378 



JOURNAL 03? HOETICULTURK AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 28, 1875. 



preserve it for another time, and may therefore be left indoora 

 for safety. 



For permanent pot-markers sheet zinc ia nuquestionably un- 

 equalled, and by being varnished it may be kept in very pre- 

 sentable condition for any length of time. The proper ink for 

 writing on zinc is nitro-muriate of platinum, which produces a 

 jet-black indelible stain. This preparation is easily made, and 

 at very little cost. Procure an ounce stoppered phial, into 

 which have two pennyworth, or half an ounce, of nitro-muri- 

 atic acid (composed of two parts muriatic to one of nitric), 

 which may be obtained of any chemist. Next obtain from the 

 gunsmith an old platinum touch-hole, which may be had for 

 a few pence ; then putting the latter in the acid and leaving 

 out the stopper, set the phial in the sun or else upon hot sand 

 until the acid has assumed a deep, rich, brown tint, or that 

 the metal has ceased to give off bubbles of gas from the acid 

 becoming a saturated solution. A few drops of this should 

 now be added to a little water and tried with a quill pen, add- 

 ing drop by drop until a sufficient blackness is produced. 

 When using, great care must be taken to wash the writing 

 thoroughly in plenty of water immediately it has blackened, 

 and then it should bo wiped quite dry and varnished as soon 

 afterwards as possible. — W. Kencely JSeidgman, Xoncicli. 



WASPS AND TOMATOES— ONIONS AND CAEEOT 

 GEUB— FLIES AND PLANTS IN ROOMS. 



"D., Deal" asks, page 313, whether anyone has experience 

 of the influence of Tomato plants in houses keeping away 

 wasps. I have a row of Tomato plants in pots the whole 

 length of two Peach houses, and any day for weeks, until with- 

 in the last few days (the wasps having disappeared from the 

 cold and wet, except a few queens which are seeking winter 

 quarters) several cf these useful as well as destructive creatures 

 might bo seen hunting for prey upon the Poach tree leaves, 

 the trees happening to have an attack of scale, and upon the 

 secretion of those pests the wasps and bluebottle flies feed 

 greedily. Into the vineries the wasps do not come, at least 

 for the last six years I have not had to take any measures to 

 keep them from the Grapes, as they have not interfered with 

 more than a cracked berry, and that rarely, and though To- 

 matoes were grown in the vineries, so that my experience 

 points to the inutility of Tomatoes as a preventive of a wasp 

 invasion. 



For years I have not had a Carrot free from the grub ; and as 

 it was stated in " onr Journal" some time ago that sowing 

 Onions along with the Carrots was a safeguard, I gave it a 

 trial, and have to acknowledge a more complete failure of the 

 Carrots from grub with the Oaions than when the Carrots were 

 sown and grown without the Oaions. I know certain plants 

 never are attacked by insfcts of any kind, some plants by 

 certain kinds of insects only ; and I have found also that if you 

 will train a Stephanotis up the same rafter with a Cleroden- 

 dron Balfouri, that though both tho plants have their shoots 

 intertwined, tho mealy bug and scale will thrive amazingly 

 upon the Sterhanotis. It was tho samo with the Carrots. 

 Even where the Onions touched the Carrots the latter suc- 

 cumbed to the grubs. 



Then I read in the newspapers how somebody found flies 

 frequent a room when a box of plants — Geraniums, Calceo- 

 larias, and the like — were withdrawn, and when replaced in 

 the window tho flies disappeared. I remember hauging-np 

 paper cages to attract the flies from the walls, tho windows 

 being full of plants — Geranium?, Fuchsias, and other plants. 

 Experience tells me that iusect attacks are not prevented by the 

 presence of " strong-smelling " plants, or tho.=e upon which 

 insects do not feed in proximity or in contact with those afford- 

 ing them subsistence. — G. Aebey. 



PIEEIS BEASSIC^, AND MICROGASTEE 

 GLOMEEATDS. 

