JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 45 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat- although they are often grown under glass, and are largely employed for the 
ing to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee subjects, and embellishment of conservatories. 
should never send more than two or three questions at once. All Melons not Setting (R. C.).—You Fay nothing about the health or con- 
articles intended for insertion should be written on one side of dition of the plants. Possibly they are too crowded, or the soil is too light and 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, 
and we do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Measuring Gooseberries (L. T. T .).—A half sieve contains three and a 
half imperial gallons, or fourteen quarts, so you will perceive the Covent Gar¬ 
den prices and your own are as nearly as possible identical. 
Brachycome iberidifolia (II. MI). —This is the plant to which you 
allude. It is figured on page 413 of our issue of November 3rd, 1881, and you 
can have the number if you desire it in return for 3J<i. in stamps sent to the 
publisher. The plant is an annual, and seeds sown now would produce flowering 
plants late in the autumn. It is pretty grown in pots for greenhouse decoration, 
also for borders in the open air. 
Early Gladioluses ( A.M. ).—The white Gladiolus which you have seen in 
the flower markets is G. Colvilli albus ; The Bride is reputed to be a superior 
form of this, and is valuable for affording flowers for cutting. The scarlet and 
pink kinds are varieties of G. ramosus, of which there are several. Queen 
Victoria, Prince Albert, and formosissimus have scarlet flowers flaked with white ; 
Lord Auckland and Ne plus Ultra have rose and white flowers, and Lavinia and 
insignis rosy purple and white. These are a few amongst others that are good. 
The very early dark purple kind sold cheaply in large bunches is E. byzantinus. 
Roses for House (Idem). —All the varieties you name will with good 
cultivation grow and flower freely under glass, but all of them will not cover a 
roof alike quickly. You do not, however, say you desire them all for that pur¬ 
pose. As dark Hoses suitable for the roof, you will find Reine Marie Henriette 
and Cheshunt Hybrid excellent. Madame Lambard is a valuable variety either 
for the Rose house or open air. 
‘ Single Pyrethrums (Major). — Your small plants that produced one 
flower each, and “look as if they were going to die,” will in all probability pro¬ 
duce growths from the base, and form good plants next year. Remove the 
flowers, but do not cut the stems off close to the ground—that is to say, leave 
those portions having fresh healthy leaves. If the weather is dry water the 
plants freely, and if the ground is poor give liquid manure. In the course of a 
week or two fresh growths will appear close to the ground, and by the autumn 
will form fine healthy plants. 
Second Growths on Pear Trees (J. Damon). —Trees that are grow¬ 
ing freely and have the shoots pinched or shortened early, say in June, always 
produce second growths, especially where there is no fruit to support. These 
growths should be promptly removed, as if left unchecked the trees will.be more 
crowded than if they had not been pruned at all. Our practice is to remove 
these subsidiary growths as soon as they are 2 or 3 inches long, leaving one leaf 
at the base of each. When thus young and crisp they snap off easily, and a 
good-sized tree can be completed in a few minutes. Still further growths may 
issue, and they also must be removed. 
Preparing Quassia Water (A Man of Kent). —Although it is usual to 
pour boiling water on quassia chips for producing a decoction for destroying 
insects it is not essential; the insecticide is more quickly made by that process—■ 
that is all. If you place quassia chips in a vessel and pour cold water on them, 
allowing them to remain for forty-eight hours or more, you will find the effect 
of the water as potent in destroying insects as if boiling water had been used. 
An ounce of chips to a gallon of water is the quantity to use, and no further 
dilution will be needed. 
Suckers from Manetti Stocks (Eunice). —We can quite understand 
your disappointment, but as Roses thrive so well on this stock in your garden 
we certainly should not reject it entirely'. The Manetti cuttings were roughly 
made, the eyes not having been removed from them before insertion, hence the 
annoyance to which you are subjected. We have grown hundreds of Roses on 
the Manetti, and seen thousands grown by others, and a sucker from the stock 
is a rare occurrence. In most nurseries where Roses are largely grown care is 
taken that the plants do not produce growths from the stock. You have been 
unfortunate. 
Market Gardens (C. II.). —They are not public gardens, and it is not by 
any means easy to obtain access to all of them either with or without an intro¬ 
duction. Your only course is to write to such of the proprietors as you choose. 
Mr. Warren, we feel sure, will permit you to inspect his grounds, and will 
probably be able to give you information that will be useful to you in your 
future movements. 
Pansy (A. II.). —If you will state the name of the variety, if you are able to 
do so, or refer us to the description to which you allude, we shall be better able 
to reply to your letter. You simply say the flowers have “ not answered to the 
description given,” but do not indicate where that particular description is to be 
found, nor by whom it was given. If you will supply us with this information, 
or describe the variety more fully, we will do our best to aid you in procuring 
what you want. 
