NovembCT 7, 1867. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICCLT0RB AND COTTAGE GAHDENER. 



351 



p^roenhonse. We have omitted to Bay to hira what we now say 

 to you, that if the opening next the house is divided by a wide 

 board, or a piece of sheet iron, placed in the middle, so as to 

 allow an opening of 6 inches at the top and 4 inches at the 

 bottom, the healed air will go out at the top, and the colder air 

 of the house will ho drawn iu at the bottom. If you Lave no 

 tender plant directly in front of the opening, the heated air 

 from the stove will do no harm ; but if you found it to be too dry 

 you might suspend a thin woollen cloth over the opening, and 

 keep it moist with the droppings from a piece of list, with its 

 other end in water, acting as a syphon.] 



SCALE PREVENTION. 



As scale is one of the great evils that attend the steps of the 

 forcing gardeuer, no stone should bo left unturned ; in other 

 words, no information shouM be withheld ns to how to kill or 

 prevent it, bearing in mind the old adage that " prevention is 

 better than cure." Still, there is no doubt but that the scale 

 i."! a fine corrector of idle habits, for if a gardener is inert scale 

 will bo active and persevering, and soon show his employer 

 what manner of man he is. 



I have been led to notice scale prevention, so successful here, 

 as is scale killing, from reading the failure of methylated 

 spirits in killing scale with Mr. Pearson. The mode of scale 

 prevention practised here by Mr. Perry, our Orange-tree 

 manager, is to syringe the trees once a-week from the middle 

 of April till the beginning of October with pure quassia water, 

 a decoction of 1 ozs. of quassia chips boiled ten minutes in a 

 gallon of water, and suffered to settle and become as clear as 

 pure water. Now, as I take it, this bitter dose spoils the fla- 

 vour of the pasturage, consequently the flocks of scale become 

 weakened in constitution, and thus fall easy victims to methy- 

 lated spirit. In the case reported in your last number, page 3.31, 

 it seems to me that the scale insects had fattened under the 

 care, or want of care, of the Orange-tree keepers, and had be- 

 come strong and muscular. The conclusion to be arrived at is, 

 that my very old friends Barron and Pearson, found the flesh 

 strong and the spirit weak ; they must in future act on the 

 converse of this, and make scale insects weak by prevention. 

 I may add, that our Orange trees are looked over, without 

 moving them, about once a-week ; or, if here and there a 

 straggling scale is seen, a small painter's brush is dipped in 

 methylated spirit and applied ; it never fails to kill. 



.\s to scale and aphis nostrums from inventors, I have had 

 them without end, even that so childishly named " Insecticide." 

 Why not John Smitli's Insect Killer ? It would have had some 

 meaning. We ought soon to have from some chemist a mix- 

 ture called the Norfolk-Howardicide instead of bug-killer. 



The great advantage of the prevention system in Orange 

 culture is that there is no occasion to remove the trees or to 

 dip them. Mr. Pearson could not ha%'o thought of the diflicul- 

 ties of dipping some seven or eight thousand Orange trees, as 

 would be required here, or the utter impossibility of dipping 

 large trees growing in tubs. 



I have for some years past left off using the different nos- 

 trums advertised for insect killing. Some of them are very 

 offensive, even dangerous, and I firmly believe the end of all 

 such applications may be gained by more simple means. I, 

 therefore, do not hesitate to give my short list of things that 

 kill or prevent the attacks of insects. 



1. — For aphides of all kinds, in-doors or out, winter or sum- 

 mer, 4 ozs. of quassia chips boiled ten minutes in a gallon of 

 soft water, and while cooling 4 ozs. of soft soap dissolved in it. 

 Many hogsheads of this decoction are used here in summer, 

 and always with effect. Sometimes two dippings of the shoots 

 or brushings of the under surface of the leaves are required. 

 This innocuous mixture has superseded filthy tobacco juice 

 and many disagreeable compounds. 



2. — Lime and soot, made into a paint with water, so as to be 

 of a dark lead colour, is the most simple and most clhcacious 

 of all tree-paint mixtures. It should be used liberally in 

 November with a large painter's brush. Every shoot and bud 

 may be covered with it, and in about a fortnight, if heavy rains 

 come on, it will he washed off and leave every bud and shoot 

 glistening with health. This simple and cheap mixture ought 

 to displace those horrible and disagreeable paints of clay, sul- 

 phur, and manure, and other ingredients, very ugly and 

 offensive. 



