210 



JOUENAL OP HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ March 23, 1871. 



with great care, and plant them in the trench at about 5 inches 

 apart. After having pnt in a number, I give them a good 

 watering, and so proceed till the trench is filled. They remain 

 until the 20 th of May, and I have known it later. I never 

 aUow them at any time to become the least dry in the trench. 

 Very often they show flower on some of the shoots ; these I 

 pinch off. I pinch all the shoots, once in the cutting bed and 

 once in the trench. 



When I remove the plants to the flower garden, after plant- 

 ing I give as much water as I think will saturate the ball, in 

 order to prevent flagging, which is almost certiin to follow if 

 no water be given. In a short time they begin to show some 

 more flowers, these I pinch off ; no more pinching after that, 

 but whenever I observe the surface of the soil becoming dry I 

 have them watered. In very hot weather I often in the after- 

 noons just damp them over with the waterpot and rose ; 

 they seem to like it, and they well repay me for the trouble. 

 They continue flowering till the end of September, and if the 

 weather at the beginning of October were not quite so wet and 

 stormy they would look well later than that. Last year Mr. 

 Eames's favourite Kayii, at the end of September, was as finely 

 flowered as it was in August. For the last ten years I have 

 never failed to have a good show of Calceolarias ; I have never 

 had disease among them. Any plants that I lose after plant- 

 ing out are lost through accidents. I do not suppose out of 

 a thousand plants I lose thirty, and these I make good again 

 from a reserve stock kept for that purpose. 



I do not believe that coddling, as it is called, has anything 

 to do with the disease, as I have treated a few in that way 

 once, but after I took them in hand I allowed them to receive 

 no check, and they succeeded just as well as the others that 

 were not coddled. I remember that about sixteen years ago, 

 when the greenhouse varieties took the disease, the men who 

 used to grow some fine specimens before that time, afterwards 

 entirely failed to procure anything like a specimen, and with 

 just the same treatment that they gave to the fine plants they 

 used to have. I do not think the secret of the disease is yet 

 found out. — James Siiith, Fijnone. 



THE SEXES OF FIGS. 



Some time ago I heard of an Englishman at Smyrna, who, 

 on leaving home one morning, ordered that a large barren Fig 

 tree which stood in his garden should be cut down. On re- 

 turning he found the Kadhi and a large concourse of people 

 round his house, and was told by the Kadhi that the tree must 

 not be cut down, as it was a male one, and fertilised all the 

 trees around. This story recalled to my mind a communication 

 made some years ago to the Gardeners' Chronicle, by M, Lennep, 

 Dutch Consul at Smyrna, wherein he stated that the Aideen 

 Fig, which produces the dried fruit of commerce, and also the 

 Cassobar, were dioecious, while the Bardadgik is mouceeious. 

 On the latter male fiowers grow on the yoanger branches, and 

 female on the older. When the tree becomes aged no more 

 male flowers are produced. The male flowers open twenty or 

 thirty days before the female. Wild plants are said to produce 

 no female blossoms until they are cultivated. 



Now, all this agrees with what Tonrnefort and all eastern 

 travellers assert as to the necessity of caprification. In Eng- 

 land this practice is thought unnecessary, and it is maintained 

 that near the eye of the common receptacle, which we call the 

 fruit, there are a few male flowers which fertilise the females 

 lying below them. I ask, then, have no dioecious varieties ever 

 been introduced into England, or is the casting of fruit, of 

 which we have heard so much, sometimes owing to want of 

 proper fertilisation ? Or is the habit of the plant modified by 

 our climate and culture ? It is to be remarked that the genus 

 FicuB is mostly diceoious. 



In order to get some further information on this subject, I 

 wrote to a relative, now of Naples, but formerly of Smyrna, 

 ^d the subjoined extract from the reply may probably be in- 

 terestiug. 



After stating that both in Italy and in Smyrna wild plants 

 are male, and describing the well-known process of caprifi- 

 cation, the letter says — " The wild Fig here has a partiality for 

 stones and old buildings, which it soon converts into a heap of 

 ruins. When the cultivated or female Fig has swollen to nearly 

 its full size, they take a pointed stick like a toothpick, dip it 

 in olive oil, and prick the Fig in the eye. This operation is 

 performed on every fruit. Some say they are better flavoured 

 without this operation, but I approve of it, for the unassisted 

 Figs ripen later and become insipid from the rain which then 



falls. The variety most liked here resembles that most es- 

 teemed in Smyrna, and probably came from the same country, 

 as its name is Trojano. Its pulp is very light, and large 

 quantities can be eaten without indigestion. But these Figs are 

 impatient of climate. In rainy weather they are watery, in dry 

 weather they fall ofl' immature. (Large Brown Ischia of ifiller?)" 

