116 
JOURXAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Febrnary 6, 1890. 
year, as they once did, they gave a good crop every year. They did not 
make much wood, and I believe that if fruit trees had plenty of room 
on a stone bottom, sheltered and well fed at the surface, that they would 
bear a good crop of fruit every year if they had only about 1 foot of 
■soil to root in. Yet with all their improvement the old trees did not 
give the same satisfaction as young trees planted about the time the 
improvement began. Young trees properly planted and well fed from 
the surface give grand results. My idea is old trees for quantity, young 
trees for quality of fruit. 
I knew a tree of the Blenheim Pippin Apple which is growing in the 
■centre of a cesspool. The hole is about 6 or 7 feet in diameter, and 
acts as a catch pit for a drain that takes the refuse water from five or 
six cottages. It is about 18 inches deep in the centre, where the neck of 
the tree is, on rocky ground the water draining away leaves the mud 
behind. As a rule it is only cleaned out once a year, then there is often 
4 to 6 inches of mud surrounding the stem of the tree. For all that the 
tree looks healthy, the leaves are a fine green colour, and a good crop 
cf fruit is borne each year.— One Disengaged. 
SEASONABLE HINTS ON HARDY FLORISTS’ FLOWERS 
The very remarkable season through which we are passing must 
have its influence on all flowers, and amongst them those which are 
ordinarily known as florists’ flowers, a term which I use in a much more 
restricted sense than many do. According to some, everything that is 
grown in collections comes under that term, while hardiness seems to 
be no characteristic worth considering, for I find Dahlias included in 
the designation, although the first frost turns them black. I have no 
■doubt that the question which perplexes many growers, or rather exhi¬ 
bitors, is,—Shall we suffer for all this mild weather by-and-by, or shall 
we have a very early season? At present there is every indication of 
the latter, but we may expect the inevitable cold east winds of March 
and April will probably alter the entire aspect of things. Of all idle 
things that of prophesying about the weather in our climate is the very 
idlest, and so we must act for the present and hope for the best. 
Auriculas. —The last time that I mentioned these I said that I had 
never had so little autumn bloom, but the excessively mild weather 
that we had at a time when we might reasonably look for snow and 
frost has roused many of those plants which were resting out of their 
■sleep, with the result that I have now quite a number, I am sorry to 
say, which are fiowering. This is the more to be deplored, as it is 
impossible to look for a bloom for them at the proper season. There is 
some hope when a plant blooms in September, but never when it blooms 
in January. I cannot quite agree with Mr. Douglas that frost does 
not injure the Auricula. Perhaps not, as far as the vitality of the plant 
is concerned, but it used to be held by the older fiorists that although 
it might not affect the vitality of the plant, yet that it did a consider¬ 
able amount of damage by crippling the flowers, and that many 
a rough bloom was to be attributed to this cause. He seems to 
think that it does no injury. It is a matter about which there is no 
positive proof, and so each may keep his own opinion. I have heard 
of one enthusiast of former days who, knowing that the Auricula was 
of Alpine origin, opened his frames during a fall of snow, with the result 
of the loss of his collection. 
At this season it used to be en regie to top-dress the Auriculas, taking 
out the surface soil to the depth of an inch, and filling in with fresh and 
rich compost, but the modern system of culture saves us all this trouble. 
I remember when it used to be a heavy piece of business, and I think 
it is a great matter to be spared it. I have not yet put my small col¬ 
lection into their blooming quarters (a pit) without any heat, but intend 
to do so at once. The pots will then be manured singly, all dead foliage 
plucked off, any offsets that are large enough removed, the surface of 
the soil moved, and if there are any traces of woolly aphis round the 
stems they will be removed ; but their existence anywhere else ab-jut 
the plant does not trouble me much now, although it did formerly, and 
I have lost many a plant by trying to cure it when I ought to have left 
it alone, for I cannot find that it does any material damage except 
when it attacks the collar or neck. As the plants will now be moved 
into a more sunny position they will require during favourable weather 
more water, and air should be given as much as possible by night as 
well during the day when the weather is not frosty. The Auricula loves 
fresh air, although it is wonderful how it thrives near to towns, although 
one of our largest northern growers for sale, Mr. Jonathan Booth of 
Failsworth, tells me he has been obliged to give them up owing to the 
increase of buildings around his garden. 
Carnations and Picotees. — These are looking very well, the 
foliage having that blue glaucous look which is so indicative of health. 
They have been kept as dry as possible, and I see no spots on the leaves 
and very little dead foliage. They will remain in their present quarters 
(frames) for another month or six weeks, and in the meantime every¬ 
thing should be got ready for potting. The pots should be washed and 
stowed away, the compost well turned over and hand-picked, so that all 
worms, and specially that destructive one the wireworm, can be carefully 
picked out. The pieces of turf s’uould be pulled to pieces, as often he 
lurks within. The compost should be well turned over. Mine is placed 
under a glass roof open on all sides, it is thus protected from the rain 
while it has the wind playing upon it continually. It is well to look to 
labels, and where these have by use been worn or the writing obliter¬ 
ated fresh ones should be substituted. An amateur who loves his 
flowers is always desirous that they should be correctly named, even 
though no appreciative eye but his own rests on them. This is unfor¬ 
tunately my position, and save ourselves there is hardly anyone who 
enters my garden who knows the difference between a Carnation and 
a Picotee. The pleasant chats which growers have one with another in 
the neighbourhood of the metropolis are denied to us who live in rural 
districts. 
