October 2 . 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
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that would equally well answer the purposes I hare alluded | 
to ? I have tried the Maiirandya Barclayana, &c., hut with j 
indifferent success, as they did not llower sufficiently pro¬ 
fusely to he very effective. 
Such Tropccolums as JarrcUii, Brachyceras, &c., will not 
do, as tlieir time for flowering is early spring, and they are, 
besides, not sufficiently robust in habit for open air flowering. 
The Tropwohmi macrophyllinn increases itself by undei'- 
ground tubers, which should be taken up about tlie end of 
October, kept during winter, potted, and started in April, 
and planted out about the same time as other bedding 
plants, viz. at the end of IMay.—P. G. 
have a tree of this variety which has been planted many 
years. It generally bears a good crop of fruit, which falls 
prematurely, and the Plums are very small. The tree is 
very much without leaves. The soil it now has is that of a 
common kitchen-garden, neither chalky nor gravelly, with a 
cool bottom.—A Co>;stant Reaber.” 
[The soil on which the Winesour Plum succeeds best is 
limestone; indeed, some say it will not prosper on any 
other. We know many good soils where, after flourishing 
for a few years, it invariably languishes. Look to the roots 
of your tree; perhaps your soil, which you say has a cool 
bottom, is too retentive of moisture.] 
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TECOMA .TASMINOIDES. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
MINIATURE ROCKERY. ! 
“ Could you inform me as to the most suitable method of i 
forming a small Rockery, to be placed under a bell-glass in i 
the window, and which of the British Ferns would be most 1 
adapted for it ? I liave several of the Ferns growing very | 
freely in pots in the window, -which, if eligible, I intend 
placing in the Rockery. They are the Asplenium Tiicho- j 
manes, A. alternifolium, A. ruta-muraria. A, lanceolatum, j 
Cystopteres fragilis, Polystichum Lonchitis. Also, a few Al- | 
pine flowering plants, among which are Saxifraga stellaris, ; 
S. nivalis, and Cotyledon umbilicus, from Snowdon and I 
neighbourhood.— John Cockcroft.” 
[The great difficulty of forming such a Rockery as you 
require is the exceedingly small space. The best material 
is either pumice-stone, or the Derbyshire tufa. To form a 
foundatioir for such a tiny Rockery, you may use clinkers 
(vitrifled coal ashes), filling in the spaces with Portland 
cement. If you cannot get pumice, or tufa, you might form 
the Rockery with clinkers or scoriocs, entirely covering it I 
with the cement laid on with a brush. Form a pyramid, ! 
leaving uneqtral surfaces, rock-like, to hold a small portion of j 
a compost of peat earth, such as Heaths grow in, and leaf- i 
mould, mixed with irounded brick. It is impossible to give 
minute directions how to build the rock; yorr must exercise 
your own taste, and aim at forming such a rocky appearance 
as to look like piles of natural rocks in miniature, with here 
and there bold projections, which projections will leave hol¬ 
lows, in which the plants may be placed. 
We are glad to hear that you are successful in growing 
British Ferns in pots in your windows. Select from your ! 
stock, for your Rockery, to be placed under your bell-glass, 
the following, Asplenium Trichomnnes, A. ruta-muraria, A. 
lanceolatum, and procure Grammitis cetcrach, Adiantum Ca- 
plllus-veneris, Adiantum pedatum, and Allosorus crispus. j 
Your Saxifrayes would spread too much, but Colytedon vm- \ 
hilicus might answer. No i^lants, however, do so well under ! 
a bell-glass or Wardian case as Ferns. 
Have you really met with (growing wild) in your locality, 
the Asplenium alternifolium, and Polystichum Lonchites't If 
you have, send us word whore and when you found them; ; 
we shall be greatly obliged. The flrst is too rare and tender j 
to venture in your bell-glass; and the second grows too j 
large,—and, besides, is rather apt to damp ott' in so confined j 
a situation. ! 
Wlien you have planted your Rockery, give it a good j 
watering, and place it in the shade for a few days without 
the bell-glass. Then put on the glass, and let it remain for 
a fortnight, then take it off, and if the soil is dry give a ! 
second watering and keep the gla.ss off that night, replacing ! 
it early in the morning. Take the glass off' every ten or j 
twelve days to dry up the damp; give fresh air to the ' 
plants, and induce a stout, healthy growth. While the glass 
is off, clear away all decaying fronds, w^eeds, &c. With this 
care and attention you may enable yoiu' Ferns to grow 
admirably.] 
GROWING THE WINESOUR BLUM. 
“ I shall be obliged by your kindness in informing me 
what is the soil best adapted for a Winesour Plum. We j 
“Will you state what aspect you advise out-of.doors for 
the Tecoma jasminoides ; and whether a sheltered situation is 
best ? also, w’ould it require much protection in the winter ? 
We have had a plant for three years in a pot in the green¬ 
house, trained against the w'all on some wire--R’ork. would 
this be a suitable plant to put out ? It has never bloomed. 
Or would a young plant be better ?—A Lady.” 
[We did not, nor do we, recommend Tecoma jasminoides 
as an outdoor plant. It is strictly a conservatory wall- 
plant, where the frost is kept out without hindering the light 
from reaching the plant every day in winter. This cannot 
be effected without a glass covering for the wall, with other- 
means to'exclude frost. Such plants as i\\Q Mandevillia, 
for instance, which lose their leaves in winter, may be kept 
out against a wall -without a glass covering, a deep thatch of 
straw, or fern, being used instead of glass, for roots and all; 
but an evergreen, like the beautiful Tecoma in question, 
will not do without light; therefore they are strictly conser¬ 
vatory wall plants. The best ventilated greenhouse seems 
too confined for it and some others in summer; but the 
subject is handled in various ways to-day by Mr. Beaton, in 
his account of the half hardy climbers at the Crystal 
Palace,] 
SEEDS IN THE CENTRE OF AN OAK STEM. 
“ I enclose you some seeds which were found in the 
centre of an Oak Gee of lai'ge dimensions, viz,, seventeen 
feet in circumference. When found, they were apparently a 
solid nest of seeds stored with the dust, and without any 
aperture to the air. The Oak is comimted at about 2,000 
years old, and, by the appearance, these seeds must have 
been deposited in the Oak for a very long period of time., I 
write to ask if you can name them, for I find no one here 
can? Your kind reply will oblige— John Crompton, Rm-y, 
Lancashire." 
[The seeds are those of the Yew tree, and may have been 
deposited there by mice ages since. They seem to be per¬ 
fect, and to be capable of germination.] 
Ajmong the many benefits that will he due in after times 
to Poultry Shows, none will, perhaps, he more lasting 
than that of having called the attention of agriculturists 
to it. At the late meeting, at Paris, of the Society occu¬ 
pying the same place in France as the Royal Agricul¬ 
tural does in England, the competition was open to the 
world, and although, from the framing of their rules, 
and their unavoidable want of the knowledge and 
arrangement w'hich j)ractico has given here to exhibitors 
and committees, hut few of our countrymen, and none 
of our best breeders, entered the lists; still, enough w'ere 
sent to show them we had made progress during the 
last few years. 
Orders are now coming in freely from Franco for birds 
of the breeds shown by Englishmen, and we shall not 
