16 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 7, 1870. 



Ice House (J. D. Whitehead). — All ice houses, as a rule, keep ice best 

 in proportion to the quantity of ice put in. A few loads, however pro- 

 tected, will seldom last after midsummer. We know the plan of Cobbett's 

 you have adopted answers well, but, of course, the smallest opening would 

 be ruinous, and it would be of no use where rats or rabbits could burrow 

 in the straw, as every hole made would let in the heated air. Ice stacks, 

 if looked after, and from fifty to a hundred load3 put together, answer 

 well, as described at the page in the "Gardeners' Dictionary" you 

 refer to ; but even in their case, holes from vermin must be looked after, 

 and the covering must be put on so as not to heat. We have ourselves 

 no doubt that a house on Cobbett's plnn, either above or below ground, 

 ■with double walls and double roof, with a space, say of 6 inches between, 

 would answer well, as if made of brick or stone there would be no air 

 holes easily formed, as there is almost sure to be in most districts where 

 gnawing and burrowing nnimals abound, and the walls are wood and 

 straw. See article in No. 304, vol. xii., page 64. 



Span-roofed Fruit House (A Reader). — We have given plans and 

 descriptions of cheap houses, and there are advertisements in our pages 

 which may be referred to and depended on. You can do better for your- 

 self, knowing the circumstunces in your own neighbourhood, than we 

 can do for you. For instance, a fixed roof could be put up for less 

 than the half of one with sashes, and the heating for such a house will 

 be very different, if you want Grapes ripe in May, than if you were 

 satisfied to have them in July and onwards. Peach trees for the centre 

 of the house you could purchase at Is. Gd, per plant, and yet it might be 

 true economy to have plants at from 7s. &d. and onwards. In such a 

 house, 20 feet wide, and glass all round, eight 4-inch pipes the length of 

 the houBe would not be too many to have Grapes ripe in the beginning 

 of May. The Grapes that would come in best then would be Black Ham- 

 burgh, Sweetwater, and Royal Muscadine ; and if you wish to give a 

 chance to the Peaches in ike centre, six or seven Vines on a side will be 

 enough. An upright tubular boiler is rather the easiest to manage, but 

 otherwise there is no great difference between that and a terminal saddle- 

 back. The price of shelving and fitting up depends much on the material 

 used, and altogether your case is one more for local inquiry and agree- 

 ment than could be satisfactorily entered largely upon in our pages. 



Planting Whole Potatoes (Calcarea).—We approve of this practice 

 Let us know the quan'ities produced by you and your neighbour, and we 

 will publith them with some notes. 



Lawn Covered with Daisies (W. F.). — To destroy them you acted 

 judiciously in top-dressing the whole lawn with a mixture of good loam 

 and well-rutted dung, and in April sowing the whole with a suitable mix- 

 ture of grass seeds. If you let the grass grow long, in a season or two it 

 will probably choke the Daisies. To prevent the Daisies ripening their 

 seeds, take the flowers off with the Daisy rake. If you do this, and have 

 the roots of the survivors scooped out with a knife in the autumn and 

 spring, you will subdue them entirely. 



Anthurium Pcherzerianum, Temperature for (S. E.). — This beau- 

 tiful plant requires at this season a temperature of from 65° to 70° at 

 night, and 75° by day without sun, and from 80° to 85° or 90° with sun and 

 air. It does very well in the stove during the summer. 



Increasing Anthurium Scherzerianum (X. O.).— Your best plan of 

 inducing your plant to form offsets will be to give it a more moist and 

 warmer atmosphere, as well as every stimulus to growth, and thus, no 

 doubt, you will have a larger plant, but not so many flowers. The taking 

 out of the crown of the plant — just its centre — would be likely to afford 

 an increase of the crowns. 



Melon Treatment (J. F. S.).— The lights should not be covered after 

 May. It is only so long as the nights are cold that coverings are needed. 

