December 23, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



497 



•the largest size are taken every autumn, leaving enough to bloom 

 'thickly, and to seed and sow themselves from year to year ; or 

 in the large spaces of Crocus, and whole quarters of Snowdrops, 

 grown for the general market; but in some parts water cannot 

 he far from the surface, and we should not be surprised some 

 •day to see large quarters of the best Hyacinths, for the sale of 

 the bulbs. 



Hiving alluded to the general management of plants and 

 iioisses lately, we may say now, that a Little bottom heat from 

 tree leaves will be a great help to Roses, Deulzias, Lilacs, Rhodo- 

 dendrons, Spirals, double flowering Peaches, &c, placed in pits 

 or houses. It is as well, if the roots are well established, to 

 set the pot on the top of the bed for the first week or ten 

 days, and then to plunge, or partly plunge, if the heat is mild. 

 The varieties of the Chinese Azaleas answer admirably under 

 such treatment, and will not need so much air as the above 

 hardy subjects will require at first. All such plants, and even 

 OamelHas, will be better of a little manure water when swell- 

 ing and opening their buds, and so will plants of Salvia 

 splendeos, where there is heat enough. One great advantage 

 of this bright old plant is, that when taken to a coolisb green- 

 house until the flowers are nearly over, it will often, when de- 

 prived of the old flower stalks and slightly pruned, if taken 

 hack to a warmer place averaging 60°, bloom two or three times 

 before getting exhausted. The late Chrysanthemums will also 

 rejoice in manure waterings. 



Saoh tender plants as Eranthomuun, Justicias, Goldfnssias, 

 Poinsettias, and Euphorbia jacqninire&ora are much benefited 

 by manure waterings, clear and not too strong, whilst the bloom 

 will be brighter in proportion to the light they receive. How 

 pretty at this season is the old Rivina humilis, with its long 

 racemes of bright red berries pointed with a few little white 

 flowers ! To have it nice and healthy all the winter and spring, 

 there is no better plan than sowing every season in a hothod in 

 March, and growing the plants in rather small pots. There 

 is generally some drawback as respects some of our greatest 

 -favourites. Thus, unless you have a very large plant it is next 

 to impossible to have a fine compact bush of the Poinsettia. 

 Small plants for little vases in heated rooms will always be 

 rather long for their width. The Poinsettia oan never be made 

 to look compact so as to have a fine head of crimson floral 

 leaves. You must have a tall strong shoot that will bear no 

 stopping or pruning. Such a glorious crowned head, if the 

 ■stem is cut carefully to a joint, will stand a good while in water 

 or damp moss in a heated room, forming with a few Maiden- 

 hair Ferns a fine feature in a vase of flowers. The rich crim- 

 son leavee when pulled off separately stand even longer, and 

 form a rich dressing for the sides of small vases. "When done 

 lowering the Poinsettia may be kept drier and cooler, and the 

 shoots may be cut down for propagating in spring, and as 

 ■every bud will make a cutting, the shoot may thus be cut up 

 into pieces from 2 to 12 inches long. To insure fine heads of 

 floral leaves the plants can scarcely have too much heat, 

 moisture, and light in summer ; and comparative dryness, less 

 heat, and full light in autumn, but not so much dryness as to 

 •cause a leaf to fall. When placed in more beat and moisture 

 '.he flower and floral leaves soon appear. — R. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



Sntfcon & Sons, Reading. — Sutton's Amateur's Guide and Spring 

 Catalogue. 



Hooper & Co , Covent Garden Market, London, W.C. — Seed Cata- 

 logue. ^^^^^ 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



N.B. — Many questions must remain unanswered until next 

 week. 



Books [Trent).—" Tbe Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary " gives directions 

 for Cacti culture. Wo know of no separate work on tbe subject. 

 <J. B. M.). — The " Gardeners' Almanack and Poultry-keepers' Calendar" 

 has not been published since 1863. You can have a copy free by pofct of 

 that, if you enclose thirteen postage stamps with your address. 



