Mat 11. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
97 
SCORCHING LEAVES ON A BACK SHELF. 
“ I keep ray house scrupulously clean, generally 
whitewash the hack wall twice a-year. On this back 
wall, within .10 inches of the apex of this lean-to house, 
1 have a broad shelf, which I use for bringing on some 
of my favourite plants in winter and spring, and on 
which I place boxes for Cucumbers, about April, as I 
like to see the fruit hanging over the path. Now, when 
the sun gains power, the leaves of Cinerarias, Gera¬ 
niums, Fuchsias, &c., get scalded and shrivelled, and 
though the mass of the foliage of the Cucumbers is all 
right, I can scarcely ever get a leaf to remain unburned 
near the boxes. Can you suggest any remedy for such 
an unpleasant state of things?” Yes, and with much 
pleasure. Not few have been caught in a similar ! 
manner during the sunshine of this last April. In my 
younger days, 1 was as partial to a nico white wall in a 
lean-to house as ever a young girl rejoiced in a white 
| frock and a pink or blue ribbon at Midsummer. If 
there was nothing growing near the apex of the wall, no 
i harm would he done; only, when very white, every 
spot showed itself. On this account, I gradually fell in 
love with a dark stone-colour in preference to white. 
For plants situated on such a shelf as described above, 
that surly fellow, experience, has forced me to have a 
shade darker still. In an emergency, I have frequently 
been compelled to pass a brush, loaded with soot-water, 
over such a place, to prevent the burning. In a cool 
house, with sliding sashes, there will be less danger in 
such circumstances from a white wall, because the open¬ 
ing of the sashes will allow the reflected heat to escape. 
In a forcing house, or greenhouse, without such a shelf, 
the white wall would be an advantage, as the heat and 
light would be reflected into the house, and thus more 
light would be obtained by the plants than if the wall 
was of a dark colour, the more especially if there were 
openings for the rays to pass from the roof-sashes and 
to fall against the wall. When there is no obstruction 
to the light, little air given, and the wall white above 
such a shelf, burning in a sunny day will take place 
almost to a certainty; and this just because the heat 
and light are reflected from a white surface, while they 
are absorbed by a dark one. A dark colour, in such 
circumstances, will yield another advantage, namely, a 
more equal temperature, for the heat being absorbed in 
sunshine during the day, will be radiated back again 
whenever the atmosphere of the house becomes colder 
than the wall. 
OXALIS BOWIEI GROWING TOO LUXURIANTLY. 
“ The plants have died down some weeks ago ; have 
been taken out of the pots, placed in paper bags; when 
should they be replanted to flower in the autumn ? Whe¬ 
ther will they do best in an open border or in the green¬ 
house ?” I have never tried keeping the little bulbs in 
paper bags. I frequently leave them in the pots ; if not 
! left there, and kept in a warmish, dry place, they are taken 
! out when the foliage has been sometime withered, 
aud placed in shallow pans, and covered with sand or 
! earth. When the roots push from one-half to a whole 
I inch in length, pot them into a mixture of peat and 
I loam, well drained with a little leaf-mould, or rotten 
' cow-dung, to enrich it, and a little silver sand and 
charcoal to lighten it. Five or six good roots would be 
, required for a six-inch pot, and eight or nine for a 
j twelve-inch pot, if a large mass is desirable. The 
bulbs should bo covered half-an-iuch or more if 
: deemed necessary, as the stems of leaves will rise easily 
' enough. I have had five masses in twelve-inch pots, 
i from five roots. I cannot recommend out-door treat- 
: meut from my own experience, as a little wet soon spoils 
j them. In some dry, warm, sheltered situations, 
, they do tolerably. I never could do anything with 
forcing the bulbs until they were fairly started. They 
blow beautifully in the later summer, and in the whole 
of the autumn months, in a Greenhouse. After the 
middle of November, the opening of the blooms requires 
a higher temperature than that of a common greenhouse, 
and even then the plant will be no great thing only in 
bright sunshiny weather. If the enquirer has only a 
greenhouse, and the plants are only lately withered, 
they might have been too late for blooming well. To 
prevent this, encourage free growth after a start is made. 
R. Fish. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’S GARDENS, 
CHISWICK. 
We have often to deplore the sad effects of late spring 1 
frosts, and I have, in the course of a long life spent in 
gardening pursuits, seen the hopes of a fine crop of ; 
stone fruits, such as Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, and 
Plums, destroyed by late frost, but in all my time I 
never met with such a sudden destructive frost as 
occurred on the night of the 24th of April last. In my 
neigbourhood we had eight degrees of frost, that is, the 
thermometer fell to 24° Fahrenheit. At Chiswick, I was 
informed it fell to 14°, being 18 u below the freezing 
point. 
The weather previous to that had been bright and 
clear; the nights slightly frosty, but nothing to do any 
harm. The powerful rays of the sun had brought the 
Cherry aud the Plum in the orchards to a fine show of 
blossom, but the frost on the night alluded to above ! 
has destroyed nearly all the expectations of the Iruit 
growers around us. The young fruit is nearly all i 
turned black, aud the small fruit, such as Gooseberries j 
and Currants, are injured so much as to seem as if they j 
had been scalded with hot water. Peas injured, and all : 
Potatoes above ground cut down. 
On the 26th of April I had occasion to be at 
Chiswick, and called at the gardens there lor the pur- j 
p»se of seeing how the various trees, shrubs, &c., had 
borne the winter just passed over, and what I saw there, j 
as well as elsewhere, of the effects of the what I may j 
call the more solid and lasting winter frosts, combined J 
with the effects of the frost on the night in question, J 
induced mo to take notes, and now write them, to show j 
how fruit-trees and shrubs have borne the extreme 
cold to which they have been subjected since Novem¬ 
ber last to the present time. Such records are of im¬ 
portance, insomuch as they show how necessary it is 
to be on our constant guard to protect doubtful trees, 
doubtful as to their perfect hardihood, aud also to guard 
our fruits from late frosts up to tho time when the 
weather is so settled as to render such protection un¬ 
necessary. 
In the Gardens at Chiswick, the following plants 
have withstood the severe cold of the past winter, either 
totally uninjured, or very slightly affected, Ceanothus 
rigidus, C. dentatus, C. varieotus (syn. inteejerrimus), not 
in the least injured. Berberrit Durtcinni, B, Bepalensis, 
3 feet high, in a sheltered corner. Chitsan Balm, Cra- 
tegus Latjii, Bavin Californica, Mg rim Californica, Jlc.v 
latifolia, Spirca. Blitmei’, S.prunifolia pleno (a mass of 
bloom), and the new evergreen Plum. 
Very much injured are the old Ceanothus thryrsiflorus, 
Weigelea rosea, Glycine sinensis (the blooms). In 
Conifer® the following are uninjured : Araucaria 
inihrirata ; some Deodar Cedars, but most of them have i 
lmd the young spring-made shoots destroyed; Crypto- 
meria japoniva, Cupressns CMcana (quite safe); C, 
funebris (sale), C. thurifera (slightly touched), C, macro- 
carpet and C, Goreniana (10 it. high), Aii.ce Gotha con- 
spicita,Finns monticola, as green as possible; P. Monte¬ 
zuma, B. Sabiniana, B. tuherculata, B. cembroutes, B. j 
