iHii 



JOUBNAL OP HdBTIOtJLTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



( JiMch 2'.i, 1877. 



emell, and flowers in March and April. To succeed in its cnl- 

 tivatiou it should be placed in a pot of stifBsh loam, mixed 

 with one-third rotten leaves, bog-earth, or dung, and plunged 

 in a north border, taking care that it does not suffer for want 

 of water in dry seasons : thus treated, it increases by its roots 

 nearly as readily as the Auricula, and may be propagated by 

 parting its roots early in April or September. — {Botanical 

 Magazine.) 



AURICULAS— THE WOOLLY APHIS. 



Uefore entering on a subject very paiufnl and distressing 

 to au Auricula grower I should hke to say how thoroughly I 

 endorse what my friend Mr. Horner has said on the subject of 

 showing Auriculas with crutches. I have been brought up in 

 the " straightest sect" of the old school, and such an idea 

 would amongst them never have been for a moment enter- 

 tained. I was not at the committee meeting when it w..8 so 

 recommended, and Mr. Horner must not class me as amongst 

 the upholders of a practice I have invariably condemned. 



I mentioned last week that I should overhaul my plants and 

 report on them. The first that I examined looked so exactly 

 as if the threads of a fungus had attacked the roots that I was 

 hopeful such might be the case, and sent them up to Mr. 

 W. G. Smith. His reply unfortunately was, "The Auricula 

 roots clearly have a sort of American blight or mealy aphis 

 upon them ; it is very curious under tho microscope, and might 

 possibly repay close examination. But I find there are only 

 twenty-four hours to the day." So the matter was settled. 

 Had it been fungus I might have hoped that there was some- 

 thing wrong in the soil and that a complete change might 

 have rid me of it, but against this pest there is apparently no 

 security. I suppose there are Apple trees in most gardens, 

 and if there are, the aphis may at any time descend into the 

 frames. I find that the first symptom of mischief is a sort of 

 brownish rusty colour on the back of the leaves and a disincli- 

 nation in the plant to open the heart. On examining I found 

 the roots more or less covered with the white woolly threads. 

 This white stuff becomes more full towards the middle of the 

 wig of roots, and then the tap root, or carrot, shows signs of 

 having been eaten and is decayed. 



Mr. Horner says " Why those weeps?" I think if he saw 

 my collection now and had seen it last year he would hardly 

 refrain his lamentations. Inter alia, I had a dozen good plants 

 of George Lightbody, nine are irretrievably gone. I have lost 

 every plant of Maria, several of Smiling Beauty, ttc. May I ask 

 my fellow sufferers if they would kindly answer the following 

 ciuestions ;' 



1, Are their experiences the same as mine as to tho course 

 of the pest '! 



2, Have they seen the insect'.' I have as yet not been able 

 to detect it. 



0. Have they any Apple trees near their frames ? 



1, Have they repotted, alter washing, their plants, and do 

 tht-y find that they are clear of it ? 



It is 60 serious a matter for Auricula growers that one would 

 like to elicit all the information possible. — D., Deal. 



" D., Deal," asks if any of the readers of the Journal have 

 seen the woolly insects that attack the Auricula roots ; and I 

 should like to add another query — if it be truly an aphis, and 

 if any have seen it in a winged state. The notice of this 

 enemy by Mr. Horner in the " Florist and Pomologist " of 

 last October has been referred to, and 1 also see in a back 

 number of that periodical, page 13G, June, 1872, the following 

 remarks from the pen of an able cultivator — Mr. John Ball of 

 Slough : — 



" Old rotten cow dung has generally been considered an ex- 

 cellent thing for Auriculas, but I have determined to abandon 

 tlie use of it in consequence of its sometimes containing a most 

 destructive small white grub, which secretes itself under the 

 soil, and unobserved will divest the plant of every root it has, 

 thus causing it to become sickly and to die away gradually. I 

 have sometimes found these grubs to be very numerous, and 

 was obliged on one occasion to shake out and repot every plant 

 in order to get free from this most troublesome pest." Per- 

 haps, if this meets his eye, Mr. Ball will correct me if I am 

 wrong in assuming this " small white grub " here referred to 

 to be identical with the enemy I now describe. 



