218 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 6, 1883. 
denote that you are a skilful cultivator of Ferns. The old fronds of Adiantum 
concinnum latum, which we consider one of the most beautiful of the e;enus, 
are rather apt to become discoloured towards the end of the season. We will 
readily publish a letter from you on the cultivation of these plants, which 
you can evidently prow so well. 
Market Gardening (II. T. G .).—However willing we are to advise you, 
the data before us is quite insufficient to enable us to do so satisfactorily. 
You allude to a garden of which you do not state the size, nor do you 
appear to know whether the glass structures are suitable for your purpose 
or not. You must satisfy yourself on this point, also on the character of the 
soil, taking note also on the fruit trees. In a garden of 2 or 3 acres with 
good fruit trees an industrious and competent man ought to be able to get 
a living if, as in the case to which you allude, there are good markets for the 
produce. The best advice we can give you is to inspect the garden closely 
and estimate its resources carefully, and if you can induce a practical gar¬ 
dener to accompany you, you will be the better able to arrive at a sound 
decision on the matter. 
Vines Unhealthy (J. T. S.). —The portion of lateral you have sent is very 
unsatisfactory, being weak, soft, and containing too much pith. As you say 
all the Vines are not in this state, the best course you can adopt will be to 
train additional growths from the healthy Vines and remove the rods that 
are the most disappointing. You have done right in encouraging lateral 
growth, but if you are doing this to such an extent as to obstruct the light 
from the main leaves near the base of the laterals you are carrying out the 
principle of extension to excess. You had better take off the points of the 
laterals now as you suggest, and in all probability some of the weaker will 
he better removed entirely to admit light and air freely to those remaining 
with the object of maturing the wood- The temperatures you quote are 
correct, and syringing should not be resumed. 
Chrysanthemum Culture (C. P. 17.). —Practical hints on culture are, 
as you suggest, never unwelcome ; but your note is so extraordinarily con¬ 
cise as to fail to convey pi'actical information. You say, “ watering as 
practised by many cannot lead to good results,” but omit to say how it 
should be practised. The chemical constituents yon quote, even if correct, 
are of no value as they stand ; they at least should be quantitative. You 
say, “ manures rich in animal matter are productive of mildew,” but do not 
indicate what to apply. Your note on pegging down, a practice with which 
we are well acquainted with, is quite unintelligible. If you will write more 
fully and clearly on the subject, which no doubt you well understand, we 
will readily publish your notes. You do yourself an injustice in the scrap 
before us. 
New Pea (A. S. D .).—Although we do not remember a Pea exactly like 
the one of which you have sent pods, we are not prepared to say the variety 
is distinct from all others, as we know that others have “ selected ” from the 
same variety that you have with the object of improving on an excellent 
Pea. You must at least grow your selection another year and note all the 
characters of the variety before its merits can be sufficiently tested. The 
Pea pods you have sent are alone quite insufficient to enable us to answer 
your question. We can only say they are too tapering to be considered first- 
rate, but you admit you can grow them finer. We advise you to do so, 
especially as you will not lose if you do not gain anything by another year’s 
trial. While the variety appears promising, we are not sanguine that it will 
possess any great commercial value ; it is, however, worthy of further trial. 
Aspect for Lean-to Fruit Houses (./. Chapman ).—Peaches and Nectarines 
should for choice have the south and west aspects, and Apricots the east. 
All three fruits answer so well, however, on either aspect under glass that it 
would be well to mix them, so as to obtain successional crops of all, and thus 
add to the utility of your long ranges of glass. The position and method of 
training the trees is ruled by the width of the house. A house 12 to 18 feet 
wide has ample space for the trees to be planted in front and trained upon 
a trellis under the roof ; but in a narrow house the trees answer best trained 
against the back wall, in which case you may take a single cordon up each 
principal rafter from the front. Such rafters are usually about 8 feet apa't, 
and cordons at that distance throw no hurtful shade upon the back wall. 
If you adopt this plan have fan-trained trees of Peaches, Nectarines, and 
Apricots against the back wall, and cordons of Plums to the rafters. 
Sometimes, instead of cordons up the rafters, Grape Vines are planted near 
the front about 20 feet apart, each Vine having a single rod trained 
horizontally along under the glass 2 feet from the bottom of the roof. We 
have seen excellent Black Hamburgh Grapes grown in this manner equal in 
every respect to any we have ever had from a vinery. 
