August 15, 186i. 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



137 



Snake Cucumber not Setting Fruit (Lex).— We think you do not admit 

 sufficient air, and the plants grow quickly and weak. Give air at 75°, and 

 impregnate the blossom?, and we think they will then fruit freely. The 

 plants -should have all the light practical) le, and the blossoms must be kept 

 dry whilst they are open. The temperature should not be lower than 60° at 

 night. 



Pot Roses not Blooming— Cocoa-nut Fern Baskets (J. J. J.).— You 

 say your Roses have not been standing; out on ashes for the last six weeks. 

 We can only sav they ought to have been, and likewise plunged up to the 

 rim in the ashesto preserve the roots from the burning sun. Pot the plants 

 in the beginning of September, and prune them when the buds begin to 

 swell after taking into the house. If the Epaerises were shortened in the 

 soring after blooming, the shoots will need but little shortening now. 

 What is done now must be confined to shortening the irregular growths. 

 Mignonette in pets is usually poor and wiry after the first blooming is rast, 

 and the plants kept over summer in a greenhouse 3re the same, which we 

 think is stated m the article to which you allude. It is not necessary to 

 drill anv holes in the cocoa-nut shells, except to hang them up by, but a 

 hole may be made at the bottom to let water escape, yet water can pass 

 through the husk, which is different from the shell. The husks contain 

 the fibre so entensively employed for ropes, mats, brushes, &c. 



Geraniums in Pots and Planted Out (Inquirer). — Your Geranium, 

 judging from the leaf and flower enclosed, is probably Princess of Prussia, 

 which It much resembles. We are not, however, sure about it, for we did 

 not observe the zone on the leaf, which is always faiut ; neither is it possible 

 to name Geraniums by a flower or two and a leaf. It is necessary to see the 

 plant to he able to speak decidedly. Geraniums have suffered much this 

 year, like everything else, from the long drought, and yours would suffer 

 more by being in pots. Probably the manure water has been applied in too 

 powerful doses, which is prejudicial, and in any state not preferabla to rain 

 "water for watering Geraniums in beds. Unless the ground is wet and rich 

 ■we like to plant Geraniums ont of the pots, but in rich soils we prefer 

 them in pots, as their lnxuriance is then, to a great extent;, restrauua. and 

 they flower more profusely. In light soils, however, they are better planted 

 out. If anything, the plants take up best when plunged in pots, and are 

 kept over the winter with greater certainty than when planted out and 

 taken up and potted. There is, however, no danger to be appreheaded 

 by either plan. 



Vines Old and Neglected (2". F., Bristol). — A. work will shortly be 

 published at our office, which we think will suit you, and if you are in need 

 of further assistance we shall be glad to afford it. Without a personal 

 inspection, or full particulars of the condition of the Vines, we are unable 

 to advise you at present. Flowers of sulphur and flour of sulphur are the 

 same. 



Cabrot Grubs {Bristol).— The larvse which Lave devoured the young 

 Carrots are the surface grubs of caterpillars of the Heart and Dart Moth 

 Agrotis segetum. They are this year extremely abundant, and very injur- 

 ious. H3nd-picking, in the manner described above, is the best remedy. 



Ra/sing Water (SJiort of Water).— If the difference of level between 

 the river and the bottom of the piston of an ordinary pump, notwithstand- 

 ing the distance of the latter from the river, be no more than 23 feet, we 

 should think that water would be raised. Theoretically the pressure of the 

 atmosphere is equal to supporting a column of water 33 feet in height, but 

 ^practically it is found that ordinary pumps do not work well when the water 

 has to be raised more than 25 feet on account of its friction in the pipes, 

 and a perfect vacuum not being secured. With such a length of pipe as 

 would be necessary in your case the friction would be great, and the pump, 

 consequently, if it did act would be hard to work. If you could not use a 

 force pump you might construct a cistern into which the water might be 

 pumped with ease from the river, and thence by another pump into the 

 garden. 



La Constante Strawberry.— In answer to "Hugh Bowditch," and 

 several other inquirers, we can only refer them to our advertising columns. 

 We cannot deviate from our rule of not recommending onu nurseryman 

 in preference to anoiher. 



