72 



JOUBNAL OF HOfiTIGULTUEB AND COTTAGE GABDENEIL 



[ January 26, 1871. 



varieties we had to give up. We failed to find out the cause 

 of the disease. IE we have had nothing of the sort amongst 

 the Calceolarias of late years, there is no credit whatever due 

 to us ; for, just as with the Caeumber disease, we are quite 

 ignorant of what caused it or what enabled us to get rid of it. 

 We are equally ignorant of the cause of this attack on the Ver- 

 benas, though from the great dryness of the summer, and an 

 inability to give water for months, we had an unusual difficulty 

 in securing cuttings. Have others had their plants assailed in 

 e, similar way ? or could they assign a reason for this gradual 

 withering up ? We may add that they were not aSected by 

 frost, and were kept much the same as we have treated them 

 successfully in other years. — B. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



E. P. Dixon, 57, Queen Siiveei,'S.Ti]l,~-'Catahgiie of Seeds for tJte 

 ^arm and Garden. 



D. Gold McEay, Market Hill, Sndbnry, ^nn6\k.—lllmtrated and 

 Bescrijitive Spring Catalogue of Flower, Kitchen, Garden, and Agri- 

 cultural Seeds. 



Smith & Simons, 35 and 3S. Howard Street, St. Enoch Square, Glas- 

 gow. — Cultural Guide and Descriptive Seed Catalogue. 



C. H. Dickson, 23, Market Place, Manchester. — Catalogue of Vege- 

 table and Floirer Seeds. 



Peter Lawson &: Son, 20, Badge Eow, Cannon Street, London, E.G., 

 and George r\'. Bridge, Edinburgh. — Catalogue of Garden Se^ds, 

 Sulbs, i&c. 



Edward Taylor, Malton. — Catalogue of AgricuUurdly KitcJien 

 Garden, and Flower Seeds, (£-c. 



R. Dean, S, Denmark Villas, Ealing, London, "W. — Descriptive 

 Catalogue of Vegetable, Farm, and Flower Seeds. 



James Tick, Eochester, New York. — Illustrated Catalogue and 

 Floral Guide. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Salt or Saltpetre fob McsHEooii Beds 'A. Y. Z.). — Snch saline 

 manures are very injurioug to all fangi. A little salt pat upon a Hash- 

 room reduces it to a black liquid and pulp. 



Roses {A. B.).— The first you name we think must be Hybrid Perpetual 

 Enfant du Mont Carmel, the second Reino d'AngleteiTe {Gallica), and 

 the third Duchesse de Caaabaceres fH. P.). The reason you cotUd not 

 '3nd them is, they have been superseded by better varieties'. 



Hats' Stove. — "£r." wishes to know if any of our readers has one of 

 these stoves to dispose of. II so, let them communicate with the publisher 

 of this Journal. 



MusA Caven'DIshu after FRriTiNG [J. (7.).— After fruiting, the plants 

 are of no value except for affording suckera. Immediately the fruit is cut 

 •take the plants out of the old tubs or pots, partly disroot, pot, acd plunge 

 them in a bottom heat of 85^. Suckers will be produced readily, and 

 ehonld be transferred to small pots, and shifted into larger pots as required. 



AlOCASIA lUETALLICA AND MACROEHIZA CULTCBE {Idem). — Pot them 



now or early nest month, or just when they are beginning to grow, using 

 ior the former a compost of two parts fibrous brown peat, one part old 

 dry cow dung, one part light fibrous loam, and one part charcoal in 

 lumps between the sizes of peas and hazel nuts, the whole being torn in 

 •pieces with the hand, and not very finely, using the compost rather 

 rough. Add one part of silver sand, mixing the whole well together. For 

 A. macrorhiza employ the same ingredients, but l«t the compost be finer 

 than for A. melallica. After potting place the plants in a house with a 

 brisk moist heat, and if the pots could be plunged in a bott'^na heat of 

 6(F to 85^ all the better. The top heat should range from 60^ to 65=* at 

 night, and 70^ to 75- by day until March, when the temperature may ad- 

 vantageously be raised to 65^ or 7i<^ at night, and 75^ to 85- or 94= by 

 day, admitting air moderately, and maintaining a moist atmosphere. 

