Mareh 8, 1877. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE QABDENEB. 



177 



all their lost ground tbia time, and I hope that still his chances 

 at the great Bouth show may not turn out the ghostly thing 

 he fears. 



I am glad to know from a correspondent that Gishnrst com- 

 pound may be safely used to Auricula roots as a wash, though 

 the plainer and effective remedy of soft Eoap contents me well. 

 Still do I repeat the caution, Treat no valuable Auriculas with 

 any lotion or medicaments of unknown powers and unproved 

 effects. Try experiments first in corpore vili — on some cheap 

 life, say of seedlings that are inferior and will be thrown 

 away. 



As to paraffin oil, a drop of it upon Auricula foliage I have 

 found injurious. I lost a fine plant of Pizarro by one drop in 

 the heart, but syringing plants with water just flavoured with 

 it I have heard destroys green fly without hurt to the plant. 

 If " D., Deal," wishes to exptrioient with it against woolly 

 aphis on Auricula roots I should think it had better be very 

 much diluted indeed, and tried first upon something of no 

 value. — F. D. Hokneb, Kirhhy MaUeard, Eipon, 



THE SEASON AND THE CALENDARS. 



In a season like the present, when the weather has been so 

 inconsistent as to hinder the work and at the same time push 

 vegetation so forward as to make it doubly necessary to have 

 many of the routine operations completed early, it becomes a 

 matter for immediate consideration as to what work there is a 

 probability of finishing fairly well. I do not want to encourage 

 laziness or unnecessary procrastination, but I would always 

 have it borne in mind that " what is worth doing at all is 

 worth doing well ;" and as it is quite impossible this spring to 

 complete all which was contemplated, it is better to look the 

 matter full in the face at once with a view to prevent attempt- 

 ing impo6Bibilities,and to make sure that we do not get behind 

 in everything, for if such a misfortune happens at the be- 

 ginning of the year there is no remedy for it afterwards. If 

 one were to read all the calendars of operations written for the 

 present month and attempt to carry them out to the letter, 

 there would certainly be an ignominious failure. There is bo 

 much which " must be pressed forward with the least possible 

 delay," that there certainly would be no time to look round 

 and think, and the harder one worked tho greater would be 

 the muddle and confusion. 



No one can write a calendar of operations to suit everybody 

 at every place and in every season. Calendars should only be 

 taken as hints, and as such they are extremely useful, but 

 generally speaking if followed to the letter they will do nearly 

 as much harm as good, especially such as are written in 

 standard books and intended to be used year alter year. For 

 instance: In Thompson's "Gardener's Assistant, " the best 

 book on practical gardening ever published, we read in the 

 calendar for March that " the planting of deciduous trees 

 should be completed as early as possible." Now, he who plants 

 fruit trees in March thia year will very likely have to plant 

 again next autumn or the autumn following, and instead of 

 gaining time he will lose one or two years besides his money 

 and labour. Generally speaking there are only about seven 

 weeks when it is proper to plant fruit trees — that ie, from the 

 last week in October to the middle of December, and instead 

 ol losing time everything will be gained by deferring planting 

 all deciduous trees to next autumn, and properly preparing 

 the ground during the summer. 



There are generally two short seasons to plant evergreens : 

 one is just as their buds are starting in the spring, in average 

 seasons say the end of April, and the other towards the end of 

 summer when the new growth has become a little hardened. 

 Someone may ask. Why is it that evergreens may be moved 

 so late in the spring, while it is forbidden to move deciduous 

 trees at that lime? The practical reason is that we know 

 from expirieuci), and the theoretic one that the old leaves of 

 evergreens in;ible tlum to make roots quickir than deciduous 

 trees could. I'runiijg of evergreens, if tho health and vigour 

 of the shrubs are stuJied, is best done late in summer after the 

 growth is completed, say alter the middle of August, and the 

 only excuse for doing it in spring is that the stiff appearance 

 left by cntti.'g is sooner hid. 



