396 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t October 26 , isss. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Dickson & Robinson, 12, Old Millgate, Manchester.— Catalogue of 
Fruit Trees. 
J. Cheat & Sons, Crawley, Sussex.— Catalogue of Trees, Shrubs, and 
Bulbs. 
Andrb Leroy, Angers.— Catalogue of Trees. Shrubs, and Plants. 
Stansfield Brothers, 09, Percy Street, Southport.— List of Her¬ 
baceous Plants. 
H. Merryweather, Southwell.— Catalogue of Roses. 
John Laing & Co., Forest Hill, London, S.E.— Catalogue of Roses. 
Trees, Shrubs, and Begonias. 
%* 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. 
Tortoise in Garden (L. T., Putney). —We are not surprised to learn that 
your pet has not appreciably diminished the insects in your garden, the benefits 
of tortoises in this respect being as a rule much exaggerated. A greenhouse 
will be a good place for it in the winter, giving it a little bread and milk 
occasionally. 
Gardener’s Appointment (Northampton).—' The letter you have sent us 
contains the names of your late and present employers, indeed all the particulars 
requisite for making the notification but one, this being your own name. As 
we have received no other letter of the same nature from Northampton you will 
recognise this reply. 
Pruning Fruit Trees (Amateur). —The subject is too large for treating 
successfully in this column, and besides you do not state either the condition or 
names of the trees on which you desire information. We shall shortly publish 
notes on pruning fruit trees, and if after perusing them you desire further 
information, and will specify it, we will readily aid you if we can. 
Pruning Climbing Roses (W. A., Pork).— The young growths will pro¬ 
duce the finest flowers ; but if the shoots are left several feet long they will 
probably be naked towards rhe base, as the lower buds will remain dormant. 
You had better shorten at least some of them, and not crowd any by securing 
too many to the wall, removing all decayed and much of the wiry-looldng wood. 
We could have answered your letter more satisfactorily if you had told us the 
name of the Rose. 
Slugs Eating Cabbages (Idem).— Dust the plants with newly slaked 
lime, applying it at night, when the plants will be covered with the enemy, and 
not in the daytime, when they are lurking in their haunts below the soil. Stir 
the ground frequently with a hoe. This will encourage the growth of the 
plants and check the movements of the slugs. A few ducks turned in the 
garden would probably be useful, but occasionally they assist the slugs to eat 
tender Lettuces. 
Plum Leaves Unsightly (Idem). —Your Plum trees have been infested 
with insects that ought to have been destroyed early in the season. Dress the 
trees after pruning with Gishurst compound or nicotine soap, and be more 
watchful in preventing the increase of the insects another year. 
Stoves for Heating (R. S. B.).—' The stoves you name are useful for certain 
purposes, but we cannot recommend them for heating a vinery, and you had 
better not attempt to “ finish ” your Grapes with them. You say nothing 
whatever about the size of the vinery. Possibly it is too large to be safely 
heated by a stove of any kind. A small boiler and pipes constitute the best 
mode of heating, but a flue of earthenware pipes will be cheaper, and rightly 
made and managed will probably answer your purpose. 
Temperature for Mushrooms (II. C.). —If the heat subsided gradually 
you may, if the spawn and material were good, expect Mushrooms in about 
eight weeks from inserting the spawn. The present temperature of 52° will 
suffice for the bed provided the mycelium has penetrated the mass. That, too, 
will be a suitable temperature for the house, and if it is too high for the plants 
you can reduce it by 5° without injuring the bed ; the growth of the Mushrooms 
will be a little slower, that is all. 
Training Vines (A Reader). —If the rafters are Dot more than 4 feet apart 
you had better train one rod up the centre of each light, not under the rafters. 
You may grow excellent fruit for table with the rods 3 feet apart, provided the 
bearing laterals are not too numerous. If the roof is short, not exceeding 12 or 
14 feet, you may safely take two rods from each Vine. In his large houses at 
Clovenfords Mr. Thomson has two rods and upwards from his Vines, and it is 
questionable if finer crops of Grapes than his can be found at the present time 
in Great Britain. Foster’s Seedling is the most free and certain white Grape for 
planting with the Black Hamburgh. You might try a Vine of the Duke of 
Buccleuch, and if you succeed in growing it well you will not regret the experi¬ 
ment, while if you fail you can easily train an additional rod of one of the others 
in its place. It dees not matter whether a Vine has one, two, or three rods, pro¬ 
vided it can root freely in good soil. 
Potting Plants (F. J .).—Plants generally should be shifted from smaller 
to larger pots as soon as the roots have taken possession of the soil sufficiently 
to just hold it together when the plant is inverted in the hand and the pot is 
withdrawn. A very good index for shifting is the protrusion of healthy roots 
through the drainage. It is a mistake to allow plants to be very much root- 
bound before being shifted. Linnaeus is one of the most suitable varieties of 
Rhubarb for your purpose, it being small, early, and of good colour and flavour 
when cooked. 
The “ Musk Tree” (Inquirer).—' The plant of which you sent a leaf is 
known under the above name, aud is Aster argophyllus, a member of the natural 
order Composites. It is a native of Van Diemens Land, whence it was obtained 
by Messrs. Lee & Kennedy at the beginning of the present century, and in a 
wild state it acquires the dimensions of a small tree. It is well worth cultivating 
in a greenhouse, as the leaves are very' ornamental, owing to the silvery white¬ 
ness of the under surface, and their musky perfume is also very pleasant. 
