November D. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
123 
refused to do well until it Lad the moss. I have re- , 
peatedly had conversations with a friend resident in j 
Java, who grows many of them on his trees in the 
garden. He tells me they do infinitely better even 
there when moss is put about them, and that he now 
uses it to every plant he gets. 1 recollect the late 
Rev. John Clowes having a very fine plant, and such 
was well supplied with moss. I never saw a plant 
grow faster, or better, than it did; it was always in 
bloom. I have a great objection to that regular sys¬ 
tem of yearly repotting recommended by many. I 
would never repot any orchid whilst it was doing 
well; “let well alone” is my motto with these plants. 
—Manchester. 
[Our personal experience for the last ten years, 
relative to this plant, fully convinces us that we are 
right, and that our correspondent is wrong. We 
will mention one case, and one is as good as a hun¬ 
dred. A plant of Phalcenopsis was purchased at a 
sale, just two years ago, by a gentleman, an orchid- 
grower near Liverpool, it was then a healthy small 
plant on a log, and the roots were covered with moss. 
Our correspondent was present at the sale, and may 
remember the plant. This very plant we saw this 
autumn, and though it was extremely healthy, yet it 
had grown very little larger. Nearly at the same 
time a plant was purchased by Messrs. Henderson, at 
Stevens’s sale-rooms, in Covent-garden, with only a 
single leaf attached to it, and placed under our care; 
it was fastened to a naked log, and treated as we 
have directed. It is now a splendid plant, with five 
large leaves, the roots are healthy, abundant, grow¬ 
ing, and clinging to the block like the branches of 
ivy to the oak. We only wish our good friend could 
see them both; we are sure he would be a convert 
to our mode notwithstanding his frequent conversa¬ 
tions with his friend residing in Java. We may 
mention also that Mr. Gordon, the curator of orchids, 
at the Chiswick-gardens, does not use moss; neither 
does Mr. Mylam, gardener to S. Rucker, Esq., at 
Wandsworth; neither does the gardener at Mrs. 
Lawrence’s, Ealing-park. We might swell the num¬ 
ber of names, eminent as cultivators of Phaloenopsis, 
that do not use moss, and we would advise our cor¬ 
respondent to visit the collections in his own neigh¬ 
bourhood, and we will venture to say in most of the 
places where it is grown he will find it grown upon 
naked logs. Yet we are glad our highly respected 
friend has brought this point into notice; we shall 
be most happy to change our opinion and practice 
if it can be proved that to cover the roots of this 
queen of orchids is advantageous to it.—T. Appleby. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers 
of The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble 
and expense ; and we also request our coadjutors under no circum¬ 
stances to reply to such private communications. 
Cryptomeria Japonica (Pinus). —This handsomest of the cone- 
bearers was first raised in this country, from seeds sent home from 
China, by Mr. Fortune, about six years since. He says that it is 
most jat home in hilly, undulating districts, though he saw noble 
specimens in the plains, and that, “ like the common Scotch fir, it 
likes a loamy soil.” 
Index and Cover to Second Volume ( L. L. R.) —This, as 
well as the cover for the volume, have long since been ready. We 
recommend the two first volumes to be bound in one, using the very 
handsome cover we have prepared for the purpose. Indexes anil 
covers can be obtained at our office through any bookseller. 
Antirrhinum Hybridizing (S. P.) —To insure a pure cross, you 
must remove the anthers from the flowers you wish to impregnate 
with pollen from another plant. 
Heating a Greenhouse (Scrutator) .— If this must be heated 
by means of “ the fire in the kitchen beneath,” we recommend vou 
to adopt the hot-water system; and you could not do better than fol¬ 
low Dr. Green’s plan, as described in our last number. The boiler 
might be by the side of the kitchen fire, but so that it need not be 
heated except when desired. 
Bleaching Sea-kai.e ( One who cannot afford Pots). —Cut 
butter firkins in half, and use them as sea-kale pots are used. A still 
rougher plan is to cover the plants over, a foot deep, with sand or 
coal-ashes. If you do not wish to force, no covering should be put 
over the plants until they begin to vegetate in the spring, say early in 
February. 
Forcing Rhubarb in Beds (A Constant Reader). —Cover each 
crown either with sea-kale or common garden pots of 18-inch or 
other very large size, but chimney pots are still better, the leaf-stalks 
becoming much longer and finer. Then cover the pots with ferment¬ 
ing dung. A frame is even preferable to pots, formed by driving 
stakes into the ground on each side of the bed, alternating with the 
plants. These are to be three feet high above ground, and the space 
between the two rows of stakes two feet at the bottom, but approach¬ 
ing those on the other side at their tops, and fastened together by 
means of laths, which also serve to keep the fermenting dung heaped 
over from falling through upon the plants. 
