336 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ October 7, im. 
being propagated by cuttings at this time of the year. Shallow cold 
frames are suitable both for striking and wintering them, fire heat 
being injurious to both. Place a layer of rough material in the bottom 
of the beds for the frames, over this place a layer of light sandy soil, 
about 6 inches in depth, and on this place a layer of sifted soil, which 
may consist of equal parts leaf soil and loam, with a liberal quantity 
of either road grit or sand. Make this level and firm, sprinkle over a 
little more sand and dibble in the cuttings, in the case of the Calceo¬ 
larias 2 or 3 inches apart each way, and the Violas a trifle thicker. 
The Calceolaria cuttings may be about 4- inches in length, trimming 
off the lower leaves and cutting to a joint, and the Violas made in 
the same way may be about 3 inches in length. Water them in 
through a fine rose pot, keep close and shaded from bright sunshine 
during the day, and protect with mats during frosty weather. 
Miscellaneous Bedding Plants. —Echeveria metallica, Pachyphytum 
bracteosum, and Kleinia repens should be lifted and either potted 
ofl singly into small pots or they may be packed closely in boxes. 
Any light soil will suit them, and they may be wintered in a cool 
greenhouse, providing they receive but little moisture at the roots. 
If plants of Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum are lifted 
they should be potted firmly in 3-inch pots, employing sandy soil. 
Place them on a shelf in a rather warm greenhouse, and water 
sparingly. Alternantheras, Coleus Verschaffeltii, and Iresines when 
lifted should be placed in small pots, and require the temperature of 
a plant stove to establish and also to winter them. Sedum glaucum 
is quite hardy, but a few roots of Mentha Pulegium gibraltarica 
should be lifted and wintered in boxes, or planted out rather thinly 
in cold frames, as it succumbs during a severe winter. Echeveria 
secunda glauca is not quite hardy, and should be packed away closely 
in a somewhat dry position where they can be protected during severe 
weather. They may be packed on their sides in banks made against 
a warm wall, or in cone-shaped heaps, and be covered with mats 
during severe weather. They may also be tied-up in bunches and 
suspended in vineries on the back walls of greenhouses. Cuttings of 
the useful and hardy Euonymus radicans variegata may yet be in¬ 
serted in sandy soil under handlights or in the open, and a handlight 
is also suitable for the present propagation of Veronica incana, 
Leucophyton Brownii, and the G-olden Thyme. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Wm. Rumsey, Waltham Cross.— Catalogue of Boses. 
L. Spath, Kopnickerstrasse, Berlin.— Catalogue of Plants , Shrubs, 
and Trees. 
Andre Leroy, Angers (Maine-et-Loire), France.— List of Trees and 
Shrubs. 
Hogg & Robertson, 22, Mary Street, Dublin.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
Osborn & Sons, Fulham, London.— Catalogues of Fruit Trees, Hardy 
Trees, and Shrubs. 
*** 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. 
Books (IF. C. B .).—The “Garden Manual ” contains much more practical 
information on the subjects to which you allude than does the other book 
which you mention ; but only large and expensive volumes contain “ full 
details of the culture and forcing of all kinds of plants, vegetables, and fruits 
during winter.” You will And the “ Garden Manual ” very useful, and further 
information can be had through the columns of the Journal. 
Old Hotbeds (Idem ).—If the manure, as it usually is after fermenting in 
heaps for some months, is in a moist and decayed state, it is of no further use for 
heating purposes, and is only of value, and this value is great, for enriching the 
soil. Any dry portions may be shaken out and mixed with fresh stable manure 
and leaves for future beds. 
Journalism ( 0’S ., Dublin, and Others). —¥e are obliged by your letters, but 
it is not necessary to publish them. The circumstance is amusing, and the 
article to which you allude is certainly original this time, and not purloined. 
We have not the slightest objection to its publication, as it is a confession of a 
disreputable practice. 
Pruning Fruit Trees (F. J .).—As you say your trees have been well 
attended to during the summer and need little winter pruning, we presume that 
all the sun and air possible have been admitted to the wood and foliage. Still 
you ask if the side shoots should be shortened to three or four leaves now. If 
the trees are in a healthy free-growing state the shoots may be so shortened at 
once, but if the growth is at all weak a few more leaves would be advantageous 
rather than otherwise. Winter pruning should be done as soon as the leaves 
have fallen from the trees. In removing trees it is desirable to take out all the 
roots possible, but we do not think the few of which you speak will be injurious 
to the other trees. If the timber intended for garden frames is creosoted a few 
months before the frames are used they will not be injurious to the plants that 
are placed in them. 
Sam Young Apple (J. J., Cork). — You have been rightly informed that 
this Apple is of Irish origin. It is a small dessert Apple of excellent quality, 
and was introduced to public notice by Mr. Robertson, nurseryman of Kilkenny. 
You may safely add it to your collection. 
Covering Latticework (Block). —As you require a screen we presume 
your latticework must be covered with an evergreen plant; if this is so there is 
none equal to Ivy. Hedera Rsegneriana is a free grower and has handsome 
foliage. If an evergreen plant is not essential Ampelopsis Yeitchi would be 
suitable. There are also evergreen Roses if you prefer plants of this nature. 
