IS6 



JOUENAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



[ Marcli 9, 1871. 



Most Productive Fruit Teees (J. (7.).— Hotv could any opinion be 

 given -Rithout the slightest information as to soil, elevation, locality, 

 whether for kitchen or dessert, and whether early or late varieties are 

 needed? 



Grass Seeds So-iviNG (W. B.S.).— The beginning of Aprilis the most 

 suitable time to sow Grass seeds, taking advantage of weather in which 

 there is an early prospect of rain. 



^ Seeds (A. B. C.).— Messrs. Wrench & Son, Seedsmen, Eing William 

 Street, London, E.G., can inform you. 



PLAi-TixG Peak Trees (A Suhscriber).~'We can hardly give an opinion 

 as to your probable nltimate success. The precautions you have taken 

 .for preventing the roots getting into the subsoil are so far good, if suffi- 

 cient. They may induce the roots to spread nearer the surface, although 

 they may not absolutely prevent their descending. We recommend you to 

 ssamine the roots frequently and arrest any that may have a downward 

 tendency. 



Htacinths for the 12th Feeruaet (Jaco&).— For flowering by the 

 -■time you name the bulbs should be potted at the end of September or 

 early in October, and should be keptplun^ed in coal ashes in a cold frame. 

 At the close of Novembpr thev should be placed in a hou?e with a tempe- 

 rature of from 40^ to 45°, and"be continued there until the end of Decem- 

 ber, when they should be placed in a light aiiv position in a house with a 

 temperatui-e of from 45° to 50'=, and in a fortnight they should have a 

 temperature of 60^ to 55^. When in flower they should be moved to a 

 cooler house. They will flower finelv at the time vou require. You will 

 ■find the properties of the Hyacinth fully given in '" florists' Flowers for 

 the Many." It may be had post free from our office if you enclose five 

 postage stamps with your address. 



Begonia Plants Going off (A Young Gardener).— The cause of the 

 plants going ofi", we should say, is the late sowing of the seed, and conse- 

 ^juent small growth made before winter, and the " plenty of water " would 

 only assist their going ofi'. Lessen the supply of water, not giving any 

 nntil the soil becomes dry, and then enough to show itself at the drainage. 

 71 V ^^ ^ "'^^^ *^™^ ^° ^°^ ^^^ ^^^'^' ^^* ^^^ should not hesitate to sow 

 all but the herbaceous kinds when ripe. The latter are best sown in 

 spring. 



CUCU3IEER AND Melon Pits (TcomaTi).— Where there is no fear of 

 ■water, or a drain can be laid to carrv off any water that may run towards 

 the pit, the excavation may be 2 feet 6 inches deep, and alons the b^ck 

 and front you will require a space of 2 feet for linings of hot dung— inat 

 3S, if you contemplate forcing enrlv, but if you intend to use it only in 

 summer, then the linings may he dispensed with. The walls of the pit 

 should be pigeon-holed up to the ground level, or 2 feet 6 inches high in 

 front, and 3 feet 6 inches at back. The inner walls, or those of the pit, 

 seed not be more than half a brick (4^ inches) thick, and above the pigeon- 

 holes they should be built solid. The sides of the excavation will need 

 brickwork a brick thick to keep up the soil, and should be carried-up level 

 ■with the ground, and then have a course of well-burnt bricks set on edge. 

 The height of the front wall should be 4 feet, aod of the back G feet. You 

 ^vill need a partition to divide the part intended for Cucumbf'rs from that 

 proposed for Melons. A 4^-inch wall answers very well. Cos's Volunteer 

 3 s a good Cucumber of easy culture, Telegraph is "also excellent, and so is 

 ^asters's Prolific, a not-large but very free-bearing sort. Of Melons, 

 Heckfield Hybrid and Eeechwood are good green-fleshed sorts, and 

 Malvern Bali and Pine Apple (Wills), are fine, free-setting, scarlet-fleshed 

 iiinds. 



Fruit Trees K'ewlt Plaiited ' Q. Q.).— No practice is so bad as cutting 

 newly-planted fruit trees to skeletons. Do not shorten any of the shoots 

 ■Oi the wall trees except the central shoots, which sha>nld be pruned-in to 

 12 or 13 inches. The short stubby shoots leave entire, if not of greater 

 length than a few inches, and all the terminal shoots train-in at full 

 length. Of course, you will need to cut back all side shoots not intended 

 to form principal branches to within half or three-quarters of an inch of 

 their base, but leaving the spurs entire. It will hardly be necessary to 

 water this month, but if the weather be very dry water may be given, 

 though we have not found it necessary in a quarter of a century's practice. 