Sulphate of Ammonia (J. W). —When making this salt by 
adding sulphuric acid to carbonate of ammonia, as directed at p. 169 
of our second volume, two ounces of the carbonate should be first 
dissolved in a pint of water, and then the acid dropped in until all 
bubbling ceases. An eighth part of the solution thus formed will be 
enough to mix with a gallon of water for watering plants. 
Horn Shavings (Ibid). —These, if of the stag’s horn, will do for 
making super-phosphate of lime, because they contain 69 per cent, 
of phosphate of lime ; but the shavings of the horns of the ox, &c., 
will not do for that purpose, for they contain less than one per cent’ 
of phosphate of lime. 
~ Recipe for Gourd Soup (Rector). —This was published at 
p. 43 of our first volume, and we can vouch that it is the cheapest of 
all soups, and very excellent. 
Cauliflowers and Brocoli Buttoning (W. N.) —The knobs 
on their roots, each containing a maggot, sufficiently accounts for 
their buttoning. They are affected with the anbury or club root, 
concerning which you will find all that is known at pp. 20 and 125 
of our second volume. You have done quite right with your sea-kale. 
Wreaths for the Hair (T. M. H.) —Mr. Beaton pleads guilty 
to the charge of not having written upon this subject, as he promised, 
but not certainly from want of will, for no kind of writing would 
please him better ; but he has been disappointed this season in his 
hopes of seeing certain ladies, who visit the family whom he serves, 
and whose attendants could give him the fashion and mode of ar¬ 
ranging these wreathes according to the first masters of the art. One 
of the ladies alluded to has, since his promise was made, been joined 
in the holy bands of matrimony in the presence of her Majesty, and 
it may be some time yet before a good opportunity offers for acquir¬ 
ing such knowledge of this elegant art as would enable him to do 
justice to it; but he will not lose sight of it. The recent paint of a 
green-house will not harm your camellia blossoms, nor cause them 
to drop, if the air is freely admitted. 
Rose Stocks Worm-eaten ( Rhodon ).—White-lead would not 
injure the top of the rose stock ; neither is a light coat of lead paint 
injurious to strong shrubs and trees, notwithstanding all that has been 
stated to the contrary. Mix enough of soot with it to take off the 
white glare, and form it into the consistence of putty, and it is a 
good stopping to wounds and cuts, where these grubs insinuate them¬ 
selves ; but we cannot say, from our owm practice, if the application 
will kill the grubs, but we know it will prevent them, as we are never 
troubled with grubs after the application, w hich we use on all our 
new stocks. 
Fern to Grow in a Bottle (Ibid). —Any of the very small 
Aspleniums, or of Pteris, would answer to grow in a large bottle. 
For instance, Asplenium palmatum—viride and pontanum; or Wall- 
rue, Asplenium ruta-muraria, and Pteris pedata. Some of the British 
shield ferns would answer also, as Aspidium lonchitis, fragile, 
regium, and rhceticum. The last three are beautiful little ferns, anil 
all of them are hardy, and well suited for the purpose. We have 
enumerated so many, as we all know how desirable it is to have a 
change, or variety, to amuse invalids. 
Amaryllis Formosissima ( Hester S). —Amaryllis, or, rather, 
Sprekelia formosissima, rests, or should be made to rest, during the 
winter. We grow about ten dozen of them thus:—At the end of 
February we pot two dozen, and introduce them into a forcing-house, 
and every three weeks till the 1 st of May a succession is potted and 
forced; all that remain unpotted on the 1 st of May are planted on a 
rich light border un der a south wall, and all the potted ones are al¬ 
lowed to cool down in cold pits after flowering. Before the end of 
May they are all planted out, watered occasionally, and left out in 
the autumn till the frost kills their leaves ; they then are dried like 
dahlias. Of all bulbs they are the easiest to flower, and the least ex¬ 
pensive to keep, and they bloom from the end of March to Midsum¬ 
mer. Keep yours dry till next March, then pot them. 
Fuchsias and Fernery (H. Y., Ramsgate ).—You may keep 
your fuchsias through the winter in a loft and covered with saw¬ 
dust. Sea-sand and mortar mixed will be a good dressing for the 
soil of your Fernery. 
Depth of Ploughing (A Novice inGardening). —Plough six inches 
deep if the top soil will allow of it, if not plough to the bad subsoil. If 
the top soil is a foot deep, it would improve the land to stir it to that 
depth, but with a subsoil-plough 20 inches or two feet is not too 
much to loosen land for any crop, but a bad subsoil should not be 
much mixed with the surface soil. 
Succession of Flowers (Ibid). —Plant wwllflow'ers, pinks, car¬ 
nations, polyanthuses, tree and other violets, anemones, and very 
low evergreen shrubs, to take off the naked appearance of the flower¬ 
beds during winter, after removing from them your geraniums and 
dahlias. 
Roses on North aspect (G. T.). —Certainly climbing roses will 
do on any aspect at Walworth provided you make a rich border fer 
