542 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 19, 1889. 
learn, and [ hope the same was shared by most bee-keeping readers of 
this journal. I may say that I have found what “ A. H. B. K.” 
told last year quite correct as to the cost of glass. I can make them 
from glass cut into squares for glazing purposes at less than 3s. per 100. 
I make them as a pastime, and for this new pleasure in bee-keeping 
your correspondent has the best thanks of—A Sussex Amateur. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Ewing & Co., Havant.— List of Nursery Stock and Roses. 
J. Cocker & Sons, Aberdeen.— Catalogues of Bulbs and Roses. 
Bruant, Poitiers, Vienne, France.— General Catalogue. 
Hogg & Wood, Coldstream, N.B.— Catalogue of Nursery Stock. 
C. Toope & Co., Stepney Green, London, E.— List of Appliances. 
E. F. Such, Maidenhead.— List of Chrysanthemums. 
T. Methven & Sons, Edinburgh.— Catalogue of Seedling and Trans¬ 
planted Forest Trees. 
Wm. Gordon, Twickenham. —Catalogue of Orchids and Lilies. 
Little & Ballantyne, Carlisle.— List of Trees. 
J. Galvin, Roscommon.— Catalogue of Trees and Shrubs. 
Sutton & Sons, Heading. —Amateur's Guide in Horticulture for 
1890 (illustrated with coloured plates'). 
W. K. Woodcock, Syston, near Leicester.— Catalogue of Chrys¬ 
anthemums. 
C. Fidler, Reading. —Catalogue of Vegetables, Seeds, and Potatoes. 
R. Sydenham, Tenby Street, Birmingham. —List of Vegetable and 
Flower Seeds. 
J. Veitch & Sons, Kings Road, Chelsea.— Catalogue of Seeds for 
1890. 
All correspondence should be directed either to “The 
Editor” or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. 
Hogg or members 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 be written on one side of 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the 
post, and we do not undertake to return rejected communica¬ 
tions. 
Coloured Potatoes (Cottager). —The Dean and Vicar of Laleham 
are good round, and Mr. Bresee and Edgcott Purple good kidney 
varieties, both for exhibition and table use. 
Eucbaris Flowers (A. S., and C. F .).—We frequently see 
examples of Eucharis flowers with more than the normal number 
of petals exactly like yours. It is a tendency to the double condition, 
and is probably due to the strength of the plants. 
Painting: Hot-water Pipes ( H. C.). —It is not necessary to add 
anything to the lampblack and boiled linseed oil for the purpose. 
Choose a suitable day when the pipes can be gently heated and the venti¬ 
lators opened if you have plants in the house. 
Phalaenopsls amabills and Calanthe Veltchl (C. L., Bristol, 
and J. /'., Beaconsfield). — A Phalfenopsis panicle 4 feet 7 inches long 
with twenty-nine flowers is fine, and the plant is well treated. The 
Calanthe with a pseudo-bulb 11 inches long and a spike 4 feet 5 inches 
high must have been strongly grown. It is very good. 
Horn and Hoof Shaving's for Vine Border (J. B.). —They 
are excellent for mixing with loam for a Vine border, and if you add 
also some road ashes, you will have a very suitable compost. Horn 
contains phosphate and sulphate of lime with phosphate of magnesia, 
and differs from bones in containing a considerable proportion of 
sulphur. Horn and hoof parings form a somewhat more powerful 
manure than bones, and are lasting in effect, through the slow decom¬ 
position of the matter in them, which appears to be of the nature of 
coagulated albumen. 
Emigrating: (R. II.). —Unless you have friends in the colony who 
would tender you some assistance in the form of hospitality and advice, 
we should consider the sum you name inadequate to start with, though 
we have no doubt many persons have started with less, and after 
struggling with adversity and enduring privations at which they would 
seriously grumble at home, have eventually “ done well.” In an article 
on another page you will find remarks on the subject, and addresses 
from which you can gain information that may possibly be of service to 
you under the circumstances. 
Peach Tree Buds railing- (Zero ).—The letter to which you refer 
did not reach us. The buds fall from the trees from various causes, such 
as drought at the roots at some time anterior to the misfortune occur¬ 
ring, red spider on the foliage in summer, a sudden change of treatment 
from full exposure to a close house, a paucity of active fibrous roots in 
good soil, also through overcropping. There is nothing in your letter to 
suggest to which of those causes the evil is due in your case. You may 
have excited the tree too soon and too suddenly. If you like to send a 
sample of the wood, and give more particulars as to the age of the tree, 
also slate when it was lifted and started, with the temperature main¬ 
tained, we shall be glad to give the case further consideration. Several 
letters fail to reach us through being incorrectly or insufficiently ad¬ 
dressed. 