Collecting Plants (Collector). —Your letter does you very great credit. 
We admire your earnestness, and not less the endeavours you are making 
to fit yourself for the arduous duties pertaining to the work in which you 
desire to engage. We are glad also to observe, to quote your own words, 
that you are “fully aware that hardships, dangers, hunger, and disease 
may beset the plant-collector at every step ; ” but then you ask, “ What, 
to the scientific naturalist, are the weary days of toil and wandering he 
has passed through in comparison to the delight experienced in discovering 
some new and rare exotic unknown to science and commerce ? ” To fit 
yourself for this work you must first be intimately acquainted with all 
plants that have been introduced. A sojourn at Ivew would afford you the 
best facilities for acquiring knowledge, and if you write such a letter to 
Mr. Smith, the Curator, as you have written to us it will be sure to receive 
his attention. As you cannot for some time leave your father’s nursery 
you might with advantage study Oliver’s “Elementary Botany” (4s. Gd.) 
and Hooker’s “Elementary Botany” (Is.), both published by Macmillan. 
Lindley and Moore’s “Treasury of Botany” (Longmans), and Lindley’s 
“ Vegetable Kingdom ” might also be useful, but the latter can only, 
perhaps, be obtained second-hand. The price of the former two volumes 
is 12s. At Kew the students have access to a complete botanical library. 
Wool Waste as Manure (71 B ).—Wool waste from a carpet manu¬ 
factory is not “ a good manure for garden crops in general,” for it supplies 
nothing but nitrogen to growing crops, unless it be sulphur. The trouble 
is to get it to supply even these, for, as you observe, there is no getting 
it to decay. When dug-in in the ordinary way the masses are crushed into 
pieces of felt that are rather worse than nothing in the soil, as they remain 
undecayed, and produce often enough a crop of had fungus. If you can 
find time to shake out the “ shoddy ” or “ cadis,” so that it can be thoroughly 
diffused through a heap of ordinary manure, and then subjected to a long- 
fermentation, it will greatly add to the value of the manure, as such 
contains 4 or 5 per cent, of nitrogen, and ordinary manure about an eighth 
of that only. As nitrogen is the most valuable ingredient, although by 
itself not sufficient, in manure, the thorough decomposition of the waste in 
mixture with the manure would be a highly desirable object. The mixture 
of waste with sewage is even more valuable still, but the same process is- 
necessary to make it of any use. If a market could be got for it, perhaps- 
you could not better do than sell it and buy manure with the proceeds, for 
it may fetch £2 per ton from the manure manufacturers, who, to render it 
fit for use, subject such material to a prolonged digesting process with 
sulphuric acid. We do not suppose you have the apparatus for doing so, 
or we would recommend you to digest it. But for the trouble in properly 
mixing it with manure, fermenting it is the best way for you. The closet 
mixture might be laid up, mixed with half its bulk of soil, and this would, 
in a year or two, if protected from rain, form a very valuable manure indeed j 
but merely digging it in as you do is of little or no use for anything. 
Names of Fruits (E. F. B.). —No one can possibly name a Peach from 
a solitary fruit, and that perhaps not a well-grown typical specimen. We 
can only say, if the tree bears small flowers and there are no glands on the 
leaves, that your variety is probably Koyal George. (J. Charlton). —The 
Apple is Keswick Codlin. The Rose is very fine and very fragrant, one of the 
sweetest scented we have seen. Send it to the Floral Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society on Tuesday next. 
Names of Plants (Lady King). —The petals of the flowers had quite 
withered and curled up in transit, but judging by the character of the stems 
and seed pods the annual appears to be a Viscaria, probably V. oculata. 
(Capt. Preston). —Abies alba, the White Spruce, a hardy and useful tree for 
general planting, but the wood is of little value. (T. S.). —Tall umbellifer, 
Smyrnium olusatrum; Aster-like flower, Stenactis speciosa ; white flower, 
Malva moschata alba; 10, Francoa ramosa; 11, Caucalis Anthriscus. The- 
others will be named next week. (J. W. A.). —1, Veronica incana ; 2, Saxifraga. 
(Megasea) crassifolia ; 3, insufficient; 4, Tradescantia virginica. 