Spruce Firs Unhealthy (0. S .).—It is not at all unusual for Spruces to 
lose their vigour in soil of your description after growing for twenty years. The 
growth is very weak, indicating exhaustion, and we know of no means for 
restoring the health of the trees, growing, as they are, in a shrubbery. In all 
probability they will get worse as they get older, as Spruce trees frequently do 
in such soil as you describe. 
Pinching Dwarf Fruit Trees (An Amateur). —You ask if the trees 
“ ought to have produced second growths ” after the first growths had been 
pinched. Yes : unless trees are heavily cropped with fruit and do not produce 
second growths after the first were pinched in June we conclude they are not in 
a very healthy or satisfactory condition. See our reply to another correspon¬ 
dent, whose letter we had answered on the same subject before yours was 
received. 
Spiraea palmata (P. C.). —Our remarks last week applied to this plant, and 
the name of S. japonica was the result of a clerical error. S. palmata is a hardy 
herbaceous plant—quite as hardy, so far as we know, as S. japonica. Deutzias 
are hardy shrubs, and not eligible for competition in classes for stove and green¬ 
house plants except under specified conditions. The same remarks apply to the 
Ghent and Mollis varieties of hardy or American Azaleas; but Azaleas of the 
indica type are greenhouse plants. The common Myrtle is also a greenhouse 
plant, and will not endure the severity of our winters in open positions without 
protection ; but no protection whatever is needed by either Spirrna palmata or 
S. japonica, therefore they cannot strictly be regarded as greenhouse plants, 
rich ; if so, thin-out the growths, make the soil firm, and give less water. We 
should not shorten the leading growths so closely as you indicate, as if you stop 
them about a foot from tiie sides of the frame they will, we think, produce fruit- 
bearing laterals ; and if the flowers are fertilised as they expand, and the tempe¬ 
rature and ventilation are rightly managed, the fruit will swell and afford a 
succession to the plants that are now bearing. You will find further informa¬ 
tion relative to setting Melons in our “Work for the Week.” 
Growing Celery (F. Share ).—The manure you have used is good, but that 
from the pigstye or cow byre is preferable to that from the horse stable for 
light sandy soil. Until the plants are earthed up—and we should not apply the 
earth too soon, but instead, tied them up loosely when they are large enough— 
you will find it of advantage to mulch the ground over the roots with rich 
manure. The water that is applied will wash its virtues to the roots, and the 
covering will prevent the evaporation of moisture. Soot water given occasionally, 
with an ounce of salt to a four-gallon pot or pail of water, will stimulate growth, 
so also will liquid manure made from cow and sheep dung. An ounce of super¬ 
phosphate of lime dissolved in a gallon of water is good for Celery, but nothing 
that we know of makes it grow more rapidly than nitrate of soda used at the 
rate of half an ounce to the gallon of water. You will find it is good practice 
to vary the stimulants you employ, yet you must apply all of them judiciously, 
using liquid manure rather weak at first, increasing the strength as the plants 
become large. You must also remember that by forcing the growth unduly 
you may induce soft pithy stems, and large heads find no favour with judges 
unless the stems are very crisp and solid. 
Funkias (E. Milton ).—You ask, “What Funkias are like?” It is im¬ 
possible to give you a reply that would be intelligible from any written descrip¬ 
tion alone, but the above figure will enable you to form an idea of the appear¬ 
ance of the plants. They are hardy herbaceous perennials ; some have leaves 
6 inches long and 2 inches wide, others having foliage twice that size, and the 
flower spikes range from 1 to 2 feet long. They are beautiful border plants that 
flower at this season of the year, and you cannot err by securing a collection for 
your garden. Some have rose-coloured flowers, and others lilac, more or less 
striped with white, and the foliage is very handsome. You will find them quite 
hardy in Yorkshire. 
Caterpillars on Fruit Trees (D. D. Lj — We are sorry to learn that 
caterpillars are unusually abundant this year, and are doing great injury to 
fruit and forest trees in various districts. We doubt very much whether wash¬ 
ing the stems of the trees with lime would prove a remedy for the present 
attack or act as a preventive against future attacks ; but the application could 
not do harm and you need not hesitate to try it. In all probability if you 
were to syringe the trees with a solution of quassia chips and helleboi'e powder 
you would destroy many of the caterpillars. If you mix the hellebore powder 
with warm water so as to form a paste, then add a gallon of cold water to each 
ounce of hellebore, and with this mix water in which quassia chips have been 
immersed for twenty-four hours, at the rate of ounce to the gallon, and apply 
through a garden engine or hand pump, it will, we think, kill all the cater¬ 
pillars it touches and do no harm to the foliage of the trees. You had better, 
however, gather the Cherries, if any, before washing the trees. Several fruit 
trees might be washed in a day, and the labour would doubtless be profitably 
invested, as if the caterpillars are not destroyed they may destroy the trees. 
Neglected Plants (Gardener ).—Plants of Eucharise3, Cypripediums, and 
Pancratiums in the condition you describe could not have had better treatment 
