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JOTJENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 5, 1872. 



plantation of Cabbages intended for the first spring cutting, and 

 as yet we have not lost a plant. They are growing stronger 

 than we like, but such burnt and charred material does more to 

 keep enemies away than anything else we know. 



The thorough clearing of the lawn has been the principal job 

 of the week, as for several reasons we wished it to look well, 

 and it will be yet more improved by running light wooden rollers 

 over it the first favourable opportunity. We have previously 

 described the rollers, and for this purpose we consider them 

 preferable to iron or stone rollers — they are so light, and yet do 

 their work so effectually. 



"We have been busy shifting plants, bringing on bulbs, giving 

 manure water to Chrysanthemums, Camellias opening nobly, 

 Poinsettias (some cut for ornament), Eranthemums, Justicias, 

 &c, and late Fuchsias still useful, even for single blooms ; for- 

 warding Primulas, Cinerarias, &c. We often, instead of taking 

 the whole truss of a Primula for cut flowers — thus remov- 

 ing many not opened — remove the single flowers with a good 

 long stalk, and we are frequently forced to treat scarlet Gera- 

 niums in the same way. A good truss will supply many flowers 

 and leave some to come on. 



All florists' flowers, as Auriculas, Carnations, &c, require 

 extra attention now, that they may be kept stubby by plenty 

 of air without being exposed to a soaking. — E. F. 



TRADE CATALOGUES 'RECEIVED. 

 E. Dean, Ealing, London, W. — Catalogue of Potatoes. 

 W. Deans, 2, Canongate, Jedburgh. — Catalogue of Forest and 

 Ornamental Trees } Evergreens, Moses, Fruit Trees } e&c. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

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

 week. 



Adiantum farleyense (-4. B.). — You will find an article on the culture of 

 this magnificent Fern at page 308, No. 576. 



Blce Rose (H. S. Ford). — The phoenix, a blue Eose, has not yet been 

 born. We are afraid we cannot give our correspondent any hopes or notes 

 relative to the subject. 



Hanetti Eose Stocks Gross (An Old Reader). — The Manetti stocks that 

 have been so long planted and have grown large with six or eight shoots on 

 them, had better be transplanted. Cut off all shoots hut one strong one, and 

 use the shoots so cut off for cuttings, putting them in about 9 or 10 inches 

 long, and taking all the bottom eyes out of the shoots, so as to prevent the 

 lauds pushing afterwards. Place them in rows a yard or 4 feet apart, and 

 about 10 inches from each other in the row. The shoot left on the old stocks 

 after transplanting need not be shortened much. Cut off as much as possible 

 of the old wood where the shoots spring from, and plant deeply, so as to 

 bury 3 or 4 inches of the shoot that is left. Bud on the old wood early in 

 autumn 



Ltbon.a plortsunda (R. L.). — There is such a plant, and the leaves you 

 sent are like its leaves, but we cannot be certain without seeing the flowers. 

 Those of L. floribunda are very handsome, scarlet tipped with yellow. The 

 plant is a native of Brazil, was introduced in 1864, and requires the same cul- 

 ture as the Thunbergias. 



Shrubs for a Grave (W. H. P.). — Within the railings Berberis Dar- 

 winii, Cotoneaster microphylla, and Berberis stenophylla. 



Opening Lights Simultaneously (S. B. H.). — You cannot do better 

 than have all the lights connected by cranks to an iron rod, and this rod 

 moved at one end by wheel and raehet. We cannot enter into particulars. 



Pruning Young Vines {M.). — Your young Vines have done well, but if 

 they are intended to be permanent, do not allow them to bear much fruit 

 until the year after nest. You may take about two bunches from each rod. 

 Prune them now. Yon should have encouraged the leading shoot to grow, 

 and stopped the side shoots at the fifth or sixth leaf. Eetain both rods if 

 there are about 2 feet 9 inches between them to allow space for the side 

 shoots to develope. In pruning, cut the young rods back to about 7 feet, and 

 the side shoots to one eye from the main stem. The few small twigs cut 

 clean off. 



Pear-tree Training (F. J.). — The training of the branches of the 

 pyramid Pear trees to give them the required shape is good. Take care not to 

 break them in bringing them to the desired position. The branches should 

 remain tied until the habit become fixed. One year at least will he required 

 to give the required habit, but some branches will need to be kept tied two 

 or three years. 



