July 28, 1854. ] 



JOTXRISrAL OP HORTICULTURE AfTD COTTAGE GARDENER. 



77 



Goose berries, Currants, and Raspberries in a Kitchen Garden 

 (IRector, Kent). — We expect an article from one of our contribute] s on 

 this subject; but in the meantime we may say that in most small gardens, 

 and in some of considerable eize too, the old-fashioned mode of planting 1 

 Gooseberry and Currant trees in borders by the side of walks has many ad- 

 vantages, and the space between the trees and the edging may be occupied 

 by any low-growing crops, and not unfrequently by flowers. Raspberries, 

 however, had better be planted in the coolest part of the garden, and if it is 

 a little moist they will do all the better. Black Currants also like a cool soil, 

 although they do well in one of a contrary description. Of the varieties of 

 these fruits, the best Black Currant we have grown is Black Naples. The 

 Red Dutch and Wilmot's Red are both good, and so is Raby Castle, which 

 ripens late and bears well. The White Dutch is as good as any White 

 variety we know. There is a pale red or hybrid kind called Champagne, 

 admired by some. In Raspberries, Prince of Wales is a stronger grower 

 than the Fastolf, although the latter excels it in size of fruit. The Double- 

 bearing is also useful; and the White Antwerp is of use at table. The 

 varieties of Gooseberries are infinite, and it would be difficult to give advice 

 on this head without knowing which was wanted ; but in general we may 

 observe that the small kinds are better flavoured than the large ones. The 

 old Turkey Red, called in some places Champagne, is hardly excelled 

 anywhere; neither is the Green Gage, but these do not fill a basket so 

 quickly as the larger kinds. The large white and green kinds are very 

 prolific, although none are more so than the old Rough Yellow, called 

 Yellow Lion in the London markets. Generally speaking, the darkest reds 

 are most admired for preserving, and the colour is much improved when 

 they are grown in the full suu. The Warrington is much used for preserving. 

 Rhododendrons, Watering, &c. (S.).— As you have commenced watering 

 your Rhododendrons you must continue doing so until heavy rain falls, 

 after which the moisture in the atmosphere will preserve them for a few 

 days, and they will more gradually and naturally ripen their shoots. To 

 leave off watering in dry weather after having continued it some time is 

 bad practice. If the short grass upon your beds does not appear unsightly, 

 you might let it remain until later in the summer, as it will assist in retain- 

 ing the moisture. If the soil be stiff, digging in sand that is not impreg- 

 nated with injurious mineral matter will be beneficial. Generally speaking, 

 drift sand from a road or river (not a tidal one), is better than pit sand, but 

 whatever is added to Rhododendron-beds must be only worked in within 

 - inches of the top where the roots are, and most likely with the watering' 

 and shading you have given the roots are near the surface. We are glad 

 to hear yon report so favourably of Rhododendrons so near the city, and we 

 nope your plants will continue to prosper. We should certainly prefer 

 ragging in sand rather than short grass, especially after the latter had lain 

 so long as to become little else than useless litter. 



Seedling Verbena and TROPiEOLUM (67. C).— Your Verbena appears 

 to be quite novel in colour among the striped section of this flower and is 

 a very pretty variety. It would form a nice contrast with Striata perfecta, 

 bat we can tell nothing of its value unless we are informed of its habits. 

 It is very hazardous to decide on the merits of a Verbena from two or three 

 penshintr trusses. Send up a plant to the Floral Committee. The flowers 

 of the Tropasolum were quite shrivelled, but judging from the faded flowers 

 the colour did not seem new. The only way to discover its merits would 

 be by seeing a plant under good cultivation. 



Wire Edging for Keus (Sacerdos).— We think wire edgings no ornament 

 to beds on grass, for they are there without a meaning, and serve no pur- 

 pose beyond that of making the flowers appear as if confined in a cage. 

