July 2£, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



69 



a large establishment to eerve, and every store of clean water 

 exhausted. Some would say, Let the plants die and be done 

 with, but that is poor policy, nntil every remedial measure is 

 exhausted. — R. F. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*«* We request that no one will write privately to any of the 

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By so doing they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticulture, tOc, 171, Fleet 

 Street, London, E.C. 



We also request that correspondents will not mix up on the 

 same sheet questions relating to Gardening and those on 

 Poultry and Bee subjects, if they expect to get them an- 

 swered promptly and conveniently, but write them on 

 separate communications. Also never to send more than 

 two or three questions at once. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



Blue Pimpernel {Wild Flower),— This variety of the Shepherd's 

 Weather Glass, or, as you call it, " Shepherd's Darling," is not uncommon. 

 The following is an extract from our " British Wild Flowers " — " There is 

 a variety with blue flowers, which has been regarded by some as a species 

 under the name of Auagallis coerulea; and there is another very pretty 

 variety discovered by J. Dillwyn Llewellyn, Esq., of Penllergare, South 

 Wales, which is pure white, with a purplish-pink eve in the centre of 

 each corolla." 



Cocoa-nut Fibre Refuse (E. M. P.).— You can obtain it from Messrs. 

 Barsham & Co., Kingston-on-Thames. It is very oheap. 



Phsalis edulis ( IF. Dickson).— This, commonly called the Cape Goose- 

 berry, has been known for nearly a hundred years. You will find it 

 figured and described in the "Botanical Magazine," vol. xli., 1. 1068. It 

 has been frequently noticed in our back volumes, particularly in vol. vii., 

 old series, page 137, and there is a very full account of its eulture by 

 Mr. Beaton in vol. xx., page 250. As a material for cordage and paper, 

 the plant, it is obvious, could not be grown in sufficient quantity in this 

 country to pay. We shall be glad to learn your mode of culture, if 

 different from that described by Mr. Beaton. 



Adiantum (D. if.).— The date of Mr. Williams's book on Ferns and 

 Lycopods is 18G8. It would not pay to issue a new edition every year. 

 Consult the " Gardeners' Year-Book " for the most recent introductions. 

 The part frond of Adiantum enclosed belongs to A. formosum. We do 

 not know A. recurvum. There is one named A. curvatum. The flowers 

 of the Solanum Capsicaetrum probably turn yellow and fall from want of 

 water, a deficiency of air, too much heat, or imperfect root-action. We 

 have ours a mass of berries in an airy greenhouse. 



Adiantum pedatum (A Yorkshire Amateur).— It is a hardy Fern, and 

 as such may justly be exhibited in a collection of hardy Ferns, though it 

 would, of course, be disqualified if exhibited as a British Fern, it being 

 an exotic. We cannot be positive without a specimen. 



Cucumber Leaves Scorched (T. Steenlcn, SouthicarTc).—The leaf 

 presents every appearance of red spider, but we cannot discover it. We 

 think, however, it is the cause of the brownness of the leaves. We 

 advise you to pick or cut off all the leaves like those sent us, and then 

 syringe the plants with a solution of soft soap Rnd sulphur, S ozs of the 

 former and 1 lb. of the latter in three gallons of water, boiled for a 

 quarter of an hour. Syringe with the clear liquid, and pa'nt the sides 

 cf the frame, pit, or house with the sediment. Keep rather close, moist, 

 and shaded from bright sun, and stir the surface soil, removing it if at 

 all sodden, and reDlacingitwith fresh. A sprinkling of water every after- 

 noon at closing will be very beneficial, thoroughly wetting the leaves, but 

 not very forcibly directing the water against them, otherwise they may 

 be injured. 



Pruning Hollies (Norwood). — Having now made their growth it 

 would be injudicious to prune the Hollies at this season. It would be 

 best done in the spring of next year, when they are beginning to grow. 



