July 29, 1375.1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



97 



liberally treated they will grow from 2 to 3 {eat high. C. ma- 

 crooephala, a biennial, maj' be raised from seed during the sum- 

 mer, and be kept from frost through the winter and planted 

 out in the following spring. It is desirable on account of its 

 yellow flowers. C. cynaroides is a biennial with white flowers. 

 There are others that are equally interesting, and ought to be 

 in more general cultivation. — -Veritas. 



VENTILA.TION AND INSECTS. 



During the last few years glass houses have sprung up as if 

 by magic, so that no villa of any pretensions is considered com- 

 plete without its conservatory, vinery, or orchard house. These 

 appear to be necessary appendages to the residences of mer- 

 chants and others who during the greater part of the day are 

 engaged in business, many of whom are not in a position to 

 keep a regular gardener. I will, for example, take the man of 

 business who leaves his home, say, at eight or nine o'clock in 

 the morning, and, perhaps, does not return before four o'clock 

 in the afternoon. How do his pet plants or his fruit trees fare 

 during his absence, with, perhaps, no one to attend to them 

 who has any knowledge of such matters ? Many difficulties 

 and disappoinments arise as to the proper airing of glass struc- 

 tures during the master's absence. Under such circumstances 

 many impediments arise, not the least of which are the ever- 

 troublesome insects. This must be patent to the practised 

 man who reads year after year of so many antidotes recom- 

 mended for their destruction. These remedies crop-up every 

 jear like so many patent medicines. Why should all these 

 new remedies be required ? If our forefathers could cope with 

 insect pests successfully, why cannot we do so with the re- 

 medies still in our own hands ? But it is not the practical 

 gardener who is at fault and cannot cope with insect pests ; 

 it is, as a rule, the amateur who creates a demand for these 

 remedies mainly by the cause of imperfect ventilation. I do 

 not for a moment pretend to say that gardeners can at all 

 times prevent these obnoxious visitors, as much will depend 

 on the outer elements, but by proper airing and keeping a 

 sweet atmosphere much that is obnoxious may be prevented, 

 and much after-labour and vexation avoided. 



Sudden changes of temperature are aUke injurious to plants 

 and fruits, and it judicious ventilation could be more generally 

 adopted we should hear of less failures, for where ventilation 

 is at fault disappointment will certainly follow. In many in- 

 stances air is not admitted early enough in a morning. Sup- 

 pose a tightly-glazed house is closely shut-up all night and the 

 sun allowed to shine on it for two or three hours in a bright 

 morning, this will raise the temperature at this season of the 

 year to such an extent that a large volume of air must be ad- 

 mitted to lower it. Nothing tends more to propagate disease 

 or insect pests than these extreme measures. Under such treat- 

 ment both fruit trees and plants will become unhealthy, and 

 will soon become a prey to red spider, mildew, or green fly. 



During the summer months air ought to be admitted almost 

 as soon as the sun shines on the glass. This, of course, 

 applies to such structures where little or no shading is re- 

 quired. It is bad policy to let houses become too hot while 

 the air within is stagnant ; the top or hottest part is the 

 proper place to ventilate first, even if it is but an inch, but 

 this, of course, will depend on the outside temperature. Very 

 tightly-glazed houses should during the summer months have 

 a little air left on all night. It matters not how well a plant 

 may be potted, and how correct the soil, and careful the 

 watering may be, if the airing is at fault there can be no pro- 

 sperity. Tiaere is more importance attached to ventilation 

 than many people imagine, but in all cases avoid as much as 

 possible cold cutting currents of wind, especially from a north 

 or easterly direction ; but this is difficult to guard against at 

 all times, for with a fierce sun and a cloudless sky every inch 

 of the ventilators must be opened, but in such oases plenty of 

 moisture should be used to counteract the drying effects of 

 such winds. 



It is a bad plan to let the temperature fall too low before 

 closing the ligiats ; closing ought to be done gradually a little 

 at a time. In shutting-up it is a good plan to husband as 

 much sun heat as possible. A rise of 10' or 15° after shutting- 

 np will do no harm when the sun is on the decline and the 

 house is full of pure fresh air, but letting it rise to that extent 

 in the morning without air in a stagnant atmosphere is de- 

 cidedly injurious. It is ol*eu a difficult task to instil all 

 this into the minds of young men who have such duties to 

 perform. 



