JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 429 
long-jointed and do not readily form fruit buds at the base, the more moderate 
growths being far more fruitful in character. 
Raising Border Plants from Seed ( Subscriber ).—Anchusa italica, 
Delphiniums, Foxgloves, Honesty, French Honeysuckles, Foxgloves, Canterbury 
Bells, Sweet Williams, Scabious, Wallflowers, Valerian, Hollyhocks, Phloxes, 
Antirrhinums, and Potentillas will answer your purpose, and are readily raised 
from seed sown now in drills in the open garden. The soil should be fertile, and 
if the weather is dry the drills must be well watered before the seed is sown. It 
will be well if the drills are drawn sufficiently deep that in covering the seed 
lightly they are not filled to the original level, as water cannot well be given to 
the rows afterwards. “ Select” rock plants are not raised from seed ; yet such 
plants as Aubrietias, Arabises, Calandrinia umbellate, Saponaria ocymoides, 
Alyssum saxatile, Campanula carpatica, Alpine Auriculas, Violas, and Prim¬ 
roses may be readily obtained from seed, and the plants are suitable for mounds 
and rockeries. 
Show Pansies for Exhibition (L. I. A'.). —Show Pansies are divided 
into three sections—yellow grounds, white grouads, nud seifs, which terms are 
self-explanatory. We name six good varieties in each section :— Yellow Grounds, 
—Alexander Brodie, Captain Clutie, Robert Burns, Senator, Corsair, and Daniel 
Robertson. White Grounds —Mrs. Hampton, Miss Todd, Jane Grieve, Bessie 
Wyatt, Mrs. Henderson, and Minnie. Selfs —Erebus, George Rudd, Dux, G. L. 
Brown, Helen Douglas, and Beacon. Show Pansies are distinguished by sym¬ 
metry of form, substance of petal, and clear, firm, and well-defined colours ; 
Fancy Pansies by their larger and less circular flowers and gorgeous colours. 
If you visit a show where both classes are represented you will see at a glance 
the difference that exists, and will never forget it. About the end of August or 
early in September is a good time for propagating Pansies. At that time fresh, 
short, non-flowering growths spring from the base of the plants, and if these are 
inserted in moist yet gritty soil under handlights on a cool shaded border they 
will speedily- root, and make finer plants and give larger flowers than when 
propagation is effected earlier from strong flowering growths. Rooted offsets 
can usually be severed from the plants in September, and if planted deeply in 
good soil they form good plants by the following spring. Cuttings with hollow 
stems never make good plants nor produce fine flowers. 
Oyster Shells as Manure (B. Davy).— Oyster shells, and all other shells 
ground to powder are useful manures, for they contain the same ingredients as 
bones, only in different proportions, the carbonate of lime or chalk predomi¬ 
nating. We have seen them used with great benefit and in large quantities 
mixed with a heavy garden soil. The owner, after the ground was dug or 
forked, spread the powdered shells an inch or two thick along the lines where 
the crop was to be inserted, forked the powder in, aud then sowed or planted 
the crop. The shells crushed fine are also useful for employing with soil for 
potting. 
Mulching (S. Travers ).—The placing of a covering of manure on the surface 
of the soil during dry weather is a most valuable practice. The ground should 
be well watered before the covering is applied. If manure cannot be had, fern 
or litter of any kind, or short grass from lawns, may be placed between the rows 
of vegetables where the soil is light and shallow. Cocoa-nut fibre refuse is valu¬ 
able for placing on flower beds, as it is neat in appearance and very r efficient in 
preventing evaporation. A layer quite 2 inches thick should be spread on the 
beds. Surface dressings of manure may be 3 inches in thickness, and light 
littery material 4 or 5 inches. We have found excellent results by systemati¬ 
cally spreading the grass from lawns in the Celery trenches, as the covering 
kept the ground moist and lessened the necessity for watering the plants. 
Tuberous Begonias ( Amateur ).—As you procuied the seed from a “ good 
firm ” we presume it was also good, and its failure to germinate must be attri¬ 
buted to some fault of your own. But are you sure it has not germinated ? We 
once examined some seed pots that had been covered with moss by an amateur 
who complained that he had been supplied with bad seed, but we found un- 
mistakeable evidence that the seed had germinated, and that the growth had 
been destroyed by the thick covering of moss which was left too long unmoved. 
You, however, do not complain of the seed, nor do we assert that it has germinated, 
though it ought to have done in the temperature in which the pot was placed 
if the soil has been “ always kept moist.” A sunny window would be one of the 
worst of positions for raising plants from such small seed ; a shaded position 
would be much better, but we think you have small chance of success of the 
seed growing that was sown early in March. Tuberous Begonias usually 
succeed best when shaded from the mid-day sun ; the plants require watering 
carefully yet sufficiently in their young state, but when the pots are filled with 
roots copious supplies are indispensable. 
