JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 19, 1882. ] 
Secretary, Mr. J. Huckle, King’s Langley, Herts, on or before Wednes¬ 
day, February 1st. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
John Cattell, Westerham, Kent. —Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable 
Seeds. 
F. C. Heinemann, Erfurt. —Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable Seeds. 
James Dickson & Sons, 108, Eastgate Street, Chester.— Catalogue of 
Vegetable and Flower Seeds. 
Charles Turner, Slough. —Catalogue of Flotver and Vegetable Seeds. 
Hogg it Robertson, 22, Mary Street, Dublin. —Catalogue of Vege¬ 
table and Flower Seeds. 
Walter Ford Pamber, Basingstoke. —Catalogue of Flower and 
Vegetable Seeds. 
Stephen Brown, Weston-super-Mare, Somersetshire. —Catalogue of 
Flower and Vegetable Seeds. 
William Bull, King’s Road. Chelsea.— Catalogue of Flower and 
Vegetable Seeds. 
George Cooling & Son, Bath. —Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable 
Seeds. 
W. P. Laird & Sinclair, Dundee. —Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable 
Seeds. 
%* 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 Poultry and Bee subjects, and 
should never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended 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 (E. B .).—Probably the book you require is the “ Pocket Guide to 
British Ferns,” published by Mr. David Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s Place, Trafalgar 
Square, Loudon. 
Heaviest Gooseberry (K. L., Cheshire'). —The heaviest fruit of which we 
have any record is of London, a red variety, which weighed 37 dwt. 7grs.in 
1850. If any of our readers know of heavier fruits we will readily record them. 
Indian Hawthorn (J. Melton). —The shrub of which the above is the 
popular name is Itaphiolepis ovata. It is a native of China and is hardy, at 
least in the southern counties. It is propagated by cuttings selected when the 
wood is half ripe, and inserted in sandy soil under a handlight in a shaded 
place. 
Primulas (S. C.). —We received the flowers, and all of them are good, some 
very fine ; but as they did not arrive in the order in which they were placed in 
the box, but were a confused mixture, we are unable to refer to them individually. 
Without doubt the plants producing such flowers have been well grown, and we 
shall be glad to publish the details of your method of culture. 
Ages of Trees (A'.).—We are unable to answer your question explicitly, as 
both the trees, being exotics, are greatly influenced by the positions and districts 
in which they are grown, and by the weather. We can only say that we know 
specimens of Portugal Laurels upwards of a century old ; but we do not know 
of any Almonds that have approached that age in this country. 
Orchard House Notes (J. E., A.). —We think perhaps the article you re¬ 
quire is on page 261 of No. 601, vol. xxiii., new series, the issue of October 3rd, 
1872. If you do not possess this number the publisher can perhaps send it to 
you in return for 8 Jd. in postage stamps. 
Mushrooms Failing ( X. Y. Z.).—lt you will inform us under what con¬ 
ditions the Mushrooms were attempted to be grown, such as the composition of 
the beds, temperature maintained, and the management generally, we will 
endeavour to point out the cause of failure. You afford us no data whatever 
to enable us to arrive at a decision on the matter. 
Winter Cucumbers ( Ilortus ).—You cannot do better than follow the 
instructions that are given from time to time in our “Work for the Week,” and 
you will find a paragraph on page 38, last week, in which the routine is clearly 
given. A sufficiently moist atmosphere can be maintained without syringing at 
this period of the year. There is no occasion to apply lime water in the con¬ 
dition you name. When used clear it is not injurious, and answers the purpose 
intended. Your last supposition in reference to worms is the right one. 
Cutting Arbor Vitses (C. M. M., Croydon). —You may cut them back at 
any time if you do not object to their naked appearance afterwards for several 
months. If you defer pruning them until May, fresh growth will commence at 
once—that is, if it will commence at all, this depending on the age and condition 
of the specimens. The Apple and Cherry trees may be cut down now for the 
purpose required. 
Seedling Cyclamen (R. W. B.). —Examples similar to those sent are not 
infrequent in collections where large numbers of plants are raised from seed, 
and we have seen similar flowers in the greenhouses of amateurs. We have also 
seen far better examples of double flowers than those before us, in which the 
inner petals, transformed from stamens, are much malformed, and we have had 
them smooth and well developed. Your variety is curious and in a certain 
degree attractive, but possesses no commercial value. 
