25i 



JODENAL OF HOKTICDLTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ October 5 1871. 



attention to "certificates" till I know this point. Bacehug 

 Wis a misery out of doors, bat grown under glass it was of good 

 size, fall, ronnd, and radiant with fine growth and broad healthy 

 ioliage. — W. F. Badclytfe. 



SEDUM FABARL4. AS A BEDDING PLANT. 



It is a long time since I have had the opportunity of recom- 

 mending a more useful plant for general purposes than Sedum 

 Fabaria, known also to some as S. speotabile. It has a highly 

 decorative effect in any place, but as a bedding plant it is 

 singularly beautiful. My first idea of using it as a bedding 

 plant was prompted by my seeing it last year employed by Mr. 

 Kobson, of Linton, as a vase plant, and as such it was very 

 attractive. I forget whether or no he has used it as a bedding 

 plant ; if he has done so he will, perhaps, be able to state more 

 accurately its qualities than I can do. This Sedum has never 

 failed to attract the attention of the many visitors to these 

 gardens, and when its good qualities become better known I 

 venture to predict for it a bright future. 



For those who may wish to try this plant for next season, 

 and yet do not know how to obtain a stock of it (I allude to 

 amateurs), I will just state that I purchased six plants last 

 autumn, which I think is the best time to buy, and it being a 

 hardy herbaceous plant, I kept them in a cold frame all the 

 winter in pots. At the beginning of February numerous small 

 shoots made their appearance ; I then took the plants into the 

 greenhouse, where they grew fast, and when the shoots were 

 long enough to furnish cuttings with two joints, I propagated 

 all I could get. These soon rooted in the house although only 

 under a hand-light, and when long enough, each afforded a 

 cutting. Thus I soon had as large a stock of plants as I re- 

 quired. All were potted off singly in 4-inch pots, as they be- 

 came established they were turned into a cold frame, and before 

 the end of March the most forward were standing oat of doors 

 without the slightest protection. 



Any common soil does for this plant, and, being hardy, it 

 may be planted in the beds as early as these can be prepared. 

 The first year the plants may not exceed 1 foot in height, nor 

 at any time does the plant, to my knowledge, greatly exceed 

 18 inches in height ; but in the second year, through the stools 

 increasing in size very much, I have seen two-year-old plants 

 2 feet or more in diameter, but no higher than I have stated, 

 and every shoot produces a large and broad rosette of pink 

 flowers. 



No supports are needed for the shoots of Sedum Fabaria, 

 and it has fine foliage ; it has also a very compact form of 

 growth, and is altogether a desirable plant for everyone who 

 grows and loves flowers. If it has a fault for bedding purposes 

 it is that of flowering late, September being its usual month — a 

 very desirable time with most people ; but even without its 

 bloom its appearance is so distinct as to be as attractive in that 

 way as many sorts of plants are even when in bloom, so that 

 no disappointment can arise as regards the plant's growth. 



When the plants die down in autumn they may be left in 

 the bed, or taken up and stored away in dry soil in the same 

 way as Dahlias. Like most of the genus it is an admirable 

 rockwork plant. It is so employed at Bittersea Park and other 

 places, but I have not yet seen it bedded out. It is also a 

 capital decorative plant for the greenhouse and conservatory. 

 I have this season met with it used as such, and have heard 

 it spoken highly of by everyone. Like most of the genus it 

 thrives admirably in dry weather. I advise everyone who has 

 room for a flower of any sort to grow this plant. — Thomas 

 Becokd. 



PEEVENTING THE ONION GRUB. 



When I entered upon my present charge, more than thirteen 

 years ago, I was told that Onions could not be obtained by 

 spring-sowing, as the Onion grub carried all off, and I very 

 soon found this to be too true. I tried many things which 1 

 thought preventives, but did not succeed. At last I adopted the 

 following system : — Early in the autumn I point-in good rotten 

 turf ; as soon as the ground is frozen sufiiciently to carry the 

 barrow, I stretch a line down each side of the bed and cover 

 the whole of the bed with dung to the depth of Ij inch. The 

 dnng used is from the old hotbeds. I prefer decayed cow dung, 

 but this I cannot get, as it is all carted to the farm. The 

 ground lies thus till the second week of March, when I usually 

 sow, weather permitting. The rake is taken to break all lumps 

 that may not have crumbled-down with the frost. I then 



tread the ground quite firm, sow upon the dung, and give a 

 slight covering. 



