April 25. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
63 
compost, and many other methods to prevent its ravages, but invariably, 
though every care has been taken, and the most healthy cuttings have been 
chosen, without the slightest trace of the insect upon them, in a few days 
they have all been eaten off at the point I have described. The only 
difference I have noticed, is that this insect does not seem to like the white 
verbenas so well as the coloured ones, and the scarlets it seems to prefer 
to all. , I do not know the name of the insect, but though very small it is 
quite perceptible to the naked eye, and runs very fast.” 
Mildew on Verbenas in Winter ( J. J.). —Verbenas are very 
liable to this disease in winter, but if taken in time, sulphur will certainly 
prevent it, and the plan of using a little soot with seems an improve¬ 
ment ; indeed we would advise that the whole stock of verbenas should be 
lightly dusted with soot and sulphur in October and November, before 
the mildew appears, as prevention is better and easier than a cure. 
Hotbed for Cuttings (Amateur), —A hotbed for cuttings does not 
require to be watered ; but the surface of it is to be often sprinkled over 
in line weather—pots, plants, and all—with a rose watering-pot. This 
keeps up a moist genial heat, so grateful to both young and old plants in 
the spring. 
Window Plants ( Ibid). —Geraniums, Heliotropes, Musk plants, Sweet- 
scented Verbenas, Tree Violets, Tree Mignonette, and many others 
noticed in our former volumes, will do “ to mix with balsams in a window 
looking to the east.” If the balsams are well grown, two of them would 
fill a very large window : after they come to that size they may be trusted 
outside the window. Low plants to fill in between the balsam pots are 
what we recommend, and to be sweet, to make up for size. We cannot 
give a plan for an arbour : we never yet saw a beautiful one. 
Tool House, Potting Bench, &c. (J . N. C.). —You say, “My idea 
at present is to have it of stout iron wire, arched in a semicircular form, 
and open at one end, and to train over it either ivy or some other climber 
i that would keep out the rain (or nearly so). What ornamental climber 
I would you recommend as an effectual covering; or can you advise some 
I other better kind of construction, to form both a tool house and also a 
pleasant retreat from the heat of the summer’s sun for such as are fond 
of books, &c.” Your plan will answer perfectly well; and if you were 
to cover the top with asphalt pelt, to keep out the rain, you would have a 
complete, snug, retired place, for such purpose as you intend. A few fast¬ 
growing climbers, as the different species of Clematis, and evergreen 
climbing roses, would soon cover it. Then you might plant finer summer 
climbers, to supersede them in time—such as Lophospermum, Eccremo- 
carpus, Dolichos Lignosus, Coboea scandens, the Canary Tropceolum, &c. 
Inarching Vines (M.). —We should say you might graft an Eaperione 
vine, it being a hardy sort. Of your three proposals, we say by all means 
| inarch the Esperione with a good branch of the Hambro’, provided the 
root and border are good. Your Esperione, however, should carry a very 
j limited crop, and such only on a few shoots—say six or eight good bunches, 
j and those principally upwards. This will enable your inarched shoot to 
I reach the back of the house this season, and to bear next. Your Espc- 
| rione, moreover, should be close stopped all the season. Do not stop 
| your Muscata in so prim a way as other grapes. Its majestic habit seems 
to scorn the snubbing which other vines are obliged to submit to. We 
will one day give a paper on the Muscat. 
Unfruitful Cherry (G. W. P.). —Your cherry blooming profusely, 
but not producing fruit, is by no means an extraordinary case ; but how 
to account for it is not so easy. We, too, have had cherries which when 
they grew old became totally barren, and, like many pears, continue to 
blossom abundantly—the blossom, moreover, appearing strong. On a 
close examination, however, we have generally, if not always, found the 
bloom minus the pistil or female organ, therefore not likely to set. Our 
friend Mr. Beaton is very likely to throw light on this interesting point. 
Perhaps thorough draining is not unlikely to benefit the tree. 
Currants Dropping ( W. B .).—You should watch and determine if 
birds or insects really attack your currants: this much you may at least 
ascertain. Soil excessively dry and poor might cause their falling, so 
might stagnant soil. Pray watch for the next three weeks. 
Wireworms (N. Brandreth ).—“The soil you have carted into your 
garden is swarming with wireworms.” If we were in your place we should 
either cart it all out again or have it all sifted through a sieve so fine that 
the wireworms will not pass through the meshes, and have all that is re¬ 
tained in the sieve carted away. We know of no application that will 
effectually destroy the wireworm if it once gets into the soil. Spirit of 
tar, gas-lime, &c., will destroy them if they can be got into it; but here 
is the difficulty. Moles turned into the garden are the best resource 
against them. 
Floor-board of Hive, &c. (I. A* E.). —This should always have a very 
gentle slope, so that no wet will lodge upon it. Painting the straw is a 
protection against wet; but wet will never penetrate through it if the hive 
is well made. The best roofing over a hive is a milkpan turned bottom 
upwards. For the sake of appearance we have these painted slate colour. 
Shifting Young Carnations (A Young Amateur).— It is indeed 
high time to remove these from the greenhouse; and you had better place 
them in a sheltered place for the first ten days. 
Old Myrtles (A Lady Subscriber). —It is a good plan to keep old 
myrtles rather warmer than a greenhouse heat through April and May in 
each year, or until they make their growth, and then to inure them gra¬ 
dually to stand the open air in a south aspect. They require abundance of 
water all the summer, and by getting an early growth they are sure to bloom 
at the end of summer. It is also a good plan to turn them out of the 
pots or boxes into a warm south border, to water them liberally there with 
liquid-manure, and to cut their roots partially, as we recommended for 
the Brugmansias, a short time before they are potted in the autumn. Mr. 
