1869.] GARDEN REQUISITES. 87 



and flowers alike in the most beneficent manner. Out of doors I have 

 found it exercise a like influence for good on Roses. I have to plant 

 on a clay soil, which soon eats up, as it were, any manure that may be 

 applied to it, and in dry weather I have given at intervals a little of 

 this manure, and the effect has been remarkable ; increased vigour, 

 fineness and richness of flower, and prolonged bloom have surely suc- 

 ceeded. I have also witnessed its beneficial influence on hard-wooded 

 plants in an even more remarkable manner. A friend of mine pur- 

 chased some old Orange-trees in boxes, that were, when they came into 

 his possession, almost shapeless trunks, devoid of foliage, the leafless 

 branches appearing to be quite paralysed for want of stimulus. I thought 

 these almost barren trees offered a good opportunity to test the invigor- 

 ating value of this manure, and a few applications converted mere 

 trunks in due time into healthy trees, redundant with foliage, and they 

 are now ornaments in my friend's conservatory. This is but one of 

 several instances in which I have intently watched the issue of a trial 

 of this agent, and saw in the result the most desired effects visible. 

 Only a few days ago, when walking through the Ashburnham Park 

 Nursery, at Chelsea, with the manager, Mr John Wills, late of 

 Huntroyde Gardens, Burnley, I was much struck with the healthy 

 appearance of a number of quarter-specimen Azaleas, in such vigorous 

 growth as to present an aspect I had failed to perceive elsewhere. 

 •'That," said Mr Wills, "is entirely owing to Standen's Manure. A 

 year ago those plants were in wretched condition. I gave them, dur- 

 ing the past summer, several applications of the manure, just placing 

 it on the surface of the soil, when it was carried to the roots at the 

 time water was applied, and behold the result." I need scarcely say 

 that Mr Wills is a firm believer in the merits of the manure. I can 

 honestly commend it to the attention of all amateur horticulturists, 

 especially as it is by no means extravagant in price. 



Fowler's Gardener's Insecticide is a composition for the purpose of 

 destroying greenfly, &c., on plants. This it does most effectually, 

 and it is the only thing I use in my out-door garden for the purpose. 

 A stated quantity is dissolved in boiling water, and when it has cooled 

 down to a temperature of about 80 degrees, the shoots affected with 

 thrip, greenfly, or aphis, are bent down and immersed in the solution, 

 and immediate death is the result. It is also a real amateur's friend, 

 and it is so easy of application as that a lady could do it readily. 

 Whether it will also destroy the scale and mealy bug, I cannot say ; 

 it is asserted to do so Be this as it may, as a destroyer of greenfly 

 and its allies, it should be classed among the necessary requisites of 

 an amateur horticulturist. Richard Dean. 