Mildew on Cucumbers (Bert). — The white spots on the leaf of your 

 Cucumbers are, no doubt, mildew, which often, nay almost always, appears 

 in the autumn. If the plants are otherwise healthy, a partial thinning of 

 the vines and covering the ground with fine fresh leafy or turfy mould, and 

 then giving a good watering with liquid manure, will, in general, encourage 

 a fresh growth, and the rapid progress of the disease will be arrested; but 

 it ia next to an impossibility to ward it off long, for sooner or later in autumn 

 it will make its appearance and the plant will succumb to it. 



Cropping Ground After Potatoes {Bert}.— You may sti'.l plant some 

 Broccoli in addition to the Greens that you say are in, or you may sow a 

 good width with Turnips. Spinach also may be sown as late as the 1st of Sep- 

 tember if that vegetable be thought likely to be wasted, while a portion of the 

 ground, or some other piece, ought to be prepared for early Cabbages, and 

 a bed of autumn Onions ought to be sown in the third "week of August ; in 

 fact theie are so many ways of occupying ground that we can hardly point 

 out any one in particular better than the rest. If you expect to meet with a 

 market for the produce, and the situation is a sheltered one, a large breadth 

 might be planted with Parsley from heedling plants raised in April, or any- 

 thing else likely to insure a good return. We would not advise any crop, 

 especially for pig-feeding, rather let those animal come in for their share 

 after their superiors have been served. Some notes on pig-keeping will pro- 

 bably appear in our pages shortly. 



Market Gardening in Norfolk (Z. -R.)- — We fear we cannot give you 

 much encouragement to start with so small a capital as you possess, espe- 

 cially as your experience is not very great; but if you could obtain work 

 for a time in one of the market gardens around London, you would there 

 see the mode by which the best vegetables in the world are grown, and, we 

 need hardly add, profitably too. We think you had setter visit some of 

 those neighbourhoods where really good market gardening is practised, 

 and obtain work at one, if even at nominal wages, so as to obtain expe- 

 rience. Most likely it will be necessary to modify this in practice in another 

 locality, still the information so gained is invaluable, and cannot well be 

 obtained by other means. Should you, however, prefer trying without such 

 experience, we would advise you not to attempt to grow too much variety, 

 but rather to aim at producing something (whatever it may be) well, so as 

 to gain a reputation for it, and, thereby, a position, and it will be easy to 

 regulate your operations afterwards. 



Raspberries (X. Y. Z. ), — We think your soil must he too dry for this 

 fruit, which requires a rather moist cool soil; but by deep trenching and 

 removing some of the gravelly subsoil, and replacing it with soil of a stirrer 

 nature, you have done the best you can to improve it, and a good watering 

 once or twice will be of service during the summer. The fruit yon sent 

 was small, and would appear to have suffered from dryness. We should 

 think the variety is tho Red Antwerp, but it is difficult to say without seeing 

 it growing. 



Water Melon Culture (A. &.).— They require about the same treat- 

 ment a3 is usually given to Melons, both as regards heat and watering. 

 The fruit itself will tell yon when it is ripe. 



Hardt Bedding Plants (W. J. JV.). — All the plants named in No. 175 

 are in cultivation, and may be had through any of the large nurserymen. 

 The best time to obtain a stock is now or in the spring. Cuttings of Rho- 

 dodendrons may be inserted iu turfy sandy peat, "with one-sixth of silver 

 sand added. 



Digging Round Newly-planted Peruses (J. Ji.).— This is only necessary 

 when it is desired to move them a year or two after the date of the opera- 

 tion. This insures their removal with a ball, and with greater safety. 

 Unless you contemplate removing them a year hence, it is well to let 

 them alone; for, by doing as suggested to you, you will check growth for a 

 year or two, and that without serving any good purpose. The idea of 

 planting cut-down Pelargoniums in flower-beds is preposterous. They 

 should be cut down, certainly, but not plunged, nor otherwise placed, in 

 flower-bsds. Such matters are best left to your gardener, who, it seems, is 

 much ahead of the engineer in garden matters. 



MrsHR003i-BED Out of Donas {Devonshire). — It should be protected 

 from wet completely, or nearly so, though a gentle shower would not 

 injure the bed after the spawn has run through it. It is necessary, how- 

 ever, to keep it dry whilst the spawn is running, and protected from cold 

 and heavy rains afterward*, for such destroy the spawn and young Mush- 

 rooms. For general usefulness there is no better Strawberry than Keens* 

 Seedling, and it will do moderately well on the aspect named. We think 

 "Henfrey's Rudiments of Botany" would suit you. 



