138 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 14, 18S4. 
prolific it is unsurpassed in quality. If a longer-podded variety is preferred 
Canadian Wonder is suitable. Either 9 or 10-inch pots may be employed, 
roughly draining these and filling them firmly to within 2 inches of the rims 
with good soil, composed, if possible, of turfy loam two parts to one of 
decomposed manure ; on this distribute about nine seeds, cover with about 
an inch of finer soil, water with warm water, and place in a heated pit. When 
the plants are well advanced thin out where necessary to about six plants, 
and support these with a circle of birch branches, such as can be had from 
a half-worn birch broom. Not much water will be required in the earlier 
stages of growth, though Beans should never be dry at the roots. By the 
time they are in bloom they will require much water, with liquid manure 
frequently, and always of the same temperature as the pit. If much crowded, 
in pits especially, the Beans are liable to damp off, and overcrowding, even 
if damping-off is prevented, invariably results in a light crop. From twelve 
to eighteen pots will yield several good dishes, and in most cases two or 
three small batches sown at fortnightly intervals are preferable to one or two 
larger sowings. A temperature ranging from 55° to C0° by night to 65° to 
70° by day, with an increase by sun heat to 90°, with abundance of moisture 
to prevent attacks of red spider, will suit them admirably. 
Potatoes in Pots ( Idem ).—An excellent cultivator who successfully 
grows early Potatoes in pots, says :—“ Ten-inch pots are the best, a hundred 
of these will give many dishes of fine early Potatoes, and when properly 
managed there is no risk with them. A crop may be relied on at all times 
with no more trouble nor expense than was required with the beds and 
frames. A quantity of roughish loamy soil should be collected, and a little 
decayed manure mixed with it. Each pot must have a little rough drainage 
placed at the bottom, and afterwards be half filled with the prepared soil. 
This should be made level and firm, and the sets can then be placed on it. 
Two, three, or four sets may be placed in each, keeping them as far apart as 
possible, and afterwards covering to the depth of 2 inches or more with the 
soil. A cool house or frame protected from frost are suitable places for the 
pots at first, as with a little water the sets will soon produce growth above 
the soil; and the cooler and nearer the glass the plants are kept at 
this period the more robust will they remain, and this is a great point 
gained. Later on they are placed in early vineries or Peach houses, and 
there the tuhers form plentifully and swell quickly. As the weather becomes 
warmer, about the end of March and beginning of April, they may be 
placed in frames with the lights over them. Where there is no room to grow 
many a few dishes may be had from one or two dozen pots, and when they 
are turned out we feel sure all will be satisfied with this easy and certain 
mode of securing early Potatoes. 
Elaine Chrysanthemum (IF. Day). —The flowers you have sent are very 
fresh and pure. They are, we presume, lateral blooms. Well-grown plants 
after the first flowers are cut break again and produce a second crop not less 
useful than the first, for if the blooms are smaller they are more numerous. 
The system of cutting plants in July appears likely to contribute materially 
to a desirable supply of Chrysanthemums during the early months of the 
year. Flowers for cutting, such as those before us, cannot fail being 
acceptable to those who possess them. 
Pruning Climbing Roses {A. D.). —If the growths are very strong we 
should not shorten them so severely as you suggest. If they were taken 
from the wall and temporarily secured in a horizontal position, all, or 
nearly all, the back buds would break, and the shoots could then be secured 
vertically about a foot apart, and the wall would be well furnished ; but if 
the shoots are not strong and vigorous they would be better shortened ; or if 
they are closer together than indicated you might shorten the weaker and 
leave the stronger their full length or nearly so, merely removing the 
immature ends. In this way your wall would be furnished without lowering 
a limited number of strong shoots. 
Conifers for Screen {Idem). —As we understand you to say “ hardiness i 9 
the great desideratum,” we cannot advise you to plant Pinus insignis, as a 
great number of specimens have been killed during severe winters. If you 
do not object to its dark colour Pinus austriaca is one of the most hardy and 
dense, but P. Laricio, the Corsican Pine, is preferable for positions near the 
sea. The desired height of the screen appears to us an important factor in 
determining what to plant. For screens or hedges 20 feet high there is no 
more suitable Conifer than Thuja gigantea, often called Thuja Lobbi in 
nurseries. It is close yet feathery, and retains its deep bright green hue 
during the winter, many others assuming a brown tint, which detracts from 
their cheerfulness. 
