. as it is produced. 
1843.] 
THE GARDENERY 
CHRONICLE. 
189 
with whitish pubescence, and behind the scutel is a long 
ochreous patch of hairs; the anterior legs are small and 
bright rust colour, excepting the base of the thighs; the 
hinder legs are considerably the longest, with thickened 
thighs, having a tooth beneath towards the apex ; all the 
feet are 4-jointed, the 3d joint bilobed, the 4th slender, 
with two little claws, (fig. 2 magnified ; fig. 3 the natural 
length. *) 
Another species, equally injurious, has found its way 
from North America into the southern states of Europe, 
where it s now naturalized, and proves very destruc- 
tive to the Pea crops; in samples I have seen from 
Germany and Russia, almost every Pea was infested 
by them. It is recorded as a native of Great Britain, but 
I have never found it alive in this country. From its in- 
habiting the Pea, it has been named by Linnzeus, Bruchus 
Pisi; it is larger than B. granarius, covered more with 
ashy-brown hairs above, and is at once distinguished from 
it, by having two large oval black spots at the tip of the 
abdomen, instead of two minute ones. Fig. 4 shows this 
portion of the insect in a Pea. 
I find by De Geer that the Bruchus Pisi was so abundant 
during the early part of the last century in North America, 
especially in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the southern 
part of New York, causing such havoc amongst the Peas, 
that the inhabitants of those countries were obliged to 
abandon the cultivation of that useful crop, as reported by 
Kalm. This traveller states that these Beetles pair in 
summer, at the time when the Pea blossoms, and the pods 
are formed, and laya little egg in almost every Pea as soon 
i Outwardly, these Peas do not seem 
damaged when arrived at maturity, bat in opening them 
one generally finds a very little larva there, which, if 
left in repose, would rest there all the winter and a part 
of the following summer, consuming by degrees almost 
the whole internal substance of the Pea, so that by the 
spring there remains little more than the rind or husk, 
after which it is transformed into a Beetle, which pierces a 
hole in the rind of the Pea, from whence it emerges, and 
the females resort to the fields sown with that legume, to 
lay their eggs in the young pods. 
leave for the present, but I may mention that I bred from 
the Beans infested by the Brucbus, man i 
ance in most greenhouses. The best remedy for red 
spider and thrips is to dip the plant in a thin solution of 
glue, as recommended by Mr. Knight, of the Exotic 
Nursery; but for the green-fly, the old system of fumi- 
gating with tobacco is the best resource. 
An easy and less unpleasant method of fumigating, is to 
place a garden-sieve on three pots, six inches high, in the 
path near the entrance to the house. On the sieve place a 
few red-hot cinders, and cover them, when not too brisk, 
with damp tobacco and wet straw, fresh from the stable. 
In this manner a house may be filled with half the tobacco 
usually used, and with a mere tithe of the trouble usually 
attending the operation. —IV. P. Ayres. 
HOME CORRESPONDENCE. 
Fizving Ammonia.—As fixing the volatile salts of am- 
monia is a subject of great importance, allow me, through 
the medium of your pages, to solicit a further communi- 
eation from Mr, W. H. Potter, on the subject, as it is one 
in which I, as well as many others, no doubt similarly 
circumstanced, feel great interest. Having the superin- 
tendence of a manufactory employing nearly 1,000 persons, 
I have had constructed a large cesspool, into which the 
water-closets connected with the works empty themselves, 
and with the contents of which all the ammoniacal liquor 
from the gas-works around the place is also mixed. With 
the view of making this as valuable as possible, by fixing 
the ammonia, I have had a regular quantity of ground 
gypsum put into each water-closet daily, or every other 
day, in proportion to the number of people likely to 
use it; and I am disappointed to find that it does not by 
any means fix all the ammonia. A chemical friend 
suggests that I ought to use the sulphates of iron and 
magnesia; but I am afraid of using the former, as, in 
excess, it is very poisonous to vegetation ; and as it would 
in some measure be left to the management of careless 
persons, there is the fear of overdoing it. I believe that 
sulphate of magnesia is very good, but it is too expensive 
here to be used in the necessary quantity. How muc 
sulphate of iron would it be safe to use daily for such a 
purpose, with such a population, one-half of the day, that 
is, 12 out of the 24 hours ?— 7’. G., Clitheroe. 
