October 12, 1871. ] 



JOUENAL OP HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



285 



of old kinds, as Punoh, Tom Thumb, Stella, Cybister, Rubens, 

 Trentham Eoee, &o., as suiting our purpose on the whole 

 better than newer kinds. We have tried numerous rose pinks, 

 and in a shady place Helen Lindsay is magnificent, and 

 Forget-me-not and others are good; but for all places and 

 situations we find nothing to equal the old Christine. For a 

 light graceful pink with white and green variegated foliage, we 

 have found nothing to surpass Silrer Nosegay. Most of the 

 weaker-growing kinds we were obliged to water in order that 

 they should be kept on, and not suiier so much if a heavy rain 

 oame. Watering, however, is a matter of importance to us and 

 to be indulged-ia but rarely. Those who come from parks 

 and places where a shower bath can be given to the beds every 

 alternate evening, cannot believe that these massive plants, 

 lately so full of bloom, must pretty well look after themselves. 

 Necessity in the first place brought us to the conclusion that 

 as it is not all gold that glitters, so abundance of water and the 

 using it in abundance are not always an unmixed advantage. 



A little matter is here worth noting. It is a very different 

 thing to keep a regular good supply of good things every day 

 for a resident family, and to have a flower garden gay with 

 bedding plants as early as possible, and to satisfy the wishes of 

 another family that is hardly ever at home until August and 

 September. Much emaller plants and much less care will be 

 required in the latter case, and yet the result will, for the time 

 prepared for, be as good if not even better. As respects the 

 flower garden, we have-in our mind's eye places that were full 

 and brilliant in July, or even the end of June, and other places 

 very meagre then — plants few and far between ; but the latter 

 were quite as good as, and perhaps fresher-looking than the earlier 

 ones, in the month of September, when they were most needed. 

 There could be no comparison in the labour involved in the 

 two different cases, but for the proprietors who did not see their 

 gardens until the first days of September the less-labour system 

 would be quite as telling. That system would not do for a 

 resident establishment, and yet this simple fact is apt to be 

 forgotten when the £ s. d. question comes to be taken into con- 

 sideration. The whole question of a constant display in the 

 flower garden, from nice variegated and evergreen shrubs in 

 winter to early-blooming and nice-foliaged subjects in spring, 

 to masses of bedding plants and subtropical plants in summer, 

 is on the whole now less than hitherto a matter of peculiar 

 skill than that of money, means, and labour. We do not re- 

 quire to tell our readers how it rejoices us to know what an 

 impetus has been given to the love of the beautiful by the 

 ornamental gardening that has been done at the Crystal Palace, 

 at Kensington, at Victoria, Battersea, and Hyde Parks, Kew 

 Gardens, &c. ; still, with every desire to honour the talented 

 superintendents and their desire to accomplish the greatest 

 results with the smallest outlay, we are not the less convinced 

 that it would be to the benefit of many a country gentleman, 

 and to the advantage of many a gardener, if the results in these 

 public places were not only commented on, but the expenditure 

 involved were also taken into consideration. 



Oar general work with cuttings, potting, &e., has been much 

 as detailed in previous weeks, and we must for the present 

 conclude with alluding to two matters. 



First, the white-leaved Centaurea candidissima. There is no 

 difficulty in keeping the old plants by taking them up and 

 repotting them, but they like plenty of room. Side shoots 

 will strike freely in the spring in heat. Good-sized shoots in 

 summer will do well if taken off in August. We have rooted 

 them successfully by taking them ofi in September, and as we 

 are doing now in October. For this purpose so late, we like, 

 however, to cut off nice pieces, with stems not less in thickness 

 than a good-sized quill, dress them neatly, leaving the foliage 

 mostly untouched, and insert them in pans close to the sides of 

 a small 60-sized pot, with a bit of slate down the middle and a 

 little twig in the centre to tie the largish leaves to. But for 

 room one cutting at the side of a small pot would be best. 

 We use the slate to keep the roots distinct, as they are so 

 brittle. We place these pots in a cold frame or pit for a, fort- 

 night or three weeks, keeping them a little damp, but not wet, 

 until the base of the cutting begins to swell. Then we plunge 

 the pots in a mild bottom heat, and as soon as the roots form 

 we harden-off. If put in heat at once there is a great risk of 

 damping. When cuttings are inserted in July and August the 

 cool process will do all through. The above mode is beat now 

 and at the end of September. The other matter has reference 

 to the 



Coleus. — Let us here remark that in the case of many who 

 have tried the only Coleus we have found worth room out of 



doors, the C. Verschaffelti, and without success, it has beers 

 greatly owing to two causes — poverty of soil, and dearth of water. 