Watson’s Lawn Sand (E. L. B.). —We have seen it used effectively on 
lawns, destroying the Daisies without killing the grass ; we have also seen 
other instances where it was not so effectual. The cause of the different results 
we have no means of knowing ; possibly the state of the weather when the 
dressings were given had an influence on the matter. The instructions that 
are issued with the sand state that it should be applied in calm dry weather, as 
rain washes out its strength. On ordinary soils 3J ozs. per square yard is the 
quantity recommended for dredging on lawns, and on porous soils 4 or 5 ozs. 
Pears and Plums for Growing under Glass (IF. B. Wall). —Both 
Pears and Plums do well as double cordons ; but if you train them as you pro¬ 
pose up the roof at 1 foot apart sufficient light would not be admitted after a 
few years to allow of trees being grown on the back wall, although they would 
afford good results for some time. We should prefer to have the trees trained 
to trelli-es across the house so that their ends face the sun at noon, for we pre¬ 
sume your house has a south aspect, commencing 4 feet from the walls back and 
end, and preserving that distance between each trellis. This would allow of 
the back and end wall being available, and give space for four trees to each 
trellis, and two rows of horizontal cordons in front where the roof is low. The 
cross trellises should reach from the ground to the roof. Pears most likely to 
succeed are Clapp’s Favourite, Williams’ Bon Chretien, Souvenir du Congres, 
Beurre de l’Assomption, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Comte de Lamy, Beurre Super- 
fin, Baronne de Hello, Doyennd du Comice, Durondeau, Marie Louise d’Uccle, 
Passe Colmar, Beurre Diel, and Van Mons Leon Leclerc. Of Plums—July 
Green Gage, De Montfort, Jefferson’s, Kirke’s, Green Gage, and Coe’s Golden 
Drop. The foliage of Jefferson Plum has not in our case the smell of Sweet 
Briar. 
Annuals and Perennials for Spring (B. L„ Leeds). —Of perennials 
that you may raise from seed there are Alyssum saxatile compactum, Arabia 
alpina, Aubrietia grseca, A. purpurea, Beilis perennis (Daisy) vars., Campanula 
carpatica and its white variety, Wallflowers in variety. Iberis sempervirens, 
Myosotis sylvatica, and Pansies ; and of annuals, without giving an extended list, 
there are Silene pendula and its white variety, Limnanthes Douglasii, Collinsia 
bicolor, C. verna, Saponaria calabrica and its white variety, and Nemophila 
insignis. The perennials should be sown from now to July, the earlier the 
better, pricking them off when large enough to handle in good rich light soil 
in an open situation, shading and keeping moist until established, then expose 
fully, planting-out in October where they are to flower. The annuals should be 
sown in an open situation late in August or early in September, and trans¬ 
planted to the beds or borders in October, or about six weeks after sowing. 
Fruiting Young Vines {Excelsior ).—Your desire to excel is commend¬ 
able, but it is well to make sure the road is safe before “ going ahead of the slow 
coaches,” as you say you intend doing. In our own practice, aud as observed in 
that of many others, we have seen fine well-ripened wood made the first season, 
and from that we have taken, aud seen others take, a good crop the second 
season after planting, but we never did so without regretting it afterwards. 
Fruiting a young planted-out Vine heavily has much the same effect upon it as 
fruiting heavily a young Vine in a pot. The first heavy crop from a young 
Vine paralyses it for future effort. It is the best and the most profitable in the 
long run to take from a Vine but little the second season after planting. The 
more roots the Vines make before bearing, the better will the Vines stand 
bearing fruit. 
Lifting Vines (J. A., Dublin). —The lateness of the Grapes this year is 
doubtless the result of the long period of cold weather that has prevailed, and 
a large number of cultivators are in this respect in a similar position to your¬ 
self. Your proposed mode of draining the border is good, as also is j’onr plan 
of lifting the roots in the outside border this year, and those in the inside next 
year. Provided the work is done with great care, having the soil ready so that 
replanting can be done quickly, the roots being kept moist and the foliage 
syringed and shaded to prevent flagging, the best time for lifting would be 
soon alter the crop is cut, and fresh active roots would theu be produced the 
same season ; but it is of great importance that the roots are not dried during 
the process of lifting, and that the foliage is kept fresh. If you adopt this 
plan you must commence at one end, take out a portion of the old border, place 
in the new soil, and finish each Vine as the roots are raised, not dig the whole 
of the border out at once. This plan is perfectly practicable, and you ought to 
have no difficulty in doing the work, as the inside roots will be of great advantage 
in affording support to the Vines during the progress of the work outside. We are 
quite unable to advise you on the question of building a v all round the border, 
as your description of the soil “ not very good ” is far too vague to enable us 
to judge of the necessity or advisability of confining the roots in the manner 
indicated. It is necessary to have more precise information as to the nature 
and depth of tbe soil and the character of the subsoil in considering a question 
of that kind ; it would have been an advantage, too, for the purpose of our 
reply to have known the width of the outside border. We may, perhaps, use¬ 
fully remind you that the lime and brick rubble will not prevent the roots 
passing through into the subsoil, and that the drain must be below the bottom 
of the drainage, not merely below the top of it; and we may also remark that 
a wall, if the bricks are not laid in cement or very strong lime mortar, will not 
confine the roots, as they will pass through joints made of common mortar, and 
they will also pass under the wall if the bottom of the border is not concreted. 
