Angnst 8, 1867. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



101 



the petals, I trace enbetantially the dilTerences as pnt by Mr. 

 Wills. I have not, however, lost a single plant of Mr. Bennett's 

 Tariety — in fact, they are all doing well. — Eichaiid Dean, Kalini!. 



DUTY-FREE TOBACCO. 



I AM afraid the Government duty-free tobacco will fail to 

 prove so groat a boon to the gardener as it was expected to be. 

 The quantity of sulphur added renders its combustion in the 

 ordinary manner in which tobacco is used so destructive to 

 vegetation, that I expect few will attempt its use in that way ; 

 or, ii 80, they probably will not repeat the experiment. The 

 presence of sulphur along with the bruised or ground tobacco 

 deprives the latter of some of its virtues, the opinion of 

 Hop-growers who have in years gone by used many hundred 

 pounds worth of both these substances separately, being that 

 although sulphur counteracts to a certain extent the spread of 

 mildew, it rather favours the production of the Hop aphis. 

 Many growers, indeed, go so far as to say that the aphis will 

 absolutely fatten on it. Be this as it may, certain it is that 

 the Government prepared compound of tobacco, sulphur, and 

 assafoetida, is not a safe article to fumigate glass structures 

 with. In the Hop gardens its use along with soft soap as a 

 decoction has been subjected to extensive trials and with vary- 

 ing results, which it would be interesting to note hereafter. 

 My purpose at present, however, is to advert to a suggestion 

 recently made in this .Tournal — that cayenne pepper should be 

 substituted for brimstone, as it would be impossible for any 

 one to smoke such a mixture. This is no doubt very true, but 

 can cayenne pepper be had in suflicient quautity and at a suffi- 

 ciently cheap rate to meet the requirements of the case ? And 

 farther, is not the combustion of cayenne pepper exceedingly 

 hurtful to all who have anything to do with it, excepting the 

 green fly, which it does not seem to injure ? 



Twelve years ago, or more, the use of Capsicums mixed with 

 tobacco was recommended in gardening periodicals, and many 

 trials were made without there being in any case, that I am 

 aware of, results sufficient to compensate for its irritating 

 effects on the throats of the men who were engaged in the sup- 

 posed slaughter of enemies, which next morning were reposing 

 in camp unhurt, or nearly so, by the previous night's attack. 

 Now, as I suppose cayenne pepper and Capsicum pods to be 

 nearly the same in their effects, both, it may be concluded, 

 should bo employed with caution ; not that I apprehend any 

 evil effects as regards vegetation, but unless they can be proved 

 to be more destructive when used as a fumigating material 

 than has hitherto been the case, we ought to look out for some- 

 thing else. I must confess to having been not a little puzzled 

 to find so little harm done to the green fly about the period 

 alluded to wlien Capsicums had been burnt. I have, therefore, 

 Jbut little hoje of much good arising from a repetition of the 

 experiment, although I shall be interested in the result. 



The present season in the county of Kent, and I believe in 

 all the Hop-growing districts of the kingdom, has been one of 

 the most remarkable ever known for the multitude of aphides 

 which have infested the Hop. The early growth of the plant was 

 vigorous, aud in most cases the bine reached the top of the 

 poles before any serious attack by vermin T?as made on it ; but 

 by-and-by the spread of this pest, aided by the cold, ungenial 

 weather, caused consternation amongst the growers, and com- 

 pelled them to adopt measures to combat the evil. Waggon- 

 loads of soft soap and tobacco in different conditions have been 

 naed ; generally the tobacco and soft soap were boiled together, 

 the liquid reduced by the addition of more water, and the 

 plants syringed. In one ground as many as one hundred men 

 were employed for some time in the attempt to remedy the 

 evil in this way. Close observation revealed the fact, that 

 although most of the insects were destroyed, a new brood made 

 its appearance iu thrte or four days, and the operation had to 

 be repeated in a week or less, the persevering insect meanwhile 

 following up the new growth to the very tips. Doubtless much of 

 the evil is due to the ungenial summer we have had up to this 

 time ; but enough has been proved to show that a good crop of 

 Hops cannot be ensured by any amount of assiduity on the 

 part of the cultivator when the attack is so determined as it 

 has been this season. Not a few of the old school of culti- 

 vators who have mostly left their plantations to take their 

 chance, console themselves with the reflection that they are 

 not much if any worse than their neighbours, and that a 

 natural enemy to the aphis, which in ordinary years follows in 

 its wake and dears o& what is remaining of this pest, has not 



been destroyed in their grounds, which it certainly has been in 

 those where dressings of tobacco water, Ac, have been pcr- 

 severingly applied. This enemy of the green fly, known by 

 the name of fly golding, is always hailed as a friend, and its 

 destruction is guarded against by those who benefit by its 

 operations. Even when it invades dwelling rooms, which it 

 does in winter, to the annoyance of good housekeepers, its 

 destruction is forbidden by the master of the house. 



