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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTTJBE AND COTTAGE GAUDENEK. 



[ Ootober 18, 1864. 



Moving Vises pbom Open Ground to Greenhouse (Old Subscriber). — 

 The best time to plant Vines is early in March, and you may move those 

 intended for outside and inside planting at that time. One Vine to a rafter 

 is quite sufficient when these are 3 feet apart, which is the proper distance, 

 and quite close enough when plants are grown under them, so that you will 

 have only room for nine Vines ; but you do not say how you propose training 

 them. Unless the Vines are better than out-door Vines usually are, we 

 think they will do you little service for some time. Young Vines are prefer- 

 able to old ones from any quarter, especially from out of doors, for the bad 

 training has to be surmounted, and they do not usually push freely. 



DENDROBItniS PAXTONIANUM AND NOBILE AFTER BLOOMING (JameS HllTSt). 



—They should not be cut down after blooming", as from their bases rise the 

 future stems, and thus a kind of support is afforded to the young growths. 

 Any that are old and dead may be removed. 



Potting Rose Cuttings (Idem).— The best time to pot Rose cutt'mgs 

 inserted in September Is April, affording them during the winter the protec- 

 tion of a frame and lights, or hand-glasses. Admit air in mild weather, 

 especially when humid, and gradually harden them off by tilting the light 

 or lights. By the middle or end of April they will be readr for potting, 

 after which continue them in the frame for a time, keeping close for a week 

 or ten days, and then admit air, gradually hardening-off by the end of May. 

 They may then be planted out, or plunged in coal ashes in an open yet 

 sheltered situation, and repotted in September, 



__ Best Purple Verbena— Nasturtium Propagation (£. G. B.).— There 

 is no better purple Verbena as a bedder than Purple King. Verbena 

 venosa is a frame perennial, hardier than many of the varieties from Melin- 

 dres ; but even it requires the protection of a frame, a dry spot, light soil, 

 and the protection of mats, in addition to the lights in "severe weather. 

 In certain genial and sheltered situations it stands our climate. Nastur- 

 tiums generally may be raised from seed, but if of the better kinds of 

 Tropasolurus, euttings are preferable. You fail to ask specifically as regards 

 the culture of TropEeolum speciosum, and we cannot furnish answers 

 when we do not know what is asked. 



Mtrsiphtllum asparagoides Culture (M. DX— Pot in a compost of 

 turfy loam, fibry sandy peat, and leaf mould, in equal parts, with a free ad- 

 mixture of sand. Drain the pot to one-third its depth, and do not overpot 

 the plant, employing a size that will cramp the roots rather than allow room 

 to spare. Grow in a greenhouse, and train as near the glass as possible ; at 

 all events select a light airy situation. When the plant commences growing 

 water copiously, increasing from the commencement until the maximum is 

 reached when the foliage is growing rapidly. After this give no more than 

 is sufficient to keep the foliage fresh, and when this begins to turn yellow do 

 not supply a drop for the nest three months, and expose the foliage to all 

 the light and sun heat possible. This will ripen the wood so well, and the 

 eyes will be so well matured, that it will not fail to bloom with a continu- 

 ance of such treatment, which is similar to the conditions which it enjovs in 

 its native habitat— the Cape of Good Hope. It ought not to die down or be 

 dried off until early autumn, hut it may be treated so as to bloom at 

 different periods of the year by varying the time of growth and rest. 



Hotwater Apparatus for Greenhou=e ( Jane).— We have no experience 

 Of the stove you name, and we fear the lamps, unless there were a pipe to 

 convey thR vapour into the open air, would injure the plants. If you pro- 

 pose to employ gas try Clarke's new gas hotwater apparatus, which is 

 highly spoken of by many who have tried it. If you have not gas at 

 command try a small saddle boiler set at one end, the boiler inside but the 

 furnace-door outside of the hou=e, and connect with it four-inch flow 

 and return pipes, and run them along about 1 foot from the front wall of the 

 lean-to. This will afford sufficient heating power to prevent frost injuring 

 any description of greenhouse plant, and you may have them in growth all 

 the winter, as you wish. The nest best plan is to have a furnace at one end 

 and a flue along. the front, which will be quite sufficient to keep out frost 

 with a moderate fire. 



