372 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, September 20. 1859. 
tlie end of September dig a trench round the roots, and try and 
get underneath, so as to cut through any tap roots. If this tree is 
old, you may safely cut off all the roots three feet and a half 
from the wall, and nearer if younger. If you could pint stones 
or flags at the bottom to prevent the roots getting down, all the 
better. If you secure drainage, and prevent stagnant water, the 
above mode will do for a large tree, with manure-water when 
growing. You may prevent the roots extending by various 
modes. See an article a few weeks ago.] 
AUTUMN TINE PRUNING.—AMERICAN BLIGHT. 
“ I have a vinery which was planted with young Vines about 
eighteen months ago, they are now clothed with laterals from 
top to bottom of the rafters. Yet, all useless spray has been 
carefully removed, every leaf having free access to the sun’s rays. 
Now, 1 want to know how long those laterals, with their leaves, 
have a beneficial influence upon the Vine, and what time they 
assume the character of robbers. The Vine-stems now have a 
nice brown colour, one half the length of the rafters, and I in¬ 
tend to cut them back at the winter’s pruning to one-third then- 
length. Ought I now to cut clear away the laterals from the one- 
third intended to be left, removing them to the top by degrees, 
or begin at the top, and by degrees remove them downwards P 
Or will it tend to the future well-being of the Vine to allow 
them to ramble freely towards the top of the house, where the 
ripening is of less consequence ? 
“ I am also very much annoyed with American blight amongst 
my Apple trees. Is the Gishurst Compound the best remedy 
for it ? I have applied oil in the spring season to the affected 
parts with some success. Some people tell me it buries itself in 
the ground in the winter. Is such the case ? If not, what is 
the best winter dressing for its destruction ? ”— One in Doubt. 
[Under the circumstances you mention, we would stop the. 
point of the Vine-shoot and remove a few laterals every day, 
beginning at the top of the shoot. If mere strength in the next 
year’s shoot were the sole object we would not do so ; but as fruit 
is wanted on the lower part of the Vine, we consider thorough 
maturation of the wood of more importance than mere strength 
of growth. The laterals being all removed in the course of a 
fortnight or three weeks, we would take a joint or two off from 
the top of the shoots, so as to remove nearly half tire length you 
mean to cut away before winter. This will concentrate the 
resources of your plant in the lower part of the stem. 
We think Gishurst Compound will be likely to suit your pur¬ 
pose, and so will turpentine and oil, and even clay paint, that 
will prevent the insects breathing. They he snugly ensconced in 
holes and crannies of the stem during the winter, but it is also 
certain that they get down to the roots ; and when that is judged 
to be the case, the roots should be bared considerably to the cold, 
and ammoniacal liquor or strong drainage from the dunghill 
poured over, where you cannot reaeh with knife or brush.] 
HOUSE FOR THE BLACK HAMBURGH MUSCAT. 
“ In planting a Vine of the Black Hamburgh Muscat , would 
you advise an early or a late house lor it ?”—B. C. 
[We do not think it matters further than that if grown in an 
early house the fruit has a better chance of securing its very rich 
saccharine muscat flavour. It will flourish in any house which 
will suit the Black Hamburgh, and does not require the high 
temperature of the Muscats. We have seen it in perfection at 
Wrest Park in various houses, and in each case found it to possess 
the rich peculiar flavour. Had we a choice, however, we would 
prefer having it ripe by August and September, instead of letting 
it hang to Christmas.] 
A SELECTION OF SPRING CYCLAMENS. 
“ I want about a dozen pots of Cyclamens to help in furnishing 
a double window in spring. Which are the best common sorts ? 
and what treatment ought they to receive ?”—H. B. 
[“ A dozen pots of Cyclamens ” are about the most domestic 
and the wisest thing that has been referred to our judgment for 
the last dozen years at least. “ The Cyclamen admits of no rival 
for gracefulness of outline and beauty in the smallest compass.” 
Order eight of the most distinct kinds of Cyclamen Bersicum, 
and four of the best marked varieties of Cyclamen Atkinsii. 
They will give you the cream of all the spring novelties in the 
family. Unless you Bend to the fountain-head—the firm who 
introduced these lovely flowers to our notice—the Messrs. Hen¬ 
derson, of the Wellington Road Nursery, do not mention names. 
