184 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 5, 1868. 



while the Vines are in flower is from 70° to 75° by fire heat, 

 raised to 90° by sun heat. 



But we have strayed from the principal part of the question 

 first raised, which was, whether a dry or moist atmosphere is 

 the more congenial for " setting " Muscats ; not for the growth 

 or ripening of the Grapes. 



We have also another large Muscat house, in addition to that 

 named in my communication already referred to, and which 

 contains eleven large Muscat of Alexandria Vines. These are 

 in flower in the month of May, and the house has the same 

 treatment as the other. Each Vine has to support twenty-four 

 bunches as a fixed number every year, the rest being cut off, 

 and I am sure no one could wish to see a finer house of Muscats 

 for regularity of bunches and berries. The last of the bunches in 

 this house were cut on the 21st of last January, and were fine 

 in condition, but the berries rather shrivelled, although not 

 having the appearance of raisins. 



These few remarks and the others previously made by me 

 are not oiiered for the sake of argument, but merely as facts 

 coming under my notice. It would be as diflicult to convince 

 gardeners which is the right road to success — a dry or a moist 

 atmosphere, as it is to convince many which is the right system 

 of Grape-growing, the extending or the restrictive mode. — H. 

 Battram, Foreman, Cijfartha Gardens. 



AUCUBA JAPONICA. 



I DO not know why, but it is so, that frequently the plants, 

 shrubs, and trees, which are so very much belauded on their 

 introduction, seem soon to go out of the thoughts of the gar- 

 dening fraternity, and I often find that plants there is a rush 

 for at guineas, when they fall to half a guinea or less are heard 

 of no more, excepting when now and then there is a grumbling 

 letter from some disappointed purchaser. 



Now, there is the Aucuba with its varieties, great things were 

 promised in its name ; no one even writes about this beautiful 

 shrub now, and we are quite in the dark about what is being 

 done with it. When the male plant first arrived in this country 

 we were told it would show itself to be a most valuable acquisi- 

 tion for the arboretum. Perhaps it has not quite come up to 

 the expectations formed of it, and I am told the berries of the 

 female plant do not set well out of doors. Has any one tried it ? 

 I will give my experience of it. In the year 18G0 I put out two 

 small plants of the female with the berries set. They did not 

 make much progress until about November, when they began 

 to swell ; they completed their growth in January, and in spite 

 of the very severe weather, ripened into a beautiful orange 

 vermilion by the end of February, 18(j7. I sowed the seeds in 

 May, and have now some young plants from them. 



Having a young male in bloom in my sitting-room at the 

 commencement of the year 18(37, I shook the pollen from it on 

 some writing paper, and then put it from this into a small glass 

 bottle, and when a large female plant that I have had some years 

 in my garden came into bloom some time after, I touched the 

 flower lightly over with a camel's-hair brush, dusted with the 

 pollen from my bottle. The result is that I have now many 

 cymes of large berries just becoming of a fine scarlet colour. 



What I wish to draw attention to is this, that we have now 

 the opportunity of making some of our fine old plants of the 

 Aucuba look perfectly beautiful in the spring with so little 

 trouble, as the cold (and I think 18G7 should be a test), does 

 not seem to affect the ripening of the berries in the least ; mine 

 not only ripened but grew after one of the most severe winters 

 of late years. 



Has any one planted out the male and female side by side, 

 and, if so, will they inform me with what success as regards 

 the setting of the berries ?— Haret. 



WINTER QUARTERS OF THE RED SPIDER. 



Ik your number of the l!Hh of December, 1SG5, the above 

 question was asked by " T. G." As it is one of vast import- 

 ance to the Peach-fancier, any solution must be acceptable ; 

 and the present time being recommended by Mr. Rivers as the 

 most seasonable for amateurs to prune their Peach and Nec- 

 tarine trees, much of this work will now be going on amongst 

 growers, and I have no doubt that many will by a little observa- 

 tion be able to corroborate my statement. 



