December 3o, 1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER « 601 
range from G0° to G5° at night, and 70° to 75° by day. Pearl from 
its dwarf habit and pure white double flowers is the best variety. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
Osborn & Sons, Fulham, London, S .W—Catalogue of Vegetable and 
Floicer Seeds. 
Jasminum gracillimura (G. G., Chichester). —Plants will, we believe, 
be ready for distribution during the ensuing spring. 
Names of Conifers (Rev. II. Taylor). —All the sprays have been correctly 
named by the nurseryman’s foreman as written in pencil on the labels; the 
names in ink are incorrect. 
Cottager’s Kale (C< ttager). —Both the heads and the side growths are ex¬ 
cellent when cooked, quite equal if not superior to the Curled Kale. Cottager’s 
Kale is one of the hardiest and most productive vegetables that can be grown 
for winter and spring use. We observed some rows of it last spring affording 
valuable produce in a garden in the north, where all the other winter green 
crops, including Brussels Sprouts, were destroyed by the severe frost. 
Piping Required for Heating (G. S.). —Had you stated the size of your 
bouse, the extent of glass exposure, aspect, and the heat you require, we could 
have answered your question more precisely. Under the circumstances we 
cannot do better than quote the reply that we gave to a correspondent last year 
on this subject:—“A good formula for finding the length of a 4-inch piping to 
heat a structure to any given temperature is to ‘ multiply the glass or exposed 
superficies in feet by eleven times the intended difference between the outside 
and inside temperatures, and divide the product by fifteen times the intended 
difference between the heat of the water (180°) and the air of the house.’ ” 
Peas (Idem). —If you will inform us whether you require tall, medium, or 
dwarf-growing Peas, or some of each character, also whether you are prepared 
to purchase the new and necessarily expensive varieties, we will endeavour to 
answer your question. Without this information we are unable to do so 
usefully. 
“ Holy Ghost ” Insect (Norfolk). —The small, white, midge-like insect 
to which you refer under the above name is probably Aleyrodes vaporariorum. 
The insects attack certain Ferns at Kew, and when the plants are moved “ dart 
off,” as Mr. Smith in his book on Ferns describes, “ like a flock of white Pigeons.” 
This insect used to be prevalent in the Cambridge Botanic Gardens, where it 
attacked the under sides of the leaves of Tobacco plants that grew in the 
houses; it also attacks Tomatoes and often injui.es them. The Fern Nephro- 
dium molle is very liable to be infested with it, as also is the small evergreen 
stove plant Oldenlandia Deppiana. The insects can be destroyed by frequent 
fumigations. 
Vines in Pots (Park Hill). —Whether the Vines will produce a satisfactory 
crop of Grapes next year depends entirely on the condition of the wood now. 
If it is strong and matured they may be expected to afford a fair crop, but not 
quite equal to that of the past season. You had better not destroy the roots to 
which you allude, but, on the contrary, mulch them with manure, and feed 
them liberally with liquid manure when the Vines are in full growth and the 
Grapes are swelling. 
Protecting Roses (C. C., Donegal). —If the buds are inserted in dwarf 
stocks a little fern, straw, or stable litter placed over them during severe 
weather will prevent their being injured ; if inserted in standard Briars they 
may be covered with a little hay, but in this case the Briar stocks are quite as 
liable to injury if the frost is intense as the dormant buds of the Roses. Unless 
the weather is very severe the dormant buds of Roses are seldom injured. 
Garden Walls (Deodar).— If you send 3Jd. in postage stamps to the 
publisher and ask him to send you No. 355 of the Journal you will find fuller 
instructions, with illustrations, on the subject in question than we can possibly 
afford you in this column. Glass copings are useful additions, but good crops 
of fruit are produced when the trees are protected with nets or other coverings 
in addition to the ordinary stone copings. When walls are wired their surfaces 
are preserved in better condition than when nails are being constantly driven 
in for securing the branches. If you use galvanised wire it will be prudent to 
have it painted. If you need further information we will readily supply it. 
Cucumbers Gumming (T. C.). —Like Mr. Fish, whose experience you 
have referred to, we have had plants troubled with this disease, but, on adopting 
similar measures to those described in the article in question, it disappeared. It 
appears to be more virulent in your case, and we regret that we are unable to 
recommend any other remedy than that we adopted ourselves and the practice 
of another cultivator. We emptied the bouse of every particle of soil, burnt 
sulphur in it, washed every portion of brickwork with hot limewash, painted 
the woodwork, and used soil for growing the plants less rich and in less quantity 
than before. Dressing the affected parts with charcoal dust we have found of 
benefit; and Mr. Cooling of Derby, who used to grow Cucumbers extensively 
for seed, informed us that he had quite checked this form of disease by dusting 
the plants and also the bed frequently and freely with Amies’ manure. This 
fertiliser, being a dry powdery substance, would, we presume, have the same 
effect on Mr. Cooling’s plants as crushed charcoal had on ours, and you might 
well try the remedy ; it could not possibly do harm, and might do good. You 
might also try the plan of growing the plants in large pots, but the roots per¬ 
mitted to pass over and through them into very rough soil, as practised so 
successfully by Mr. Coleman at Eastnor Castle, as referred to on page 336 in our 
issue of November 1st, 1877. 
