u 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COXTAGE UAEDENEE. 



[ July 3, 1873. 



are destitute of fi-nit buds. It is not of much use to shorten them at present, ' 

 as doing bo would cause the production of a host of laterals. But some time 

 in July, when the shoots are partially ripened at their base, they may be 

 stopped, or rather one-half their length should be cut away, first tyiug-in what 

 new wood is wanted. AVbea tlie wood is souu-wbat further advaoi-ed it may 

 be still further shortenod-in. In winter the trees may be root-pruned. Koot- 

 piTining is more necessai-y for an espulier or pyramid-trained tree than an 

 open standard, a«, the gi-owth beiiv; less fetterc-d in the latter, there is a just 

 balance kept up between top and bottom, which is not the case when the top 

 is severely pruned-in each aeasou. These means msy, perhaps, cause fxuit- 

 iulness, but if the soil or situation he unfavourable it is not so likely to be so. 

 We presume your ground is well drained, for a dry situation promotes fruit- 

 beariu^. Near to a manufacturing town, where ntixions vapours and other 

 impurities render a healthy vegetation nest to au impossibility, fruitfulnesa 

 in Pear and Plum trees is altogether out of the question. 



Shows {W. liTorskalD.—'We cannot make out wliat you wish to know. The 

 shows of the Royal Horticuliural Society, Rciyal Botanic, and Crystal Palace 

 are advertis'cd ia our columns when approaching. 



Maggots in Winter Onions (A Subscriber).— ThiB complaint is more 

 frequent amongst the spring-sown than the autumn Onions, but the evil is 

 the same in both. In some seasons and in some grounds it is very destructive. 

 The best remedy that we know is to give the bed a good watering with rather 

 strong soot water — i.e., water in which soot has remained some hours. The 

 strong acrid taste the water afterwards has is unpalatable to the maggots, or 

 kills them. Lime is sometimes used in a similar way. but it is not so effective. 

 But when the disease has run to some length remedial measures are of little 

 nse, as the evil is done. In soils where this disease is of frequent occun-ence, 

 it is thought good practice to dig-in a qnantityof soot before the seed is sown. 

 This, and a full exposiu-e of the soil to the frosts of winter, will usually insure 

 immunity from this pest. 



Fungi {C. J. S.).— Your Fungi are both abnormal. That resembling fingers 

 IB an arrested growth of Lentinus lepidus ; and the Agaric is some species of 

 Pholiota very much drawn up, from its pecuhar habitat near the rain-water 

 •istern. Neither is admissible for the table. 



Casiera (Anxious Leavjier). — We cannot give you the information, and the 

 gentleman who wrote on the subject ia dead. 



Asparagus Self-sown— Sowing Seed irrsux Planting f Herbert).— It i^ 

 desirable to strip-off the ben-ies at the time of clearing-off the haulm in 

 autumn, strew them on the bed, and then cover with manure, &c. ; but this 

 is only necessary when the beds are thin of plants. For well-furnished beds 

 it is quite unnecessary. In sowing seed to remain permanently, as compared 

 with planting one or two-year-old plants, we have a case in point. In 1871 we 

 sowed bods with seeds, and we planted others with one-year-old plants. The 

 seedlings were thinned out to 1 foot apart, and otherwise treated the same as 

 the transplanted plants. This ye ai- on the beds sown we have Aeoaragus tit 

 to cut, but on the planted beds it is very fai" from it. The planted beds are 

 iully a year behind the so n beds. Both are full of plants. The beds lor 

 sowing the seed are all well prepared as for planting. 



Budding Roses (J. B. F.).— The shoots of the Briar in which the buds are 

 inserted should be shortened to about 1 foot above the bud if strong, to 

 9 inches if of medium vigour, and to 6 inches if weak. 



Camellia Cuttings and Grafting (Irfrm).— The cuttings should be en- 

 tirely of this year's growth, and shoiild be 4 or 5 inches long or less, removing 

 the lower, but retaining two or three of the upper leaves. Pull them in July 

 or August when they a^-e ripo at the base. Grafting is best done in spring, 

 just before the plants begin to grow. The best Btncka are those of about the 

 aame thickness as the scion, a little larger rather than less. On an old plant 

 the scions should be placed on the side shoots rather than on the stem. All 

 growths at grafting should be stopped, so to cause the sap to flow into the 

 scions, for if shoots are left they would appropriate to themselves what should 

 be forced up to the scion. The scions should be of last year's wood, well 

 ripened. 



