February 15, 1883. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 145 
the variety to which you refer. It is one of the best Peaches in cultivation, and 
you cannot err by obtaining a tree of it for the aspect you name. You will find 
the protection of nets valuable in such an exposed position. 
Pelargoniums Damping (J. —The reason the leaves of your plants 
have withered is the result of their having been potted too late, and had not 
time to produce roots for supporting the foliage. Had they been potted a month 
sooner the roots would have been active before winter, and the majority of the 
leaves would have been kept healthy. You would have done better to have in¬ 
serted the cuttings in the pots in August, instead of in the open ground and 
potting so late in the season. You had better keep the house rather close and 
warm now to encourage fresh growth ; a night temperature of 50° will be suit¬ 
able, applying water and affording ventilation on mild days as heretofore. 
Roses for House and Garden (A. T.).~ The following are suitable 
Teas for a house :—Satrano, Isabella Sprunt, Due de Magenta, Niphetos, Cathe¬ 
rine Mermet, Abricote, Homfere, David Pradel, Madame Lambard, Marie Sisley, 
Madame Ducher, Madame Margottin, Cheshunt Hybrid, Duchess of Edinburgh, 
Belle Lyonnaise, Yicomtesse de Cazes, Madame Trifle, Madame Berard, Madame 
Alexandre Bernaix, Letty Coles, and Marie Van Houtte. Good Hybrid Per- 
petuals are La France, Comtesse d’Oxford, Jules Margottin, Alfred Colomb, 
Madame Lacharme, Senateur Yaisse, Duke of Edinburgh, and General Jacquemi¬ 
not. The following will be suitable for your purpose in a garden in a smoky 
district:—Marquise de Castellane, Jules Margottin, John Hopper, Gloire de 
Dijon, Souvenir de Malmaison, Comtesse d’Oxford, General Jacqueminot, Prince 
Camille de Bohan, Duke of Edinburgh, Marguerite de St. Amand, Madame de 
Cambacires, Elizabeth Vigneron, Cheshunt Hybrid, Madame Clemence Joig- 
neaux, Boule de Neige, Madame Yictor Yerdier, Marechal Vaillant, La France, 
and the common Moss. 
Preparing Ground for Lawn (A. D., Isle of Man).— By taking advan¬ 
tage of favourable weather for carrying out the plan as described in your letter, 
we have no doubt you will succeed in your object. We should not think of 
incurring the great expense that would be involved by the counter proposal. If 
a week or two of bright weather should occur in March so as to dry the refuse 
that works to the surface, it would be an excellent plan to rake it in small 
heaps and burn it, carefully spreading the ashes and an inch or two of the 
scorched soil below on the land ; if you do not do this you will have dark 
patches of grass where the burning has been done. The surface must be made 
firm and smooth before sowing the seed. 
Lifted Vines (J. T. S.). —We can scarcely understand Vines six years old 
only having rods 4 to 5 feet long. Certainly they will not need shortening. 
Keep the house cool, so as not to excite growth early in the season, but let them 
start naturally. The great point is not to exhaust the sap from the rods before 
root-action quickly follows to maintain the supply. You had, therefore, better 
retard them now, even if it may be requisite to afford fire heat in the autumn 
to ripen the wood. When growth commences remove the weaker buds, and 
when the bunches are seen again thin out a portion of the growths by rubbing 
them off if needed. The laterals to remain should be at the least a foot apart, 
15 inches being preferable, along each side of the rods, and they should not be 
allowed to carry more than half the crop this year that they finished last year 
before being lifted. Has not drip from the roof caused the Aloe to canker ? If 
this is not so the root-action is probably defective, and a top-dressing of rich 
soil might be beneficial. On this, however, we cannot advise, since you afford 
us no data to guide us in the matter. If you write again please state the size of 
the plant and the pot in which it is growing, with such other particulars as 
you think desirable, to enable us to comprehend its condition. 
Repotting Lomarias ( Reader ).—It is not easy to answer your question 
without knowing more intimately the actual condition of the plant. We have 
treated old Ferns in the manner you suggest, and improved them considerably. 
We have also benefited them greatly by digging out a portion of the soil from 
the pots, and top-dressing with a compost of turfy loam and manure, and when 
this has become permeated with roots giving clear soot water once or twice a 
week. A rim of zinc placed round the pot will enable you to repeat the top¬ 
dressing if you adopt this method of renovation. If, when you turn the plants 
out of the pots, the roots have a black dead appearance carry out your project, 
but if they are fresh we should prefer the alternative of top-dressing and liquid 
manure. 