Lawn Sand (TV. D. B.). — We do not know it, and we cannot withdraw 

 our opinion. 



Manuring Roses (Rosery).— Winter is not the best time for applying 

 guano to Ruses, tbough this manure is very valuable when Roses are in 

 full foliage. We should advise the cesspool to be emptied about M*rch 

 into a heap of soil and ashes, and this applied as a top-dressing to the 

 trees, forking it in among tbe roots. Let the guano be applied as a liquid 

 manure while tbe Roses are forming tbeir buds for blooming, or at any 

 time during the summer when the weather is very dry. It iB too stimu- 

 lating and transient in its effects to use as a winter dressing. When the 

 land is sandy, as in your case, a mulching, applied during the winter, of 

 good stable manure, is of great value. It can be raked off in spring, 



and what Is left forked in, and a mulching of cocoa-nut fibre may be 

 applied during the summer to protect the roots from the sun in hot dry 

 weather. 



RussrAN Violets (Sunny), — All Violets are the better of a situation 

 shaded from tbe midday sun. An east border is a good aspect. They 

 flower from February to May, and in mild seasons they commence 

 flowering early in winter, and continue in bloom throughout the winter 

 and spring. 



Rosas for Covering Iron Arches (Idem). — There are climbers suit- 

 able for planting with Roses, and we should not employ Hybrid Per- 

 petuals, but the climbing Ros^s, as — Alice Gray, Dundee Rambler, Ruga, 

 and Splendens, of the Ayrshire; Adelaido d'Orleans, Myrianthes, and 

 Rampante, of the Evergreon ; Madamo d'Arblay, and Rivers's Queen, of 

 the- Hybrid Climbing ; Amadis, Gracilis, and the old Red Boursault. 

 Theso, for tho purpose you require, are very beautiful. 



Pampas Grass and Tritoma (Idem).— Cutting off the old or last Bum- 

 mer's growth very much weakens the former plant, and in a cold situ- 

 ation the Tritoma as well, if tho winter proves severe. We have known 

 plants cut down killed, while those on which the old foliage was left 

 until spring wore not in the least injured. Protect them in severe 

 weather with a littlo dry Utter spread over them, removing it in mild 

 periods. 



Late Duke Cherry (.4. Ma n allum). — You imst have the wrong variety, 

 as tho habit of the tree of Late Duke is not the same as that of the 

 Morello. It is more like the May Duke in growth, and the fruit is ex- 

 cellent. 



Pear, Crab, Quince, and Paradise Stocks Working (An Old Suh~ 

 scriber). — The stocks planted lust spring of the thickness of the little 

 finger, will be fit for grafting next spring, but if of less size they would 

 be best left till another year. It is well to have them strong before work- 

 ing. By all means graft those as thick as a man's thumb next spring. 

 Whip-grafting is the best mode. The Manetti Btocks should be budded 

 next summer if as thick as tbe little fingor. Bud quite close to the 

 ground, or, indeed, below it, removing the soil about them for that pur- 

 pose. Indeed, the bark does not part freely from the wood above ground. 

 In planting them cover the junction with soil. 



Stocks for Wall Pear Trees (E. M. J.).— For Pear trees against 

 walls wo prefer the Pear stock, but it must bo admitted that trees grafted 

 on it do not come into bearing so soon as those on the Quince stock, 

 which, however, ought not for horizontal training to be morn than 15 feet 

 annrt on a 10-feet wall, and 12 foet apart on a 12-feot wall. We plant 

 those on tho Pear stock, and pi ft midway between each a double up- 

 right cordon on the Quince. Thb cordons give us fruit before th^ others, 

 and we cover the wall in a shorter timn. Your climate must be bad indeed 

 for Apricots not to succeed on a south wall. Plums we should prefer to 

 Pears for a south wall ; both do very well. Why remove the bloom buds ? 

