December 23, 1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 579 
manure and leaf soil, with a little sand, form a suitable compost, 
potting rather firmly. A cool moist situation is suitable, where 
they can have a position near the glass, plenty of air when the 
weather is favourable, and sufficient heat only to exclude frost. 
Pelargoniums of the Zonal and Nosegay varieties intended for 
spring flowering should have a night temperature of 40° to 45°, and 
that or a little more in the daytime. Be careful in the application of 
water for some time yet. Potting should be attended to where it is 
required, not giving too much root space, potting firmly and employ¬ 
ing turfy loam. Stop the shoots when necessary to secure compact 
habit, and tie the growths well out, keeping the plants near to the 
glass, and the house well ventilated. Remove the flowers of plants 
intended for spring or early summer flowering. 
NOTES ON VILLA AND SUBURBAN GARDENING. 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Forcing Rhubarb and Sealcale. —Most gardens, however small, con¬ 
tain a few strong clumps of both these, and especially the former, 
some of which may be forced. Although such varieties of Rhubarb as 
Prince Albert and Johnson’s St. Martin , are the best for forcing, any 
of the later varieties will well repay the trouble taken. Even the 
Giant Victoria, though it does not start readily, can eventually be in¬ 
duced to form a great number of stalks, which are of very superior 
flavour. Roots of any variety of Rhubarb and Seakale may be lifted 
and packed in rather closely under the staging of a forcing house and 
near to the hot-water pipes, or they may be potted or placed in boxes 
in a warm house. Any ordinary soil may be employed, and this 
should not be allowed to become dust dry. Two or three large 
clumps of Rhubarb are sometimes carefully lifted, packed in soil in 
large hampers or boxes, and placed in a warm cellar, the result being 
early and good produce. Seakale may be started in a garden frame 
.on a gentle hotbed, but great care must be taken not to use rank fer¬ 
menting material, or the roots will be injured and the produce be 
spindly. The Seakale will require to be grown in the dark, but this 
is immaterial in the case of the Rhubarb. In either instance the best 
results are obtained from those roots forced where they were grown. 
All that is required for this work are a few pots for the Seakale and 
deep boxes or tubs for the Rhubarb (ordinary flour or cement tubs with 
their bottoms converted into lids are very suitable), and a quantity of 
leaves and manure which have previously been laid in a heap for a 
few days. Commence operations by lightly forking up the soil round 
the crowns, place over these the covers with their lids on, and then 
bank round the fermenting material so as to bury the covers. Avoid 
making a great heap, preferring rather to cover a few roots at inter¬ 
vals of a fortnight. If leaves only are used hurdles will be necessary 
to keep them together. A trial stick should be thrust into the bed and 
frequently examined, and, should the point be found uncomfortably 
hot to the hand, the heap must at once be opened for a few days. 
Forcing Asparagus. —A bottom heat of about 75° is very suitable 
for all forced vegetables. A still milder hotbed is suitable for forcing 
Asparagus, and where it is in contemplation to break up an old bed 
the roots should be utilised for forcing and then thrown away. The 
growth from these old plants is produced very freely, but is usually 
much inferior to that obtained from younger plants. Of course no 
one would think of breaking up good beds unless there are others to 
succeed them. When the hotbed is found to be in a suitable condi¬ 
tion a layer of rather moist good soil is spread over the surface, on 
this the carefully lifted roots are closely laid and covered with more 
soil, working this well in among the roots. The soil being in a moist 
state and the heat also moist no water will be required at first, but a 
thorough supply of warm water should be given on the appearance 
of dryness. If the heat be mild cover the frame closely with mats or 
litter till the growth is pushing through the soil, when as much light 
as possible must be admitted, as most people prefer green to blanched 
Asparagus. The frames should be covered during the nights, and 
should the bottom heat decline below 70° a lining of fresh heating 
material should be given, as the growth is liable to be hard if grown 
in a low temperature. 
Asparagus, Rhubarb, and Seakale may all be forwarded considerably 
where growing if sufficiently protected with rough litter. The last- 
named may be either covered with the usual pots, or good-sized 
ordinary flower pots, or again with ashes to a good depth, then 
earthing prior to covering with litter. 