My experience is that it spreads iisolf numerously in colonies 

 along those parts of the roots where tho crocks form drainage, 

 or where a space between soil and pot allows room and air, and 



in a few instances on the collar of the plant, where, though it 

 tucks itself as much as possible out of sight, it ought to be 

 seen at once. 



The insects are very small and sluggish, though clearly dis- 

 cernible to the naked eye. The head is proportionally blunter 

 and broader, and has shorter antennic, and the legs are shorter 

 and stouter than in the green aphis. These legs and antennre 

 are blackish, but the abdomen is globular and of a dirty 

 yellowish white colour. From the upper posterior portion of 

 the abdomen grows a fluffy secretion in tufts of pure white 

 wool, something resembling in growth and position an ostrich's 

 tail. When touched these tufts are easily shed, and seem, 

 when worked round the Auricula roots, to form the white 

 blanket-like home in which the insect lives. 



The proboscis or sucker is long and reflexed under the body 

 between the legs like that of the green aphis, and is not very 

 easy to distinguish even through the microscope, a large part 

 of its length being of the same nondescript colour as the body, 

 the point only being blackish ; but it is the formidable weapon 

 through which the young fresh juices of the root are sucked 

 up, and I need scarcely say that the infested roots soon lose 

 their vitality — dry up and die. 



The minutia! of Nature are so beautiful and wonderful under 

 tho microscope that I propose to devote a couple of alpines 

 of small value for an experiment as food plants for this insect, 

 thoroughly to isolate them by a quarter of a mile's quarantine 

 from my collection, to watch them, and I hope by this to 

 learn something of the life history of this insect.— John 

 T. D. Llewelyn. 



[Oblige us by reporting the result. — Eds.] 



FLOWER-SHOW FIXTURES-A GRIEVANCE. 



It is very strange and unfortunate that two Societies of 

 such distinction as the Koyid Horticultural and Eoyal Botanic, 

 whose objects are to foster and promote the science of horti- 

 culture, should fix their dates the same as was the case on 

 Wednesday in last week, and will be the case at every meeting of 

 the Eoyal Botanic throughout the present year. This clashing 

 cannot but be detrimental to both ISocieties. It is disliked by 

 exhibitors in general, for they are put to great inconvenience 

 thereby, and it prevents many from making that amount of 

 display which otherwise would be made were they not obliged 

 to divide their favours. When horticulturists in general show 

 such a disposition to exhibit it is greatly to be regretted that 

 their conveniences have not been more studied by fixing alter- 

 nate dates for the shows of the two Societies. In the present 

 unfortunate state of affairs they are simply hindering instead 

 of promoting horticulture. 



It is true the Eoyal Horticultural Society does not at present 

 offer prizes for competition, it may therefore bo argued that 

 they have no regular exhibitions ; but their great sources of 

 benefit and attraction are their fixed fortnightly meetings, 

 where new, rare, and beautiful plants are exhibited and re- 

 warded accordingly. These meetings are of the greatest im- 

 portance, and I cannot help regretting the clashing of the 

 dates in question. I do not presume to suggest a remedy, 

 others more competent may do that ; but I should rejoice ex- 

 ceedingly it one or other of the Societies would exhibit their 

 magnanimity by changing some of their dates and prevent their 

 shows becoming comparative failures. — J. W. Moorman. 



In the report of the last Eoyal Botanic Society's Show 

 of spring flowers you remark that exhibitors, visitors, and 

 others expressed their disappointment at the two Societies 

 meeting upon tbe same day ; and you were quite right in this. 

 You might have gone further and said that blame was at- 

 tributed first tu tho managers of one Society and then to those 

 who have charge of the arrangements of tho other, according 

 to tho feelings of those interested. For my own part I do not 

 fee how anyone was to blame, certainly not the Council of 

 the Eoyal Horticultural Society ; their dates of meeting have 

 usually been on the first and third Wednesday in each month, 

 but as it was well understood that they were only to be com- 

 mittee meetings no doubt the managers of the Eoyal Botanic 

 Society thought it would not matter if their shows were held 

 on the same dates. Had South Kensington first announced a 

 Hyacinth show the other Society would as usual have chosen 

 the following week ; but this is, as a rule, too late in tho year, 

 and the beauty of the flowers would have been past. Had 

 they selected the 11th it would have been better for all, and a 



