THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



39 



will thi'ow i^p shoots from tlie root, but 

 will never form handsome plants again ; 

 therefore, it will be best to remove such 

 injured shrubs where they occupy impor- 

 tant places, and plant others. The old 

 shoots will furnish cuttings if planted in 

 the reserve ground, and some of them may 

 in time prove useful for ornamental pur- 

 poses. 



Fettit Teees should be thoroughly 

 cleaned, audallpruniugconapletcd speedily. 

 Get ready protecting materials for walls, 

 and put oil copings where moveable ones 

 are used. Let all planting be done 

 thoroughly, or not at all ; that is, prepare 

 good borders, have efficient drainage, and 

 pay a good price to insure good trees. In 

 many places peach and apricot trees are all 

 bixt killed by the terrible frosts this season, 

 owing to the unripe character of the wood. 

 Eaised, porous, well-di'amed borders show 

 their value in sucli a simimcr as the last, 

 and prove that liberal outlays in the first 

 instance, if made with judgment, are sure 

 to pay in the end. 



Geeenhouse may have an increase of 

 heat to encourage growth. Acacias, ca- 

 mellias, azaleas, and forced shrubs to have 

 plenty of air and plenty of water aU the 

 while they are in bloom. Acacia rotundi- 

 folia is one of the best of plants for ama- 

 teurs. It is now coming into bloom along 

 the whole lengths of the shoots, a perfect 

 garland of gold. 



RuTTBARB, in open quarters, to be 

 heavily di-cssed with maniu'e, which need 

 not be much rotted. We use it quite 

 green, and prefer the longest. The wea- 

 ther and the rains take all rankness out of 

 it long before the plants can suffer, and 

 in the meantime they have the whole of its 

 strength by filtration. Forced rhubarb 



to have a good share of daylight, to pro- 

 duce colour and flavour. When blanched, 

 it is only fit for the muck-heap, as it is 

 then neither a vegetable nor a substitute 

 for fruit. 



Sea-kale and Aspaeagus. — See last 

 month'-* notes. 



EosEs. — Where early bloom is wante<l 

 out of doors, a portion of the earliest varie- 

 ties may be pruned at once. After such a 

 winter, they will not break too soon. The 

 general prunhig should be deferred till next 

 month. Roses in pots will come into bloom 

 beautifully if placed in a sunny house, in 

 full light, and kept well supplied with water 

 and liquid manure. If any of these are re- 

 quired to bloom late in the autumn, starve 

 them in pots till the middle of June, and 

 then either give a good shift or turn them 

 out and prune smartly. 



Tomatoes to be sown in heat. We 

 found Powell's Early Red the best last 

 season, when tomatoes were almost a 

 failure. 



Steawbeeeies to be well manured at 

 once with a heavy top-dressing with dung 

 three parts decayed. The plants will push 

 through it, and flower beautifully, and want 

 little or no watering when hot weather 

 sets in. 



Vines in flower to have a rather close 

 air and no syringe. Vines in fruit to be 

 thinned betimes, and once thinned for all, 

 as the less handling the better, and the 

 berries left for a second thinning only ab- 

 sorb nourishment to no purpose. 



Oechids to be looked over, and those 

 that want repotting to be attended to. 

 Sphagnum, peat, etc., to be very clean and 

 free from mould ; water soft, and of the 

 temperature of the liouse, and plants to be 

 encouraged after shifting. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



PsYLii PTKi. — Gardener. — The pear leaves sent 

 had been visited by Psylla pyri, the pear chermes, 

 an insect closely resembling the aphis, and, like 

 it, Tery destructive. It is larger than any 

 aphis, colour crimson, sliaded with blacU. The 

 female insect lays her eggs on the young leaves 

 and blossoms of the pear, sometimes on the 

 newly-formed fruit, a.uA these eggs have exactly 

 the appearance of pollen until examined by 

 means of a lens. After the firbt change of skin, 

 the larvae assume the appearance of plant-bugs^ 

 and then make their way towards the bearing 

 wood and shoots of last year, where they remain 

 till transformed into winged insects, which are 

 green-bodied, have red eyes and white wings. 

 It changes afterwards about the head and 

 thorax, which become orange-coloured, but the 

 abdomen continues green. The only way of 

 dealing with it as ail enemy is to watch for its 

 appearance in spring, by means of the indica- 



tions afforded by the presence of the parent 

 insect, and the pollen-like eggs, and then to 

 syringe the trees with tobacco-water. It yields 

 to the same remedies that are api)lied in visi- 

 tations of aphides, and should be dealt with on 

 its first appearance, or it will be scarcely possible 

 to escape its ravages. 

 Sizes of Pots.— .-I. ^. — It is becoming the rule 

 with societies to specify the sizes of pots by 

 their diameters in inches, a far preferable me- 

 thod to the enumeration of " casts," which have 

 different meanings at different potteries. The 

 following are the measurtmeuts of pots and casts 

 adopted at the London potteries : — Thumbs, 2^ 

 to 3 inches ; 60's, 3* ; 4S's, -1 to 5 ; 32'8, 6 ; 24's, 

 7i; 16's, 8|; 12's, iij to 10; 8's, njtol2; 6's, 

 12J to 11; -Vs, 14 to 16; 2's, 18; I's, 20. If 

 diameters only are in future recognized, as 

 we hope they will be in exhibition schedules, 

 the number of the casts need not be specified 



