February 9, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



109 



c\use the sulphur to adhere. By giving a little moro heat now that the 

 Muscats are-flowering, and by attending to artificial impregnation, you 

 may succeed in setting them fairly ; this ellected, you may growtolerably 

 well Muscats, Sweetwattjrs, and Black Hamburghsin the same house, but 

 you would have a greater certainty of success ii there were a division 

 separating the Muscats from the Sweetwaters and Hamburghs. We can 

 give you the recommendation you require for the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's examination. 



Cacu-TTBERS DEF0R3IED (W. C. C.).^The cause of your Cucumbers 

 clubbing or having a knob at tbe end is they are seeding, which may be 

 dae to the stock you have being worn-out or old, or the plants may have 

 been a long time in growth. We know of no remedy but fresh seed and 

 young x)lauts that have been grown without check. Perhaps a little more 

 heat and atmospheric moisture would remedy the evil, giving weak 

 liquid manure occasionally, as well as a top-dressing of rich light com- 

 post, and removing some of the old soil. 



Mushroom Bed (J. D., Herts). — We cannot reply to your query unless 

 you tell us where the bed is to be. 



OaiER Bed in a Damp Meadow (Bosemary). — If the expense is not too 

 great it would be best to trench the ground before plantiug, at least it 

 ought to be dug so as to turn tbe turf and other herbage upside down. 

 Put in tbe Osier plants or cuttings as quickly as possible afterwards ; 

 both would grow by merely planting them on the turf, but not so well, 

 and the rank herbage would be very troublesome in summer, and injure, 

 if not choke, the small plants. Osier plants would be better than cuttings, 

 but the latter will do ; at the same time be careful to ensure plantiug 

 only good varieties and such as are suitable for the desired purpose A 

 strong coarse Willow is best suited for hampers and similar purposes, 

 while a smaller one, tough and solid, with scarcely any pith in its centre, 

 is the best for fine work. You had better consult some neighbouring 

 basket-maker about the kind most likely to be wanted, as we know of 

 some disappointment arising from not making such inquiries. 



Avoiding Red Spider ( ). — There is no better plan for preventing 



red spider appearing on the Strawberry plants in the vinery than using a 

 moist atmosphere, washing tbe walls with sulphur behind the Straw- 

 berries, and also smearing tbe bot-water pipes with sulphur; the pipes 

 or flues should not be warmer than about 170-. If there is a flue in the 

 house, do not put sulphur at the warmest end. All fumes below that 

 temperature will be safe, but beware of having strong fumes when the 

 Vines are setting, and whilst the Grapes are small. 



Bark Bed for Cuttings (A Subscriber).— Tanners' bark will do ex- 

 cellently for a bed with a frame over it for striking cuttings, &c., at the 

 end of February, in March, and onwards. The bed should be made a 

 fortnight previous to use in order that the tan may be sweet. To make a 

 small striking house with a flue, you could not do better than adopt a 

 modification of the plan recommended to " T. M.," at page 91, for a 

 Cucumber house. We would surround the flue with open rubble — a liglit 

 layer on the top of the flue— then washed gravel, then tan, sand, ashes, 

 or cocoa-nut fibre. 



Vines in Pots (H. Fay). — As to fruiting the Vines in pots, you will 

 only succeed by keeping them in pots. Your proposed mode will answer 

 very well. A bottom heat of from 70'^ to 80^ will do after the Vines break, 

 and for top heat from 60- to 65- until Ihe bunches are pretty well formed ; 

 then when they begin to show bloom, raise the temperature gradually to 

 10'^. We are not sure if we understand yonr object in placing the Vmes 

 in the hothouse. (M.). — It is not the fault of the Vines that they show no 

 signs of breaking while standing ou a stage in a dry house for ten weeks, 

 with a night temj)eratnre of from 40*^ to 50^, and a day temperature of 

 fl.bout 55^. You must moisten the canes of the Vines with a syriuge, and 

 ^eep the stage moist in sunny days, unless you place evaporating-basins 

 on your pipes ; then gradually increase the night temperature in a week 

 to 55^, and in another fortnight to 60^, with a lise of from 5- to 15^ in 

 bright sunshine from sun heat, and with air given early. Then the Vines 

 ■<wiil soon show signs of moving. We cannot tell you how often to water 

 at the roots, that will depend on the heat and the weather. Such Vines 

 might want water every alternate day, and might not want it for ten days. 

