258 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



roots increase and bloom wonderfully. 

 My White Sweetwater grapes and a Mus- 

 catel have cracked very much tins year, 

 and one of the black grapes has failed in 

 parts of the bunches, perbaps half a 

 large bunch not ripened but shrivelled. 

 How is the thrip to be kept from the 

 vines ? I have ferns in part of the 

 grapery, and the gardener says the ferns 

 infect the vines, and he cannot syringe 

 the vines when fruiting, etc. — A. B. S. 

 [We can give no reply to the Seuecio 

 query, not knowing whether you raise 

 your stock from cuttings or seeds. 

 All that belladonna lilies require is a 

 warm, dry, sheltered border. The cause 

 of the grapes cracking is want of water 

 at the roots. When the berries were 

 swelling, the border should have beea 

 frequently soaked. The gardener can 

 and may sj-ringe the vines all the sum- 

 mer long till the fruit begins to change 

 colour ; then let them be dry. No 

 doubt the ferns and vines are both 

 punished through want of moisture, and 

 with a change in this respect there may 

 be an end of thrip ] 

 Wire-worms.— Will you allow a subscriber 

 from the first a few lines in a corner of 

 some future number, to inquire if any of 

 your readers have observed any similar 

 result to that which I now wish to call 

 your notice, and if not, to ask such of 

 them as have more space at their com- 

 mand than I have, and are plagued with 

 wire-worms, to try if the two facts are 

 in any way connected as cause and effect. 

 Two years ago a certain part of my 

 little garden was so infested with these 

 wretches, that I could not grow anything 

 there ; peas, lettuce, carrots, nothing 

 came amiss to them ; everything I 

 planted they utterly destroyed, and in 

 despair I had determined to abandon 

 that plot of ground to entire neglect. 

 Early last year, having a lot of stumps 

 of the brassica tribe (chiefly Brussels 

 sprouts, I think), which I was rather at 

 a loss where to deposit, it occurred to me 

 to try how the wire-worms would like a 

 change of diet ; accordingly, for a whole 

 _year after, I planted in this border all 

 my old cabbage stumps, etc. ; here they 

 throve wonderfully, although planted as 

 close as I could stick them — the ground 

 had been well manured before I lost my 

 last lettuce crop — and I had from them 

 several good dishes of sprouts. Last 

 spring, being very much pressed for 

 room for my second planting out of let- 

 tuces, I ventured them in this border 

 once more. Not one was lost by the 

 leathern-coated little vermin ; nor have 



I seen a single little beast of the tribe 

 there. Now, I am most anxious to avoid 

 the not uncommon fault of reasoning ; 

 and, therefore, ask if any such result has 

 followed in other places, and if any of 

 your readers who are plagued with wire- 

 worm would think it worth while to try 

 if the brassica tribe is offensive to them. 

 — A Lover of Lettuces. 



Chrysanthemum Cuttings. — Old chry- 

 santhutn stools take a great deal of room 

 in a small garden, and as I grow twenty- 

 four in 12-sized pots, I And them trouble- 

 some in winter. Another evil, on being 

 kept in my conservatory, the suckers 

 become weak and spent, and unfit to 

 face the weather under cradles. I am 

 this day taking off a sucker from each, 

 potting it in a 60, and intend keeping 

 them in a cold frame till March, then 

 cutting off the top for a cutting. Will 

 they degenerate by this treatment ? if 

 not, I shall destroy old stools as they go 

 out of bloom. — H. [Good practice, sure 

 to answer.] 



Zonale Geraniums. — P. P. — These have 

 improved so much of late that lists of 

 three years old are obsolete. The fol- 

 lowing we consider the very best of 

 them : — Scarlets, Wellington Hero, 

 Adonis, Marvel, Faust, Clipper, Dr. 

 Lindley, Hibberd's Pet, Bishopstowe, 

 Attraction, Commander, Transcendanr, 

 Etoile de Massifs, Monsieur Martin, and 

 Eleanor. Hose Pink, Christine, Primer, 

 Helen Lindsay, and Mrs. Whitty. White, 

 Madame Vaucher, Snowball, and Galan- 

 tbiflora. Painted, Madame Rudersdorf, 

 Herman Stenger, Demetrio Picciola. 

 The best bedder known is Stella. 



Various.— jB. B. B. — No. 1 is Cystopteris 

 fragilis; 2, the same; 3, Lastrea rigida ; 

 4, Scolopendrium vulgare; 5, Lastrea 

 cristata; 6, Lnstrea spinulosa ; 7, Poly- 

 stichum aculeatum lobatum ; 8, Lastrea 

 dilatata; 9, Lastrea recurva ; 10, Asple- 

 nium trichomanes ; 11, same as 8. 

 These were very bad specimens, and 

 occasioned very much trouble. To name 

 good specimens is always a pleasure. 

 — G. S. — You can procure tree onions 

 from Messrs. Hooper and Co., Central 

 Avenue, Coven t Garden. In your 

 northern climate you must certainly pot 

 Tiitoma uvaria for the winter. To be 

 safe from frost is all it requires. . — Mora. 

 — To give directions for the gathering of 

 particular varieties of fruits would really 

 be a waste of space. — M. C. — Wait till 

 spring to prune the rhododendrons. 



* # * The communication from Pinner will 

 appear next month. 



