THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 25, 1858. 
122 
anything is laid upon it. Is there any remedy ? If I have 
to relay it with turf, how can I get rid of them out of the 
ground?”—C. W. 
[Late in May is the very worst time of the whole year to 
repair a patchy lawn. We never knew the wire worm to hurt 
a blade of grass, or an inch of lawn. We remember to have 
used the turf of a most luxuriant piece of meadow for a bed 
of globe-flowered Dahlias, which were new in 1830; that t-urf 
was absolutely swarming with wireworm, and they killed 
every one of nineteen good globes, and every thing we put in 
the bed, in 1831. We turned the whole back to the meadow, 
and sowed grass, where we took the turf from; but not a 
blade of the young grass, or of the old grass, did they hurt 
for ten long years. A nasty soft, whitish, fat-looking grub, 
with a dark head, is the fellow who devours the lawns in the 
dead of the night; and for one or two years, about forty years 
back, it was like the plague in Egypt m the north of Scotland; 
and the way they got rid of it was by rolling the fields in the 
dead of the night, when the grub was feeding. Gardeners 
keep them down by lime-water; but old Douglass’s receipt 
for killing worms is the most effecutal ? to put a piece of cor¬ 
rosive sublimate, of the size of a Hazel-nut, into an eighteen- 
gallon cask of lime-water, and to water the grass heavily with it 
with a rose watering-pot; but it should be carefully handled, as 
it is a strong poison. Your best plan will be to returf your 
lawn in the autumn, after digging the present surface, and 
if you see it grubby, give the soil a good soaking of the mix¬ 
ture. Dig six inches deep, and rake the stones and lumps 
into the trench as the digging proceeds. Patchy lawns 
should never be relaid with turf without digging under it.] 
BLOOMING BRUGMANSIA ABBOBEA. 
cc Having a plant of this, the old Datura , I should be obliged 
for information to flower it in the coining season. The plant 
is not large, only one stem, and is three years old; has been 
rather neglected in pot room; is now pushing in growth at 
every bud ; is two feet high ; has, since I have had it, been 
shifted into an eight-inch pot, in good rich soil. How many 
branches shall I leave on the plant for growth ? 
“ My object is to grow a plant as dwarf as I can, say not 
over three feet, and to flower it yearly.”—M. E. 
[Your flowering it this season will greatly depend on the 
ripeness of the shoot the plant now has. As you wish it to 
be low, select about four of the best shoots starting from the 
buds, ranging from the base to half the height of the stem. 
Slip off all the other buds, or shoots, by degrees—say in the 
course of a week. This will throw more strength into those 
left. Keep in a growing heat, not lower than 50° to 55°, at 
this season. Supply, when rooting is progressing, with rich 
manure waterings; and, in a month or six weeks, transfer to 
a larger pot, in rich stiffish loam, and treat as before, or plant 
it in similar material out of doors. If the shoot was pretty 
well hardened last autumn, the young shoots of this season’s 
growth will produce plenty of flowers, otherwise they will not 
bloom freely. Next season, prune back, and it will do the 
same again; only you must try and give it a foot or two 
more top room, it grows so fast.] 
VINE LEAVES SCORCHING. 
“ In a small forcing-house, the leaves of the Vines have 
become much scorched : they were the largest aud best leaves. 
I should have supposed this was caused by the house becom¬ 
ing too dry. I tried, however, to keep it damp by sprinkling 
water, &c., on the floors. Could it have been from"too much 
sun. I use the very large panes, and I observe some gar¬ 
deners shade the glass; I have done this, and, whether owing 
to this or not, there has certainly been no scorching since. I 
had thought the great object of the large panes, was to secure 
as much light and sun as possible; and, if not, what is the 
advantage over smaller panes. 
“ I cut off all the leaves that were scorched : did I do right'; 
will it affect the wood for next year? Some of the bunches 
of Grapes were much injured and destroyed; but most of 
them had plenty ol leaves above, as very close stopping had 
not been, fortunately, resorted to, and will, I hope, ripen. 
The largest leaves having perished, I fear this will be a loss to 
the Vines, winch are young.”—G. 
[The advantage of large squares, is the greater amount of 
light. Sometimes the glass is so full of dots, that the heating 
rays are collected, and burning is the result. Without know¬ 
ing more of your case, we presume, at present, that it was not 
want of moisture, but want of air and not giving it early enough, 
that proved the source of your misfortune. We should 
have removed merely the scorched part of the large leaves, 
and left the rest, until the small leaves became large at least. 
The affecting of the bunches, makes us think that the want 
of air-giving was your enemy. If the Vines grow freely, and 
the leaves are allowed to expand, you will not know much 
about the evil next year. There is yet plenty of time to 
thoroughly ripen the wood.] 
CLIMBERS FOB COOL GREENHOUSE. 
“ Have the kindness to give a list of creepers which would 
be suitable for a conservatory, eighteen feet by thirteen feet, j 
facing due south, heated by hot water. It is not intended to 
do more than to keep out frost. No Vines are to be admitted, j 
Would the Lapageria rosea tlnive? If so, should it be \ 
planted against the back wall, or against the glass front of the i 
building ? Of course the roots to be in an inside bed. There j 
will be four rafters, and sashes to slide up and down. The 
entrances to be, into the garden from the centre of the front, 
into a drawing-room from the centre of the back wall. 
What creepers, and how many, would be best to fill the roof 
and back wall ? Fragrance, of course, a merit, and permanence 
of bloom.”— Tyeo. 
[The Lapageria will do in the front, if you can manage it 
as detailed by Mr. Beaton in a late volume. Failing Lapa- 
geria , and supposing you had six climbers, one at each end, 
and one at each rafter, then the following would do:— 
1 Fassflora ccerulea , at one end. 1 F. racemosa-ccerulea, 
at the other. 1 Mandevilla suaveolens. 1 Kennedy a Mar - 
ryattcc. 1 Kabrothamnus elegans. The back wall to be covered ; 
with Acacia armata , or Oranges, or Camellias, or a mixture.] 
STOPPING PLUM TREE SHOOTS. 
“ My Plum trees are putting forth a series of small side- 
shoots, on their various branches, for which I have no room ! 
on the wall. I am told that, at this season of the year, I ! 
should pinch them off, and that this will induce fruit-buds, 
which at present they sadly lack. Will you kindly inform ! 
me, in your next publication, whether this is the correct 
method ? and, if so, should it be continued during the 
summer? and at what joint they should be pinched ofl“?”— 
A Veritable Geeenhoeh. 
[The side-shoots, or last year’s shoots, if small, should not 
yet be meddled with, but merely have the points nipped out a 
month or two hence. They will them form fruit spurs at their 
base, for next year, if all is right, and may be shortened to 
within two or three inches in August. If this season’s 
shoots, for which there is no room, are strong and rampant, 
and already from six to twelve inches in length, shorten the 
strongest, and merely nip out the point of the weaker ones. 
See late instructions by Mr. Errington.] 
THOMSON’S GAS-HEATING APPARATUS. 
Do you know anyone who has tried “Thomson’s Gas¬ 
heating Apparatus,” so strongly recommended and advertised 
by the inventor, for greenhouses ? 
I have had one, and after spending nearly £20 about it, 
money already paid (much more than hot-water pipes would 
have cost), besides destroying > nearly all my plants, find if 
quite useless, and shall be compelled to have it all taken 
down, and incur, de novo, the inconvenience and expense of 
some other mode of heating, unless you can oblige me with 
the name of anyone who has succeeded with it, and can offer 
a suggestion how to fix mine with the chance of success, and 
at a trifling additional cost. 
