51 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 17, 1884. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
J. Cheal & Sons, Lowfield Nurseries, Crawley, Sussex.— Catalogue of 
Vegetable and Flower Seeds. 
"Kelway & Son, Langport, Somerset.— Manual for 1884. 
Harrison & Sons, Leicester.— General Seed Catalogue. 
Thomas Laxton, Bedford.— Novelties in Seeds for 1884. 
Charles Turner, Slough.— Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower Seeds. 
~W. Cutbush & Son, Highgate and Barnet.— Catalogue of Flower and 
Vegetable Seeds. 
Ormiston & Renwick, Melrose.— Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower Seeds. 
James & Robert Thynne, 60, Buchanan Street, Glasgow.— Garden Seeds, 
1884. 
Edmund Philip Dixon, Hull. —Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower Seeds. 
Kent & Brydon, Darlington.— Seed Guide, 1884. 
William Paul & Son, Waltham Cross. —Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable 
Seeds. 
William Bull, 536, King’s Road, Chelsea.— Catalogue of Flower and 
Vegetable Seeds, 1884. 
James Dickson & Sons, 108, Eastgate Street, Chester.— Catalogue of Vege¬ 
table and Flower Seeds for 1884. 
Daniels Bros., Norwich.— Amateur Gardener for 1S84 (with Coloured Plates)- 
All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor” 
or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff: often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Books ( Eldred B.). —Buchan’s “ Introductory Text Book of Meteorology,” 
published by W. Blackwood It Sons, price 4s. 6(7., will give you full parti¬ 
culars on the subject of barometers. (./. E.). —Shaw’s “ London Market 
Gardens,” published at 37, Southampton Street, price about 3s. or 4s., is the 
best we know on the subject. ( James Wood). —There is no large work 
corresponding to the volume you name. Our “ Garden Manual,” price Is. 6d. 
post free, gives sound and concise information on the culture of hardy fruits 
and Vines under glass. 
Propagating Gynura aurantiaca ( F. C.). —This plant is readily increased 
by cuttings of the shoots inserted in sandy soil and treated like Coleuses. 
It requires a temperature of about 60°, and the plants should be grown in 
the stove or intermediate house during winter. In spring and summer they 
may be treated like other bedding plants, gradually hardened off, and placed 
out in beds as a margin. The old plants may be lifted in the autumn and 
potted. 
Culture of the Edelweiss (E. T. H.). —The seeds may be sown in sandy 
soil in spring, either in a sheltered position outside or in pans in a cool frame 
or house. The plants will require a rather rich, but not rank, and moderately 
moist soil, but the position must be thoroughly drained, or failure will be 
the inevitable result. On a rockery it is seen to best advantage, and when 
thriving it has a very pretty appearance. The plants can be divided each 
year if desired. 
Apple Trees Cankered ( J. Hiim ).—The example sent is seriously 
cankered ; and as it appears that many trees are similarly affected, we have 
no hesitation in attributing the cause mainly to the severity of the winters 
of two or three years ago, notably during the winter of 1880-1881, and the 
previous immature state of the wood. The subject will, perhaps, be further 
alluded to. 
Calceolarias (A. S .).—Every gardener is liable to accidents, and few 
escape them in some form or other. You have, however, no cause for alarm 
that you will have “ no Calceolarias worth looking at,” provided you grow 
the small plants, now 3 or 4 inches in diameter, well, allowing them to receive 
no check whatever either from neglect in watering or too dry an atmosphere, 
attacks of insects or excessive fumigation. They can be placed on damp 
ashes in a pit, from which frost can be excluded ; and with good and 
generous culture you ought to have handsome plants by the end of May. 
Dressing Vine Borders ( A Lady). —The benefit derived from dressing 
the borders with guano and other fertilisers depends far more on the 
state of the roots of the Vines than on the manurial value of the dressing. 
Many borders, especially where the Vines are old, contain practically no 
feeding roots, these having extended far beyond the borders, even if these 
are inside the house. In such a case the best course to pursue is to remove 
the soil from the roots, cut notches in these at intervals of 2 or 3 feet by 
first cutting straight down almost to the pith, then slantingly upwards to 
the stem of the Vine, covering these with a gritty mixture of loam, leaf 
soil, and wood ashes, over this placing 4 inches of good loam, and then a 
surfacing of rich manure. The border being kept moist fresh roots will 
soon be plentiful; then, and not till then, fertilisers can be applied with 
great advantage. Assuming that your Vine border contains abundance of 
small fibrous roots near the surface, and the Vines need more support than 
the soil affords, you may spread the manure on the surface at the rate of 
2 ozs. per square yard about the flowering period, and again after the Grapes 
are freely swelling after having been thinned, on each occasion watering' 
heavily to wash in the virtues of the dressing. Just as colouring commences 
a further dressing may be given if needed. 
Stopping Tomatoes (Tdcm). —Usually when Tomatoes are well grown 
under favourable conditions flower trusses issue from the main stem, and 
if these are fertilised and fruit follows, the side shoots that are produced on 
the same stem should be rubbed off entirely, not pinched to one joint; but if 
flower trusses are not produced, then the plant should be topped, and the 
laterals that follow will be almost certain to produce them ; one of these 
may be stopped close to the truss and the other taken up as a leader. In all 
probability this will produce flower trusses at every joint, and if the pollen 
is dry the fruit will set, the side growths may then be taken off as before 
and the stem will only be clothed with the large main leaves and fruit. 
