THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY G 
A MECHANIC’S DIFFICULTIES IN GARDENING. 
“ I am a working master tradesman that is very fond of 
flowers. I have a small garden at the back of my house, 
and I have also a small three-light greenhouse, which I 
built entirely myself, at odd times, about three years ago 
now; and through the medium of your valuable paper, 
and with your permission, I want to ask you a few little 
questions of great interest to me, but which your great ex¬ 
perience in all matters of horticulture, &c., will solve for me. 
“ 1. I have a shed over my shop-front in the street, about 
ten feet long by two feet wide, with a direct south expo¬ 
sure. I have tried to grow a few showy plants there, such 
as Scarlet Geraniums, Arc., but it lias been too hot and 
scorching for them; they never did well. I have a small, 
common, Monthly Rose now on one side in a tub a little larger 
than a bushel, which seems to do a little. Now, I have been 
recommended to put another Rose the other side. I have a 
White Cluster Perpetual, or, as some call it, the Evergreen 
Rose, which I have thought to put there; but I want to get a 
few Evergreens, so as to look well in the winter. I want you 
to recommend me what to have. There is a high gable end 
over the shed I wish to cover if I can. I saw a Magnolia 
the other day ; it struck me what a noble plant it was, and 
how well such a thing would look on my shed. I should 
like to know if it is possible I might grow one there in a 
large tub, say two or three bushels; and if I could propa¬ 
gate one myself by grafting, or budding, or how? And I 
may say that I am going to have a sign-board, about two 
feet high, the whole length of the shed, some eighteen 
inches from the wall of the house, so that the surface, 
mould, roots, &c., will not be so much affected and scorched 
by the heat as now. 
“The second question I have to ask is, What is the best 
thing to destroy the maggot-like little things that attack my 
Rose-trees in the spring? They get into the tender tops and 
eat out the centre, which makes the tree barren, and to look 
extremely shabby. I have even had trees killed by them. 
I should like to know if there are any means of getting rid 
of them besides frequently looking over the shoots and de¬ 
stroying them, which is a tedious and long job. 
“The third is, that I have a very nice Black Hamburgh 
Grape Vine in my little greenhouse, in an excellent healthy 
state; but I can never get any large, long, heavy bunches off 
it as some people can. A gentleman very kindly raised it 
for me from an eye in his hothouse about five years ago. 
The third year it had fifty bunches on it; last year and 
this year it has had about twelve. I cut the last summer 
wood off close to the old leader this spring, which I have 
since found was wrong. Perhaps that might have had an 
effect on the fruit, but I have made six excellent new canes 
from the principal lateral leader; but I should like to know 
the cause of its not bearing more fruit and heavier bunches. 
“ The last is, if plants of one genus can be budded or 
grafted on plants of another—if the Wistaria can be budded 
on a Laburnum, &c. ?—H. L.” 
[You are just one of the subscribers we are most anxious 
to oblige, and we will do our best, so far as we understand 
your case. A shed ten feet long by two feet wide seems 
more of a ledge than a shed. We are surprised Scarlet 
Geraniums did not answer. We presume they w'ere in 
pots. Place them in boxes; and, as far as possible, on Mr. 
Beaton’s Harry Moor’s plan, and we will guarantee masses 
of flowers. Roses generally dislike the smoke of towns. 
Your partial success is owing to the plant being in a tub, 
which kept its roots cool. Better try another since one has 
done so well; but in such a place Scarlet Geraniums would 
be in their glory in summer. Only fancy how nice some 
good-sized boxes would look with an edging of the white 
Ivy-leaved Geranium dangling over them. Many other 
combinations might be tried. The smoke would be the 
only thing against your Magnolia; and even if you got a 
j good plant of Grand jlura Exoniensis it would be u long time 
I in getting over the gable end of the roof. Ivy would be 
I more common, and require less care ; but some of the Va¬ 
riegated kinds are pretty, and would soon mount, as high as 
1 you liked. The best evergreens for such a place are 
Aucubas and Boxes, and these should be in tubs. In very 
I severe weather in winter the surface soil should be covered 
with moss, and hay-bands placed round tlip boxes. In [he 
ENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— September 9, 1850. 425 
case of a Magnolia more care would be requisite to keep 
extreme frost from the roots. 
