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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 6, 1870. 



Pine Apples grown by fermenting material should now have 

 the linings well banked up, so that plenty of air may be given 

 without lowering the temperature. Where fire heat is used 

 there will be less difficulty. Those swelling will require a moist 

 high temperature and more air as they approach ripening. 

 Those intended for fruiting in spring should slightly rest, from 

 having less water. 



Late Melons must have a good temperature to swell them off, 

 and if in frames will need the linings to be turned and banked up 

 to the top of the frame. The same will apply to Cucumbers. 

 Our first spring Cucumbers in a pit still keep on so well that 

 we decline taking them out as yet, and, therefore, have turned 

 out strong plants in a pit to give a late supply, and we will 

 grow on in pots others to be turned out as large plants a month 

 or six weeks hence, when the first alluded to are bearing. 

 Winter Cucumbers, allowed to bear freely before Christmas, do 

 not often bear freely afterwards. 



Late Vines with the roots in borders out of doors will be 

 the better of plenty of sun, but if heavy rains come they will do 

 better if protected. Sashes raised above the ground would be 

 best, waterproof cloth or shutters would be the next best. A 

 makeshift maybe made with rough covering, or roughly thatch- 

 ing with dry litter. See what was lately said about early-autumn 

 planting. Vines, if the roots are protected from frost and wet, 

 need be no exception to other deciduous plants. Early Peach 

 nouses may now be stripped of the leaves as soon as they ripen. 

 If there is any spider or scale, it is advisable to syringe them well 

 with soft-soap water, and clear soot and sulphur water. When 

 clearing it is well to scrape off the surface soil, and to water 

 through a rose with water near the boiling point, if the nearest 

 roots are from 2 to 4 inches from the surface. The water will 

 be cooled before reaching the roots, whilst any insects or eggs 

 near the surface will be destroyed. Eefore colouring walls it 

 is well to wash or syringe them and all woodwork freely with 

 the hottest water. Every chink and cranny is apt to be a 

 depository for insects and their eggs, and a little care in the 

 way of prevention will always be better than getting rid of 

 them when the crops are growing. 



OENAHENTAL DEPARTMENT. 



The flower garden is still fine. Verbena beds are again, after 

 recovering since the rains, feeling once more this sunny fort- 

 night. Where water is as scarce as with us we would not 

 advise planting many Verbenas. Oars were very good and 

 most useful for cut flowers before the drought came, and then 

 no mulching, &c, could keep them vigorous. A good wateriug 

 onoe or twice a-week would have preserved them in health and 

 bloom, but that we could not give them. All the varieties of 

 Geraniums stood the weather well. We have had better beds 

 during the season, but perhaps the best we have now after the 

 second drought are two companion beds of Punch, which are 

 one mass of brilliancy, and could scarcely have been excelled in 

 the middle of August. Rubens, a favourite pink of ours for 

 autumn, is good still, but some of the petals are bleached a little 

 by the slight frosty mornings; as yet, however, we have 

 suffered little. Even Calceolarias, passable in June, have rich 

 masses of colour. To keep the beds somewhat in character 

 we have cleared off the leaves of deciduous trees which had 

 fallen, so far marring the effects of the flowers and rich 

 green lawns, though in a few place3 feeling the effects of this 

 bright weather. We shall not yet think of moving anything 

 from the beds. We are still busy propagating, giving the 

 cuttings a little heat. The first-put-in are hardening-off, and 

 the intermediate ones have had the shading removed. We 

 would give little shade to flower-garden cuttings if we had 

 clean water to give more frequent dustings overhead from the 

 syringe. From reasons previously detailed, taking small 

 cuttings involves a little more care than if they were larger. 

 We gave manure water to Salvias, Chrysanthemums, Gera- 

 niums, and large-flowering Pelargoniums intended for late 

 blooming in pots, and kept potting and repotting Cinerarias 

 and Primulas. We shall have some trouble with Violets, as 

 from the dryness they were much infested with red spider in 

 summer ; Neapolitans suffered most. They are becoming 

 better now from syringing. Plenty of flowers are coming on 

 others, single and double. — R. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 



W. Clibran & Son, Millbank Nursery, Warrington. — Catalogue of 

 Dutch Flowering Soots, Roses, Pelargoniums, &c. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



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

 correspondents of the " Journal of Horticulture, Cottage 

 Gardener, and Country Gentleman." By doing so they 

 are subjected to unjustifiable trouble and expense. All 

 communications should therefore be addressed solely to 

 The Editors of the Journal of Horticultuie, &c, 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. 

 Books (R. F. Y.). — We never saw a separate copy of Abercrombie's 

 " Seed Estimate." It was appended to one of his larger works, and they 

 are long oat of print, except his "Pocket Journal" and "Every Man 

 His Own Gardener." 

