394 
JOUBXAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 1\ 1888. 
to be ready to receive a queen from Mr. Benton—in about thirty 
seconds the whole stock set up a noise that could well be heard 
30 yards off, so delighted were they. These were old bees, and I 
do not know how long they had been queenless.— A Hallamshire 
Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
John I.aingfe Sons, Forest Hill, London, ^.'E.^Catalogue nf Bcgonlan, 
Orchi(ls,n7hd General Via at 
Corry, Soper, Fowler, & Co., Ifi and 18, Finsbury Street, London, E.C.— 
nhtutrated Trade Catalogue of Garden lleguLntes. 
Hocrer & Woofl. Cnld.stream. Berwickshire.— T.iM. nl Varm Steeds. 
All correspondence should be directed either to “ The 
Editor” or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. 
Hogg or menabers of the staff often remain unopened un¬ 
avoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should he written on one side of 
the paper only.- We cannot reply to questions tlirough the 
post, and we do not undertake to return rejected communica¬ 
tions. 
Pruning- Roses (F. C. A).—We do not publish the story, as it is 
not quite good nonsense. 
Report of Auricula Show (IF. B., Lcelt )-—We are greatly 
obliged by your consideration, but a report of the Show was in type 
when your letter and enclosures arrived. 
Watercress —You will perhaps find the. information vou 
need in a reply to “ W. P.” Mr. Sliirley Hibberd’s pamphlet on this 
subject is, we think, published by Groombridge & Sons. 
Odontoglossums (7Z Peiuiell .f Sons ').—All the varieties sent are 
good, and two of them are excellent—namely, the broad fringed form 
of O. crispum and one of the 0. lluckerianum style. They are well 
worth preserving. 
Flower Bed Beslgn QTovrnnC ).—As a rule all the dark coloured 
carpet plants show to better advantage surrounded with a Ijright line of 
contrasting colour, the width to be determined by the size of the beds. A 
narrow margin of Golden Feather kept pinched would look well round 
the central mass of Lobelia and Centaurea. There is nothing to show 
whether the design embraces a number of panels for one large bed, or 
whether there are seven separate beds on grass or gravel. If the beds or 
panels are large enough they should all be margined with the most 
suitable plants that may be provided for furnishing the beds. 
Stocks and Pansies for Spring- (.7. E.). —The East Lothian Stock 
would in all probability suit your requirements. You c.annot sow them 
too soon now, and as your situation is exposed grow them in soil that is 
not rich. In February or the beginning of March a thick layer of horse 
droppings or cow manure laid about the plants and on the surface of 
the soil will cause them to develope good spikes. As you suggest, they 
will be easier managed sown in a box, thence pricked into pots, using 
very light soil, and when well established plant out where they are to 
remain and bloom. Sow the Pansies in June in a moist position in the 
open ground, and transplant to get strong for flowering. Thomson’s 
work on the Vine is published by Blackwood, and can be had, if in 
print, through a bookseller. We think Taylor’s “ Vines at Longleat ” is 
out of print. 
Stra-wberrles not Swelling- (J- IF. T.). —Fumigation directly 
after the fruit was set would affect the Strawberries prejudicially ; 
indeed the cause of their becoming brown and hard is due to sudden 
■drying of the atmosphere either by fumigation or a sudden influx of air, 
as not infrequently occurs on bright weather following a dull and cold 
period. Exposure to very bright sun after dull weather, particularly 
when the plants are near the glass, is also a cau.se of the fruit becoming 
brown and hard. The only remedy is a moist and more genial condition 
of the atmosphere. No amount of water at the roots will compensate for 
excessive evaporation from the fruit. 
Swanley—the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund (77. J. C.).—Although 
the notes referred to sound to you “ more like a fairy tale than a soter 
statement of facts,” as you believe them to be, it is a very stern fact 
that as much more might have been written, and must have been 
written, to give anything like a full description of the establishments in 
question. Mr. Ladds continues to use his horizontal tubular boiler for 
heating his glass structures. We shall be very pleased to see you when 
you come to the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund dinner, and to be of such 
service as we can to you and your friends. The Committee hope th.at 
as many gardeners .as possible will bring friends with them on the occa¬ 
sion. The Fund cannot fail to do “ much good, and meet a real want 
in the horticultural world,” and you have the honour of being one of its 
originators. 
Rouble Primulas {C. IF. Nl). —As you would see towards the 
close of Mr. Divers’ exhau.stive paper on the cultivation of these pl.ants, 
the larvae of the destructive weevil Otiorhynchus sulcatus occasionally 
causes the death of some by eating their way from the roots into the 
stems ; but we scarcely think this is the cause of some of your plants 
“ going off.” AVhen they get old, or produce a good length of woody 
stems above ground, as in the example sent, the sap vessels become so 
contracted that they are no longer able to convey the requisite amount 
of nutriment for sustaining the plants in he.alth. The leaves then fail, one 
after the other turning yellow and shrivelling. There is a correlative 
failure of root action, .and disease culminating in death enisucs. The 
fungus on the stems is not the cause of the unhealthy condition of the 
plants, but the result of it. Turfy loam and leaf mould or coco.a-nut 
refuse packed round the stems prevents their shrinkage, and the plants 
are kept healthy the longer. 