 " The only advantage which Smyrna has over Italy in the 

 way of fruit, is in the Melons of Cassobar. There is also a 

 village not far ofi which produces a honey far superior to the 

 classic Hjmettus. It is perfectly white, resembling an ice- 

 cream, for which I took it the first time I saw it." — G. S. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



" Variety's the source of joy below, 

 From which still fresh revolving pleasures flow." 



I HATE several times wished to make a few remarks on 

 current topics in The .Jouksal of Hoeiicultuee, but have 

 been so fully occupied, that I have not found time, but I send 

 a few short notes. 



I feel nearly confident that Verbena disease, where it exists, 

 is generally from too cold or too damp treatment. Verbenas 

 require light and air and warmth in the winter months, with 

 moisture. A shelf in a medium-temperatured stove close to 

 the light is as good a place in which to winter Verbenas as can 

 be found. Spring-struck cuttings make better plants for bed- 

 ding than any that have been kept over the winter, and it ia 

 better to have good-sized stock plants established in pots by 

 early striking, than to wait for autumn to strike for winter. 

 One good well-established plant in a 7-inch pot kept warm on a 

 shelf, will produce more cuttings in spring than half a dozen 

 store pots of cuttings, even if there are six or seven cuttings in 

 a pot. 



A cold treatment of bedding plants is advocated on two 

 accounts — one 014 account of economy, the other on the score 

 of hardening the plants. I question both these points. Hun- 

 dreds and hundreds of Geraniums have been lost this winter 

 by keeping them in cold pits, when a little fire heat would have 

 saved the value of the plants. 2ndly. Plants are not hardened 

 by the bare keeping-alive process; on the contrary, it takes 

 weeks and months for them to recover. Geraniums, Verbenas, 

 Ageratums, <fco., are not deciduous shrubs, and cannot but 

 suffer both root and branch from being kept damp and cold, and 

 shut up in brick pits covered over with boards and straw, &c. 



With fruit trees (to touch upon another point where there 

 seem differences of opinion) it is different ; being deciduous 

 they can stand the winter out of doors in pots, provided the 

 roots are covered, and not exposed to the action of frost. I have 

 just brought in some fruit trees — Peaches, Nectsriues, and Plums 

 — which had been plunged in a sheltered corner of the kitchen 

 garden, and within ten days they were a sheet of beautiful 

 bloom, and seem likely to set well. 



I quite agree with Mr. Kingsley, that the rule with all hot- 

 water boilers should be, never to use anything but soft water. 

 It is very easy to have a water-butt to catch water from the 

 nearest building, and to have a self-feeding cistern regulated 

 by a ball-cock to supply the boilers, so as to keep a steady 

 supply without requiring attention. 



It is a common error to suppose that it indicates a rapid 

 circulation in a boiler for the return-pipe to be much colder 

 than the fiow. This is a fallacy, because the easier the cir- 

 culation, the quicker will the water return, and if the return- 

 pipe is cold and yet the flow quick, it must require the furnace 

 to be kept at an extreme heat for that difference to be obtained 

 in the temperature of the water during its passage through the 

 boiler. Whenever there is a very marked difference in the 

 temperature between the flow and return, it is a sure sign that 

 the boiler is overworked — i.e., there is too much area of piping, 

 or else that it is badly set or inefficient, and there cannot be a 

 worse sign for a boiler for night purposes, than to find the 

 average difference between the fiow and return is great, be- 

 cause as soon as the fire begins to slacken the pipes would cool 

 down rapidly. Another common error, is to see 2-inoh pipes, 

 and even less, used for the junctions into the boiler both flow 

 and return. It ought to be borne in mind that four times as 

 much water could be run through a 4-inch pipe in a given time 

 than through a 2-inch pipe, and there is no greater check for 

 the circulation than this sudden change from a 4 to a 2-inch 

 return-pipe, as the whole circulation of the water depends 

 merely on the, difference of weight between heated and super- 

 heated water. 



A word as to laps in glazing. Last spring I built a double 