Burning Capsicums will most likely he a costly operation to 

 those who engage in it, and I have but little faith in the utility 

 of the Capsicum as an addition to tobacco farther than pre- 

 venting the latter being used by smokers ; but I hope that 

 something else may be suggested, as sulphur in the proportion 

 of 25 per cent., which wo are told is the Government precau- 

 tion, must be fatal to both vegetable and animal life when 

 burnt in a confined place like a glass structure. — J. Eobson. 



VISITS TO GARDENS PUP.LIC AND TRR'ATE. 



MB. BICHAKD SMITH'S NURSERIES, WORCESTER. 



Ever since, some two or three years ago, Mr. Keane, in 

 writing about these famous nurseries, said in reference to the 

 Hoses, " How ' D., Deal,' would revel amidst the beauties he 

 would there behold ! " or words to that effect, I have greatly 

 desired to visit this ancient city. The other day, duty caUing 

 me to Cheltenham, I made use of the opportunity of running 

 over to Worcester, and in no wise regretted the journey taken, 

 though it was on St. Swithin's day, when the saint verily chose 

 to give us a " taste of his quality," for it was in a thorough 

 downpour of rain that I started from the railway station at 

 Worcester for St. John's, where I was told the nurseries are situ- 

 ated, a walk of two miles. Soon after I got there, however, the 

 weather cleared up ; and as everything was fresh and green 

 after the rain, it made it the more agreeable, the Boses being 

 the only sufferers, and they were considerably draggled by the 

 heavy rain, but not nearly so much as I had anticipated when 

 I set out. I had intended to have gone round by Hereford and 

 seen Mr. Cranston's nursery, but the rain and the many objects 

 of interest at Worcester effectually prevented my doing so. 



The nurseries of St. John's comprise somewhere about one 

 hundred acres, situated between the Malvern and Bransford 

 roads, the soil being mainly of a light loamy description, ad- 

 mirably adapted for shrubs, but not so good for Hoses. The 

 great difficulty in all such soils is provided for by a large series 

 of underground pipes and flexible hose, which, both inside and 

 outside, are constantly in use. The very first glance that I 

 gave at the nursery convinced mo that we had here some one 

 who took pride in his establishment, and who was a man of 

 order and neatness. Weeds were really rarities. As, however, 

 the houses are situated at the entrance of the nurseiT, and as 

 there was sufficient in them to interest me. I shall devote this 

 paper to an account of what I saw there. Aud here I must 

 frankly own that the sight of Mr. Smith's orchard-houses, and 

 the taste I had of the fruit grown in them, have made me a 

 convert to their usefulness. I have long maintained that they 

 were a fallacy, and indeed I am not yet quite sure that the ori- 

 ginal orchard-house, pur et simple, without any heating appara- 

 tus, is yet to be considered a success — I, at least, have never 

 seen one that was so. 



Mr. Smith has two houses — one, a magnificent structure 

 about 200 feet in length by 27 feet in width, and another about 

 half that length. In the former there was a variety of fruit 

 of all kinds ; in the latter Peaches and Nectarines formed the 

 exclusive crop. This house was heated, or rather could be 

 heated, by the hot-water pipes, but not until the water had 

 passed through all the other houses, so that its heat was, com- 

 paratively speaking, small ; still it must have been pretty weU 

 used to have now, and to have had for some time, fully ripe 

 Peaches and Nectarines ; for in the cool orchard-houses which 

 I have seen the fruit was only ripe a very little while before 

 the wall fruit came in. The trees were all in pots, and on my 

 saying that their life was a brief one, Mr. Smith said. No, that 

 is a great mistake ; that Lord Somers's gardener ha i told him 

 only a few days before my visit that he had forced the same 

 Vines for five or six years in pote ; that the average produce 

 had, up to last year, been 10 lbs. a-Vine, but that last year he 

 had taken 14 lbs., and without, he believed, any detriment to 

 the Vine. 



But to return to the orchard-house. A row of Cherry trees 

 had been placed on each side of the walk. These had 

 fruited, and the fruit had been gathered about Easter. Straw- 



