November 3, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



357 



the gravel. It is bad practice to add too much water ; all that is wanted 

 is to get the clay to Bach a state as to ram well and firmly. Add layers of 

 clay until yon have a foot thick of hard-rammed clay, and then yon may 

 finish off with about an inch of gravel. That is how we make ours. 



Irish Yew Transplanting (Subscriber).— Now is a good time for its 

 removal, which may be safely done, taking care to preserve as much soil 

 as possible about the roots. After planting, give a good watering to settle 

 the soil about them. The Irish Yew is increased by Beeds gathered now, 

 laid in a heap until spring, and then sown in light soil, and many of them 

 will grow nest year, but some will not vegetate until the following season. 

 It may also be increased by cuttings b' or 8 iocheB in length taken off 

 with a heel, which should be pared smooth ; and after removing the leaves 

 from the lower half insert the cuttings in sand in a shady border, and 

 cover them with a hand-light. April and August are the most suitable 

 times to put in cuttings. Seedling plants are be&t 



Adianttjh Capillus -Veneris Fronds Browning (Idem). — "We think 

 the browning of the fronds is owing to the plants being covered with the 

 bell-glass, which we suppose is not taken off daily and the inside wiped 

 dry. Before yon repot the plant try the effect of doing this. Remove the 

 fronds which are most affected. You may repot now, but we should 

 prefer the beginning of March. You may sow the spores now with every 

 chance of succebS, taking care to cover them with a bell-glass, and keep 

 the surface constantly moist. 



Honeysuckle Propagation (C. W. D.).— Now is a good time to put in 

 cuttings. They should be of the ripened shoots of the current year cut 

 into lengths of three joint3 each; two should be inserted in the soil, 

 leaving but one above the surface. A sandy toil in a shady border is the 

 moBt suitable position. If the joints are far apart the cuttings need only 

 have two joints. The less of the cuttiEgs out of the soil the better. 

 Layers, however, are a more certain mode of propagation, and may bo 

 made now. 



Climbers for a North Wall (M. L. D.).— The best plant for the 

 mortar wall would be Ivy, which should be trained and nailed bo as to 

 keep it from falling if there is any likelihood of its doing so. Cotoneaster 

 microphylla would answer for the cement wall, but it would be necessary 

 to nail it; and, indeed, there are no plants that would cling to a cement 

 wall without being secured against it. Both the Pampas Grass and 

 Tritonia aurea would not succeed on a lawn at a high elevation and in 

 an exposed position north of Lancaster. The Tritonia is with us a poor 

 lawn plant, and we think you meant Tritoma Uvaria, which succeeds 

 admirably much further north, also the Pampas Grass except in bleak 

 positions. Now is a good time to plant the creepers. 



Planting Pear Trees (H. M., Dublin).— "Let the upper roots be not 

 more than a foot below the surface, and mulch over them in summer. 

 No planting is much worse than deep planting. 



Labels (Georgiana N.). — Use zinc labels, and with a quill pen write on 

 them with the following ink : — Sal ammoniac powder and verdigris, each 

 1 drachm, lampblack half a drachm, mixing with 10 drachms of water. 

 The labels Bhonld previously be scoured with sand paper. 



Cinerarias Failing (A. Z.).—We think that the soil yon have grown 

 them in is too poor and too light. Try the following compost :— Turf y 

 loam from an upland pasture, two parts ; fibrous peat, one part; decayed 

 leaves, one part ; very rotten cow dung, half a part ; and a small addition 

 of river sand. Water your present plants with weak liquid manure. 



Leaves for Bouquets. — The leaves of the Stag's-horn Sumach may be 

 preserved with all their beautiful antumnal tints by pressing them in a 

 book. Such leaves make a splendid background for winter bouquets, 

 and are very ornamental alone in vases for the mantelpiece. — G. Bunyabd, 

 Maidstone. 



Select Indian Azaleas (Colonel B.).— Admiration, Brilliant, Chelsonit 

 Criterion, Due do Nassau, Etoile de Gand, Extranei, Flower of the Day> 

 Gledstanesi formosa, Grand Due Michel, Her Majesty, Iveryana, King- 

 horni, Madame Miellez, Mars, Stella, Vesuvius, and Stanleyana. The 

 Pelargoniums you name are good. 



