June 22. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
I 
i 
I growth of plants, to have cut good Cucumbers in the first 
I week in May, hut have not had one yet.— A Perplexed 
Man.” 
I 
[The “minute red insect” is the Acarus lellaris, or Red 
Spider. There is no remedy so effective as having some 
liot-water plates filled with boiling-water, placing them in 
the frame, sprinkling on each plate a little ilowers of 
sulphur, and then closing the frame. One hot-water plate 
for each light is desirable. Do this at night; syringe the 
| plants with tepid water early in the morning; and repeat 
the treatment until the pest is removed. Keeping the air 
of a frame too dry is a great promoter of the Red Spider. 
The vapour of spirit of turpentine is said to be as de¬ 
structive to this insect as is the vapour of the flowers of 
i sulphur.] 
CANKER IN THE API'LE-TREE. 
1 “ I enclose a twig of an Apple-tree, which has evidently 
died ott' on account of the strange-looking ‘ burn ’ on it. 
It seems to have originated in a ‘ spot ’ on the bark, which 
enlarged till it got quite round the bark, and so killed it. 
What can have caused this ? 
“ My man says that it is on accouut of the roots having 
reached our subsoil, which is a cold, rank clay; but why 
should that cause this kind of plague spot ? 
“ I have had hundreds of similar shoots killed by this 
complaint, which seems to begin the attack on the second 
years growth.—E. C. II.” 
[Your man is probably quite right as to the cause of 
this disease, and we so think, because you have had “hun¬ 
dreds of similar shoots ” so killed, shewing that the cause 
is general. A “ cold, rank clay ” subsoil causes this disease, 
canker , and there is no remedy but planting the trees on 
stations, as so often recommended by Mr. Errington. By 
so planting, the roots can be kept near the surface, and an 
equal action be sustained iu the branches and roots. If the 
latter descend into the cold clay their action is checked, 
and ulceration in the branches, from a defective supply of 
sap to them, is as usual as ulceration, or shanking, in Grapes 
from a similar cause.] 
PELARGONIUM SEED.—CROCUS SEED. 
“ Will you kindly inform me, at your convenience, in any 
one of your forthcoming numbers, with the best mode of 
j procedure in regard to some fine-looking spikes of Gera- 
| nium seed, which I already perceive upon some ivy leaved 
[ plants that I have in a small conservatory leading out of 
my back drawing-room, the only glass for floriculture of 
| which I can boast. 
“ In a patch of garden I have an abundance of Crocus 
j seed, and being ambitious to rear such, if possible, would 
you at the same time give me instructions thereon ?—M. D.” 
[When the Pelargonium, or Geranium , seed is ripe, which 
you will know by the seed-vessels becoming brown and dry, 
gather these, remove the feather-like appendages of the 
seed, wrap the seed in paper, and keep it in a dry place 
until the beginning of March, when it must be sown. The 
, Omens sent will not repay you for the trouble of saving it. 
The seedlings will be two years before they bloom, and not 
one in ten thousand will be an improvement upon older 
sorts. The seed requires to be sown in October.] 
YELLOW ROSE.—SECOND CROP OF HAY. 
“ Can you tell me the name of a Rose which flowers in 
the south of France, in March,—is the same colour as the 
yellow Banksite, and flowers in large clusters, but so small as 
to be only the size of a Bachelor’s Button; the leaves are 
very small, and all lmt plain round the edges. There is a 
pure white Rose of the same description. 
“ How shall I do for a second crop of Hay ? Should the 
I land be manured after the first crop, and should the first 
grass remain until quite ripe. It is (the hay) for cows.— 
| Many queries many thanks.” 
[This yellow Rose is just the old Banksian, and nothing 
else. The trees are old and crowded, and the wood ripens so 
: thoroughly, that every sprig blooms every season, and that 
causes them to run into these yellow clusters of Batclielor’s- 
Button-like blooms. You may rest assured this is a true 
227 
story ; and the “ pure white ” Rose is just the same—nothing 
but the true old white Banksian . 
