192 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ September 8, 1870- 



them in. You will need a piece of iron at one end to fasten the wires to* 

 and at the other end you will need a similar piece with holes at the 

 proper distances, throxigh which bolts can pass, and by means of those 

 yon can tighten the wires like a fiddle string. The screws are kept by 

 every ironmonger, or he will procure them for you, and all that is neces- 

 sary for fixing. The wires should be stretched in a horizontal direction ; 

 it is the cheapest and best plan. 



Viola cornuta Dying (J. F. C). — We think the plants are old and 

 exhausted by early flowpring, and the heat and drought of the past sum- 

 mer. We advise you to take up the whole, raise fresh plants from cuttings 

 or seed, and plant afresh after digaing the ground well and working in a 

 liberal quantity of manure or leaf soil. Trees, by keeping the ground 

 dry and exhausting it with their roots, would by injurious. Had you 

 given the ground a few good soakings of water, and a top-dressing of 

 short manure, which the foliage would have hidden, we think all would 

 have been right. 



Nectarines Withering before Ripening (Idem).— The tree has most 

 likely been too dry at the roots, and the fruit has con sequently shrivelled ; 

 or it may have beon infested with red spider. We think more copious 

 supplies of water and mulching over the roots would have prevented the 

 mishap. 



Felling and Managing a Fern Case (T. J. IF.) —In an early number 

 we shall treat of the subject fully. 



Gloxinias aftee Flowering (E. H.).— After flowering the plants 

 ought to have a position near the glass, in a house with a i emperature of 

 from 5(P to 55° at night until the growth is matured, as it will be when 

 the leaves and stems are withered. Give no water from the present time 

 until the leaves show signs of flagging, then give a moderate " supply ; 

 continue this treatment until October, then withhold water altogether, 

 but set the pots on a floor whence a moisture will pass to the soil but not 

 to the extent of making it wet. The tubers winter all the better if kept 

 rather moist, for when kept dust-dry through the winter they are apt to 

 become farinaceoup, and decay wheu moistened in the spring. In winter 

 they will he Bafe if kept in a house with a temperature of 45°. 



Plants for Winter and Early Spring Flowering (Idem).— We have 

 the following in onr greenhouse, and they fl >wer at the time yon wish : — 

 Acacia armata, Drummondi, grandis, oleifolia elegans, and longiflora 

 magnifica, the last two in our opinion the finest of all the Acacias ; Beau- 

 fortia splenaens. Boronia Drummondi, Bouvardia Humboldtii, B. Lei- 

 antha compacta, Coronilla glauca ; Correas Brilliant, Harrisi, and speciosa 

 major; Cyclamen persicum, Cypripedium venustum, Cytisus Atleeanus 

 and racemosus, Lnculia gratissima, llagnolia fnrcata. Monochastutn ensi- 

 ferum, Primula", Camellias, Violets ; Epacrises Hyacinthifiora, Lady Alice 

 Peel, Lady Panmure, Rubella, The Bride, and Viscountess Hill ; and 

 Erica colorans, melanthera, hyemalis, and autumnalis. The forcing 

 house will give you Azaleas, and a variety of hardy shrubs and plants, 

 as Lilacs, Double-flowering Peaches. Cherry, and Plnm, Prunus sinensis 

 Sore-plena, Deutzia gracilis, R.oses, Dielytra spectabilis, Spiraea japonica, 

 Lily of the Valley, and bulbs of Hyacinths, Narcissus, Tulips, and 

 Crocuses. 



Mildew on Roses (Idem). — Soot is a good remedy, but not always a 

 cure for mildew. We have not found anything better than frequent 

 forcible syringing of the trees overhead, and to keep the roots well sup- 

 plied with water, and dust the parts infested with flowers of sulphur 

 whilst the leaves are wet. An old .stocking is as good as anything for 

 distributing the sulphur. 