Peach House Planting (H. D.).— In a house so narrow as 7 feet wide 

 we fear you will not have space for a row o£ pyramids in front and trees 

 on the back wall. For the front, if you have any trees, we should prefer 

 espaliers or cordons, but not training them so high as to shade the trees 

 on the back wall. If you have height in front, then by all means have 

 pyramids. For pyramids or cordons, we should select Rivera's Early 

 Beatrice, Early Louise, Early Rivers, Acton Scot, and Early York ; and 

 for the wall, Early York, Royal George, Noblesse, Grosse Mignonne, Bel- 

 legarde, Violette Hative, Barrington, and Late Admirable. 



Azalea Leaves Browned (Julia). — The leaves sent us have no signs 

 of having been attacked by insects, and we think they are scorched in 

 •onsequence of the sun shining powerfully on them whilst wet. Admit 

 air earlier in the day, so as to have the leaves dry before the sun strikes 

 on the plants. A slight shade from bright sun whilst the plants are 

 making new growth is necesBary. 



Oak Fern not Thriving (Idem).— We think your Fern would do better 

 tf you were to cover it with a glass shade, unless it be in a cool, shady, 

 moist part of a greenhouse, or in a fernery, where the glass is not needed. 

 It requires a compost oi two parts sandy peat, and one part limestone 

 broken up rather small, and intermixed, with a free admixture of silver 

 sand. Good drainage is necessary. It is essential that the plant should 

 have a good supply of water when growing, and at no time should the 

 soil be dry, but it is not good to sour it by too frequent and heavy water- 

 ings. A gentle sprinkling overhead during dry, hot weather, is very bene- 

 ficial. It succeeds out of doors in a slightly shaded situation, and in a 

 calcareous soil; the plant should be well drained, and be well supplied 

 with water when growing. The cause of the fronds drooping and shrivel- 

 ling is probably a too dry and draughty atmosphere. 



Strawberries for a Sandy Soil {Header.) — We have on a sandy 

 soil Sir Joseph Paxton, Keens' Seedling, Rivera's Eliza, Dr. Hogg, Bicton 

 Pine, and Frogmore Late Pino, with Cockscomb, all good. You may 

 obtain them of any respectable nurseryman, but we must decline re* 

 commending dealers. Consult our advertising columns. 



Cucumbers Damping-off (A New Subscriber). — The cause of the fruit 

 damping is, no doubt, a deficiency of bottom heat, accompanied with too 

 much moisture. We advise you to thin out the shoots, shortening those 

 retained, which should be the most healthy, and those promising fruit. 

 Those with or showing fruit should be shortened one joint beyond it, and 

 we would cut off all the leaves which are at all yellow and browned. 

 This will admit m*re air and light. Water S3 as to keep the soil moist — 

 two or three times a-week will be sufficient — and admit air early in the 

 day, closing early in the afternoon. If you could give the bed a lining of 

 hot dung, but not rank or fresh, it wou'd assist the swelling of the fruit. 



Manuring Ground for Onions (Idem).— The soed bed for Tripoli 

 Onions need not be manured, but the ground must be in good heart. 

 When the ground is manured the plants are liable to grow too strong and 

 do not stand the winter well ; besides, thev become thick-necked, and do 

 not plant out well in spring and form good bulbs. The ground, however, 

 in which you intend to plant them out in spring should be well manured 

 in Novemb.'-r, and then well dug or trenched, throwing the soil in ridges 

 if at all heavy. In February or March, throw down the ridges in dry 

 frosty weather, making the soil fine, and you may before planting give a 

 good dressing of powdered charcoal and point it in with a fork. Well- 

 decayed stable or farmyard manure is most suitable. 



Heating a Small Greenhouse (C. A.). — We think that your slow- 

 combustion Musgrave stove, ought to keep out frost from your span-roofed 

 greenhouse of 18 feet by 10 feet, but in cold nights you should, before yon 

 go to bed, turn your slow combustion into a more active combustion, by 

 admitting more air to the fuel. We do not know the size of your stove, 

 but we have kept frost out of a house double the size of yours with a 

 moderate-sized iron stove, but then we made its combustion of fuel sub- 

 servient to our pleasure, making the combustion Blow when we wanted 

 little heat, and more active when more was demanded. A principle is 

 good to act on, but we should not let it regulate every circumstance. If 

 you cannot thus manage, then in your circumstances you had better 

 have a small stove at each end of the house. We think one, however, 

 if well managed, would be ample. 



