April 10. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
31 
You can have no Anemones in October and November 
except the common border sorts, and then you must rear 
them from seeds. If you sow the seeds any time in May, 
there will be a chance of flowers in the autumn ; but we 
cannot always make sure of this—much depends on the 
season.] 
SAVING DAHLIAS FROM THEIR ENEMIES. 
“ Can you or any of your readers inform me of any plan 
to keep Earwigs from destroying Dahlias ? Last year I 
planted my Dahlias out on the 18th of May, and in ten 
days they were all more or less destroyed ; in fact, there 
were some of them that never flowered at all.— Slater.” 
[Even Earwigs should have .justice. They do not attack 
the Dahlia, as you imagine, in May, nor until they come 
into bloom, when they are rather fond of tasting the flowers 
only, to ascertain, perhaps, if all the “ properties ” are 
right; and for that propensity the florist puts a trap for 
them to hide themselves in during the day—a small pot, 
or something hollow, with a bit of moss or hay inside. The 
earwig is thus caught in an evil hour, and forfeits his life 
for his prying curiosity. 
As soon as young Dahlias are planted out in May, if the 
wireworm gnaws the bottom of the root, the plant flags, 
or dies outright. Therefore, if a toireworm has been seen 
in turning over the ground for Dahlias, traps must be laid 
for them also. The simplest and best are the soft stems, 
or the mid-xibs of the leaves of early cabbages, stuck here 
and there all over the bed, leaving an inch or so out of the 
earth. Some one must go round once or twice a-day to pull 
up the stalks, destroy the wireworms, and push the traps 
into the earth again. Slices of carrots, parsnips, turnips, or 
potatoes, are equally good for traps, but not so handy as the 
cabbage-stalks for catching the marauders.] 
A VINE FLAGGING. 
“ For the past eight years we commenced forcing our early 
vinery on the 1st of January, and succeeded quite to our satis¬ 
faction. This season we commenced as usual, and things 
went on well till a fortnight since, one Vine (a Sweet-water, 
and entirely planted in the house] flagged. The sun being 
very powerful at the time, I immediately shaded it, and was in 
hopes, in the course of a few hours, to see it as usual; but it 
remains still flagged, yet recruits a little towards the morning. 
Having fifteen other Vines in the same honse looking so 
well and displaying so much finer show of fruit than usual, 
I cannot think the cause of No. 16 suffering so. It neither 
suffered cold nor hunger, nor yet did it bear an over-crop last 
season. I have not a single insect in the. house of any sort 
(discernible with the naked eye); nor yet did that pest, 
mildew, ever appear in our houses; yet the idea arose this 
morning, that it might be mildew (although not discernible) 
affects No. 10, therefore, I dusted its leaves and bunches with 
sulphur.—A Subscriber for Monthly Parts.” 
[The Sweet-water Vine is more subject to flag from sudden 
changes of the weather than any other Grape. As it con¬ 
tinues to suffer, we fear the root or the stem has sustained 
some injury. Once we found, in a similar case, that the 
stem had been nearly cut through; and in another case, a 
mouse or rat had nearly eaten through the main roots.] 
GROWING TREE-ROSES. 
(Continued from Vol, XIII., gage 340.) 
Neither is it a good plan (although often practised) to 
commence by planting the tree too deep, and then, after the 
earth has been thrown in, to raise the plant to its proper 
height by lifting and shaking it. The idea, in so doing, is 
that the earth is better arranged and settled round the 
roots, but the smaller thread like fibres are apt to be torn 
off by the weight of earth lying upon them, and the plant 
considerably, though unintentionally, injured. 
Whilst upon this subject, I must make some mention of 
the careless way in which the underlings at nursery-gardens 
are permitted too often to take up plants and shrubs for \ 
their customers. I shall probably be answered, that no 
nurseryman can keep a sufficient staff to enable him to 
transplant with the caution that he is well aware is ne¬ 
cessary; but surely they need not be sent out, as they often 
are, with lacerated roots and broken branches; all too 
clearly showing that the mode of their removal has been a 
chop with a spade all round, and the plant then torn up by 
force. I feel sure that every practical man will agree with 
me, when I say, that considering the treatment which 
plants so often undergo in their removal, the wonder is, 
not that some die, but that any at all should live. Let any 
one of moderate means, and who has not a scientific 
gardener, visit the actual planting of trees or shrubs, whose 
places he has previously marked out, he will probably find 
each plant lying beside its destined site with roots bleaching 
in the wind and sun, until its turn comes to be planted and 
stamped into the ground by a pair of heavy iron-shod boots. 
It is not necessary to add that such treatment suits neither 
the Rose or any other tree; and most of what is said relative 
to the planting of the former, may, with equal truth, be said 
also of all. 
Let the Tree Roses, then, as soon as possible after their 
arrival, be planted, and until then, let them be “ layed in by 
the heels,” with their roots well covered. Make the holes 
for each tree, and plant with as little delay as possible, 
having a mat at hand to lay over the roots, should the hole 
require alteration. Settle and arrange the roots with the 
hand in their natural position; shake on the earth from 
the spade gradually ; if the weather permit, let the roots be 
puddled in, but if not, press the ground down lightly all 
round, and in either case, mulch with a good coating of 
litter, which may have a little earth shaken over it to 
prevent the wind from blowing it away. This coating ought 
to be left through the following summer, and any waterings 
or liquid-manurings poured through it. Moss may he placed 
over it to improve the appearance.— G. E. Maunsell. 
(To be continued.) 
TANKS FOR HOT-WATER HEATING. 
I have seen several enquiries relative to heating hotbeds 
by the tank system; and what is considered the best material 
for making a tank; if you think the following observations, 
founded on my own experience, will be acceptable to the 
readers of your widely circulated paper, they are at your 
service. First, as respects the obtaining bottom-heat by j 
means of a tank. I think the heat is more equally distributed 
by this than by any other method, as by having the tank 
made as near the width of the bed as convenient, the heat j 
ascends regularly all over, and by having the water in it 
from four-and-a-half to six inches deep, when once heated it 
retains the heat a long time. Heating by four-inch trough- 
pipes, covered with rubble, such as brickbats, Ac., with pipes 
to turn the water into the troughs, is also a good plan, and ! 
by many gardeners preferred to a tank. Now, I wish it to 
be borne in mind, I am not advocating either system; but if j 
care is not taken to fill the troughs when the pipes are at a j 
low temperature, there is great danger of the pipes cracking 
from the sudden contraction of the metal. I have had three 
eases of the sort, in houses I have heated, within these last 
six months; at the same time, I admit it was a want of 
caution. It is a well-known fact that all metals will expand , 
by being heated ; then, suppose the water in the pipes to be 
heated to 180° or 100°, and the trough empty, the expansion 
would be very considerable ; then turn in about four gallons 
of cold water into the trough, and what would be the natural 
result ? Why the cold water in the trough occupying about 
half the circumference of the pipe, contraction would imme¬ 
diately take place, and the pipe would rent as low as the 
bottom of the trough, and in one instance it rent all 
through the pipe. The consequence was, the pipes were 
exhausted, and the heat at once lost. Such an event taking i 
place under a bed of Pines or Cucumbers, in the late severe 
weather, would have been a very serious affair; but then it 
may be avoided, by exercising a due degree of caution in 
taking care to replenish the troughs for moist heat, when at 
the lowest temperature. 
