Janaary 7, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP H0KTICULTUB3 AND OOTTAGE GARDKNEB. 



The Colletias are not particular as to situation, but no doubt 

 would prefer a dry one, although we have some growing re- 

 markably well in swampy places, and where they have been 

 deluged for days with sea water uninjured. — W. Osbokne, 

 Co. Cork. 



VINE GRAFTING. 



The following facts may be interesting to Mr. Grieve. I in- 

 arched a Muscadine on a Madresfield Court, the former being 

 in a pot, the latter in a large tub. I am not referring to an 

 experiment I related in this Journal some few months back — 

 i.e., " the causing of oval Grapes to become spherical." After 

 two years I cut away the Muscadine. The year after the 

 Madresfield Court produced spherical berries, and although very 

 sweet and luscious, there was no Muscat flavour. I am now 

 trying an experiment with the Muscadine which was cut away. 

 The Madresfield Court graft has grown a long rod. The Mus- 

 cadine has thrown-up a rod below this graft. I have now in- 

 arched these two rods. It will be interesting to watch what 

 Nature will now do. 



The Golden Champion grafted on the Black Hamburgh has 

 done remarkably well with me this year ; the berries and 

 bunches very fine, and no spot. I had intended cutting this 

 Grape down, but Lord Calthorpe, who has also been very suc- 

 cessful with it, advised me not to do so. A Black Alicante 

 grafted on this Grape has for two years borne berries and 

 bunches precisely the same as when on its own roots. — 

 Obsebvek. 



MESEMBRYANTHEMUM COEDIFOLIDM 

 VAEIEGATUM. 

 I have found this to do well under the following treatment : — 

 In the autumn I take as many 6-inch pots as may be re- 

 quired, fill them nearly half full of drainage, covering the 

 drainage with charcoal, and the charcoal with moss. Then, 

 putting a little sandy soil in the pots, and 1 or IJ inch of fine 

 river sand, I plant the cuttings round the edges of the pots, 

 and a few in the middle ; after a good watering, I set them in 

 a cool vinery, partly shaded, kept moderately dry. They root 

 Boon and do well, and, potted-off early, they afford plenty of 

 cuttings in the spring. They should be kept free from drip 

 and damp, for both are fatal to their well-doing. — H. 



ANTS AND IXOEAS. 



Permit me to express a doubt as to the ants having attacked 

 and barked the Ixoras of " S. J. A." May he not be mis- 

 taken ? This morning I was in one of my stoves, and having 

 just read " S. J. A.'s " letter, I watched with some curiosity 

 some ants upon a young Ixora. In the fork of one branch I 

 saw a small mealy bug and a scale close together. I killed them 

 both, but left them there to see whether the ants would touch 

 them. I was not kept long waiting. One of them raised the 

 dead bug, and carried it off down the plant on to the soil of 

 the pot, and then disappeared, I assumed, to its nest. Another 

 ant grasped the scale several times, but ultimately left it, from 

 which I concluded that its flavour did not meet with approval. 



Now in the same house I have several fine specimen Ixoras, 

 on which I often notice ants creeping, but no damage is done 

 to the bark, or indeed of any kind ; though I am bound to add 

 the ants are not numerous. The woodlice, I suspect, are your 

 correspondent's foes. 



The Rev. J. G. Wood, in his " Illustrated Natural History," 

 says that ants are easily destroyed by pouring boiling water 

 or naptha into their tunnels. I need hardly warn your cor- 

 respondent to be careful how he applies this remedy to a plant 

 in a pot. — T. M. Shuttlewokth, F.B.H.S." 



CUCUMBERS. 



Eecent articles on Cucumbers have been very interesting, 

 but they do not explain why I have not been successful with a 

 temperature under 60 \ I have always found them thrive 

 better over than under that temperature. For the last three 

 years I have had great trouble with what I suppose is the 

 ambury. They grow and flourish very well for about three 

 months, when by degrees the roots all get knotted, the foliage 

 cannot stand any sun, and the plants soon wither away and 

 ultimately die. 



My Cucumber bed is tank-heated, and covered with ridge 

 tiles, over which are laid slabs. The drainage is good. I have 



tried all kinds of soils — turfy loam, loam and peat, brick 

 earth, leaf mould, and rotten dung, with and without the 

 addition of lime, soot, and charred material. The soil I have 

 had from different places on the estate five miles apart. I 

 have had the house washed with clean water, and all kinds of 

 nostrums mixed with the whitewash, but all seem to suit the 

 disease much better than some of them have the plants. 