 In some of the suburban districts the larva; of P. Brassicai 

 (Largo White Garden Butterfly) have b^en exceedingly nume- 

 rous this season, but an effectual check to their development 

 has been given by their familiar parasite. Some walls and 

 palings to which the larva; have retreated for pupation scarcely 

 furnish one healthy pupa in a dozen, the rest having been 

 punctured. A correspondent of the " Entomologist " appeals 

 to naturalists to furnith him with pupa of Micrcgaster (an 

 Ichneumon flv), bo that the parasite may be freely introduced 



into Americ), where the genus Pieris has been exceedingly 

 destructive. I don't know how far we are justified in helping 

 on this exportation. There is such a thing aa " robbing Peter 

 to pay Paul," and I fancy we want all the Microgasters our- 

 selves at present. Has it ever been observed by the readers 

 of this Journal that usually there is not an abundance in the 

 same year of P. Brassicae and Kapie ? — J, E. S. C. 



[The white garden butterflies are by some entomologists 

 retained in tho genua Pontia.l 



CAEEION FOE VINE BOEDERS. 



I TikYE read "Inouibee's" remarks concerning the above 

 practice, and feel rather pleased than otherwise that the 

 question ia once more mooted, because there are some em- 

 ployers, and even their gardeners, who have yet an idea that 

 this burying of carrion in Vino bordera ia the one essential 

 point to successful Grape culture. To my thinking, combined 

 with some experience in the matter, nothing can be more 

 adverse to the requiremeats of a Vine than to place such an 

 unnatural substance in connection with the soil, and expect 

 that the roots of a Vine will thrive iu it. It is no doubt true 

 that carrion may ba buried at the bottom of a deep border 

 when young Vines are planted, so that by the time the roots 

 reach it decomposition will have done ita work so tfliciently as 

 to make the carrion like soil itself. Even then it will have 

 had its effect upon the soil for some distance around it, and 

 through its action it will be a sour soddened mass from putre- 

 fied matter, that no roots, even as vigorous as aro those of the 

 Vine, can ramify iu it to the benefit of the plant that receives 

 its sustenance from them ; and it may ba that if the Vine 

 is strong there will be no percejitible effect upon the condition 

 of the growth, from the fact that if the Vine has been planted 

 some years it will have roots elsewhere, so that its vigour may 

 be maintained, and no check become apparent. I will relate 

 my experience in the matter. 



At the firct place I took as head gardener there were some 

 vineries newly built, and some A'inea p'anted iu newly and 

 expensively made borders. I took the place on the 21st of 

 March, and the Vines were planted the year previous. They 

 were just breaking into growth, and apparently very promising, 

 but to my surprise the Vines in the middle vinery of the three 

 turned yellow in the leaf in the month of June. They flagged 

 under the power of the sun, and made no progress as did 

 the others in the other houses. I was puzzled to give my 

 employer a reasou for it, until I askod him how the bordera 

 were made, and during the conversation it came out that five 

 pigs had been buried whole in thia very border. Tbia aunouucs- 

 meut was quite sufficient to induce me to examine the roots 

 of these Vines, and I found the roots made the year before 

 were entirely rotten, and that, too, as far back as where the 

 soil had become soddened from the decay of the carrion, so 

 that the Vines were almost deprived of roots. The soil was 

 taken out, and tho carrion taken away ; fresh soil was added, 

 and fresh Vines planted. These grew well, and nothing^ 

 occurred afterwards to check the progress of tho Vines. Thia 

 fact is quite sufficient to convince me that carrion ia a very 

 objectionable substance to put into Vino borders. 



Vines are gross feeders no doubt, but to make up for any 

 deficiency in growth or produce, auy stimulant given in a 

 liquid form, even if it savours of carrion, is far more suitable 

 than burying flesh ; and if a border has proper soil and is well 

 drained no harm, but, on the contrary, a great benefit will no 

 doubt be derived from its use iu that way at the proper time. 

 The gardener who told " I.s-qdirer's " employer that Vine roots 

 would go half a mile to get a taste of the carrion is perhaps 

 able to refute what I have stated above ; but I think he must 

 have meant that they would go half a mile to escape it, if 

 they go that distance at all. I think "Inquiker" could not 

 have given better advice. — Thomas Eecoed. 



PEARS GRACKINa. 



I HAVE planted a small outlying garden, which formerly was 

 a garden to a c^ttnge, with choice pyramid Apple and Pear 

 trees. After three or four seasons' trial I find the Pears (uot 

 all the kinds) have a great tendency to crack, like the speci- 

 men I enclose, to the extent of about one-third of the crop. 

 This hoppens very much with Bergamot Esperen and BeuriiS 

 Diel. Cm you suggest what might be the cause? The soil is 

 a strong loam with, in some places, clay underneath, but th& 



