426 



JOUBNAL OP HOETICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



[ June 2i. ltsG9. 



hand; and portable, and may be worked by blowing with the 

 moath wbere the liuuee is tmall and the amount of com- 

 bustion required ie n(,t great ; but when large houses are to be 

 attacked, it is fitted to a liellows. In this latter respect it does 

 not differ from Ibe ordiuaiy bellows fumigator that has been 

 long in use. It may be used from theouttide of the house by 

 introducing the nuzzle Ihruugh an aperture opening to the in- 

 side, thereby protecting the operator against the effect of the 

 iomee of the tobacco. 



PEACH TKEES AND THEIK FRUITS 

 ULCERATED. 



I HAVE this day sent for you to examine a few shoots from 

 some of the Peach trees here, which are grown in a lean-to 

 house facing south ; also, a few fruits from the same trees 

 which looked perfectly healthy until about seven weeks since, 

 when some very small spots appeared on some of the young 

 leaves as they unfolded, and shortly afterwards the leaves began 

 to dropoff, (ind the tap tu burst forth from the young shoots and 

 some of the fruits. At first the evil affected parts of the trees, 

 but in some cases it has fcfftcted the whole tree. It appeared 

 first on those that were planted two years and a half ago ; they 

 were then rather large trees turned out from 18-inch pots, and 

 planted in the front border, in good Peach soil, with a little 

 fresh added, but no manure. It then appeared at the other 

 end of the house, on a fan-shaped tree standing across the 

 border, which had the ends of its roots lifted when the others 

 were planted, and since that there has been a slight appear- 

 ance on three trees againnt the back wall. We had a good crop 

 of froit latt 'iear, and a fair crop this jcar. I have taken off 

 nearly all the fruit, whether diseased or not, from the trees so 

 badly efftcted ; I have also thought of lifting the trees in the 

 autumn. What would y.u advise me to do, also to what do 

 you attribute the diseai-e? The trees have not been watered 

 with liquid manure this season, but a little was given last 

 season when the fruit was growing. The house has been shut 

 up by night and opened by day, according to the weather.^ — 

 A Constant Eeader, Torqiuiy. 



[We have experienced somewhat similar results, hut we 

 attributed thtm to want of water last summer, and then to 

 prevent our losing I he crop we used water fpr too strong, which 

 set the wood growing afresh, and prevented its being thoroughly 

 ripened ; but our wood this year seems in very good condition. 

 We could not help ourselves, for we had no means to weaken 

 the liquid, but were foiced to use very strong or none. We do 

 not see from jour statement that jour trees are suffering, or 

 only slitihtly from such a cause. We have little faith in 

 merely lifting the trees, as they have been so recently trans- 

 planted, if the roots are healthy. We direct your particular 

 attention to the last exiression, as you may have, and very 

 likely have, mildew at the roots ; in this case pure fresh loam, 

 and a sprinkling of sulphur over the surface, will be the best 

 remedy. The sulphur will fio np hfttiu now.] 



PROPAGATING FROM BARREN STRAWBERRY 

 PLANTS. 



I CAK find no information either in your Journal or in any 

 gardening treatise that I can refer to relative to barren Straw- 

 berries. Out of about two thousand plants one and two years 

 old, all very strong and healthy, I have 280 barren ones— i c, 

 without blossom. Many of the old plants (now two years old), 

 from which the runners were taken were barren, and are again 

 60 this year. All my plants of Black Prince are crowded with 

 bloesom, not one barren ; and of 250 plants of Eleanor there 

 are only eight barren. 



Perhaps yon can inform me if runners from barren Straw- 

 berries will be barren also. If so, it would be desirable to root- 

 up every one in a plantation. — Pichaed Tatloe. 



P.S. — " Lawn mowings," recommended in your last Journal, 

 are very undesirable, as I find the various grasses ripen their 

 seeds, notwithstanding being cut, and give a world of trouble 

 afterwards by their progeny. Spent hops, also recommended 

 by you, are the best to apply. 



[The imprudence of propagating from barren Strawberry 

 plants has often been alluded to. Hence the importance of 

 rooting all cut, especially if they have the particular features 

 referred to in " Doings of the Last Week," page 414, which see 

 and compare with what you notice in jour own plantations. 



