March 11, 1838. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
191 
being done very carefully and evenly from the tiny paper it is 
folded in. It must on no account be covered with soil, but a 
little fine dry silver sand may be dusted over, though no more of 
this than will just whiten the surface. Some prefer to sow on 
the top of a rather heavy surfacing of sand, but I have found 
when this is done that the seedlings are very slow in gaining a 
root hold, many being lost after germinating. The pots or pans 
should be plunged into the hotbed and be covered closely with a 
square of glass, a little of the plunging material being distributed 
over the latter. The soil must be kept uniformly moist, but the 
less watering there is needed the better, as the seeds or even the 
seedlings are easily dislodged and ruined. We never venture to 
water our very fine seeds or seedlings, as sprinklings through a 
very fine-rose watering pot besides being risky are sometimes 
deceptive in their effect. The best plan is to partly itnmez-se the 
pot or pan into a bucket or tank of tepid water, allowing the 
moisture to gradually work upwards, then after withdrawal if 
the drainage is good the water soon leaves them and without 
unduly saturating the soil- 1 must, however, warn some of my 
younger readers to wliose tender mercies a packet of Begonia 
seeds may be consigned, that partial immersion is very different 
to submersion, as if the latter plan of moistening the soil is 
adopted there is every prospect of some unoffending seedsman 
being condemned for supplying bad seeds, and which perhaps 
were pimply washed out of the pots. 
Directly the seedlings are discernible the shading should be 
removed from the glass, returning a portion of it oniy whenever 
the sun is shining brightly In the course of about three days 
the glass may be propped up, but not removed till such times as 
the seedlings may be strong enough to stand a little rough usage, 
or say part of the contents of a syringe which many are rather 
fond of throwing about where least needed. The seedlings are 
best kept on the hotbed, as there is little danger of their being 
drawn, and dry hot shelves are not suitable: r Begonias in any 
stage of growth. When the most forward of them are large 
enough to handle they should be pricked out about 2 inches 
apart in pans of fine soil, composed of equal parts loam and peat 
or loam and good leaf soil, the latter preferably, adding silver 
sand fz-eely. This ought to be warmed prior to being used, and 
if very dry be moistened with tepid water. The strongest of the 
seedlings may then be transferred to the pans with the aid of a 
label without distux-bing those that are not laz-ge enough to 
z-emove, the holes made being filled up if necessary with a little 
fine soil or sand. After being watered the seedlings pricked 
out should be stood with the original seed pan and shaded when 
necessary. Directly they touch each other they should be trans- 
fez-red, with little balls of soil and roots, to ordinary Pelargonium 
boxes, these being previously dz-ained and filled with rather tine 
compost similar to that just z-ecommended, disposing them about 
4 inches apart each way, still be kept growing on the hotbed. 
We find that they gx-ow much moi’e freely in these boxes than 
they do when potted, and it is just at this intermediate stage 
when so many seedlings come to a standstill. By the time they 
are become established in their fresh quarters they will need less 
heat and should be gradually inured to a cooler house or frame, 
the same treatment being given to those that wez - e necessarily 
left in the seed pan for a few days or weeks longer. 
The next point to be decided is whether these seedlings shall 
for a few weeks, or rather months, be grown in the open air or 
be hurried into flower under glass. This to a certain extent 
ought to depend upon circumstances. Those who want an early 
display may pot their seedlings as soon as they touch each 
other, 5-inch pots being a good size, and a suitable compost con¬ 
sists of two parts of turfy loam to one of leaf soil, a little fine 
decayed manure and silver or gritty sand being mixed with it. 
Those newly potted plants may be kept rather close, but not in 
a high temperature, for a few days, and dix-ectly they are recovered 
fz-orn the slight check they may be removed to a gx-eenhouse and 
encoux-aged to flower as long as they will. A fairly light position 
should be assigned them. They ought not to be pinched back at 
any time, are not benefited by syringings, but ought never to 
suffer by want of water, azid when the pots are full of roots they 
will be greatly assisted by frequent supplies of weak liquid 
manure. In this manner it is a compax'atively easy matter to 
secure strong branching plants by the autumn; but if strong 
tzzbers are wanted for the following season to replace, it may be, 
the stock of older and infex-ior sorts, it will be fouzzd most advan¬ 
tageous to plant them out during the summer in temporax-y 
frames constructed at the back of a south wall. About 6 inches 
of good light soil (we use decayed leaf soil freely) is ample, and 
in this they may be transplanted fx-ozn the boxes, disposing them 
about G inches apart each way. They may be covered with fz-ames 
for a few days, but would succeed without them, and with little 
further trouble soon grow to a good size and flower freely. They 
can be readily potted when in full bloom, a little shade being 
given for a few days, and for house decoration during September 
and October we have found plants thus grown of great sezwice. 
