294 



JOUBNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ AprU 20, 1871. 



hour a-day or a month a-year. Were the garden 80 yards by 44 yards 

 instead of feet, a gardener could well attend to it and a vinery 100 feet 

 long by 20 feet wide. 



Violets {Viola}. — No. 1 ia of a very good size for its kind, and Violets 

 are smaller than usual this season. It is Queen of Violets No. 2 is very 

 unlike The Czar; we think it is Single Russian, hut cannot say positively 

 without leaves. 



LiLV OF THE Valley not Floweiung (A Constant Be ader).— There 

 mast be something radically wrong in your treatment. It cannot be the 

 fault of the roots, as each sends up a flower-stem, but does not grow more 

 than an inch. We take up ours as you do, preserving a good root to each, 

 and do not put in any but those which from their stoutness are likely to 

 flower. The thin sharp-pointed crowns are rejected. We place them in 

 pans about 4 inches deep, so as to have the point level with the surface, 

 give good drainage, and use fibrous loam alone. If tbe soil is moist they 

 are not watered, but, if not, they are gently watered ; they are then placed 

 in a house with a temperature of from 50^^ to 55'^ at night. They are kept 

 moibt ; when they are growing freely they are well watered, and they are 

 then placed in a light and airy position. When the lowest flowers on the 

 spikes expand the pans are removed to a house with a temperatui-e of 

 from 45*^ to 5j° at night, which hardens the plants and renders them 

 better able to endure the cold and dry atmosphere of rooms. This is our 

 practice after January; but before that time we place the crowns in a 

 Mushroom house in the dark until tbe flower-spikes are about 4 inches 

 long, and then remove them to a light position in a house with a tempe- 

 rature of 55^ at night. Before January it is well to place them for a fort- 

 night or three weeks in a house with a temperature of between 4 j" and 45", 

 as when placed directly in a house at 55'^ they do not alway.s grow. We 

 have had them placed in a forcing house in November, and have found 

 that thev do not move at all — we have kuown them remain dormant until 

 May. We had some this year so treated ; though placed in a temperature 

 of 50^ to 55' at night, they are now no further forward than when they 

 were first pat in, and we shall keep them where they are to see when 

 they will start. If they were placed in a cooler house for about a fortnight 

 they woul'i start freely enough, but we want to know what is the cause of 

 their not starting. Others like them flowered long ago. We require 

 twelve 13-inch pans every week to meet the demand for this flower. 



Tulips (Idem), — After they attain a full size, as they do in the course 

 of the thii'd or fourth season, they have reached the maximum of growth, 

 and do not further increase in size, but they vary considerably in size under 

 dififorent conditions of soil and seasons. The age of a Tulip bulb is one 

 year. It may be on record by a Dutch grower that one is three hundred 

 years old, and so it might be of Wheat or any other kind of seed that 

 perishes with the new plant. The bulbs of Tulips do not become smaller 

 every year, except under impoverishing treatment. They keep good for 

 very many years, but not when subjected to forcing ; then they dwindle. 

 Shrubs— Have they Floweqkd? (F. (?.).— Earya latifolia variegata 

 has beautiful foliage. We are not aware that it has flowered in this 

 country, but we do not think it worth cultivating for its flowers. Kadsura 

 japonica has rather pretty white flowers in June, but is not remarkable. 

 Viburnum Sieboldi we know nothing of, nor of Slaximowiczii amurensis. 

 Osmanthus illicifolius is a flue evergreen shrub. We do not know if it 

 has flowered. Having chiefly been tried in sheltered positions their 

 hardiness is not fully established. 



Camellias in Cold Pzts {Idem).— They may be grown and flowered 

 in cold pits and frames without heat, but the flowers are eubjeit to spot 

 and injury from frost. They should be protected in severe weather, and 

 kept in the dark until danger from scalding is past — that is, until the 

 plants and soil are thoroughly thawed. The pots should be plunged to 

 the rim. Magnolia grandiflora will flower in large pots or tubs, plenty of 

 head and side space being afforded, but it succeeds so well out of doors 

 that placing it in a house is occupying space that might be better devoted 

 to more tender subjects. No variety of Arbutus is propagated by cut- 

 tings. 



