388 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ XoTcmbar 1, 1883. 
which they are estimated. An employer is not compelled to give a character 
to a servant, but if he writes anything that is untrue about him, and 
thereby injures him by preventing him obtaining another situation, such 
employer renders himself actionable, and may be compelled to afford 
adequate compensation to the person whom he is proved to have injured 
unjustly. 
Chamaerops Out of doors (Sussex). —The well-known Chammrops humilis 
is the hardiest of Palms in cultivation, and is the only one found in Europe. 
This in the south of England succeeds well out of doors, and needs no pro¬ 
tection ; but in exposed cold or damp situations, even ar-ound London, it is 
frequently injured during winter if not protected. The same remarks apply 
to C. Fortunei, which is, however, generally less hardy than the other, 
though in some gardens it requires no protection. Two of the finest speci¬ 
mens we have seen are at Heckfield, Winchfield, Hants, the seat of Viscount 
Eversley. These were planted in 18f>9, and now have massive trunks and 
large heads. The plants or trees have had no protection afforded them since 
the first winter after they were planted, but they are supported with fresh 
soil annually, the turf being removed for that purpose and laid down again. 
It is to this care that must be attributed the large, handsome, glossy leaves. 
They are well matched in every respect, as they are not only of the same 
size but of different genders, and are the parents of many plants that have 
been raised from them since they were established in their positions. No 
doubt they would succeed equally well in your district if the soil is not too 
heavy. The Cordyline we do know under the name mentioned, but it is 
probable that it would have survived if it had been efficiently protected. 
Liliums in Pots — Pipes for Heating (F. —Some of the finest examples 
of Lilium auratum in pots are so grown by the cultivators year after year— 
that is to say, fresh bulbs are not obtained annually. There is no better 
time for potting than, as soon as the stems die down, shaking most of the 
old soil from the roots and removing the dead fibi'es, but retaining the 
strong fleshy roots that are usually attached to the bulbs. A compost of 
half loam and half turfy peat, with sand or gritty matter added liberally, 
is suitable, the bulbs to be covered an inch deep, but the pots not filled 
with soil, as it is desirable to leave space for subsequent top-dressings when 
stem roots are produced. The pots may be buried in ashes in a frame the 
same as Hyacinths, and there remain until growth appears from the crowns. 
If when the bulbs are examined they are small or decayed through any 
mistake in the management of the plants, they cannot of course be expected 
to give satisfaction another year. By all means use the ordinary metal 
pipes for heating your greenhouse. Although, as you suggest, thinner 
pipes “heat more quickly,” they also cool more quickly, and this is 
certainly not an advantage when the fire gets low or goes out when you 
may be warm in bed on a cold frosty morning. 
Cucumbers in Winter ( Subscriber , Ireland). —We have not tried the two 
varieties you name, but should certainly do so if we had plants now in a 
forward state in pots. We have found the Cardiff Castle and Telegraph 
varieties answer our purpose well. But you will not find it easy to raise 
strong healthy plants so late in the season from seed ; and if you have not 
had experience in growing Cucumbers in winter you must not be surprised if 
you find your first attempt disappointing. You are at least two months too 
late in starting, as plants for bearing well in winter require to be strong 
now and more than half covering the trellis. You will require a temperature 
of 70° without overheating the pipes, and a bed composed of fermenting 
materials will be useful, though Cucumbers can be well grown without it 
when sufficient bottom heat is in other ways provided. Instructions for 
raising plants for winter were given at the proper time in our “ Work for the 
Week it is a pity you had not seen them and acted on the advice there 
published. 
Nec Plus Meuris Pear (7. M.). —There is indeed a Pear of this name and 
a very good one it is when well ripened. It is described as follows in the 
“ Fruit Manual : ”—“ Fruit medium sized, 2§ inches wide and the same high ; 
roundish turbinate, very uneven and bossed on its surface. Skin rough, dull 
yellow, very much covered with dark brown russet. Eye half open, generally 
prominent. Stalk very short, not at all depressed, frequently appearing as a 
mere knob on the apex of the fruit. Flesh yellowish white, buttery, and 
melting, with a rich, sugary, and vinous flavour. A first-rate Pear ; ripe from 
January till March. It succeeds well as a pyramid, but is best from a wall. 