I usually grow Telegraph, and have bought seeds from long 

 distances, and hkewise obtained them from friends, to see if 

 a change would do any good. I usually have grown two crops 

 in a year, and used never to be without a Cucumber, but this 

 year my winter crop went off sooner than ever. If anyone 

 can give me advice I shall be very pleased. 



We ought to chronicle our failures as well as our Buccesses, 

 and for the present this is my failure. I may mention that 

 club-root is not at all prevalent here in the garden. — John 

 Pl.\it, Norfolk. 



[We sent the specimens of the roots which you enclosed to 

 a well-known naturalist, and the following are his notes :— 

 " They are a diseased condition of the cellular tissue, caused by 

 the presence of minute worm-like infusoria called vibrios, 

 creatures common in decomposing infusions, &c. We have 

 carefully examined your roots with the microscope, and the 

 vibrios as originally described by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley are 

 present in abundance from the egg state upwards. The 

 correctness of Mr. Berkeley's observations has been questioned, 

 but we are fully able to confirm their positive accuracy, borne 

 out not only in this instance, but on former examinations of 

 these singular nodosities on Cucumber roots. It is much 

 easier to examine and describe a disease than effect its cure. 

 The recommendation generally is to utterly destroy all the 

 diseased roots and the surrounding soil. — W. G. S."] 



SOME OF THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTS OF 

 CEYLON.— No. 6. 



Gamboge of exceUent quality has been produced, and has 

 been pronounced by competent authorities equal to the finest 

 (Pipe) Gamboge of Siam. The tree from which it is produced 

 m Ceylon is called the Gokotbo Gamboge. Dr. Christian of 

 Edinburgh wrote to General Walker (at that time Deputy 

 Adjutant- General in Ceylon), to the effect that the Ceylon 

 Gamboge might be made to compete in the European markets 

 with the finest qualities from Siam if more care be taken in 

 collecting it and making it up. 



The Ficus elastica, or the Indianrubber Tree, grows luxu- 

 riantly throughout the central province. It is propagated by 

 cuttings. The juice is collected from incisions made in the 

 tree, and is placed in an earthen glazed vessel some time ; 

 water is then added to it, and both ate allowed to remain for 

 forty-eight hours. The latter is then drawn off, and a small 

 quantity of arrack (about one-sixth), is added, and the vessel 

 is well corked and covered over with canvas painted with the 

 juice as it exuded from the tree. The extension of the culti- 

 vation of this valuable tree in Ceylon, it would appear, would 

 be highly desirable, and Dr. Thwaites is instituting experi- 

 ments with the Assam caoutchouc-producing tree. 



The Palma Chrisii is found over the greater portion of 

 Ceylon. Mens. Bois, a French chemist, has made some im- 

 portant discoveries in Algiers, and has found that a piece of 

 ground there will yield three times as much oil* as olive oil, 

 and twice as much as palm oil. By distilling castor oil upon 

 concentrated potash the sebacic and caprylic alcohol are ex- 

 tracted as separate products, which may be turned to good 

 account. Sebacic acid can be employed in the manufacture of 

 candles,! and caprylic alcohol can be used in illumination and 

 in the composition of varnishes. 



Dr. Thwaites reports that the printing for distribution of 

 some simple instructions for the planting of this valuable 

 plant and the preparation of the seeds for the market has had 

 an excellent effect. He further reports that amongst both 

 European and native gentlemen possessing land at low eleva- 



^ There are numerous other valuable vegetable oils In Ceylon. 



\ If the Tallow Tree of China (the Stellingia sebifera), which forme a very 

 large trade in the southern parts of China, were introduced into Ceylon, it 

 might probably prove of ^Teat importance to the colony. At Shanghai a large 

 sum is realised annually by the cultivators. For burning the tallow is excel- 

 lent; it gives a clear, bright, and inodorous flame, and is without smoke. 

 The timber is white and close-grained, and well fitted for printing-blocks. 

 The leaves, too, are valuable as a dye. The tree is raised from seed, and 

 grows with f^reat rapidity. Its properties as a lubricator for railway machinery 

 have been tested, I have not leai-ned with what succes?. 