Removing Pine Suckers [St. Omer).— We would remove the suckers 

 now, and have them rooted plants before severe weather sets in. As 

 they only serve to impoverish the parent, they might as well be removed at 

 Once. It is the practice of good Pine-growers to twist out the suckers that 

 appear before the fruit shows with a pair of long-handled pincers, when the 

 suckers can be fairly laid hold of, as when they are removed early the stem 

 of the plant is not so likely to be injured as when they are allowed to remain 

 until nearly the size of a fruiting plant. When Pines are planted out, a3 

 yours are (no new thing, by-the-by, in England), and when the sorts are 

 such as arrive early at maturity, especially those of the Queen race, one, 

 or, at the most, two suckers rising from the neck of the plant, or at a little 

 beneath the soil, are allowed to remain on the parent. These grow until the 

 fruit is ripe, when the parent is cut away, and the sucker grows amazingly, 

 and not unfrequently in eighteen months produces a fruit larger than the 

 parent. Should the suckers rise from the axils of the leaves at some dis- 

 tance above the soil, they, being ineligible, are either twisted out with a 

 pair of pincers as they present themselves, or have their hearts drilled out 

 by thrusting a pointed srruare stick into them, and twisting it round several 

 times, but not so as to injure the old plant. 



Branches of Evergreens for Bed6 in Winter (A Constant Header, 

 North Devon). — The parts most eligible for this purpose are densely- 

 branched shoots of all evergreen trees and shrubs. There is not an ever- 

 green that may not be employed in this way. Arrangement is a matter of 

 taste, and that you seem to understand. As to their adaptability for the 

 purpose specified, they are better than nothing, but after all look well for a 

 time as the weather is wet or dry. The proper place for branches of all 

 kinds not planted to strike root, or to serve some purpose other than that of 

 living plants, is the rubbish-heap. To make a garden a cemetery is worse 

 than having nothing in it, for neatness is superior to having faded autumn- 

 tinted foliage in the beds all winter, and dead-looking plants in the spring. 



Admitting Air to Grapes (Idem).— -In fine' dry days the lights may be 

 opened early in the morning, and remain open all day ; but at night they 

 should be closed before the heavy autamn dews begin to fall, using fire by 

 day only. If you can have a little air on at back without wet getting in at 

 night by all means do so, otherwise the house had better be closed. It is a 

 warm confined moist night air that is so injurious to Grapes hanging, and 

 air at night, especially at this season, does more harm than good. We have 

 in the press a book on Vine culture, which we think will suic you. 



Books (J. 0., Bradford).— Ton can have Appleby's " Orchid Manual, for 

 the cultivation of all kinds of Orchids," for thirty-two stamps free by post 

 from our office ; and the "Fern Manual" for sixty-four stamps. 



Lean-to House Facing the North (T. T.).— If you had not been at the 

 trouble of putting in front lights, and we suppose glass also, your north 

 house would have made an excellent one for Feres : as it is, it will do very 

 well for that class of plants; and there are miny interesting kinds that will 

 endure a great deal of frost, which you mav grow in Scotland in a house 

 not heated. The house will also do very well for Camellias, and many hard- 

 wooded plants will endure a great amount of cold, but we would not advise 

 Heaths, as they like sun and air. Azaleas, however, will most likely do well 

 with you, and the hybrid Rhododendrons will succeed admirably, while in 

 spring and summer your house will be just suitable for flowering plants, 

 as Calceolarias, Geraniums and Balsams. If you determine on wintering 

 Camellias and the like, do not be tempted to try an Arnott's stove in severe 

 weather; rather cover up in any rough way, if it were even by throwing 

 straw amongst the plants, and if they are frozen let them thaw slowly and 

 gently, and the damage amongBt hardwooded plants will not be so great 

 after all. 



Peaches and Nectarines on a West Aspect (Monmouth Subscriber) . 

 —There can be no question that Peaches and Nectarines would ripen with 

 greater certainty under glass than without it; and as you wish to build 

 such houses cheaply, we advise you to make the bulk of your roof a fixture, 

 but to have some good large flaps at top as welt as in front. Assuming the 

 length of rafter to he 15 feet, we should say let 2 feet of that at top be on 

 hinges to lift np by an easy contrivance, and the remaining 13 feet might be 

 all a fixed roof. A small but neat bar of "^-iron will support the glazing-bar 

 from sinking if fixed from rafter to rafter in the middle. The front wall 

 may be wooden hoards almost its whole depth. 



Wintering Tom Thumb Geraniums in a Hat-loft (T. B.).— Ton mav 

 winter them as you say, in a hay-loft,'if there be light to it, but do not place 

 them there until the weather is likely to set in frosty. If you have a cold 

 pit with lights, and watertight, let them stand there as long as the weather 

 is open and mild, say perhaps till the first week in December, covering np the 

 frame at night when frosty, but giving air at all times when mild, keeping 

 the plants dry, and checking growth by exposing them gradually to cold 

 winds, so as to have them at rest, or nearly so, before setting them into the 

 hay-loft. Cover up while there, if it be required, keeping them dry almost 

 to withering, and remove them in March to some place where there is more 

 light. If they are in pots let them remain so, and if potbound so much the 

 better. 



