40 



I'llK CAKDKNERS' MONTHLY 



[February, 



most. Then dip the plants (not the pots); set 

 them in a warm, dark place, or shade them. In 

 two days afterwards set the plants in the beds to 

 grow. To those who do not know the bug and its 

 ways of multiplying, I may say it locates itself at 

 the forks of stems and leaf-stalks, and is very dif- 

 ficult to dislodge. When a white down appears on 

 the plants, it means that there are hundreds of 

 eggs to hatch you;ig bugs. They are almost as 

 minute as are the spores of mildew. Brush off 

 the down with a very small painters' brush, or 

 make a brush of horse hairs to do it. It will then 

 be well to syringe the plants with the solution once 

 a week for awhile. That may not kill the live 

 bugs, but will check their ravages, and may kill all ' 

 the young breeds from the eggs. Gardeners who '■ 

 have garden frames with glass sashes, may set the ' 

 plants in them after dipping ; then put on sashes ' 

 and shade the plants one day and night. Keep 

 them there two weeks; dip them again and 

 plant them out; examine every plant carefully. 1 

 have not seen the bug upon anv of the other orna- 

 mental foliage plants. 



[Mr. Elder's warning is well-timed, for the mealy 

 bug has undoubtedly shown a growing taste for 

 the Coleus. For hard woody stems the following 

 has recently been recommended by the London 

 you7'nal of Horticulture. It would probably not 

 be so for soft wooded plants, like Coleus, but 

 every good hint in the warfare against insects is a 

 gain: "Common gas tar that was used here, about 

 a fourth of tar to equal quantities of clay and 

 water, one man keeping it well stirred during the 

 time that another man was applying it to the vines, 

 rubbing it well over all the cane, eyes included. 

 We had some Lady Downe's more affected with 

 bug than any others, and were prepared to remove 

 them in spring if they suffered from the treatment 

 we gave them. In their case the tar was used 

 much stronger than the quantity given above, but 

 the dressing had not the slightest ill effect, as the 

 eyes broke as freely as those on the other canes in 

 the same house. We paint all the wires and raft- 

 ers in the vineries with paraffin oil, as it is no use 

 trying to get rid of mealy bug on vines by cleans- 

 ing the vines only." — Ed. G. M.l 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Large Greenhouses. — Mr. Charles Joly, in a 

 paper on the Glasgow Botanical Gardens, notes 

 that the greenhouse at the Crystal Palace, at 

 Sydenham, is 535 metres long ; one at the Indus- 



trial Halace at Paris, 192 ; I'alni house at Kcw, and 

 a house at Laekcn, each 120; the new one at Glas- 

 gow, 106. A metre is about 3 1-3 feet. 



Lii.iiM H.VRKlsi. — Lilium longiflorum, or rather 

 as has been already noted in our columns, L. ex- 

 imium Harrisi, is being introduced with great favor 

 among English floriculturists. 



F-LRcrRic LuiUT i.\ Pl.\nt (Growing. — Some 

 time ago the newspapers were 'full of the wonder- 

 ful accounts from England that plants could be 

 made to grow all night by using the electric light, 

 and this would be a great aid in forcing fruits and 

 flowers in winter. It was noted at the time in 

 these columns, that plants had been found in 

 America to grow almost as freely by night as by 

 day, and that however valuable in England, we 

 could hope for little advantage from it here. It 

 now appears that it has been tried in France, with 

 no difference between the ordinary growth and 

 that with the light. 



Fragrance OK the G.\rdkma. -This once pop- 

 ular flower is likely to be superseded by the double 

 Tabernajmontana, which is just as sweet, just as 

 waxy, and in every way as conspicuous, yet pro- 

 duces flowers more freely and more continuously 

 than the Gardenia. The foliage also has some 

 resemblance to that of the (iardenia. 



Soil for Fuchsi.as. — Gardening Illustrated 

 says: Fuchsias like a rich soil freely drained con- 

 sisting of turfy loam, old thoroughly decayed ma- 

 nure or leaf-mould in about equal portions, with a 

 good sprinkling of charcoal dust and sand, and, if 

 at hand, a handful of bone-meal may be added at 

 the last shift. Should they be required to bloom 

 for a long time .and continuously, they must be 

 well fed. They are often well grown under vines, 

 the moist atmosphere necessary for their proper 

 development and the partial shade of the vine 

 foliage seeming to benefit them materially : bear 

 in mind, however, that where the vines are closely 

 trained and the foliage becomes dense, the shafle 

 will be too much for the fuchsias. 



An Indoor Fr.-vme. — A lady furnished a de- 

 tailed account to the Gardeners Chronicle of her 

 contrivance for starting seedlings in early spring 

 in place of a hot-bed, the substance of which is as 

 follows : A stout wooden box was made about 

 twenty inches square and about eighteen inches 

 deep. This was supported on four legs, a hole 

 was made in the bottom and boxed round ; then 

 about two inches of cocoa-nut refuse was placed 

 over the bottom of the box, and packed round a 

 common tin baking dish ; on this were placed two 