Camellia Cuttings {Wellington Eoad}.— The Camellia is not difficult 

 of propagation by cuttings, but the growth of tbe plants on their own 

 roots is not very satisfactory, and the flowering is generally very in- 

 different. The single varieties are mostly propagated by cuttings, and 

 employed as stocks. The best time to put in the cuttings is when the 

 wood of tbe current year becomes very nearly ripe, or at the end of June 

 or beginning of July. The cuttings should be from 4 to 6 inches long ; 

 cut transversely just below the lowest hud, take off the lowest pair of 

 leaves, and insert the cuttings up to the nest pair of leaves in sandy 

 loam, making firm. Place them in a cold pit or frame, keeping them close, 

 just moist, and shaded from strong sun. In about three months they 

 will be well rooted, and may be potted ofl" singly in sandy loam, and be 

 replaced in the frames, where they may remain throughout the winter 

 with protection in severe weather, or they may be housed before severe 

 weather sets in. 



Bottle-brush Plant Propagation {Idem). — There is more than one 

 species of Beaufortia, so called, but that known-){p gardeners as B. 

 splendens is the one to which the name is genera o' fi-, ilied. They are in- 

 creased by cuttings of the half-ripened shoots, ana c':^. our plants are 

 now in that condition. Tako off the points of the^^iPt aSely vigorous 

 shoots with their bases firm, and about 3 inches lo.c r^paaiitly trim off 

 the leaves about hilf way up, and insert the cutting to i^; ^f iXh in sand, 

 cover with a bell-glass, and set t in a house where the^,4 ^noderate 

 temperature — say 50^ at night, and without bottom heat. 'A5Q5*'>^'ill strike 

 in about six weekf, and should then be hardened ofl. Keet- them moist 

 but not very wet, and shaded from bright sun. 



Ventilation {R. T. 0.).— The simplest mode of ventilating the lantern 

 of the span-roofed house would be by rod and crank on each side— that 

 is, if the bouse faces east and west. In a leaa-to propagating pit the air 

 should be given at tbe top and also at the sides. The quantity of air is as 

 yon manage it. For a small house Hko yours, we should be satisfied with 

 an opening below the plate at the back wall, 15 inches long by 6 inches 

 deep at every 4 feet, and in front 4-incb openings the size of a brick 

 would be sufficient. In a Cu:;umber pit, now a mass of fruit, there is no 

 more front air than a space 4^ inches by 2^^ inches at every 4 feet, and 

 that has never been given this season yet, as the wooduu plug that fills 

 the hole has merely been eased a litue, so as ju'^t to let a little air 

 in. There need be no infringement on a patent for opening all your 

 ventilators less or more at once. There is no better cement for iron 

 pipes than rough tow packing and red lead. Wo would use iron filings 



close to the boiler. A saddle boiler 20 Inches by 20, and 17 inches in 

 height, will suit you. 



Peach Trees in Pots Failing {Merlin),— It is not easy to tell why 

 the Peach trees in pots that looked so well in autumn, and grow well in 

 your orchard house now, have, with the exception of one, a Harrington 

 Peach, shown no bloom, or why that one has cast its bloom without setting. 

 Did you purchase these trees established in pots? If not, and you 

 potted them late, that would be a minor cause of failure, as all fruiting 

 plants in pots require to bo well established in these before fruiting. 

 Another cause might be the too great kindness you have given them. A 

 lower temperature during the day, and perhaps less water after the buds 

 began to swell, might have saved the fruit buds. Some time ago we saw 

 plants in pots rendered barren from an opposite cause — namely, keeping 

 the roots too dry in winter, and the finest buds dropped before they 

 swelled much, whilst the wood bads grew very well. In another case the 

 fruit buds shrivelled up from giving the trees too strong a dose of Gis- 

 hurst. The one tree that opened its blossoms so well, and then dropped 

 them all, might do so owing to late potting, too much or too little water, 

 or too much suu- In such pots, when at all late potted, it is advisable to 

 thin out freely all the weaker blooms for the first season. Afterwards 

 they will generally take care of themselves. We once had a good crop of 

 Cherries in May and June from plants brought in a mat package in March, 

 but they were potted firmly in rather small pots for their roots, and then 

 the pots were plunged over their rims in a mild hotbed out of doors, 

 whilst the tops wore shaded and syringed in simny days, and kept cool 

 by free exposure to air. In three weeks there was no heat in the bed, 

 but the roots had made fine fresh rootlets close to the sides of the pots, 

 and then the plants were removed to the orchard house. Without thus 

 insuring early rooting we should have expected these plants to drop most 

 of their blooms. Without such care they ought to have been potted in 

 the previous spring or summer. Though we cannot clearly see the cause 

 of failure, yet we do not think you can justly complain to the nursery- 

 man, who, by your own description of tbe trees, seemed to have given 

 you good samples, and all the more as the trees obtained at the same 

 time, snd planted against walls, have, notwithstanding the frost and 

 easterly winds, retained many blossom?. In such a case, soon after 

 planting, we should not have been surprised at a portion of the bloom 

 dropping ; but this simple fact of the trees doing so well out of doors 

 would be a telling argument in favour of the tradesman, and also tend to 

 show that there was some cause, very likely mistaken kindness, that con- 

 tributed to the failure in-doors. 



