March 24, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
223 
districts, and up to the middle of August in warm (southern) 
districts. The last sowing but one should be much more exten¬ 
sive than any of the previous, as there need be no fear of the 
crop running to seed, and, moreover, the winter and early spring 
supplies of Turnips depend almost entirely upon the weight and 
quality of the produce resulting from this sowing, the last 
sowing being made on the chance of the weather during the 
autumn months being favourable to the growth of the crop. It 
will be advisable to sow two or three varieties at each sowing to 
insure a good succession. A cool moist situation is preferable to 
a warm dry one for the May and June sowings. The seed 
may also be sown broadcast, but the method of procedure 
recommended above is preferable, especially where small sowings 
are made. 
For early and general sowings Early White Strapleaf, Carter’s 
Purple Top Strapleaf, Early Snowball, Webb’s Climax, and 
Carter’s White Swan’s Egg, the latter a new and excellent variety 
sent out last year for the first time, and received with great favour, 
the flesh being of fine texture and the flavour good. Veitch’s Red 
Grlobe and Chirk Castle are excellent varieties for late sowings. 
—H. W. Ward, Longford Castle. 
CULTURE OF NERIUM OLEANDER. 
Why is this old, but ever beautiful flowering plant, not seen 
more frequently ? we are led to ask, when seeing a well-grown 
plant in a pot in full bloom. Surely it is not on account of any 
difficulty in its cultivation, for I do not know a plant more 
amenable to ordinary greenhouse treatment than this. While some 
go in ecstacies over plants decidedly inferior in every way, this 
rivals the choicest in delicacy of floral colouring, and it is useful 
during a long period in summer and autumn. 
Cuttings of the half-ripened shoots may be taken with a heel 
and inserted singly in small pots in a compost of one part loam, two 
parts leaf mould, and silver sand. If placed in a brisk bottom heat, 
and carefully watered, they will soon form roots and be ready for a 
shift into 4 or 4|^-inch pots, using a little more loam in this potting. 
Another system of rooting these is by placing them in bottles of 
water which contain a little charcoal to keep the water pure, and 
not allowed to remain more than a couple of days without changing 
the water. In this way the cuttings root far more quickly than 
in pots if bottom heat is not available. After potting, keep them 
in a suitable temperature, and frequently syringed. If bush plants 
are required, pinch out the points, but for the first season the plants 
rarely attain a height of more than 15 or 18 inches before they 
break naturally and form a good head. As the roots fill the 
pots, transfer into 6 or 7-inch size, using three parts loam, some 
well-decayed manure and sand, taking care to pot firmly. 
This size will generally be large enough for the first season ; 
in fact, we have flowered the plants with considerable success 
in 5-inch pots. When growth is completed, and the buds can 
be detected in the points, the plants may be kept somewhat 
drier at the roots, care being taken not to excite them too 
early, or much will be lost, and often the buds do not swell 
freely. When the buds are swelling weak liquid manure may be 
used advantageously two or three times a week. As the plants 
come into flower they may either be kept in the greenhouse, or 
removed to the conservatory, where they will stand out promi¬ 
nently at that season of the year. When flowering is over, we cut 
our plants hard back, place them in a little warmth, and treat them 
in the same way as from cuttings, potting or top-dressing, as is 
thought necessary, when the young shoots have attained sufficient 
length. Plants may be retarded considerably by placing them 
outside for a few weeks in the early part of the summer. I may 
here mention that quantities of bloom may be secured from 
plants grown in borders and trained against the back wall of a 
greenhouse. In this case the plants, after flowering, should 
have the longest shoots shortened each year. By doing so sturdy 
growths are secured, and the wall always presents a neat 
appearance. 
The Oleander is subject to two very destructive pests—viz., 
mealy bug and white scale. The former may be easily removed 
by careful sponging with any of the advertised insecticides, but 
the latter is more troublesome, and far more difficult to eradicate, 
if sponging alone is resorted to. Several years ago we had some 
Acacias in pots which were badly infested with white scale, and 
the leaves being so small sponging was out of the question. 
About the beginning of June they were soaked in a pond of 
water which we have in the grounds, turned every day for four 
days, and then lifted out. The scale was found to be dead, and 
a good syringing made the plants look healthy. The same 
course is adopted with the Neriums if we see any trace of 
scale, and always with the same result. There is a white form 
of this Nerium which is very pretty and well worth cultivation 
and our continental neighbours have raised several new sorts, but 
I cannot speak from experience about them.—R. P. R. 
THE LAND QUESTION—ALLOTMENTS. 
