August 18, 1863. ] JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTITRE AND COTTAGE GAUDENEE. 



129 



we should say you had two varieties of Goldon Chain — that 

 with the broad yellow edging being in our opinion the better. 

 As to the yellow No. 3, we are not siire from a mere leaf 

 what it is, but from a little bed of Golden Chain we picked 

 three leaves as like No. 3 as possible, and from a small bed 

 c>f Cloth of Gold we could have picked a dozen more like it 

 still. We tliink the yellow tinge without relief is no ad- 

 vantage, just as a pure white Geranium leaf throws a sickly 

 «ast of thought over us. Your Cloth of Gold and Golden 

 fleece ai-e both right. For oui-selves we prefer the Golden 

 Ohain and Cloth of Gold to all others. We have not yet 

 handled Mi's. Lennox — that is said to beat them all. It is 

 hoped it will not be the miff'y thing that Sunset is said to 

 ~he. We think the different accounts of the colour of the 

 Bower of Cloth of Gold are quite reooncileable. People do 

 not see these matters alike. We have heard ladies say re- 

 specting it, "What a lovely rich crimson!" Like yourself, 

 we consider it a dark scarlet. What would you think of 

 the fact of one of the ablest men in our neighbourhood 

 having no perception of colours whatever, only that by a 

 great effort he can make a difference between jet black and 

 brilliaait scarlet ; and yet he has a great pleasiu-e in visiting 

 flower gardens, having, we are told, a fine eye for form, and 

 Outline, though none for colour ? We must not, therefore, 

 eipeot aU persons to see colour exactly alike. — E. P.] 



Sulphur and the ladtbied as agents 

 in the cultivation of hops. 



As a communication in a late Number of this Journal, 

 iialling attention to the use of sulphur as an antidote to 

 mildew, may have led some parties to suppose that this 

 useful article to the gai'deniug community may not yet have 

 found its way into the Hop gardens, where uiUdew in one 

 form or other is attended with such serious results, I am 

 induced to make a few observations on the subject — cer- 

 tainly not with a view to put forth any new doctrine on the 

 matter, but simply to inform such as the worthy writer of 

 the article in question what has really been done in the 

 ^ay of counteracting the baneful effects of mildew in the 

 Hop garden, and the various ideas generally entertained on 

 the subject by those whose extensive practical knowledge 

 ■wititles them to be regarded as authorities. 



Gardeners as well as Hop-growers are alike interested in 

 the efficacy of sulphur when it is applied for the destruction 

 of mildew : therefore they will not be the less interested on 

 finding this useful article used in such an extensive way as 

 they have but little idea of in their more hmited cultivation. 

 One thing, however, will, I believe, be generally admitted — 

 that to the gardening world we are indebted for the fu'st 

 application of this remedy as a destroyer of insect life of a 

 «ertain class, and of vegetable life of another ; and although 

 the last few years have furnished us with various mix- 

 tures, adapted, more or less successfully, for the purposes 

 that sulphur and tobacco were put to before, as well as for 

 destroying a class of insects for which these two useful garden 

 helps were ineffectual, it is questionable whether the utility 

 •of sulphur as an agent m assisting good cultivation ever 

 stood higher in public estimation than at the present mo- 

 ment. It is not unlikely that its consumption for that 

 purpose during the present season will be greater than 

 that of any preceding one ; and that it may be stQl more 

 extensively used is not unlikely, from the still increasing 

 •'ood opinion entertained of its utility — not that it is an 

 infallible cure, but that it is an important help is very 

 generally, if not universally, admitted. 



The precise time when sulphur was first used as an anti- 

 •dote to " the mould " in Hops, as the mildew is locally 

 termed, I have no means of ascertaining ; but it was in 

 very general repute about twelve years ago for that purpose. 

