January 5, 1882.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
some districts prove superior. Whether or not, we hope that in 
Rjear or two at most our large towns will be fully supplied with 
old Potatoes at midsummer, and even later ; and if this paper 
should draw the attention of growers or dealers to the suitability 
of these Potatoes for such a purpose, and so be the means of 
saving money to the nation and securing a more abundant 
and more wholesome supply of Potatoes to the teeming multitudes 
of our town populations, we shall be very amply rewarded.— 
A Scotchman. 
MIGNONETTE CULTURE. 
1 The value of Mignonette for winter use is very great, and it is 
of importance to have a succession of plants all the year round. 
To obtain a supply of flowers in winter, seed should be sown in 
July in the open ground or in seed pans, covering the seed 
about a quarter of an inch deep. By the middle of September 
the plants from this sowing should be potted and placed in a 
cold frame, care being taken to shade them from the sun for a 
few days after their removal. As the plants advance in growth 
they will require supporting with clean neat stakes. 
The winter supply will not last until the p’ants in the open air 
commence flowering, therefore another sowing is required. This 
should be done in August, sowing in pots, the compost employed 
being loam mixed with a little leaf soil. When the young seed¬ 
lings are of moderate size they should be thinned-out, leaving 
about a dozen in each pot, staking them as they advance in 
growth. A cool greenhouse will suit them well, placing them in 
the lightest position possible to produce strong growth and 
increase the odour of the flowers. 
Where glass structures are not at command Mignonette can 
be grown in boxes placed in windows with a south aspect, giving 
the plants as much air as possible.—Z. 
ON MAKING ENDS MEET—VINES AND PLANTS. 
The majority of gardeners have to struggle on, not always as 
successfully as they would like, with means for doing their work 
very inadequate to what is required of them. We have all to 
make the most of makeshifts, and be glad if we succeed by any 
means in our power, though always hoping that a time will come 
when we shall have appliances calculated to do us more credit 
and to benefit our employers as far as possible. 
Though it may appear somewhat paradoxical to say so, the 
surest way of obtaining improvements in gardens when the owner 
is not so interested as his gardener, so long as a certain amount of 
produce is forthcoming, is to make the very most of the means 
at command and wait till a fitting time comes for stating the 
case fairly. I commenced with very inadequate means indeed 
to supply the wants of a noble family, and, though far from 
having things as I would like them to be, 1 have had very fair 
encouragement in the improvements which have been made to 
meet my wishes. This is stated merely as an instance of what 
others may expect who try to do their duty. I have still to do 
many things in unorthodox fashion, and do not expect to get 
everything to my liking. I well remember after I came here 
being asked if it would do the Vines very much harm to grow 
plants under them, and if it would not be possible to grow 
Mushrooms in an underground shed where they had been tried 
without any success. I promised to try. In the case of Mushrooms, 
after trying and altering the beds, we had good success ; and in 
the vineries perhaps as valuable crops of flowers have been grown 
during the winter as the crop the Vines bore in summer. I have 
better appliances for flower-growing now, but the demand for 
flowers has increased along with the means for supplying them, 
and I have still to rely greatly on our fruit houses as plant 
structures in winter and spring. 
It may be asked, What flowers can be grown in vineries and 
Peach houses in these seasons ? Well, in Peach houses, which are 
best cool, I have valuable crops of Chrysanthemums, and there I 
also grow Heaths and Epacrises, Eupatoriums and Daphnes, 
Coronillas and Cytisuses, Cyclamens and Solanums, besides grow¬ 
ing plants for flowering in summer. In vineries Camellias are 
flowered throughout the dullest months, so are Azaleas from 
November onwards. I keep an uninterrupted supply of Zonal 
Pelargonium trusses from October till spring, forced Roses, Show 
Pelargoniums, Heliotrope, Polyanthus Narcissus, and Callas; grow 
Lily of the Valley after flowering, and use the vineries very 
generally as forcing houses throughout the winter. 
But some may inquire, How do the Vines and Peaches like such 
winter treatment ? As I hinted, the Peaches are not subjected to 
heat, but the Vines are. Some of our vineries have for years 
never had a lower average temperature during winter than 55°. 
5 
One of the vineries this season has had a temperature of 50° to 
65°. After several years’ experience I do not think the Vines are 
at all the worse for having the winter rather warmer than is 
generally supposed to be good for them. It must be remembered, 
however, that all our Vines have a high temperature in August 
and September, in order to ripen the wood thoroughly and finish 
the fruit. The Vines rest until we wish them to commence 
growth in spring. 