The wisdom of discarding the barren plants with the features 

 described at the page indicated, is to be found iu the simple 

 fact that these barren plants produce the earliest and strongest 

 runners, which, therefore, are more likely to be chosen than 

 those of fertile plants. Had we time to be particular and take 

 runners early, we would eveu in the case of fertile plants pass 

 over the first plant on the runner, and select the second on the 

 string. When we gave attention to this matter for years, we 

 uniformly found that the first runner made the best plant, and 

 the second runner the most prolific one. We like spent bops 

 when they are to be obtained.] 



JjiMiY DOWNE'S GRAPES OF 186«. 



I SEND you a few berries of Lady Downe's Grape, my object 

 in doing so is to show you the exceedingly good-keeping qua- 

 lities of that variety. The Grapes I send you were ripe in 

 August, 1868 ; they were out from the Vine in February laBt, 

 and the end of the branch inserted in bottles of water. I 

 .-fharpened the branches of some of them, and ran the end into 

 Mangold Wurtzel, but the stalks of the berries shrivelled in 

 three or four weeks. Those which were inserted in battles of 

 water kept green and fresh, and have a good flavour at the 

 present time. The house is planted with Black Hamburgh, 

 Trentham Black, and Lady Downe's. The Trentham Black 

 Grapes were all cut the first week in January, and they kept 

 well up to that date. — Jambs Dodglas. 



[The berries of Lady Downe's sent by Mr. Douglas, were 

 marvels of skilful management. They were shrivelled a little 

 as might be expected, but not to such an ext«nt as to have lost 

 their plumpness ; and the flavour vjas good, not quite so 

 sugary as we find in slightly shrivelled Lady Downe's in Feb- 

 ruary and March, but quite fit for the dessert ; neither were 

 they equal iu flavour to the new Crapes, of which there is now 

 abundance in the markets. — Edb.] 



PEWITS AS SLUG AND CATERPILLAR 

 DESTROYERS. 

 I THINK the value of the green plover (Pewit) is not suffi- 

 ciently appreciated in walled gardens. I have now had some 

 two years, and 1 would not be without them if I had to give 

 a sovereign each for them. In a neighbouring garden the 

 ground is white with lime, and the Gooseberry trees powdered 

 with hellebore, and yet the gardener tells me he can hardly 

 keep the slugs and caterpillar down ; another neighbour has 

 had boys picking his Gooseberry trees for some days ; whilst 

 my gardener says we have not a slag and hardly a caterpillar. 

 I gave a few shillings for half a dozen advertised in your 

 columns, and I intend to renew them as the old ones drop off, as 

 I am quite sure the gardener will never be without them again 

 with his own consent ; indeed, I am certain he would rather 

 buy them himself than want them. My birds, owing to the 

 open winter, have never become very tame, but I believe in a 

 hard winter they will come to be fed at a whistle. — I. N. P., 

 York. 



VARIATIONS IN TAXODIUM AND PINUS. 



In some remarks before the Academy [of Natural Sciences, 

 Philadelphia,] on July 14lb, in reference to adnation in the 

 leaves of ConiferiB, I said that the power to branch was the 

 test of vigour ; and with increased vigour oame proportionately 

 the power of adnation. I pointed out that this was the uni- 

 versal law through all Conifeias, so far as I have been able to 

 examine them ; and that it fully acoonntod for the specific 

 identity of many forms supposed to be distinct. I went so far 

 as to suggest that Taxodium distichum, Richard, and Glypto- 

 strobus sinensis, Endl., were no doubt the same thing, because 

 the only difference between the growing plants was in the 

 different degrees of adnation in their foliage ; and because with 

 this adnation was the increased power to branch observed in 

 all other cases. The two points, going together, seemed to 

 indicate that this could not be a solitary exception to so clearly 

 marked a law. I exhibited spe«imens taken from Taxodium, 

 and from Glyptostrobus, showing the approach of the two is 

 the manner the theory indicated. 



Since then some new facts have come before me confirming 

 this view in a remarkable manner. On the nursery grounds Of 

 Mr. Robert Buist, of the Daiby Bead, near Philadelphia, are 

 a few trees which I suppose to be the Glyptostiobiu, but which 



