March 10,1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 191 
which soon extinguishes the fire. —J. Richardson, Calverton 
Hall, Notts. 
[The mode of preparing paraffin tubs for plants has now been 
made sufficiently clear to all.—E d.] 
THE BLUE ROMAN HYACINTH. 
In answer to your correspondent “ Cultivator of Bulbs,” 
we have only to say that the blue Roman received the same 
treatment as the white Roman Hyacinth. We find the first bulbs 
were potted on the 15th October, 1880, and the plants were in 
fiower January 8th, 1881. If they had been potted in August 
with the whites no doubt they would have been earlier. The foliage 
is certainly rather plentiful, but so are the flowers, which in our 
opinion afford ample compensation. We will not fail to remind 
your correspondent next season when our plants are in flower, 
nor would we mind sending him a pot gratis if he will favour 
us with his address.— Jones & Sons, Coton Hill, Shrewsbury. 
With me this is a weedy grower as compared with the white 
kind—the leaves overtopping and so partially hiding the flower- 
spikes. This spoils it as a decorative plant, but its flowers are 
certainly very pretty for cutting. Under precisely the same treat¬ 
ment it is fully a month or six weeks later than the white kind. 
“A Cultivator of Bulbs” experience of it agrees with mine 
in all particulars ; it may be that we both have had unripened 
bulbs. If by any possible kind of treatment it can be grown as 
well as its white counterpart, it will be a most valuable plant. 
Here Scilla siberica is far preferable.— Dublinensis. 
CULTURE OF YALLOTA PURPUREA. 
All amateurs who have a greenhouse should grow the old Scar¬ 
borough Lily, as its cultivation is very simple. The plant com¬ 
mences flowering at the end of August, and a taw pots of Lilium 
speciosum and album arranged with them would make the green¬ 
house quite gay during the late summer months. Those amateurs 
who intend growing it should procure some bulbs at once. The 
compost employed should consist of turfy loam with a little decayed 
manure and leaf soil, with sufficient coarse sand to keep the soil 
open. In potting place three bulbs in a well-drained 6-inch pot; 
if bulbs are scarce have one in a 3-inch pot, but I recommend the 
former practice where possible, as the plants will flower profusely 
and make a beautiful display. In potting place some of the 
roughest of the compost over the drainage, then three parts fill the 
pots with soil, and press it down gently to prevent it sinking too 
much. If 6-six inch pots are used place the bulbs a little distance 
apart to allow the growth of offsets. Tie the bulbs to a small stick 
to keep them steady, give a good watering through the rose of a 
watering can, and transfer the pots to the greenhouse, assigning 
them a position near the glass, and the bulbs will soon commence 
growing. Never permit them to be insufficiently supplied with 
water, and in the summer months they should be sprinkled over¬ 
head. When the pots are quite full of roots and the flower stems 
appearing weak guano water may be given twice a week. After 
flowering remove the flower stems, as they exhaust the bulb; the 
pots can then be placed in any sunny part of the greenhouse so as 
to have the bulbs well ripened. The soil must not be allowed to 
become dust-dry at any time, not even in the winter months. The 
Yallota is increased by offsets. The small bulbs can be taken in the 
spring, and are either potted single in small well-drained pots, or 
placed in pans in a compost of half loam and leaf soil with a little 
sand, and if placed in a warm part of the greenhouse they will soon 
produce roots. 
One mistake amateurs are apt to make in growing Yallotas is in 
overpotting. To flower the plants well they must be rootbound, 
and three bulbs in a 6-inch pot will not require a larger pot for 
three or four years providing the drainage is open. I formerly 
grew a number of Yallotas for conservatory decoration; 10-inch and 
8-inch pots were as full of roots as possible, so much so that the 
pots were frequently burst. With some potting and top-dressing 
had not been done for seven years, yet the plants flowered very 
freely; when in flower they were transferred to the conservatory 
and afterwards returned to the greenhouse, attended to with water, 
and year by year the same process was repeated. I employed liquid 
manure made from sheep dung and soot, which I believe are the 
best stimulants that can be given to plants. I have recommended 
guano water for amateurs, as it is more easily obtained.— John 
Nunhs, Wimbledon Common. 
