IKJSH GAKDENING 



zi 



Weak liquid manure, soot water and occa- 

 sional top-dressing of an approved fertiliser 

 may be given when the pots are full of roots. 



When frosts occur in tlie autunm remove the 

 plants to the greenhouse, having a temperature 

 of 50°. Air should be given on favourable 

 occasions, and great care should be taken in the 

 watering during the winter months to prevent 

 the plants from damping off at the base. On 

 the first appearance of green-fly the house 

 should be fumigated. Sometimes the leaves 

 are disfigured by the leaf-mining grub. Its 

 presence is betrayed by a yellow streak, and the 

 best remedy is to kill the grub by squeezing it 

 between the thumb and finger. The photo en- 

 clos d is a fine specimen of a 9-inch pot of the 

 Dwarf Star Cineraria, pale blue colour 



Angus Sl.\teu. 

 loth February, lUl'J. 



Plants for Shady Places. 



The interesting aiticle by "Gardener,"' un 

 page 38 of your last issue makes no mention 

 of Griselina littoralis. 



This highly ornamental New Zealand ever- 

 green shrub is, in my experience, one of the 

 best plants for the purpose, and a welcome 

 change from the eternal acuba and common 

 laui'el. In most parts of Ireland it grows 

 freely, and is as easily propagated as either of 

 the above far too much i)lanted shrubs. Ha^jng 

 regard to its free growth and ornamental char- 

 acter, it is surprising that it is not more used 

 for general planting. 



For planting in shade, strong, well-estab- 

 lished plants should be used, and the roots 

 thoroughly soaked with water two or three 

 times during the first season. E. A. 



Pine Weevil (Hylobius abietis). 



My experience with this pest, read in conjunc- 

 tion with Mr. Duchesne's article in the Quar- 

 terhj Journal of Forestry, April, 1918, may be 

 of interest. 



In 1916 and 1917 I dressed the stumps of 

 freshly-fallen resinous trees, in April, with tar 

 on a small scale, and found from positive and 

 negative results that it was a certain remedy. 

 By negative results I mean that by carelessness 

 in certain places stumps had been passed over 

 and ncjt tarred. 



In these localities, and in no others, I found 

 the Weevil at work. In January, 1918, about 

 one and a half acres was cleared, and planted 

 in February with specimen trees of the different 

 varieties of Pinus and their nurses. My for- 

 bears had used the outside line of trees of the 

 old planting as posts for fixing a wire fence. 



Consequently, the timber fellers cut these 

 trees, say, 3 feet 6 inches from the ground. 



There were hard woods, silver fir and tlu-ee 

 Scotch firs; unfortunately, for experience, there 

 did not happen to be either a larch or a spruce 

 treated in this barbaric fashion. In April I 

 ordered the resinous stumps to be tarred, and, 

 luckily, happened to visit the operation at the 

 moment when all the stumps were done except 

 the ones standing 3 feet 6 inches over the 

 ground. 



Owing to scarcity of tar, the operator asked 

 me if he should tar these standing stumps all 

 over or only on the top. 



I thought that I would save time by stripping 

 the bark off them, and went and got a small 

 hatchet. 



I found, on stripping the first Scotch fir, 

 milhons of grubs of the Pine Weevil under the 

 bark, literally the whole 3 feet 6 inches right 

 down to the ground was tunnelled with these 

 pests. 



I had fires lighted and burnt all the bark and 

 the grubs, and lighted fires round the stumps, 

 and had them tarred afterwards. 



The other two Scotch firs were the same, but 

 there was not a single grub in the silver firs. 



I then examined the stumps which had been 

 cut to the ground, perhaps thirty of them, and 

 found, on stripping them of bark, that there 

 were no grubs in these. 



In the one and a half acres during the 

 sunmier I picked off about half a dozen 

 Weevils, and no damage was done. 



I advance, as a useful experiment, that a 

 couple of Scotch firs per acre should be cui 

 high and left as traps. 



My idea is that the beetle finds an easy and 

 dry place to lay its eggs in these standing 

 stiunps, or else that they are easy to find — or, 

 for some reason, they will select perpendicidar 



Primula chasmophila. 

 See page 55. 