 There will be few on the trees you gut, or they will not grow much another 

 year. For walls wo like free-growing trees, not thoBe stunted and pinched 

 into early bearing. Your selection of Cherries is good. The fresh leaves 

 will do for ground to bo planted with Potatoes, if the ground is naturally 

 rich, and with the guano you will no doubt have a good crop if the 

 season bo favourable. Thrwe of the largest prize or Lancashire Goose- 

 berries are— London, red ; Leveller, yellow ; and Antagonist, white. 



Arrangement of Vinery (S. Castle).— What you do withBtages in your 

 greenhouse in just confirmatory of whut was referred to a few weeks ago, 

 when speaking of using forcing bouses for plant houses and wintering 

 houses in winter. Wo like the whole so much, that if wo made any alter- 

 ation at all we would lessen tho top platform and have more shelves 

 at the back. Then, as that back pathway is 3 feet wido, instead of 

 having one wide shelf over it, if holding numbers of small plants in 

 winter were our object, we would have five or six shelves, say 9 inches 

 wide, against tho back wall, and would then borrow a lesson from Mr. 

 Sheppard the nurseryman at Bedford, who uses moveable brackets for 

 shelf-supports, taking them out or merely turning them against the wall 

 in summer, when tali plants may be set against the back wall. 



Vinery— Stove for, Plant Cuttings in (H. A.D.).— For such a house as 

 yours, if yon did not mind the appearance, a small brick Btove, either near 

 the back wall or the middle of the front of the house, would on the whole 

 be best ; say a stove of brick-on-bed 28 inches square, 4G inches in height, 

 a space left for an ashpit, and the firebars fixed; ahove them a firebox 

 made of firebricks, 8 inches square and 8 inches deep ; close-fitting furnace 

 and ashpit doors ; the stove covered at top with a stout flag or a strong 

 iron plate ; a shoTt outlet at the side, and a more upright pipe through 

 the back wall or through the glass roof. On tho top a vessel of water may 

 be placed. Such a stove would give a more regular mild heat than iron ; 

 but with a little care a small iron stove costing from 40s. to 5'is. would do 

 for such a house. The chief point is to have a stove with the firebox 

 lined with firebrick, so as to keep the burning fuel from the iron. We 

 have seen a guinea stove that is frequently advertised, in which there is 

 an iron firebox inside, leaving a space all round for heated air, and keep- 

 ing tbe fuol from the sides of the Btove. The outlet-pipe is at the top, 

 and tho top rounded, so that an evaporating basin cannot ba used. These 

 stoves are, therefore, better fitted for halls aDd corridors than for plant 

 nouses. We have seen far inferior stoves used safely in little plant 

 houses ; but on tho whole, to obtain plenty of heat — safe heat — and moist 

 enough if needed, it is best to use a stove with a flat top, and the opening 

 for fuel on one side and tbe outlet for smoke on the other, and to have a 

 firebox inside, so thit the red bot fuel does not abut against the outside 

 caso of iron. It is also an advantage when the top can be taken off. We 

 use a stove with a round moveable top for lifting up and adding fuel, 

 which with a little conirivance answers admirably ; but when we want 

 muchheat we haveto damp the floor all round it, as we cannot use an 

 evaporating basin. We have an old square stove tied together with stout 

 wires, and a flat moveable top, with which we could do wonders. For all 

 such stoves, when taking a horizontal pipe from the side, it should not 

 exceed from 2i to 80 inches in length, coke and cinders are the beat 

 fuel, as coal soon clogs up the small pipe used for a chimney. 



Manuring Vines (M. B.).—We are very sorry that tho manure spread 

 as advised at page 438 has injurod your Ferns and Cinerarias, and we 

 are rather bui prised at it if you gave no more than 1 inch of dressing and 

 loft air on. This shows the importance of correspondents being parti- 

 cular, for of two things we were iguorant when giving the advice— first, 

 that the poultry-yard manure was so fresh, and again, that you had 

 Ferns, &c, iu tbe house. If 50, and using such dressing at all, we would 