Any not worth farther cultivation are weeded out, and the 
remainder not potted up are lifted after being damaged by frost 
and stox-ed thickly in Pelargonium boxes, the soil immediately 
surz’oundzng the tubers being sufficient to keep them plump and 
sound, all that is necessary being to protect them fz-om sevez-e 
frosts. I have taken more space than anticipated in describing 
our method of raising these Begonias, and must therefore post¬ 
pone my z-emaz-ks on propagating by cuttings as well as the 
s tarting and subsequent treatment of dz-y tubers, the latter being 
^est kept dormant for some time longer.—W. Igoulden. 
SPARROWS DESTROYING GOOSEBERRY AND 
CURRANT BUDS. 
Until within the last three years I have not had any experience of 
sparrows destroying fruit buds. I have defended them from attack in 
the columns of this Journal on more than one occasion, and though I 
now admit that they do eat fruit buds I am not prepared to wage a war 
of extermination against them. Last winter marked my first experience 
with apawows eating Gooseberry and Currant buds. Sprinkling the 
bushes with petroleum in mixture with water at the rate of a quarter of 
a pint per 3 gallons, 2 ozs, softsoap per gallon having previously been dis¬ 
solved in the water, was sufficient to keep them away ; but this winter 
they commenced on the Currants in November, the blue titmouse being 
their forerunner on the bushes, which I attributed to the birds’ search 
for aphides. The blue titmouse certainly did not destroy any buds, or 
only where the buds were so clustered on the spurs that in getting at the 
aphides secreted there some few of the buds had been disturbed and were 
left on the ground entire. I thought the sparrows had come to assist in 
the good work, but I found they took the buds altogether. The petroleum 
remedy was tried, but though it deterred them at first the sparrows were 
at the bushes again directly after the first rain following the petroleum 
dressing. It was of very little use, and as destroying the birds was for¬ 
bidden—and I think rightly—I was driven to the expedient of running 
black thread in wide mesh-like order over the bushes. This answered 
perfectly. 
I have some rows of winter Spinach between rows of the bushes, and 
the leaves were eaten by the sparrows, even the hearts being pecked out. 
A single row of black thread directly over the Spinach, and quite 6 inches 
above ground, is sufficient to keep them off. I have long been accus¬ 
tomed to run lines of black thread to keep them from eating Peas after 
they appear above ground and until fit to stake ; but last year I had to 
run thread a considerable height up the Pea-sticks to keep the sparrows 
from eating the Pea leaves and tender shoots off. They are very fond of 
Lettuces, eating that standing for spring and early summer use with great 
avidity ; also the first leaves of Radishes, pulling up the plants, and seem 
to take especial delight in drawing Onions as they appear above ground, 
and cutting off Beet plants. In hard weather they will take to the leaves 
of Brassicas, but like something more tender if it can be had. Sparrows 
pluck off the pips of Primroses, Polyanthuses, and Auriculas, and tear the 
bloom of Crocuses, particularly the yellow ones, into shreds. If they 
have their own way they do considerable mischief, but take the precaution 
to have black thread in store, keep a sharp look out, and then the sparrow 
is useful. It devours myriads of aphides; it clears foliage of an incal¬ 
culable quantity of small caterpillars.—G. Abbey. 
At a general meeting of the Royal Hokticultural Society, 
held March 9th, Geo. F. Wilson, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair, the following 
candidates were unanimously elected Fellows—viz , Miss Beatrice 
G. Astley, H. R. Chaston, Sir Francis Cook, Birt., Robert Delf, Mrs, 
Sewell, Walter Watts. 
- Grand National Dahlia Show, 1886.— The arrangements 
in connection with the Grand National Show of Dahlias to be held on 
September 3rd and 4th at the Crystal Palace have now been completed. 
The prize schedule has been printed and circulated amongst the former 
subscribers and exhibitors ; the same well-known and trusty florists have 
been selected to award the prizes, and the same Executive Committee has 
been appointed as a substantial aid to the Honorary Secretary. In regard 
to its finances, the Show canuot be thoroughly successful unless liberally 
supported by the growers and admirers of the Dahlia, who will therefore, 
we trust, keep the officials busily occupied in sending out receipts for 
their donations. Those also who believe in the beneficial influence of 