 -U the soil be moist it is all they requir<=. The Tines planted in hampers 

 and placed in a friend's greenhouse, with canes 6 feet long, will need to be 

 pruned to the length required to reach from the ground to the wires of 

 the proposed vinery ; but as the lime is gone by for pruning, we would as 

 ■they swell rub off the eyes to the height you require, and when there are 

 leaves you can cut away the disbudded part. In planting remove the 

 "Woodwork of the hampers, for if buried we are not certain that it would 

 not breed fungus injurious to the Vines. 



FnuiT-Eooii Coxsteuctiox {A. If.).— The site of a fruit-room should 

 be low rather than elevated, as when it is somewhat below the ground 

 level there will be less fluctuation of temperature. It is necessary, how- 

 ever, that the site should be dry, and if not it must be elevated so as to 

 guard against damp ; the floor should be concreted, and the foundations 

 -of the walls ought to be asphalted, so as to prevent damp from rising. It 

 is well to plaster the walls with cement. A north aspect is most suitable, 

 -and next to that east ; a south or south-west aspect is the worst of all. It 

 is very important to maintain an equable temperature, and the best 

 means of securing it is double walls having a cavity of about 3 inches. 

 ■Confined air is the best non-conductor of heat, and applies equally to cold 

 and damp. The roof should be double-ceiled, with a cavity between. 

 The most suitable temperature is 40', and not exceeding 50-. Provision 

 ehould be made for ventilation to dry-up any superfluous moisture, and 

 especially in autumn, when the fruit is housed in quantity ; therefore, 

 means of giving thorough ventilation should be provided "for. and the 

 Spwwer to close should be equally effi^ctive. The ventilation should be 

 provided in the highest part of the room, as it then admits of a freer cir- 

 CB'ation of air. Light will be necessary for operations in connection 

 with the fruit, but at all other times the room must be quite dark. The 

 windows must have close-fitting shutters, and, like the walls, should be 

 doable ; in severe weather they should be covered with mats, and if they 

 enclose hay and are placed on the outside they will better exclude cold. 

 The atmosphere must not be dried by fire heat, and so long as the fruit 

 is dry the room is not too damp. The means of affording artificial heat 

 ehould be as far distant from the fruit as possible, and in no case beneath 

 it. Those are the main essentials of a fruit-room. 



FnuiT AND Plant Houses Co3IEINED (J. N.).— In building such houses 

 it is advisable to have them in two or three divisions, as thus you can 

 have a succession of fruit and flowers. For early Grapes we prefer a 



lean-to house with a wall on the north side, sloping glass to face the 

 south, and the slope not less steep than an angle of 45=. For general 

 crop, and to contain plants for fiowering and bedding, we would avoid 

 the building of a high wall, and have a house from 16 to 24 feet in width, 

 with a pathway down the centre, and a stage or platform at each side. 

 Glass will be found cheaper than brick, but for early work more heating 

 will be required for a spin than for a lean-to roof, the wall at back acting 

 both as a protection and a reservoir of warmth. Such a house could 

 have its ends due north and south, the north end of brick, the south end 

 of glass. This would answer very well, but instead of due north and 

 south we would prefer the ends to be a little north-east and south-west. 

 We should thus obtain the greatest possible amount of sun. There is a 

 great advantage in such span- roofed houses thus placed — that the mid- 

 day sun strikes the roof obliquely, and the greatest heat wiU be obtained 

 respectively on the east and west slopes. According to circumstances 

 the decision must be made. A low wall on each side would do for a steep 

 span roof, and the bottom ventQation could be given in the wall, and the 

 top by donble-ridge board and cowl, so that all the roof could be fixed on 

 the orchard-house principle, or easily moved on the Beard or the groove 

 principle. As stated above, if lean-to, the houses should face the south; 

 if span-roofed the slopes should more or less face due east and west. We 

 would advise that the Vines be planted inside in either case; but if a 

 wide-span house we would have a border inside and outside too if con- 

 venient. The simplest mode of doing so is to build the front wall on 

 arches or pi^rs. The latter would answer very well with a stone or iron 

 sill if you had front lights for ventilation. If the ventilation is to be in 

 the wall, then an arched wall would be best. 



Briae Tops Covering — PiOSEs Pruning {T. G.). — The tops of the 

 Briars should he pruned smooth, and may be brushed over with patent 

 knotting, snch as painters use. We consider the end of February not too 

 early to prune Roses, but for a late bloom pruning may be advantageously 

 done at the commencement of March, 



Box FOP. Edgings {J. J).— Xow is a good time to put in cuttingg of 

 Box, slipping off the pieces, and inserting them with 1 or 2 inches of the top 

 out of the soil. The top should not be pruned; merely remove any irre- 

 gularities of growth. Many evergreen shrubs may be propagated in the 

 same way ; but the best time to put them in is at the end of summer 

 when the growth is complete, say the end of September. Water the Box 

 if the weather be di-y after planting, and afterwards in dry weather until 

 it is growing freely. 