3. — For Aphie lanigera on Apple trees no remedy is equal to 

 Ciishurst Compound ; a strong infusion, 1 lb. dissolved in a 

 gallon of water. 



4. — Methylated spirit for the destruction of scale. 



5. — Pure quassia water, prepared by boiling 4 ozs. of chips 

 for ten minutes in a gallon of water. This should be used as 

 a preventive by syringing plants er trees with it once a-week, 

 or more frequently if the aphis tribe is particularly active. 



These simple preparations give but little trouble, and are as 

 efficacious, or more so, than the numerous "washes" and 

 other elaborate preparations so often recommended. — T. E. 



I'ELARGONIUM MISS WATSON. 



I DO not think it necessary to occupy your valuable space to 

 the exclusion of other matters of more interest and benefit to 

 your readers, by any lengthy reply to Mr. Watson's letter, 

 which appeared in page 331 of last week's Journal. I shall 

 merely deny that I have, as Mr. Watson puts it, made a butt of 

 " Miss Watson." 



I stated at page 270, what my opinion was respecting the 

 merits, for bedding purposes, of some of the Variegated Pelar- 

 goniums shown at the late exhibition, and those convictions 

 were conceived and expressed without any feeling beyond the 

 bounds of fair and legitimate criticism. Mr. Watson considers 

 that every person is doing him an injury who does not happen 

 to entertain the same opinion of Miss Watson's good qualities 

 as himself. 



Most of the readers of The JornsAL or IIonxiccLTCBK who 

 have had frequent opportunities of hearing Mr. Watson deliver 

 his desultory disquisition, both at the metropolitan and pro- 

 vincial exhibitions during the past summer, will at once see 

 that his letter, which the Editors published at page 331, is a 

 repetition of it, and they will know for what purpose he has 

 sent it. 



I think Mr. Watson has no authority for making use of the 

 names of several gentlemen in the way ho has done, and that 

 they would be very shy in undertaking such a thankless office 

 as that of even giving an opinion on the merits or demerits of 

 the Pelargonium Miss Watson ; also that he has rather over- 

 strained the point, when he tells us that the plants he ex- 

 hibited on the 15th of October, at South Kensington, had only 

 been taken from the parent plant ten weeks, and that they (I 

 suppose he means the foliage of the plants) were well over the 

 sides of the pots. I will, however, thank Mr. Watson to send 

 me a good strong plant of Miss Watson, for which a post-office 

 order shall be forwarded him to the amount of its value. I will 

 give it a fair trial, both in the open air and under glass, and if 

 it sustain Mr. Watson's statement, I will most willingly with- 

 draw the opinion I have formed of it, and substitute one more 

 in accordance with Mr. Watson's wishes. — J. Wills. 



[We must decline any further communications on this sub- 

 ject.— Eds.] 



NUNEHAM PARK. 

 {Cuntiiiued from page 315.). 

 Passing into the third division of the garden, I found there 

 White and Eed Antwerp Easpbcrries in full autumn bearing, 

 in rows across the main quarter, and next to them a large 

 piece of the Fastolf, maturing flue canes for next year. iVnd 

 now are those Spanish Onions ? No, they are the Nnneham 

 Park Onion, and distinct from other varieties, and I never 

 saw such a splendid crop in my life. A hoUowness about the 

 base pertains to, perhaps, too many of them for perfect sym- 

 metry, but Mr. Stewart will soon improve this exceptionable 

 feature away. It is, moreover, an excellent sort for keep- 

 ing, and hardy for winter, as has been proved, and is being 

 proved by a bed on the south border sown partly with it and 

 the Heading Onion, side by side. According to my request, 

 Mr. Stewart has sent me a measurement and weight which 

 will, doubtlessly, surprise a few. " Ground, IH yards long by 

 13 yards wide. Weight of Onions, 19 cwt. 5 stones 2 lbs. ;" 

 ami he writes, " I think this is the heaviest crop that I ever 

 had, although I have grown some individual specimens larger." 

 Some which I have seen were larger, though not of so good a 

 form as a sample I could have singled out from this year's 

 crop. I think they were grown by Mr. Stewart, and exhibited at 

 South Kensington, at tlae International Fruit and Vegetable 

 Show iu December, 18G5. Now, in the event of some people 

 still retaining their doubts about this Onion being the ^^■h^te 

 Spanish, there was a proof to the contrary — namely, a challenge 

 of Onions growing upon the spot. The sorts were Brown 

 Globe, a good sample of the sort ; Danvers Yellow, ditio ; 