 Natural Rocks (J. B. W.).— We do not know ef a vendor anywhere. 

 Heating by Gas (P. S.).— Procure No. 341 of this Journal. Yon will 

 find in it engravings of gas stoves. If the house is large it will be_ more 

 economical to have hot water or a fine. In the absence of definite in- 

 formation as to dimensions, &c, it is impossible to advise. 



White Dodele Geranium (S. Rising).— We have heard of bnt not 

 seen one. 



Maeketing Feuit (F . P. O.).— If the frnit is of snch good quality as 

 you state, apply to Messrs. Webber & Co , Central Avenue, Covent Garden 

 Market, London. As you live so far from town, the cost of carriage may 

 render it more remunerative to dispose of your surplus produce in some 

 market near home. The problem which you propose— to dispose of pro- 

 duce to the best advantage— is one which admits of a variety of solutions 

 according to circumstances. 



Lawn Sand (A. C). — We know nothing about the article, and feel 

 certain that no application which will destroy weeds will at the same 

 time benefit the grass. 



Petvet Edging (W. R. H.). — Privet would no doubt grow, but we think 

 it would not be easily restrained even by the shears. We have, however, 

 seen it kept neat at a height of li to 2 feet, bnt that is much too high for 

 an edging. Have yon tried Ivy ? We have seen it used with good effect. 

 The small creeping kind of the woods is best. 



Pbuning Vines (Young Beginner).— We have no fear of the mode of 

 pruning you have been advised to adopt answering well, but we do not 

 think it "necessary with Vines so young as yours are; and the bunches 

 from the large eyes, though larger, are often loose, and for many other 

 reasons are not equal to those shown by the eyes at the base of the 

 shoots ; besides, you will have shoots that must crowd and interfere with 

 the bearing shoots, therefore we should prune to two eyes, and, rather 

 than have another shoot several inches above it, we would let one of the 

 two shoots that come from the eyes be for wood, and the other for frnit. 

 But even that is needless. One good shoot is enough fro " each spur, 

 and retain as many spurs as can have proper exposure to light and air. 

 It oiten happens when the system of pruning advised is adopted, that 

 the eye left to form wood for another year's bearing does not break, or 

 not strongly, and you have, as a consequence, an naly bare length of 

 spur, which it would require nearly a dozen years to form by the other 

 mode of pruning. Your Vines have done well this season. Would it not 

 be prudent to let well alone ? We think, however, that you crop them 

 too heavily. 



Gbapes fob Late-hanging (T. B. D.).— For hanging well the Madres- 

 field Court Muscat is unequalled. We should have at least two of it, 

 Whit'? Lady Downe's, and Trebbiano. They do not require more heat 

 than Lady Downe's. 



Vines (/. Leonard).— If there is a succession rod to take its place, you 

 may cut out the old rod which has borne. 



Gbapes Spotting {Allan).— We think your Grapss are affected with 

 the spot, and in your case it appears to be caused by syringing after 

 fumigation ; besides, we do not approve of Vines, of which the fruit is not 

 ripe,"being kept without water for the last two months. That would 

 cause them to go off as yon describe when the weather became moister. 

 Trie border ought to have had a good watering within the last fortnight, 

 for in a dry border Muscats do not ripen well ; indeed, to do them justice 

 they require a good deep border, and an abundance of moisture while 

 swelling the fruit. 



Heattng a Vine Boeder {A. Clapham). — We should think that three 

 5-inch pipes would be ample. The size of your chamber is of less con- 

 sequence than having the pipes not far from the covering, whether o£ 

 stout slate or flagstone from 1 to 2 inches thick. At page 251, second 

 column, you would see how you might rough-chamber such a place with 

 clinkers or brickbats, but not covering the pipes deeply, and then have 

 some fine gravel on the top. On that over the chamber you wonld re- 

 quire from £0 to 24 inches of good soil, and a fourth of equal parts of 

 lime rubbish, bruised boiled bones, and a little half-rotted manure 

 well aired and dried, so as to be free from fungus spawn. Of course, if 

 you nse four pipes in the border yon will have to heat them less. We are 

 in doubt if we quite understand your object. 



Various (Amateur).— Put in some buds next July on the bare portion of 

 the stem of your tree, or cut it back to the lower portion. Place the 

 glass covering over your Strawberries about the beginning of the year. 

 Get your Peach tree into better health, and treat it well. Your fruits 

 may "have dropped through dryness at the roots, or too much vigour,™ 

 various causes which we cannot even guess at. Spur-in all the side 

 shoots on your Currant trees pretty closely, leaving a framework of five 

 or six branches only, and stop the points to one-half their length. For 

 Gooseberry bushes leave more young wood, but thin the centre con- 

 siderably. 