 Unfortunately, soon after that time a report reached the 

 Hop-growers that, buyers of Hops objected to its use, and 

 that Hops from which a warrant could not be had that no 

 sulphur had been used in their cultivation could not be 

 received in the market. This imperious edict restricted its 

 use, excepting amongst those sufficiently wealthy to brave 

 the effects ai-ising from it; while, jierhaps, some used it 

 unknown to the great Hop-monopolists of the Borough, who 



sought to confine them to the old channels of working. At 

 the same time scientific men came forward to prove the 

 absurdity of believing that sulphur used in the early stages 

 of a plant's existence injured it for the purposes for which 

 it was wanted in a more advanced state ; but somehow, in 

 their zeal to assist the Hop-grower these men of science 

 went a step too far, and asserted the unfailing efficacy of 

 sulphru- as a cure for the mildew in all cases. This having 

 been fovmd not to be the case the remedy fell into some 

 disrepute, until it has during the last few years again been 

 brought forward, and its utility as a preventive in many, 

 but not in all, cases may be now generally acknowledged. 

 At the same time the mode of using sulphur has received 

 due attention, and machinery suitable for applying it has 

 been extensively sought after, and improvements effected 

 to an extent which in the best-constructed appai-atus leave 

 as little to be wished for as there is in the best-constructed 

 mowing machine. 



The injurious effects of the sulphur on the leaf of the 

 plant having been proved to be only a myth, and the edict 

 forbidding its use either withdrawn or no longer acted upon, 

 while the application of it at a late period of the Hop-grow- 

 ing season is so easily detected, sulphuring now may be 

 said to be confined to the months of June and July, and 

 rarely the first week of August in very late places. 



It is not necessary to enter here into all the minutiEe of 

 the Hop-sulphuring question ; suffice it to say that machinery 

 for dusting the j^lants with powdered sulphur has under- 

 gone many improvements. Some years ago it was admin- 

 istered mixed with water; when a sort of syringe, which 

 eventually grew into the i^roportions of a moderate-sized 

 fire-engine, was used. More recently sidphui' has been ap- 

 plied in a dry state by the aid of fan-blowers, something 

 in the v/ay of a corn-winnowing machine. This contrivance 

 is di-awn forward by a horse, the sulphur being blown 

 upwards amongst the foliage of the jjlant as it passes 

 along. That much of the sulphur falls on the ground 

 cannot be avoided ; but its virtues in counteracting the 

 evUs of " rnoidd," or mildew, are so generally acknowledged 

 as to induce almost all who have the means to adopt the 

 remedy if the disease makes its appearance. 



Some little cu-cumspection is required in the appUeation ; 

 and this leads us to the consideration of the second remedy 

 for a Hop complaint mentioned by Mr. Major, page S3 — the 

 "ladybird" as he calls it, or what is more generally known 

 here as the " fly golding," an insect encased in a sort of 

 red jacket, which Nature has kindly sent to prey \rpon the 

 aphis or "Hop fly," which, if unchecked, is an enemy not 

 less fatal to the Hop crop than the mildew. 



Now, it not unfrequently hajipens that the mildew follows 

 an attack of the aphis, and as salphui' has been proved to 

 be hiirtfvd and often fatal to the fly golding or ladybird 

 which preys on the aphis, its application requires considera- 

 tion before it is made. 



That the fly golding is an insect-destroyer has been 

 known, I believe, for nearly a century, and those who benefit 

 by them are natm-aUy unwUling to assist in their destruction 

 even when they invade the home premises, which they in- 

 variably do in winter, taking up their quarters in the crevices 

 of walls, or filling up the moulding of a window-frame or 

 other places. Their after-utUity is so generally acknowledged 

 as to shield them often from destruction in places where 

 their presence is anything but agreeable. 



I believe I am right in sp.ying, that upwards of half a 

 pint of these pretty little insects have been found lurking 

 behind the moidded frame Oi an ordinary window-shutter. 

 Now, as the fly or mildew as evils to the Hop-grower 

 vary in magnitude according to circumstances, it remains 

 for the grower to determine which is the worst One ; and 

 if the aphis be increasing and following the young shoot 

 as it is formed, it behoves him to encourage rather than 

 destroy its natvu-al enemy. If, on the other hand, mildew 

 predominate, a good dusting of sulphm- is the remedy 

 and is generally apidied ; and as no crop is more jealously 

 watched than that of the Hop, a practised hand can see 

 at once what is the matter at the time he examines it, 

 whilst the most far-seeing amongst the whole fraternity 

 have nothing whatever on which to base their judgment as 

 to what may be the ultimate result beyoud merely guessing. 

 The close observation made enables them to tell at the 



