THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



Ill 



lections, adapted for different sized par- 

 dens. — " Henry N. Bransby, Corn Mar- 

 ket and High Street, Alton, Spring 

 Catalogue of Select Vegetable and Flower 

 Seeds." A small list of good sorts. — 

 "Insecticide Vicat, prospectus." This 

 powder is the best thing of the kind 

 known for destroying insects. We have 

 often used it with invariable success. 

 "Luxcombe, Pince and Co., Exeter Nur- 

 sery, Exeter, Descriptive Catalogue of 

 Eoses, Soft-wooded, Bedding, and other 

 Plants." There are here some very beau- 

 tiful novelties, likely to become great 

 favourites. — " Alexander Shanks and 

 Son, Dens Iron Works, Arbroath, and 

 27, Leadenhall Street, London, E.G., 

 Illustrated Catalogue of Iron Horticul- 

 tural Buildings, Lawn Mowing Machines, 

 and other Garden Manufactures." Will 

 •well repay the attention of those who 

 contemplate building. — " George Walker 

 Dixon, 48a, Moorgate Street, London, 

 E.C., Catalogue of Seeds." A good 

 catalogue, both for the garden and 

 farm.—" Frederick Boshell, 86, High 

 Street, Borough, S.E., Descriptive Cata- 

 logue of Dahlias." Contains all the 

 good old varieties, with a great many 

 new ones. 

 A Village in Dismay. — Noticing the 

 courteous replies to inquiring corre- 

 spondents, in your valued periodical, as 

 one of its many attractive features, I 

 beg for the first time to trouble you with 

 a query, the solution of which, for our 

 benefit, ■will confer a very large amount 

 of happiness to my little circle, who are 

 now perplexed, discomfited, and dis- 

 mayed. Know, then, that to a keen 

 love of the pleasure of gardening, the 

 perusal of your varied works added the 

 desire to unfold and develop the natural 

 taste for its more practical enjoyment ; 

 and fortune having favoured me in the 

 happy possession of one of the most pic- 

 turesque and romantic spots within five 

 miles of the Bank, I am desirous that 

 every feature in it should be religiously 

 cared for and preserved. Now, sir, next 

 to the gloriously open and beautiful view 

 •which the spot commands, I was (upon 

 taking possession of this place) more 

 struck with the extraordinary loveliness 

 of a full-grown, exquisitely-shaped, 

 crab-tree, standing in the very centre of 

 the grounds, than with anytljing else 

 beside or around. Every year during 

 its liistory (forty years old), even up to 

 1862, it was one glowing mass of the 

 most gorgeous blossom. Every twig and 

 branch, up to the extreme points, •was 

 covered, presenting a sight which no 



man living could reveal, and whick the 

 entire village turned out to see and ad- 

 mire. You will, I am sure, judge of the 

 deep feelings of dismay and sorrow 

 which presses upon us this year, wlien I 

 inform you that tiot one-iicentieih of this 

 beautiful tree has any blossom at all. We 

 are all thunderstiuck. The gardener 

 can't account for it, and upon my sug- 

 gesting it may arise from the immense 

 mass of wood and branch which thickly 

 cross and recross in the tree, he says, 

 " But it has been so ever since I have 

 known it, and it never failed before. If 

 I was to begin to cut, 1 should never 

 know when to leave off." Now, sir, if 

 that tree was yours, what would yon do 

 "with it ? I only -^vant it as an orna- 

 ment ; the fruit is worth nothing, Yours 

 ever. The First lizihscriber. [We can well 

 understand the dismay of the village that 

 your fine tree has not bloomed this year, 

 but your dismay must be almost killing. 

 Our advice is simply that you leave the 

 tree alone. The reason it has not 

 bloomed is that the wood was not well 

 ripened last year. It is in the same case 

 as the rhododendrons, which are every- 

 where tlowerless, through not ripening 

 their growth well last year. Don't at- 

 tempt to prane it.] 

 An Odtbbeak of Veemin. — I have a 

 small terrace border (about fifty yards 

 long) which was laid out last year, and 

 in which I planted a line of roses, also a 

 few phloxes and delphiniums. Some 

 insect first ate out the buds from the 

 roses, and even barked the wood for some 

 two inches on each side of the buds, and 

 this it repeated whenever any new buds 

 appeared. When these were all de- 

 stroyed, it attacked the phloxes and del- 

 phiniums, eating into the young shoots 

 and leaf-stalks, andnever allowing them 

 to get three inches above the ground. In 

 November last I put in other roses, and 

 I find they are likely to share the fate 

 of the last. Can you enlighten me a 

 little as to who my enemy might be, and 

 how I am to get rid of him ? I have 

 tried a great number of insect-killing 

 substances without the slightest eflect. 

 The border is at the bottom of a piece of 

 ground, which has been lately improved, 

 and which was previously a plantation 

 of old firs. — /. H. S. [The common 

 rose-grub mostly eats out the bud, and 

 destroys the bloom, but the barking 

 must be done by the common ^nnil or 

 slug, as they are very apt to do this, and 

 their depredations being committed at 

 night, is the reason you have not been 

 able to discover them. They are, more- 