This method I have practised for the last eight years with 

 the greatest success, as we are never without Onions all 

 the year round. The varieties which I employ for spring 

 sowing are — White Portugal, Brown Globe, James's Keeping, 

 Bedfordshire Champion, and Nuneham Park. The last-named 

 does not keep well, but produces fine bulbs. For the autumn 

 sowing I use the above-named, also the Madeira and Giang 

 Eocca. By sowing the White Portugal in August and plantint 

 it out in March, it keeps longer than any other, the bulbs 

 being ripened under a more powerful sun. 



To those who are not troubled with the Onion grub this 

 paper will be of no interest, but to some of your readers it may 

 prove useful. To those who have not grown Veitch's Giant 

 Autumn Cauliflower, I say. Try it, and you will find it every- 

 thing that can be desired. It more resembles the Broccoli 

 than the Cauliflower, in the grandeur and colour of the leaves, 

 producing giant heads, close and firm as a board. I have ex- 

 hibited it at three shows this autumn, and each time have 

 carried off the palm. — A. S. 0. H. C. 



HYDROCHLOPJC ACID NOT A SOLVENT OF 

 SILICA. 



Me. James A. Whitney makos the assertion that hydro- 

 chloric acid is a solvent of silica. He states that hydrochloric 

 acid is produced in the soil by the decomposition of salt, and 

 that the acid so formed, " acting on the sand grains, dissolves 

 the silica and insures the greater per-centage of this element, 

 which analysis of the ash has shown to exist in the straw of 

 the grain grown on salted, sandy land." Salt in the presence 

 of iron is decomposed, chloride of iron formed, and the sodium 

 liberated becomes caustic soda, which is a solvent of silica. It 

 is the soda, not the salt, which does the work. Hydrochloric 

 acid has no action on silica, but it has on silicates. The East 

 India cane is not covered with silica, but with a silicate, and 

 the action of hydrochloric acid, like all acids, is on the base. 



" There is no acid, except fluoric, which can directly dissolve 

 dry or calcined silica." — (Ure.) 



" Native silica, whether crystalline or amorphous, is insoluble 

 in aU acids, except hydrofluoric." — {Ti'ait's Chemistry.) 



He states that, when salt is decomposed in the soil, the 

 chlorine combines with hydrogen, forming muriatic acid. When 

 water is combined with chlorine in the dark, as under the sur- 

 face of the soil, it will remain as chlorine and water ; but in 

 the presence of strong light, or at a very high heat — red heat — 

 hydrochloric acid is formed. When hydrochloric acid comes in 

 contact with a silicate of iron, the acid is itself decomposed, 

 a chloride of iron is formed and the silica is set free. 

 Hydrochloric acid, potash, and silica are easily made to combine ; 

 but pure hydrochloric acid and pure silica never. He states 

 that hydrochloric acid is one of the most powerful solvents of 

 silica known in chemistry. This is a gross mistake. Hydro- 

 fluoric acid and the alkali are the great solvents of silica, — ■ 

 Thomas Tatloe, Washington, B.C. 



RENDLE'S PATENT PORTABLE PLANT 

 PROTECTORS. 



I HAVE noticed a letter in your publication of the 2Sth of 

 September, signed " Au kevoie," telling how unsuccessful he 

 has been with the plant protectors introduced by me. I have 

 been quite prepared to hear of some failures, because although 

 the protectors are so simple, yet, like everything else, they 

 require management and attention. 



" Au eevoir" will, I have no doubt, be surprised to hear 

 that a most excellent gardener who worked them thoroughly 

 all through the last severe winter, obtained three crops of Let- 

 tuces and Endive out of them. The first crop was ready by 

 the middle of December, and as the plants were cleared away, 

 they were replaced by others taken from store pans, and so a 

 constant succession was kept up. Your readers will remember 

 that we had a very severe winter, more than 25° of frost. In 

 fact, the protectors have done more than I ever expected them to 

 do. I never dreamt that they would be used for winter culture. 

 I merely intended them in the first instance to protect the 

 plants from the cold and frosty nights of spring. At the time 

 these Endives were being supplied to the table they were worth 

 9(2. each in London. Taking the Endive, therefore, at its 

 market value, the protectors were paid for the first season. 