Allamanda violacea and Culture 'J. Bayly). — Lik« the rest of the 

 genus it is a cliojber, but may be grown bushy. Its flowers are lilac- 

 colonred, and open at the end of September and during October. It is a 

 native of Brazil, and requires the same culture as the yellow-flowered 

 species, thus well detailed by Mr. Williams in his " Choice Stove and 

 Greenhouse Plants." "If allowed to make long growths they will require 

 a trellis, the most desirable being that of a balloon shape ; but the best 

 system of growing these plants is tn prune hard back in the spring, just 

 before the buds start, after which the young shoots should be pinched 

 back once or twice, to induce them to throw out latera s, and thus to 

 make a bushy plant. When treated in this manner a few stakes only will 

 be necessary to give them uniformity and symmetry in shape and ap- 

 pearance. The soil should be composed of equal pari s fibrous loam, peat, 

 leaf mould, and silver sand, with the addition of a little well-decayed 

 manure. When potted, the plants should be placed in a temperature 

 ranging from 65° to 75°. and as near the glass as possible, and they must 

 be treated liberally with water from the syringe until October, when it 

 must be gradually withheld. In spring they will want repotting, and to 

 be again treated in the same way, when they will sorm throw out bloom- 

 ing laterals. If required to bloom early they most be started early in the 

 month of January.'' A. violacea seems to require a, little more nourish- 

 ment than the other species. Give it weak liquid manure once a-week 

 after the bloom buds are apparent. 



Heating a Conservatory (Wild Wind).— You can heat the conserva- 

 tory with the north aspect, provided, if the top of the boiler is a close 

 one, the pipes in the house are higher, not lower than the boiler. If the 

 boiler has an open top your flow pipe might be level all round, and 

 6 inches below the top of the boiler, the return entering near the bottom 

 of the boiler With a close boiler you can take the pipes prett.v well as 

 high a3 you like, if not higher than the feeding pipe or cistern, but you 

 cannot take the hot water beneaih the level of the boiler. The easiest 

 mode for connecting the pipes with the boiler ia to use 1-inch strong gas 

 pipes to screw into the boiler ; on these you could have taps. In such a 

 house, besides Fern- and Mosses, you could grow Camellias and the fine- 

 foliaged Begoni-ts, &c. Ferns, Mosses, and Begonias, with a few Dra- 

 Cfenas, &c M would make an interesting house. 



Names of Fruits (A Twelve-years Subscriber). — If your Grape is a 

 Muscat, as you say it is, you must not expect it to ripen out of doors. It 

 most not only be under glass but the house must be artificially heated. 



(B. B.).— Apples: 2, Court-Pendu-Plat; 8, Franklin's Golden Pippin; 



4, Reinette du Canada; 5, Court of Wick; 7, Golden Winter 1'oarmain. 

 Pears: 1, Fondante d'Automne; 3, Aston Town; 4, Doyenne Masque; 



5. Doyenne Blanc. Others not recognised. The Pears were decayed. 

 (Delta).— Beurre Nantais. (G. S.).—l, Brookes' Pippin ; 2, Christie's Pip- 

 pin. (W. Thomson) — Not known, very astringent. (J. M.). — Api noir. 

 Send a fresh specimen of the flower. (An Old Subscriber). — It is a very 

 fine Bpecimen of Warner's King. (J. A. H., Suffolk). — Pears : 17, Glou 

 Morceau; 8, White Doyenne; 15, Swan's Egg; 16, Dunmore; 13, Marie 

 Louise; 9, Beurre de Ramce. Apples: 6, Downton Pippin; 18, Scarlet 

 Pearmain ; 19, Coe's Golden Drop ; 4, Cambridge Pippin ; 7, Gros Faros; 

 5, Striped Holland p ippin ; 1, Golden Noble ; 3, Court-Pendu-Plat ; 2, Non- 

 pareil. (H. 8.).— The Grape is one of the many vineyard varietiei cul- 

 tivated for the vintage only, and is neither cultivated nor worthy of cul- 

 tivation in this country. 