2. Your sign-board will benefit your plants in summer; 
but it will be against them in April and May, as the soil 
will not be so well heated. Grown in boxes or tubs, the 
plants would thank you nothing for it at any time. It will 
be a protection to the roots in winter if the boxes are placed 
near it, and might he made to conceal the whole of the 
pots, boxes, etc., from the street, letting the flowers only 
be seen over it. 
8. You must examine the cut ends of shoots for the mag¬ 
got. Wash the plant in winter with a paint of sulphur, 
clay, and enough of tobacco-water to make thin paint. 
4. You had better have let well alone with the Vine. 
Fifty bunches were too many for the third year. If you want 
flue bunches you must be satisfied with few. Your new 
rods will give you a fresh start, but do not overdo the thing. 
As a general rule, when you want size and quality, you must 
sacrifice quantity. There is no unaccountable secret in this 
matter. It holds true in Vines, Peaches, and Cabbages, and 
everything else. A gentleman complained that his bunches 
of grapes were small; he cared nothing about number—he 
wanted a few good ones. The gardener thinned his w'ood 
and disbudded, so that the strength of the Vines was thrown 
into about a fourth of the usual number of bunches, and 
much he was praised when the first went to table ; but dire 
was the dismay when the good gentleman was informed that, 
instead of his hunch every evening, he must now be content 
with one a week, if he expected them to be so long in use 
as usual. In a word, then, fifty bunches the third year 
w'ere more than double too many if the Vines were to have 
justice. If you take as many from the six canes next year, 
it will probably be enough, but we scarcely comprehend your 
description. 
5. Plants of the same natural section will generally bud 
and graft on each other. Jt would be of little use in the 
case of the Wistaria, as it propagates so freely from cuttings 
and layers. Practice only can demonstrate how far this can 
go with utility. For instance, we have grafted Apples on 
Pears, and vice versa, hut they seldom lived long. Now, a 
word for ourselves. Send fewer inquiries at a time, though 
we shall always give all tho attention possible.] 
GLASS OF A FERNERY. 
“ I am thinking of adding three long sashes to my present 
Fern-house. It is roofed with common glass, and has a thick 
canvass blind, which is let down for the slightest sunshine 
before two in the afternoon. 1 bear that some Fern-growers 
near London have, in accordance with the new principles of 
Aclonism, roofed their Fern-houses with ruby glass. I 
should feel much obliged for any information you can give 
me on the advantages that have been proved from the use 
of coloured glass (red, blue, or yellow), for the roof of 
stoves or greenhouses, and, also, what colour you would 
recommend me to try for my Ferns. I am anxious to do 
away with the outside canvass blinds, and believe that the 
patent-rolled, rough plate will not prevent the scorching of 
the Adiantums, though I think of putting it, for a foot 
length, at the lowest part of the sashes, for the advantage 
of such flowers on the front shelf as like a moist, close 
atmosphere.—S. H. G., Liverpool." 
[Our experience of coloured glass, and our observations 
of the same, are too limited and inconclusive to enable us 
to give an opinion on the subject. Thick-rolled, and especially 
fluted plate, would, we think, be sufficient, if the Ferns were 
a good distance from the glass. If not opaque enough, 
such plate, and even common sheet, may be made opaque 
enough by painting it over with melted size holding a very 
little whiting in the solution. If the glass is so painted 
inside it will be best to use nothing but the size, and place 
it thicker. Size alone makes a good shade if daubed on 
with a brush neatly, instead of drawn along, and if there is 
just a perceptible quantity of whiting in it, it resembles 
rough ground glass.] 
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