November 29, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
4G1 
harsh, and we again admitted some of it at 8.30, closing at 1 o’clock. 
No air was given on the 5th, ;s it was not bright long at a time. 
The morning of the 6th. opening brightly, we gave a little 
ventilation at 8 a.m., and closed the house again at 10 on the 
appearance of clouds. 
The. 7th was . the beginning of a very cold spell of weather. 
Our minimum thermometer outside registered 26° at 4 feet from 
the ground, and the one on the grass 24°; not a great amount of 
frost certainly, but the wind was brisk, and coming as it did after so 
much mild weather it was very trying. 
There were occasional glimses of the sun to warm up our house, 
and yet not sufficient to make it necessary to open the ventilators, so 
that altogether as far as forcing was concerned it was a beautiful day. 
The next day was very much like it, only with the minimum 
temperature one degree lower, and on the 9th it was one degree lower 
still—viz., 24°, while that on the grass was down to 21°, and the wind 
was bitterly cold. Outside vegetation is very much cut up, but 
happily we have not been obliged to open our ventilators since 
the 6th. 
This morning (the 10th) it is to be hoped the w’eatlier has reached 
the climax. Our minimum thermometer registered 174°, or 144 below 
the freezing point, and that on the grass has been down to 11°. 
There is ice inside the glass of all our houses, and in the vinery a 
few of the leaves which press up against the glass are frozen to it. 
The lowest temperature as indicated by a registering thermometer in 
this house was 54°, -which is within one degree of the present 
regulation temperature, and is quite high enough for such severe 
weather. The mischief is owing to the trellis being too near the 
glass ; it never ought to be less than 18 inches, and I much prefer a 
space of at least 2 feet. The sun unfortunately came out brightly as 
soon as it rose, and touching the leaves while they were still frozen, 
a few of. them show the effects of these sudden changes, portions of 
them being reduced in appearance to tinder, but on the whole we 
have escaped apparently without much damage. We gave a little air 
at 7.50, or almost immediately the sun touched the house, and 
increased it at 8.30, it being very bright and calm at this time. 
About 10.30 some pieces of broken cloud appeared and the wind was 
a little brisk ; we therefore reduced the ventilation, although the 
temperature of the house was about 80° and rose a little afterwards, 
and at 12 o'clock we closed it altogether with the mercury at 78°, 
which figure was maintained for a couple of hours later. 
As there is every appearance of the frost continuing we decide to 
put a little litter on the outside border, which hitherto, owing to the 
winter being mild, has had no covering. A little of the driest litter 
we can procure is now spread lightly over the border, which has 
become quite hard on the surface, and ought certainly to have been 
cbvered before last night's frost. We shall remove this litter during 
sunny days and take it away altogether as soon as the weather 
changes. 
The inside border was watered on the 7th and 8th, the area is 
about equal to a perch, and this received 840 gallons. 3 lbs. of two 
star crown manure, which is supposed to contain a considerable 
quantity of potash, was applied after it had received half the quantity 
of water, and the water was used at about 60 °.—Wm. Taylor. 
SWEET PEAS. 
As free-growing, profuse-flowering, pleasing-coloured and deliciously 
fragrant plants Sweet Peas will always command a place in our gardens, 
but considering their great value it is rather surprising that they are not 
cultivated to bloom much longer in the year than is generally the case. In 
an ordinary way when the seed is sown in the open ground in March the 
plants will bloom in June and continue until October, but later in the 
autumn and earlier in the spring they are not to be seen, and it is in this 
respect there is so much room for improvement. By sowing the seed in 
pots we have had them flowering freely until Christmas, and by sowing 
again in January they have bloomed in April, and at all times they are 
most acceptable. They do not require much heat to bring out the 
flowers; and for late blooming they should be specially prepared by 
sowing the seed in August, and not allowing the plants to bloom until 
October ; and for conservatory decoration at this time they have few 
equals. There is yet another mode of growing them which I will point 
out for the benefit of those who have no glass houses. This is to sow the 
feed at once in the open ground, and grow the plants so obtained on as 
we might do the Peas for the kitchen. Seed sown in good soil in 
drills 3 inches deep now will soon germinate and produce plants which 
will flower well in May next, or before that time if the winter and spring 
are mild.—A Kitchen Gardener. 
MEALY BUG AND SCALE ON VINES. 
Permit me to say a few words respecting these, as the time is now 
commencing for eradicating this great pest. I should like to know if any 
reader of the Journal has tried Murray’s Vine Composition for bug and 
scale on Vines and Peaches. It is the best I have ever used. I saw 
it last winter applied to some Vines which were very badly affected 
with these insects and they are now perfectly clean, although the 
same had in previous years been dressed with various compositions 
without effect. I find it a first-class dressing for Peaches affected with 
scale, being quite harmless to the buds and a most effectual exterminator, 
and one which should be in every Vine and Peach-grower's hands, as we 
all experience enough trouble with these pests.—M. A. S. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS AT THE SLOUGH NURSERY. 