Tnif may be laid at any time during summer with the 

 greatest success. Where the ground has been newly made up 

 or trenched I prefer laying the turf ifl summer or late in 

 spring. Last summer was certainly sufficiently hot and dry to 

 try the system, and it answered perfectly without one drop oi 

 artificial watering. Tho eniy precaution, and that was an abso- 



lutely necessary one, was to cover the turf over with fine sandy 

 soil to the depth of half an inch. The turf laid late last spring 

 (the end of May), was carted two miles, laid roUed-up two or 

 three weeks till it became blanched, and although laid on newly 

 made-up ground was in perfect order for playing tennis on in 

 September. The lawn could not have been need last autumn 

 if the turf had been laid early, for the ground was of ueoeeeity 

 prepared during the very changeable weather of winter, and 

 consequently settled unevenly from the rains in spring. 



Walks and roada are better made in summer than at any 

 other time, but there is no harm in making them now if there 

 is a lack of more important work ; but work comes on apace 

 at this time of the year, and some of it will not bear delaying 

 a day. — William Taylob. 



AUTUMN-STRUCK CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



Eaely in December last I received seventy-five cuttings of 

 Chrysanthemums in twenty-five varieties — i.e., three cuttings 

 of each variety. Having procured some light leafy compost 

 and a quantity of large CO-sized pots and drained them well, 

 I filled them with the compost, and then made three deep 

 insertions round the side of each with my finger, and filled up 

 the holes with silver sand, inserting one cutting firmly into 

 each of these httle wells of sand. I thus had twenty-five pots, 

 each containing one variety and taking up very little room. 

 These I placed on coal ashes in a close frame, in a cold green, 

 house in the full light, keeping them shghtly damp and shading 

 a little from bright sun. 



Early in February they were rooted, and I have now potted 

 off sixty-six healthy plants singly and placed them again on 

 coal ashes in a cold frame out of doors, giving air abundantly. 

 I have therefore only lost nine cuttings out of the seventy-five 

 I originally had.— P. F. S. 



WOOLLY APHIS AND THE AURICULA. 



As the attack of the woolly aphis on Auricula roots does not 

 Beem to be widely known, and all information that can be col- 

 lected is of value to resist an enemy, I offer a few more notes, 

 hoping others who have had experience may do the same. 

 Since detecting the enemy on my plants I have found it also 

 on another and independent (since last potting) collection a 

 few miles distant, but I observe no new features beyond the 

 mere fact which call for remark. 



In discussing such a subject it matters less how the pest 

 came in, the remedies form the valuable subject for discussion. 

 Experiments I have in hand since the potting season show it 

 was not in the soil, of which I had five samples from as many 

 different placfs. The manure, however, mixed in the propor- 

 tion of ouo-third was uniform. But I imagine that an aphis — 

 if indeed this insect be an aphis — passes some period of its 

 existence in a winged state, and it seems impossible thoroughly 

 to guard a free air-loving plant like an Auricula from the 

 insidious visits of the fuU-fledgod aphis. 



I am happy to say it has not taken as strong a hold ol 

 my collection as I at first feared ; nevertheless, Mr. Horner's 

 advice is so kindly given, and advice from so successful and 

 experienced a grower is so valuable, that I should be ungrateful 

 and unwise were I not to follow it out as fully as I can. In 

 some cases I had already repotted and thoroughly washed my 

 plants, roots and foliage, in a strong solution of soft soap and 

 water, washing also the pot and throwing away the infected 

 soil ; while the frame in which they live is to be thoroughly 

 washed and painted, and tho woodwork laths on which the 

 pots stand to be destroyed and fresh laths supplied. 



I fear, however, that some plants are eo forward that I must 

 leave them and quarantine them till after the blooming. I 

 have Col. Cbampueys, Lady Ann Wilbraham, Kay's Alexander 

 Meiklejohu, Conqueror of Europe, and some Alpines now in 

 bloom ; so it must be a question of quarantine for a short 

 time till I can treat all alike. 



I am very sorry I have given some plants away and ex- 

 changed others, and I cannot say how 1 regret the probability 

 of having imparted the mischief to other growers. I have 

 written to call their attention to the notice in the Journal, and 

 this is all I can do. 



I need scarcely Fay I shall not send any of my plants to any 

 exhibition this year, nor allow them to leave my custody till 

 I can conscientiously pass a clean bill of health. Adversity is 

 the most instructive form of experience, and sorry as I am to 

 injure my bloom for this year, extermination is the only cure 