 The soil should not be dry. If pans are used for the pots, not more than 

 ■from an eighth to a quarter of an inch of water should ever be in the pan. 

 The surface soil should consist of rich mulching, and weak manure water- 

 ings should be given, especially after the Vines have broken and extended 

 a couple of inches in length. Before breaking you may sprinkle the Vines 

 twice or thrice a-day, but we have frequently broken Vines well without 

 syringing them, merely by keeping a rather damp atmosphere. As to 

 syringes, those having a round ball as a valve are the simplest and best. 



Various (IJc m).— We have no doubt that by having 2 or 3 inches on 

 each side of the fire-bars, your fire will keep longer in. W"e have no faith 

 in earthenware pipes for flues, unless there is a piece next the fu^-nace of 

 brick. Portland cement flues answer well, as Mr. Robson testifies, and 

 we have seen them at Linton. We should consider one of the smallest- 

 sized saddle or conical boilers ample for your place— say, if a saddle-back, 

 14 inches high, 14 inches wide, and 20 inches long, setting the boiler on a 

 TOW of firebricks above the bnrs, and having the space for tbe bars from 

 9 to 10 inches wide ; the boiler to be set as stated in answer to " T. N." 

 to-day. Such a boiler would cost without fittings about 505., if of cast 

 iron. A cylinder cast iron boiler 18 inches high and 15 in diameter would 

 cost about the same. There would be little to choose between them, but 

 were we managing them ourselves, we could more easily make the saddle- 

 back consume its own smoke. 



Mushrooms in a Cellar {J, F.). — You can hardly have better advice 

 than is contained in the article referred to at page 461, No. 497. It does 

 not matter what the cellar is made of — rock, stone, or brick, or if it is even a 

 dry place underground. The great advantage in all is the uniform beat. 

 Tour dry brick celiar will answer exceedingly well. If you have p'enty oi 

 horse droppings, mixing with turfy loam in the proportions stated will ba 

 an advantage, but you can do without the loam if you cannot easily obtain 

 it, only you must put on smaller layers at a time, and wait a little longer 

 for spawning. The droppings from many horses, or from difl'ereut stables, 

 will be better than having to save material from one or two horses. 

 Watering in winter will not be much needed, but when wanted we would 

 use water at about 75^. In summer, to prevent any check, the water 

 should be from 65^ to 70" at lowest. Covering the beds with a little old 

 hay will keep them more uniform in temperature and moisture iu winter. 

 It would not be needed in summer unless there were draughts through 

 the cellar. In this case a covering would be au advantage. 



Setting a Conical Boiler {T. W.).— We would never think of setting 

 a conical boiler with a solid wall round it. We think the best plan is to 

 place it at the height of one firebrick above the grate bars, and then 

 leave a space of from 3 to 3^ inches round it, blocking the outlet from 

 the top of the boiler inside, so that the smoke, flame, and heated air 

 should go round the outside of the boiler before reaching the chimney. 

 Setting your boiler ou three firebricks ou edge with an open spAce all 

 round, would bo better than with a solid wall next to the boiler, but on 

 the whole we do not consider it to be so good as the above plan, though 

 we have several times found it work well. AU boilers, unless the bulk is 

 inside a house, will lose heat unless surrounded by brickwork, but having 

 a flue as above between the brickwork and boiler. If beyond that brick- 

 work forming the flue there were another space, say 3 inches wide, for 

 confined air, the heated bricks would tell on the boiler, and but little 

 heat would extend to tbe brickwork beyond. In all such small boilers, 

 however, after the heat has become str'ing, the continuance of heat with 

 little fuel will depend on the careful use of the damper and ashpit door. 