Experiments with Manures.—The following is an 
account of four experiments on the growth of Wheat, made 
j ee y ke 
minute parasitic fly, being a species of. Bracon. t— 
Ruricola. 
AMATEUR’S GARDEN.—No. XII. 3 
A snort time back, when speaking of the advantage of 
striking cuttings of plants for bedding cut in the autumn, 
T recommended them to be potted off early, in order that 
the plants might form a compact ball of roots, and be 
ready to plunge into sand at this season in temporary pits, 
80 as to set the frames and pots at liberty for more useful 
purposes. As the season has now arrived when plants 
will only require protection from frost and heavy rains, I 
should recommend a pit to be formed and the plants 
turned out without further delay. 
In forming the pit, it is only necessary to excavate the 
ground in a sheltered part of the garden to the depth of 
one foot, placing the earth so as to form an embankment 
round the, sides of the pit; on this may be placed some 
rough poles, to form rafters to support straw-frames, 
mats, or any other covering that may be used to protect 
the] plants. his is a rude contrivance, that can be used 
in every place ; but where flower-gardening is extensively 
practised, it would be well to have something of a more 
permanent character, such as brick or turf walls, with 
wooden shutters to protect the plants. 
inches thick, if formed in summer when the peat is 
dry, will resist much more frost than a brick one of 
the same di i and q 
mend a pit of the kind in every reserve-garden, as it will 
be found exceedingly useful at all seasons—in winter to 
Protect autumn-sown annuals, and in the summer for in- 
humerable purposes—as there is no doubt but that plants 
Ofall kinds in pots would be materially benefited if placed 
in pits of this description, where the pots would be pro- 
tected from currents of cold dry air, which is so injurious 
to them by abstracting moisture from the pots, and at the 
Same time communicating a chill to the roots. 
After the pit is formed, the bottom must be made pretty 
firm, and if convenient, covered over with thin turf, on 
which must be placed about three inches of fine sand. In 
this the plants may be placed, taking care to allow them 
Sufficient room to form themselves without being crowded. 
The advantages of this system are the great saving of 
labour and expense in pots; the greater mass of roots 
formed by the plants than could be the case if they were 
€xposed to the alternations of drought and moisture in 
Pots, and, what is of still greater importance as a matter 
of taste, they get rid of that foxy appearance which gene- 
Yally disfigures them so long when turned out in the ordi- 
Dary manner. 
The potting of greenhouse plants must be proceeded 
With as the plants require it. No general rule can be 
given for this operation ; the state of the plant will be the 
est guide to its proper management. 
After this mild weathe: 
* Vor dissections, &¢., see Curtis’s Brit. 
+ Ibid., pl. and fol, 69, 
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N.B.—AIl the land was prepared for Wheat-sowing in 
the Fall, but the season would not admit of the seed being 
put in till February. 
Waste of Manure.—There are in this place about 250 
cottages, and under all the streets there runs a large 
sewer, which crosses the streets and carries off into the 
river all the Suds, dish-washings, street-scourings, and 
slops of all kinds, which flow into it from all these cot- 
tages ; when, for the sum of 20/., a tank might be made 
that would hold a large quantity of this valuable manure, 
and a pump might be put down to pump it into the water- 
carts by the power of the water-wheel. Itis true another 
drain would require to be cut, which would, perhaps, cost 
107. more, as this sewer not only serves to drain all the 
cottages, but it also carries off the drainage and surface- 
water from a considerable breadth of land; but this 
additional drain would be made for 10/. Will you give 
me your opinion as to whether it is not desirable to make 
the experiment !—7\. G., Clitheroe. [Certainly it is.] 