Ordinary loamy compost suits it very well. Specimens are occasionally seen in 
a collection of old plants, but it is comparatively rare. 
Culture of Thunbergia Harrisi (I). !>■)■ —-This handsome climbing 
plant succeeds best in the temperature of a cool stove or intermediate house, 
but it will succeed in a warm greenhouse, and being trained to the roof its fine 
purplish flowers when hanging in festoons are very ornamental. It can also 
be grown in a pot and trained to a balloon-shaped or other suitable trellis, but 
the most satisfactory results are obtained by planting it out. A compost of 
turfy loam with a little leaf soil and well-decayed manure is required, supplying 
water freely when the plant is growing or flowering. The chief pruning 
needed will be thinning the growths, removing the old shoots, and training in 
young wood. 
Duke of Edinburgh Strawberry (T. Mason). —This is not so new as 
you suppose, as it has been in commerce ten years or more. Still, it is not 
general in gardens. By what 
you say of the habit of the 
plants you have received they 
are very likely to be true, 
especially as the source from 
which you obtained them is 
good. We have not tried it 
for forcing, but Dr. Roden, 
the raiser, recommends it for 
this purpose. Indeed, we may 
appropriately give his descrip¬ 
tion of it, with the accom¬ 
panying figure. “Duke of 
Edinburgh is a fine large fruit 
partaking of the joint cha¬ 
racters of La Constante and 
British Queen. Foliage dark 
green, and the habit of the 
plant quite distinct from all 
other sorts. The fruit is 
mostly obovate in shape, like 
the illustration, and very 
handsome. Colour darkish 
crimson ; seeds numerous and 
decidedly prominent ; flesh 
creamy white ; flavour pi¬ 
quant, vinous, and excellent; 
calyx small for size of fruit. 
It is also one of the best early 
forcers, and only requires to 
_ , , , be better known to be univer- 
Fig. 61.— Duke of Edinburgh. ga]ly cult i va ted under glass 
in place of Keen’s Seedling and other large-growing leafy sorts.” 
Removing Raspberries (E. B. M.).— You will do quite right to shorten 
the canes which vou remove, and to plant them as you propose, only the rows 
must be at the least 4 feet apart, and as the canes appear to grow strongly in 
your garden 5 feet distances between the rows will be preferable. You must 
remember, however, if you dig up the entire plantation you will have but little 
fruit next year, and a safe course to pursue will be to retain the old plantation, 
or sufficient of it for yielding the necessary supply of fruit until the new one is 
established. As your canes only bear at the top train them in an oblique 
manner as suggested in another column in an article on Raspberry culture. 
As you “know very little about the culture of the Raspberry ” there will be 
other fruits and crops on which you need information, aud you will find the 
investment of li. 9 d. in our “ Garden Manual ” safe and profitable. 
Trees Unfruitful (C. B.). —The old trees which do not make much wood 
would doubtless be benefited by having a portion of the old soil lemoved from 
their roots, say for a distance of 3 or 4 feet from the wall, fresh soil added to 
the depth of 6 or 6 inches, and a thick layer of rich manure, which should be 
left to decay. This would encourage the production of young surface roots, 
and the food they would absorb would improve the health of the trees. If trees 
grow healthily and blossom freely no assistance of the roots will ensure good 
crops of fruit. Aid must in such a case be given above ground, not below it, in 
the form of protecting the blossoms from inclement weather in spring. In 
addition to dressing your trees in winter, as you wisely propose doing, you 
must also dress them in summer before the insects become established. You 
will find a good method of destroj ing the black aphides in another column. 
Late Pears (S. II.).— All the answers to practical questions that are given 
in these columns are founded on “real experience,” but in compliance with 
your wish the gardener whom you named has supplied some of the following 
varieties as likely to answer your purpose ; but we must remind you that if you 
limit yourself to large late Pears you will exclude some of the best and most 
profitable sorts in cultivation. On a wall so low as yours is you must train the 
trees horizontally; not, however, as soon as they are planted, as they will grow 
much more freely fan shaped, the branches to be afterwards brought down and 
trained along the seams of the wall, and at the least a foot apart. They should 
be on the Quince stock, which will do well in such soil as you describe. The 
following are hardy, fruitful, and good late Pears, but not all of them of large 
size :—General Todtleben, Beurrd Sterckmans, Marie Guisse, Nouvelle Fulvie, 
Marie Benoit, Passe Crasanne, Madame Millet, Glou Morfeau, Beurre d Arem- 
berg, Eliza d’FTeyst, Bergamotte Esperen, and Josephine do Malines. The three 
last are medium-sized Pears, but great bearers of excellent quality, and with 
good culture the fruit may be grown quite large enough for dessert or market 
purposes. 
Mildew on Vines (E. //., Barnet). —Your Vines appear to have been 
attacked with unusual virulency, and your district would seem to bo peculiarly 
favourable to the increase and development of the fungus that causes the evil. 
Why this should be so we are unable to say, but we certainly think you may 