 Shade will be necessary from very powerful sun. 



Slue Gown Cucuhbeh {H A'.).— It has been awarded three first-class 

 certificates, and is described as " a superior black spine, growing to a 

 length of 26 to 30 inches, of uniform size, and havin;; a fine bloom." Our 

 correspondent also wishes to know where ''Tindall's No. 2" Cucumber 

 seed may be obtained. 



UuLBEERT Propagation {E. M.). — Cuttings may be put in either in 

 spring or autumn. You may put them in from now until March. Take 

 the well-ripened shoota of the previous year, giving the preference to 

 those from the upper part of the tree, and each cutting must have a 

 joint of the two-year-old wood at its base. Insert the cuttings in light, 

 sandy soil in a shady place, leaving two ot at most three eyes above ground. 

 All they need is weeding, watering in dry weather, und protecting from 

 frost in winter, strewing some dry litter over them in severe weather, 

 and removing it in mild periods, "iou wish to put in a branch ; cut it off 

 immediately below a f ■)rkor joint, and trimming ofi'the shoots to a height 

 of 18 inches from the base, insert it in the ground in light soil in a warm 

 border, but shaded, and a foot to 15 inches doep. Make firm with a stake, 

 and water in dry weatber. The age of the branch is immaterial, only it 

 should have some portion of wood more than a year old. 



Pruning Laurels {J. B. W.). — The mode of pruning pursued by your 

 gardener is good, and we have no suggestions to offer, only as you object 

 to the appearance of the shrubs for a time after prnnint?, they must have 

 been cut back very much, bo as to remove all or nearly ail their foliage. 

 "We should cut them back in March, or when they are beginning to grow, 

 and go over them again in July or August, and renaove any irregularities 

 of growth. This for the common Laurel, but the PortuRal Laurel wo 

 would only prune every alternate year, and instead of close prunioR every 

 ■year, we would evory alternate season merely remove any irregularities 

 of growth. When hard cut every year they become weak and stunted in 

 growth. 



Planting Under Large Chestnut Trees {M. D.)-— As turf will not 

 grow we know of nothing that would serve you so well as Ivy. We advise 

 Eiegner's Ivy, which has large distinct dark green foliage. Periwinkles 

 would also answer, and are very pretty, Tinea elegantissima being especi- 

 ally fine. 



Plants for Greenhouse (Amateur''.. — Your house will be suitable for 

 the following, but having a temperature of 65^ it is not a greenhouse, 

 but a stove ; 45^ is the higheit temperature from fire heat any greenhouse 

 plant requires :— Acacia armata, A. oleifolia elegans, A. pulchella, Acro- 

 phyllura venosum, Beaufortia splendens, Aphelexis maciantha purpurea, 

 Boronia Drummondi, Chorozema cordatum splendens, Citras japonica, 

 Correa Brilliant, Cyclamen persicum vars., Cytisus racemosue, Eutaiia 

 fioribunda, Hydrangea japonica variegata, Ealosanthes miniata grandi- 

 flora, Myrtus communis, Kerium rubrum plenum, Rhododendron jasmini- 

 florum, Statice brassicffifolia, and Vallota purpurea. Azaleas: Brilliant, 

 Criterion, Mars. Qaeen Victoria. Stella, and Dae de Nassau. Camellias: 

 Fimbriata, La Pace, Madamo Pepin, Monarch, Yaltevaredo, and Ales- 

 ina. You can add Fuchsiap, Pelargoniums, Cinerarias, Calceolarias, and 

 Primulas, which are effective in their season. The back wall we would 

 cover with Camellias, or Habrothamnus elegans and Luculia gratissima, 

 all winter-flowering. If the back wall be shaded by plants in front, no 

 flowering plant would thrive on it. 