If you think it desirable to send us further particulars, and ask any questions 
that this reply may suggest, your letter shall have careful attention. 
Figs Dropping (J. S. S.). —Had you stated the size of the trees aud the 
number of fruits on each, as well as the dimensions of the tubs, we should have 
been better able to have judged whether yon are correct in your surmise that 
the cause of the evil is “ want of root room.” In all probability this is so, as the 
soil you have employed and the general treatment to which the trees have been 
subjected are correct. If you stop the young shoots, or such of them as have a 
tendency to become luxuriant, and surface-dress the soil with rich manure 
3 inches in thickness, fresh roots will speedily form and gather the support that 
the trees need for maturing the crops. If your trees are at all large liquid 
manure once a week is not sufficient, aud it should be supplemented with 
manurial mulchings. A few pieces of slates inserted round the sides of the tubs 
w’ill afford space for the top-dressing, and for preventing the water that is 
applied passing over the tops of the tubs. 
Roses in Pots Failing (/. B.). —It is no "trouble” to us to answer 
questions, but, on the contrary, a pleasure, when we can answer them usefully. 
You can scarcely expect to rival Mr. Taylor in growing Tea Roses in pots, as 
you lack the conveniences that are at his disposal, and your experience as a 
cultivator differs somewhat from his. But we may inform you that the gardener 
mentioned would not succeed so well as he does if he had to commence with 
plants similar to those you describe : yet he would not have failed so completely 
as you appear to have done. In the first place, he would not necessarily have 
repotted the plants as soon as he received them, and it is certain he would not 
have watered them with liquid manure as you have done before the roots were 
in an active state and had filled the pots. Nowhere in this Journal has the 
practice been recommended that you appear to have adopted. As a rule, the 
practice of repotting plants as soon as they have arrived from the nursery is not 
sound, and it is certainly prejudicial to plants to apply liquid manure almost 
immediately after potting, when the soil, as in your case, was quite rich enough 
for the requirements of the plants for many weeks. We fear you have first taken 
care to procure suitable soil for your Roses and then spoiled it with liquid 
manure. We advise you to visit a nursery in early October where dwarf Tea 
Roses are grown, select a dozen plants and pot them in 7, 8, or 9-inch pots 
according to the size of the plants, and if these are kept healthy and clean, and 
not started into growth too early, they will afford you more blooms than fifty 
such plants as those you have described. Plants grown to a flowering size in 
pots by a nurserj mau who devotes special attention to Tea Roses would be 
better, but necessarily more costly, than plants grown in the open ground. 
Growing Tea Roses from a small to a large state in pots can scarcely be well 
done by amateurs with only one greenhouse at their disposal, and this in all 
probability not suited for the purpose. Had you wintered your plants in a 
frame and retarded their growth, then planted them in the open ground in 
March, you would in all probability have succeeded much better than by 
retaining them in pots and potting and starting them so early in the season, 
which was too early considering the means at your disposal—that is, if we under¬ 
stand the nature of your house aright; but on this point you do not supply any 
information. 
Insects on Melons (Duke Melon).— Plants in such a state as yours are 
can only be cleansed by sponging every leaf with nicotine soap or some other 
insecticide, then syringing thoroughly, and dusting with tobacco powder. 
Questions arriving on Wednesday morning can only be replied to very briefly, 
or the answers deferred until another issue. 
Names of Plants (J. C.). — No. 1, Cupressus torulosa; 2, C. semper¬ 
virens ; 3, Thuja Lobbi; 4, Cupressus Lawsoniana; 5, Biota orientalis aurea ; 
6, Taxodium sempervirens ; 7, Retinospora plumosa aurea ; a, Cupressus Law- 
soniana erecta viridis ; 9, Abies Nordmanniana. (G. 0. S.) .—A spike and a 
better example of the foliage of the bulbous plant would have enabled us to have 
