July 4, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



21 



bay. All applications are pretty well useless when once they 

 have obtained the mastery. "A stitch in time saves nine." 

 Very often in gardening, if the one stitch is neglected you 

 may save all labour as respects the nine, because it will only 

 be labour thrown away. "We have known of hundreds of 

 pounds of tobacco used in gardens, when for all the utility 

 concerned they might as well have been burned on an open 

 heath ; 2 or 3 lbs. judiciously applied might have answered 

 and told with profit. 



ORNAMENTAL department. 



By renovating our lawns we have given ourselves extra 

 work, as the grass does grow. Flower-beds have as yet re- 

 quired little attention, except planting and securing, and but 

 for four-footed intruders we should get on swimmingly. Our 

 Roses on walls that were grand are now at a standstill ; they 

 have had a dusting of sulphur and soot, and washings with 

 soap water — not suds. 



Pinks and Carnations have had supports ; the easiest to 

 use is a twisted wire. Lots of plants have been potted for 

 succession. The great drawback in most places is room. 

 People see a few things good in a little house, because appro- 

 priated to these things alone ; they forget that they demand 

 ten or twenty times the quantity from the same place. Cut 

 flowers in some places are getting to fever-heat. We placed 

 a number of plants under shade to save watering and ex- 

 haustion. We shall propagate Pinks, &c, ere long, slipping 

 the cuttings out by then- sockets. Gave rich manure water to 

 Chrysanthemums, large Pelargoniums, and Fuchsias, and 

 clear water to successions. There is a fitness in things. We 

 would as soon feed a baby on roast pork as give rich soil and 

 rich manure water to small plants. — R. F. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



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

 week. 



Tying Roses down to a Hoop (A Constant Subscriber). — This is called 

 quenouille fashion. Ci'liue Fbrestier could bo so trained better than Gloire 

 de Dijon, as its wood is more pliant. When the shoots of Gloire de Dijon, or 

 of other Roses, are able to bear it, put a small weight proportionate to its 

 strength towards the end of the shoot. — W. F. Radclyffe. 



Weeds (J. C. C). — There is a book by J. Donaldson, published in 1818, 

 entitled "The Enemies of Agricultm-e, Botanical and Zoological, their De- 

 scription and Extirpation;" there is also a better volume by B. Holditch, 

 " The Weeds of Agriculture." 



Asphalt Walks (Horti).—Take two parts of very dry lime rubbish, aud 

 one part coal ashes, also very dry, and both sifted fine. In a dry place, on a 

 dry day, mix them, and leave a hole in the middle of the heap, as bricklayers 

 do when making mortar. Iutothis pour boiling hot coal tar; mix, and, when 

 as stiff as mortar, put it 3 inches thick where the walk is to be. The ground 

 should be dry and beaten smooth. Sprinkle over it coai'so sand ; when cold, 

 pass a light roller over it, and in a few days the walk will be solid and water- 

 proof. We think it would answer for a threshing floor. 



Rose Buds Withering (C. Jones). — It is probably caused by want of 

 manure. Remove the surface soil down to the first roots; cover them with 

 some thoroughly decayed stable manure; return the soil, water abundantly, 

 and keop the surface mulched all the summer. Your plant is an Euphorbia, 

 aud we think E. lathyiis, but the specimen was smashed. 



Adiantum farleyense. — A Lady Gardener when tons thus: — "I have 

 hi my stove a large plant of Adiaotum farleyense, and a plant as closely as 

 possible resembling farleyense has come up in a pot in the stove. Can any of 

 your readers inform me if farleyense has yet been raised from spores ? " 



Leaves of Rose Trees Injured (A. C). — The leaves of your Roses were 

 ^o smashed that it is difficult to answer your questions. The Saw-fly, 

 Selaudria cethiops, has nibbled the surface of the leaves. Mildew is a fungus 

 that affects the tender leaves in hot dry weather. It also proceeds from the 

 roots, and passes through the circulation. A fine yellow Rose, a wall tree 

 14 feet high, some years ago died, and when dug up it was discovered that the 

 whole of the roots were white with mycelium. Mr. Radclyffe had some Roses 

 under glass much affected with mildew ; he had them sponged with vinegar, 

 which completely removed it. If the trees are not dressed for mildew, it is 

 best to cut off all the mildewed portion. He has got rid of orange fungus, 

 which did so much mischief last year, by cutting below it to a dormant eye. 



