352 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 31, 1858. 
eyes, with the glow of health upon her cheeks, and she 
folded her delicate white hands over the pea-blossom, and 
thanked the Giver of all Good for it. 
“I prefer my Pea!’’ said the gutter.— (Little Pilgrim.) 
Tiie Vine Mildew. —The Vine mildew having made its 
appearance in one of my houses, I tried the following plan of 
curing it:—Having shut the house quite close, I got four 
large flower-pots, and half filled them with lumps of quick¬ 
lime ; having sprinkled it with water, I strewed a handful of 
sulphur on each pot, and let it steam up through the Vines 
till it quite filled the house with steam. On the following 
morning I opened all the ventilators, and gave the house a 
good syringing till I quite saturated it. I repeated the same 
the following day, when I found that the mildew had wholly 
disppeared. I have also tried the same remedy for red spider 
in a Peach-house, and I soon found it vanish. If gardeners 
will use sulphur in this way, they will find no ill effects from 
it; as soon as they have strewed it on the lime they can leave 
it till the following morning.—(J. Jones, in American Hort.) 
QUERIES AND AN SAVERS. 
BOX EDGINGS.—WINTERING FUCHSIAS, &c. 
“ I have some Box edging, that lias not been clipped this 
year, Would you advise me to clip it now, or wait till next 
May ? Will you also tell me the best way to whiter Fuchsias ? ” 
—J. G. 
[You may clip your Box edging at once, with out delay, as 
well as again next May, if required. 
The answer to the question, “ Which is the best way 
to winter Fuchsias?” will hardly, perhaps, give the kind 
of information which is required by our correspondent. 
But the best way to keep Fuchsias over the winter is, to 
leave them in the same pots and soil in which they flowered, 
not to prune them till the end of February, nor to give 
them more water than will keep the soil from getting 
quite dry. Any glass-house, which is large enough to give 
them standing room, will suit them, and the same treatment, 
as to air, heat, and cold, as is given to Cape Heaths, is the 
best treatment for Fuchsias,—that is to say, the thermometer 
should not be lower in the morning, after a hard frost, than 
down to 30°, nor higher, by fire heat, than 35° or 36°. A 
very slight degree of frost is an excellent thing for all green¬ 
house and frame plants, which are entirely at rest for the 
winter. They cannot be made to sleep, as it were, without as 
much frost as that. But some people think, that by withholding 
i water from such plants till the soil is as dry as the road dus£ 
they put their plants completely to rest; and so they do, but 
1 it is at the expense of the plants, by an unnatural process, 
which destroys the tender ends of the roots, and all the very 
little roots; whereas, by just keeping the soil from getting 
quite dry, not a single root is lost, and, by lowering the air in 
which they stand to the freezing point, and even below it a 
point or two, the thing is done as naturally as it could happen 
in any part of the world. All the old and standard Fuchsias 
and all the standard and bush Myrtles, Oleanders, Hydrangeas’ 
with all forced Roses, Plums, Apricots, Peaches, Vines,°and 
other fruit-bearing plants in pots, ought to be put to rest in 
the same natuial way, rather than by allowing the earth about 
their roots to get quite _ dry. While we are on the subject 
let us lern&rkj in passing that thisj tlie best way to keep 
Fuchsias over the winter, is also the best way to keep all the 
old bedding Geraniums which are lifted from the beds. Who 
is there amongst us, however, who has these means of pre¬ 
serving any one kind of common plant over the winter ? Her 
Majesty lias not one-fourth of the necessary requirements for 
such tilings, and her Fuchsias, of which she is very fond 
never get the “best way” in winter, and hardly the second 
best way m summer; and yet, with it all, Her Majesty’s 
seedling Fuchsias are quite as good as those of Banks’ or 
any other of her loyal subjects, and her plants are grown as 
A\eH, and look as well as the royal gardeners can make them. 
± or the sake of saving space it is a good plan to prune 
down Fuchsias after they have done flowering, as soon as the 
roots have been allowed to become nearly dry, as in this Way 
they occupy no more room than the pots in which they stand.] 
HYDRANGEA JAPONICA.-AGACIA ARMATA 
MANAGEMENT. 
u I have a plant of the Hydrangea Japonica in the window 
of my room, which lias not flowered this summer, although it 
seems to be in a very healthy condition; foliage large, with 
stems upwards of two feet high. Now, I want to know 
whether it would be better to cut it dowm, as it is sending out 
several strong branches about three inches above the soil, and 
let these flower next summer, or to allow the old ones to 
remain, and take the young ones off, and strike them ? The 
plant is at present in an eight-inch pot. 
“ I have likewise a plant of Acacia armata , which I pur¬ 
chased of a nurseryman last year, and which flowered pro¬ 
fusely ; but it was in bud when I had it. Now, I wish to 
know how to treat this plant, so as to get it to flower ? It 
has made a great deal of wood since it has done blooming.”— 
A Constant Subsceieee. 
[If your plant of Hydrangea Japonica is not too large for 
your window, we would advise you not to cut it down at 
all. The upper and more plump buds, on the present year’s 
shoots, are more likely to yield you abundance of bloom. 
Allow the lower shoots also to grow. If you want young 
plants, prefer cutting away some of the weaker shoots, and 
making them into pieces of two buds each,—one to be cut 
across at the base for the bottom of the cutting, and the 
other to be left to make the top of the young plant. The young 
strong shoots now coming will make fine blooming shoots for 
a second year. AVe fear that, as they are at present only a 
few inches in length, and August is now nearly over, the 
ends will not be sufficiently matured to bloom next season, 
which they could hardly fail to be on this summer’s shoots. 
To accelerate this, set your plant in a sunny spot out of doors, 
and give only as much water as will keep the leaves from 
flagging to any extent. By October the leaves will be getting 
yellow, and falling, and after that the plant will be safe any¬ 
where if kept free from frost, and will want little light—if the 
absence of light would make it more easily kept—until the 
buds begin to break and swell by the returning warmth of 
spring. Then bring the plant to the window; and, after pruning 
away some of the dead points and the weakest buds, remove 
some of the surface soil, and replace with fresh, rich compost. 
AA' hen the blooms show, give manure waterings, to increase 
their size. 
Acacia armata to bloom. You do not say if your plant is 
still in the window. If so, give all the light and air possible, 
in order to mature the wood it has made. This would be 
rendered more sure, could you place the plant in a sunny 
spot out of cloors, merely defending the pot from the sun’s 
rays by placing round it a piece of matting, or cloth, or hay- 
band, or merely a green sod. The plant would require to be 
secured from drenching rains, and to be housed by the second 
v eek of October. The roots must not suffer for want of water; 
out as the days shorten much less will be required. Give all 
the light and air possible in winter, and just keep from frost; 
and, when spring comes, we feel pretty confident you will 
have masses of bloom.] 
BULBS FOR CONSERAAATORY BORDER, 
The south border in my conservatory is twenty-four feet 
r feet * T ¥ s . autumn I propose to plant it with bulbs 
ol different varieties, such as Hyacinths, Tulips, yellow 
Crocus, white Crocus, and Cyclamens. May I ask you at 
v hat time the different bulbs must be planted, so that they 
will be all in flower at the same time about the end of 
J anuary ? Also, are there any other bulbs suitable for plant¬ 
ing^ uith them in a border of the above description? 
“ the Tacsonia ignea best suited to a stove or o-reen- 
house?”— An Amateur. 
[We do not think we could give you the assistance you 
desire, without bewildering you, unless we had more precise 