Rubbing the hand lightly over the trusses when they are quite dry about 
midday, or shaking them," will aid in distributing the pollen and the setting 
of the fruit. One stem trained up each side of the pillar will suffice; but if 
your Tomatoes are under the shade of Vines it is probable you will have to 
adopt the stopping method occasionally, as the main stem will not be short- 
jointed, nor produce sufficient trusses for developing a satisfactory crop of 
fruit. We shall be very glad to aid you at any time in rendering your 
garden enjoyable. We do not think the variety General Garfield will afford 
you the utmost satisfaction; it is large but very coarse. 
The Mangostecn ( Under Gardener). —You are quite right, the Man- 
gosteen is considered the richest and most wholesome food in the world, 
and is produced by Garcinia mangostana. ’The tree is about 20 feet high, 
with flowers like those of a single Rose, and leaves 7 or 8 inches long, of a 
shining green colour above, and olive-green bem ath. The fruit is of the 
size and shape of an ordinary middle-sized Orar.ge, green at first, but as it 
ripens becoming of a dark brown colour, with yellow or grey spots on its- 
surface. The rind is about a quarter of an inch thick, somewhat like that 
of the Pomegranate, but more succulent; of a rose colour inside, and with 
a purple juice and an astringent taste. The pulp is divided into segments 
like that of the Orange, but unequal in size, and not adhering to each other. 
The flesh is of a most delicious flavour, resembling a mixture of Grapes and 
Strawberries, and abounding in juice, which has a fine admixture of the- 
sweet and the acid. “ When eaten,” says Thunberg, “ the rind is generally 
pared off all round, and the pulp, which is white, soft, sweet, and inex¬ 
pressibly delicious, is put whole into the mouth, in which it melts like whipped 
cream. It has a most pleasing mixture of acid, with a small degree of 
sweetness in it, which does not incommode the stomach, neither is one easily 
satiated with it.” Each segment of the fruit contains a seed like an Almond 
kernel. Any quantity of the fruit may be eaten without inconvenience, and 
may be given without scruple to the sick, who, when they have no relish 
for any other food, eat this with great delight; but should they refuse it 
their recovery is no longer expected. Dr. Solander, when in the last stage 
of a putrid fever at Batavia, found himself insensibly recovering by sucking 
this delicious and refreshing fruit. The dried bark is used with success in 
dysentery and tenesmus, and an infusion of it is esteemed a good gargle for 
a sore mouth or ulcers in the throat. The Chinese dyers use the bark as a 
mordant to fix a black colour. The Mangosteen is a native of the Molucca 
Islands, and is cultivated in Java and several other islands of the Eastern 
Archipelago. 
The Best Grapes for January (L. L. B.). —Opinions differ, as you appear 
to have ascertained, as to the two best Grapes, one black and one white, for 
high-class dessert purposes in January. Tastes differ, and so do circum¬ 
stances. The same varieties of Grapes do not succeed equally well with all 
persons. We perceive you have not found much difference of opinion on the 
question of white Grapes, as the majority of persons would have no hesitation 
in according the palm to the Muscat of Alexandria. It will be on the question 
of black Grapes, we imagine, that you have had conflicting replies. Probably 
several prefer the Alicante because of its appearance, but it is seldom suffi¬ 
ciently high in quality for a “ high class ” dessert; others no doubt have 
named Gros Colman for the same reason, and it is sometimes good, while 
Lady Downe’s has its admirers. Gardeners who have the Black Hamburgh 
fresh and good will say “ none beats itbut the majority of growers cannot 
rely on having it in good condition at this season. Then, a few may possibly 
name Mrs. Pince’s Muscat, and those who have it in first-class condition have 
good reason to esteem it, for well coloured and ripened we doubt if there is a 
finer and better black Grape in use at the present time. You will thus 
perceive it is not easy to give a “ plain reply to a plain question ” as to which 
is the best black Grape for January. Our readers are quite at liberty to 
express their opinions on this point, and you might, perhaps, express yours, 
as you appear to have given considerable attention to the matter. 
Gloria Mundi Apple (J. Mapleson). —You ask first “ if we really consider 
this variety and Belle Dubois synonymous ? ” Our reply is in the affirmative. 
Next, as if anticipating our verdict, you inquire “whether ‘the Apple’ was 
raised in England or France ? ” as this, you think, would settle the question 
as to priority of names. Such questions are not so easily settled as yon 
appear to imagine. In the first place the Apple was not raised in either of 
the countries named. It is of American origin, but some doubts exist as to 
where it was first raised, that honour being claimed by several different 
localities. The general opinion, however, is that it originated in the garden 
of a Mr. Smith, in the neighbourhood of Baltimore, and was brought over to- 
this country by Captain George Hudson, of the ship Belvedere, of Bahian re r 
in 1817. It was introduced from America into France by Comte Lelieur in 
1804. But from the account given in the “ Allgemeines Teutches Giirten- 
magazin,” it is doubtful whether it is a native of America, for in the volume 
of that work for 1805 it is said to have be n raised by Herr Kiinstgarner 
Maszman, of Hanover. If that account is correct, its existence in America, 
is, in all probability, owing to its having been taken thither by some 
Hanoverian emigrants. 
Difficulties of a New Garden (M. Farmer). —Burnt clay would improve 
your stiff soil, but it is not to be regarded as indispensable. Coal ashes 
are much better, and a few heavy annual dressings effect such a thorough 
mechanical division of the soil as to render it permanently light and porous. 