Names of Plants (H*. Armytage). — We cannot name plants from leavea 

 only. No. 4 is Berberis Darwinii. (W. M.). — The same answer applies to 

 your specimens. (H.Mason). — 1, Garrya elliptica ; 2, Veronica spicata; 

 3, cannot be identified from snch specimens; 4, Lamium maculatum ; 

 5, Omithogalum alliaceum, the " Onion plant " {B. B.). — 1, Escallonia 

 rubra ; 2, Cupressus orientaliB ; 3, Phlo is Leonurus. (An Old Subscriber). 



1, Garrya elliptica. You ask if this shrub flowers. Certainly it does, and 

 now and for some little time past is its season ; indeed, the post has just 

 brought us a flowering specimen to be named, which you can have by 

 sending your address to the Editors ; 2, Bup'eurum fruticosnm ; 3, Per- 

 nettya mucronata. (HaUtead Correspondent).— 1, Gilia coronopifolia ; 



2, Pentstemon gentisnoides ; 3, Tricyrtis hirta. (E, M. B., Enfield),— 

 Your plant is withont doubt a species of Bauhinia, we should say it is 

 B. purpurea, a native of India; if your seeds are from Demerara they 

 cannot be from wild plants. (A.M.). — 1, Adiantum Capillus-Veneris; 



2, Pteris longifolia ; 3, Scolnpendrium vulgare, var convolvere ; 4, Phlomis 

 Leonurus. (Colonel Bingford). — 1, Lastrea dilatata ; 2, Doodia caudata; 



3, Pteris serrulata ; 4, Asplenium marinum ; 6, Athyrium Filix-fcemina, 

 in a very yonng state. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



PRIZES— JUDGING— REPORTING— BUYING. 

 My. attention having been directed to a letter of Mr. L. 

 Wright's, in the Journal of October 20 th, in which he requests 

 me by name to give an opinion on various subjects he mentions 

 in reference to poultry shows, I comply with his request as 

 plainly and briefly as possible. 



In the first place, then, I am by long experience well as- 

 sured, as Mr. L. Wright very correctly states, that too great a 

 difference in the value of the prizes in each class materially 

 lessens competition. To secure, therefore, the most entries, 

 combined with the best pecuniary results to the show, if I had 

 the regulation of £10 to each class I would divide it as follows 

 — £4, £3, £2, £1, being four prizes, thus giving one extra 

 chance of winning to each entry over our present general rules, 

 and also bringing the prizes more in accordance with the 

 relative perfection of the pens exhibited. 



Mr. L. Wright proceeds to suggest the expediency of giving 

 in " order of merit " all the highly commended pens, adding, 

 " nothing could be more easy." I, on the contrary, contend 

 nothing could be more difficult ; nor do I conceive that any 

 individual at all experienced in the arbitrations of a large show 

 would by any possibility have urged such a sugges-tion. And 

 why? Not unfrequently the time at first appointed renders it 

 necessary that the arbitrations should be completed at the rate 

 of something like one hundred pens an hour. Unlooked-for 

 delays very often bring with them much abbreviation of the 

 time first allotted ; and yet, to add to this already too great 

 restriction, Mr. Wiight asks that the several highly commended 

 pens in the majority of the classes as they happen to arise, 

 shall be placed in their " relative order of merit," and repeats, 

 " nothing could be more easy." It will, on the contrary, be 

 only too vividly photographed on the memory of all practised 

 judges, that the award of even a third prize often takes twice 

 the time and trouble that was required to decide on the first 

 and second prizes, and proportionably as you descend into the 

 ranks of mediocrity so do the difficulties become greater and 

 greater, until at length, as you get to the lowest grade, the 

 Irishman's assertion quoted in Mr. Wright's letter becomes 

 pretty near the fact — viz., "That one was as good another 

 and a great deal better." Certainly, then, any judge would 

 require fivefold the time at present given to overcome this in- 

 creased difficulty, than which, Mr. Wright says, " nothing could 

 be more easy." I am assured that a little personal practical 

 experience, were he individually to try his proposed plan, 

 would be all that is wanted to convince Mr. Wright of its utter 

 impracticability; and I cannot but think he is now fruitlessly 

 expending as much time and money upon this matter as he 

 now admits he did in his efforts a year back respecting "trim- 

 ming," which all of us disapprove ; but some of the very first 

 on the list of protestors proved among the very earliest to be 



