September 27, 1877. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



257 



not to the pseudo-bulbs. Cattleyas also enjoy a season of com- 

 parative rest if their growths are formed, but those having 

 growths in the course of formation must have water sufficient 

 to prevent any check. Phalfenopsea also, although it is not well 

 to allow them to become so dry as is required for Dendrobiuma 

 or Cattleyas, must not be gorged with water during the winter 

 months, and it is necessary to be careful that none falls on the 

 leaves. We do not have any water in the evaporating troughs 

 after this time of the year, but it is necessary to sprinkle the 

 paths and stages to maintain a certain degree of moisture. — 

 J. Douglas. 



TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 



James Veitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nursery, King's Road, 

 Chelsea. — Catalogues of Fruit Trees, Dutch Bulbs, &c. 



James Carter & Co., High Holborn, London, W.C. — Catalogue 

 of Dutch Flower Roots. 



William Paul& Son,Waltham Cross, London, N. — Catalogties 

 of Hoses and Bulbs. 



E. G. Henderson & Son, Pine-Apple Nursery, Maida Vale, 

 London. — Catalogue of Dutch Bulbs and other Flower Boots. 



William Barron & Sons, Elvaston Nurseries, Borrowash, 

 Derby. — Catalogue of Conifers, Fruit Trees, Boses, &c. 



Henry Merryweather, The Nurseries, Southwell, Notts.— 

 Catalogue of Boses. 



Wm. Clibran & Son, Oldfleld Nursery, Altrincham.— A De- 

 scriptive Catalogue of Dutch Flowering Bulbs, Boses, Coniferce, 

 Shrubs, Fruit Trees, also Spring Flowering and Herbaceous 

 Plants, d-c. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



%* All correspondence should be directed either to " The 

 Editors," or to " The Publisher." Letters addressed to 

 Mr. Johnson or Dr. Hogg often remain unopened unavoid- 

 ably. We request that no one will write privately to any 

 of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to un- 

 justifiable trouble and expense. 



Correspondents should not mis up on the same sheet ques- 

 tions relating to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee 

 subjects, and should never send more than two or three 

 questions at once. All articles intended for insertion should 

 be written on one side of the paper only. We cannot 

 reply to questions through the post. 



Books (M. J.).—" The Greenhouse, its PlantB and Management," free by 

 post if yon enclose eleven postage stampB with your address. (M. B.).— Oar 

 *' Kitchen Gardening for the Many," free by post from our office if yon 

 enclose six postage stamps with your address. 



Eoses (Marlow).— It is impossible to name Boses from small specimens. 

 They are too numerous and too nearly alike. 



Grapes (Ibid).— The Vines probably require more moisture at the roots, 

 and tepid liquid manure occasionally. The bunches of Grapes should be 

 thinned more. 



Fbench Marigolds (H. Canncll).— They are splendid. We never saw 

 finer flowers, nor petals more regularly or brilliantly striped. 



Double Pelargoniums (Q. L., Ireland).— -We presume your variety is a 

 Eeedling. It resembles Madame ^milio Baltet (Lemoine), which is the best 

 of the doable white varieties. The truss you have sent is of medium size, 

 flowers double and well expanded, petals Bmooth and pure white. It is 

 worthy of being submitted to the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society. It is a pood variety, but whether it is distinct from the one named 

 can only be ascertained by a comparison of plants in a flowering state. 



Olea eubop^a, &c. (Willesden).— Neither the Olea nor the others are 

 hardy. 



Pbtmulas "Flowebing Pbemvtubely" (Amat eur, Bristol).— We do not 

 consider them premature at all. If the plants were not sufficiently strong to 

 flower now, they would not be likely to make a fine display in the spring. 