Storing Potatoes (Wear Sail). — So far from its being judicious to take 

 up the tubers before the stems are quite faded, there can be no doubt left 

 upon the minds of those who have tested by experiment the antagonistic 

 modes, that upon no account should any Potatoes be taken up, either for seed 

 or storing, until the stems are totally dead. The Potatoes will be best kept 

 by placing them in layers alternately with earth, so as not to touch each 

 other, on the north side of a wall, covering the whole about 12 inches deep 

 also with earth, and with a smoothed inclined surface outside to shoot off the 

 rain. No implement ought to he employed for taking up the roots but a fork 

 with three flat prongs; and the mode most economical of time and labour, 

 and consequently of expense, is to sort the Potatoes at the time of taking 

 them up. If the Potatoes are thus stored there will be no shoots requiring to 

 be rubbed off at planting time. W'e never wait to dry the tubers, but take 

 them up and store them between the layers of earth at once. 



Shrubs for an Island (F. W. J?.), — It would be well to have the open 

 stone wall cemented, so as to keep the water from the soil ; besides, it would 

 improve the appearance, giving the character of a rocky isle. We have such 

 a one, and it is completely covered with Gorse, yellow Broom, and grass, and 

 it has an excellent effect. We have another that has upon it a rather scrubby 

 Holly, two or three good Hollies, some Whin, Broom, and Heath, and it has 



a very fine effect. We have no experience of other evergreens on islands, and 

 in- our case the roots are not in stagnant water. On ground not free from 

 water we have the Weeping and Cut-leaved Birch, Kilmarnock and American 

 Weeping Willows, scarlet and variegated Dogwood, Deutzia scabra, and 

 Gueldres Rose. The ground is covered with Sedges and Grass to the water's 

 edge. 



Cabbages for Early Crop (Cave Hill).— We do not sec in what way we 

 could improve on your treatment, which to us appears quite sound. For 

 market purposes we do not think you can improve much on tho kinds, but 

 you may tiy Cattell's Reliance, Wheeler's Imperial, and St. John's-day Drum- 

 head. Sow from the 10th to the 15th July, and pursue the treatment you 

 have adopted in other years. If you do not care about a large Cabbage, but 

 want a compact one with a good heart, we recommend Atkins's Matchless 

 (Veitch's Improved). Hill's Dwarf Incomparable is a fine early variety. 

 Matchless may be planted 15 inches apart every way. 



Plants for a Hanging Basket (Dolly Varden). — To come in during 

 September there is no finer subject than Torenia asiatica, but some strong 

 plants ought to be planted out forthwith, encouraging them with plenty of 

 heat and moisture. Maidenhair Ferns would do well, with Selaginella cjesia 

 for the edge. Finer subjects, however, are Adiantum setulosum, Nephrolepis 

 tuberosa, Goniophlebium subauriculatum, and Adiantum Carullus- Veneris, 

 but they require some time to become established. H you wish for flowering 

 plants we should employ varieties of Tropa?olum Lobbianmn, as Brilliant, 

 elegans, or Crystal Palace Gem, and the Ivy-leaved Geraniums. 



Briars for Rose Stocks (P. T. B.). — By the root-stem wo meant that 

 part of tbe Briar below the soil from which the fibres or roots are produced. 

 In taking up the Briars, if you can preserve any fibres within a foot of where 

 the stem was exposed above ground it is well, but then- preservation is not 

 material : and if you leave from 4 to 6 inches of the root part from which 

 fresh fibres can be emitted it is sufficient. If you have about G inches of the 

 root it is as good as a foot or more, lor the longer it is the greater will be the 

 likelihood of suckers. By all means take up the Briars and plant in November. 



Hyacinth Seed Sowing (Idem). — Sow the eeed as soon as ripe in pots of 

 good, rich, light soil, and cover it with a depth of soil equal to the thickness 

 of the seed. Afterwards place the pots on a shelf in a greenhouse, and keep 

 the soil moist. Vegetation will take place indue time, and when the seedlings 

 have made a season's growth they may be planted out of doors in a warm 

 situation ; take up annually in the usual way, and in due time they will attain 

 sufficient strength for flowering. We cannot name any firm in particular. 

 We cannot recommend dealers. 