Propagating Manetti Rose for Stocks (An, Amateur).— Cuttings of 

 this root freely, if inserted in good soil in the open borders towards the end 

 of October or beginning of November. .Cuttings of 6 inches in length will 

 root in this way most freely, taking out the eyes on that part of the cutting 

 which is inserted in the soil— that is, for about two-thirds of the length. 



Grapes not Colouring (A Subscriber). — We think the main cause of the 

 Grapes not colouring is their carrying too heavy a crop. Twenty bunches 

 are sufficient for a healthy Vine to carry on an ordinary length of rafter. 

 We are also persuaded that bedding plants on Vine-borders, in anything like 

 numbers, are out of place, and do more harm to the Vines than thepleasure 

 derived from them warrants. When there is a heavy crop. Grapes are 

 longer in colouring. To prove this to you, we may instance that we have 

 a house in which the Grapes are just now ripe. Most of them began 

 colouring on the 1st of July ; and the Vines have borne, on an average, 

 twenty-one bunches each, except two, which have respectively forty-four 

 and twenty-eight upon them. Now, on the Vines bearing twenty-one 

 bunches the berries were as black as jet in eighteen days (July 19th) ; on 

 that with twenty-eight bunches, in twenty-four days; and in the case of 

 that with forty-four they are scarcely black now, but sufficiently so to 

 enable us to know that they will be very fine after all, as some of the 

 bunches will weigh over 3 lbs. They are all Black Hamburgh. We leave 

 you to draw your own conclusions. 



Boiler Setting (C. E.).— We do not comprehend what is meant by a 

 division in the middle of a saddle-boiler, enabling you to have fire only 

 over half the length of the boiler, unless it be that the first half is arched 

 over the fire, and the other flued, or the saddle broken by a bar at the 

 bottom, as you represent it, which will leave a flue through one-half of the 

 boiler, by which the smoke must pass to the other end. If once the smoke 

 ascends it is not practicable to bring it lower than it rises in the first 

 instance. You cannot, therefore, cause it to pass along a flue on both sides 

 of the boiler below the level of the top of the furnace, though you may do 

 so if not below that level, and thence take it over the boiler to the chimney- 

 Your boiler, if properly set, which any one accustomed to such work will 

 easily do, and if the most is made of its heating powers, will heat 800 to 

 1000 feet of iour-inch piping. 



Wire Stand for Window {E. D.).— You will have room for three rows 

 of six-inch pots if it be 2 feet wide, which, we presume, it is; but if not 

 more than 1 foot, two rows of -f£ inches will be ample. A zinc pan, to fit 

 into the bottom of the stand, would be preferable to a number of pot- 

 saucers. Yoa may secure the pot3 by packing them tightly with moss, 

 which will protect the pots from drying winds, which are so injurious to 

 the roots of the plants. They may further be secured by fastening them 

 with small wires across the stand, and crossed the other way. No equinoc- 

 tial gales can then move them. We are glad to hear that yon have suc- 

 ceeded so well with Grapes in glass frames ; and we think, "with you, that 

 they would be better IS inches wide, the shape being immaterial whether 

 it be square or triangular. The small snails must be enclosed when the 

 tiffany bags are put on, either as eggs or otherwise, or they could not 

 possibly pass through afterwards. Oilc-d paper bags are a novelty, and no 

 doubt would answer perfectly, as they will admit a certain amount of light ; 

 and air might be admitted to the Grapes by piercing holes in the paper with 

 a pin. If not well dried before put on they would communicate an un- 

 pleasant flavour to the Grapes. The Daphne odora rubra has done well, 

 and may have been killed by the Jasmine roots robbing it of support, and 

 the drip of its foliage. Ceanotbus rigidus should be pruned when it has 

 done blooming, and may then be cut in close. The young shoots should be 

 trained-in without stopping. 



Preserving Artichokes— Removing Asparagus (D. M. Gregor), — 

 Artichokes may be preserved for a considerable time if cut with 6 or 8 inches 

 of stalk attached, and this be stuck in damp sand in the root-cellar. Every 

 three or four days a piece should be cut off the end of the stalk. If you 

 take up old roots of Asparagus they are nest to worthless after replanting. 

 We would make new beds in autumn, and plant them with plants two or 

 three years old in the end of March or beginning of April. 



Black Tripoli Grape [A Constant Reader). — It ia the same as Frank- 

 enthal. 



Hardt Heaths {An Old Subscriber). — We presume the sand and coals 

 are merely intended as plunging materials. 



