478 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



L December 15, 1870. 



Trees foe a Bank of Loose Chalk (Creta).— The bank being covered 

 with soil for planting the trees, we do not see why Beech should not 

 grow. Larch we have seen doing well where, from the stony character 

 of the ground, most other trees refuse to grow. We should try both ; the 

 Beech to remain and the other as nurslings. 



Variegated Pine Apple Fruiting ( W. S.}.— It is not unusual for this 

 to fruit. We have seen fruit of from 3 to 4 lbs. weight, and we have no 

 doubt under good cultivation it might be grown to a greater weight. 



Plants fof. Gp.eenhotjse Decoration (H. S. C). — Sis Azaleas : Stella, 

 Criterion, Extranei, Murs, Duchesse Adelaide de Nassau, and Gled- 

 stanesi formosa. Sis Show Pelargoniums : Archbishop, Charles Turner, 

 Maid of Honour, Expectation, Congress, and Councillor. Six Faniy 

 Pelargoniums: Belle "of the Season, Fanny Gair, Pink of Perfection, 

 Lady Dorothy Nevill, Neatness, and Brightness. Twelve Zonal Pelar- 

 goniums : Advancer, Charming, ColeshiU, Diamond, Display, ECavmony, 

 Landscape, Mabel, Purity, Josephine, Herald, and Eostacy. Six Vouble- 

 Jlowering Pelargonium* : Conqueror, Marie Lemoine, Le Vesuve, Delight, 

 Sparkhill Beauty, and Memnon. 



Vinery-Greenhouse (S. H.). — We approve generally of the plan and 

 arrangement of the house, but, if suitable otherwise, we would have had 

 the flue under the front table platform instead of under the back stage. 

 For the late liouse, where you will not put many plants until the fruit is 

 cut, we would have the following — two Bowood Muscat, one Trebbiano, 

 two Muscat of Alexandria, two Lady Downe's. For the intermediate 

 house — one Golden Champion, two Muscat of Alexandria, one Muscat 

 Hamburgh, two Black Hamburgh, one Trentham Black. For the early 

 house— two Black Hamburgh, one Royal Muscadine, ono Buckland's 

 Sweetwater, or Dutch Sweetwater. 



Ground Vinery (Howard). — We are not quite sure if we understand 

 you. Do you propose that your brick wall, 24 inches high and 24 inches 

 wide, flat on the top. should, with ventilating bricks at top, form the 

 back of a Eendle's ground vinery, with another wall in front ? then there 

 can be no question as to the success. But if you mean the fiat top of 

 this 24-inch wall to be the base of your vinery, then we should prefer a 

 "wooden frame with glass to stand on it, as *he use of bricks for the side 

 would occupy too much room. The bricks beneath would absorb and 

 give out heat in summer, In such a shaly soil we would see no use in 

 bricking in a little pit for the Vine roots. Any fresh, sweet loamy soil 

 would do, and if you added a fifteenth part of boiled bruised bones, the 

 same of lime rubbish if the soil was not naturally light, and as much 

 sweet rotten dung, the Vines would grow freely in it. For a Vine to 

 -cover from 9 to 12 feet in length, a root space a yard square and 24 inches 

 deep would be amplo at first, as you could give rich top-dressings every 

 year, and when yen thought it would do the Vines good ynu might add a 

 little more space of soil afterwards. We think that a small hot-water 

 pipe in such a place would take a good deal of trouble, and be so far a 

 departure from simplicity. If carefully attended to it would be useful 

 in dull weather when the fruit was setting, and in dull weather in 

 -autumn when the fruit and wood were ripening. C^st-iron gas-pipes, 

 however, we should think would be cheaper than those made of wrought 

 iron. 