All lovers of the Chrysanthemum, where the possibility exists, should 
visit the maguificent display Mr. Turner has provided for all comers. 
Having seen the annual display of Chrysanthemums at Slough for some 
years past, I think it safe to say the present Show has never been 
equalled. Certain it is the exhibitions at the Temple and other metro¬ 
politan centres do not reach the high quality to be found there. Three 
houses are filled with the plants, the square conservatory containing 
Japanese varieties only; a span house, over 100 feet long, with central 
path, being filled chiefly with large-flowering incurved varieties, forming 
sloping banks on either side of the pathway. The front lines are finely 
finished off with dwarf plants of the rich crimson Julie Lagravere and 
pure white Soeur Melanie in quantity, which has a very pretty effect. 
Another house, 50 feet long, contains more incurved varieties, and there 
are some of the largest flowers. Among these I noticed as being particu¬ 
larly fine, Jardin des Plantes, Bronze ditto, Barbara, Mr. Bunn (very fine), 
Refulgence, Beethoven, Beauty of Stoke, Prince Alfred, Princess 
Beatrice, Queen of England, Empress of India, Golden Empress of India, 
Mrs. Heale, Lady Hardinge, Beauty, the Rundle trio, Nil Desperandum, 
Novelty (fine), Yellow Formosa, and Jeanne d’Arc, a pretty variety having 
the waxy petals of White Venus faintly striped with violet, and finely 
incurved. 
Among the Japanese extremely good.were Madame C. Audiguier, 
large deep pink, of exquisite form, Fair Maid of Guernsey, Hiver Fleur, 
Madame Rendatler, Peter the Great, Comte de Germiny, La Nymphe, 
Bouquet Fait, Criterion, Triomphe de Chatelet, Lady Selborne, Oracle, 
The Daimio, Royal Soleil, Meteor, and Duchess de Gerolstein. 
A few very effective new varieties were M. Desbreaux ; Safrano, pale 
primrose with yellow ceotre ; F. A. Davis, fine crimson-red ; Japon Fleurie 
very dark crimson, and Duchess of Albany. All the above varieties are 
well adapted for conservatory decoration, also for exhibition blooms. The 
collection throughout is in fine health, with foliage to the pot’s rim, and 
promises to he in good condition for another fortnight.—C. H. 
EARLY PURPLE-TOP MUNICH TURNIP 
In reply to the inquiry of “W. D. W.” respecting this Turnip at 
page 429, I beg to say that it is the earliest and handsomest variety I am 
acquainted with, and on this account it is invariably grown by exhibitors 
of vegetables at the metropolitan and provincial early summer shows. It 
is, however, inferior in other respects to the Early Snowball and other 
early varieties, being tough and wanting in flavour.—IT. W. Ward. 
In your issue of November 15th, “ W. D. W.” writes for others’ 
experience of the above-named Turnip. I have grown this variety for 
three seasons. It is the earliest Turnip I am acquainted with, and it 
requires to be used in a very young state, or it loses its flavour and 
becomes pithy. The first season I grew it I made several successive 
sowings on a north-east border during spring and summer, but as I found 
the flavour of it inferior to many other varieties, I now only grow one 
small batch of it for early work. The best Turnip I am acquainted with 
for general crop is Veitch’s Red Globe. It is of good flavour, handsome 
shape, remains a very long time fit for use, and stands the winter well.— 
N. Cajipany, The Gardens, Thedden Grange, Alton. 
PANSIES AND VIOLAS. 
ABOUT the year 1874 Mr. Williams of London raised a true cross 
between a Pansy named Imperial Blue or Prince and the common 
Viola cornuta, which I believe was named Perfection, and is well 
known. Interested a9 I was at the time by his success, I repeated the 
cross, and obtained a pod of seed, from which I raised twelve plants 
which flowered the next season, the produce resembling Perfection, 
but the plants were rather dwarfer than that variety, but as regarded 
flowers were precisely similar. I crossed this hybrid, which I named at 
the time Viola “True Blue,” with the pollen from various coloured 
Pansies, and had a considerable number of seedlings to bloom the 
following season. From the seeds so raised Violas became the fashion¬ 
able flower, and the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society of London invited raisers to send their seedlings to be bedded 
out at Chiswick. When the beds were in their best state in June the 
Floral Committee went round and awarded certificates to the most 
meritorious. Of course the members had no knowledge of the raisers, 
as the beds were numbered. Messrs. Dean of London, Dickson & Co. 
of Edinburgh, Fromow, Robertson & Galloway, and myself competed. 
Five first-class certificates were awarded to Mr. Dean, four to Messrs. 
Dickson & Co., I was awarded six, and the other raisers also had several. 
Great diversity of opinion existed at this time as to what were the 
distinguishing features of a true Viola, and the same difference of 
opinion seems to exist still. I have described exactly how my strain 
was obtain el. They are true hybrid cornutas, rather long in shape, 
with the long spur or horn projecting behind the footstalk. Many of 