Vine Leaves Browned [G. 5.).— The leaf you sent ub was infested with 

 red spider, the under side completely covered with the insects' webB. We 

 shoiild have the Vines thoroughly spinged twice daily, directing the water 

 •forcibly against the under sides of' the leaves. When the Grapes change 

 ■coloui- the syringing should be discontinued. Wo should also give the border 

 a good dressing of guano, making the soil quite yellow, and wash it in by 

 ■watering now and then when the Grapes are changing colour. The water 

 Used for syringing should be soft and clear. 



Pegging-down Rose Shoots [C. B. .4.).— The shoots should not be finally 

 pegged down until they are ripe, or before antumn, as on their being well 

 ripened depends their surviving the winter. We presume that you mean the 

 earamer peg^inng, to take away the straggling appearance which would other- 

 wise be apparent. Commence to do this as soon as the shoots become firm 

 and will bend without " snapping." It is best done in dry hot weather. The 

 Strawberry, we think, is a small specimen of Keens' Seedling. 



Destroying Woodlice (A. K).— The best way to destroy woodlice is to 

 ■place a little hay all round close to the wall or side of the Musliroom bed, 

 leavinc; the bed uncovered, and ou the removal of this in the morning they 

 will be congregated in the angle formed by the wall and side of the bed; ou 

 them pour boiling water. The hay, as removed, should be plunged in boil- 

 ing water. This repeated a few times will thin their numbers more than 

 anything we know, and applied with care need not destroy more than a very 

 small portion of the bed. It is about the only effective means where they 

 are very numerous. 



Adiantum Capixlus- Veneris Culture (F. 77.1.— Grow it in well-drained 

 pots 6 or 7 inches in diameter, fillet with a compost of three parts sandy 

 fibrous peat, half a part fibrous loam, and half a part in equal proportions of 

 crocks, or pots broken small, and silver sand. Pot so that the ibizomes may 

 be only just covered with soil. Water as required to keep the soil always 

 moist, and sprinkle overhead twice daily in summer, then water abundantly, 

 but do not sudden the soil. Afford shade from bright sun. It will succeed in 

 a Bhady part of the groonhouso, and luxuriate in the stove, but out of doors 

 we have not found it succeed, though it may do so in wai-m sheltered spots. 



Strawberries for Early Forcing (D. J.).~Ot the Strawberries you 

 enumerated— viz., Dr. Hogi.;. Sir Joseph Paxton, Oscar, President, and Sir C. 

 Napier, the best for eeriy forcing is Sir J. Paxton, aud after it President. 



Figs NOT Ripening {Maria HevdnsonK— Your district is too cold to 

 xipen Figs away from a wall. By all means c«ver with glass, and if conve- 

 nient cover the roots with jjlasa, but under such circumstances they must be 

 artificially watered. The fruit would ripen better if the plant wore trained 

 to the wall. From what you say in your letter wo do not think it will be 



necessai*y to renew the soil. An angle of -Id" will bo sufficient pitch for the 

 roof. 



Scale on Peach Trees (JT. N. 0.).— The Peach branch you sent is in- 

 fested with the Vine scale 'Coccus Vitis), occasionally found on the Peach and 

 Nectarine. Isow that the trees are in leaf, the best remedy is to brush the 

 insects over with a strong solution of gum arabic, allowing it to remain on 

 for a week, and then wash off. Alter the leaves fall dress the trees with a 

 composition formed of B nzs. soft soap to a gaUon of tobacco liquid, adding 

 sulphur to bring it to the consistency of thin paint. Apply with a brush, 

 taking care not to dislocate the buds. 



Dwarf Fruit Trees UNpROD'ucTrvE (Mrm).— The cause of the trees not 

 bearing well is no doubt in consequence of their making too much wood. We 

 should advise you to dig round them next November at a yard, less the width 

 of a spade, from the stem, work under the ball to the centre, and cut any 

 roots that may be going down the trench. ^Ve would till up again with the 

 soil taken from it, thoroughly mixiug with it an equal quantity of old mortar 

 rubbish. This will check the growth of tlie trees, and cause them to make 

 short-jointed wood, as well as to ripen it better. Let us know if you have 

 not fruit in a year or two. Be careful to leave the ball of soil to each tree un- 

 disturbed, only cutting-off the roots in the trench, and those that go do'wn 

 say at 18 inches from the sefciing-on of the roots. 



