412 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



laterals, there being no help for them but cutting down in 

 the autumn. 



Greenhouse or Conservatory during May. — Many of the 

 plants here were removed, and the house was thoroughly 

 cleaned. In rearranging, a few of the more hardy stove plants 

 were brought into this house. 



Late Vinery during May. — The vines here were disbudded 

 at once, and as it was evident there would be no fruit, only 

 such shoots were left as were intended to produce fruit the 

 following year. Liquid manure from a farm-yard tank was 

 applied to the border, and by the end of the month the foliage 

 was changed to a dark green. It was in this house that the 

 mealy bug first made its appearance sixteen years previous to 

 this present time. A climbing plant, the name of which I 

 could not learn, was bought at a London nursery, and sent 

 down with instructions to be planted and trained on the 

 trellis on the back wall. It was planted there, grew rapidly, 

 and got intermingled with the vines, the insects spread over 

 the fruit, and the then gardener said, " I syringed with glue- 

 water, and made use of all manner of things, but to no pur- 

 pose ; the pest overran the whole house and spoiled the 

 grapes, and it has now got into the wood and no one has 

 been or ever will be able to get the better of it." The 

 plants in this house went through the same process of clean- 

 ing as the others, the large azaleas were syringed with 

 tobacco-water to destroy thrips. Fires were not lighted ; the 

 house was syringed two or three times weekly, according to 

 the state of the weather, and ventilation was well attended to. 



Orchid House and Stove during June. — This month 

 found the general health of the plants improved. In the case 

 of Hoyas, Russellias, Stephanotis, and others making their 

 young wood, the bug seemed to grow with it ; no sooner did 

 a bud break than this pest made its appearance. Where it 

 came from it was not easy to say ; the circumstance reminded 

 one more of a constitutional disease than the attack of an 

 enemy. To find the source of the evil was difficult. One 

 thing was always observable, viz., that after a close heat of 

 90*^ or 95° the insects increased in numbers ; many of the 



