174 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ March 1, 1883. 
Rocks. Manures and Application.—Chiefly horse manure and vege¬ 
table matter. Cultural Remarks.—As to culture, I find no difference 
as to whether the manure is dug in autumn or at the time when 
planting if the ground is dry any time through the winter. I prefer 
to plant early, before the tubers begin to grow.—R. Draper, Seaham 
Hall , Sunderland. 
plants. Cuttings may be obtained by pruning a few plants back 
and placing them in heat, and they will produce abundance of 
cuttings. They will strike freely in bottom heat without a bell- 
glass. If encouraged and attended to they will make fine plants 
by winter.—C. Stephens, jun. 
Essex. —1. February as early as weather permits. Myatt’s Prolific 
Ashleaf, Uxbridge Kidney, and *French Shaws. Soil.—Light. 2. Early 
in March. *Dalmahoy, Schoolmaster and *Dunbar Regent. 3.. End of 
March or early in April. ^Victoria, *Magnum Bonum, *White Ele¬ 
phant, and *Champion. Manures and Application.—All our Potatoes 
receive farmyard manure and guano occasionally. We place the 
early Potatoes for the garden one layer thick in shallow boxes, and 
place the boxes in a cool vinery or similar structure. The field culture 
consists of farmyard manure and guano, 3 cwts. per acre. Cultural 
remarks.—Various artificial manures have been tried, and we have 
always come back again to guano. Good crops have been obtained 
by sowing the ground with Rye and ploughing it in before the Rye is 
ready to cut.— Jas. Douglas, l.oxford Hall , Ilford , Essex. 
1. First or second week in March. Old Ashleaf, *Myatt’s Prolific 
Ashleaf, Rivers’ Royal Ashleaf, and Early Rose. Soil.—Light sandy 
loam. Plants in ridges 2 feet apart, and 18 inches from set to set. 
2. Last week in March. *Snowflake, *Rector of Woodstock, Porter’s 
Excelsior, and Paterson’s Victoria. Soil.—Medium loam. Ridges 
2 feet 6 inches apart, 20 inches from set to set. 3. First week in 
April. *Dunbar Regent, *Victoria Regent, *York Regent, and 
Schoolmaster. Soil.—Medium loam. Manures and Application.— 
Old tan, leaf soil, or old hotbeds, or any other light substance placed 
over the sets. It is very desirable that the ground 
should be well worked and kept in a light state 
previous to planting, as that will assist early 
ripening, and the earlier the Potatoes are harvested 
the better, as there is less chance of disease.— 
Robert Castle, Orsett Hall, Romford. 
A LIGHT TREE-MOVING MACHINE. 
When about to commence moving some shrubs a few years 
ago we were considering the best means of conveying them to 
their new quarters, when we remembered an old mowing machine, 
which was at once utilised. The machine was one of a very 
old pattern, made thirty or forty years ago, the rollers of which, 
to our advantage, are a few inches higher than they are made at 
the present time. In the first place we stripped the machine of 
everything but the handles and rollers. A square piece of sound 
oak was secured with binding wire across the front of it, just above 
where the front rollers had been removed. Two 15-feet mason’s 
planks were then laid on the top of the machine, resting on the 
piece of wood at the front, and nailed to it, and on the cross bars 
of the handles behind. At the end they were secured together by 
nailing a piece of wood across to form handles to hold and guide 
it by. 
The sketch (fig. 50) is a side view of machine as now used. 
We find the planks are too heavy, and mean some day to get 
a stout larch pole fitted up something similar to that repre¬ 
sented in outline. Two cross pieces and a 9-inch board, laid 
PANICLM PLICATUM. 
For those who are not overstocked with small 
Palms and wish for a plant with handsome and 
graceful foliage I would recommend Panicum 
plicatum. It is a Grass of the easiest culture, 
the usefulness of which for decorative purposes 
can scarcely be over-estimated. A pinch of seed 
sown in August in a warm house and pricked off, 
five in a 6-inch pot, made what looked like single 
plants 3 feet high and as much through by De¬ 
cember, and when used for decoration in the 
mansion was very much admired. Its leaves are 
about 2 feet long, and 3 inches broad in the 
widest part, beautifully plicated or folded length¬ 
wise, and bent sickle-shape, so as to fall grace¬ 
fully all round the pot. The folds in the 
leaves make it appear to have several shades, varying from a 
very light to a dark green colour. It is, I think, best treated as 
an annual, and sown in successional batches. I intend growing 
it by hundreds. It seems to me not very particular about tem¬ 
perature, but a friend living in Co. Meath who recommended it 
to me, says he tried it outside there during the last summer, and 
it was not satisfactory. It is, however, worth a trial in sheltered 
situations in the south of England.— Wm. Taylor. 
CULTURE OF SOLANUM CAPSICASTRUM. 
These most useful plants are not so extensively grown as they 
deserve to be. I think that no other plant appears so bright in 
the conservatory during the dull winter months. I once saw some 
plants that had been grown in pots all the summer months, and 
in winter they had very few berries or leaves. In March they 
should be pruned, but not very closely if large specimens are re¬ 
quired. At the beginning of April they should be planted out in 
a sunny border that has been dug and manured. Allow them 
room according to their size, for if planted too thickly together 
they will lose their leaves. From this time until they are lifted 
they must be well supplied with water, and occasionally with 
liquid manure. About the middle of September they should be 
lifted, taking care not to shake more soil ofE from the roots than 
is necessary, or probably they will lose their foliage. In the 
potting they should have good drainage, because they require 
abundance of water, using a compost of good loam and leaf soil. 
They should be placed by the side of a south wall for three weeks, 
sprinkling them when the sun is bright, not allowing them to flsg. 
When the frosts commence the plants should be removed to a 
shelf in a cool house where the berries can ripen, which will occur 
by Christmas or before. They can easily be obtained by seed, but 
I prefer cuttings, because they make the dwarfest and most bushy 
parallel to and level with the top side of the pole, will form a 
stage sufficient to carry the ball of soil. The thick end of the 
pole should be roughly squared to make it lie better and to 
facilitate the fitting of the stages. 
Anyone having an old mowing machine, and having planting to 
do, cannot possibly turn it to better account than use it for this 
purpose. Last autumn two men and a lad moved some shrubs 
from 8 to 10 feet high with less loss of time and labour than 
could have been done by any other plan I have yet seen tried. 
The shrubs are prepared in the ordinary way, only keeping the 
loose soil clear of one side of the plant. The ball is then tilted 
back on its side, the machine is brought forward with the rollers 
close to the edge of the hole, slipping the end of the stage under 
the ball by raising the handles. The ball is then brought back on 
to the machine. If the ball is sufficiently heavy to balance the 
top it may be carried to its destination in an upright position, 
simply sliding it along the planks (after having raised it to a 
horizontal position) till the man at the end of the pole can 
balance it. If the tree is a tall one, its head is brought back 
and lashed to the pole, which generally brings the weight about 
right. The shrub is deposited in the new hole with the same ease, 
by bringing the rollers to the edge of the hole in the same way. 
The moving from one place to another is easy, whether on road 
or turf, a rope being attached to the front part of the machine to 
draw it by.— R. Inglis. 
EARLY FLOWERS. 
Quite a large posy may now be picked from shrubs and plants 
in the open air. Erica carnea is in full beauty, its bright rosy 
pink flowers brightening the garden more than any other plant 
just now. We have planted it by the hundred in many places— 
in bold masses among the collection of hardy Heaths, in perennial 
