THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 1C, 1850. 191 
[We hardly know what is the matter with the Geraniums, j 
If free from insects, why smoke them ? If they have been 1 
covered with green fly before you smoked them the leaves 
would go as a matter of course; but most likely you will get 
fresh ones again if the plants are healthy as you say. After 
potting we have seen the leaves turn yellow from three 
causes—disrooting rather freely, and not shading from sun 
afterwards; allowing the soil to get too dry; and repotting 
when the old ball was in a dry state. 
We should have liked to have seen the leaves of the Ver¬ 
benas. We have seen them turn off the colour you speak of 
from spores of fungi, and sulphur and lime were the reme¬ 
dies, and picking off the discoloured leaves. It is quite 
useless for you, or for any of our readers, to be impatient 
when a prompt reply is not given. We answer every one, 
and we give the best answer we can procure as soon as we 
obtain it.J 
ROOM PLANT CULTURE. 
“I have come to live in the country, without either green¬ 
house or hothouse, and intend trying various experiments 
to get plants to live through the winter, and to blossom in 
my drawing-room. Our kitchen is small, and, consequently, 
very hot, and so is a room over it (their aspect north-west), 
which I have turned into a “ greenhousethat is to say, I 
have large stands of Geraniums, Fuchsias, Calceolarias, &c., 
before the window, and I purpose treating them exactly as 
you have told people to do those in a greenhouse—let in 
air when practicable; water two or three times a week; make 
a small fire at night when intensely cold. Everybody tells 
me that I cannot keep my Verbenas, as they are sure to 
“ damp off." Will it be any use my putting them for a few 
hours every other day in saucers of water, so that the roots 
may suck in a small quantity, instead of watering them ? If 
I put some Heliotropes, Lilies of the Valley, Pinks, &c., 
on the sill of the kitchen window (they will have a great 
deal of light there, but no air), will they be likely to be 
forced into blossoming early, to be removed into the drawing¬ 
room ?— Quack." 
[The name of your plant is Saxifra/ja sarmentosa. With 
enough of heat in the room you speak of, you will succeed 
well if you pay attention. In cold weather your fire may 
make the atmosphere too dry ; but you can easily damp the 
stage and the room, and even set the plants, as Calceolarias 
and Verbenas, on damp moss. Verbenas should also stand 
near the window. The mode of watering you propose is very 
good if you do not overdo it. Water by no number of times; 
but just as your plants want it, and then wait until your 
services are again required. Your Heliotropes will do well 
enough in the kitchen window for short times, when the i 
other room would be too cold for them. Pinks will not do. 
Without air they would spindle and draw to nothing. Lily 
of the Valley and other bulbs, when the pots are full of roots, 
will be forced there nicely until showing flower, when they 
may be removed to the other room. We have no doubt you 
will succeed. If there is any point that troubles you let us 
know.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Vinery ( Itaticus ).—Your plan will answer very well. We presume 
you are to have no sashes, but strong sash-bars, to receive your glass, 
twenty inches by twelve inches. Your method of giving air at the sides 
will do, and so will that at the top; but if you could refer to a description 
of a pit-house at the nursery of the Messrs. Lee, of Hammersmith, 
you would see an admirable idea of giving top air by moving the whole 
coping in two divisions. We presume you intend your house to be ten 
or twelve feet wide ; if so, we would plant Vines inside, on each side, 
about four feet apart, making a border a yard wide at least, on each 
side, inside the house, and another three or four feet, outside. That 
would be quite enough for the length of your glass roof, eight feet, and 
security should be taken against stagnant moisture by proper drainage. 
Spur-pruning will suit you best, provided you keep your roots near the 
surface, and do not allow them to go deep. You will obtain good 
Grapes and a larger surface of glass than by the lean-to ; but we cannot 
say you will succeed any better. 
Heaths and Epacrises (A Tyro ).—It is quite likely that your 
Epucris voecinea will yet show flower. The treatment of the genus 
has been given in full by Mr. Fish and others. It is not customary to 
pot these when cut down, but when the shoots have sprung two or three 
inches. You did right in thinning the shoots if so numerous. The 
length of six or nine inches would be considered short when full grown. 
We are rather surprised they are so long, as you placed the plants in 
the open air when the shoots were an inch long.. They would have been 
better in the cold pit, kept rather close until Midsummer, and then 
exposed to the direct sun more and more until the end of September. 
Good flowering plants . are easiest procured by encouraging free 
growth, and then hardening or ripening that growth before the end of 
autumn. I he shoots are then studded with flower-buds, but some do 
not show until the new year. The Erica gracilis is chiefly valuable for 
its free flowering. It would have been as well if you had thinned the 
flowers of your other Heath, and it should have been pruned very 
sparingly—taking away all the decayed flowers and a few bits of spray 
would have been sufficient under the circumstances. Such shortening 
of the stems can only be done in free-growing Heaths, and when these 
are in a vigorous state. 