Grass that is cut for hay ought to be manured at the end 
of February; and if the second crop is to be cut, it should 
not be manured with cow or yard muck after the first 
cutting;; but dung-water, or sewage-water, or guano water, 
would just double the second crop, and you might have a 
third also ; but how is the strong water to' be had, and how 
applied, are wide questions.] 
BLUE HYDRANGEAS. 
Will you be kind enough to inform me, through the 
medium of your paper, what I am to water my Hydrangeas 
with, to turn the flowers blue. I have heard that alum-water 
will turn them blue, but I do not know what quantity to 
use ; therefore, if you would be good enough to set me 
right on this subject, I should be exceedingly obliged.—A 
Lover of Flowers." 
[We have no faith in this use of alum-water, and we 
never knew of any one who could depend on any of these 
nostrums. Iron-rust or iron-filings, as much of it ns you 
could take up in a “ handful,” would do for five or six 
■18-pots, but to get real blue Hydrangeas, one must get that 
kind of soil which invariably turns them blue. In some 
places it is as difficult to get them pink, the soil being all 
for blue. A lump of alum as big as a lump of sugar for a 
coffee cup will do for a quart of water, and if you once 
begin it, you ought to give no other water all the time.] 
THUNBERGIA.—DIELYTRA SPECTABII.IS 
SOWING. 
“ I have some seedling Lobelias showing flowers, as 
enclosed; seed sent me as L. ramosa. I have never seen 
a Lobelia like it before, so large or so pretty. Can you tell 
me what it is ? (// is ramosa, certainly.) 
“ How ought cuttings of Lautana crvcca be struck, with 
heat, or like Verbenas, in autumn, in the shade? 
“Will Thunbergia do out-of-doors (showing flower between 
yellow and buff, with dark centre), and is it strong-growing ? 
“ 1 have a plant of Dielytra spectabilis, with quantity of 
seed, apparently ripening. Will it grow from seed, and how- 
treated ? 
“ What has been Mr. Payne’s experience, this winter, in 
stocks of bees standing north aspect? 
“ My experience tells me that all hives are better in dark, 
cool, and dry rooms in winter, with floor-board unmoved, 
and entrance open.—E. II. C.” 
[ Lanlana crocea , and all other Lantanas, ought to be 
struck from cuttings in heat; the stroug varieties of crocea 
would, probably, root in the autumn, under a common hand¬ 
glass, but such propagation is very much against them all 
through the following winter, and if these plants are but 
once chilled, or stinted, they do little good for a long time. 
Strike them in a close, cold-pit from the middle of July to 
the end of August, or else in the spring, in a Cucumber- 
bed, which is the best way, and they root in heat in fifteen 
days, or sooner. 
Y'our Thunbergia is the Black-eyed Susan of country 
gardeners. It will flower and ripen seeds out-of-doors in 
South Devon, and round London, treated just like Sweet 
Peas. 
Dielytra spectabilis , if your seeds of it ripen, sow them 
the same day you gather them, and keep them over the 
winter as half-hardy plants, along with your Verbenas, and 
transplant them out on a border the following April; and 
Mr. Beaton says, that if you send him six or seven of the 
seeds, your own will be sure to prosper all the better. He 
has failed again this year in seeding or crossing his own 
Dielytras.] 
KNIGHT AND CO., EASTBOURNE, SUSSEX. 
“ I wish to know if you consider Knight and Co., East¬ 
bourne, Sussex, to be a respectable firm ? On seeing their 
advertisement of the 13th of April, in your paper, I for¬ 
warded 10s. worth of stamps, for a dozen Phloxes, also one 
dozen Verbenas, as named in that date ; I have not heard 
either of stamps or plants since, though a fortnight after, I 
wrote again, to ask them, if the plants were not ready, to 
acknowledge the money. I saw a caution a week or two ago 