 The effect, however, is good if the wire be covered with some creeping plant, 

 ? 8 Gold or Silver Variegated Ivies, or Ivy-leaved Geraniums, and the bed 

 itself filled with bedding plants. The following are examples of such an 

 arrangement :— Wive edging, Cineraria maritima, Lobelia speciosa planted 

 inside it, forming a ring round a centre of Scarlet Geraniums; or Tropas- 

 olum elegans might be trained over the wire, then a ring of Cineraria round 

 a centre of Perilla. Other arrangements might consist of Cerastium Bieber- 

 steini on the wire, then Scarlet Geranium, and a centre of Yellow Calceo- 

 laria ; or you might have Gold Variegated Ivy on the wire, then a ring of 

 Cl ° eraria i and a centre of Lobelia; or Silver Variegated Ivy on the wire, and 

 a ■+■>. °-i Calceo !p ria? j Geraniums, or other bedding plants, not being those 

 with silvery foliage. Again, Lonicera brachypoda variegata, Mikania scan- 

 dens, Cobcea scandens loliis variegatis, Itaurandya alba and Uarclayana, 

 Antirrhinum linarice folium, Nierembergia gracilis, N. intermedia, Verbena 

 (sorts) Linaria cymbalaria, Lysimachia nummularia, Petunias, and Nastur- 

 tiums, are all -well adapted for covering the wirework, and you may then 

 ni f „ r asket with an y kind of P la nt that will contrast with the edging 

 plant. We are not in a position to express an opinion on the plants you 

 jj™f + a ? havin £ handsome foliage for the flower garden. By-and-by we 

 snail take up the su'$ect and give a list of the plants with the most effec- 

 tive foliage for the decoration of the flower garden. An account of the 

 uirmrngnam Rose Show appeared in No. 172, page 27. 



Holly Hedge Unthrifty [C. C. £.).— Give the hedge copious supplies 

 oi water m dry weather, mulch the surface with a couple ol inches of littery 

 anng, such as is employed for making Mushroom- beds, and water freely if 

 ary weather continue, so that the nutritive constituents of the manure may 

 oe carried down to the roots. In April dig in the manure, and place some 

 iresn mulching on both sides of the hedge to a distance of 18 inches. In 

 May cut it down to 18 inches high, and trim the sides proportionately. It 

 snGuid push freely by July, and make a nice green hedge by autumn ; if 

 not, root it up and replant in April, taking care to place some nice rich com- 

 post around the plants to give them a start. We- transplanted some large 

 variegated Hollies, some of them nearly 20 feet high, last April, and left the 

 cops on until June, when we cut in the heads, the trees at the time shedding 

 w-ti, r i. ea I eS; nowwearetobe rewarded by some bushes of pyramidal form 

 wrm rresh foliage, for the shoots are clustering on the old naked stems, and 

 are already upwards of inches long. 



Extra Crowns on Pine Apples (Rara avis).— There is nothing un- 

 common in the facts you state. It is one of the drawbacks as respects the 

 wh ♦£ t 1S ° flen P roducsd °y water lodging in the heart of the plant 

 wnen the fruit begins to show. Some gardeners remove carefully the most 

 oi the crowns, others just let them alone. In general the fruit looks best 

 ween there is only one crown, and that one of moderate size. 



Seedling Pjblahoonitjm ( Cambrian).— It had shed its petals, but judging 

 of its merits from a bud opened in water, we bhould say it wou'd prove a 

 useful decorative plant; the colour is bright and lively, with average trues. 

 But it is desirable that a plant should be seen before any decision can be 

 made as to its merits. 



Boxes for Exhibiting Flowers (Zimri).-We have not seen boxes 

 answering jour description. Stands are made in which flowers can be 

 placed and then run in like drawers inVo a case, but the case forms no part 

 of the exhibition-box. 



Seedling Pansifs (L. F. F.).— They are good border flowers, hut only 

 one is sufficiently distinct from others already in cultivation to merit dis- 

 tinction. That one is one of the three "Fancies." It has two plum-coloured 

 upper petals, and the other petals purple. 



Greenhouse to Supply a Conservatory (S. B.).— See the Manual on 

 " Heating, &e.'* You give us too few data to enable us to advise you as 

 we would wish to do. We are in doubt whether the contemplated 14- feet- 

 wide house, and 40 feet iu length, is to be a lean-to or a span-roof. If the 

 latter, all the sashes might be fixed, and the ventilators be placed in the 

 side walls, and at the apex of the roof. With a span-roof, side walls of 

 from 3£ to 4 feet in height, and the height of the apex from 7 to 8 feet, 

 would give a very serviceable house, and yoa could have a sparred platform 

 on each side, or an earth bed, covered with rough cinders, for setting the 

 plants on. The latter would be the most economical. The first plan would 

 enable you to keep many things at rest on the ground beneath your platform. 

