August 22, 1872 . ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



157 



manuals, the "Science aud Practice of Gardening" would be most useful* 

 These are frequently advertised in our columns. 



Back Volumes (J. 0.).— If you advertise them at a moderate price you 

 will probably hear from some one wbo would purchase them. 



Pencils for Zinc Labels (Subscriber). — Ink pencils and labels may be 

 procured of any of the principal London seedsmen. 



Rose Leaves Mildewed (T. Freed).— The " white mealy substance" is a 

 parasitic fundus, one of those known popularly as "mildew." Syringe and 

 then dust the leaves with flowers of sulphur; mulch over the roots of the 

 bushes, and water liberally. The purple-flowered Peas are produced by some 

 field Pea, probably the Maple, accidentally mixed with the seed of Champion 

 of England. ■ 



Kiting Nurserymen's Glass Houses [Nurseryman).— We think they are 



rateable. 



Cabbage Heart Leaves Twisted (H. C.).—We have many complaints of 

 Cabbages being blind and other defects, and this indicates that the seed was 

 imperfectly ripened. 



What is a Blooming Plant? (W. B.).—We think that a Fern is not 

 eligible to compete in a class specified " Single specimen, stove or greenhouse 

 plant, in or out of bloom." 



Spring-flowering Bulbs (A. C.).— Adonis vernalis, Anemone apennina 

 A. fulgens, Bulbocodium vernum, Hyacinths, Narcissus, early Tulips,' 

 Crocuses, Snowdrops, Winter Aconite, Lis pumila, I. reticulata, double Ane- 

 mones, Cyclamen coum, C. Atkinsi, Scillasibirica.Helleborusniger, Hepaticas, 

 Leucojum vernum, aud Triteleia uniflora. These have none of the Lily habit 

 you wish for, and we do not know of any that have. They will bloom by 

 April. 



Watering Orchard-house Trees (An Aviatcur).— Instead of the drain- 

 age being imperfect, we should say it is too plentiful, and the soil must be 

 very loose, or it has parted from the sides of the pots. Loosen the surface, 

 so as to fill up the cracks, and apply a top-dressing, ramming it firm, then 

 water thoroughly. 



Begonia Culture (S. A. L.).— You do not say what kinds you grow. Be- 

 gonias are divided into those cultivated for their leaves, and those grown for 

 their flowers. We think yours are of the latter description, in which case you 

 will best succeed by propagating them by cuttings of the points of the shoots 

 taken off 3 or 4 inches long, and inserted round the sides of a pot in a com- 

 post of light loam, leaf soil, and sandy peat, with the addition of one-fourth 

 of silver sand. Cut the shoots over below the lowest joint, remove the leaves 

 halfway up the cutting, and insert it that depth in the soil. Place the pot 

 in a gentle hotbed of 75°, and keep it close and shaded until well rooted; 

 then the cuttings should be potted-off singly, and be returned to the hotbed 

 until established, when they may be removed to a warm greenhouse or cool 

 stove. If you wish to propagate the Begonias which are grown for their 

 leaves, you may take a leaf and peg it on the surface of a pot or pan filled 

 with the compost previously recommended, and place it in a frame or hotbed 

 kept close, moist, and shaded, and young plants will be formed along the mid- 

 rib of the leaf. These may, when large enough, be taken up and potted 

 separately in small pots, returned to the hotbed, and when established re- 

 moved to a cool stove or warm greenhouse, shifting them into larger pots as 

 required. To succeed well, Begonias require a winter temperature of 45' 1 to 

 50°; they will thrive in a greenhouse in summer, but much depends on 

 the kinds grown. The most likely cause of your not securing seed is the 

 want of heat, and the atmosphere needs to be kept drier than for growin" 

 plants. 



Amaryllis Seed Sowing (Amaryllis).— Sow the seeds at once in rich 

 loamy soil, with a half part each of sandy peat, leaf soil, and silver sand. 

 Cover them about an eighth of an inch deep vrith fine soil, and place them in 

 a house with a heat of 65° to 70° at night, and plenty of moisture. Pot the 

 plants when large enough to handle, and grow them for the first two or three 

 years without drying them off. They will grow the stronger and flower sooner 

 if afforded a good bottom heat. 



Kidney Bean Flowers Falling (A Subscriber).— It is usual for the 

 flowers to fall as soon as the pod begins to swell ; but we suppose it is of the 

 pods not swelling that you complain. This we should attribute to the cold 

 and wet of the present season. With finer weather we think they will swell 

 well. 



