher, Dublin).— The wood being 

 brown and hard, it will not injure the Vine in the least to place it out of 

 doors. Put it in front of a wall or fence with a southern or warm exposure. 

 It will be necessary to plant before winter, to place it in a house, or to 

 protect the roots from frost. Cobasa scaudens does not require any par- 

 ticular treatment in winter. Keep it rather dry at the root, but not so 

 much so as to cause the wood to shrivel or the leaves to turn yellow pre- 

 maturely. It will flower next year. Gloire de Dijon is a good climbing 

 Rose for an arch if the situtttion is not very much exposed. 



Select Fruit Trees {F. M,).—At the distance you name you may 

 have pyramidal trees on their own or the free stock, the Pear on the 

 Pear, &c. Apples : Lord Snffield, Cox's Pomona, Dumelow's Seedling, 

 Bedfordshire Foundling, Gooseberry, Cox's Orange Pippin, Melon, Pit- 

 maston Nonpareil, and Blenheim Pippin. Pears ; Beurre d'Amanlis, 

 Louise Bonne of Jersey, Williams's Bon Chretien, Beurre Hardy, Beurre 

 Biel, Marie Louise, Jean de Witte, Bergamotte Esperen, and Ne Plus 

 Meuris. If you want an early kind, have Doyenne d'Ete, or if one for 

 stewing, Catillac. Plums : Early Orleans. July Green Gage, Golden 

 Gage, Victoria, Prince Englebert, Belgian Purple, Kirke's, Coe'a Golden 

 Drop, and Jefferson. Cherry : May Duke ; and Nut : Cosford. 



Seaside Planting {W. H. S.). — With one failure before you it is well 

 not to be too speculative, but the following trees and shrubs are known 

 to stand well — viz., Tamarisk, Euonymus japonicus, Hollies, double- 

 flowering Furze, Evergreen Oak, Ligustrum ovalifolium, Sambucus 

 racemosa {scarlet-berried Elder), Laurustinus ; and for giving shelter 

 plant thickly of the common Elder, than which nothing does better, and 

 Ontario Poplar, and with shelter of this kind you may have Pinus austri- 

 aca, Laricio, and sylvestris; Picea nobilis, Pinsapo, Nordmanniana, 

 grandis, Fraseri; Cupressus Lawsoni, macrocarpa ; Junipers, Arbutus, 

 Daphnes, Cotoneasters, and Berberis ; Thuja Lobbii, Wellingtonia gi- 

 gantea, Thujopsis borealis, Sycamores, Acacias, Elms, Beech, Portugal 

 Laurel, and Yew. 



Removing Rose and Fruit Trees {St. Edmund). — The end of Sep- 

 tember is much too soon to remove Rose trees, Apricots, Peaches, &c. 

 We should defer lifting until the end of October or beginning of Novem- 

 ber, allowing the leaves on the fruit trees to partially fall before the re- 

 moval. In lifting, be careful to take up the trees with good roots, pre- 

 serving all the fibres and soil firmly adhering to them, but remove that 

 which is loose, and keep the roots from the influence of a drying air by 

 covering with mats. Give a gentle watering after planting, but not if the 

 soil be very wet, and mulch with litter round the stems as far as the 

 roots extend. You may gather Tomatoes that have attained their full 

 size, and they will ripen in-doors perfectly. 



Caterpillar on Grapes (5. S.}.— The only caterpillar in your en- 

 closure was smashed. It is, in all probability, that of Opadia funebrana, 

 which, though most partial to Plums, does attack other fleshy fruits in 

 the autumn months, We fear no remedy can be suggested, other than 

 the removal of all infected bunches. The species does not feed at aU 

 upon the leaves of the Vine. 



Ants Attacking Peaches and Nectarines {J. B.). — The best way to 

 destroy them is to search-out their haunts and pour into them am- 

 moniacal liquor from the gasworks ; or guano will drive them away, if it 

 do not destroy them. This persisted in throughout the summer will thin 

 their numbers, and, when the fruit begins to ripen, with a brush draw a 

 line about an inch broad along the bottom of the wall and the stem of the 

 trees, employing gas tar, over which they will not pass, and repeat this 

 once a-week as long as the fruit season lasts. We have known them 

 come over the wall and up the ends, therefore make the line complete 

 at the bottom, top, and ends of the wall. Have you tried equal pro- 

 portions of arsenic and honey mixed and laid on saucers, with an in- 

 verted saucer over, and two or three thin pieces of wood between, so as 

 to permit the ants to enter ? 



Name of Plant (P., Norfolk).~'Pa.\i& macrostachya. 



poultry, bee, and pigeon chronicle. 



WOEKING CLASS POULTRY PRIZES. 

 Besponsiele aB I fear I am for leading very many people 

 into poultry-keeping, it will easily be believed I feel great 

 interest in this subject as stated by your kindly correspondents. 

 I am quite sure money would not be wanting, and I venture to 

 suggest that if our trusted "Wiltshire Eeotob" can find 

 time to " lick" the thing into shape, and will issue the needful 

 appeal, we shall all confide in him, and there must be dozens 

 of true fanciers who would gladly give their guinea to help bo 



