July 22, 1880. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
79 
pots in a sunny spot, topped once and not allowed to flower, will 
give a good supply of bloom in the early winter months. Place 
older plants also in a hot position, and pick out bloom buds as they 
appear. Keep young plants of Browallia elata closely pinched back, 
and shift into 5-inch pots. These also should be in an open position. 
They are useful winter-flowering plants. Strong clumps of Spirsea 
japonica should be divided, and either repotted or, better still, be 
planted out in moderately rich soil and lifted in the autumn as 
required. They are very suitable for the herbaceous border, as they 
are perfectly hardy, in the southern counties at all events. Plants 
treated as above have surpassed imported clumps either forced or 
otherwise. Bright sunny positions will be found injurious to 
Cinerarias. Keep them growing at the back of a north wall. Old 
plants of Cyclamen persicum did not succeed well w'here planted 
out during the last season, neither is it advisable to place them out 
this season. Shake them out and repot into pots varying in size 
according to the corms ; a 6-inch pot is suitable for the largest. 
Employ soil consisting of two parts turfy loam and one of leaf soil 
and well-decomposed manure, with an addition of charcoal and sand. 
The pots should be well drained and the corms about half buried in 
the soil. They will do best in a cold frame, but will succeed in the 
open. Keep young plants growing freely, they will succeed in a half- 
spent hotbed. A cold frame is also suitable for Chinese Primulas, or 
they may be grown on a greenhouse shelf. Boses in pots ought to 
be out in an open spot, and should be kept supplied with water. 
Camellias. —These also may now be repotted. Employ soil con¬ 
sisting of equal parts of coarsely broken turfy loam and peat, with 
some silver sand and charcoal, clean pots well drained, and pot 
rather firmly. Treat unhealthy plants in a manner similar to that 
advised for unhealthy Azaleas. Syringe them frequently, and do not 
remove them from the greenhouse before the buds are set. An 
occasional supply of liquid manure given to well-rooted plants not 
requiring to be repotted will materially assist them in the formation 
of fine bloom buds. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
other question you have no claim, and the “ custom ” you allude to is not by 
any means generally established. 
Purchasing Plants (J. Dublin). —It is impossible for us to recommend 
nurserymen ; it would be manifestly unfair for us to do so. By reading the 
reports of shows anyone may readily determine those growers who make a 
speciality of any particular class of plants ; besides, such growers always adver¬ 
tise in our columns. 
Heating with Pipes below the Boiler ( R. W.).— You will find the 
communication to which you refer on page 98 of our last volume, the issue of 
February 5th of the present year. If you do not possess the number it can be 
had from the publisher in return for 3 \d. in postage stamps, and a request for 
No. 984 of the Journal. The plan of heating there described answers well 
when rightly carried out. 
Fungus on Roses (il I.J.L.). —The leaves are seriously affected with the 
black fungus. Syringe them with a solution of soft soap, 5 or 6 ozs. of soap being 
dissolved in a gallon of water ; or nicotine soap, 4 ozs. to the gallon, and when 
wet dust the affected parts with sulphur. Another remedy is to sponge the 
leaves with 2 ozs. of blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) dissolved in hot water, and 
added to two or three gallons of cold water. 
Cucumbers Not Setting (Dan).— Tour frame is probably too moist and 
cold at night, and the growths, perhaps, too crowded. The fault is not in the 
soil. The weather of late has been very unfavourable for Cucumbers. Keep the 
growths thin and the surface of the bed drier, not watering through a rose 
to wet the flowers and fruit, ; which should rest on bits of slate or glass, not on 
the soil. 
Paraffin versus Ants (TI r . A. B.). —We know that paraffin will drive away 
ants when poured on their nests, but it is dangerous applying it in an undiluted 
state to the soil in pots and close to the stems of plants. Your mode of saturat¬ 
ing manure with the oil, and applying as a top-dressing, is safer than pouring it 
into the soil. We advise caution in the use of this powerful “ insecticide,” as 
we have seen both Yines and plants killed by employing it injudiciously. 
Aniseed Tree ( Young Gardener). —You are right, there is a shrub known 
by that name. Its botanical name is Illicium anisatum, the fruit having the 
flavour of anise, being used as a spice in Chinese cookery ; there are other species, 
and the seed of I. religiosum is burnt as incense in Chinese temples. They 
are half-hardy evergreen shrubs, and are increased by cuttings of the young 
ripened shoots in sand under a glass in summer; by layers, from a stool in a cold 
pit, where they generally remain two years before being removed ; sandy loam 
and peat. They require the protection of the cold pit or greenhouse in winter, 
though I. floridauum has stood out in many- places with but a slight protection 
in severe weathei. All the species we have named are natives of Japan. 
Peaches “ Woolly” (/’. T. B.). —Dr. Hogg, though an excellent Peach of 
high colour when grown out of doors or on walls protected with glass, the trees 
not been forced, yet it is not always of superior quality when ripened with the 
aid of artificial heat. The other varieties you name, especially Royal George, are 
usually of excellent quality when slightly forced ; but to have the fruit in the 
best condition the trees must be carefully and properly watered and ventilated, 
and they' must not be overcropped. If yoi»have carried out the instructions that 
have been frequently given in “'Work for the Week ” we think your trees have 
been too heavily cropped. A greater number of Nectarines would ripen well on 
a tree than would Peaches on a tree of the same size and vigour. 
