121 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Mat 
15, 1858. 
the time of planting. This advice, I have no hesitation in 
saying, is bad, and around here is seldom acted upon. Cutting 
down the next year is done instead, after the plant has got 
! established, and the growth then is robust and sturdy. 
| Rut I noticed a method of planting a short time ago, which 
took my fancy, as being a good one. The young quickset 
! plants, whose tops were about eighteen inches long or so, 
| were bent over in such a way, that the tips of each were 
; fastened in the ground again, in the row near to its neigh¬ 
bouring plant. This had much the appearance of an old 
quickset hedge plashed and laid , as the local term will have 
it, and no cutting down was required, as there seemed plenty 
of upright shoots from the upper side of each row. The 
planting in this way will not be so quickly done, but a little 
practice will enable any one to do it tolerably fast, and the 
result in the formation of the hedge will be highly satisfactory. 
—J. Robson. 
! QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
BRITISH QUEEN STRAWBERRY—SUCCESSIONAL 
EDGINGS. 
<c In my garden, and in many of those around me, we have 
the different sorts of Strawberries, which all bear well except 
the British Queen , which makes a quantity of leaves of great 
length, but there is little fruit, and that not in perfection. 
Will you tell me how to remedy this ? My soil is very light 
and unfertile. 
“ Will you tell me of any early-flowering spring plants, 
such as Arabis alpina and Primula cortusoides , which will 
move immediately after flowering, to be replaced in the follow¬ 
ing autumn?”—A Subscriber. 
[The British Queen Strawberry will not grow well on many 
light soils, particularly chalky soil. On your light soil it goes 
to leaf, and does not fruit. The only true way, in all such 
cases, is either to change the soil, or change the kind of fruit. 
Doronicum Austriacum is the next earliest spring flower 
of the Arabis alpina ; but Aubrietia purpurea w r ould be a 
| better neighbour to Primula cortusoides. What a pity that 
■ such correspondents should not tell what part of the kingdom 
they write from. Primula cortusoides would be a welcome 
| spring flower in many gardens ; but how far north will it do 
well out of doors in winter ?] 
MANAGEMENT OF RICIIARDIA (CALLA) 
iETHIOPICA. 
“ I have a fine plant of the Call a JEthiopica , but some of the 
leaves have, for some time past, faded on the edges, and one 
or two leaves have faded entirely. What is the cause of this ? 
“ The blossoms, two in number, are now going off. Should 
the plant be watered to the same extent as when the flowers 
were opening ? Also, what is the best time of year for divid¬ 
ing the root, and what is the best soil for potting? ”—C. B. 
[The cause of the leaves of your Calla fading is, that they 
are ripening and preparing to fall off. The plants will not 
require more than one-half of the usual quantity of water, after 
the edges of the leaves indicate ripeness, till they get blotchy 
with yellow ; and after that, no more water. When the balls 
get dry, after the fall of the leaf, whether that be in the autumn, 
or in the spring, is the proper time to shake all the soil from 
the roots, so as to get numbers of them for young plants. 
The best soil for flowering roots of this Calla , is the very 
best loam in the parish, and nothing else; and, for younger 
i roots, add a small portion of sand to the best loam; but the 
j plant is so accommodating, that it will grow hi all kinds of 
j soils, if it has abundance of water while it is growing.] 
BOXES FOR ROOTED CUTTINGS-SOIL FOR 
INDIA-RUBBER PLANT. 
a printing my last note, you requested me to send a 
statement of some alterations, which I thought improvements, 
upon the plant boxes, suggested by another correspondent, 
as tlie receptacle for rooted cuttings. 
“ They consist, first, in substituting a plain, flat tile, ten 
inches and a half by six inches and a half, for the slate at 
bottom ; because, I should think, the warm, rough tile offers 
a surface more genial to the roots than that afforded by the 
other material ; while the size is more portable, and the expense 
less, as tiles cost but 3,s. 6d. per hundred. 