Mealy Bug on Vines (S. B.). —When Vines are much infested with mealy 
bug in the summer there is nothing that can be applied to the rods in the winter 
that will be effectual in extirpating the pest. You may destroy the insects on 
the Vines, but there may be thousands in other parts of the house—in fissures 
in wood, in strands of matting, in the soil of flower pots and borders, and in 
other places that you may consider very unlikely haunts, and these will increase 
rapidly in the spring. It follows, then, that every portion of a house needs 
cleaning as carefully as the Vines do. If you dissolve 3 ozs. of Gishurst com¬ 
pound in a gallon of water, and add thereto a small wiueglassful of paraffin, and 
apply this to the Vines at a temperature of 150° or more—indeed as hot as the 
hand can be borne in it for a moment, you may, if the work is thoroughly done, 
remove every insect from the bark. When you have done this every portion of 
the woodwork should be washed with equal care, every insect destroyed that 
may be on the plants, the surface soil removed from the pots and borders, and 
fresh compost added. Even if you do all this, and the work is carefully and 
well carried out, some insects will almost certainly appear in spring, and these 
must be sedulously watched for and promptly destroyed. It is only by constant 
watchfulness and unflagging perseverance that mealy bug can be banished from 
houses in which the insects are firmly established ; and the man who accom¬ 
plishes it deserves as much credit as those do who grow plants and fruits so well 
as to obtain prizes for them at the best exhibitions. 
Plants for Greenhouse (.4. II.). —Your statement that you can insure 
a mean temperature of 55° is no guide to us for the purpose in question. If you 
mean a minimum temperature of 55°, and the atmosphere is healthy, you can 
grow all kinds of intermediate-house plants and many stove plants. We venture 
to say, however, that you cannot maintain any such temperature in a house 
18 feet square with a paraffin stove. If you can keep the night temperature 
between 40° and 45°, and the atmosphere sweet and healthy—a most important 
condition, you can grow all kinds of greenhouse plants—Azaleas, Camellias, 
Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Calceolarias, Cyclamens, Heaths, and other hardwooded 
plants, also various bulbs. Of these and many other plants you will find sound 
information relative to propagation and culture in our greenhouse manual, post 
free 1(W, and “ Florists’ Flowers for the Many,” post free, price 4jrf. If you need 
more precise information than these works afford we will gladly impart it at 
any time through our columns. 
Pot Truck for Orchard House Trees (J. E .).—We find the following 
relative to this subject which was communicated to us several years ago by Mr. 
J. Garnett, The Grange, Bolton :—“It is well known that the flavour of Peaches 
and Nectarines grown in pots 
is much improved if the trees 
are carried out into the open air 
a week or ten days before the 
fruit is ripe ; but it is rather 
difficult to move trees in 18-inch 
pots with branches down to the 
bottom, extending 2 feet on each 
side, without either injuring the 
branches or shaking off some of 
the fruit. To overcome this diffi¬ 
culty I have had a machine made, 
of which I send you a drawing. 
It answers the purpose admir¬ 
ably. By means of slots in the 
axle, and also in the upright 
bearers which carry the clips, 
I adjust the latter to about the 
proper height and width of pots 
to be removed, and when these 
are properly set, pots measuring 
from 11 to 18 inches can be re¬ 
moved without altering any¬ 
thing except the two handles, 
which lie on the cross-bar of the 
truck. When I wish to remove 
a pot I adjust these handles, so 
that the points of the clips are 
a little wider than the bottom 
diameter of the pot; next elevate 
the handles of the truck, and 
slip the clips round the bottom 
of the pot; then, by depressing 
the handles again, the clips take 
hold of the pot under the rim 
and lift it clean from the ground. 
You will observe, also, that when 
Fig. 13. the handles of the truck are the 
proper height for wheeling, the 
clips point upwards at an angle of about 45 c , throwing the tree in a slanting 
position to enable one to get tall trees through doorways of an ordinary height.” 
We are inclined to think that this plan is preferable to the method you have 
submitted, but your sketch is scarcely sufficient to enable us to give a definite 
opinion on the point. If you have your pot truck at work you will be better 
able to estimate the relative merits of the two appliances in question, and we 
shall be glad to have your opinion ou the subject. 
Cinerarias Dying (G. R.). —We have examined your plant carefully, and 
we do not think the small “mites,” which were introduced with the manure, 
have caused the death of the plants, but in your endeavours to kill the mites it is 
not unlikely that you have injured the roots, many of them being in a state of 
partial decay, and all of them unhealthy. The plants have been grown too 
luxuriantly in their early stages by the use of rich light soil. The soil employed 
at the final potting was in our opinion decidedly too light; for a time the plants 
would grow in it vigorously—become, in fact, plethoric, but when the strain of 
flowering occurred the compost did not possess the sustaining power requisite 
for perfecting the growth. We are further of opinion that the plants were too 
much rootbound before they were transferred from small pots, as the roots near 
the stem are much curled, so much so, in fact, as to have caused the water to 
lodge there, this part being excessively, even dangerously, wet. We have known 
many plants die from the causes indicated—namely, permitting them to first 
become rootbound and using compost altogether too light at the final potting, 
and in our experience similar results seldom happen when a different method of 
culture is adopted and a firmer compost employed. Those skilled cultivators 
who produce Cinerarias in thousands for Covent Garden Market would not 
permit anyone to pot their plants in such soil as you have used, even if he would 