Asparagus Shoots (P.).— The reason Asparagus shoots are allowed to 

 grow is to provide for a good supply of heads or shoots the following spring 

 for on the development of the spray this year depends that of the buds at the 

 crown, which give rise to the shoots or heads the following year ; therefore, 

 it is not possible to encourage the growth of the shoots 'too much after 

 putting the heads, which should be discontinued after June. The beds 

 ■cannot have too frequent soakings of liquid manure from that time to the 

 middle of September. We find that without a strong growth large heads of 

 this delicious vegetable cannot be expected. 



Winter Greens Blind Udem .—We cannot account for the prevalence 

 of blindness this year in plants of Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Savoy 

 and other winter Greens. We think it arises from some imperfection of the 

 seed, and we are confirmed in this opinion from the circumstance that plants 

 exhibiting this abnormal condition do so in a young state, and seldom start 

 any shoot below the place where the growing point appears destroyed. It is 

 very common this year, but we have not suffered to any great extent not 

 having one plant in a hundred so affected. 



Lady Powne's Grapes Scalded (B. G.).—We do not think the border 

 has anything to do with it. This Grape is very liable to scald and spot just 

 before the berries change colour. Throw all the ventilators wide open by day 

 and do not shut the house up too early or close at night; this will prevent it! 



Heating Vinery, &c. (Inquirer).— Your present piping will not keep un a 

 -temperature of 55° in severe weather in winter. You will want at least three 

 of such pipes (2^-inch) instead of two. Having the pipes there it would 

 hardly be worth while having a flue, as there is so little room for a stoke- 

 hole. As much of the earth taken out on the coldest side— that from the 

 earth-platform as would enable you to place a stove there (iron with a flat 

 head for an evaporatmg-panl— would do all vou want with an occasional help 

 from the pipes, when you must use your boiler to keep the frost from the 

 vinery. This stove could be fed most easily from the pathway inside- but it 

 would give least trouble if fed from the outside, the furnace-doors being a 

 little inside of the perpendicular of the side wall. In either case a small 

 chimney— say 4 inches in diameter— furnished with a cap, must go through 

 the roof. You may avoid all this by placing a stop-valve in the flow-pipe that 

 enters the vinery, aud behind that, nearer the boiler, fix a 1 or H-inch pipe to 



go right on through the vinery, and connect at once with the flow-pipe in 

 - the span-roofed house. This small pipe will not affect the vinery much. We 

 thus take a 1-inch pipe directly from a boiler and heat a house separately 

 some 70 feet from the boiler without having more heat in the intermediate 

 houses than is given off by the 1-inch pipe. 



Covering Vine Border IT. C. W.).— If your Vines are forced early— that 

 is, to have ripe Grapes in May or the beginning of June — the border should 

 have some covering to throw off the rains. You may utilise the spare lights 

 you have for this purpose. Strawberries in pots may be kept under them, 

 and would not damage the Vines. 



Hot-water Pipes in Greenhouse (J.). — Cinerarias and Calceolarias 

 would be the most likely plants to be damaged by being placed near hot- 

 water pipes ; hut we do not think they will be injured on yours', as your stage 

 is of slate, and you have a layer of sand between them as well. 



Potting Soil (Z. I.). — Is the peat soil you have from an upland heath i 

 or iB it from a marsh, such as is used for fuel ? If it is the former, the 

 material is useful in moderation for most plants — in good quantity for all hair- 

 rooted plants, as Heaths, Azaleas, &c. The latter is better kept out of all 

 composts. There is no general rule for compost. For Heaths we would use 

 fully three-fourths of heath soil, the other fourth equal parts of silver sand 

 and charcoal, with a few bits of sweet turf mingled to give consistence. For 

 such plants as Pelargoniums we would use three parts of your best sod loam, 

 one of silver sand, one of leaf mould, one of peat, of the proper description, 

 and one of small charcoal. If you mix all together and allow the mixture to 

 lie in a dry place it will do very well. On the whole we prefer mixing the soil 

 as we want it, and then we can make many little differences to suit different 

 plants. For instance, we should never give such a rich compost to Pelar- 

 goniums as we would give to Chrysanthemums and Salvias. A little lime 

 mixed with your compost, if you allow it to lie some weeks previous to use, 

 will destroy the worms that are alive. We do not like to mix lime with compost 

 for tender things when the compost is to be used directly. The heat would 

 he too much for some roots. When mixed some weeks the lime ir. changed 

 into simple chalk, and unless for plants which dislike chalk and lime in all 

 forms, as Rhododendrons, it would do no harm in the mild chalk state. The 

 chief evil of worms is, that they unsettle the roots and clog the drainage. 



