:jay 21, 1874. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETIOULTUKE AND OOTTAGffi GAKDENEB. 



399 



Kichard Headly (Liglitbody) , Robert Traill (Lightbody), tlniqne 

 (McLean), Splendour (Headly). 



TI7a(c-c(/(7crf.— Arabella (Headl.v), Siimmerseales' Catherina, 

 Jobn Waterston (Cunningham), Glory (Taylor), Ne Plus Ultra 

 (Smith), S uiling Beauty (Heap), True Briton (Hepwortb). 



S,-;/:--.— Blackbird (Spalding), Crown Prince (Turner), Charles 

 J. Perry (Turner), Formosa (Smith), Master Hole (Turner), 

 Metropolitan (Spalding), Pizarro, Mrs. Sturrock (Martin), 

 Vulcan (Sims). 



A few of the best Alpines, all of which have been raised and 

 sent out by Mr. Turner, of Slough, are Brilliant, Defiance, Eleho, 

 Etna, John Leech, Jessie, King of Crimsons, Landseer, Mercury, 

 Nimrod, Novelty, Sydney, and Wonderful. — J. Douglas. 



SNAILS AND SLUGS. 



TuEiiE are one or two observations in Mr. Eeade's commu- 

 nication (page 368-9) under the above heading that have in- 

 duced me to offer a few remarks on the same subject. Mr. 

 Beade asks, " When the culprits are caught what is to be done 

 with them?" My plan is to " pickle them in brine." A num- 

 ber of stone jars containing salt and water (about a handful to 

 two or three pints will be quite strong enough) are hid in 

 various parts of the garden under and behind bushes, so as to 

 be out of sight as much as possible, and yet be easily acces- 

 sible. The culprits when caught are dropped alive into these ; 

 and if it be said drowning is the easiest death one can en- 

 counter, this may fairly be inferred to be a merciful way of 

 disposing of them, and certainly it is one that is as little re- 

 volting to the feelings as can possibly be, and can hardly be 

 objected to even by the most fastidious. Australian meat tins 

 would serve admirably for the purpose, and the collections 

 should be emptied out every week or two on to the refuse or 

 manure heap before they become offensive. 



During spring and summer the adult snails will be seen half 

 buried at the foot of bushes and plants ; and if, when taken up, 

 a little of the soil be turned over, there will generally be found 

 a cluster of eggs — small round white bodies about the size of 

 a small pea, which should also share the same fate as their 

 parents, for the just-hatched " vermin " do much mischief 

 before they become large enough to attract the attention. 



Mr. Eeade very justly suggests the winter as the best time 

 for making a raid upon their haunts. The refuse heap will 

 generally bo found to be a great attraction, but by very far the 

 greatest success has been obtained by piling-up in its neigh- 

 bourhood a heap of flint nodules loosely, and without any 

 earth between them, so as to afford spaces for protection. 

 These flints are non-absorbent, and I suppose preferable on 

 that account, as affording a more genial atmosphere for them. 

 Pieces of slate, propped-up so as to afford shelter beneath 

 them, are generally covered over upon every available spot on 

 the sheltered side, and these should be looked over in the 

 spring before the period of hybernation is over. Besides the 

 common garden snail (Helix aspersa) there is another (Helix 

 rnfescens), which is much smaller and flatter, and of a dark 

 brown colour, which is no less destructive, but very apt to be 

 overlooked on account of its inconspicuousness. These are 

 best caught upon pieces of damp wood lying upon the ground 

 under bushes. 



Slugs may be taken up vei-y readUy and transferred to the 

 pickle by means of a eleft stick when tolerably large, or even 

 when minute if sufficient patience and preseverance be pos- 

 sessed ; but, if not, there is no better remedy yet known than 

 syringing late in the evening with clear fresh-made lime water, 

 repeated two or three times successively at intervals of half 

 an hour or so. — W. Eencelv Bkidgman, Norwich. 



Primula Pakkyi. — Attempts in England to cultivate the new 

 American Primula Parryi have failed. This has, we believe, 

 been the case generally in this country. Some seed given the 

 writer in 1870 by Dr. Parry grew, and struggled along through 

 a season, and finally died. In the spring of 1873 the writer 

 shook out a few seeds from an herbarium specimen gathered on 

 Pike's Peak in 1871. Though two years old they germinated 

 well ; but only one got through the summer, and is still alive, 

 though the whole plant is yet no larger than a pea. Just as 

 we were wondering how to manage it, a note from Dr. Parry 

 says : " I have succeeded at last in growing and flowering 

 Primula Parryi. I watered it continually with snow water." 