This is a seedling of Yan Mons, raised in his G-arden la Fidblitd at Brussels, 
and named as a compliment to Pierre Meuris, his gardener, of whom Yan 
Mons said, ‘ Meuris est nb avec la genie de la Pomonomie.’ ” Thus the origin 
of the Pear accounts for its curious and fanciful name, out of which we are 
not surprised you could extract “no meaning.” A tree ought to bear long 
before it is of the age of yours. If your tree grows luxuriantly and produces 
little or no blossom it needs root-pruning. Digging up and replanting it, 
making the soil firm about the roots, would no doubt induce it to blossom 
freely. If the growth is very strong try this plan, and the sooner the work 
is done the better, only let it be done carefully, reserving all the fibrous roots 
and keeping them moist, only cutting off at 4 feet distance from the stem 
the roots that are strong and fibreless. If the growth is only moderately 
strong, the tree may be dug half up this year by cutting the roots on one 
side and any that penetrate downwards, completing the operation another 
season. 
Propagating Conifers (E. P. C. B.). —The following extract from the 
writings of Mr. Bardney on this subject, which are founded on practice, will 
answer your inquiry :—“ At no period of the year is the propagation both of 
hardy flowering shrubs and Conifers carried on in nurseries with greater 
rapidity than from the present time onwards. The majority of Conifers are 
propagated by means of cuttings and grafting, many Pines excepted, and a 
few common varieties of Cupressus, which are readily raised from seed. 
The system adopted where the work is carried out on a large scale entails 
much labour. Narrow beds are formed about 2 feet wide, with a row of 
bricks placed edgeways on each side of the bed, leaving the tops of the 
bricks just above the soil. Handlights or small glazed boxes about the 
same width, and about 3 feet G inches in length, are in readiness before the 
cuttings are inserted. A heap of coarse river or red sand is placed at hand, 
and a good proportion is mixed in the soil, the surface being covered about 
half an inch in depth, after which it is ready for the cuttings. These, when 
the wood is fairly ripened, are frequently taken from the plants intended for 
sale, and others from stock plants kept in borders for the purpose. Some 
care is necessary in taking them so that the plants be not disfigured. The 
portions intended for cuttings should be so taken that when dressed each 
will have a heel. It is necessary that the cut be cleanly done with a sharp 
knife. The cuttings should be made clean for about an inch of the stem 
near the base, and should be from 2 to 4 inches in length, but the length 
matters little provided a good heel is left and the wood is in a proper state 
of ripeness. This mode of making the cuttings applies with equal force to 
all the Cupressus, Thuias, Retinosporas, and many others, but such kinds 
as Cryptomeria elegans, Retinospora ericoides, and others equally free strike 
readily without a heel. The cuttings are inserted as thickly as possible 
under the handlights on the prepared border, making the soil firm around 
them. A good watering is then given and the handlights placed over them. 
These miniature frames are generally arranged in rows, leaving about 2 inches 
between each bed to allow room for the frames to be removed as occasion 
may require. Little trouble is necessary afterwards, only giving shade if the 
sun proves very hot for a time after the cuttings are inserted. It is scarcely 
necessary to again lift the lights before the early spring, as the cuttings 
seldom need water before then. Sufficient will soak in round the handlights 
during wet weather, and keep the soil moist during the winter. The cuttings 
should be kept as close as possible until they are well callussed, which will 
be the case in spring, as if air is given in their early stages many of the 
cuttings may damp off. During winter the only attention that is needed is 
to cover the frames with mats or other protecting material in severe weather. 
It is better if they can be so covered as to exclude all frost, but this is not 
absolutely necessary. I have seen the soil frozen hard for a long time and 
little or no injury has resulted therefrom. Another course of propagation 
can be effected by placing the cuttings in pots in the Conifer house, which is 
generally kept at a temperature of 40° to 45° during the winter. This system 
is practised to a large extent because smaller cuttings can be employed, which 
is often convenient with new and choice varieties.” We know of no work in 
which this subject is so fully treated as by the writer referred to in our issues 
of September 8th and 22nd, and October 6th, 1881, vol. iii., third series.. If 
you do not possess these numbers they can be obtained from the publisher at 
the ordinary price of this Journal, plus the postage, in your case to France. 
There is no work published such as you desire to obtain. 
Storing Potatoes (Idem). —The simplest method is to pile them when dry 
in heaps formed like the ridge of a house on a plot of hard smooth dry ground, 
covering them thickly with straight and dry straw, then digging a trench 
round the heaps and placing the soil on the straw of the desired thickness for 
excluding frost. The heaps may be 3 feet wide at the base and the sides 
made as steep as possible, as if flat the rain will not be excluded. 