Planting Strawberries (HI. G.). — The best time to plant Strawberries 

 is in summer, as good well-rooted runners as can be secured. The 

 rooting ought to be facilitated by laying them and taking off the runners 

 or string beyond. Well trench and manure the ground, mixing the 

 manure with the soil. Plant the Strawberries in rows 2 feet apart and 

 1 foot from each other iu the row. After they have fruited once take out 

 every alternate plant, so that they will be 2 feet apart everyway. Water 

 well after planting, and during dry weather. 



Annuals tor Present Sowing (Idem). — Candytuft, crimson, lilac, 

 and white: Clarkia pulchella and Clarkia pulchella alba, ColUnsia bicolor 

 and grandiflora, Erysimum Peroffskianum, Eschscholtzia calif ornica, 

 Limnanthes Douglasii, Lupiuus nanns, iNemophila insignis, Saponaria 

 calabrica, Silene pendula and alba, and Virginian Stock, red and white. 



Ashleaf Kidney Potatoes for Seed (Idem).— Take them np if you 

 have not already done so, and place them in a dry shed, if on shelves* all 

 the better, so that they may have air all round. When they are thoroughly 

 dried place them in a cool dry cellar or other place secure, from, frost, 

 but the colder the better, so long as they are safe from frost. 



Hyacinths and Tulips for Planting in a Rose Border (H. C.).— 

 We think you will only be disappointed if youplant Hyacinths and Tulips 

 in the same border for simultaneous blooming. We should confine our- 

 selves to one of the two, having a line of red, white, and bine Hyacinths, 

 placing the blue next the walk, the red at the back, and the white between 

 the two. We have no doubt than they would have a pretty effect if a 

 double line of each were planted with bulbs 9 inches apart, and the rows 

 half that distance from each other. If you had Tulips which would 

 flower later we would advise a line of Bleu Celeste, then La Candeur, and 

 Tonrnesol at the back. But why have either of those ? the Roses are 

 sufficiently beautiful without them. We like to grow one thing well, and 

 if we had our choice would have Roses only on the same ground. Besides, 

 to do the R.oses justice they ought to have a good mulching of manure in 

 autumn, and it ought to remain over the winter, removing the loose 

 manure in spring, and pointing the rest in with a fork. 



Alfred Colomb Rose (Idem).— It is more vigorous on the Manetti 

 stock than on the Briar, though on the latter it does well when the soil is 

 a Btrong loam. It requires plenty of manure, and abundant watering and 

 mulching in dry weather. It is a splendid Rose. 



Liquid Manure (A Constant Header).— The stable, cowhouse, and other 

 Sewage without diluting with water may be put on to the soil previous to 

 digging for any kitchen-garden crop, and so it may to Asparagus and 

 Rhubarb whilst growing. For flowering plants it should be diluted with 

 at least five times its bulk of water. 



Grubs (John Kni phi), — The grubs eating off your Cabbage plants just 

 below the surface are the larvae of the Daddy-longlegs (Tipula). Try 

 taking up the plants and replanting with their roots only just below the 

 surface. It has been stated that it is only the soft suoculent collar of the 

 plant that the grubs can bite ; the woody part is too hard for them. 



Names, of Plants (J. T. Suiclair).—Senecio saracennicus ; StenactiB 

 speciosa; Atriplex patula. (A Fern-grower). — 1, Scolopendrium vulgare ; 

 2, Pteris longifolia ; 3, Pteris tremula ; 4, Probably Nephrolepis exaltata ; 

 5, Cystopteris fragilis ; 6. Aspienium furcatum. (Richard Jameson, Gar- 

 grave). — It is a Moss, Bryum nndulatum. (Somerset], — 1, Euonymus 

 japonicus aureo-Yariegatus ; 2, We do not undertake to name florists' 

 flowers ; 3, Senecio elegans purpurea flore-pleno. Give the Euonymus 

 greenhouse treatment. (G.P.). — 1, Adiantumasthiopicum (= A. assimile) ; 

 2, A. capillus-Vene'-is, deeply cut variety. (M.M.). — Nephrolepis tube- 

 rosa ; Pteris, apparently P. quadriaurita. We do not recognise the 

 Adiantum, which appears much too large in the pinna? to be referred to 

 capillns- Veneris, which otherwise it much resembles. (Collingham,B. W.). 