Banishing Ants (litem).— A solution of 2 ozs. of guano to the gallon 

 poured into then - haunts will drive them away, and so will the ammoniacal 

 liquor of the gasworks. Two table-spoonfuls of spirits of turpentine to a 

 gallon of water poured into their haunts will be equally effectual ; but the 

 turpentine and ammoniacal liquor have the disadvantage of browning the 

 giass, which the guano doos not. 



Heating by a Stove (S. L. T.). — The great secret of heating a house by 

 a stove, be it metal or brick, is to concentrate the heat as much as possible 

 in the stove, and, to depend but little on what heat escapes from the smoke 

 pipe. The use of the fire lump standing, say, 3 inches before the smoke pipe 

 is just to prevent the free egress of the heated air. If the smoke pipe were 

 1 inches in diameter this fire lump should be some 6 inches wide. It acts 

 best, and so will the stove altogether, if the smoke pipe go out not from the 

 top, as it is often made to do, but from the side — say the side opposite the 

 feeding door, and some 6 inches or so from the top of the stove. The fire 

 lump we used to consider a great advantage, and we do not undervalue it 

 now, but our chief reliance now on regulating draught would be on close- 

 fitting furnace doors, and especially ashpit doors. By the latter the draught 

 may be regulated to such a nicety, that the intricacy of the fire lump may be 

 entirely dispensed with. When once a stove is hot enough very little air 

 supports a slow combustion — say on opening 1 inch long, and some twelfth 

 part of an inch wide. Thus managed we have often had a stove so hot that 

 you could not touch it, and yet the smoke pipe from it would be almost cool. 

 You must exercise a little patience, and become acquainted with your stove 

 before you can do this. No mere rule will enable you to succeed, but a little 

 perseverance will. The economy of heating by a stove consists in concen- 

 trating the heat from tho fire in the stove. Afire-box only 8 inches deep will 

 keep in all night if the coke is well broken and the above attention is given 

 to curtailing the ah necessary to slow combustion, but in the great majority 

 of cases where stoves are used, provided enough of heat is obtained, it is not 

 necessary that the fire should be kept in all night. For mere security one 

 good fire would often be sufficient. For effective heating we should prefer an 

 open space between the fire-box and the sides of the stove. But practically 

 we find lining with fire-bricks little if anything inferior. If an iron stove is 

 used for a plant house there ought either to be this open space or a lining of 

 tire- bricks; in other words the burning fuel ought never to touch the sides of 

 the iron stove. W^en it does, the iron is apt to get red hot, and few plants 

 will stand that uninjured. A close-fitting furnace-door for feeding is suffi- 

 cient, but if made double with, say, an inch between them, the outside door is 

 less liable to be warped by the heat. We have also found with such double 

 doors with an open space for air between them, that a small opening in the 

 outer door greatly obviated the unpleasantness of smoke coming densely from 

 the smoke pipe. 5 Is answered in No. 1. 



Pit for Wintering Cuttings (E. G. S.). — A heated pit 6 feet wide, sunk 

 beneath the ground level, in front a flue surrounded by clinkers and fine 

 gravel at top, with sand for plunging in, or earth for growing in, would 

 answer well. The success will greatly depend on having upright pipes — say 

 from 2 to 3 inches in diameter every 4 feet, to allow of the escape of heat 

 upwards, and to give a command of moist or dry heat at pleasure. Of course, 

 two 4-inch pipes at bottom instead of a flue would be better, and two for top 

 heat. For small affairs hot water is dear, for large affairs it is the cheapest. 

 As to having too much heat we have little sympathy. W-hy not manage the 

 stokehole better? 



Sowing Geraniums, Verbenas, and Petunias (A Subscriber). — The seed 

 should be sown in pans filled with two parts turfy loam, one part leaf soil, and 

 one part of sandy peat, chopped up finely and sifted through a half- inch sieve, 

 adding to the sifted part a sixth part of silver sand. The pans should be 

 drained to one-third their depth, over that place about an inch of the roughest 

 of the compost, and fill to within a quarter of an inch of the rim of the 

 pans with the sifted soil, making the surface smooth, and pressing rather 

 firmly but not very hard. Scatter the seed evenly, just cover it with fine soil, 

 and press very gently. Water lightly, and place in a hotbed with a gentle 

 heat of 70°. Keep just moist, and when the plants appear keep near the glass 

 with abundance of air. The plants will be up in a fortnight or less ; but Ver- 

 bena seed is sometimes long in vegetating, therefore do not discard the pan 