Naming Fruits (To Correspondents). —Despite the conditions that we 
are compelled to impose we have every week large boxes and hampers of 
fruit, also requests for replies by post, which it is absolutely impossible can 
be attended to ; in fact, large consignments cannot even be examined. Fruit 
is sent in such quantities that space can scarcely be found for the packages, 
and the air of every room in our establishment is so saturated with the 
effluvium from the fruit that our employes have made serious complaints of 
its affecting their health. We are willing to name small quantities of fruit 
for a useful purpose, and do our best to do so ; but we ask for some con¬ 
sideration under the circumstances. Miserable specimens of worthless 
varieties are frequently sent that are neither worthy of names nor culture. 
We are sorry to say that we have been imposed on by individuals who have 
made it their business to gather fruit from wherever they could and send it 
to us for names out of mere curiosity. 
Names of Fruit ( James Shell). —Marie Louise. (Chelto). —Rambo, an 
American Apple. (J. Mackenzie, AID.). —1, Winter Nelis (?) ; 2, not known ; 
3, Beurre Superfin. (II. Wright). —Hollandbury. (It. J. L.). —6, Dr. Harvey : 
7, Cox’s Orange ; 8, Margil ; 9, Sykehouse Russet; 10, Cockle’s Pippin. 
(Medicus). —1, Winter Pearmain ; 2, Hutton Square ; 3, One of the fruits is 
Sturmer Pippin, the others are not; 4, not known. (J. E. K.). —1, Golden 
Winter Pearmain; 2, Cox’s Pomona ; 3, Cellini; 4, Reinette de Canada ; 
5, rotten ; G, Fondante d’Automne. (T. Prothero). —1, Cellini; 2, resembles 
Bramley’s Seedling ; 3, Minchull Crab ; 4, Cox’s Pomona ; 5, Alfriston ; G, Eck- 
linville. (Rev. W. Jenkins). —1, Autumn Red Cal ville; a 1, Yorkshire Greening ; 
2, Wyken Pippin ; 5, Claygate Pearmain ; 6, Longville’s Kernel; 8, Norfolk 
Colman. (J. E. Waiting). —1, Marie Louise ; 3, Ne plus Meuris ; 4, Beurre 
Diel; 5, Beurrd Clairgeau : 6, Napoleon. The Apples are rightly named, 
and the fruit is very good indeed. Your treatment was very skilful. 
( G. B. A .).—The seedling is a firm good Apple resembling Round Winter- 
Nonesuch. No. 2 is Reinette de Canada. The small Pear is not the Warden, 
that being a large brown stewing Pear ; the other Pear is Forelle. (J. B .).— 
Autumn Red Calville; 2, not known ; 3 and 4, Golden Winter Pearmain. 
All the fruit has been attended to that we have received, except where it has 
been sent in very large quantities. Some small packages have arrived 
without any sender’s name accompanying them, and we are quite unable to 
determine to which parcels the letters that have been received by post refer. 
One box contained Soldat d’Esperen and Dunmore Pears, which are correctly 
named, the other fruit in the same box being decayed. 
Names of Plants (E. T. II.). —The plant is Ampelopsis Yeitchii, which 
sometimes grows very large, particularly when loose from a wall, and in very 
rich soil. (Pen and Ink ).—Your plant is Vallota purpurea, a Cape Amaryllid, 
and valuable for its property of flowering so freely in the autumn. It is 
grown in many gardens for decoration in the autumn. (F. T., Reading ).— 
The Conifer is in all probability Pinus cembra. (B. E.). —1, Anthoxanthum 
odoratum var. Puellii; 2, Panicum pinetorum ; 3, Avena elatior (Arrhena- 
therum avenaceum); 4, Daucus Carota. (B. IF.).—1, Adiantum hripidulum ; 
2, Gymnogramma calomelanos ; 3. Aspleniura viviparum ; 4, Asplenium 
Belangeri; 5, Davallia elegans ; G, Davallia tenuifolia var. stricta. (Preston). 
—Maxillaria nigrescens. (J. J., Lancashire). —1, The spray with four flowers 
is Trichopilia albida ; 2, Epidendrum nocturnum ; 3, Odontoglossum Schlimii; 
4, Odontoglossum hebraicum. (II. J.). —1, Odontoglossum grande; 2, Elteag- 
nus argentea ; 4, Abies Mertensiana ; 6, Aspidium aculeatum. The other 
specimens are insufficient for recognition without flowers or some information 
respecting the habit and character of the trees or shrubs. (Aurora). —The 
plant is Tamarix gallica, a native of European countries, and found growing 
near the seacoast. You will see abundance of it at nearly every watering 
place on the south coast of England. 