 Pinch-off the flowers, and as the plants are only in 4-inch pots repot them 

 into 6-inch pots, draining thoroughly and employing a compost of turfy loam, 

 very decayed and dried manure, or failing this, leaf soil and peat in equal 

 parts with a liberal admixture of silver sand. Do not pot the plants deeply; 

 they may be kept in an upright position by three small sticks an incb or two 

 long inserted around each plant. Place them on a Bhelf in the greenhouse, 

 and with good attention you will have fine plants in the spring. 



Wintering Alteenantheras (J. Hf.).— As you have not struck any cut- 

 tings, take-up some old plants before they are injured by the frost. Pot 

 them in good soil, and winter them in a cool stove— that is, a house having a 

 rnmimum temperature of 50°. In the spring place them in brisk heat and 

 they will yield an abundance of cuttings, which may be rooted and prepared 

 for planting-out when the weather is favourable. They cannot be safely 

 preserved in a cool vinery or greenhouse. 



Hardy Apple (Clericus).— You have been rightly informed that Cellini 

 has withstood the inclement weather of last spring better than many other 

 varieties. We have seen it in many gardens bearing excellent crops, while 

 the majority of the trees surrounding it were barren. It is a very useful 

 autumn Apple. 



Conifer fob Small Lawn [J., Brixton).— As you require a specimen of 

 "compact growth and conical habit yet less sombre than the Irish Yew," we 

 advise you to plant Copressus Lawsoniana erecta viridis. It is a cheerful 

 and handsome Conifer for the small grass plot of a villa garden. 



Ripening the Wood of Vines (J. T., Cambridge).— Ic is most important 

 that the wood be well ripened, and fire heat is Beldom more profitably em- 

 ployed than during the autumn. The advice that has been given to you to 



remove the lights to " harden " the Vines is erroneous. It is heat, not cold, 

 that mature^ the wood. As your Vines are still growing and the wood is soft, 

 remove the laterals and apply fire heat — in fact, follow the advice which is 

 given on another page by " A Kitchen Gardener," who ranks amongst the 

 most competent Grape growers of the day. 



Gardenias after Flowebing lEve). — After flowering they are benefited 

 by a short season of rest. This means keeping them only moderately moist at 

 the roots, and in a lower temperature than that in which they have made 

 their growth. Cacti after flowerirjg also require a season of rest. The plants 

 should be freely exposed to the Bun, and not any water applied to the roots. 



Seedling Briars {A. Chapman). — We do not know where Briar seeds are 

 sold, but they can be gathered in plenty in many places in the hedgerows. 

 Sow in beds in the open air in early spring. The plants may be budded the 

 second year close to the surface of the ground. The plants are very small 

 the first year, but may be transplanted in the autumn, and make excellent 

 Btocbs the neit season. Mr. Prince of Oxford can supply seedling Briars at a 

 cheap rate. We bought them last year at Is. 6d. a hundred, or he can also 

 supply plants worked on the seedling Briar. 



Tuberoses (M. L.). — These roots do best the first year, but if the roots are 

 gradually dried off they will flower a second season. Keep the roots in a dry 

 place during the season of rest in the pots in which they were grown. You 

 should purchase the highest-priced roots if you desire the best results. 



Renewing Vine Border (Amateur). — If all the roots are outside we 

 think it would be better not to lift the Vines until November. You might 

 mix the compost for the border at once and place it under cover. If part of 

 the roots had been inside you might have done the work at once. We would 

 not use any manure except about a hundredweight of crushed bones to four 

 cartloads of the turfy loam. 



Vines on Wall (O. A. Dauglas).— The lights placed against the wall will 

 very materially aid in ripening the Grapes, and your plan is good. We 

 would leave a space of half an inch or so between the lights, as the air would 

 be confined and cause the Grapes to mould. If you were to place the lights 

 on early in the year it would be a still greater advantage. 



Heating Small House (A. Harrison). — The house might be heated from 

 the kitchen boiler, but not aB you propose. The tendency of hot water is to 

 rise, and it would not circulate if the pipe falls from the boiler 6 inches in a 

 short distance. Let the flow pipe be fixed near the top of the boiler and the 

 return at the bottom ; but there must be a slight rise of the flow to the 

 point furthest from the boiler, and at that point an air pipe Bhould be fixed. 