Though I do not think I would have voluntarily turned vineries 
into what are practically forcing houses during the winter season, 
yet there does not appear to be any reason why the Vines should 
not pass the winter as safely under such conditions as when they 
are kept perfectly cool. Provided they are not induced to com¬ 
mence a premature growth, and by securing hard well-ripened 
wood in autumn, it is difficult to see how any harm can accrue 
from subjecting them to a somewhat milder resting season than 
is usually provided. Vines for the production of early Grapes 
rest, or remain quiescent, throughout the summer months under 
very much more trying conditions than do those now under dis¬ 
cussion ; and at the period they have been used to commence 
growth in, rhey respond to the treatment given them at that time, 
and begin their season’s growth. And it is so with these late 
Vines. They wait until their usual period for commencing growth 
arrives, and under the treatment given them at that time they 
start well. Anyone whose plant structures are not equal to the 
requirements of the establishment may safely turn late vineries 
into structures for producing such flowers as above mentioned. 
If managed judiciously there is no difficulty in growing Grapes 
for winter and flowers as well.—A Nor’-Easteu. 
TROPiEOLUM SPECIOSUM. 
As the discussion as to growing Tropseolum speciosum in 
England goes on in the Journal, perhaps it may be well to give 
our experience of it in the cottage garden here. Having seen the 
plant in its beauty in Perthshire we wished to grow it, and pro¬ 
cured a few roots from a London nurseryman, who made the not 
veiy encouraging remark that we should not bloom them. They 
were planted in the coolest dampest place in our warm garden, in 
a Lily bed made of stronger soil than usual under a high oak 
fence which sheltered them from the sun. The first year I do not 
think they came up, but every succeeding year they have grown 
more strongly, both leaves and flowers becoming constantly larger, 
till this year they seemed thoroughly established—climbing up 
Lily stems and covering a large plant of Garrya elliptiea, and 
growing up a Periploca gireca trained on the fence. The effect 
was beautiful, and this year for the first time there was a quantity 
of the pretty fruit. I have seen the plant flowering well in a 
warm situation on Mr. Barnard Hankey’s house at Cranleigb, and 
Mr. George Paul tells me that it grows vigorously in the garden at 
High Beech in a hedge. Acting on this hint I have planted some 
in our Cherry Plum hedge (which, by-the-by, is quite a success), 
and believe that it will do well. I believe that the great thing is 
to wait patiently and not to disturb it. 
There have been several questions as to the best cure for 
American blight on Apple trees. We planted at Oakwood one 
hundred young Apple trees, and, owing probably to the ground 
being at first insufficiently drained, we had much American blight. 
My man keeps a box of Gishurst compound open and a hard 
painter’s brush, and well lathers on any appearance of the 
pest. This at once disposes of it, and the dressing does good 
rather than otherwise to the tree.— George F. Wilson. 
Vegetation in Siberia. —In Baron Nordenskjold’s admirable work 
“ The Voyage of the Vega,” occurs the following passage referring to 
the vegetation of Siberia. “ On the slopes of the steep tundra bank 
and in several of the tundra valleys there is an exceedingly rich 
vegetation, which already, only 100 kilometres south of Yefremo- 
Kamen, forms actual thickets of flowering plants, while the tundra 
itself is overgrown with an exceedingly scanty carpet, consisting 
more of mosses than of grasses. Salices of little height go as far- 
north as Port Dickson (73°30' N.L.), the dwarf Birch (Betula nana,L.) 
is met with, though only as a bush creeping along the ground, at 
Cape Schaitanskoj (72° 8'N.L.) ; and here in 1875, and on the ice- 
mixed soil of the tundra, we gathered ripe Cloudberries. Very 
luxuriant Alders (Alnaster fruticosus, Ledeb.) occur already at Hesen- 
kin (71° 28' N.L.), and the Briochov Islands (70° to 71°N.L.) are in 
several places covered with rich and luxuriant thickets of bushes. 
But the limit of trees proper is considered to begin first at the great 
bend which the river makes in 09° 40' N.L., a little north of Dudino. 
Here the hills are covered with a sort of v r ood consisting of half- 
withered, grey, moss-grown Larches (Larix sibirica), which seldom 
reach a height of more than 7 to 10 metres, and which much less 