Vines for a Shall House (JET. C ).— Your house, 30 feet long and 

 12 feet wide, will hold ten Vines at 3 feet apart, the two end Vines being 

 planted 15 inches from the ends, and the distance equally divided between 

 the others. We have a house of the same length with twelve Vines, but 

 we think them a little too close together, for though for the first two or 

 three years they have plenty of room, yet when the rods are spurred the 

 ■whole length there is too little space for the leaves being exposed to 

 light and air. You do not say whether you have other houses, and wish 

 this to afford an early, midsea3on, or late supply of Grapes ; but we take 

 it for granted that you have no other house specially set apart for Grape 

 culture, and our selection is made accordingly, and is— one Blick Cham- 

 pion, one Frankenthai, two Mill Hill Hamburgh, ono Buckland Sweet- 

 water, one Foster's White Seedling, one White Frontignan. one Black 

 Alicante, two Muscat of Alexandria ; and if you have twelve Vines — one 

 Lady Downe's and one Madresfield Court Black Muscat. With these 

 varieties in one house you may have a supply of Grapes till after Christ- 

 mas. We approve of your having the Vines planted inside, having the 

 oorder partly in and partly outside the house. 



Dust frosi Stove Furnace (Poplar),— The dust you complain of as 

 settling on your plants from removing ashes, &c, may easily be avoided 

 by damping the ashes before you remove fhem, and damping the firebox 

 before you clean it out. If the plants are very dusty we would take them 

 out, or to a shed, in a fine day, brush them carefully with a small hair 

 ijroom, and then syringe and wash them, and when becoming dry replace 

 them. This would be belter than washing them in the house. 



Heating a Greenhouse (G. D. Garis). — We would much prefer 3i or 

 4-inch pipes for heating your greenhouse vinery to 6-inch pipes. The 

 latter will, of course, hold heat longer, but they will be longer in being 

 heated. For such a house 14 feet in width, 6 feet in front, S feet at back, 

 aDd then a hip of glass to the ridge, two 4-inch pipes along the front would 

 keep out frost, and enable you to have good late Grapes, and to keep them 

 hanging late. To have ear.y Grapes, say in June, you would require four 

 pipes instead of two — that is, three flows and one return. The " Vine 

 Manual," which yr>u can have from our office for thirty-two postage stamps 

 by post, will, we think, suit you. 



Endive Blanching (U.S.), — Theobjectionston3ing sawdust for cover- 

 ing and blanching Endive are, first, the trouble of washing the sawdust 

 off, and, secondly, the taste that in some cases might be communicftted ; 

 otherwise the plan woold answer well. There is nothing better for 

 blanching than a tile, a slate, or a board laid flat on the Endive plant?, 

 but in severe weather the plants beneath might be injured. It is meivly 

 as protection that leaves or straw above the slates were spoken of Any- 

 thing that will keep the plants from light will do. Nothing does better 

 than a dark cellar. 



Large Potato (T. P. Smith). — Three pounds and twelve ounces is a 

 great weight for a single tuber, but you will see at page 350 one men- 

 tioned that weighed four pounds. 



Wires of Trellis Breaking (Alpha).— We fear you have no alternative 

 but to remove the small brass wires and replace them with otVrs of gal- 

 vanised iron, which is the best and mo^t durable for out-door work. 

 Copper wire is little better than brass; it corrodes, and soon becomes 

 brittle. No. 10 galvanised iron wire is what we use. It answers admir- 

 ably, and is string without being unsightly. 



Orosanche on Cissus discolor (Buckwing).— The parasite you en- 

 closed is Orobsnche minor. It was introduced probably in the soil em- 

 ployed for potting the Cissus discolor. 



