102 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c February 1, 1883 . 
exhibition varieties on page 338, October 12th, 1882, both of which numbers can 
be had from the publisher if you do not possess them. By all means trench and 
manure the soil now, giving preference to cow manure, as the soil is light, 
adding also any heavier soil you can procure. A dressing of bonemeal at the 
rate of a quarter pound or more to the square yard, and pointing it in after the 
trenching is completed, or mixing a handful with the soil that is placed round 
the roots of each plant when it is inserted. Tlanting cannot be done too soon, 
and it is most important that the roots be kept moist during the process of 
removal. If you purchase any plants especial attention must be directed to this 
matter. We should only reject those of your own that are not well furnished 
with healthy roots, should prune closely immediately after planting, and surface 
the beds with manure. In trenching do not bring up much inert subsoil, but 
break it up, leaving it at the bottom of the trenches. 
Culture of Hymenocallis macrostephana (F. B. B. 8.). —This 
requires similar treatment to Eucharis grandiflorn, both as regards soil and 
temperature. A compost of turfy loam, with a little peat, well-decomposed cow 
manure, and sand is the best suited for it, well draining the pots. When about 
to start the plants into growth place them in a strong stove heat, supplying 
water liberally, and syringing them frequently after they have made good 
progress. Gradually diminish the supplies of water, and place the plants in a 
cooler house, but do not dry them off to the extent that is sometimes advised. 
Plants can then be again introduced to heat at intervals, and flowers will be 
readily produced, provided you avoid overpotting the bulbs, as they flower 
much better when somewhat confined at the roots. 
Various (./. S. Cairnie ).—The plan usually adopted to prevent water passing 
through a roof in such a case as yours is to solder a piece of zinc to the pipe, 
affixed in such a way as to conduct the water where it is required. For gates 
and outdoor work generally we find anticorrosion paint answer our require¬ 
ments ; colour is a question of taste; we use chocolate. You can get it from 
ironmongers. It is quite impossible for us to answer your third question use¬ 
fully. Examine one of the articles that you can find in use, or in the stock of a 
vendor, and exercise your own ingenuity. 
Repotting Palms IF. Sendall). —If you will inform us whether you have 
a greenhouse or other glass structure we will readily advise you on the matter, 
both as to the t me and manner ef repotting the plants, also on the Ficus. Our 
reply to be useful must be governed by the cultural conveniences at your 
disposal. 
Mixing Lime with Tanner’s Bark ( T. S.).— We have mixed lime 
with tan to prevent the increase of worms, which are often so troublesome when 
pots have to be placed on it or plunged, but we have not observed that this 
caused the heat to be more continuous ; indeed, we have thought it had rather 
a contrary effect. Our experience, however, in mixing lime with tan has been 
somewhat limited, and if any of our readers have adopted the practice and found 
different results we will readily publish them on being forwarded. 
Burnt Clay for Keavy Soil (IF. //.).—You have been rightly advised 
to apply the burnt clay to your soil; it will make it work better, it will be less 
tasteful to slugs, and it will stand dry weather better, at the same time super¬ 
fluous water will readily pass through it. Clays of course vary in their composi¬ 
tion, but amongst other things they all contain more soluble potash after burn¬ 
ing than they did before, and they have the property of absorbing ammonia 
from the atmosphere. When bu rned hard as bricks clay is not nearly so valu¬ 
able as when it is burned by a slower process and reduced to powder. Ballast 
is excellent for placing over drain pipes, but has little, if any, manurial value, 
but its mechanical action is not uufrequently beneficial in very heavy and 
naturally adhesive soil. 
Sawdust in Gardens (T. II. F). —It is useful for mulching, but if the 
soil is very light, too light, the dressing should be scraped off and removed after 
it has served its purpose of arresting evaporation in the summer or excluding 
frost in winter. If the land is not too light the sawdust may be dug in. We 
have seen it mixed with very heavy soils with decided benefit. We have also 
when quite dry seen it spread a few inches thick on soil, and burnt there with 
great advantage to the after crops. It is useful for plunging purposes, and the 
fact of its not being a quick conductor of heat is not a serious drawback, for 
when once warmed the heat is retained with comparatively little firing. We have 
long used it in a bed over hot-water pipes, and when placed in we make it warm 
in a moment by simply pouring over it sufficient hot water to moisten the entire 
bulk, and find no difficulty in maintaining the requisite heat in the bed after¬ 
wards. Cuttings of all kinds of plants do not strike well in sawdust, but those 
of several will do so freely if they receive proper attention. 