Gibbs, of Piccadilly, London, is the only importer of Peruvian guano. 
Hot South Border (M. A. H .).—The jasmine and honeysuckle, which 
are established there, have complete possession of the border already; and, 
as in the case of planting young things near large trees, there is no way of 
establishing fresh plants in the same border with those two, except by 
plunging large pots or boxes to be filled with other climbers. These 
would need to be constantly kept moist for the first season. Try Jasmi- 
num nudiflorum that way. It is a beautiful flower against a house or 
verandah in winter. 
Roots Invading Beds (Ibid). —The only way to overcome the roots 
of trees getting into flower beds, is to cut a narrow trench outside the bed, 
and as deep as the roots go, and to fill it up with concrete made with lime 
and gravel, or cinder ashes, one part lime and five parts of gravel, &c. 
Strawberries Unproductive (A Constant Reader).— You have tried 
various modes of treatment, yet you cannot obtain good fruit. Your soil 
is evidently not suitable for this fruit, for Keen’s Seedling and the Elton, 
which have failed with you, will do on most soils ; but the British Queen 
has failed in many situations, and in others, under the best management, 
can hardly be kept alive. Can you not trench a fresh bed for them ; and use 
a quantity of burnt clay, and very rotten manure ? We cannot recommend 
better varieties than the Elton and Keen’s Seedling; but we have seen 
the Downton do well not far from you (near Malvern); but it, also, is very 
choice about soil. 
Narcissus (J. F.). —Your Grand Monarch Narcissus , having three 
healthy shoots, is quite right; and you will soon see the flower scape 
rising amongst the leaves. It is a hardy bulb, and will do to plant out 
in the border after it has done flowering. 
Mock Orange (Ibid). —You ask us what this can be with “ the seeds 
resembling those of the melon, but smaller? ” We can only guess that 
it may be the orange-fruited gourd, which is sometimes called The False 
Orange. 
Tropieolum Tricolorum (Ibid). —You broke the top off and repotted 
it, but no fresh shoots have appeared. Always plant them in their flower- 
ing pots at once. It will not start again, probably, till next Septem¬ 
ber. Uncover it, and if you see no signs of growth let it get dry; but 
watch it through the summer, and whenever you see it offering to grow 
pot it afresh. You know the rest already. We have known the bulbs of 
this flower to lie dormant for a whole season without any apparent cause. 
Gloxinias (A Subscriber). —It is best to pot gloxinias into their flower¬ 
ing pots at once; but the size of the pots ought to correspond to that 
of the bulbs, and may be for small bulbs six-inch pots, and so up to nine, 
ten, or eleven-inch pots. 
Watering (Ibid). — All plants ought to be watered “ from above,” and 
not by pouring water into the saucers. 
Azalea Indica Cuttings (Ibid). —This will propagate freely by cut¬ 
tings by and by. When the young wood of this season is three inches 
long, slip a few shoots off here and there and put them in the hotbed, 
and if you can put a glass over them all the better. 
Sowing Heaths (Ibid). —Their seeds may be put into a hotbed to 
hasten their growth, but as soon as you see the seedlings in leaf, remove 
the pans containing them into a cool airy place. 
Pruning Passion Flower (W. II .).—If it is an old plant top all the 
last year’s wood down to two eyes, unless you wish it to cover more 
space, in which case some of the shoots may be trained over it nearly 
their full length. The inside of a greenhouse should be whitened to in¬ 
crease the light. We cannot tell the name of your plant from such an 
imperfect description. 
Soil for Rockery (Ibid). —A mixture of loam, sand, and peat, is the 
best general soil; but some species of rock plants require a modification 
of this mixture. 
Names of Plants (Y. Z.). —Your double yellow-blossomed Berberry 
is Mahonia (formerly Berberis) aquifolium. (Desire Pontet). —Your 
sprigs seem to be both from a Leonotis Leonurus; Poly gala cordifolia 
and Podalyria styracifolia are greenhouse evergreen shrubs from the 
Cape of Good Hope, and the others are probably Elichrysums , but we 
cannot decipher their specific names, but they are all greenhouse ever¬ 
green shrubs. (Cmcifera). —It gives us much and often useless trouble 
to send us a blossom squeezed flat like yours. If our correspondents are 
anxious to know the names of plants, they ought to facilitate our examin¬ 
ation by sending a good bloom and a leaf in a box surrounded by damp 
moss. Your plant we think is Iris chinensis, or Chinese Iris; and we 
are confirmed in the opinion by knowing that other persons besides your¬ 
self water it by pouring boiling water into the saucer of the pot in which 
it is growing. 
Geranium Leaves (An Amateur).— The edges of these which have 
been kept in a cool greenhouse all the winter, are turning black. This is 
a symptom that they require more moisture at their roots. Your Grizzly 
Frontignan Grapes do not ripen because they have not heat enough. 
Melilot Seed. —If “A Subscriber,” who in our Number for April 4th 
wishes for this seed, will send his address on a ready-directed and stamped 
envelope to the Rev. Francis W. Pye, Blisland Parsonage, near Bodmin, 
the latter will send him some. 
Unfruitful Cucumber (A Cumbrian).— It is rather difficult, not 
knowing all the circumstances, to say why your cucumber plants produce 
blossoms yet no fruit; but the probable cause is that you give them too 
much water and keep them too cold. Non-impregnation we do not be¬ 
lieve has anything to do with the failure. 