Curtailing Boiler Flue (^Ferndale ).—The “engineer” no doubt 
constructed the furnace on the principle that it might be required to 
burn coke, cinders and other description of fuel, and unaware that anthra¬ 
cite coal would be used. The principle in setting a boiler is to concen¬ 
trate as much heat as possible on the boiler, having exposed to the direct 
action of the fire as much boiler service as practicable. Contr.acting the 
flue over the boiler will only increase the draught, causing the heat not 
abstracted by the boiler to more speedily ascend the chimney ; therefore, 
if you have plenty of draught it would be well to leave the flue as it is, 
so that as large an extent as possible of the boiler surface may be exposeil. 
Top flues over saddle boilers are not, however, of much benefit beyond 
jneventing the cooling of the boiler surfaces, assisting in maintaining 
the lieat a’oout the boiler, and are not employed with boilers that 
present a large surface to the direct action of the fire. Have you not a 
damper to regulate the dr,aught ? 
Propag-ating- Bupborbla jacqulniaefiora (F. Banks). — The 
plants after flowering should be kept dry, but not so as to cause the 
wood to shrivel, and be cut back to firm ripe wood. From this .shoots 
will push when the pl.ants arc placed in gentle heat, as they should be 
in March, and when these are between I and 6 inches long they should 
be taken off with a heel, the base pared smooth, and inserted alxmt an 
inch apart around the sides of 5 or C-inch pots, be placed in a gentle 
bottom heat and covered with a frame or bellglass, keeping them close, 
moist, and shaded from bright sun until rooted, as will be known by 
their growing freely ; they must then be inured to the air of the house, 
and be potted singly anil grown in a very light position. To prepare 
the cutting pots dr.ain them with crocks one-third their depth, place 
a little cocoa-nut fibre over the drainage, and fill to within three-quarters 
of .an inch of the rim with a compost of light loam, leaf soil, sand, and 
dust charcoal in eqiual parts, surfacing with half an inch of pure sand. 
Apply water through a fine rose, and an hour or two afterwards insert 
the cuttings, giving them a gentle watering. They should be inserted 
about a couple of inches deep. 
Marking- a Ba-wn Tennis Court (A Con.sfant Reader). —For 
“single court” the width is 27 feet, and 78 feet in length. It is divided 
across the middle by a net, the ends of which are attached to the top of 
two posts, which stand 3 feet outside the court on each side. The height 
of the net is 3 feet 6 inches at the posts, and 3 feet at the centre. At 
the end of the court, parallel with the net, and at a distance of 39 feet 
from it, are drawn the b.ase lines, the extremities of which are connected 
by the side lines. Half way between the side lines and parallel with 
them is drawn the h.alf-court line, dividing the space on each side of the 
net into two equal parts, called the right and left courts. On each side 
of the net at a distance of 21 feet from it, and par.allel.with it, are drawn 
the service lines. The above are the dimensions given in “Lawn 
Tennis,’’ by Lieut. S. 0. F. Peile, published by Jlessrs. Blackwood & Sons, 
London. For “ double court ” the width is 36 feet, .and within the side 
lines at a distance of I.j feet from them and parallel with them .are 
drawn service side lines, which are not drawn beyond the half-court 
lines. In other respects the “ double court ” is similar to the “ single 
court ” described above, but to aid the marker a diagram is necessary, 
for which you are referred to the work named above. 
Watercress Beds (IF. P.). —You do not say whether you wish to 
grow Cresses in or out of water. If to be grown in water the bed may 
be any length, the width being 9 feet. As you require a large bed a 
suitable size would be 260 feet long and 9 feet wide. The soil should be 
stiff, so as to form a suitable receptacle for holding water. A trench is 
made of the required dimensions, and need not be deeper than to secure 
a regular depth of water of 3 or 4 inches. In a stiff soil there is little 
difficulty in getting the trenches to hold water, but in a porous soil it is 
necessary to use cl.ay at the bottom and sides of the trench, and when 
cl.ay ii used there must be space allowed for about 4 inches depth of 
good soil. Inadhesive soil all that is necessary is to make the bottom 
quite firm, .also the sloping sides, with a slope from one end to the other, 
so that the water will have a gentle run—i.c., flow in at one end and 
run out at the other. The bottom being dry, water is allowed to run in 
to soften it, and this whether the soil is the original stratum or fresh. 
