33 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 13, 1858. 
Camellias, at this season, is owing chiefly to the position of 
the conservatory. We do not think there can be much the 
matter with the roots, as the soil is suitable enough, and we 
suppose there was a good depth of rubbish put into the old 
dock, before the soil was placed in for the conservatory. It 
would have been advisable, that before the compost was 
placed on the rammed rubbish, a thick layer of concrete, or 
even of cement, had been placed all under the site of the 
conservatory. We have had several proofs that when once 
salt, to a good extent, has got a lodging in the soil, it will, by 
degrees, work itself upwards, and perform very destructive 
freaks. Some years ago, in order to drive off everything in 
the shape of worms and slugs from an earth pit, to be used 
for propagating purposes in autumn, we gave the Avliole a 
good watering with saltwater ; and after standing for a fort¬ 
night, the bottom was covered with four inches of coal ashes, 
and on these boxes of cuttings were set and covered with 
glazed lights. In a week, the cuttings appeared as if they 
had been fired; and on trying some of the browned leaves, 
we felt that they were slightly impregnated with salinematter. 
A neighbouring standing place or earth pit, treated exactly 
alike, with the exception of the salt watering, showed no such 
symptoms. 
The free breaking of nice green healthy leaves, however, 
leads us to suppose, that the sea spray dashed in by the wind, 
: when the conservatory is open, is the principal cause of the 
; misfortune. The chief remedies to be applied would be 
having the openings for air on the side farthest from the sea, 
I and these openings protected on the outside with fine wire- 
gauze blinds, or plates of zinc, perforated with small holes, 
through which the water will not seek to enter, provided it 
can get the chance of trickling down outside. The best plan 
of all, perhaps, would be to throw up a bank between the 
conservatory and the sea, and plant it thickly with Sycamore, 
and the Evergreen Oak (Quercus Ilex'). 
A secondary cause will proceed from the water used, if the 
fresli-water tank is supplied from the roof of the conservatory, 
as from the sea spray lashing against the glass the water will 
be impregnated with salt, and by application at the roots, and 
especially by syringing over head, be very likely to promote 
the appearance spoken of. The remedy here would be to 
use no such water, especially after winds from the south. 
In a former volume will be found a notice how well the 
rarer and newer, as well as the commoner Rhododendrons 
flourish, at Dysart House, close to the Frith of Forth; but 
the force of the sea breeze, audits salt spray, are kept off by 
banks and plantations. 
Let it also be kept in mind, that though an evergreen, it 
is quite natural for the Orange and Camellia to lose a number 
of their older leaves every spring and summer. We should 
be more confirmed in the above views, did we know, that 
the strongest winds from the south generally happened 
| shortly before the leaves were affected.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Bees (Spes meliora ).—Find some one wlio will sell you a swarm, and 
by the end of this month let the vendor have the hive you wish to use, 
ready to put the first swarm into. When hived, tie it up in a cloth, 
and take it home. The directions to “ simple folk ” will be of service 
to you. 
Roses (E. M .).—What we said will suit your locality. Obtain the 
Roses in pots, and then you may plant them out when convenient. 
Early Sydenham Potato.— J. Vaux will be obliged by Mr. Bennett 
stating where these can be obtained. 
Azalea and Cinerarias (A. J. A. Z .).—The Azalea blooms were too 
much injured for us to recognize it. The colour of Cineraria, No. 2, is 
a very rich carmine. Both are good flowers, but not better than many 
like them in form and colours. 
Pear for South Wall—Espaliers—late Ixias (An Amateur). 
j —Without knowing what part of the country, or kingdom, the wall is 
in, it would be worse than useless to recommend what kind of Pear to 
grow against it. All we can say is, that the Jargonelle Pear will ripen 
against a wall two hundred miles north of Edinburgh, by the mail route. 
It will also do against a wall in Cornwall; but some of the best Pears 
would be spoiled by the heat of a south wall on our southern shores, and 
in some parts of Ireland ; but would not ripen without a south wall in 
the far north. A wall nine feet high, and three yards long, will hardly 
i be room enough for one Pear tree, but plant the Pear in the centre ot 
the space, and grow something else on each side of it for a few years. 
But the “ something else ” depends on what part of the world you are 
in. When the summer growth of espalier Pear trees is too much, or 
too strong, or too confused, it must be cut in at the time, but the cutting 
in is worse than useless. We cannot subdue a vigorous growth by 
cutting it off, at any season of the year. The roots must first be sub" 
dued, and then the young summer shoots may be pinched, or stopped, 
when they are a few inches l ing ; on no account are Pear shoots, the 
“ foreright shoots,” allowed to grow to full length. Theie are no Ixias 
so late as to save their foliage from spring frost. All Ixias begin to 
grow in October, and never cease growing till the middle of May with 
us, out of doors ; and when the frost “ takes” any Ixias, none of them 
can escape. But the idea is good ; we ought, and might have spring 
Ixias, like the natal breed of Gladiolus. 