 Your 33-feet distance, where the small pipes connect the two houses out 

 of doors, will also lose much heat unless these pipes be secured in a non- 

 conducting medium, as dry sawdust, &c. The Laijageria rosea, being a 

 strong plant, will succeed well planted out in the conservatory, if the 

 place is well drained, room given for surface rather than deep rooting, 

 and plenty of water without stagnation. 



NAiiES OF Plants {3/. X. TT.).— 2, Scolopendrium vnlgare ; 3, Selaginella 

 Willdenovii ; 4, Phymatodes vulgaris ; 5. Pteris serrulata ; 6, Adiantum 

 hispidulum ; 7, Saxifraga Fortunei. [M. fi.).— 1. Cyrtomiuoi falcatum ; 

 2, Xephrolepis tuberosa; 3, Onoclea sensibilis ; 4, Scolopeudrium vulgare« 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



RESULTS OF POULTRY-KEEPING. 



According to yonr wish I send you a few particulars of my 

 poultry-keeping. I had, hatched in April last year, twelve 

 pullets and two cockerels (Golden-pencilled Hamburghs) ; the 

 first pullet laid on October 23rd. 



No. of Eggs, 



Brought forward di 



December 17th 19 



„ 24th 28 



31st 84 



January 7th 29 



14th 28 



Two hundred and tliirty-two eggs at nine a-shilling amount 

 to nearly £1 6s. I obtained rather more, having sold some at 

 lid. each, the remainder at nine a-shilling. I fed my fowls on 

 peas at Id. a-pound, and damaged wheat at 6s. a-measure 



(75 lbs.). 



s. d. 



Allowance per week, fi lbs. of peas 6 



12 lbs. of wheat 1 



October 29th ... 

 November Gth ... 



12th ... 



19th ... 



26th ... 



No. of Egss 



7 



9 



13 



10 



13 



21) 



10th ... 



22 



Carried forward.. 



94 



1 6 



You will remember a controversy in your Journal in 1861, 

 when " E. C. C." disputed " Leighton's " statements, and per- 

 haps there will be many who will say my fowls are not well fed ; 

 but I imagine their laying all through this frost, when neither 

 grass nor grit was to be had, will prove the contrary. I cal- 

 culate the cost of my fowls at about 2s. 6d. a-head to the time 

 of their commencing laving. 



£ s. d. 



Eggs sold 16 



Twelve weeks' keep at la. 6rf 18 



Profit 







This may seem a small profit, but I can hear of no one 

 having eggs ; in fact, I am selling to people keeping four times 

 the number of fowl I have, and they say they have not had an 

 egg for four months. Perhaps your answer to " A. M.'" applies 

 to me, and my success is attributable to hatching in April. — 

 E. Wilson, Wharf House, Ellesmere. 



[Save your March and April pullets by all means. They 

 will put you in the satisfactory position you have occupied this 

 year as regards eggs, but it is a pity to kill birds that have done 

 so well, when they are only a year old. Sell them alive, or 

 keep some of them to come in as layers when the puUeta 

 slacken next year. It is not all to have eggs in the winter ; you 

 should, and you can, manage to have them all the year round. 

 — Eds.] 



OUTRAGES ON PRIZE POULTRY. 



The case of malicious mischief related by Mr. Cresswell is by uo 

 means a solitary instance of the risk our valuable poultry have to run 

 during their journeyiugs to the various shows. I have now to relate 

 a piece of villainy of a similar or, perhaps, even worse description. 

 On the 13th of January I sent off my entries to the Aberdeen Show ; 

 among them were two valuable Game cocks, both having won me cups 