Transferring Bees (F. J .).—Although expert apiarians would not hesitate 
to move bees from one hive to another at any time between the end of March 
and September, yet the any-period system is always attended with more or 
less sacrifice of brood. We would advise you to move your bees out of your 
old hives and put them in clean sweet hives at once, and place them on the- 
same stand as before. Utilise any patches of brood by placing them in a 
super, and wedge them apart by small pieces of comb, so that the bees can 
run amongst them, and place them over the crown hole of your hives to- 
batch out, when they may be dispensed with ; or, if you prefer, you may wait 
until twenty-one days after the issue of your first swarms next year, when 
the bees may be transferred without the loss of a single cell of brood, other 
than a few drones, which will be of no value at that season of the year ; 
indeed, drones are at all times too plentiful. 
COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— September 5th. 
Business remains quiet, the supply of soft fruits being almost over, a good supply 
of foreign Pears arriving realising high prices. 
FRUIT. 
s. 
d. 
S. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
5. 
d - 
Apples .. .. 
1 
0 to 2 
6 
Grapes. 
.. Ib. 
1 
0 
to 3 
ft 
»> » • • • 
per barrel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Lemons. 
10 
0 
20 
0 
Apricots 
.. box 
2 
0 
2 
6 
Melons. 
2 
0 
3 
ft 
Cherries.. .. 
.. J sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Nectarines .. .. 
dozen 
2 
0 
6 
o 
Chestnuts 
.. bushel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Oranges. 
.. 100 
6 
0 
10 
0 
Currants, Black 
.. J sieve 
3 
6 
0 
0 
Feaches. 
dozen 
2 
0 
6 
o 
„ Red 
.. j sieve 
4 
0 
0 
0 
Pears, kitchen .. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Figs .. .. 
2 
0 
0 
0 
„ dessert 
dozen 
3 
6 
s 
ft 
Filberts .. .. 
.. .. it. 
1 
0 
0 
0 
Pine Apples, English .. lb. 
2 
0 
3 
o 
Cobs .. .. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Raspberries .. 
0 
2 
0 
3 
Gooseberries.. 
.. J sieve 
2 
6 
3 
0 
Strawberries.. .. 
0 
3 
0 
ft 
VEGETABLES. 
s. 
d. 
S. 
d. 
S. 
d. 
s. cL 
Artichokes 
.. dozen 
o 
0 to 4 
0 
Mushrooms .. 
punnet 
l 
0 
to 1 
& 
Asparagus, English bundle 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Mustard and Cress 
punnet 
0 
2 
0 
3 
Asparagus, French bundle 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Onions . 
bunch 
0 
0 
0 
4 
Beans, Kidney 
lb 
0 
3 
0 
4 
Parsley .. dozen bunches 
3 
0 
4 
a 
Beet, Red 
.. dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Parsnips. 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 
o 
Broccoli .. 
0 
9 
1 
0 
Peas. 
quart 
0 
9 
0 
ft 
Cabbage .. .. 
.. dozen 
0 
6 
1 
0 
Potatoes. 
cwt. 
4 
0 
5 
ft 
Capsicums 
100 
1 
6 
2 
0 
,. Kidney .. 
cwt. 
4 
0 
5 
o 
Carrots .. 
0 
4 
0 
0 
Radishes., dozen bunches 
1 
0 
0 
& 
Cauliflowers .. 
.. dozen 
2 
0 
3 
0 
Rhubarb. 
bundle 
0 
4 
0 
0 
Celery .. .. 
1 
6 
2 
0 
Salsafy .. 
bundle 
1 
0 
0 
0- 
Coleworts doz. bunches 
2 
0 
4 
0 
Scorzonera .. .. 
bundle 
1 
6 
0 
ft 
Cucumbers 
.. each 
0 
4 
0 
6 
Seakaie. 
basket 
0 
0 
0 
ft 
Endive .. 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Shallot3. 
.. lb. 
0 
3 
0 
ft 
Fennel .. .. 
0 
3 
0 
0 
Spinach. 
bushel 
2 
6 
3 
ft 
Herbs .. .. 
0 
2 
0 
0 
Tomatoes 
.. lb. 
0 
6 
0 
ft 
Leeks .. .. 
0 
3 
0 
4 
Turnips. 
bunch 
0 
0 
0 
4 
Lettuce .. .. 
1 
0 
1 
6 
MOUNTAIN BREEDS OF SHEEP. 
(Continued from page 198.) 
The next breed to be noticed is the Lcnk, and tbis from 
