344 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[February 27 . 
I 
raised from seed, and that any one may have a good 
collection in a short time, if they can procure seeds, even 
from dried specimens. 
I have, at present, above twenty good plants of different 
kinds, raised from seed; the seeds kindly given to me by 
friends, from their dried specimens, from New Zealand, the 
Cape of Good Hope, and Madeira, and a very great number 
growing, but still too young to be named. Some of these 
plants are from seeds taken from specimens which had 
been ehjht and ten years dried. 
At one time, I thought that old seeds were longer coming 
up than fresh seeds, but greater experience leads me to 
think that is not the case. Lately, I sowed some seeds of 
the Lastrea Multidora, from specimens dried two years and 
a half ago, and they have come up in less than six weeks; 
before this Iliad not seen fresh seeds come up under three 
months. Some seeds, having had exactly the same treat¬ 
ment as those that are now grown to be good plants, are 
only now coming up, after being in the ground four years 
and a half! 
The plan I have followed for raising ferns from seed, is 
sowing the seeds in a saucer (or small pan , perhaps, is the 
proper gardener’s term), sprinkling a very little soil over 
them, and putting this saucer in a larger one, which is 
always kept filled with water, so as to keep the earth in the 
inner vessel always moist. It is better to have a hand-glass 
over the seeds, but not necessar} r . In this way, I have 
reared almost all the ferns I have, most of them in a 
room with a south exposure, and in winter where there was 
always a fire. 
My ferns had grown so much, that this autumn a house 
was built for them, and it is in this house that the seeds 
have come up so quickly, in consequence, I suppose, of the 
warm, moist, and equal temperature they now enjoy. The 
plants and seeds are all plunged in sand, which is kept 
damp, and slightly warm by a flue below. 
If any of your readers (should you think this notice 
deserving a place in your “ Cottage Gardener”) wish for 
more information, about the cultivation of ferns from seed, 
1 shall be happy to give all I can, but I am only 
An Amateur, and Lover op Ferns. 
THE GREEN FLY. 
The season is now approaching, when the green fly will I 
(if not prevented) be very infestive. My mode, and one quite j 
successful, is this :—Heat a plate of iron, red hot, then place j 
a quantity of true Cayenne pepper upon it, and close the 
house. I find that the pepper does not injure even the | 
most tender plant; it keeps my house quite free, and I 
believe, destroys slugs also. Many of the readers of The 
Cottage Gardener, will be glad of this certain remedy.— 
L. Fish, Blackburn. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Verbenas for Exhibition (West Kenter ).—Your question is rather 
a large one; and, to answer it fully, would take up too much space. We j 
can only give you general hints. You ask for the best soil and situation | 
for verbenas intended for exhibition, but you do not state whether you 
intend to exhibit them in pots or in cut blooms. We will, as briefly (to ; 
be useful) as possible, describe the culture of both, and, for more infor- j 
mation, we must refer you to previous pages of The Cottage Gar- , 
dener. Soil —Very well decomposed manure, one half; good yellow : 
loam, one quarter; sandy peat, one quarter; as much sand as will give 
the whole a sandy character, and a small portion of charcoal in very small j 
pieces. This compost is suitable for plants in pots. In beds, conside- J 
rably less manure will be desirable. Culture —Procure young plants 
early in March; you will receive them in small 60 s. Pot them imme- 
diately into 4^-inch pots, and place them as near the glass as possible, ! 
and give water as they require. Never allow them to flag. Smoke fre¬ 
quently with tobacco, to destroy the green fly, which is the worst enemj r 
the verbena has to contend with. Stop them as soon as the shoots have 
made four inches growth. This will make them bushy. In April, pot 
them into 8-inch pots; or, if larger plants are required, you may put 
three plants of a kind into 11-inch pots. Stop them again, and allow no 
blooms to appear, till six or seven weeks previously to the day of exhibi¬ 
tion. Train your plants to a flat trellis, one and a half feet wide. When 
your plants show bloom, you may, with advantage, give them, once 
a-week, a watering with weak liquid-manure. If hot weather, shade 
from ten to three, and give plenty of air. By closely attending to the 
above points, you will have a splendid lot of plants for show. In beds 
out of doors, tie the trusses, intended for exhibition, to stout sticks, and 
contrive a covering with a bell-glass, at three inches distant from the 
truss. This will keep them from wet, and bring out bright colours, j 
Should the green fly appear, dust it with Scotch snuff, and wash it off , 
when the insects are dead. Trusses intended for exhibition in pans of I 
twelve or twenty-four, should be protected about ten days before the | 
show day, and should be beginning to open before they are covered, i 
Varieties —The following will be a good selection to begin with :— Gem of i 
the West, Vulcan superb, Magnificus, Iphegenia, Princess Alice, \ 
Standard of Perfection, Clotilde, Tommy, St. Margaret, Anacreon, 
I Henrietta, Remarkable, General Brea, Ariadne, Emperor of China, 
Cclestina, Madame Gournay, Magnificent, Mrs. Mills, Euphrainie, Sir ; 
S. Plane, Napoleon Bounaparte, and Bicolor grandiflora. Verbena 
chamcedrifolia was the first and original species, from which all the 
varieties now in our garden have been originated. It was introduced I 
j from Buenos Ayres in 182/. 