Selections of Plants for Xoeth Wall, &c. (S". S. N.). — Six Climbers 

 for a north 7caU are Ampelopsis hederacea, Hedera hibemica (canariensis 

 of some), H. Efegneriana, H. Helix foliis variegatis, H. Helix aurea, and 

 Cotoneaster microphylla. Ivies are ihe most suitable subjects for a north 

 wall. Ticcnty-jour Ejjbrid Perpetual Eases may be AcLille Gonod, Alfred 

 Colomb, Baronne PreVost, Camille Bernardin. Caroline de Sansal, Charles 

 Lefebvre, Comte de ^Nanteuil, Dr. Andry, Due de Eohan, Elie Morel, 

 Gloire de Santenay, John Hopper, Lady Suffield, Louise Peyronny, Ma- 

 dame la Baronne de Rothschild, Madame Victor Verdier, M^rechal Vail- 

 lant, Paul Verdier, Pierre Xoltiog, Princess Mary of Cambridge, Senateur 

 Vaisse, Vainquear de Goliath, Victor Verdier, and William Griffiths. Six 

 Golden Tricolor Pelargoniums — Achievement. Lucy Grieve, Sunray, Jetty 

 Lacy, Lady Cnllum. and Miss Watson. Six Goldcnand £;-on::e— Edward 

 George Henderson, Ej^yptian Queen, Fascination. Masterpiece, President, 

 and Trojan. Six Silver Tricolors — Mrs. John Glutton, Excellent, May 

 Queen, Picturata, Italia Unita, and Cherub. Six Tines Jor a cold house — 

 Buckland Sweetwater, Black Hamburgh, Black Champion, Trentham 

 Black, Foster's White Seedling, and General della Marmora. Twelve shrubs 

 for an east aspect— Aucuha. japonica. Eerberis Aquifolium, common and 

 Portugal Laurel, tree Bos of sorts, Holhes, Cotoneaster Simmondsii, Phil- 

 adelphns coronarius, Eibes sanguineum, Lilacs, Sambucus racemosa, 

 and Skimmia iaponica. 



Arrangement of HorsES {B. T. G.). — There can be no objection to 

 the proposed arrangement as it is given, ana no doubt the propagating 

 pit would be useful. In either case you might plant Vines at the back of 

 the vinery, but if the hipped roof were contrived to form the span of the 

 same slope as the other side, there would be more room for the Vines. 

 The Vines against the back wall vr'iil not succeed there unless the glass 

 roof be bat moderately covered. They will fruit well when they reach the 

 glass. We have seen Vines do admirably when planted thus on the 

 north side, and triiioed down the glass in a iean-to house. We prefer 

 that a span-roofed house for a vinery should have its sides east and west, 

 and its ends north and south. 



Planting and PRr.viNG Yohng Vines (A Subscriber].— If you are 

 afraid that the young Vines would bleed if pruned back to the necessary 

 length now, we'would let them alone, but as soon as the buds lengthen, 

 say half an inch or so, you may rub off all yon do not want, but you must 

 not cut them off; that will cause bleeding, hut the rubbing off with the 

 thumb and finger will not. When the Vines have started and made a 

 foot of young wood, you may prune back safely as you propose, but by 

 that mode you will be apt to check the Vine more, and lose so much more 

 for the main shoot, than by the above mode of rubbing ofi" the started 

 buds. 



Forcing Strawberries (Fifteen-years Subscriber). — To sncceed in 

 forcing Strawberries well, the following simple matters will have to be 

 attended to, and, for the sake of simplicity, we shall confine ourselves to 

 one mode. First, as soon ms you can obtain runners, however small, from 

 a fruitful Strawberry pbmt, place the runner with its incipient roots in a 

 small pot '60-sized), with a pebble in it to keep the runner in the rich 

 light &oiI. Water frequently until the pot is full of roots. When it is so 

 filled cut the runnnr, take away the plants in 'he pots, and let them stand 

 in a shady place for a few days. Then shift these well-rooted plants 

 into or 6-inch pots, using rich stiff soil, and keeping the bud of the 

 plant nearly level with the rim of the pot. Make the soil all round the 

 ball as hard as you well can with fingers and a slick. Most likely 

 the pots will need a little shade for a few days after potting, but after 

 that the plants cannot have too much sun, and the pots should stand on 

 a hard bottom. When the pots become crammed with roots use manure 

 water of various kinds freely, provided it is not too strong, fur too st ong 

 doses are to be avoi>led. Ay autumn advances let the plants have all the 

 sun possible, but diminish watering that the buds may be well ripened. In 

 winter, if the pots can be protected from frost, fuow, and excessive rains, 

 it will all be in favour of the plants. In cold places in the north it is 

 often advisable to prick out small runners, let them have a somzuer's 

 growth, and take them up next summer and pot for forcing. 