Gesneea Treatment (.V A.). — Your plants being those of G. eioni" 

 ensis, you have failed from their requiring a stove temperature. They will 

 not succeed well in a greenhouse, or only for a short time when in flower* 

 Your only plan will be to keep them in a light and warm position in your 

 greenhouse, giving no water bevond enough to keep the foliage fresh or 

 from flagging, and gradually dry them off. In July repot, and place 

 them in a hotbed, growing there as long as you can, and before cold 

 weather sets in remove them to the greenhouse, but we fear they will not 

 flower unless you can give them a t"mperature of 55" at night. We grow 

 our plants in a late vinery, and transfer them to the stove for floweriBp. 

 They have beea in good bloom the past sii weeks, and we shall now dry 

 them off. 



ANONTiious Correspondence {QutEitor). — The observations were di- 

 rected generally to check unworthy condnct. Your observations are 

 altogether personal, and written to annoy without the possibility of being 

 beneficial. 



Hot-water Piping {A Sxibscriher).—!! yon did not object to the first 

 expense, you would need from three to four 4-inch pipes all round the 

 house. 



Advertising [S.B. F.). — Your adveriisemsnts will be 3s. each. 



Applying Sulphub (Lupuj).— Using a pairof bellows is the common 

 mode, well known to gardeners. 



Roses ( W. B. B.).— The varieties you name would do very well at Upper 

 Norwood. 



CucuiiBER IThomas Ead-s). — We do not know where Dale's Conqueror 

 Cucumber is to be had. Seedsmen who possess it ought to advertise it. 



Fruit Trees in Orchard House (A Siihscriber).—FoT snch a lean-to 

 house, and where the plants are to be allowed to grow some size, we 

 would, OS there are trees ^giinst the back wall, have two rows of Peaches 

 and Nectarines in front, and say at 4 feet apart, or eight in the row. 

 These might be of Peaches— one Acton Scott, one Grosse Mignonne, one 

 Noblesse, one Royal George, one Violette Hative, one Barrington, one 

 Walburton Admirable, one Teton de Venus. Of Nectarines— two Eiruge, 

 two Violette Hative, two Rivers's Orange, one Downton, one Roman. 

 By having small plants you could have twenty-four plants instead of 

 sixteen, and some put them as close together as 2 feet apart, but we do 

 not think anything is gained by crowding. In such a house with pipes 

 round it. Vines in pots will do very well until those on the roof c^me In. 

 With Peaches on the wall, and the pyramids and standards in front, we 

 would not plant Vines so closely as 4 feet apart. If you do, as they fi.ll 

 the house, the trees shaded by them will do little good ; from 6 to 8 feet 

 apart would be better. You cannot be it Black Hamburgh for such a 

 house, and Royal Muscadine and Bucklaud Sweetwater as WTiites. If 

 you want to have them late, then R»isin de Calabre and Lady Downe's. 

 With late Grapes, however, you cannot use the house much until they 

 are cut. Sis feet will do for a Vine border if you cannot have more, but 

 we would have the border inside and outside too if you could manage it, 

 and plant inside. 



POTJLTSY, BEE. AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



FRENCH FOWLS. 



In your report on the Bristol Show, I see you remark that 

 not a single Li FlSohe cock was exhibited in the French olasB. 

 I have been for some time a fancier and breeder of this de- 

 scription of fowl, and have taken many prizes, and I mast say 

 I would never think of sending my fowls to any show where 

 the French breeds are all classed together, knowing well that 

 my fowls would stand a bad chance of winning when compet- 

 ing with breeds of a larger description, such as Creve-Cosors and 

 Houdans. The entries in the French classes at the above 

 Show were very large, and were worthy of separate claasifi- 

 oation. Generally speaking, the committees of poultry shows 

 do not give the breeders of French fowls much encouragement. 

 — Geoeqe Ales. Stephens, Dublin. 



LisHT BnAHiiiS. — The Torquay Show bids fair to become as 

 distinguished this year as last, and I hope it may be so in every 

 class. Tj insure a collection of Light Brahmas, such as has not 

 been hitherto seen west of Bristol, I hope to get up a good oup 

 for the best pen of this handsome variety, one which has perhaps 