Last season a few of my Peach trees in 11-inch pots were 

 much infested with the red spider. In December I gave them 



all a good dressing with Gishurst compound, 4 oza. to the 

 gallon, and examined every part of them, and everything about 

 them most carefully, which led me to discover at least one of 

 the winter quarters of the enemy. My trees being young, and 

 trained as perpendicular cordons in pots, of course required 

 stakes, for which I used bamboo split to the proper size, with 

 bast for ties. In taking the old ties off, I found in each piece 

 of bast, just where the knot was tied, myriads of the red-coated 

 rascals, and in every crack in the bamboo they swarmed. I 

 gave a sigh of relief, and was thankful, for I intended to have 

 used the same stakes this year. 



I hope the relation of these facts will throw some further 

 light upon the subject, and induce others while looking over 

 their trees and plants not to forget to give an eye to the appli- 

 ances used about them. — T. L. C. 



CATERPILLARS ON GOOSEBERRY BUSHES. 



AuoNo the many receipts which have been given in your 

 pages from time to time for the cure of this pest, I have not 

 observed one that I have known, and seen used with good 

 effect, and that is fine sea sand. This, if collected fresh every 

 year from the beach, kept from being washed by rains, and 

 sprinkled over the bushes when the grub begins its ravages, 

 will effectually put a stop to them. Any person who may try 

 this simple remedy will r'd the bushes of the caterpillars, and, 

 if it be persevered in, will finally prevent all injury. — J. Laid- 

 LET, Adare Manor, Adarc. 



MUSHROOM CULTURE. 



Amonc. the plans for securing Mushrooms described in your 

 pages, I have not noticed the simple one of spawning Melon 

 beds at the time of earthing-up. Where there are Melon pita 

 heated by hot water, it is a certain method of securing a con- 

 tinued succession from Christmas to the end of March, a time 

 when they are very welcome. The plan adopted here for I may 

 say the last twenty years, is to insert four or five pieces of 

 spawn along the back and front of a three-light pit, at about 

 1 foot or 15 inches from the wall. Of course the spawn is covered 

 with the soil used for earthing-up. The pits are filled with Varie- 

 gated Pelargoniums in the autumn, and aU there is to do is to 

 move a few of the pots to give the Mushrooms room when they 

 begin to come through, not much trouble where Mushrooms 

 are an object, and far less than the ordinary care required for 

 beds in a Mushroom house. 



This method has always succeeded, even when the beds in 

 the ordinary house have failed. — J. W. K. 



[There is nothing new in the method you describe. We have 

 adopted it often in the case of Cucumber beds, as well as 

 Melon beds. When, either from linings of dung, or hot water, 

 the spawn is not subjected to an over-high temperature, when 

 the roots of the Melons or other plants do not run into the 

 spawn, and when the bed does not require to be touched all 

 the winter, then the plan will always succeed tolerably well. 



Our objections to its use are the injury done to Melons when 

 the roots penetrate into ground occupied with spawn of fimgi ; 

 the danger of too much beat to the spawn when linings are 

 used ; aud the necessity of keeping the bed of soil untouched 

 in the winter mouths, when otherwise that bed might be used 

 for many purposes. When a bed is so left we have frequently 

 spawned it all over, and kept plants a foot above it on a stage, 

 so as to have access to the Mushrooms easily. As Mushrooms, 

 however, do not require glass for their culture, our own opinion 

 is, that where glass is scarce, it is best to keep the glass for 

 plants, and have a separate bed for Mushrooms. The practice 

 detailed might, however, be suitable to many.] 



CHECK TO SLUGS. 

 Like your correspondent, on page 457, December 19th, I have 

 proved the inefficiency of lime, soot, itc, as preventives of 

 the depredations of slugs, but I have never known them pass 

 Barley chaff, haels, awns, or beard, as it is variously termed in 

 different parts of England. From the littery appearance of the 

 material it cannot be used for every purpose ; but, of course, 

 every gardener knows where it can be employed. Wherever a 

 circle of it is placed round a plant, inside the rim of a pot, or 

 on the ground, no slimy-coated intruder will pass. When a 



