December 15, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



479 



be sufficient. Trees are more injurious than beneficial, for their roots 

 and branches waste too much ground. The best piau ol breaking up the 

 grouud is to trench it as deeply as there is soil of a good staple, not 

 bringing up too much of the poor stubborn subsoil. Trenching will cost 

 more than, perhaps, any other mode of breaking up. but it will more than 

 repay the first cost, and give a far better result than any other mode. 

 Indeed, without deep cultivation the full value of the ground is not 

 derived. 



Sowing Pelargonium Seed (A Subscriber). — Sow the seed iu pans or 

 pots filled to within half an inch of the rim with light rich turfy loam, 

 adding about a third of leaf foil and a sixth of silver sand. The pots or 

 pans Ehould be weil drained, and the seeds scattered evenly and mode- 

 rately thinly, just covaiing with very fine soil. Place the pots near the 

 glass in a mild hotbed, and water gently and very carefully, and when 

 the plants appear admit air freely. Sow in February or early in March. 

 The main points to be attended "to are free air-giving, keeping close to 

 the gloss, careful watering, but preserving the soil in a moist state, aud 

 keeping the seedlings from becomiog drawn up. When they have made 

 one rough leaf and show the second, pot off singly, and when again estab- 

 lished remove them from the hotbed to a cold frame, hardening off, and 

 either planting out or growing tharu in the greenhouse. 



Vine Boeder Making— Vines for Outside Border [Idem). — The 

 drainage of the border should be good. Nine inches to a foot of rubble 

 will not be too much, and the bottom of the border should incline to the 

 front, where there should be a drain to carry off the water. The border 

 should be foimed of turf taken from a pasture where the soil is a good 

 light loam, paring it off not more lhau 3 or 4 inches deep. To every cart- 

 load add two barrowloade of lime rubbish from an old building, the older 

 the better, and a barrowload each of lumpy charcoal aud bon65 biokeu 

 and bruised rather small. The turf should be chopped into 3 or 4-inch 

 squares, and the whole well mixed. Placing a layer of sods grass side 

 downwards on the drainage, make the border of the above compost 

 to the depth of 3 feet, and we would have it, if practicable, fully half 

 above the surrounding ground level. For planting the Vines use a com- 

 post of turf sis months old chopped small, adding a fourth of well-rottsd 

 manure and a sixth of half-inch hones. The best time to plant is early 

 iu March, just when the Vines are beginning to push or have started into 

 growth. The kinds succeeding be6t in an outside border are Black Ham- 

 burgh, Frankenthal, Mill Hill Uamburgh, Trenthatn Black, Foster's White 

 Seedling, Buckland Siyeetwater, and Trovereu r'rontignan. The Mus- 

 cats and late-hanging kinds, roq.uMng as they do lire heat for their suc- 

 cessful ripening, are not, as a rule, suitable for outside plantiog. 



Funkjas, Seedling Canna, and Wigandia Treatment (W. S.).— The 

 Funkias should bo kept moderately dry until they grow, the soil not, 

 however, being_kept dust-dry; whan they commence growth water copi- 

 ously. They are increased by division of the roots when the plants are 

 beginning to grow. Keep them in a cold frame, pit, or eool house with 

 abundance of air and light. They arc, however, hardy. We think the 

 ciuse of the seedling Wigandias losing their leaves now is their having a 

 drier atmosphere than they were exposed to during the summer. Givo 

 no more water than enough to keep the leaves fri>m flagging, and afford 

 a light situation. Repot in March, and, being encouraged with an increase 

 of temperature and moist atmosphere, they will start freely, making nice 

 plants by May, when they should be hardened off, and planted out in 

 -Tune in warm sheltered situations. The seediiDg Canuas are nil right. 

 At this season the old stems die down, but the roots are alive. Keep the 

 -soil dry, or give very little water. They may remain in the pots during 

 ihe winter, and in February or early in March shake them out, repot 

 them in fresh soil, and place them in a hotbed, watering carefully until 

 they begin to grow, and when they have grown a foot or more harden 

 iaem off. They are fine either for the greenhouse or sheltered spots in 

 iiower gardens. 



Names of Fruits (J. J1L). — No. 1, Bcurre d'Aremberg ; 2, Passe Colmar; 

 3. Easter Beurre ; 4. Winter Crasaune ; 5, No Plus Menris. (/. E. Ross). — 

 Passe Coimar. (jf.' 77.). — 1, Triomphe de Jodoiime ; 2, Glou Morceau; 

 3. Swan's Egg; 5, Golden Winter Pesrmain; 6, Margil; 8, Hollandbury ; 

 9, Golden Noble ; 10, Northern Greening ; 11, Hughes's Golden Pippin. 



Names of Plants {Tertia).— 1, Blechnnm brasiliense; 2, Campyloneu- 

 ron phyiiitldis ; 3, Aspidium c.vriaceum ; 4, Nephrodium molie ; 5, Pyc- 

 nopterisSieboldii,nowLastrea Sitboldii; 6, Cyrtomium Fortune ; 7, Sola- 

 ginella Kraussiana (the S. hortensis of gardens); S, Adiantum concin- 

 num ; 9, Adiautam trapeziforme ; 10, Adiantum macropbyllum ; 11, Lito- 

 r» -L.i-lj.ia vespertilionis, or Ptcris incisa. (Oswell). — 1, Tradeacantia 

 vittata ; 2, Begonia fuchsioides ; S, Mesembryanthemum, specific name 

 next week. {Leo). — Tour plant appears to be Watsonia strictiflora. 