Boiler for Greenhouse Heating (J?. JET. F.). — As you obtain such 

 an abundance of heat, we would let well alone. The sudden cooling of 

 your house may be owing to the quick cooling of the 40-feet flow and 

 return of small pipes before they reach the larger pipes in the house, 

 especially if these small pipes are exposed, or close to an absorbing, 

 conducting medium. They should be placed in a wooden box packed 

 with charcoal or dry sawdust. We have not worked it, but we have no 

 doubt tho tubular self-regulating boiler is good, though we take all these 

 wondrous descriptions with a considerable reduction. More depends 

 on the stoker than on the boiler. See what is said on the subject in page 

 4S6 of the present number, the use of the damper, &c. With the right use 

 of the damper, practice will soon teach you how to avoid trouble at night , 

 and yet maintain a somewhat regular temperature. When the house is 

 at its proper temperature, slow combustion regulated by the damper and 

 the ashpit-door, will keep a rogular heat for a long time. Recollect that 

 heating a dwelling-house is very different from heating a plant house, 

 where the glass is exposed to every variation of temperature. In a case 

 similar to yours, the small saddle boiler was so close to the bars there 

 was not room for fuel. Under-pinning with a fire brick so as to make 

 the furnace larger made all right. 



Shads for Flowers (A. G.). — The simplest and cheapest is this:— 

 Fig 1 represents a piece of pasteboard (old hat-boxes will be quite as 

 good), about 8 inches by 6, less or more. By bringing the two bottom 

 corners together, so as to overlap a little, the pasteboard can be nailed 



t*p and bottom to a thin lath of wood, as in Jig. 2, which can be tied at 

 the required height upon a tall flower-stick, which should be squared a 

 little to make it set firm ; or it may at once be tacked to the stick as shown 

 in Jig. 3. These shades will endure heavy rains if the pasteboard be 

 moderately stiff, and will last several years. They have been used for 

 Tulips, Ranunculuses, Carnations, Roses, Pinks, and Dahlias. 



Fuchsias for Standards (H.S.C.). — Avalanche, Beauty of Kent, En- 

 chantress, Giant, King of the Stripes, and Troubadour. 



Azalea Leaves Falling {Julia). — We can only account for the leaves 

 falling from its being their natural season, to do so, or from their having 

 been attacked by thrips, or from want of water in summer. The only 

 preventive is to place the plants after flowering in a moist warm house, 

 as a vinery at work, to make fresh growths, and, when these are formed, 

 to keep the plants in a moist and warm atmosphere until the shoots begin 

 to thicken at their points ; then expose them fully to light and air, re- 

 moving them to a cool airy house where thsy can have air day and night. 

 The plants ought not to be allowed to suffer at anytime from want of 

 water, but they ought not to be watered whilst the soil is wet, yet water 

 should be given before ihe soil becomes so dry as to cause the leaves 



to UAg. 



Camellia Buds Falling (U.K. R.). — The principal cause of this is 

 defective root action. It may be induced by a saturated and sour state 

 of the soil, also defective drainage, but in your case we think it is caused 

 by the regular waterings. Camellias ought not to be watered until the 

 s->il becomes dry, and then enough water should be given to show itself 

 at the drainage. Pot them in spring in a compost of turf pared off a 

 pasture or common where the soil is a light sandy loam, chopping it up 

 small, using it fresh, and potting firmly. We think they will not fall 

 another season. 



Grapes Setting (J. Mackenzie, BI.B.).— All the Grapes you mention 

 are good setters. We have never heard that Golden Champion does not 

 set well. On the contrary, we believe it does ; but the information you 

 have received is correct, that the berries are in some cases attacked with 

 a disease from which they decay prematurely. 



Hedge for Market Garden (Constant Reader). — Beech makes a very 

 good hedge, but Hornbeam makes one thicker, and is the better of the 

 two for a boundary, but we do not consider either of them formidable 

 enough for a boundary fence. Holly and Thorn make the.best of all. One 

 Holly and five Thorns per yard will be roquired, and you may have a 

 fence in three or four years that will turn anything, and from the growth 

 of the Holly you will have a semi-evergreen fence second only for pro- 

 tection to Yew. We would not have the Poplars nor any kind of tree, 

 unless it were a line or two of Austrian Pines, but for a market garden we 

 consider hedges most suitable. Besides the boundary fence, we would 

 divide the interior into quarters or plots by hedges of Beech and Horn- 

 beam—that is, if the space is large ; if but small, the boundary fence will 