Heating a Pit (Idem). — In heating such a little pit by gas you would 

 need from IS to 60 feet of 2-inch piping, and for such work we should prefer 

 copper or zinc to metal. All such heating is expensive. If gasmust be used, 

 wo would prefer a gas stove with anargand burner, close on the top, but with 

 a pipe through to take off the burnt gas into the open air. As to piping, you 

 will want two li to 2-inch pipes all round. The plants, if not too close to the 

 pipes, would not be injured. If a slip of wood, say from a quarter to half an 

 inch thick, ran along by the side of them there would be no danger. 



Subsoil (E, M. Rathgar 1 . — It is clayey, and would improve the surface 

 soil if this is light. Any manure of animal and vegetable origin may be 

 applied, and bricklayers' iimy rubbish, after the brick fragments had been 

 taken out from it. 

 Green Kose (A. P.). — The specimen sent was not the " viridiflora." 

 Boiler Heating Two Houses (Aphclandra). — If you can place a valve 

 in the flow-pipe leading to each separate house, you can heat your houses 

 separately or together ; but whenever you put a fire on you must be sure that 

 one of your valves is open. You need not trouble with the return-pipes if, 

 as we suspect, each house has its separate return. 



Kidney Beans on Christmas Day (©. M. B.). — To obtain these you 

 must sow on the 1st of November, or earlier if you cannot afford a tempera- 

 ture of 60° at night, and from 60° to 70° during tho day. 



Joints of Hot-water Pipes (W. MX — Unless the sockets are made with 

 the elastic bands so constantly advertised, there is some trouble in getting 

 the common pipes taken to pieces again, when done with rope-yarn and 

 red load as yours. Putting a brazier below the joints expands them, and the 

 stuffing material is more easily taken out. When the joints are put iu with 

 yarn and then filled with Portland cement, a little fire heat applied will cause 

 the cement to crack, and it is punched-out easily. 



Ants (E. Pratt). — You can expel the "emmets" by daily sprinkling guano 

 or pouring ammoniacal liquor from the gasworks, over their haunts until they 

 disappear. 



Insects (J, S.). — The "insect or reptile" was completely smashed, and 

 glued the papers together. 



Names of Plants (W. S.). — Panicum sulcatum. (Boveran). — We cannot 

 name plants from such withered unflowered specimens. (B. Smyth). — The 

 shrub is Rhus Cotinus, the Venetian Sumach. (T. L. K.). — We cannot name 

 the varieties of florists 1 plants. They are too numerous and too nearly alike. 

 (A. C). — A Thunhergia or something like it. (Rockrose). — Apparently some 

 Caprifoliaceous shrub, near the Honeysuckles, but specimen too imperfect.' 

 (W. D.). — CratEeprus pyracantha. Any pruning must be very judiciously 

 administered. (W. H. MX — 1, Athyrium Filix-fcemina ; 2, Polystichum 

 angulare. (Downie). — 1, Solidago Virgaurea; 2, Melampyrum pratense; 

 3, Torilis infesta. (Julia). — Arum maculatum. (J. B. . — Probably Funkia 

 subcordata variegata ; but half a leaf is insufficient to determine. 



P0IJLTEY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHBOMCLE. 



WATEE FOR POULTRY. 



That a supply of water in poultry runs is unfavourable to 

 egg-laying in the common fowl is what " J. F. P.? states in this 

 Journal on the 1st inst., and in support he relates that in two 

 runs of poultry of twenty-four birds each, nearly allied in age 

 and breed, and, I suppose, similarly fed with the exception that 

 one run has a supply of water and the other has none, the run 

 of birds supplied with water furnishes fewer eggs than the run 

 which has none. On this question theory must be silent in the 

 presence of experience. However, such a state of matters is 

 caused either by a defective supply of food in quantity or quality ; 

 or by functional inactivity. A supply of .water to healthy fowls 

 is in every sense of the word beneficial, and of incalculable im- 

 portance in promoting nutrition and a salutary condition of the 