Euphorbia splendens ( Idem ).—It is true, as you say, that this good old 
plant will flower continually if kept in a warm house, but a rest occasionally is 
beneficial. This you may give at any time by placing it in a house where the 
temperature does not exceed 45°, and keeping it comparatively dry at the roots 
for a month or two. If you then remove a portion of the surface soil, add fresh 
rough rich compost, and place it in a warm house having a genial atmosphere, 
it will flower profusely. In August it is a good plan to place the plant outdoors 
near a south wall for a month or six weeks, but shading the pot from the sun. 
After that flowers will be plentiful throughout the winter if required, but the 
finest trusses are produced in early summer after a rest afforded at the present 
time. 
Gardenias in Border (C. B. B.). —It is utterly impossible for anyone 
who has not seen the plants to say “ how much water they ought to have.” So 
far as w r e caa judge from your letter your gardener is treating them correctly. 
The temperature is right, also the syringing, and when we find a man right in 
two things we seldom find him far wrong in the third. Until the roots have 
taken possession of the soil frequent applications of water will not be needed, 
still it must never be allowed to get really dry. As soon as it approaches dry¬ 
ness—that is, when a little that is dug up with a stick from a few inches below 
has a tendency to crumble, sufficient tepid water must be given to penetrate the 
entire mass. As the season advances and plants increase in size and activity, 
they will require more than twice the quantity of water that will suffice now. 
Whenever it is given it must be applied copiously, as there is a danger in having 
the border too moist on the surface and too dry below ; at the same time it 
must not be saturated now, or the roots will not extend freely. Once they 
thoroughly permeate the soil it is not easy to give Gardenias too much water in 
a well-drained border. 
Protecting Fruit Trees (F. J.).—One thickness of the canvas, a sample 
of which you have sent, would exclude several degrees of frost and not materially 
impede the action of the sun and air. As a permanent covering we should only 
use one thickness ; but very sharp frosts occasionally occur for a night or 
two which destroy the blossoms under a thin covering, and against this con¬ 
tingency we should have sufficient of the material at hand to place over the 
other on any night when the frost threatened to be unusually severe. The thin 
covering should remain on the trees until the fruit is fairly set. You may 
apply lime at the rate of 1 ft. to 2 lbs. per square yard in your fruit garden ; if 
the soil is very rich and adhesive the latter quantity will not be too much. 
Whether plunging material should always be kept damp depends on what you 
want to plunge in it; as a rule it should be for all plants in active growth, yet 
too much moisture injures the flowers of some plants at certain seasons. 
Improving Tennis Lawn (Various). —According to your statement the 
ground must be very wet, and instead of having two we should prefer four 
drains 18 inches deep, with two or three inch pipes connected to another drain to 
conduct the water away. Over the pipes place some rubble. After removing the 
old turf and spreading on the hard rough material you propose you must cover 
it 2 inches deep with fine soil, making all smooth and firm. If you can procure 
wood ashes or charred vegetable refuse for surfacing this will induce a quick 
growth of the grasses, and the charring would moreover destroy worms and the 
seeds of weeds that are often so troublesome in new lawns. If you send the size 
of the ground to those who advertise lawn seeds in our columns, and state you 
want to sow liberally, they will supply you with the proper quantity of a suit¬ 
able mixture. By sowiDg in suitable weather towards the end of March and 
early in April we have seen close lawns in two months, and tennis played on 
them throughout the season. In these cases the seed was sown thickly, and 
light rich soil carefully sifted over it, so as just to cover it and no more, then 
rolling lightly. The first two or three mowings should be with a very sharp 
scythe, just removing the tips of the grasses, afterwards a machine may be used, 
but not set so low as to shave oft the grass close to the ground. Everything 
depends on good management in producing a lawn quickly, both in preparing 
the soil and giving good after-attention to the herbage. Birds are often very 
troublesome after the seeds are sown, and unless you are watchful they may do 
much harm before you are aware of their depredations. 
Peas for Succession (Idem). —If you sow the varieties you name “ three 
weeks after each other” you will have a succession, but certainly a “ break ” in 
the supply. By sowing Day’s Sunrise, Telephone, and Ne Plus Ultra at the 
same time they will succeed each other in bearing as you require, and when the 
plants of the latter are fairly visible sow more of the same variety or Omega, 
and continue the process till the middle of June. You may then expect an un¬ 
interrupted supply of excellent Peas throughout the season. 