Only eight of the one, four of the other. Our own collection 
consists of ten kinds of Bersicum; and the following are the 
best eight of them—common Bersicum, album, coccineum, deli- 
catum, punctatum, rubrum, marginatum, and roseum, all distinct 
from each other as any plants of the same genus can be. Rubrum 
is our favourite, as being the finest Cyclamen in the ■world; 
roseum next; and the next are all on a par with us. Most 
teasing it is that we have lost, or never had, the right names of 
the four best Atkinsii; but that breed swallows up Coum and 
Coum carneum —a- lovely thing, and in cultivation they will all go 
for Atkinsii varieties. One material point in the management of 
these sprt'ing Cyclamens has just been discovered by our coadjutor 
Mr. Beaton, at the Experimental, which, he says, “ stunned ” 
him; but we shall probably hear from him shortly on the point.] 
TREATMENT OF CAPE OF GOOD HOPE BULBS. 
“I have had three bulbs just given to me. Would you be so 
kind as to tell me the proper mode of treating them, when to 
plant them, &c. ? They are Brunsvigia Josephines, Hcemanthus 
pubescens, and Cyrtanthus odorus. Brunsvigia Josephines is a 
very large bulb, as large as my two hands doubled together. 
The Cyrtanthus is rather smaller. They were all brought from 
the Cape by a friend. What sized pot should I use fqr the 
Brunsvigia P and are all these pot bulbs repotted every year ? ” 
—Rose. 
[The first thing to do for the Cape bulbs is to search, very 
carefully, with the point of a knife among the openings and soft 
covering at the top for the white mealy bugs, which are sure to be ■ 
found there ; and with the long quiet and rest coming home, are 
sure to be as fat and full as guinea pigs. But guard against the 
thick creamy juice which the pricking of the knife will cause to 
ooze out; as the juice of some of those very large bulbs from the 
Cape is rank poison if it gets into a cut or scratch on the hand. 
This is just the right time to pot the three kinds of bulbs, and 
they will do in the same kind of soil—any good loam, with sand 
enough in it, or added to it, to make it friable. The Brunsvigia i 
will want potting only in seven years; the other two once in 
three years; and all of them in August, or very early in Sep¬ 
tember. All the old soil to be completely shaken from the 
roots, and fresh loam each time—no dung, leaf mould, or peat,. 
and no artificial heat whatever more than to keep the frost. 
from them. The Hsemanthus will stand heat for three or four 
years running, then split and die. With forcing the Brunsvigia • 
might flower once in thirty years or so ; in the temperature for 
Heaths it will bloom as regularly as a Crocus, after getting over the 
journey, which it will take two years to do, if not more. Cover ■ 
the bulbs up to the neck in the pots, plunge the pots to the rims in \ 
damp sand or cinders in a cool frame, and do not give one drop 
of water till you see leaves two inches long, say next March or - 
April. The Cyrtanthus of that size can hardly be true to name.] I 
NEW BOOKS. 
Geology in the Garden.* —-It is not necessary for the 
student of geological science that he provide himself with his 
geological bag and hammer, and wander over the length and 
breadth of the land, before he can make himself familiar with the 
subject. Wherever his lot may be cast, whether on the chalky 
slopes of a Hampshire down, or the oolitic cornbrash of the Cots- 
wold hills; were he doomed to be a solitary coastguardsman on 
the porphyritic promontory of St. Abb’s, or a lonely fisherman 
on some schistoze rock in the western Hebrides, he should equally 
have ample opportunities of studying at least some portion of 
this “ book of Nature.” Dr. Mantell discoursed eloquently and 
interestingly on a pebble : in the work before us Mr. Eley speaks 
from his garden, and his subject is a flint. What is it ? whence 
is it? and how came it there? And these questions lead the 
author to a consideration of the whole chalk formation in a style 
so plain and entertaining as to commend the subject to the study 
of the most uninitiated in geological science. It is impossible 
* Geology in the Garden: or, the Fossils in the Flint Pebbles. By 
Henry Eley, M.A. London : Bell & Daldy. 