 When the nights are becoming cold in autumn it is essential to cover the 

 lights as in spring, but it will not be necessary to do so before the close 

 of September. The bed should be lined as may be found necessary for 

 maintaining the proper temperature. During the very bright weather 

 we had a hhort time ago it was not necessary. If the temperature at 

 6 a.m. is 65° no linings are required; with us it is often under 60° at 

 night, and we have Melons now in beds made up but a short time before 

 yours, and the beds have not been lined more than twice. Melons will 

 endure a great amount of heat. 85° to 90°, however, with sun and abun- 

 dance of air, is quite sufficient, but they will bear from 100° to 110- without 

 injury if they have air. It must, however, be from sun heat. We would 

 now line the bed with sweet dung, give a good watering, but without 

 wetting the surface, by pouring water through a funnel or drain-pipe, and 

 by giving plenty of air we think the fruit will set. The flower is all right. 



Culture of Black Currants (A Poor Lady), — We do not think it 

 would answer to prune the bushes now, cutting them back in the hope of 

 obtaining shoots for next year's bearing ; but it would be of great benefit 

 to give liberal supplies of liquid manure in dry weather throughout the 

 summer, thinning out the shoots now where too thick. Where very long 

 and straggling they may be shortened, but take care to leave a sufficient 

 number of shoots for bearing next year. The best manure is cow dung, 

 as it is cool, but any kind will answer. Apply the manure in autumn, 

 after the leaves fall, removing the soil down to the roots to the extent of 

 about 2 feet all round the stem ; then give 2 or 3 inches thick of manure, 

 and cover with about an inch of soil. The manure need not be more 

 than half decayed. Road scrapings are not of much value ; and guano, 

 though it will do good, ought to be applied in moist weather only, and in 

 small quantities at a time. 



Mildewed Vines (C. E.).—We do not see what you can do now, ex- 

 cept to dust the mildewed parts with flowers of sulphur, to paint your 

 walls with sulphur and lime, to use a little sulphur in your heating 

 medium, and to give as much air as is compatible with the health of the 

 Vines and other plants. A close moist atmosphere is the fertile source 

 of mildew ; the reverse condition keeps it away or starves it. Mildew 

 is often the result of many plants being kept close and damp beneath 

 the Vines. If you do not allow the Vines to be too thick on the roof, we 

 do not think the mildew will much affect them, but the more moisture 

 and closeness there is in the house, the more difficult will it be to eradi- 

 cate the mildew. We see little use in cutting the Vines down if you 

 mean to take fresh growth from them. Such mildew is, generally speak- 

 ing, more owing to atmospheric than to root or earth causes. 



Grapes Small and Ill-coloured (J. F. H.).— We think very likely the 

 smallness of the Grapes, and their colouring irregularly, are owing to the 

 dryness and poorness of the border. If the previous watering is not 



enough, water again with manure water. Keep, as you say, a little heat 

 in the house whilst you give air freely ; meanwhile, the mere irregular 

 colouring is often no great drawback. When a few berries colour well, 

 the others generally follow suit, if they are firm and perfect. 



Grapes Diseased (M. D. C.).— They are shanked and spotted also. 

 Remove the soil from over the roots, replace it with some richer soil, and 

 water copiously twice a-week with tepid weak liquid manure. The roots 

 are unable to supply sufficient sap. 



Mildew on Grapes (Tti&J.— Dost them thoroughly with flowers of 

 sulphur. After the sulphur has been on three or four days, syringe the 

 Grapes. If after two more days the mildew is still apparent, apply the 

 sulphur again, and continue repeating the treatment until the mildew is 

 entirely removed. 



Sulphuring Grapes (Centurion).— It is not necessary to syringe the 

 Grapes and Vines previous to dusting them with sulphur for destroying 

 mildew. The sulphur will readily adhere to the Grapes and the leaves 

 of the Vines. There is no necessity for washing off the sulphur ; it may 

 remain until the mildew is destroyed, and then be syringed off with clean 

 rain water. If this be done when the Grapes show colour it will be soon 

 enough, though we usually wash off the sulphur within a week, but if the 

 mildew reappear it is necessary to repeat the sulphur-dressing and the 

 subsequent washing. Air should be admitted as usual ; if anything, more 

 air should be given after than before the application. Your gardener is 

 quite right in giving all the air possible in bright hot weather, but to do 

 so in cold dull weather will lower the temperature needlessly, and unless 

 fires are put on the warmth needful for ripening the Grapes cannot be 

 maintained. We advise you not to nail up the front and west sashes. 