Trees and Shrubs for the Seaside (A. C. Wilkin). —We have never 
seen any of the trees you mention in a flourishing condition near the sea. The 
best of all Fir trees for such a situation is Pinus maritime, the Pinaster, which 
thrives admirably in an exposed place, where we have seen hundreds of it 80 feet 
high. Pinus austriaca has thriven so well on your coast that preference is given 
to it there. Ilex, Sycamore, Beech, Turkey Oak, Spanish Chestnut, Black Italian 
Poplar, and common Silver Fir (Picea pectinata) all answer well and grow to a 
large size if the land is tolerably fertile and well drained, but none of them are 
suitable for a swamp. If you have a swamp try Alder ; we have found it thrive 
where Willows have proved a comparative failure. Plant thickly, watch the 
growth closely, thin judiciously year by year as the trees become large enough 
to require it, clearing sufficiently around the permanent trees to admit sufficient 
air and light to induce a free, strong, healthy growth, and you will eventually 
gain thorough shelter and fine timber. Of shrubs Holly is the ouly one thriving 
by the sea that bears shade and drip well, but for open places away from the 
trees Japanese Privet, Tamaiix, Box, and Mahonia may be planted with the 
Holly, and they would make excellent cover for game. Euonymus also answers 
well by the sea, but unfortunately rabbits are very fond of it, and the Snowberry 
(Symphoricarpus racemosus) makes a good undergrowth in plantations in damp 
positions. 
Heating Vinery— Grapes Shanking ( J. M.) .—Unquestionably the 
best mode of heating the house would be by hot water, and we should not 
consider such a house complete without an apparatus for this purpose. Two 
rows of 4-inch pipes taken round the house, except across the doorways, would 
answer. As you would have to sink the boiler so that the top of it would be 
below the doorsill, a low or rather flat terminal saddle would probably suit you 
as well as any. A flow pipe from the top of this passing below the doorway, 
then rising to the height required and conducted with a very slight incline, say 
a rise of about 3 inches to the doorway at the opposite end, returning from thence 
back to the bottom of the boiler, would heat one side of the house, and a similar 
arrangement along the other side would complete the work. You would require 
a T piece in the flow to which to connect the pipes, and an air pipe at the highest 
point of each flow, which would be near the doorway at the end of the house 
opposite the boiler. Your present flue might possibly act as a smoke-shaft. You 
can ascertain by measurement the length of pipes required, and if you order them 
from a respectable firm they are sure to be “good.” Ordinary socket pipes will 
answer, and if you wish to have them so that they can be easily removed at any 
time, put them together with indiarubber rings. As you appear to have had 
little, if any, experience in work of this kind, you will find it advantageous to 
employ some competent person or firm to do what you require, as a mistake in 
setting the boiler or arranging the pipes would end in failure and consequent 
loss. If the roots of your Yines are confined to a border 3 feet wide and 2 feet 
deep, in all probability they do not receive sufficient support, and this alone 
would cause the fruit to shank. All the varieties you name will ripen in a house 
heated as we have suggested. 
Cucumbers in Greenhouse (FI. S. P.). —As you appear to have succeeded 
in producing satisfactory crops last year, you cannot do better than to pursue 
the same method of culture this year. As to the failure of the other plants, in 
some respects the fault was your own, in others it must be attributed to the 
unsuitability of the house. You ought to be able to grow Gloxinias, Maiden¬ 
hair Ferns, and to a certain stage Tuberous Begonias in a house with Cucumbers, 
as the temperature and moisture would be suitable for all; but Pelargoniums 
and Liliums need much more light and air, and a cool frame would be far better 
after the middle of May for them than a close warm house, also for the Begonias 
after they were fairly started into growth. If you desire further information 
and will state your requirements as clearly as possible, we are quite willing to 
supply it; but no one can grow satisfactorily all the plants you name in a house 
that appears to be chiefly devoted to Cucumbers. You will find lists of French 
and other continental seedsmen, &c., in the “ Horticultural Directory,” which 
you can obtain through a bookseller, price Is., or by post free from this office 
price Is. 3d. 
Roses for Garden and Pots (J. G., Nottingham).— Assuming that the 
soil is good the exclusion of the sun at mid-day will not seriously interfere with 
the growth of any Roses that succeed well in your district. During hot seasons 
we have had the finest Roses from plants growing on a north border, but they 
had the benefit of the sun for a few hours in the morning and again in the 
evening. This, we presume, will be so in your case, and you may therefore 
plant such varieties as you prefer. In repotting Roses the size of the pots can 
only be determined by the size of the plants and the condition of their roots. 
Unless the pots are quite crowded with roots we should not repot Roses now, 
but remove an inch or two of the surface soil, at the same time digging out 
any portion from near the sides of the pots that can be done without injuring 
the roots materially; then add a top-dressing of rich compost, such as two-thirds 