 'J. F. Sinclair). — Your plant appears to be Pentstemon baccharidifolium. 

 (ff . 77.). — Both yourplants are Cineraria maritima, also known as Senecio 

 Cineraria, a common South-European plant, much used as an edging 

 plant in gardens. [A Subscriber, J. L.).~ Cultivated in gardens under the 

 name of Ageratuua glancum, which nsms we believe to he spurious. 

 (67. B-). — One is Asplenium marinum, the other a variety of Lady Fern, 

 Athyrium Filix-fcemina. (J". W. Boyd). — Asplenium formosnm. 



as I have been unfortunate in breeding them this season ?" I 

 get the same tale from Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Northum- 

 berland, and yet to my mind there is no variety of fowl so easy 

 to breed as Gold-pencilled Hamburghs. If exhibitors will only 

 adopt the advice given in our poultry books, they will ex- 

 perience no difficulty whatever. 



Having been asked to contribute a few lines to your Journal 

 on the result of my breeding experience, I do so in the hope 

 that it may induce lovers of Hamburghs to exercise more care 

 in the selection of their breeding stock. I attach more iui- 

 por'ance to the colour of the cock than to the colour of the 

 hen?, provided, of course, the hens are finely pencilled. This 

 season I bred with two hens, a pullet, and a three-year-old 

 cock with a bronze tail. The result Was very indifferent 

 pullets, well pencilled, but very light. With the same hens 

 aad a dark-tailed cock — in fact, I should say a green-tailed 

 cock, I bred pullets three or four shades deeper in colour, aud 

 this- 1 am persuaded is no accident. Season after Eeasou I have 

 bred pullets an exact fac simile of the hens I have bred from, 

 in pencilling, ground colour, and comb, but I have invariably 

 found that the depth of ground colour in the pullets was in 

 proportion to the depth of colour in the male bird. — Eked. 

 Peeeis, Whillmead House, Ashley Vale, Bristol. 



POULTHY, BEE, AND PIGEON CEEOHiCLS. 



GOLD-PENCiLLED HAMBURGHS. 

 In your criticism of the Birmingham Show you draw at- 

 tention to the fact that the hens in the G-old-pencilled classes 

 seem to be fast losing colour. I deem this fact of so much im- 

 portance — if we are to arrive at perfection in breeding this 

 beautiful variety — that I crave a few lines to point out a 

 remedy. A few years ago I paid a visit to Yorkshire, and ex- 

 perienced no difficulty in finding several beautifully pencilled 

 hens with a rich ground colour, yet this year very few cf 

 these dark birds are to be found. A very successful breeder of 

 Pencilled Hamburghs in the eastern counties writes me — 

 '• Have you another good pair of pullets to part with * * * 



ARMOUR-PLATED POULTRY BASKETS. 



When will the cares and troubles of poultry exhibitors cease? 

 It is now just four years ago that my old Light Brahma cock 

 Sampson, well-known to many of your readers^ closed his 

 victorious career so tragically, being killed on his way to a 

 show by the bite of a dog. History is said to repeat itself. 

 Last week my first-prize Birmingham cock, aho a winner of 

 many prizes, returned home, having narrowly escaped old 

 Sampson's fate. His basket was torn and shattered, his 

 feathers lay in considerable numbers on the floor of it ; two 

 wounds, the larger about the size of a thumb-nail, most fortu- 

 nately not deep, were visible under the feathers on his back. 

 Altogether, the bird looked much the worse for the fright and 

 the shock to his system. Restoratives in the shape of bread 

 and ale, and a few hours' rest, improved his appearance con- 

 siderably, but, although well enough to go to the Crystal Palace, 

 he certainly did not exhibit his " Birmingham form," and his 

 first prizsal the last-named show degenerated into a simple 

 commendation at the Palace. 



I think your readers will agree with me that so narrowan 

 escape from a great catastrophe, even assuming no worse thing 

 to happen, is not a pleasant possibility for an exhibitor to 

 contemplate every lime that dogs and poultry are fellow travel- 

 lers to or from a show. 



I may add that mine is not a solitary case, as another exhi- 

 bitor tells me of a similar accident on the very same occasion. 

 What, then, is the remedy ? One expedient has occurred to 

 me, which I mention for the sake of its being possibly useful 

 to other exhibitors. I have commenced the construction of 

 soma "iron-clads" or "armour-plated" baskets. In other 

 words, I have told my blacksmith to fix inside two or three 

 baskets intended to carry my most precious specimens, when 

 liable to canine danger, a lining of perforated zinc or tin, with 

 apertures sufficient for breathing purposes, thus protecting the 

 sides and bottom of the basket from hostile teeth, and render- 

 ing its occupant as philosophical as the poet of our infancy, 



when he said — 



" Let dogs delight 

 To bark and bite." 

 — John Pat.es. 



LA FLEOHE FOWLS AT THE BIRMINGHAM 



SHOW. 

 In the account of the Birmingham Show, in your paper of 

 Thursday, December 1st, the following paragraph occurs re- 

 lating to my Li FJeche hens which took first and second 

 prizes : — " The hens were in better order, but the second prize 

 was a- manifest error, being half-bred with Minorcas. This 

 was evident all over, the birds having Spanish bodies, red 

 faces, aud one an actually flapping comb." I should be much 

 obliged if you would contradict this statement, as it is calcu- 

 lated to do me serious injury. The birds referred to I bred tt 

 Wentworth myself from others also bred by me the previous 

 year ; and I have never had either Spanish or Minorcas in my 

 possession, nor have any of my La Fleche ever been crossed 