Ivy Leaves—Vine Rods disbudded (A Constant Reader).—We 
have seen Ivy leaves like yours, from being preyed upon by caterpillars 
and grubs. Search the place for young ones in spring. We do not 
understand the case about the Vines. If every bud was removed 
from the axils of the leaves all along your young shoots, the Vines would 
require to be very fruitful to break all along those rods, and produce 
fruitful shoots. Many pick out a number of the buds near the points 
of the shoots, leaving the leaves, hoping to swell the buds at the base of 
the shoot. We should like to assist you, but fear we might err, as we 
do not know the full particulars; but, knowing them more fully, we think 
we could give right counsel. 
The Poultry Book {Anti-Dodge).—We know nothing about the 
second edition of this work. We have sent your letter, but not your 
address, to Mr. Tegetmeier. 
Name op Insect (F. H. S.). —It is a species of Coccus, or true 
Scale insect. It will be injurious to any plant it infests. The little 
white masses are its eggs, and should be removed, or the stove will 
swarm with them. We caunot give you any information as to the 
Portland Cement. 
Berries not Poisonous (A Subscriber).— The berries of Holly, 
Bay Laurel, Laurestinus, Yew, and Snowberry are not poisonous. 
Present Volume {A Young Tradesman). —You require Nos. 419, 
420, and 421 to complete your volume. You might erect a lean-to 
reeuhouse for a6’40, of the size you mention, if you have a wall for the 
ack. This would not include the boiler and pipes. Have the latter 
three inches in diameter. 
Hoya carnosa {N. Bannister).—In our 327th number you will find 
the directions you require. 
Australian Outfit ( A Subscriber). —We cannot advise you. It 
would take up a whole number to state inquiries and to answer them. 
Botanical Notes (An Amateur). —We will see what can be done. 
Gooseberry Pruning (A. Grozet). —Many gardeners partially prune 
their Gooseberry-bushes with the garden shears ; but it is a rude method, 
only justified by want of time to prune more carefully, and by the 
bushes being capable of bearing much rough usage. 
Waltonian Cases (Kate). —Mr. West, at Kingston, makes them 
for sale, and will give you the information you require. No danger need 
be apprehended from its use. 
Pom o logical Society’s Transactions (A. B.).— They may be 
obtained of Mr. Ridgway, bookseller, Piccadilly, London. 
Aquatic Plant (E. Coplund).—We believe it is a diminutive specimen 
of Ranunculus uquatilis, or Water Crowfoot. 
Names of Plants (A Subscriber). —The tall white-flowered plant 
is Polygonum eyinosum ; the little wall-plant, Arenaria serpyllifolia; 
and the purple-flowered plant, Impatiens glandulifera. If the Hortus 
siccus with acari in it were ours, we should submit it for an hour to a 
heat of 212° over boiling water, each specimen separately. 
Indexes to our Volumes (A Subscriber). —Index for Vol. VII. is in 
No. 183, price 4d. Indexes for Vols. VIII. and IX. arc one penny each. 
Index for Vol. X., in Nos. 262 and 263. For Vol. XI., in Nos. 2S8 and 
389 1 and for Vol. XII,, in Nos. 314 and 313 ; all price 3d. each. Indexes 
for Vols. XIII., XIV., XV., and XVI., may be had separate, each price 
one penny. 
Various (An Anxious Inquirer). —Use the pigeons’ dung to make 
liquid-manure for your fruit-trees in pots. Mix the old and the new to¬ 
gether; the latter is the strongest. You may either graft or bud your 
Cherries planted last year. Those planted this year must remain until 
1858 before they are worked. Wild Pears are grown in woods. You 
may plant as late as February. 
Eugenia Ucni ( H. C. C.). —This is the same as the Myrtus Ugni. 
A drawing and full particulars concerning it are in the Botanical Ma¬ 
gazine for 1852, t. 4626. 
Vines for a large Vinery (An Old Subscriber). —We bow to your 
deprecation—“ do not reply, there has much been written on the subject 
lately ”—and, therefore, recommend you to procure good strong Vines, 
in puts, from eyes; if they are two years old, ail the better, but fine, 
strong plants are now produced the first year by those who know how to 
grow them. The following are the sorts we would recommend. For the 
early house— Royal Muscadine, Black Champion, Black Hamburgh, 
Chasselus Musquee, and Black Frontignun. For the succession — West’s 
St. Peter’s, Muscat of Alexandria, White Tokay, Black Damascus. 