Fruiting Vines in Pots (Idem). — If the wood appears ripe, and the 

 leaves easily part from the shoots, they may be pruned at once. A small 

 shoot or two at the top is of no particular consequence. It would, however, 

 be better to let them remain outside after pruning for a little time, say a 

 month or so, to harden, when they may be introduced into heat gradually. 

 It would be better not to fresh pot them now, but place them in saucers or 

 pans, and when fairly started feed them with liquid manure at times. En- 

 larging the pot at the present time will only cause the production of more 

 wood, the fruit deriving but little benefit from it. Do not he in too great a 

 hurry in forcing. We have seen many pots of Vines spoiled by being forced 

 too early, the incipient hunch going blind, and producing no harries worth * 

 caring for. 



Apple and Pear Trees for Espaliers— Pfrahid Pears (Yorkshire) 

 — We think the espaliers would be profitable, and that the border of flowers 

 in front next the walk will look well ; but the flowers should be of low 

 growth, and not planted nearer the trees than 2 feet, therefore your border 

 should be at least 1 foot wider, or the trees planted that distance further 

 from the walk. At the commencement the flowering plants may, of course, 

 be planted wider in the spaces not covered by the trees j but for the fruit 

 trees to do any good they must not be crowded by plants, but have free expo- 

 sure to light and air. You may have the espaliers any height, but we prefer 

 them 6 feet. Galvanised wire, if properly made, is preferable to ordinary 

 wire, though the latter will answer well if kept painted. The wire may 

 be stapled to wooden posts, which should be fixed firmly in the ground, and 

 charred to the depth they are in the soil, and a few inches above it. Above 

 the surface they should be well painted, or coated with boiling gas tar. The 

 posrs should be 2 feet in the ground, and the end ones double the strength of 

 the inside ones. The first wire should be 1 foot from the ground, and the 

 others 9 inches or a foot above it, which will make seven wires necessary. 

 If you train the trees horizontally, the posts should be 20 feet apart for 

 Pears on the pear stock, and 12 feet apart if on the quince. The posts for the 

 Apples should be 20 feel apart for those on the crab stock, and 15 feet apart 

 if on the paradise stock ; and the trees of both Apples and Pears should be 

 planted halfway between them. The two end posts maybe made firm by 

 driving a post 3 feet from them in a line with them outwards, and fastening 

 a wire to them, and then to the first upright post 5 feet from the ground. 

 The other posts are best secured by ramming the soil round them firmly. 

 We would have the Apples on the paradise, and the Pears on the quince 

 stock. Eleven Apple trees would therefore be required— say eight for baking 

 and three for dessert — as you have a greater quantity of Pears. They may 

 be— dessert Apples : Red Astrachan, Blenheim Orange, Golden Pippin, or 

 Court of Wick. Kitchen Apples : Keswick Codlin, Nonsuch, Manx Codlm, 

 Lord Suffleld, Gravenstein, Waltham Abbey Seedling, or Golden Noble, 

 Winter Pearmain, and Dumelow's Seedling. We would have the Pears on 

 the quince stock at 12 feet apart, as stated. Thirteen trees would, therefore, 

 be required. They may be the following, which come into season in the 

 order in which they are named: Doyenne d'Et6, Jargonelle, Colmar d'Ete", 

 Williams's Bon Chretien, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Marie Louise! Thompson's, 

 Forelle or Trout Pear, Hacon's Incomparable, Beufre" Diel, Alexandre 

 Lambre, Beurre" d'Aremberg, and Beurre de Kance. We presume that by 

 dwarf standard Pear trees you mean bushes and pyramids, which are the 

 most suitable for planting along the sides of paths in kitchen gardens. Stan- 

 dard trees shade other crops too much. We think your arrangement of the 

 garden very good, and hope these hints may be useful ; but if you want 

 further advice do not hesitate about asking us for it We never deviate 

 from our rule of not recommending dealers. 



Vine Roots inside Greenhouse (J. J.). — If the roots be only covered 

 with bricks to the width of the path, leaving a considerable surface bare, 

 we do not think any great harm will result to the roots; but if you cover 

 the whole of the surface inside they cannot be fed or watered, and will, 

 besides, be shut out from air. It is usual in such cases to have a pathway 

 formed of laths, which are moveable, thus facilitating the attention necessary 

 to be bestowed on the border, which consists in watering when the Vines 

 are active, so as to keep the soil in a healthtully moist state, and giving a 

 mulching of 3 inches of short manure every spring, to be covered with an 

 inch of loam to take away its untidy appearance. 