“ Secondly. In preventing accidents, which would probably 
arise from the abrupt disappearance of the bottom of the box, 
which, in our friend’s plan, was totally unsecured, and might 
be detached in a moment by a slip, or by forgetful handling 
of the machine by people accustomed to the use of pots and 
pans with fixed bottoms. This security I effected by making 
my oblong wooden frame large enough to fit my tile outside , 
with a quarter of an inch over, both in length and breadth ; 
and then tacking small pieces of wood as stops or ledges, on 
the inside of the wooden frame at, or near, the bottom; the 
tile, when dropped into the wooden box, or frame, rested 
thereon, and could not fall through; though, of course, it 
coidd be easily pushed up, with all its earth and plants upon 
it, through the frame, when bedding-out time came. 
“Thirdly. To obtain drainage, which seemed to me de¬ 
ficient the other way, I placed the stops, which received the 
tile, half an inch higher at one end of the box than at the other ; 
and laid small crocks over the space left, all round, between 
the tile and the wood, by the latter being made, as I said 
before, each way a quarter of an inch larger than the tile. 
“ Boxes of this shape have a great advantage over pots and 
pans, in that they stow so much more closely on a shelf, or in 
a frame. I have had made, and find most useful, some square 
seed pans; they economised space admirably during tlie 
winter on the shelves of my diminutive greenhouse, as the 
receptacles of my autumn cuttings. 
“ Having very nearly concluded my saud-and-watcr opera¬ 
tions for the season, I may mention that, of about 600 Ver¬ 
benas and 120 Chrysanthemums, only twelve of the former 
and two of the latter have not made good roots; and of 
eighteen Fuchsias, two have similarly failed; but these six¬ 
teen plants, though not struck, were quite vigorous, and 
would, doubtless, root in a week, did I want them. 1 have 
not one weedy plant from those thus rooted, and potted out; 
but all are small: this, I suppose, is because I began late 
(the 26tli March). Since potting off, two Verbenas died (in 
the wooden plant box), and two Chrysanthemums. 
“ Allow me to remind you of my two queries—Why the 
treatment, which suited 'Verbenas, Petunias, Anagallis, Chry¬ 
santhemums, Fuchsias, and, I may now add, Gaillardias, 
should not answer with Calceolarias and Heliotropes; and, 
also, as to the proper pot soil for the India-rubber plant ? I 
do not find peat or leaf mould, separate or together, suit 
mine.”—A Green Hand. 
[The moveable bottom in these square boxes will be found 
very handy for amateurs. Large pots have long been in use 
for specimen plants on the same plan—a moveable bottom 
made of wood. An upright, blunt spur, on the end of the 
potting bench, pushes up the false bottom with the ball entire. 
A similar contrivance could be used for these boxes; and we 
shoidd prefer them all of v r ood, with holes in the bottom, and 
all the inside tarred, and painted outside. Mr. Beaton tells 
us, he keeps his best seedlings over the winter in shallow 
wooden boxes, which are thus tarred, but not painted. He 
finds the commonest Scotch Fir boxes will last seven years, 
j “ as good as new,” with a coat of tar once in two years. 
The probable reason why Calceolaria and Heliotrope cut¬ 
tings did not answer in the sand and -water, was the late period 
they were put in. The flowering wood was made into cut¬ 
tings, and that always takes longer time ; and some cuttings 
will hardly root when the plant is on the point of flowering. 
The soil is not to blame with your India-rubber plant , but it 
is injured by being kept in air too dry and too cold for it. It 
will grow very well in the soil for scarlet Geraniums. Any 
1 good kitchen-garden soil, which would answer for early 
j Cabbages, would do for the India-rubber plant.] 
BATCHY GRASS PLOT. 
“ The grass plot in my garden has been very thin and patchy 
for a year or two ; it is now becoming almost bare. I believe 
it to be from wireworm, as a good many come to the surface if 
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