 There is a valuable hint here. Last year the writer saw 

 masses in beautiful flower but just below the snow line, and 



close along the edges of the mountain stream from the melting 

 snows above ; and Dr. Parry's hint, with our own observations, 

 leads us to the conclusion that to grow this and all alpine 

 plants well, the conditions must be an abundance of light, very 

 cool soil, and a humid atmosphere. A warm atmosphere will 

 not hurt them. — {American Gardener's Monthly.) 



GEAFTING LATE IN THK SEASON. 



In a district where orchards form a very important per- 

 centage of the acreage, numbers of young trees are of course 

 annually wanted, and many old ones ar« headed-down and re- 

 grafted with more desirable varieties. Extensive fruit-growers 

 find it necessary to have a nursery of their own, where young 

 trees are worked and brought forward to meet the requirements 

 of the farm or orchard, or what is called " the fruit planta- 

 tion " in Kent. I see no reason to find fault with the last 

 name, and will here adopt it. To persons who have not visited 

 the districts where fruits are extensively grown for the London 

 and other large markets, the appearance which these fruit 

 plantations generally present in April is very rich. The Plum 

 and Damson blossom (earliest in the season) is usually out in 

 March, and, as a mass, presents a rather dull white colour, from 

 the tints of green with which it is mixed, while the Cherry and 

 Pear furnish as pure a white almost as the Camellia, or some 

 of the best class of Indian Azaleas ; but the Apple is, perhaps, 

 the richest of all, and certainly looks best when only about 

 one-fourth or less of the blossom is expanded, the rest being 

 in the rose-tinted bud, nestling amongst the newly-produced 

 leaves, and in favourable seasons as large as a full-sized 

 marble before bursting. I may remark that experienced fruit- 

 growers Uke to see these well swelled out at this the earliest 

 period of their growth, as a good bold bloom portends a suc- 

 cessful fruit-setting if nothing more; moreover, they like, in 

 the case of Apples, for the petals when they fall to do so flat- 

 ways, and not to be curled up, and the larger each petal is 

 than a shilling the better they are liked. lu the past season I 

 have heard many assert they have measured some lajrger than 

 a half-crown, but I have not noticed any of that size ; still 

 they are large, and before the setting-in of the cold weather on 

 April 29th the bloom was exceedingly rich and good, and I 

 am not sure yet that the cold weather has dono them much 

 harm up to the time I write (May 12th). 



A successful blooming and a correspondingly good crop are 

 not secured without the assistance of the manager or grower, and 

 one of his labours is selecting the varieties of fruits that thrive 

 best with him, or which meet the requirements of the market ; 

 and as the public taste in the latter respect occasionally varies 

 with the fashions of the day, it is the interest of the grower to 

 keep pace with the wants of his customers, as well as now and 

 then to tempt them with fresh articles : hence the necessity 

 for his renewing from time to time his orchards, thus render- 

 ing budding and grafting an essential part of his business ; and 

 these operations being often on an extensive scale, there are 

 generally one or more men on the farm to whom they are 

 deputed, and who by practice and observation become skilful 

 at the work. 



There is nothing essentially elifferent in the mode by which 

 a " Kentish fruit-tree cutter " (for that is the name usually 

 given to the man who manages the fruit plantations), attaches 

 his scion to the stock from that which has repeatedly been 

 described in this Journal, except in one or two slight parti- 

 culars, the most important of all being the time at which it 

 was done, which in Kent is much later than in many places 

 where vegetation is not usually in so forward a state. I have 

 seen an Apple headed down in the middle of March, and a 

 number of grafts at once placed on the various limbs so cut off 

 in the ordinary mode of crown grafting ; and after the clay was 

 put on, the whole was enclosed in large lumps of moss, giving 

 a grotesque appearance to the tree after dark, especially when 

 a dozen or more of these heads were formed on one tree. But 

 there can be no question of the utility of this moss in pre- 

 serving the scions from the withering influence of March winds, 

 especially when the precaution is taken of watering them at 

 times. I need hardly say that this is not an easy task ; most 

 of the trees so operated upon are too high to get at without a 

 ladder, and that is not always at hand, so that the Kentish 

 man who operates very extensively on such trees rarely adopts 

 the plan, and omits both mossing and watering by postponing 

 the work till a later period — very often till the end of April, 

 and I have certainly seen it very successfully performed as 

 late as the 12th of May,'-^but this is in general too late. Even 