Guernsey Lilies (F. C.). —The bulbs of Guernsey Lilies (Nerine sarniensis) 
arrive in August, but it is very advisable that orders be booked in July, as the 
bulbs spoil in a few days if not potted. The flower scapes are usually visible 
when the bulbs reach their destination, and the flowers sometimes expand in 
less than a week—in fact, we have known them to open in transit. They 
should be placed, in 4-inch or 5-inch pots, using any ordinary light gritty soil. 
They are very bright, also somewhat curious, and flower before the leaves are 
produced. If the bulbs emit roots and take possession of the soil leaves then 
follow, and the plants must be grown on a light shelf m a warm greenhouse 
similarly to Amaryllises. Many of them, however, emit no roots, and are there¬ 
fore of no further use after flowering—indeed, you had better not expect the 
plants to flower again the second year. As to their being *• really good plants,” 
that is entirely a question of taste. That some persons admire them is evident 
by the considerable demand for bulbs that is experienced by all large dealers ; 
but this demand bears no comparison to that for Hyacinths. As Guernsey 
Lilies are not costly you might try half a dozen of them, and if you order them 
early and pot them quickly, placing them in your greenhouse, you will not have 
long to wait for their bright red miniature Amaryllis-like flowers, with grace¬ 
fully recurved segments. 
Potting Erica ventricosa (Idem).—Few plants are more difficult for 
amateurs to grow well than bardwooded Heaths, and no plants need greater 
care in potting and judgment in watering. If you shake all the old soil from 
the plant you will certainly kill it. If you venture on repotting defer the work 
until May or June, keeping it in the meantime in a very light position in a cool 
and well-ventilated greenhouse. In June it will be better in a frame, standing 
the pot on a slate, so that no worms can enter through the drainage. A plant 
that crowds the pot with roots must always have the soil moist, not at the top 
merely, but throughout the mass. If the soil is allowed to get dust-dry for an 
hour .the plant will be ruined, while if it is saturated so as to render the peat 
sour it will refuse to flourish. If when you rub the soil with the finger it is in the 
slightest degree pasty no water is needed ; but if the soil has a tendency to 
crumble apply water at once in sufficient quantity to moisten every particle of 
soil. In the summer a rootbound plant requires much water, but how often it 
should be given it is utterly impossible for anyone to say. If you repot the 
plants you must obtain firm fibrous peat, not bog peat, and add a sixth part of 
silver sand. Mind that both the soil round the roots is neither wet nor dry, yet 
deci ledly moist. The new pot must be clean and well drained, and two sizes 
larger than the other. Do not disturb the roots of your plant at all, even not 
removing all the old drainage material, and when placed in the new pot on a 
layer of fresh firm soil the surface of the original soil must be nearly an inch 
below' the rim. Place in the soil all round, a little at a time, and press it down 
as hard as you can with a blunt stick, making the new soil, in fact, as hard as 
the old, or no water will pass through the latter. And now your skill in water¬ 
ing will be put to the test. If you make the new soil too moist the roots will 
not enter it, while if the old becomes too dry they will shrivel. A little shade 
for a week if the weather is bright and syringing occasionally will lessen the 
necessity for frequent applications of water, at the same time the soil must not 
be allowed to get decidedly' dry. A newly potted plant never requires so much 
water as a plant does that is rootbound, and a plant should not be w'atered im¬ 
mediately it is potted unless the roots have been much disturbed. A Heath can 
be kept healthy in a small pot if it is liberally supplied with water in the sum¬ 
mer and the pot is shaded from the sun. You must now decide the question of 
potting for yourself, in accordance with the cultural skill you may possess in 
ministering to the wants of the plant under differing circumstances. 
Caterpillars or Grubs on Apricot (Inver ).— The packet or case of 
eggs was too damaged in transit to be identified, but we rather doubt whether 
those you describe are connected with the caterpillar in question. In the spring 
the young leaves are sometimes attacked by the grub of a sawfly, but its eggs 
are laid in the month of April. The caterpillars of that destructive species, the 
Winter Moth, feeds upon the Apricot not uufrequently, not, however, under 
glass. The fragment of weed sent was crushed beyond recognition. We do not 
know any weed by the name of “ Spilt Milk,” but probably if a specimen reached 
us in good condition we should be able to determine the name of the plant. 
Specimens whether of insects or plants ought to be sent in boxes, not simply 
enclosed in letters, if they are expected to reach us in even fair condition. 