 For a lean-to house of that width, the back wall would require to be from 



8 to 9 feet, and the front wall from 3 to 4 feet. The s; an or hipped-vnof 

 would be the best. Then as to having this 40 feet in two divisions, and the 

 one to be much hotter than the other, this would be best done with hot 

 water. You might then also have bottom heat for your bedt in one depart- 

 ment. The simplest plan of heating such a house, if you can sink your stoke- 

 hole low enough, would be by means of a flue beneath the pathway thus — 

 make the end next the stokehole the warmest end ; make a flue and return, 

 beneath the pathway, so that you can heat that part separate by itself; 

 continue the flue in the other house, but shut out by means of dampers, the 

 regulating of which will enable you to heat or not heat at will, and less or 

 more, as you think fit, the other 20 feet This will make your fiue altogether 

 80 feet long before it enters the chimney. A better plan, perhaps, would be 

 to have a chimney at the furnace for the first house, or rather division of 

 20 feet, and then merely a single flue for the second, and a second chimney 

 at the other end. With a damper to shut off the connection there will be 

 no difficulty. If in the forty-feet length the main fiue rises 6 inches or more, 

 the draught will be good. Your proposed plan of roofing the vinery will 

 give you more room inside than a mere sloping lean-to roof. Would it not 

 be a good thing to decide at once on the houses you meant to have, and then, 

 have one boiler to heat thera all I A flue or a stove we consider the most 

 economical as respects small detached houses, but hot water will be best 

 when several houses are to he heated, as there will be waste from only one 

 chimney. 



Currants ( W. Newman, Harlington).— Your Red Currants are certainly 

 very fine ; they are the Red Grape. 



Sowing Feverfew (Inquirer).— Yow may sow the seeds of Feverfew any 

 time from now to the beginning of September; but if you wish certainty of 

 results, it will be much better to propagate a favourite kind by cuttings in 

 September. 



Glass for Orchard-house (Subscriber, J. G.). — For 21 oz. glass we 

 would decidedly have only 17 inches between rafter and rafter. The squares 

 would thus be 17 inches by 12 or 13, we would prefer 12 inches. This gives 

 more strength to the glass than if the squares were longer than 12 inches, 

 as each lap gives additional strength. We should like the rafters to he 

 4£ inches deep, by 1£ inch across. 4 inches deep would do if the roof was a 

 steep span, but if at all flat. 4£ inches will be needed. Your proposed glass 

 will answer admirably. You will have abundance of light with glass of 

 17 or even 16 inches across, and will need a fair amount of air-openings. 



Stove for a Greenhouse {Miss it.).— If you would tell us how much 

 slass there is on the garden-house, we should he more able to advise. At 

 present we have no doubt that a moveable iron stove would be best, as, pro- 

 bably it would not be needed at all from May to the end of October. A 

 stove, round or square, from 24 to SO inches in height, and 15 inches square 

 or in diameter, with a flat top, would answer admirably. On the top an iron 

 vessel may be placed for holding water, and suoplied with a lid so that you 

 need not have too much moisture in winter. We should like it as wide as 

 we say — as the next best substitute for double sides — as the fire-place of 



9 inches square could be thuB 3 inches from the outside. The great evil of 

 a smaller stove would be that the sides at the fire would get too hot, and 

 burn the air. 



Grapes Blotched {T. L. E.).— Without seeing the blotched berries, we 

 can only come to the conclusion that they have been burned or scalded, 

 very likely from the extreme heat, and air not given early enough. If 

 nothing of the kind happened before, we should think this may be the 

 cause. If it happened before, then most likely there are rough spots on the 

 glass that concentrate the sun's rays like a burning glass, and these yoa 

 must daub with a little paint You have done right in dulling the glass, but 

 do not overdo it. The berries thus touched will not do much good, hut 

 those untouched will be all right, if these measures, and plenty of air given 

 early, are attended to. Very likely, however, the berries may suffer from 

 some other cause, we suspect the disease called "the spot." 



Names of Insects (F. G. C.).— The Ivy shoots are infested with a species 

 of aphis which is of rare occurrence on that plant. The shoots should he 

 well syringed with Gishurst compound. — W. 



Names of Plants (7F.Z., Reading).— There was no No. 1 in your letter; 

 No. 2 is Lyonia paniculata, DC. {Mortus).—l t CircEBa alpina, L. ; 2, Clay- 

 tonia alsinoidee, Sims. {C. R. s Leeds).— Solanum dulcamara or Bitter- 

 sweet. {A Subscriber).— The Fern numbered 1.111 is Lastrea Filix-mas 

 v, cristata, originally found in Cornwall. 



POULTRY, BEE. and HOUSEHOLD CHROHICLE. 



JUDGES AT THE APPROACHING ISLINGTON" 



POULTRY SHOW. 



Afteb some hesitation I have resolved to reply to your 

 correspondent "An Exhibitor." I am, however, somewhat 

 at a loss to understand his object. As to the first portion 

 of his letter, had he been a member of the Poultry Club he 

 would have found many of his queries unnecessary, as Mr. 



