116 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 15. 
was tlie safest, the readiest, and most natural way of pro¬ 
ducing an artificial atmosphere suitable to the growth of 
plants in glazed buildings, and that more depended upon 
the hygrometrical state of the atmosphere in such structures 
than was generally appreciated. 
A Meeting of the Association takes place every Monday 
evening at St. Barnabas’s School Boom, Earl Street, 
Kensington ; W. Keane, Secretary. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
RUST ON GRAPES—GANGRENED PEACHES. 
“ I should feel obliged to you for your advice on the 
enclosed bunches of Grapes; they all looked very promising 
in the house until recently. Just as they were going out of 
Rower (some were set), there was a little appearance of 
Red Spider, and I painted the pipes over with sulphur and 
water, and a little lime, no more than 1 have done at other 
times, only the Grapes were younger this time. Would 
sulphur cause the Grapes to turn the colour they are ? One 
afternoon I had to close the house very early on account of 
the boiler leaking, to have it repaired; would that do 
anything towards it ? or, is it a scald in a morning before 
air was given ? The leaves are all healthy, and not one 
injured. The house has an iron roof. The Black Hambro's 
are worst. There are some Frontiynans in the house, and 
only a few berries are touched of them. Some of the 
Black Hambro's are scarcely touched. The thermometer 
did not rise above 80° the night the sulphur was applied, 
and on the afternoon that it was closed early no more than 
93°. Is it the rust? and after the worst berries are thinned 
out do you think it will spread ? 
“ I have also enclosed two or thi’ee Peaches, to see if you 
can make out what is the matter with them. The trees are 
trained to an iron wire trellis, but it is painted white, but 
there are places where the rust has come through; would the 
water after syringing dropping on the fruit cause them to 
be so ? There are many on the tree thus affected. Is it with 
not having sufficient nourishment for them all?— Yitis.” 
[The Grapes are affected with the rust. It probably 
arose from your unintentionaly over-heating the house, 
whilst the roots were not sufficiently active to supply the 
rapid growth induced by the heat. If you thin the berries 
(if the bunches sent to us are an average sample, two-thirds 
of the berries may be removed), and if yon give the roots 
some liquid-manure, not much harm will be done. You will 
not find the disease spread. In thinning, remove all the 
rusted berries you can, for they are always more or less 
deformed. 
The Peaches are dry gangrened, and withered in places. 
This was occasioned by the same excess of heat, which 
increased the upper growth faster than could be kept pace 
with by the less-excited roots. Treat the trees with liquid- 
manure, and keep down the heat.] 
FLOWERING PLANTS TO GROW ON WALLS. 
“My garden is surrounded by a low, ancient wall, partly 
brick and partly stone. Will you oblige me with a list of 
plants that will grow on the wall ? In some parts there will 
be more soil than in others. In some places the plants will 
he very dry, and exposed to wind and sun; hut in other 
parts they will be more shaded.—R. B.” 
[Linaria Cymbalaria, with a little Snapdragon-looking 
flower, will grow on and run along the hardest wall in the 
country, if you plant little bits of it in the chinks, to begin 
with. It will soon become a weed. The little old-fashioned 
Fern called Wall Rue (Asplenium rula-muraria), is another 
plant that only wants a footing on a wall. Large patches of 
the roof Houseleek (Scmpervivum tectorum), will soon 
establish themselves from very small plants, or portions of 
it. The little yellow Stonecrop (Sedum acre), might 
almost be chopped like Parsley, and then scattered on the 
wall, and the pieces would soon establish themselves and I 
bloom abundantly. The Rock Stonecrops (Sedum rupestre j 
and saxalile), almost the same. There are several other 
Stonecrops which, with a little pains at first, would grow | 
very well on walls. We once fixed pieces of the Indian | 
Fig (Opuntia ficus indicus), with nails on the eaves of a | 
1 cottage, and they grew and withstood the frost for years, as 
well as on the lava of Mount Etna. We have seen Erinus 
! alpinus one blaze of pink bloom, on the top of a rotten j 
brick wall, where it sowed itself from year to year'. Wall- 1 
j flowers and Snapdragons will do the same when they are 
I once established, and that must be by seeds, which wall 
require some care at first. These are what occur to us at 
the moment; but we shall leave yours an open question for 
all our readers, and we should be pleased to receive as 
many fads as possible respecting such and such plants as 
have been seen to do well on trails and oldr wins. We do not 
require surmises about such as might do.] 
PLANTS FOR A WARDIAN CASE. 
“You would greatly oblige by informing me, through the 
medium of your columns, whether you think it would be 
practicable to grow Dionata muscipula, or Cypripedium humile, 
in a Ward’s Case ? Mine is of a considerable size—nearly 
four feet long by two feet wide—and I am desirous of 
growing some other plants besides Ferns in it, viz., Marantha 
zebrina and some of the Sarracenias, &c. I also wish to 
know whether there is not some small Palm which I might 
grow in it? It is about two feet high. The Then and Coffea j 
might be grown in it, I imagine.—T. S. C.” 
[Dioncea muscipula and many Cypripediums would grow' 
well in a Wardian Case during summer ; but would certainly 
perish in winter, unless the case stood in a hothouse, and 
had plenty of air every day. It is during the dark weather 
of that season that all plants excepting Ferns perish. A 
Wardian Case might be filled with pumice stone and Derby¬ 
shire tufa, the whole formed into rock-work, and dry stove 
plants inserted in the interstices with the best effect; and 
they would live and thrive if the case was just kept from 
frost, and plenty of air given constantly. It is then a 
miniature greenhouse and very pleasing ; but then it is no 
longer a Wardian Case, as that title is understood. 
The only low Palm is the Chamcerops humilis, and if it was 
i cramped in a small pot, on account of its dry, harsh, slowly - 
| evaporating leaves it would suit your case. Marantha zebrina 
j would live for a time, but the young shoots would damp off 
certainly. Tea and Coffee trees would be in the same 
perdicament. The young shoots, as they appeared, would 
perish through damp. You may try every plant you can 
fancy, and, perhaps, may hit upon some that may thrive in 
such a close atmosphere, but our experience, which is 
considerable in the management of such cases, leads us to 
be very doubtful of any plants thriving excepting Ferns 
and Lycopods, and even they require renewal at least every 
second year. 
We are sorry to cast a damp upon your Wardian Case 
culture, but are compelled to state facts that we know to be 
true from our own experience. Like every other gardening 
operation, the plants in a Wardian Case require constant 
attention, and the plants frequently renewed as they perish, 
and they (the plants) require a preparation and course of 
culture on the starving system (a la Chinois), to give them i 
I a woody, dry texture, in order to bear such a close confine¬ 
ment. We can truly advise you not to expect too much, 
and to be content with partial success.] 
MANAGEMENT OF FUSCIIIAS IN A PARTIALLY 
SHADED GREENHOUSE. 
“X. Y. Z, would be obliged to the Editor of The Cottage | 
Gardener, if he would give him advice in the following j 
matter:—His greenhouse faces nearly north-east, or say 
due east, consequently, the sun is quite off it by two o’clock, 
p, it., it being a lean-to house, with opaque back wall. He 
has at one end, bulbs, Cinerarias, Salvias, Ac., in flower; 
these he shades ftom the hot sun in the morning, as long 
as the cold wind lasts. He grows Fuscliias at the other 
end; but they do not wear that vigorous, healthy look 
which he could desire. The wood and foliage look dry and 