 It is very important that a greenhouse, and, indeed, every plant structure, 

 should be well ventilated. 



LlLIUM AURATUM AND LANCTFOLIUM TREATMENT (C. M, Major).— -We 



consider the best time to repot these plants is as soon as. the stems turn 

 yellow in autumn. Cut down the stems, remove all the old soil that 

 comes away freely, and that above the crowns, along with any roots 

 on the stem and offsets, but all the roots below the bulb should be pre- 

 served. Drain the pot well, and pot in a mixture of light fibrous loam 

 two parts, one part sandy peat or leaf soil, and one part old cow dung or 

 well-rotted manure, with a free admixture of sharp sand. The plants 

 should be so potted that a space of 2 or 3 inches above the bulbs will be 

 left for top-dressing. They should have a gentlo watering and be placed 

 in a cool house, and kept there with but little water until they begin to 

 grow in spring ; then water so as to keep the soil moist, increasing the 

 supply with the growth. Abundance of air should be given, and if the 

 plants be kept cool they will flower all the better, the top-dressing being 

 given when they begin showing roots from the stem above the crown. 

 The same compost as that used for potting will answer very well. The 

 soil should be kept moderately moist in winter, but avoid souring it at 

 any time by too frequent heavy waterings. 



Vallota purpurea Culture (Idem). — We presume your plants are 

 growing freely, but you cannot get them to flower. Having now made a 

 good growth, place them in a light airy position, and give no more water 

 than enough to keep the leaves from flagging, with an inclination to 

 dryness, and continue this treatment up to the end of August, when your 

 plants should be starting for flower; if they do not, continue them in 

 the same pots, and give just enough water to keep the foliage fresh. In 

 winter they merely require a light position in a house with a temperature 

 of from 4l. c to 45°. In summer they need plenty of light, and a good 

 supply of water when making their growth and until it is perfected, then 

 dryness. An ordinary greenhouse will grow them well. 



Insects f C. E. E. ). — Your " nigger " is the larva of one of the Carabidae, 

 and as it feeds on other insects and worms, you cannot do better than 

 preserve them if you find others. (J. T. S.).— The Beech leaves have 

 been attacked by the minute black jumping weevil, Grchestes Fagi, the 

 larva of which lives within the leaf, eating the parenchyma, and making 

 large blister-like blotches. When full-grown it spins a white silken cocoon 

 of the size of a pea at the edge of the leaf. The little beetles are now 

 making their appearance out of their cocoons. They also feed on the 

 leaf, gnawing round holes. (E. Sazzard). — Your moth is the Humming- 

 bird Hawk Moth, which has been somewhat common during the last two 

 or three years. It is quite harmless to your flowers. (L. H.). — Your 

 Cecropia moth survived the loss of its head ou the same principle that 

 the common daddy-long-legs seems so indifferent to the loss of its limbs. 

 The nervous mass is, in fact, in insects not concentrated as in the higher 

 animals into the brain, but is distributed in knots along the whole length 

 of the body. The respiratory apertures along the whole length of the 

 sides of the creature are not connected with the sense of feeling. — I. O. W. 



Names of Plants (South Devon).— The commonest of Ferns, Poly- 



podium vulgare. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE, 



SPALDING POULTRY SHOW. 

 In reply to Mr. Patrick's communication last week respecting 

 the loss of sickle feathers in his birds after exhibition at this 

 Show, permit me to assure him that the most careful investi- 

 gation fails to discover any possibility of such a thing having 

 occurred while they were in the custody of our Committee. 

 Evidently the occurrence must have taken place in transit, and 

 our Committee will gladly add another £5 to Sir. Patrick's to 

 secure the conviction of the perpetrator of this spiteful act, 

 and will take care that the rewards are duly announced in 

 Mr. Patrick's neighbourhood as well as our own. It seems 

 rather strange if, as Mr. Patrick states, the same thing occurred 

 to his birds last year, that he sent them again, and neither 

 at that time nor when sending them this year made any com- 

 plaint nor remark on the subject. The perpetrator would seem 