Melons in Pots (A Reader). —Assuming a temperature of 70° at night, 
not falling below 65° in the morning, can be maintained in a house, Melons 
can be successfully grown in large pots without any bottom heat by persons 
who possess the requisite cultural skill. Obviously it would be of no use 
plunging the pots in a bed that is several degrees lower than the tempera¬ 
ture indicated. Later in the season you will be able to increase the bottom 
heat, and you are more likely to succeed than by starting so early. You say 
your space for fermenting materials is limited, but do not mention the depth 
and width of the bed. It must be very limited indeed if you cannot supply 
the necessary heat by preparing the bed in April; and if you have very 
strong plants for planting then you may probably succeed better than by 
growing and fruiting them in pots. If you have had little or no experience 
in Melon culture, your safe course is not to commence so early in the season 
as this. We have grown excellent Melons by planting very strong plants in 
June -without any bottom heat at all by artificial means, beyond applications 
of w’arm water, but we should have failed if we had attempted the w r ork in 
February or March. 
Training Melons and Cucumbers (J. T. S.) —There is no general length 
at which Melons are trained. Mr. Taylor allowed them to extend 20 feet or 
more at Longleat, training them longitudinally along the trellis. The 
usual practice is to train them across the trellis, allowing the leader to 
reach within a foot or a little more from the top, then pinching the growths 
that may follow. The trellis is then covered with fruit-bearing laterals, 
and only one or two leaves are permitted beyond each swelling fruit. The 
fruits of Cucumbers will need no extra support, provided the stems close to 
where the fruits are produced are secured to the wires. 
Glazed Flower Pots {Amateur). —Your letter is clearly an advertisement, 
and as such can only be inserted in our advertising columns under the usual 
scale of charges. Other firms make them than the one you recommend, and 
those who desire to extend their trade will no doubt do so in the ordinary 
manner. The writer of the article on page 101 confined himself to discussing 
the merits of glazed pots, and very properly did not attempt to obtain a cheap 
advertisement for any particular manufacturers ; had he done so his remarks, 
if published, would have had little weight with discriminating readers. 
Sempervivum tabulaeforme {Trike). —If you pot the plants in rough 
turfy loam, with a fourth of dried cow dung and a portion of broken charcoal 
and a little sand, place them on the shelf of a warm greenhouse, water them 
judiciously yet sufficiently, they will make rapid progress. In the .winter 
and early spring water must be sparingly given, but in the summer copiously. 
The plants also do well planted out in rich soil in a warm position in the 
garden from June to September. Cactuses and Epiphyllums are best raised 
from cuttings and by grafting. The address you request is Mr. H. M. Boiler, 
Woodfield Nursery, Woodfield Road, Harrow Road, London, N. You will 
find some note3 upon raising seeds of Cacti in another column. 
Hard and Soft Putty (C. L.).— A little white lead mixed with putty will 
make it set hard in a few days ; but gardeners never allow the use of that 
old kind of putty in these days, because once it gets dry they can hardly cut 
it when repairs or alterations are to be made afterwards. We have seen a 
good glazier break four squares of glass trying to mend one broken one, 
besides spending an hour and a half at the job, which a mere lad could do 
in five minutes, and without any breakage, if proper putty had been used in 
the first instance. Hothouse putty is made with whiting pounded down and 
sifted very fine, and boiled linseed oil, making it into dough as the bakers do 
their bread ; the more the dough of putty is worked the better it will be, and 
it should be at least ten days old before it is used ; in that time a large lump 
of it will “ sweat ”—that is, slightly ferment, which is necessary to give it the 
proper adhesive power. When this soft putty, as it is called, is allowed to 
dry thoroughly before it is painted over, it will last as long as the hardest 
white-lead putty, and at the end of twenty years be soft enough to be cut 
away with a knife. If, therefore, you wished to remove your greenhouse at 
any future time, you could easily take out the glass, pack it in boxes, and 
the timber-work could then be handled and packed without the risk or 
annoyance of breaking the glass. 