Training and Propagating Ampelopsis Veitchti (Idem). — The old 

 shoots will not fix themselves to the wall; therefore, we should cut the 

 plant down and make cuttings of the parts removed. Make them into 

 lengths of two or three joints each, and insert ,them to two-thirds of that 

 depth in sandy soil in a sheltered border ; or you may layer the shoots in pots 

 sunk in the ground. The young shoots will cling to the wall as they grow, 

 but if they do not they should be nailed to it. 



Viola Edgings (Idem). — Cut off the long straggling growths, top-dress 

 with well-decayed manure or leaf soil, and point it in in spring. They will 

 be good for another year, flowering earlier than young plants, but the bloom 

 will not be so long- continued. 



Distance Between Cucumber Plants (Liverpool). — Two feet will be a 

 proper distance, but they may be planted more or less according to the extent 

 of trellis to be covered. You will have 9 inches of rubble over the pipes, and 

 1 foot of soil for the plants. Asparagus forcing is treated of in another page, 

 also in the " Cottage Gardeners' Dictionary." 



Ventilators in Back Wall of Greenhouse (A. W.).— The ventilators 

 in the back wall ought not to be less than 18 inches wide and 3 feet long, they 

 should be hung on pivots, and be immediately under the roof. There should 

 be one under each light, which will give you 3 feet of ventilation with 3 feet 



of wall between. We advise you to have all the front lights made to open, 

 and we should have hiked the top ventilation- better had it been provided in 

 the roof. The flue along the back wall we consider quite unnecessary. It 

 would take up much room and be costly ; besides, there is always a danger of 

 flues smoking and injuring the plants. The 100 feet of 4-ineh pipes will be 

 quite sufficient to afford the heat required. The distance between the rafters 

 is very suitable for Vines in a house in which plants are to he grown. We 

 should plant Black Hamburgh, Trentham Black, Posters While Seedling, 

 Black Prince, Muscat Troveren, Muscat Hamburgh, and Muscat of Alexandria, 

 assisting them with a little fire heat when starting and setting, and in cold 

 periods until ripe. Instead of 16-oz., we should have 2l-oz. glass. It is 

 cheaper in the end, not being so liable to breakage. 



Pteris tricolor Treatment (A Subscriber). — This is the name of the 

 Pern you enclosed. It requires a winter temperature of 50= to 55° at night, 

 and 60 c by day, with a rise from sun heat to 10' or 75°. Keep rather dry 

 during the winter, but not so as to affect the fronds injuriously ; and do not 

 syringe overhead, but keep the surfaces moist by sprinkling with water twice 

 a-day — namely, morning and evening, repotting early in March in good, sandy, 

 fibrous peat, with a little loam and silver sand. Drain well, and keep moist 

 and shaded from bright sun. " 



Smell from Hot-water Pipes (J. R. G.). — The pipes painted with 

 linseed oil and lamp-black will give off an unpleasant smell for some time, but 

 it will go off after a while. Pipes newly painted give off the disagreeable 

 smell until the paint becomes quite hard. A little air left on will prevent 

 injury to the plants. 



Planting Clematis Jackmanni (Thos. J. H.). — We should keep the 

 plants as they are until Mareh, wintering them in a cold pit or frame, with 

 the pots plunged over the rim in ashes, and plant them out when they are 

 beginning to grow. If you winter them in a greenhouse it is likely they will 

 start into growth, and that with the planting-out in spring will tend to cause 

 a weak growth next year. 



Lilium auratum to Flower in August (Idem). — Plant at once, and 

 place it in a cold house or pit, plunging the pot, and protecting in severe 

 weather. Keep it in the cold pit as long as you can afford the room, and when 

 you remove it, give the lightest and most airy position in the greenhouse. It 

 may be necessary to retard the plant in order that it may bloom at the time 

 you require, and in that case place it out of doors, removing it to the green- 

 house a few days before you wish it to flower, or it may be placed out of doors 

 and protected from rain by a tiffany awning. 