Havino- made the land question a study for years, with your kind 
permission, at this opportune time, [ would like to offer a few remarks 
thereon, regarding allotments especially. To request a person say with 
£100 to lay it down that he might borrow £300, and then, so cramped, 
to expect that person to cultivate his allotment successfully, is to expect 
the improbable, and which nine times out of ten will not be realised— 
in fact, present difficulties are mainly due to lack of capital. 
Being born and reared on a 7-acre allotment my knowledge is 
practical, and hence I know that nine out of ten of those who rely on 
aught save their own hard heads and strong arms will fail. My faith is, 
and has been for years, all the option of a cottage garden, and then 
allow those who love land cultivation to grow. Thrice I have attempted 
to secure such garden plots, but only once succeeded, though the system 
I adopted, when in 1868 I secured our Kectory field, I still believe to be 
one of the best practicable systems possible to connect our masses with 
the land. The plot was over 4 acres, and rent, without rates, £15. To 
meet this I let sufficient gardens at 10s. and 20s. each, and then turned 
over the rest of the field to the public and our children for a playground. 
Further, subject to my own agreement, all were at liberty to sell their 
interest who preferred doing so, and just at the time when death brought 
changes one person had £3 offered for his portion. Such spots I contend 
are nurseries where land lovers are reared. 
As to entail and the like grievances, I cannot see how a good rich 
landlord has any more deteriorating effect than have those with capital 
in any of our other great fields of labour. Most certainly hereabouts 
our aristocratic landlords have more love for a prosperous tenancy than 
they have for rents to make success impossible. Profitable times locked 
up land, for then only the strong in funds or favoured could secure it, 
whilst now it is equally locked up by lack of profit, and artificial means 
in many parts are found necessary to let it. This is also notable, even 
noblemen southwards are now planting their estates with hardy fruits 
and vegetables for jam and market purposes, and it is from such these 
huge daily consignments that reach large populous towns are secured. 
This teaches, in thinly populous places especially, allotment holders 
must at least grow one thing well and in quantity to be worth sending 
long distances by rail. From all climes in all seasons we have com¬ 
petitors with brains as active as ours to contend with, and seeing that 
the survival of the fittest is Nature’s law we must make our diagnosis of 
the difficulty without prejudice, and determine everywhere to retain 
and cultivate the more excellent.— JOSEPH Witherspoon, Red Rose 
Vineries, Chester-le-Street. 
BOUVARDIAS. 
The Bouvardia is one of the most useful winter flowering plants 
either for decoration or affording flowers for cutting for bouquets 
buttonholes, wreaths, or sprays. With the valuable addition to the list 
of varieties of late there is a good selection of colours ranging from pure 
white to scarlet. Many persons err in treating Bouvardias as stove 
plants, whereas they succeed well in a warm greenhouse tempera¬ 
ture. The present is the best time to take the cuttings from plants, 
which should have been prepared by cutting down after flowering, and 
placed in heat a few weeks ago to induce them to break. I find 4-inch 
pots the handiest size for the cuttings, which are taken off while short 
and strong and placed under a handlight in the stove to strike. When 
rooted they are placed singly in 4-inch pots and arranged on a shelf near 
the glass in a warm house. The plants are subsequently shifted into 
6-inch pots, and eventually placed in a cold frame, keeping them rather 
close until they have rooted in the new soil, after which the frame is 
ventilated freely. On warm days they are syringed when the frame 
is closed in the afternoon, which keeps red spider in check, and the 
shoots are pinched three or four times during the summer to make 
the plants bushy. Six-inch pots I find the most useful size to flower 
them in for our purposes. 
The soil used is a mixture of fibry loam, leaf mould, a little manure 
from old Mushroom bed, and sand, adding also a little bonemeal at the 
final potting. When they have filled the pots with roots an occasional 
top-dressing of Clay’s fertiliser or Thomson’s manure will help them 
considerably, and they will keep their foliage down to the pot, nothing 
looking worse than bare stems with a few blooms on the tops. Before 
there is any danger of frosts at night they are removed to a warm green¬ 
house with a temperature of from 50° to 55°, where they are flowered, 
and give a good return for the trouble expended on them all through 
the winter when the flowers are particularly acceptable. 
After flowering the plants are cut down and some are placed in heat to 
produce early cuttings, the remainder being allowed to break naturally, 
and when the weather is warm enough planted out on a warm border, 
pinched a few times, taken up early and housed. These come in very 
useful for cutting before the young plants afford trusses, after which 
the old ones are thrown away. 
The varieties I chiefly rely on are singles Vreelandi, Priory Beauty 
Humboldti, Corymbiflora, Hogarth, President Cleveland, and Mrs 
Robert Green ; doubles, Alfred Neuner, President Garfield, Hogarth 
Flore Pleno, and Sang Lorraine.—R. C. W., Crosswood Parh, 