A Bundle of Queries (G. A.).—Frunus sinensis albo-pleno not 
forcing. —The reason why this did not succeed equally well with the 
Deutzia, is probably owing to one of two causes, either the flower-buds 
were not equally matured in the autumn, or the plant will not be made 
to gallop into flower so easily as the Deutzia. A few plants may stand 
such treatment, a great many will not. The rapid increase of tem¬ 
perature will either dry up the flower-buds, or cause them to drop 
before they open. We have known would-be clever gardeners shut up a 
Peach house and commence at once with 60° to 70° of temperature, and 
then wonder that the buds tumbled off. In such comparatively hardy 
plants as the Prunus, 50° would have been quite high enough to begin 
with, increasing the temperature by degrees. You have succeeded with 
the Deutzia, because it is so very accommodating, but a vast number of 
plants will stand no such sudden changes. The great secret of all forc¬ 
ing is to excite vegetation gradually. The next, so far as pot plants 
are concerned, is to get the roots, if possible, in advance of the branches. 
Tropocolum Caroline Schmidt. —We presume this is something in the 
way of the Lobbeanum varieties. If so, sow or strike cuttings in spring, 
pot off in rather poor soil, and keep growing all the summer, getting 
the plants into an eight or twelve-inch pot by August, or September, 
and into stittish loam and housing it by the end of that month. It will 
not bloom freely in winter at a lower average temperature than 45°. 
We had this name sent with a Tropacolum, but it was nothing but a fine 
large variety of Lobbeanum, such as Triomphe cle Gand. If this 
Schmidt is not of that kind, some kind friend will be sure to correct us. 
In training, it is best to have one strong shoot instead of several, taking 
it round a barrel trellis. Side-shoots will be thrown out plentifully 
from the main shoot, and these secondary ones will be studded with 
bloom in winter and spring. 
Wistaria consequaria not growing.— We have known many instances 
of small plants turned out in a border, do just as yours have done. In 
all cases where the position in which the plant is turned out is at all 
shady, it is best to have the plant a yard or two in length, before turn¬ 
ing it out. In your ease, provided the roots have run at all in good 
mellow soil, we should be inclined to let it alone for another year; and as 
soon as the buds swelled, which they will be doing now, to pick out all 
the buds but one, and that, until it was growing away freely, might be 
protected with a bellglass, handlight, or even a temporary little glass 
house, made by placing squares of glass round it and over it. For want 
of some such precaution, we have known instances of such young 
plants irremediably injured by insects, slugs, and soakings from the 
waterings of the plants in the vicinity. If such modes do not secure 
success, you may then take the plant up ; but, in all cases before this 
plant secures strength for itself, it is advisable to cut it well back every 
year before allowing it to bloom. 
Green Fly on Ferns in a Wardian Case (M. II. B.). —We really 
hardly know how to advise you for the best, as Ferns do not stand smoke 
from tobacco if at all hot; one of Epps’ Fumigators would do, because 
the smoke would be cool, and a whiff or two would be sufficient. If 
you smoke yourself, you might just edge up the glass a little, and send 
a dozen of good whiffs into it. We knew a clergyman’s factotum, that 
used to smoke his Cucumber boxes by this mode. Just imagine a poor 
fellow filling a three-light box from such a natural bellows, and what 
a dose of the weed he must have had ! Smoke from good tobacco so 
applied, and in a moderate quantity, will not injure the Ferns, but we 
should fear to burn the smallest quantity inside. If you use a fumi¬ 
gating bellows, two or three draws will be sufficient, and the smoke 
must be cool. If you cannot secure these conditions, you had better 
remove the cover; turn your stand a little on the side, brush oft' the 
insects on cloth, and then syringe well with clean water, at about I 
100° of temperature. If you resort to tobacco, use the best shag, not 
paper, &c. 
Various (A Subscriber). —The Rhododendron ponticum and hardy 
Azaleas will grow most luxuriantly on an east aspect, or a north-east, 
or due north aspect, in every garden between Uxbridge and the Pent- 
lant Firth, on the north of Scotland, providing the kind of peat and 
the under soil is favourable to them. Ponticums will grow on many 
soils, as well as in peat, but there is noway to know the soil for them, 
and other Rhododendrons, except by trying it.—The best stone for a 
rockery, near a house, is the very cheapest stone the householder him¬ 
self can procure; but where he can get it is another question, and we 
know where he could get the finest stones in the world for rockwork, at 
three farthings the ton weight, but they are far distant.—Peaches and 
Nectarines will not do long on a wall under six feet high..—Magnolia 
grandijlora and Wistaria will do on the east wall of a house, at 
Uxbridge, very well indeed, if it is sufficiently high to allow them a free 
use of their limbs. 
Distinction between Rhododendrons iiirsutum and ferrugi- 
neum (An Old Subscriber). — Rhododendron hirsutum has the leaves 
hairy beneath, with a fringe of rusty hairs round the edges; ferrugi- 
neum has no hairs, but is rusty beneath, and shining above, and in the 
form of a Box leaf; hirsutum , as it gets old, grows taller than ferrugi- 
7icum , but they are only two forms of the same kind, practically speak¬ 
ing. You will find a drawing of R. hirsutum in the Botanical 
Magazine, t. 1853, and of It. ferrugineum, in the Botanical Cabinet, 
t. G3. 
Error.—A t page 5, column 2, lines 15 and 1G, for Rondcletia, read 
Rondelcia. 
Lists of Plants (A Reader). —You are too late now for such infor¬ 
mation ; every plant that will take a prize next July, except, perhaps, 
the Verbena, is three-parts grown already ; therefore, the three best 
Fuchsias, and the three best fancy Geraniums, to take a prize next 