 The two pipes may keep the frost out in severe weather, they will not do 

 more. 



Vines for Late House (R. K.).— You might plant eight Vines at 2 feet 

 9 inches apart. The following sorts are the best for your purpose: — Three 

 Black Hamburgh, two Lady Downe's, one Alicante, oneBuckland Sweetwater, 

 one Golden Queen. 



LoppraG Austrian Pine (Dan).— We should do it now, though if the 

 branches shade the Yew hedge much, we should for the sake of the hedge 

 defer the lopping of the Austrian Pine branches until February or Maroh. 



Grapes Bursting — Uneven-sized Berries (Caught Napping).— The 

 berries crack or burBt from an overmoist atmosphere, with probably too much 

 moisture at the roots The remedy will be to discontinue watering the border, 

 and to maintain a drier atmosphere: have gentle fires by day with efficient 

 ventilation, leaving a little air on all night to prevent moisture being de- 

 posited upon the berries. The late summer has been so wet and sunless that 

 fire heat became with us a necessity in order to cause a circulation of air, a 

 close moist atmosphere being fatal to the ripening and keeping of Grapes. 

 The application of superphosphate at the rate you name is not only very 

 extravagant but calculated to do more harm than good. We should remove 

 the surface soil an inch or two deep, and replace with turfy loam to which 

 has been added a sixth of charcoal. Uneven-sized berries are chiefly a result 

 of strong wood imperfectly ripened, there being many uneven-sized berries 

 in houses in whioh fire heat was not employed last autumn for the ripening 

 of the fruit and wood. 



Worms — Ants — Improving the Texture of Heavy SorL(<7,Z<., Preston). 

 — The worms would be beBt destroyed by an application of lime, which would 

 much improve the texture of the soil. Gas lime is a powerful insecticide, 

 requiring to be very carefully employed in gardens. The most that it is safe 

 to ubo is a peck per rod, and it will not even at that rate be Bafe to employ it 

 among plants. We should use lime in the fresh slacked state at the rate of 

 six tons per acre, in February or March, though it may be used in October or 

 November, and pointed-in with a fork. The ground would be best thrown-up 

 roughly for the winter, and limed in March. This would destroy the worms. 

 The ants may be driven away by sprinkling their hauntB with guano. Ashes 

 would tend to loosen the soil, rendering it more open and easy to work. Soot 

 may be applied during the growth of the plants ; it is a powerful fertiliser, 

 and is good against predatory vermin. 



Destboytng Ants (W. D. P.). — We fear that you will experience consider- 

 able difficulty in exterminating the ants from the pit of cocoa-nut fibre refuse 

 in your greenhouse. Sprinkling with Scotch snuff in such a case is not likely 

 to be efficacious. Pouring boiling water on the fibre might destroy many of 

 the ants. We have not had experience with carbolic acid aB an ant- destroyer. 

 The plan you propose is worth trying. Try it and let us know the result. 

 (W. C. B.).— We know of no mode of driving them away than sprinkling 

 Scotch snuff or guano over their haunts. 



Names of Fbutts (Knutsford). — Devonshire Qoarrenden. (Cannon). — 

 Carraway RuBBet. (Hugh Strahan). — Summer Pearmain. 



Names of Plants ( W. O. A.). — The numbers bad slipped off the speci- 

 mens; send others with numbers firmly attached, (M.E.J).). — CasBia corym- 

 bosa. It is a native of Buenos Ayre3. 



POULTEY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



MICHAELMAS DAY. 



As regards entries the first of the series of metropolitan shows 

 in the number of its poultry entries can . hardly be called a 

 success, for it has just been beaten by Ipswich and Bath. It 

 has hardly an average of nine throughout all the poultry classes, 

 which for a London show is a small number, while Ipswich had 