i Dahlias ( D . D. Dobbs). —The fresh ground you intend to plant with I 
dahlias, should be immediately trenched, turning the green turf down to I 
the bottom, and covering the surface, after trenching, with three inches j 
of good rotten dung, digging it in immediately, and, in three weeks, j 
again mixing the dung w r ell with the top spit. When your dahlias arc ' 
; a foot or eighteen inches high, cover the surface all round each plant with J 
a mulching of littery stable-dung. This will protect the roots from 
drought, and the rains will wash down the nourishing constituents of the 
| manure. Your collection is a pretty good one. The following will be 
useful additions:— Andromeda, Charles Turner, Miss Vyse, Toison d'Or, 
Louis Philippe, Scarlet Gem (Is each); and of fancy varieties— General 
Cavaignac, Unique, and Roi da Points. 
Cyclamen Blooms Dying (T. F.). —Your note came to us, but no 
specimen. You ask the cause of j'our cyclamens dying off? IIow can 
we tell without knowing how you have treated them since they bloomed 
last year. Write again, and state full particulars of the soil you grow 
them in how you kept them during the summer, autumn, and winter; 
and how, and to what extent, you watered them, and then, perhaps, wc 
shall be able to tell you the cause of their blooms dropping. 
Hyacinth Glasses, &c. (J. P. M. F.). —We are not aware of any 
use to which hyacinth glasses can be applied, after the hyacinths are over ; 
annuals will not do any good in them. Put three or four spadesful of 
the half rotten dung to each of the roses on your poor soil, and slightly 
fork it over with the soil. Your Jacobcea lillies will not flower, if left 
always out of doors ; they ought to be taken up in October or November, 
dried for the winter, potted at the end of March, and kept in a frame or 
greenhouse till they flower, and then planted out in May. If flowers do 
not appear by the time the leaves are four or five inches long, they will 
not flower that season. 
Concrete Walks (T. M. G.). —Chalk is certainly the cheapest thing 
to bind the rough stones, it must be in very small pieces, and if in powder 
all the better; enough to fill up the rough surface will do. Roll this till 
you get an even surface, then put on small gravel mixed with one-tenth 
part of lime, roll this also, and finish with a slight coat of gravel, enough 
to hide the colour of the lime. 
Scarlet Rhododendrons (Ibid). —The hardy sorts will answer for 
your bog-bed certainly; tell the nurseryman how you mean to plant, 
and he will give you the proper kinds. 
Shrubs (Ibid). —Your selection of shrubs includes the grandest trees 
in the world, for our climate. That of which you forgot the name, is 
Auracaria imbricata. Unless you take the Cedar of Lebanon, or the 
Mount Atlas Cedar, the Douglass Fir would be the next best match for 
those you propose planting. Tell all this to the rhododendron man, and 
he will put you right. Avoid plants in pots ; get them rather from the 
open ground. We shall soon have something to say about many fine new 
trees and shrubs. 
Annuals (C. T. L.). —Sow the annuals you name about the end of 
March or before the middle of April. 
Sweet-scented Flowers (Ibid). —You want a list of the less com¬ 
mon sweet-scented flowers. There is nothing new that way, if you mean 
hardy plants. 
Disease of Heaths (A Lover of Ferns). —There is neither cure nor 
accounting for the disease which kills, suddenly, Heaths, Epucrises, See., 
unless it be that the centre of the ball is so hard, that water cannot reach 
it, or the collar of the plant gets too much wet. Tamarue gallica does 
make a good fence near the sea. 
Flower-garden (Ibid). —We are compelled to put off these till next 
autumn; but we have glanced at your plan, and we must say we like your 
arrangements very well indeed, and also the shapes of your beds ; we see 
nothing which wants altering, and we quite admire your splendid Scarlet 
geraniums, from six to ten feet high; we never saw them so well 
managed. 
Propagating Magnolia grandiflora (Peter).— You may follow 
Mrs. Loudon’s plan of increasing your Magnolia grandiflora by circum- 
position, and the month of April is the right time to attempt it. When 
the branch has made roots into the divided pot, you may cut off the 
shoot from the tree, place it in a shady place till more roots are made, 
and then your young plant is safe ; but if you can bring a branch down 
to the soil, andean tongue it as you would a carnation layer, covering the 
tongued part with earth, and laying a small stone upon the earth, you 
would obtain a plant more easily, and more certainly. Magnolia pur - 
purea is always, and readily, too, increased by layers, and is frequently 
used as a stock for M. conspicua. 