Lichen on Fruit Trees (An Old Subscriber). — The best mode is to 

 scrape the trunks and main branches with an iron scraper, such as may be 

 formed of an iron hoop, and when this is done coat them by means of a 

 painter's brush with a strong salt brine, adding 8ozs. soft soap to every gallon. 

 Brush it well into the clefts and crevices of the bark. The small branches 

 should also be painted with this mixture, but they need not be scraped. 

 Another mode is to paint the stems and main branches with a limewash 

 formed of quicklime, and dusting the smaller branches and twigs immediately 

 after rain with quicklime. The former is the more effectual plan, and not 

 nearly so unsightly as the lime. The only thing likely to prevent a re- 

 currence of the lichen is draining the ground efficiently, which if not done 

 already ought to be proceeded with at once. 



Does a Yew Hedge Encourage Eed Spider? (Idem). — A Yew hedge 

 may encourage red spid-r in a vinery if so near to it as to render the Vine 

 border dry and impaverish the soil. If the roots of Yews do not encroach on 

 the Vine border, the Vines will not be attacked by red spider. Eed spider is 

 a consequence of too dry an atmosphere and sometimes of a dry poor soil. 



Hyacinth Bulbs Displanted (F TF.l. — The bulbs have been raised-out 

 of the soil in consequence of the roots not having entered it freely. The soil 

 was probably wet when the bulbs were pottudj and being pressed would be- 

 come qnite hard, and if it was not made firm round the bulb the resistance 

 upwards would not be so great as that to the passage of the roots downwards, 

 hence the roots lifted the bulbs out of the soil. This result would most likely 

 not have occurred had they been covered with 6 inches of spent tan, cocoa-nut 

 refuse, or other material. The inverted small pots would not tend to keep the 

 roots from li ting the bulbs. There is nothing wrong in your treatment, only 

 not allowing the covering material to rest on the bulbs. 



Cutting-down Ferns and Lycopods (H. E. S.).— They should only be 

 cut down as the growths become dead or unsightly from age, and that will 

 vary in different species. They should, therefore, have the old, sere, or brown 

 fronds removed as they appear. - Do not pot until March, and keep them 

 somewhat less moist in winter than when growing freely. 



Forming a Blackberry Plantation (J. R. Barton). — We presume by 

 Blackberry you mean the Bramble, as the Dorchester variety. The only cul- 

 tivation required is to plant in rows 6 feet asunder, and place the plants 4 feet 

 from each other in the rows. The soil should be rich, light, well dug, liberally 

 manured, and free from stagnant water. The shoots should be trained like 

 Easpberry canes, either to upright stakes, or they may be arched over, and 

 the shoots of the current year disposed-of around the plants. When the old 

 canes are cut away the young shoots should be tied to the stakes or arched 

 over, whichever mode is employed. Any superfluous shoots should be cut out 

 along with the old dead wood. They will produce large fruit if well manured. 

 They should have an open sunny situation. 



Planting a Conical Bank (F. T.). — The arrangement of the Pine tribe 

 on the sloping bank is all very well, and will be effective whilst the trees are 

 young, but if the four rows of curved lines of trees on the bank are to be con- 

 tained in a space 40 yards bv 20 yards, you will ere long have to thin-out un- 

 mercifully. Just think how'many square feet a tree will need twenty years 

 hence. Under the circumstances you may choose them to be removed before 

 that time as single specimens. That is quite a different affair. For present 

 effect, the plan will be effective with nice young trees. 



Propagating Camellias (H. A. L.).— Cuttings of the single varieties 

 should be taken off the new wood when it has become nearly ripe, which it 

 will be bv the beginning of July. The pots for the cuttings should be well 

 drained, and filled to the rim with sandy loam, pressing it firmly, and surface 

 with about half an inch thick of silver sand. The cuttings ought to be 4 or 

 5 inches long, and cut off clean and level just under a bud; take off the 

 lowest two leaves and insert the cuttings to that depth in the soil, putting 

 them in about an inch apart. Place them in a cold frame and keep them 

 close, moist, and shaded from bright sun. In about three months they will 

 be well rooted, and should be potted-off singly in 3-inch pots filled with sandy 

 peat and loam; return them to a frame, and before severe weather remove 

 them to a greenhouse, giving the treatment of older plants. Encourage with 

 plenty of moisture and a little extra heat during the growing season, and 