Culture of Herbaceous Calceolarias (D. Williams).—No artificial 
heat is required except to exclude frost. Keep your plants upon a light airy 
shelf near the glass. Repot from time to time as soon as the roots touch the 
sides of the pots in soil consisting of equal parts of loam and old rich manure, 
with about a fourth part each of sand and pounded charcoal, taking especial 
care to use plenty of drainage. Attend well to watering, and fumigate with 
tobacco paper to keep down aphides. For large specimens it is necessary to 
nip out the centre of the plant to induce it to form a strong lateral growth. 
Cease repotting as soon as the flower stem begins growing, and then substitute 
cowdung water or sewage for the clear water. By close attention to this simple 
formula you may grow plants for exhibition with success and derive much 
pleasure from the work, for no plant with which we are acquainted rewards one 
better for care and attention than does this. 
Tomatoes in Greenhouse (J. L .).—You will have sufficient heat in 
your house for growing Tomatoes, and a free-fruiting and good variety for the 
market is the Old Red. If you require a crimson variety you may grow the 
Conqueror or the earlier but smaller Yick’s Criterion. The best yellow-fruited 
variety is Carter’s Green Gage. It is impossible for us to answer your second 
question, as everything depends on your skill as a cultivator and the demands of 
your neighbourhood. If you have never forced Kidney Beans your first attempt 
will possibly not prove so profitable as you anticipate, and if you have not had 
experience in forcing Potatoes you will possibly err by affording them too much 
heat. You wrote your letter so hurriedly that some words were omitted, and it 
is impossible for us to ascertain from it whether your large house is provided 
with bottom heat or not. 
p Grafting Pereskia acnleata (L., Ycn-k). — Take off the head of the 
Pereskia at the required height, and make a slanting cut upwards, and about an 
inch long, at the top of the stock and on one side. You will cut off a stem or 
branch from the Epiphyllum to be grafted upon the Pereskia, and pare one side 
at the lower end in a slanting direction downwards, making it quite thin at the 
bottom, and so that the cut part shall fit that of the stock exactly. About 
half way down the slanting cut in the stock make a cut downwards, and about 
half an inch long, and make a corresponding one upwards in the graft, which 
will make a sort of slit or tongue in each ; that of the graft should be intro¬ 
duced into the one in the stock, and pushed downwards, so that the cut portions 
of both may fit correctly. The graft may be fastened or bound to the stock with 
a strip of bast matting, still keeping it in its place and tying tolerably tight, 
but not very much so. The junction may then be covered with moss, binding it 
on with matting. It is not necessary to cover with clay. The plant may be 
placed in a house where there is a gentle heat, and graft and stock alike 
sprinkled with water twice a day by means of a fine-rosed syringe. When the 
graft begins to grow the matting should be loosened. The best time to graft is 
in spring, or a little before the Epiphyllum begins to grow. 
K li 
M HOME FARM ' H 
POULTRY, PIGEON, AND BEE CHRONICLE. 
LESSONS TAUGHT BY THE EXHIBITION OF FAT 
STOCK. 
The exhibitions of fat stock previous to Christmas at Islington, 
Bingley Hall, and the various large towns and districts throughout 
the kingdom, cannot fail to be instructive to inquiring men of 
business habits. The exhibitions are patronised not only by the 
wealthy agriculturists, but also by royalty and the nobility and 
gentry of the kingdom ; and as this is the case the home farmer 
may feel assured that all the ability and experience which wealth 
can command has been applied to the breeding, rearing, and feed¬ 
ing of the best animals. Therefore the opportunity for men to 
learn in this branch of the agricultural profession is of the highest 
value, especially when we consider that the making of fat stock is 
the chief aim of the most important part of agriculture. The 
maintenance of the pastures, the cultivation of the land, the 
choice of seeds, both of roots, grasses, and green crops, as well as 
of a large portion of our pulse and grain crops, are performed with 
the view of providing for the live stock and preparing the land 
for the production of Wheat and other crops. It is therefore 
extremely desirable that the feeding of 6tock should be made 
profitable as a farming transaction, and in order to accomplish 
this the home farmer should certainly be allowed by his employer 
to visit these exhibitions. He must remember that he is dif¬ 
ferently situated from an ordinary farmer or occuping tenant, who 
has chiefly to look to profit alone ; the home farmer has, however, 
to provide and feed stock which must be made profitable, but at 
the same time it must be ornamental to some extent in the park 
lands and pastures. These matters must also be arranged in ac¬ 
cordance with the tastes of the employer, who may prefer 
particular breeds ; and this must therefore influence the choice 
of stock, bearing in mind that during the year a considerable 
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