Starting Dahlias {F. J.). —As you do not desire to increase the number 
of plants, but only wish to have them stronger, you had better let the roots 
remain dormant till the first week in April, then start them in pots in a very 
light greenhouse. As soon as growth is apparent the plants should be 
placed on a shelf close to the glass. They will then be very stout and short- 
jointed. You may either divide the roots or thin out the stems, selecting 
the best for forming the plants. They can be removed from the greenhouse 
to a frame early in May, and if well supplied with water will be in fine con¬ 
dition for planting after all danger of frost is over, and if placed in deep rich 
soil and copiously watered in dry weather, will attain to a great size during 
the season. If you start the plants anything like so early as your letter 
implies the growth will inevitably be weak and the plants unsatisfactory. 
It is only skilled propagators with suitable glass structures who are able to 
succeed in growing strong Dahlias by starting the roots in February and 
March. 
Starting Tuberous Begonias for Bedding {Idem) —We fear you do not 
read the Journal so attentively as you ought, as we observe you often ask 
questions on a subject that has only recently been exhaustively treated. We 
cite from an article on this subject that appeared not long ago, and which is 
a complete answer to your question. A few of the secrets of success in 
preparing the plants and growing them successfully in beds—that is, if there 
are any “ secrets ” now-a-days, may perhaps be usefully divulged. These 
are the very essence of simplicity. Where persons fail is in over-preparing, 
over-nursing, or, to use a w-ell-understood and expressive term, in coddling 
the plants in their early stages, then starving them afterwards. If we look 
at the plants and note their fleshy roots, succulent stems, expansive leaves, 
and large leathery flowers, it becomes apparent that they must have rich, 
free, generous soil, and abundance of water—that is, when they are in full 
growth. It is also clear that all plants of this nature from Balsams to 
Begonias are peculiarly liable to be drawn by excessive heat and insufficient 
light in their early stages. If anyone wants to see how stout and sturdy 
Balsams can be grown let him sow some seed in pots in May, and plunge 
these pots in a heap of fermenting materials in the open air. If he wants, 
stout Begonias for bedding let him start the plants on similar principles or 
affording them gentle bottom heat, but not starting them so soon 
that they cannot have abundance of light and air to keep them 
dwarf and sturdy. The precise time of starting can only be determined 
by means of growing the plants afterwards, but, as a rule, early 
in April would be safe for the majority of cultivators. When 
once started the plants must be kept steadily growing. There must- 
be no check, and as a rule they are far better if they are never potted. If 
Begonias are potted, as they often are, grown nearly a foot high under glass, 
then placed in a frame to “ harden,” their pots at the same time crowded 
firmly with roots, and eventually planted out, they will not flourish. Their 
owners wonder why they do not start and grow freely, concluding the plants 
are “ not fit for bedding.” It would be a wonder if plants thus “ prepared ” 
did thrive. Even Calceolarias will not do so, as most persons have found 
out, and they adopt a simpler and more rational mode of preparation. In 
order to succeed with Begonias we must go back to simplicities. Start the 
tubers in boxes, then if the plants when an inch or two high can be planted 
4 or 5 inches apart in good soil on a gentle hotbed in a pit, or over which a- 
frame can be placed, there to remain till planted in the beds, there can be 
no better preparation. Failing this they may be grown thinly in boxes, the 
compost being light and gritty, resting on a layer of decayed manure. Of 
this the roots will take possession, and in due time the plants can be quickly 
yet carefully planted in the beds with roots uninjured, stout, healthy, 
hungry, and ready to immediately extend into the soil in which they are 
placed. A root-bound plant cannot do this. It tries to do so, and a few 
fibres start from the wire-like roots here and there that are curled round the 
soil, but the growth is never free, and the plant struggles for existence. It 
may not die all at once, but it cannot make free progress, and then 
“ Begonias are no use for bedding.” Better would it be to plant the corms- 
in the beds on the 1st of May and leave them to take their chance, 
' than to prepare them in this root-bound irrational fashion that more than 