Gladioli. —This very remarkable season has somewhat interfered 
with growers of this grand autumn flower. Where care has not been 
taken in storing them they have started into growth, while it has been 
almost impossible to turn over the beds owing to the constant rain we 
have lately had, and it is far better to leave the beds alone than to 
attempt to do anything with it when the ground is at all sticky. I have 
always advocated the plan of laying the roots out singly, so as to prevent 
their growing, and am to-day an example of tl^ose people who preach 
but do not practise, at least in this way. All of our roots I treated in 
the open frames which I have used for many years, and which I have 
described in the Journal, but I this year received some from Fon- 
tainbleau, and of some there were three or four corms. They were in 
brown paper bags, and seeing how beautifully they were harvested, and 
being very busy at the time, I put them away in the bags. The other 
day I went to look at them, and great was my horror to perceive some 
had shot out shoots an inch long, and others had begun to emit roots. 
I did not trouble myself, but those which had started I felt must be 
attended to. The ground was too wet to plant them, so I determinedon 
placing them in small pots, to be turned out afterwards when the beds 
are planted. I found that it was the early flowering varieties, such as 
Shakespeare, Adolphe Brongniart, Sceptre de Flore, and Arriere Garde 
which had started. 
Pansies. —I have just repotted some, and they seem to have passed 
through the winter very well, having been kept as hardy as possible and 
given plenty of air at all times ; as the one danger with these is damping 
off, they have been kept somewhat dry, but not allowed to flag. I have 
long since given up the Show varieties, and only grow the Fancies, which 
are now so large, smooth, and finely shaped, and certainly more hardy 
and more easily propagated. Like the Auricula and Carnation they 
enjoy plenty of air, and are impatient of damp. 
Ranunculus. —The time for planting the Persian varieties will now 
be at hand. The ground is now with us very wet, and should frost come 
it will be great advantage to it to turn the soil over, otherwise it had 
better be left alone. My time for planting is about the 12th of February. 
Some care, as I have frequently stated, is required in planting them, 
about 1|^ inch in depth, the rows to be about 4 inches apart, 
and the roots to be planted between 4 and 5 inches apart in the rows. A 
little sand may be sprinkled over the roots when planted, and they should 
be very firmly pressed into the ground, as they are so likely to be dis¬ 
turbed by earthworms. 
Roses. —It has been a wonderful season for the Rose. The tops of 
the shoots are in many instances quite green, but I do not see any 
pushing out of the lower buds. Tea Roses took wonderfully well. 
Whether we shall pay for all this by-and-by is of course all uncertain, 
and it will be well to let the mulching remain on the beds so as to pro¬ 
tect them from frost if it should come now. A number of Tea Roses 
did not reach me until it was too late to plant, and they are now 
heeled in, and will not be planted until March. This is the plan which 
is recommended for cold situations, but my adoption of it has been a 
matter of necessity, not of choice. 
Tulips. —I do not profess to grow these as a florist ought to do. I 
have some varieties, but I never take the trouble of planting them in 
rows according to height and colour, but they give me a good deal of 
pleasure for all that. Most of the bulbs I obtained from Holland I 
have been obliged to discard, as the flowers were either ill shaped or 
stained at the base, for whatever the Dutch may have been in former 
days, they are behind the English growers now. The bulbs will soon be 
putting their heads above ground, but they are very hardy, and do not 
require protection. 
Let me again repeat that I look at these flowers, not from the 
exhibitor’s point of view, but that of the amateur who delights in his 
garden and enjoys his flowers for their own sake.—D., Deal. 
SULPHIDES AS FUNGICIDES. 
In the Journal of Ilortioulture, January 2nd, page 2, Mr. Tonks 
describes the way bi-sulphide of calcium is made. Having used this 
excellent fungicide for several years and with the best results, perhaps 
it might be interesting to some of your readers if I explain the way I 
make it. 
Mr. Tonks points out the difficulty of getting fungicides to adhere to 
the fungus, and this was just the difficulty I experienced. My first 
trial with it was four years since. I had a quantity of pot Roses badly 
affected with “ Orange fungus or rust.” I tried everything usually 
recommended for such maladies such as flowers of sulphur, paraflSn, 
Gishust compound, &c., but none of these had the desired effect, or 
indeed any effect whatever, and this disease spread to every plant I bad, 
and before the wood was half ripened every leaf was off. 
I forget just at this moment where or how I came by the receipt 
which Mr. Tonks has so kindly given, but at all events the one I use is 
identical, only I make larger quantities, namely—3 lbs. of lime, 3 lbs. 
of sulphur, 3 gallons of water, and I strain this through muslin and 
bottle off, and, as Mr. Tonks says, this is a bright yellow colour. I use 
a small thumb pot full to 3 gallons of water. When I first used this 
I found that it did not stick to the fungus, therefore it was not 