As I have before remarked that insects cannot at all times 

 be prevented, I will give an instance this season of green fly 

 and red spider owing to the bright sunny weather and cold 

 easterly wind gaining admittance to some houses. The red 

 spider gained a footing at two or three ventilators in a house 

 of Grapes. In this case there was no means of preventing the 

 cold winds acting directly on the foliage. This attack is con- 

 fined to the foliage near the ventilators, and is evidence of what 

 cold easterly winds will do. The next case was green fly on 

 Teaches. One point of attack was near to a front ventilator, 

 the other near the door. I believe some people are very loth 

 to admit that they entertain such society as red spider, thrips, 

 and mildew, but such pests will make their appearance under 

 the most skilful cultivators. 



In many places it is almost an impossibility to keep free from 

 these insects where mixed collections of plants are grown. In 

 vineries and other fruit houses thrips will assert a right to a 

 place, but the practical man knows how to battle with those 

 enemies. For red spider a sweet moist atmosphere and a 

 free application of the syringe ; for mildew, flowers of sulphur 

 dusted over the aiifected parts, and a well-ventilated and sweet 

 atmosphere. For thrips, I know of no better or safer remedy 

 than fumigation cautiously performed on two or three succes- 

 sive nights, this to be repeated in about ten daj's after the 

 first application to destroy the after-progeny ; but in small 

 cases where perhaps only one or two plants are affected, care- 

 ful sponging with a little soapy water, not over-strong, will be 

 effectual. 



I think that many of the horticultural buildings of the pre- 

 sent day are not sufficiently ventilated, especially small houses 

 with high-pitched roofs, which soon become hot and as soon 

 cold again. This class of houses are difficult to manage, and 

 are often to be seen adjoining the residence of the amateur. 

 I believe that more evil is wrought by injudicious ventilation 

 than by any other mistakes which are made in gardening 

 matters. I advise all amateurs to have as a safety valve the 

 top ventilators left slightly open all night, the air to be in- 

 creased as soon as the temperature begins to rise in the morn- 

 ing, we should then hear of less destruction by insect ravages. 

 — G. E. Allis. 



DEATH OF MR. STANDISH. 



It is with great regret that we have to announce the death 

 of Mr. John Standish, of the Royal Nursery, Ascot, Berks, 

 which happened on Saturday last at half-past one o'clock, in 

 the sixty-second year of his age. The disease with which he 

 was afflicted was diabetes ; with this he contended successfully 

 for many years, but at last his constitution gave way. 



Mr. Standish was born in Yorkshire, on the estate of the 

 celebrated sportsman Colonel Thornton, on the 25th of March, 

 1814, and at the age of twelve removed with his parents to 

 Calue in Wiltshire, where his father held an appointment at 

 Bowood under the Marquis of Lansdowne. Having entered 

 the gardens there, here it was that he gained his first in- 

 struction in gardening. After his apprenticeship was finished 

 he went to Bagshot Park, where Mr. Toward was then gar- 

 dener to the Duchess of Gloucester, and under him acted as 

 foreman till he commenced business for himself as a nursery- 

 man at Bagshot. The branch of gardening in which Mr. 

 Standish greatly distinguished himself was hybridising. With 

 this he began, and to this his lite was devoted for a period of 

 forty years. One of his first achievements in this way, and 

 which brought him prominently into notice, was crossing 

 Fuchsia fulgens and F. globosa, from which was raised Fuchsia 

 Standishi in 1839. More than usual interest attached to this, 

 for " it has been supposed impossible that F. fulgens should 

 be a Fuchsia at all, especially in having an herbaceous stem 

 and tuberous roots ;" but says Dr. Lindley, " It now however 

 appears, from the fact of its crossing freely with the common 

 Fuchsias, that it really does belong to the genus." 



Many other genera of plants formed the subjects of Mr. 

 Standish's experiments, and notably the Rhododendron, of 

 which he raised many beautiful varieties. It was to Mr. 

 Standish when he was at Bagshot that Mr. Fortune entrusted 

 the raising, propagation, and distribution of his Japanese and 

 Chinese plants on his second expedition to the East, and it 

 was through him that some of the most familiar trees and 

 plants of our gardens were first distributed. 



In 1862 Mr. Standish removed from Bagshot to Ascot, 

 where he formed an entirely new nursery on a more ex- 

 tensive scale. 