Osborn & Sons, Fulham, London .—General Catalogue of Plants, 
*** All correspondence should be directed either to “ The Editors ” 
or to “The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Mr. Johnson or 
Dr. Hogg often remain unopened unavoidably. We request that 
no one will write privately to any of our correspondents, 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. 
Botanical Work (Flora ).—If you enclose a stamped directed envelope 
to Professor Oliver, The Royal Gardens, Kew, that gentleman will no doubt 
supply you with the information you require. 
Decorative Pelargoniums (J. W .).—The flowers you send are decidedly 
handsome both in size and colour, but they appear somewhat rough and irregular 
in form, though that may be partly due to the packing. It would probably 
prove a useful variety for decorative purposes. 
Peaches Decaying (J. E.. North Wales ).—The fruits have been punctured 
by an insect of some kind, which if you can find and forward to us we will en¬ 
deavour to tell you its name, and furnish you with some information relative 
to its habits. 
Rushes for Securing Rose Buds (TF. IF.).—The reference which you 
require will be found under the heading of “French Notes ” on page 312 of vol. 
xxxvii. of this Journal, the issue of October 16th, 1879, where “ D., Deal" has 
described the use of Rushes in the nursery of M. Margottin at Bourg-la-Reine. 
Grapes Dropping off (.4. J.).— What you term cankering is certainly 
not the result of any pilfering to which the bunches may have been subjected, 
nor is it a case of shanking. So far as we can judge from the small bunch 
before us your Yines are in a very debilitated state. Either the roots have not 
access to the food they need or have not strength to appropriate it. What is 
the average circumference of the fruit-bearing laterals, and the diameter of the 
foliage ? We suspect that like the bunch and berries they are small. Very 
possibly the Vines have received some check and injury by a low temperature 
and moist atmosphere, but we think the chief cause of the evil is a lack of the 
support that is requisite to the production of stout footstalks and large fruit. 
Rose Leaves Blistered (A Munster Subscriber ).—The foliage is deficient 
in texture, and cannot resist the effects of the sun. The blistering is the most 
marked on Roses growing in poor soil, and especially on plants that have long 
occupied the same positions, and consequently exhausted the soil. Blistering 
is also caused in some instances by small grubs eating the foliage. Give your 
Roses copious supplies of liquid manure, and mulch the surface with manure to 
retain the moisture in the soil; also examine the growth closely, removing any 
maggots that you can find. At the winter’s pruning remove all the weak wood 
entirely, and shorten the young and strong shoots to induce more vigorous 
growth. 
Packing Bulbs for New Zealand (G. 0. S .).—The bulbs should be 
taken up when the foliage decays and dried of superfluous moisture, for if moist 
or even damp they would in all probability decay before reaching their destina¬ 
tion. We know of no better material for packing them in than the husks or 
chaff of Buckwheat; failing this soft and perfectly dry Oat chaff would probably 
answer very well. A layer of the chaff should be placed at the bottom of a zinc- 
lined case, then a thin layer of bulbs, which should not quite touch each other, 
followed by a thicker layer of chaff, and so on until the case is quite filled, the 
whole being shaken and made firm as the work proceeds. If anyone who has 
had experience in packing bulbs for the Antipodes can state a better plan we 
will readily publish it. 
Peach Trees Gummed (0. S ).—As only the trees in pots are unsatis¬ 
factory, those trained on the back wall being healthy, and as the former were 
placed in the open air after fruiting last year, we conclude that the growth was 
not matured owing to the singularly wet and dull weather to which they were 
subjected ; and further, if the trees were left outdoors during the winter or 
until December, they were probably injured by the sudden and severe frosts 
that occurred in November. Keep the growths thin, removing any that are 
very luxuriant, and expose the trees to all the heat, light, and air possible to 
insure the maturation of the wood, and your trees will probably recover. Do 
not place the trees outside quite so soon, and house them a little earlier than 
usual, the time being determined by the weather. 
Grapes Crushed (P. J.). —If you will send us berries packed in a small 
box, so that they arrive in the same condition in which they were sent, we will 
endeavour to answer your inquiries respecting them. Those sent loose in a 
linen bag came to our hands a flattened mass, and it is impossible for anyone to 
arrive at any conclusion as to their state when cut from the Yines. 
Garden Expenses (A Young Gardener). —All proper expenses you incur, 
including the cost of stamps and paper employed in writiug letters in the dis¬ 
charge of your duties, should be defrayed by your employer. In regard to the 
Lettuces not Hearting (J. M. C., Chester ).—Possibly your plants have 
received a check by transplanting during the dry weather that prevailed during 
April and May, or the soil may be light, thin, and poor. To prevent premature 
seeding no plan is equal to that of sowing the seed very thinly in drills where 
the plants are to remain until cut; but it is important that the. soil be rich and 
deep, and that the plants be thinned very early, so that no crowding occurs when 
they are young. Many Lettuces are spoiled by the seed being sown too thickly, 
and the plants afterwards left too long in the seed bed before they are trans- 