Pear and Plum Trees Spurless (M. <?.). — As the spurs of both- 

 Plums and Pears have so dried up and died on your old trees, but are 

 still fruitful on the top branches, and the breastwood is, nevertheless, 

 strong, we would cut out the strongest shoots, and lay-in those of mo- 

 derate size between the old branches. If these are stopped at from 18 to 

 24 inches, you may expect a few fruit buds the first season, and more the 

 next. 



Mushroom Culture in a YrNERT Pit (Cliftoniensis).— You could have 

 first-rate Mushrooms in the pit in the vinery whilst your "Vines were at 

 rest, and after being started until the temperature reached 60°. After 

 that the Mushrooms would not do so well, unless you could keep from 

 them the higher temperature of the house. The pipes below the bed for 

 bottom heat, though not so bad in winter, would be rather unfavourable 

 to them when you had a brisk temperature for Muscats. 



Exhibiting Flne-foliaged Plants (E. P.}.— We should prefer the 

 Cissus, unless the Alocasia is a fine plant ; if the latter is bo, aDd the 

 variegation well marked, it would have the preference. It is impossible 

 to decide which you should show without seeing the plants. 



Dicksonia Antarctica and Pteris argyr:ea (W. H.).— Both are 

 exotic Ferns ; the former a tree Fern from Tasmania, and the other from 

 the East Indies. The latter requires the temperature of a cool stove or 

 warm greenhouse. The Dicksonia thrives well in a similar temperature, 

 and will succeed in a cool greenhouse fernery. The fragment of Fern 

 frond we think is Dicksonia davallioides, but we are not sure, as it is so 

 small, and not in fruit. If it is that species it requires a greenhouse tem- 

 perature, being from Australia. 



Luculia Propagation (A. B., Gt.ildfor/D.—Ta.'ke cuttings of the young 

 shoots when they are becoming a little firm, as they will be from mid- 

 summer to the end of July, and insert them in sand over san3y peat well 

 drained. It is desirable to place the cutting-pot in one of larger size- 

 bringing the rims of both level, and then fill the space between with crocks 

 to within an inch of the top, then with fibrouB peat, surfaced with silver 

 sand, and on this should rest a bell-glass covering the cuttings. Stand 

 in a close pit or frame, and in a fortnight afford a bottom heat of 75 c , and 

 in Bix weeks they will have callused, but it will bo the following spring 

 before the plants can be said to be established in small pots, though when 

 they are rooted they should be potted off. It is a plant that strikes root 

 slowly, and makes but little progress in a young state. 



Myrtles not Flowering (An Inquirer).— As your plants grow freely, 

 we conclude they have a too shady position ; if so, all that is required to 

 flower them is to place them in a light, airy position in the full sun, keep 

 ing them moderately dry, and we have no doubt they will flower next 

 year. In the shade Myrtles grow well, but seldom flower. 



Improving Light Sandy Garden Soil (T. S. S.).~ The bine marl 

 which easily falls with the frost would vastly improve your garden. A 

 good dressing of it spread on the surface after the crops are off, allowed 

 to be acted on by frost, and then dug in, would be of more value than 

 manure, though on sandy soils there must not be any stint of ma- 

 nure, that of a cool nature, as cow dung, being the most serviceable. 

 As regards the "Vine borders, we think the dressing with marl will also 

 be advantageous, especially as the soil is very poor and light. Though 

 light open soil is generally advised for Vines, yet there is danger in 

 extreme openness and dryness of soil, as well as in adhesiveness and 

 wetness of soil. It is well to have a dry in preference to a heavy border, 

 as we can by top-dressings with bones, &c, vastly improve the soil's 

 fertility. In addition to the dressing with marl, we would give a good 

 top-dressing of equal parts of turfy loam, fresh horse droppings, a fourth 

 of half-inch bones, and the like proportion of charcoal, all well mixed, 

 and put on the border when the Vines are pruned. 



Asters (P. E. J.). — It is no doubt green fly which troubles yon in the 

 cultivation of your Asters. It would have been easier to have prevented 

 its appearance than it will now be to remedy it. Syringe them with a 

 decoction of soft soap and tobacco, and keep them always well watered 

 and growing freely; that is the great secret. It is in this that the 