Manuring and Digging. —It is a moot point with many as to when 
to manure and dig ground, and the opinions given on the subject 
are very bewildering to amateurs. Much depends upon the nature of 
the soil with regard to digging, but in most instances the manure 
would be best applied in the spring rather than its principal soluble 
manurial properties should be washed away by the repeated heavy 
rains. Ear better shake it up into a large heap with sloping sides, a 
good layer of soil underneath, and more of it well beaten over the 
outside of the heaps, thereby enclosing the ammonia and much in¬ 
creasing the bulk of the manure. The manure may be wheeled into 
the garden during frosty weather, and be there placed in heaps and 
covered with earth till required. 
It is advisable to roughly turn up stiff clayey soil to submit it to 
the pulverising influence of the frosts and winds, re-digging some time 
after a severe frost, working in the manure to be given. Sandy 
soils if dug in the autumn lose by repeated soakings much more than 
they gain by exposure, and both these and those that are somewhat 
rich, but which generally work well, had better be left unmanured and 
undug till near such times as they are to be cropped. Trenching 
being a slow operation, for which there is seldom time in the spring, 
should be performed on all favourable occasions. Here again manure 
is often worked in either too early or too deeply, and both practices 
should be guarded against. The manure wheeled on should be 
autumn-trenched during frosty weather, and be turned in afterwards. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
James Veitch & Sons, King’s Road, Chelsea. —Catalogue of Vegetable 
and Floiuer Seeds ( Illustrated ), and Lists of Gladioli and Hardy Plants. 
Sutton & Sons, Reading.— The Amateurs' Guide and Seed Catalogue 
for 1881. Highly illustrated. 
James Carter & Co., High Holborn, London.— Vade-Mecum and 
Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable Seeds. Highly illustrated. 
B. S. Williams, Upper Holloway, London, N.— Catalogue of Flower 
and Vegetable Seeds. 
Harrison & Sons, Leicester - .— Wholesale Catalogue of Vegetable Seeds. 
Martin Grashoff, Quedlinburg, and Westerhausen, Germany.— 
Wholesale Trade Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable Seeds. 
Friedrich Spittel, Arnstadt, near Erfurt, Germany.— Trade Cata¬ 
logue of Flower and Vegetable Seeds. 
Books {Gardener'). —There is no such work as that you name published at 
this office. 
Market Punnets (/. Lyell ).—If you inquire of some of the salesmen at 
the Manchester fruit and vegetable market they will inform you if the punnets 
are sold there ; if they are not, you can obtain them from Mr. Munro, salesman, 
Covent Garden Market, London. 
Large Apples (Inquirer). —Warner’s King and Gloria Mundi are two of 
the lar - gest. At the Hereford Show held last mouth the first-prize five fruits of 
the former weighed 7 lbs. 3 ozs.; second, 5 lbs. 7\ ozs. ; and third, 4 lbs. 12f ozs. 
In 1879 Gloria Mundi secured the first prize, the five fruits weighing 5 lbs. 10J ozs. 
Warner’s King is the most useful of the very laige late Apples, the tree being a 
good grower and excellent bearer. 
The Scotch Champion Potato (SAV.).— It is almost or quite impossible 
for anyone to give a description of this variety to enable you to distinguish it 
from others grown under the same name, especially if there is a close similarity 
between them. The tuber closely resembles that of the White Rock, is roundish 
in form, with deep eyes ; the haulm is tall, erect, of a rather light green colour, 
with pointed leaflets, and continues green after that of the Rock has withered. 
You had better prove for yourself which is the best variety and discard the 
others, or purchase seed from a reliable source. 
Mealy Bug on Vines (J. £.).—Read our reply to another correspondent, 
under the heading of " Vines in a Stove.” The house must also be thoroughly 
cleansed, every portion of woodwork being washed, and the surface soil, if any, 
removed and fresh added. The plants and pots must also be carefully washed 
and repotted, or surface-dressed with fresh soil. After all you can do, however, 
in this respect the insects will appear again, and it is only by assiduously 
watching for them and perseveringly attacking them that the pest can be ex¬ 
tirpated. Peruse carefully the several articles that have appeared on destroying 
mealy bug in the back numbers of the present volume, and follow the practice 
recommended that is most applicable to your case. 
Sparmannia africana ( Inquirers ).—The leaf and flower you sent are 