 — 2, Nephrolepis tubero3a ; 3, Doodia lunulata. 



POULTRY, EEE, AND PIGrEOrl CHRONICLE. 



POULTRY AND BIRDS. 



It appears to me that I must say a word on behalf of farmers' 

 wives who have to' keep poultry as a source of profit, and who 

 sometimes get considerably snubbed by their husbands, who 

 grudge the destruction of a few rods of corn or clover, and who 

 evidently don't reason on the matter, and don't or wo'n't un- 

 derstand either the habits or the profits of poultry. 



A farmer will readily turn a large flock of sheep to trample 

 on and drag down a fine field of clover or grass, but he would 

 be much annoyed to see half an acre eaten by his wife's poultry. 

 He will give his pigs barley and beans by the sack, but objects 

 to the poultry helping themselves to their kernels. By-and-by 

 I will tell him which pay best for their food, for I am sure he 

 has never entered into the question. Let us now consider the 

 habits of poultry. Take my own as an instance, for some three 

 hundred of them have free access to all my fields (no fences to 

 obstruct them) from the early morn to dewy eve. 



As soon as the fowl-house door is opened they receive their 

 morning meal of barley ; they then at once betake themselves 

 to the fields — for what? Observe them. That wonderful eye 

 of theirs examines everywhere, and, quick as thought, they 

 appropriate every fly, slug, worm, or insect on every blade of 

 grass or clover. This is their occupation during the whole day, 

 except when at rest or when grazing, — for poultry graze equally 

 as do sheep or cattle, — and it is essential that a piece of pasture 

 should be near the fowl-house, otherwise they will, and must, 

 appropriate your young cabbage, turnip, or mangold plants. 

 They must also have free access to water. 



What a mistake we make when we cage up poultry, and de- 

 prive them of their natural food — green food and insects, with 

 some grain. They are first-cla?s judges of weather. They 

 know by instinct (where does instinct end and reason begin?) 

 when and where their food — insects, worms, &c, is to be most 

 readily found. They watch for every load of green tares or 

 green beans brought home to be pas sad through the chaff-cutter, 

 and they at once set to work upon the myriads of insects that 

 infest almost every crop. 



They are the most industrious and economical of creatures — 

 their ready claw and keen eye are ever at work — not a seed of 

 weeds or grass is wasted. In fact, fowls and birds are true 

 farmer's friends, and the farmer can have no idea how many 

 enemies he has (invisible ones to him) in the shape of insects 

 until he devotes his attention to the operations of his poultry. 

 Although he can neither see bis enemies nor know of their 

 whereabouts, the fowls and birds at once detect them, as yon 

 may see by their eager darts and rapid movements hither and 

 thither. 



Watch a company of Ducks toddling along in regular line, for 

 fair play, and they will show you slugs and insects where you 

 never suspected them. In fact, within a wsek of leaving the 

 shell the juveniles are on the alert for their natural food, the 

 insect tribe. I could write a small volume on the value of 

 birds, for it is only by watching their habits and good work that 

 the farmer can realise how many enemies he has, and how 

 many friends there are ready to seek for and destroy these 

 enemies. 



It is a well-admitted fact by all my, labourers that my best 

 and thickest crops are in immediate proximity to the fowl- 

 house, commencing at only 10 yards distanoe. Yes, but see 

 how they are scratching up the seed corn, and what a mess 

 they make. Well, I have seen them at work between the rows 

 of young wheat (and I only put in a bushel per acre at 9 inches 

 from row to row), and I find in nine cases out of ten that they 

 are in search of insects, and that they do find them. Gardeners 

 who are sensitively particular about the appearance of their 

 gardens, and hate fowls, see, however, what takes place : — An 

 intelligent chemist took to a garden where insects had long and 



