8 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[January, 



more care on the part of the cultivator than it 

 is always convenient to bestow. Like all ferns, 

 it loves shade, moisture and a rich, well-rotted, 

 wood-soil. If these conditions can be complied 

 with, no plant will give greater satisfaction, for 

 it is surpassingly graceful and pretty. To grow 

 climbers successfully in the house, one should 

 be provided with as many trellis-frames (of wire 

 rather than wood) as there are vines to rear. 

 Of any kind named in this article, one would be 

 sufficient to fill a window, and furnish a pretty 

 background for lower growing plants arranged 

 in front. For persons wlio do not aftect novelty, 

 the long used Germaxi Ivy, Senecio scandens, is 

 most desirable, for if planted in any moderatelj^ 

 rich soil, and regularly supplied water, it will 

 flourish and throw out its fresh green tendrils 

 with such rapidity, as to form a very bower in a 

 wonderfully short space of time. German Ivy 

 grows freely from the slip, but a well started 

 plant may be bought of a florist for a mere trifle, 

 and thus time be saved. There are several new 

 sorts recently introduced which have variegated 

 foliage, and also bear quite pretty blossoms. 

 The smilax is so well known and universally 

 admired as not to have suffered even under the 

 weight of its long botanical name, Myrsiphyl- 

 lum asparagoides. Its bright, glossy foliage 

 fui-nishes the prettiest green with which to set 

 off the flowers of a bouquet, or twine into a 

 wreath, which circumstance alone renders it an 

 indispensal)le addition to even a small collec- 

 tion of plants. The dry heat of rooms makes 

 the greatest difficulty in preserving climbers in 

 a flourishing condition during the really cold 

 weather, when the outer air cannot be freely 

 admitted. Anthracite coal fires are most ob- 

 jectionable on this score, bituminous coal having 

 been proved by experience to be much less in- 

 imical to the growth and well being of plants. 

 It is advisable in either case to have a vessel 

 filled with water, placed near your plants, even 

 though they are thoroughly supplied with a daily 

 allowance of water from a watering pot. A 

 careful sponging of their leaves, once a week, 

 has been found very beneficial to house-plants. 

 The pots holding them, should, of course, be 

 placed in a tub, or large waiter to receive the 

 drippings, while the plants are being submitted 

 to this process. Of desirable blooming climb- 

 ers for Winter decoration, we might suggest 

 almost any variety of the Trupieolum, with its 

 orange or scarlet blossoms; the passion flower, 

 to be found in blue, crimson, or white, each 



beautiful and interesting; ivy-leaved geraniums, 

 and the Begonia glaucophylla scandens, with its 

 free growth and splendidly gorgeous bloom. 



BLACK RUST. 



BY PETER HENDERSON. 



In Professor Burrill's essay which you pub- 

 lished in the December JiTo. on this subject, he 

 says that the mould (mildew) and the black rust 

 tbat appears on Verbenas have been often con- 

 founded. He must have been a very green hand 

 indeed who would do so, for they are quite as 

 distinct from each other as the mealy bug is from 

 the green fly, and no observing boy of sixteen with 

 a year's experience but would know the difference. 

 The Professor says he is led to believe that I did 

 not clearly identify the species of insect that 

 causes the disease ; perhaps my rough drawing of 

 it in Practical Floriculture led him to think so, 

 for I believe ni}- genius as a draughtsman has 

 yet to be developed. But I believe I first discov- 

 ered and first published the fact of its being an 

 insect, and my investigations which have covered 

 a period of over a dozen years leads me to the 

 belief. Professor Burrill to the contrary not- 

 withstanding, that there is only one species of 

 mite causing the disease on the Verbena ; nor 

 does that appearing on the Heliotrope, Petunia, 

 Fuchsia, Pentstemon and a score of other fami- 

 lies of plants show it to be different. But how 

 it looks, or what it is, or whether it belongs to 

 the '' order Acorenia,*' or any other order of mi- 

 croscopical insects is of very little consequence 

 to the man making his bread and butter by the 

 sale of plants; what he wants to know is a pre- 

 ventative, or if the trouble is present, a remedy. 

 I am satisfied that the insect causing black rust 

 rarely if ever attacks a plant in luxuriant health, 

 and that it is probably a consequence rather than 

 a primary cause of the disease, for we have found 

 by actual experiment repeated so as to leave no 

 doubt in the matter. If we take for example, 100 

 plants each of Verbenas, Petunias, or Helio- 

 tropes which have been first potted in the usual 

 2-inch pot, and we take 50 of each and shift them 

 into 3-inch pots, so as to move on their growth un- 

 checked, that these will be entirely exempt from 

 the insect, while those allowed to starve in the 

 2-inch pots will be less or more affected — this is 

 for prevention ; now the remedy. "We have 

 tried every nostrum supposed to be inimical to 

 insect life for the black rust, and have never 

 s^ucceeded in checking it, except by stimulating 