Future of Gardening.— Mr. Roberts’ letter at page 151 
touches a very important subject with regard to fruit trees, but 
he does not allude to a sad item of culture in Devon and Corn¬ 
wall, about which it may be useful to say a few words. These 
counties are famed for the production of Apples, but wherever 
you go now orchards seem to be in a state of decay—all the trees 
covered with lichens and many prostrate. If a young tree is 
planted—if the mode of placing them in the ground deserves that 
term—the site chosen is one overshadowed by old trees. Why is 
not a new piece of field taken in sometimes? Farmers do not 
seem to think their orchards of any great consequence; and as 
for pruning, it appears as if outside their consideration altogether. 
Probably, if they procured the best varieties, which they do not 
appear to do, it might prove to their advantage. If culture were 
attended to we should certainly require less fruit from America. 
—R. I. L. 
CARRINGTON MOSS IMPROVED AND CULTIVATED. 
About six miles to the west of Manchester there is in Cheshire 
a tract of land called Carrington Moss. On the other side of the 
river in Lancashire there is a larger tract of the same nature 
known as Barton Moss and Chat Moss. These Mosses were origi¬ 
nally almost as soft as a soaked sponge and full of water. To 
make a line of railway across the two latter puzzled the engineer¬ 
ing skill of Stephenson. The materials first used for the foundations 
were lost, as they sunk out of sight by reason of their weight. At 
last the difficulty was overcome by employing the branches of 
trees and hedges. This great swamp is gradually being brought 
under cultivation and made to yield good crops of grain and other 
farm produce. First on Barton Moss great ditches or dykes 
10 and 12 feet deep were opened, and roads formed between them. 
Then wedge draining was tried and found to answer well. On 
soft spongy land such draining is simple work easily understood. 
Wedge-shaped drains 4 feet deep or more are cut to a point at the 
bottom. Wedge-shaped fibry sods are cut to fit the drain about 
a foot from the bottom, and thus an open triangular space is left 
which carries the water to the deep ditches mentioned. No intel¬ 
ligent farmer or gardener could fail to notice the effect of such 
draining on visiting a farm there. The removal of the water 
solidifies the land considerably. Over each drain the land natu¬ 
rally becomes a furrow, and drains at some distance apart make 
a flat piece of land into a ridge-and-furrow piece. Houses one 
storey high had to be built on piles. Horses in ploughing and 
working the land had to wear flat-soled leathern boots, for without 
them their feet sunk too deeply for work. These uninviting 
swamps are now being brought under the influence of the farmer 
and the market gardener. Excellent root crops, Potatoes, Turnips, 
Mangolds, and Carrots are now produced with corn, hay, and 
Clover succeeding. The Carrots from the Moss are large, straight, 
and clean, and Celery grown there cannot be surpassed. The 
Marrowfat Peas in the dry years of 1868 and 1869 were first-rate. 
Carrington Moss, probably four miles long and two broad, 
belongs to the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, who is fast con¬ 
verting it into manageable and productive land. From the newly 
reclaimed land the crops are sold annually by public auction at 
remunerating prices. If such improvements can be made, what 
might not be done on the peaty boggy lands of Ireland? I think 
no land there can be worse or more uninviting than this in its 
natural state. 
Carrington village or hamlet is about eight miles from Man¬ 
chester, three from Sale, and is remarkable for the large orchards 
attached to the farms of the place. Sale itself, now a large and 
wealthy suburb of Manchester—at least often considered as such 
—was once covered with Heather and called Sale Moor, is one of 
the best places in the north of England for farming and gardening. 
For these purposes land is readily let at £5 and £6 per statute 
acre ; but the soil here is dry and easily worked, resting on a 
substratum of sand and gravel.—A. Pettigrew. 
LIBONIA PENRHOSIENSIS. 
When well grown this is one of the prettiest and most useful 
plants for flowering at midwinter, and is easily obtained in good 
condition. March is a good time to insert cuttings, which when 
rooted may be potted into 60-sized pots and placed in a close 
frame. In May remove them out of doors to harden-off. At the 
end of May they may be planted out on a south border fully 
exposed to the sun, and remain there until September, when they 
will be neat pyramidal specimens with abundance of glossy 
leaves. Take them up and pot in 48-sized pots, and arrange them 
in a close frame until well established. They can then be re¬ 
moved to an intermediate house where the temperature ranges 
from 45° to 60°, and by Christmas you will be rewarded with 
hundreds of bright red flowers on each plant. Good plants of 