The Ivy if employed would need to be secured to the trellis for a time at least, 
but the Ampelopsis will cling to anything. 
Wild Flowers of Great Britain (Rosa). —There is no Linnoean index 
to this work, but there is a systematic index according to the natural arrange¬ 
ment to each volume. No 231 is the last number. 
Grapes Mouldy (B. D .).—Look over the bunches carefully every morning 
and remove every berry that has the slightest appearance of mould upon it, as 
one berry will speedily affect the rest, and the bunches if not attended to will 
soon be spoiled. Employ a little fire heat, and admit air freely by both front and 
top ventilators on all fine days. If you have plants in the house, water them 
with the greatest care, only pouring as much water in each pot as the soil will 
absorb, and not spilling a drop on the floor. The temperature of the house 
should not be much below 45° at night; this with a dry atmosphere will arrest 
the spread of the mould. Possibly the bunches have not been thinned sufficiently 
—the closer the berries are packed together the more liable are they to decay. 
Roses in Ireland (Sligo). —We are glad to hear of your success. Roses 
are excellently grown in many Irish gardens, and there is no reason that they 
should not be grown there quite as well as in any part of the Queen’s dominions. 
As a Rose for your porch you cannot do better than plant Gloire de Dijon. We 
do not know any other variety that so well combines all the properties you 
enumerate of being “ hardy, a free grower, and producing fine and sweet blooms 
early and late in the season.” 
Propagating Ageratums (D. Webb ).—We know ofjno more simple and 
certain mode than potting a few old plants from the beds, choosing the most 
sturdy. They may be partially cut down, and if well watered will soon be 
established. One good plant will afford cuttings in the spring from which a 
hundred plants may be raised by the 1st of May. It is rather late now for in¬ 
serting cuttings, and taking up a few old plants will be the best mode of insur¬ 
ing a stock. They may be safely wintered in a greenhouse or vinery from which 
frost is excluded. 
Wormleighton’s Seedling Potato (Old Subscriber). — If this variety 
was raised, as we are informed it was, by Mr. Wormleighton, the above is its 
correct name. The name is spelled in three different ways by three gardening 
journals. We readily, as you know, answer all the questions we can that are 
submitted to us, and we are not accustomed to receive complaints from con¬ 
tributors whom we have endeavoured to supply with the most accurate informa¬ 
tion we could obtain. Your letter of last week contained a complaint not 
couched in the most pleasant terms. Our courtesy is at least equal to your own. 
You have asked us many questions, which we have answered ; we have only 
asked you one, which you have not answered. We ask it again. Why do you not 
send your name and address ? 
Brussels Sprouts (A Reader).-— Removing the heads from the plants 
may slightly accelerate the production of sprouts; but there is little gained by 
the operation, as if wet weather follows alternating with frost the centres of 
the plants may decay. You ought to have sown the seed earlier and grown the 
plants more generously had you required side sprouts at the present time. 
Some gardeners cut off a portion of the leaves from the stem for inducing an 
earlier growth of sprouts, but we have not tried the practice. 
Wormcasts on Lawns (IF. M. Grose).— Place a peck of quicklime in 
thirty gallons of water, stir well up, and allow it to stand for a few days until it 
is quite clear; then water the lawn thoroughly with the clear lime water. The 
worms will come to the surface, when they may be swept up and cleared away. 
This is an old and useful mode of eradication, but last year Messrs. Dick Rad- 
clyffe & Co. stated in our columns that if 1 oz. of corrosive sublimate is dissolved 
in a little hot water and then mixed well in forty gallons of pump water, and 
applied to the lawn with an ordinary watering can in the evening after a shower, 
the worms will disappear, and the grass will not suffer any injury. 
Rhododendrons for Beds (C. D., North Wales). — If you order your nur¬ 
seryman to send you dwarf and close-growing varieties they will, if transplanted 
occasionally, be some time before they “ outgrow their quarters; ” when they 
do so you must thin them, removing some of the shrubs to other positions. 
Severe pruning will not answer your purpose. October or early November is a 
good time for transplanting these shrubs and Kalmias. 
Dianthuses and Aquilegias (Idem). —In some soils and districts Dianthus 
Heddewigii passes the winter quite safely in the open ground, especially when 
the plants have been raised in the open and grown thinly, not thickly crowded 
in pots, pans, or boxes. Not knowing the condition of your plants we are quite 
unable to say if they will withstand the inclemencies of the winter; if they 
will not, the protection of a frame would be better than placing them in a green¬ 
house where they would inevitably become drawn and rendered too weakly for 
flowering well. Only a small per-centage of the seedlings of Aquilegia cmrulea 
hybrida are identical with the original form, but a number of pretty varieties 
usually result from a packet of seed. 
"Wintering Fuchsias (D. A., Oxon). —Your old plants that have ceased 
flowering and now losing their leaves may be safely wintered in any cool dark or 