Raising Asparagus (E. P. C., Loire el Cher ).—We presume you do not 
intend any of the plants to remain in the seed bed, but intend transplanting 
the whole of them, or at least all you require, for the ground you intend to 
occupy'. In this case we should not sow thickly in a series of narrow beds, but 
should select a piece of rich and, if possible, rather light ground, and sow in 
drills a foot apart and an inch deep, scatteving the seeds thinly, as it is not easy 
to draw out superfluous plants without injuring the others when they are much 
crowded in the rows. The date for sowing is not of nearly so much importance 
as the state of the weather and free condition of the soil. In England fine 
weather towards the end of March is suitable, but possibly you may sow some¬ 
what earlier in your district. By sowing as wo propose there is sufficient space 
for using the hoe freely but lightly between the rows, not only' for preventing 
the growth of weeds, but for accelerating the growth of the plants, stirring the 
soil being of great benefit in that respect. Two cwts. of nitrate of soda mixed 
with one of common salt is an excellent manure for Asparagus, scattering it on 
the surface of the soil at the rate of on ounce per square yard soon after the 
plants appear, and just before rain if possible ; this dressing being repeated at 
monthly intervals, hoeing the ground afterwards, will be better than one heavier 
application. 
Vines on Greenhouse Wall (Flamhro ).—We quite fail to understand 
you, except on the assumption that you prune the laterals close to the main rod 
each year, and stop them beyond the bunches that are produced. In this case 
you simply prevent the growths covering the wall. Instead of stopping the 
laterals let them grow until they meet in the centre of the space. You may not 
have quite such fine Grapes the first year, but you would have at the least five 
times the weight the second season if you preferred. Another plan is to stop 
after the sixth instead of the second leaf; you would then have equally fine 
fruit, while much of the space would bo covered. This year only cut about 
6 inches off the ends of the laterals, or rather leave all the wood you can that is 
hard and contains bold dormant eye". Them growths will form horizontal rods, 
and will themselves produce fruit-bearing laterals which can be stopped at one 
or two leaves beyond the bunches as heretofore ; but these must not be closer to 
each other than 18 inches, as the horizontal mains are decidedly too numerous. 
They ought to be 2 feet apart. The manure to which you refer is, we presume, 
mixed with ten times its bulk of soil, and in that case it would prove a valuable 
top-dressing, spreading it an inch thick. Such dressings with judicious water¬ 
ing would keep your Vines in health in the narrow border. 
Bottled Grapes not Keeping (G. F .).—As you have previously been 
successful in keeping the fruit under the same conditions, we think a solution 
of the mystery is only to be found in the character of the weather and the con¬ 
dition of the growth during the ripening period. Great difficulty was experi¬ 
enced in bringing late crops of Grapes to perfection during the past season, and 
although they presented little difference in appearance to those grown in more 
favourable seasons, some of the best cultivators had their doubts as early as 
October as to whether the fruit was so thoroughly matured as it appeared to be. 
Fruit is easy enough to keep when well grown and thoroughly ripened during a 
favourable season, but last season was anything but favourable, and we are not 
surprised that many fruits besides Grapes have kept badly. An excess of 
ammonia supplied either in the shape of liquid or solid manure during the 
growing season would, by stimulating the growth to a greater extent than 
could be consolidated by the scanty supply of sunlight and heat, have the effect 
of preventing perfect maturation of the fruit, and without this the most skilful 
management will fail to keep it. If the leaves of your Vines did not ripen and 
fall off at the usual time it is quite likely they have had too much nitrogenous 
food for such a sunless season, and we should advise you to supply less of that 
commodity during the coming season, and give instead a dressing of wood ashes 
and bonemeal, or you might use one of the many good samples of concentrated 
manures advertised in our columns, as Standen’s, or the preparation for the pur¬ 
pose made by the Crown Manure Company. 
Camellia Blooms Falling (L. I. A'.).—This evil may be brought about by 
a sudden change of temperature or a dry atmosphere, but neither of these appear 
to be the cause in your case, as you say the plants have been kept in a green¬ 
house, and the temperature lias not ranged higher than 45° to 50° according to 
the weather. Dryness at the roots, or the soil allowed to become saturated 
through too much water, exhaustion through carrying too many blooms, or too 
strong applications of liquid manure, are all sure means of causing the plants to 
throw off their buds or flowers prematurely, or a sudden check to the plants 
from any other cause will not uufrequently end in the unsatisfactory results 
you complain of. The evil in the majority of instances is done long before the 
flowers expand, and if you examine some of the buds on your plant we do not 
doubt you will find long before they commence opening that the base of the 
calyx is brown in consequence, in which case the buds are sure to fall from the 
plants in time even if they remain until the flowers are partially open. Thus 
the flowers falling now may not be due to any mismanagement at the present 
