Jtm6 22, 1876. ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTIODLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



481 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



JUNE 22—28, 1870. 



Exeter Eose Show. 



Rei(?ate Rose Show. Royal Botaaic Society at 3 45 ^.^^. 



2 SaND\Y AFTER TRINITY. 



Boyal Geogriphical Society at 8.30 p.m. 

 Barton-on-Trent Show. Mald&toDO Rose ShoT. 



Moon 

 Kisea. 



Moon 

 Seta. 



3 80 



4 53 

 6 28 



8 



9 28 



10 eo 



after. 



I h. m. 



9 43 



10 20 



10 44 



11 2 

 11 15 

 11 2G 

 11 39 



Moon's I J ''.'"* 

 Ase. 1 before 



Day 

 ol 

 Son. Year 



Daya. 

 1 

 2 

 S 



4 

 5 

 6 

 D 



2 12 



2 21 



173 

 174 

 175 

 176 

 177 

 178 

 179 



48.7'. 



From obserrationB taken near Lontlon daring forty-three years, the average day temperatore of the -week is 73.3'; and its nlgbt temperature 



PEACH BLISTER. 



'iS^^y^ HAT is Peach blister ? It is a disease 

 affecting the foliage ouly when it is young 

 and tender, appearing in the form of 

 blotches or blisters irregular in form and 

 size, being sometimes as small as a pea 

 and occasionally spreading over an enlii-e 

 leaf. The affected part, having a pale 

 sickly appearance, becomes much thicker 

 in substance than the healthy part, and 

 rises into a convex form precisely similar 

 to other blisters. It is distinct from all other forms of 

 blight and cannot be mistaken. 



What is the cause of Peach blister ? It is caused by 

 the exposure of the expanding foliage to the influence of 

 frost or cold cutting winds. Can decisive proof be had 

 of this? Yes, every spring affords clear proof, and none 

 more strong and conclusive than the present one. Here 

 are a few examples — 1, Upon a west wall every tree is 

 perfectly healthy with a free, strong, unchecked young 

 growth clothed with fine foliage, perfectly clear and quite 

 free from blister or blemish of any kind. 2, Upon a south 

 outer wall, along which the cold east wind swept un- 

 checked, the foliage of every tree, both Peach and Necta- 

 rine, is much blistered, but some leaves are quite sound, 

 and these are near the base of tlie shoots and have had 

 the shelter of the tips of surrounding shoots. Still clearer 

 evidence of the scathing power of the cold wind is gained 

 from a few shoots which, springing out further from the 

 wall than the others, have their projecting tips entirely 

 affected by blister— leaves, leafstalks, and the soft young 

 wood itself are all discoloured, swollen, and contorted, 

 having a miserable, sickly, gouty appearance that is 

 palpably owing to the cold and nothing else. 3, Upon 

 a south inner wall all the trees near the east end, and 

 therefore having the shelter of the east wall, are quite 

 Bound, but further on where the trees are more exposed 

 they are affected by blister precisely in proportion to the 

 extent of such exposure. 



Now, to my mind, nothing can be more conclusive than 

 the foregoing facts, supported as they are by the expe- 

 rience of former years. So strongly am I convinced of 

 this that I do not hesitate to challenge the opinion of 

 those who maintain that blitter ia caused by aphides. If 

 I am asked for further proof I say at once, Let us turn 

 from theory to existing facts. Here is one such that is 

 very important — three Peach trees have this season been 

 so much infested with aphides that every loaf and branch 

 had to be washed five or six times before we could 

 eradicate them ; the effect of these repeated attacks has 

 been a contraction of the leaf tissue to such a serious 

 extent that most of the foliage is curled and deformed, 

 but there is not a single bhstered leaf upon either of the 

 trees. 



It has also been asserted that blister is caused by a 

 fungus (Ascomyoes deformans). This is undoubtedly a 

 mistake ; the fungus forms upon the affected part simply 

 because it is a favourable medium for its development. 



No. 795.— Vol. XXX., New Sekies. 



Cold ungenial weather is the sole cause, and that we have 

 the remedy in our liands by planting on a eouth-westerrb 

 aspect and by affording suitable protection to trees in 

 more exposed situations. 



The delicate and sensitive nature of young Peach foliage 

 is not by any means so generally recoonised or under- 

 stood as is desirable, and yet the fact is one of great 

 importance, affording an indication of the plainest and 

 most striking nature of the measures that are indis- 

 pensable to successful culture. It tells ua to watch the 

 development of an organ upon the condition of which 

 everything depends — the crop, the growth, the very 

 existence of the tree itself, to cherish it by every means 

 in our power, to cleanse it from insects with a prompt 

 and ready hand, and to screen it from frost and cold 

 cutting winds. 



Can anyone who asserts that fungus is the cause of 

 blister give us any facts in support of a theory which 

 upon the face of it strikes one as being mischievous and 

 calculated to mislead ? I am induced to ask this ques- 

 tion from the fact that two garden periodicals have lately 

 published a recipe consisting of soot, lime, sulphur, &c , 

 mixed together in water and applied to the branches 

 after the winter pruning as a cure for Peach blister ! Is 

 not this worthy to rank with the " Phospho-silicon ma- 

 nure," which was offered to the public a year or two ago 

 as a sure remedy for the Potnto blight ! offered, too, with 

 an explanation of how it was to induce the Potato to 

 absorb or take up so much pounded glass into its growth 

 as to stiffen the foliage and thus render it blight-proof?' 

 No similar explanation is put forth with this recipe, and 

 I shall be glad to learn something about its effect before 

 using any of it. Is it absorbed into the tissue of the 

 wood and so renders the foliage cold-proof, or in what 

 way does it act? We are perfectly well aware that it 

 would be an undoubted advantage if the Peach were 

 somewhat more hardy, but I for one fail to aee how thia 

 may be effected by any dressing or nostrum whatever. 

 — Edw.\rd Luckhuest. 



LIME. 



Lime is present in most soils, and is found in the 

 ashes of most plants, in some to a considerable extent. 

 Liebig considered the beneficial effect of an applcation of 

 quicklime to be in decomposing minerals which contain 

 potash and soda, liberating those substaucf s and making 

 them available as food fur plants. Yet, though lime be 

 an inorganic substance it ia none the less a necessary 

 element of the food of plant?, for all plants contain it : 

 hence by supplying lime to a soil deficient thereof we 

 afford a necessary element of plant food. Most soils, 

 however, contain a sufficiency of lime to meet the demands 

 of plants. Clay soils contain seldom more than 5 per 

 cent, of lime; sandy loams and sandy soils, having little 

 clay or alumina, have considerably less lime. Marly soils 

 vary considerably in their proportions of lime, usually 

 from 5 to 20 per cent., and when of a loamy character 

 having 20 to 30 per cent, of clay, with corresponding 



No. 1417.— Vol. LV., Old Series. 