What Is a Good Crop of Tomatoes (S. S.). —You ask “ What 
is a fair good crop of Tomatoes in pounds weight per plant when the 
plants are grown to a single stem upright to a height of 12 feet, and 
under glass, planted out as strong sturdy plants out of single 5-inch 
pots at the beginning of June—that is, what should fairly be expected 
under such circumstances?” Though we know that 20 lbs. of fruit, 
and occasionally more, have been gathered from each of a number of 
plants grown as suggested, the weight, we suspect, exceeds the average. 
This, according to the Chiswick results with several hundreds of plants, 
is about 15 lbs. They were, however, planted in the best of condition 
about a month sooner than yours, and grown practically without fire 
heat, though a little may have been employed for ripening the later 
fruits in the autumn. We shall be glad to have the experience of 
other cultivators on the weight of their Tomato crops. 
Keeping- Pears (F. F.). —Mr. Bardney writes :—“We are careful 
to gather the fruit perfectly dry and store it at once as the work of 
gathering proceeds. If we use the large boxes to which I referred 
another year we shall take them to the tree and pack them as the fruit 
is gathered. We find that, although the paper in which the fruit was 
packed, and the paper shavings become damp, when such large boxes as 
I described are filled, no harm appears to result to the fruit. But we 
prefer the smaller boxes, and then the dampness is not so perceptible. I 
have not tried the sand, and therefore really cannot say whether it is 
better than the paper shavings or not. It is worth trying, however. I 
have been thinking lately about cork dust, such as is used for packing 
Grapes and Tomatoes. I saw quantities of the latter this season sent 
from Teneriffe that arrived in excellent condition, and are likely to con¬ 
siderably reduce the price of home grown produce early in the season.” 
Plumbago capsnsis to Flower in August (M. N). —The plant 
should be kept cool and dry, but not so dry as to cause the wood to 
shrivel, until early April, when it should be pruned, and having the 
ball reduced about a third be repotted. Growth may be encouraged by 
syringing, but the moisture at the roots must be moderate until the 
roots are working freely in the fresh soil, when it will be required more 
freely, and when the pot is filled with roots afford liquid manure once 
or twice a week. The plants may be started in a vinery or Peach house, 
and after some little growth is made it will be best given a light airy 
position in a greenhouse or conservatory. Its free flowering depends on 
the ripening of the wood. If that is strong, short-jointed, and firm 
it will flower freely enough. It should flower about the time you 
require, but plants for special purposes require judgment in keeping it 
cool if too early, or placing in heat if not sufficiently advanced. 
lime for Plum Trees —Varieties of Fruit (Plum). — We 
cannot possibly tell you whether a “couple of shovelfuls” of lime would 
suffice for each tree, as you give no indication whatever respecting 
either age or size. Cut out the cankered parts as you suggest and 
spread lime half an inch thick as far as the roots extend, then mulch as 
you propose with good manure. But it is useless placing fertilising 
material close to the stems of trees alone where there are few fibrous 
roots ; the best of these are some distance away, and support should be 
applied where it can be appropriated. All the varieties of fruit you 
send are good, but only three out of the eleven Apples are spelt correctly, 
and if we were to print the names as you have sent them they would 
cause some amusement. We give one as a sample—“ Ecclinvil ” for 
Ecklinville. Before attaching names to the trees you had better consult 
a fruit catalogue, and not attempt to improve on the names you find in 
it. The Blenheim Pippin is a fine Apple, but somewhat slow in bearing 
freely, and Golden Noble is not very quick in that respect, but when 
they do bear well they are profitable. 
Fruit in Boxes (St. Julian). —See Mr. Bardney’s reply to another 
correspondent. Paper shavings are the trimmings of paper that are 
plentiful in printing and bookbinding establishments, and cost little. 
The boxes will do if the lids are tied down tightly, but ordinary 
fastenings or even tacking are better and more quickly applied. Both 
Apples and Pears will do in the same room, and both keep well in sweet 
boxes or barrels without any packing, and many of them better so than 
on shelves. The time for examining fruit in boxes and introducing to 
heat for ripening depends on the varieties and the supply required. 
When paper other than shavings is used any that is thin, white, and 
cheap is suitable. We do not approve of old newspapers, as some of 
the ink employed in printing impairs the quality of the fruit. The 
choicest samples are wrapped in paper by some persons, who find the 
plan satisfactory ; others place the fruit in alternate layers with paper, 
but by far the greater bulk is packed in barrels without anything, but we 
repeat they must be sweet. See Mr. Wright’s work on “ Profitable Fruit 
Growing,” price Is. ; post free from this office, Is. 3d. The subject of 
storing fruit will perhaps be alluded to again. 