 Perhaps there are, properly speaking, three points instead o£ 

 two essential to success : — First, strong plants to be turned out 

 in fine weather in Jane ; second, a fair top-dressing of rotten 

 dung, as that from a decayed Mushroom bed, one of the causes 

 of the success in the fine bed at Woburn ; and thirdly, never 

 to allow the beds to become dry. Onr beds are very fair, full, 

 and on the whole well coloured, but they would have been better 

 if we had given them, or could have given them, more water iu 

 hot weather. Once established, like the Golden Pyrethrnm,. 

 the Coleus thrives and looks best in a season diversified with 

 sunshine and showers. — E. F. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*»* We request that no one will write privately to any of the> 

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage- 

 Gardener, and Country- Gentleman." By doing so they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, <£c., Ill, Fleet 

 Street, London, B.C. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered imtll next 

 week. 



Early Rose Potato. — We have had so many letters wishing to pur- 

 chase this variety from " K.," that if he has any to sell, and vnM send U8 

 his address for publication, we think that he will soon have disposed of 

 his surplus. 



BooES (Thistle). — The "Fern Manual" gives full directions for the 

 culture of Ferns. The "Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary " is practical. 

 Keane's " In-door Gardening " would aid you in managing your green- 

 house. 



Supplying this Joubnal iCannazaro), — Your newsman has his London 

 parcel on Saturday. If you had the Journal direct from our office it 

 would be postjcd on Thursday morning. 



Gathering Pears (C. J; E. r.).— All Pears are fit for gathering as soon 

 as, by lifting the fruit upwards, the stalk parts readily from the spray. 



Variegated-leaved Violet (IT. Bill). — It is one of those sports so 

 frequently met with, and probably would return to the normal green- 

 colour in another soil and season. For use, if permanent, it would not 

 equal the Golden Pyrethrum. 



Bush Pear Trees {Amateur). — If your Louise Bonne Pear trees planted 

 in 1869, lifted and planted in 1870, show si^ns of canker, then the soil must- 

 be unsuitable, or perhaps not properly drained. Fruit trees will not succeed 

 in a cold wet subsoil. The Louise Bonne does better trained as a pyramid 

 than as a bufeh, and the Quince is an excellent stock for it, producing 

 larger fruit than from the Pear stock. In planting Pear trees grafted 

 on the Quince, the stock should be quite covered up to the junction of tbo^ 

 graft. The swelling at the junction to which you allude is not uncommon 

 when the Qaince is used as a stock. Drain your ground if it requires it, 

 and trench 2 feet deep if the snbsoil will admit of it, as in your case the 

 evil seems to lie at the root, although, as the trees do well as pyramids 

 with you, the mode of training may have some effect. 



Planting a Peach House (A Recent Subscriber). — Three dwarf-trained- 

 and two standard trees will be sufficient for the back wall of a house 

 40 feet long. We do not think a line of espaliers near the front wall, 

 planted with trees trained on the French system, is the best way to 

 utilise your space. It would be much better to fix a wire trellis at the 

 distance of a foot from the front sashes, and also wire the roof by straining 

 wires horizontally at the distance of a foot from the glass; the wires 

 should be strained tightly. The trees should not be trained quite up to- 

 the apex of the roof, as they would exclude the light from the trees 

 planted against the back wall. You will require the same number and 

 class of trees for the front as for the back ; plant them a foot from the- 

 front wall. For the front we would select Peaches, Early York, Noblesse, 

 and Grosse Slignonne ; Nectarines, Violette Hative and Pine Apple. For 

 the back wall we would have Peaches, Bellegarde, Desse Tardive, and 

 Salway ; Nectarines, Eiruge and Victoria. 



Vallota purpurea Treatment {A Constant Subscriber).— The foliage- 

 of tho plants would not become long if they were in a light airy position 

 in a greenhouse from which frost is excluded. Place them nearer the 

 glass, and so that they may receive light equally on all sides. The leaves 

 should never be cut down, it being an evergreen, but those turning 

 yellow should be removed. Keep it dry in winter, but not so much so 

 as to cause the leaves to flag, and in spring, and when growing and 

 flowering, water freely. It is one of the finest of greenhouse flowering 

 bulbs, and ought to be in every garden. 



Bellis aucue^folia Losing Variegation (Idem). — It is usual for 

 plants of this, in a season like the present, to become green from the cold 

 and continued wet. If the soil had not been so rich, tlie plants would 

 probably not have become green. Mix sand or grit with the soil as yoE. 

 propose, afi"ording a slightly shaded position in summer- We cannot 

 jjCCount for double white and red Daisies becoming single. 



Iresine Lindeni and Alternanthera Propagation (If. W.) — Both 

 are propagated by cuttings, which may be struck at all seasons, but best in 

 August and September, and in March ; place them in a bottom heat oi 

 70^ to 75^, keep them close, moist, and shaded, and they will strike aa 

 freely as Verbenas. The galvanised iron wire and fittings about which 

 you inquire are good. 



Various (J. W. i.).— It will not do to cut back the old Vine shoots to 

 within two or three leaves of their base, but you may remove any laterals^ 

 indeed clear them all off, so as to admit more light and air to the shoots, 

 and so ensure their better ripening. Prune when the leaves have fallen. 

 For the red spider you cannot do better than syringe the Vines with a 