Fruiting Shoots on Peach Trees {Idem). — It is quite true that, on 

 the common principle of fan training, It ia the shoot made and ripened 

 last year thut yields blossom and fruit this season. This holds good even 

 when the nipping-in or spur system, as In pot culture, is resorted to ; it 

 is the uipped-back part of this year's shoots that will be a nest of buds 

 next year. You have shown the outline of your fan-trained tree ; well, 

 each of these shoots on your true, if all of last season's growth, will now 

 be bristling with young shoots. Allow the shoot that comes nearest the 

 end to grow, in order to help to fill your wall. If that should be over- 

 strong, nip out the point when S inches long, and thus you may have 

 three shoots to fill the wall instead of one. Of all the other shoots coming 

 on last year's wood, first remove with a sharp knife the foreright shoots 

 — that is, those on the front outside of the last year's shoot, and leave 

 just as many on the sides as you will find room for, but removing these 

 extra shoots not all at once, but by degrees. Avery simple plan of fan- 

 training the Peach is to have the requisite number of leaders to fill the 

 wall, then to have bearing shoots between, and in disbudding now, 

 ta leave only one good young shoot at the base of each bearing shoot, 

 which will be the bearing shoot next year, when the one that baa borne 

 this season is cut away. We can confidently recommend Mr. Brehaut's 

 little work to you, which you can have from our office post free for 3s. Sd. 

 Vine Tendrils (Zrffm).— What you enclose are Vine tendrils, a pro- 

 vision which enables a healthy Vine to become a climbing plant. They 

 are not in any way tbe rudiments of the future bunch of Grapes. The 

 rudiments of the bunch of Grapes will be found peeping near the front 

 of the young fruitful shoots by the time they are 2 or 8 inches long. We 

 i hope you have noticed them before now, as they can be seen before 

 tendrils, Wheu wood is not well ripened, or tbe roots are too deep, even 

 tbe incipient bunches will sometimes run off into something like a 

 tendril. We are sorry that these Uttle matters have es;;aped us, but of 

 this you may be quite certain, that we shall duly attend to inquiries when 

 we Imow what is wanted, and if we cannot give a decisive answer, we will 

 acknowledge our inability to do so. From what is stated above you would 

 see that the fruit of Peaches this year is borne on young wood made and 

 m itured last year ; on the other hand, the fruit of Vines is produced on 

 tbe young shoots of this year's growth, coming from the well-ripened 

 buds or wood of last year's growth. 



Vines Bleeding (Idem).— That to which you allude and Thomson's 

 styptic are the best for arresting this flow of the sap. The great preven- 

 tive ia early pruning. There will be little or no bleeding without a fresh- 

 cut outldth Sometimes when the roots are kept warm there will be more 

 dispositiofi.to this flow of the sap. In such a case, where there is the 

 least doubt, it ia well to prune early, as soon as the leaves change, and 

 then daub each cut with white-lead paint as thick as it will work with a 

 small brush. Sometimes, when from late pruning the Vines showed 

 signs of bleeding, we have deferred pruning until the shoots wore 3 or 

 4 inches long. We have always entertained the idea that such bleeding 

 weakened the Vine and wasted its resources. Such an opinion, however, 

 is hardly corroborated by experiment, for when Vines in pots were left 

 on pui-pose we saw but little difference in the results in the case of Vines 

 that bled considerably aud those that, from pruning early, showed no 

 signs of such bii>r-].ing. However, it is best to avoid it, and early prun- 

 ing and daubing thu cut ends with thick paint are about the simplest 

 preweutives if you cannot obtain the styptic. As soon as the shoots take 

 the ^^ning there will be no chance of bleeding. 



Cuo'J^EEBs IN Gueenhouse {Idem). — You could not havo a better place 

 for Cue ^ber-growing than the greenhouse alluded to, when the bedding 

 plants ar. Removed iu May. The large boxes or pots will do admirably, 

 t)Ut in plah.Ing we would not fill tbe bosoa more than three-fourths full. 

 That will always be sinking; but our object would be to add an inch or 

 two of rich compost to the surface every two or three weeks— in fact, as 

 the fine white roots spread over the surface, just add a Uttle more. The 

 Cucumbers should be trained to a wire or string trellis, not less than 

 16 inches from the front glass, and as far from the glass of the roof. To 