Cuckoo- spittle (N. S. R.). — All its popular names refer either to th* 

 saliva-hke froth in which it buries itself; to its jumping powers when full 

 gi'own, for it is closely allied to the grasshopper ; or to its appearance at the 

 same time as ""he cuokoo. It is the Tettigonia spumaria of some entomo- 

 logists, and the Cercopis, Cicada, or Aphrophora spumaria of others. Its 

 larva enveloped in its froth is et-pecially prevalent upon the young shoots of 

 the White Thorn or Quick ; hut it also infests the stems of Pinks, Carnations, 

 Lilacs, aud many other plants. If the froth be removed, one and sometimes 

 two small, pale green, apbis-iike insects are detected. These are the larva or 

 young of the Froth-flj', and appeal' like the figure marked c in the annexed 



woodcut, b representing the froth it emits. By means of its sharp rostmm 

 or beak it extracts the sap of the plant, and voids it as an excrement in the 

 frothy form which is its characteristic. About tlie end of July it sheds its 

 skin, leaving it in the froth, and comes forth the perfect insect, as repre- 

 sented by the figure marked a, which magnified, and in another attitude.is 

 represented in our second woodcut. About the beginning of August the 



males and females may be found in pairs numerously on the plants they fre 

 quont. They are of a dii'ty white colom-, thickly dotted and clothed with 

 short hairs; head broad and bluntly triangular, with black lines down its 

 centre and sides ; eyes, one ou each side, near the base of the head ; rostrum 

 long, bent underneath its body when not in use ; anteunffl ending in a fine 

 bristle; thorax and shield (scutellum) adjoirfing the back of the head, brown- 

 ish. The wing-cases are brown, mottled with ochre, with four whitish 

 patches on the mai-gin ; the under wings are transparent and iridescent. 

 The legs, six in number, short, but two hind-legs longest, and formed for 

 leaping. It is not ascertained where the eggs of this insect are deposited, 

 but probably on the stems of the plants on the shoots of which the larv® 

 feed. It appears, however, that they can travel after hatching, for seedlings 

 aud plants raised from root-cuttings are often affected. Wo know of no Better 

 plan for destroying the insect than drawing the affected shoots between the 

 fingers, and then dipping these into a bowl of water after each grasp. In the 

 case of Carn:ilion stems and other flowers requiring more tender treatment, 

 all the froth may be taken from the insect by means of a piece of sponge, 

 and itself then icmoved by a eamers-hair brush. It is probable that dusting 

 each froth with Scotch snuff would destroy the insects. 



Manuiie for Straavrerries (^ma/i'iic. — It is not good practice to have 

 StrawbeiTies on the same piece of ground twice without a change of crop. 

 We should not be at the trouble to remove the old plants and runners, but 

 would trench thrm in, placing them at the bottom of the trench along with 

 the first spit. On this give a good dressing of hotbed, stable, or fai'myard 

 manm*e, and then place the bottom spit ou the dung, so that your ground Tvill 

 be trenched two spits deep, and the manure will be between the bottom and 

 top spit. We should go further and give a dressing of well-decayed manure 

 on the surface, and fork it in before planting. We have no doubt you would 

 succeed better were you to give the plants a change of ground. 



Tan around Currant and Gooseberry Bushes (Llim). — We should 

 remove the tan in the autumn, and give a good dressing of manure. The 

 tan dug-in is apt to foster fungns in the soil, especially the rougher portions. 

 That reduced t.) suil need not be removed. 



Names oi* Plants (Remln-). — We cannot name florists' varieties. There 

 are legions ol Beiionias. (J. ^F.). — If you send a specimen in tlowor we will 

 endeavour to name it. (Euphorbia). — The leaf with its tendrils is, we think, 

 Ampelopsis hederacoa {quinquefolia). Virginian Creeper, and the frond of 

 Fern probably that of Adiantum sefculosum, but we cannot be certain from 

 such small fragments. 