Rust on Grapes.—Your observations at p. 132, upon 
the rust on Grapes, lead me to believe that the term is ap- 
plied by different persons to distinct diseases. If your 
definition of rust, that it covers the berries ‘‘ with a tough 
brown skin,”’ is correct, it is a very different thing to what 
I have always understood it tobe. What I call rust is 
rather a discoloration of the skin of the berry, arising, 
apparently, from a rupture of its tissue ; and this is cer- 
tainly produced by external causes, such as forcibly dash- 
ing water from a garden-engine against the young fruit, 
or handling the berries with rough or sweaty hands. In 
proof I give the following instance :—I once had the ma- 
nagement of a very large Vinery, in which the thinning of 
the fruit occupied three or four men as many days, and 
on one occasion a person employed in that work happened 
to be extremely near-sighted, which defect of vision occa- 
sioned him to handle the bunches very much in order to 
bring them close to his eye; the consequence was, that 
every bunch thinned by him was afterwards more or less 
affected by what I callrust. It is possible, however, that 
in this case the disease was not caused by the perspiration 
but by the roughness of his hands, which would injure 
the tender skin in the same way as violent syringing.— W. 
——Is it not probable that excessive and dry heat is the 
most frequent cause of rust in Grapes? The worst case 
of rust I ever saw was three or four years ago, in a Vinery 
where two or three Muscat Vines were planted at one end, 
the remaining Vines being Black Hamburgh. The gar- 
dener was a sot, and the flue rather difficult to manage, 
and the house was frequently overheated in the early part 
of the season, about February; the result was, every 
single bunch of Hamburgh was destroyed by rust, and the 
Vines much injured, but the Muscats ripened a better 
crop than I have ever seen in that house before or since, 
which may be thus accounted for : the Muscats requiring 
more heat, did not start till some time after the Ham- 
burgh, and were not in flower at the time when the Ham- 
burgh, being as big as Peas, were scorched to death. 
The gardener, seeing the mischief his dry heat had done, 
took to watering, so that the Muscats, when set, were not 
exposed to the same trial as the Hamburgh, while they 
had the benefit of the strong heat, which they enjoy —J.R. 
Pruning Pear-trees.—I am induced, after twenty-five 
ears’ attention to training and pruning Fruit-trees, and 
particularly the Pear, to make a few observations upon 
this subject, as I have followed a plan by no means gene- 
rally practised ; and, I have reason to think, with consi- 
derable advantage. Having always in view the way in 
which bearing-wood is produced upon a standard Pear- 
tree, my first object was to turn to use, and at the same 
time to reduce, the usual abundance of foreright shoots 
visible on all Pear-trees trained against a wall; and by 
laying in as many of these as possible, to bring my trained 
trees as nearly as I could to the character of a standard, 
by retaining that wood which in a standard would ina 
few years produce fruit, and which by being cut out from 
wall-trees, in most instances, renders them barren in the 
centre. It would be unnecessary to describe the nature 
of the wood which produces fruit on standard and un- 
trained trees; my object having been to obtain wood in 
my trained trees similar to that which produces fruit on 
the untrained ; and which wood, except upon the extremi- 
ties, is usually cut out anvually before it is perfected to 
produce fruit, leaving all the middle of the tree quite bar- 
ren. In most gardens I see little fruit excepting at or near 
the extremities, although some sorts of Pears blossom 
so freely, that no kind of pruning will stop them. The 
Crassane is one of our best Pears, and is of a very differ- 
ent character; seldom bearing but on the three or four 
year old wood, and at the extremities. I have one 
large Crassane, which last year was loaded with fruit all 
over the tree, and had more in the middle of the tree than 
on any other part. It shows equally well for bloom this 
season. The plan which I have adopted, is, never to cut 
off a shoot which can be laid to the wall; for by cutting 
off the foreright shoots, you only produce a succession of 
the same, without a chance of producing fruit. By laying 
in these shoots, I find less wood is produced ; and those 
buds, either on the old wood, or any short spurs which 
otherwise would have produced only wood-shoots, con- 
tinue to bear asuccession of blossom. After following this 
plan for some years, and having got my trees into a good 
bearing state all over, I direct my gardener to remove 
some of the weaker shoots entirely, and cut the ends of 
others, to throw more strength into the bearing part of the 
tree. But this is not carried into effect, until I think it 
may be done without forcing more buds than I wish to 
break into wood. I had a large Pear-tree (Aston Town), 
against a wall, which had been neglected, by merely hav- 
ing the foreright shoots cut off : as the Pear was so forced 
by being against a wall as to be of little value, though ag 
a standard the best grower, I did not like the appearance 
of the tree, and therefore directed my gardener to treat it 
in the same manner as the others. He began three years 
since by Jaying in all the foreright wood; and the larger 
part of the tree, which had borne scarcely a Pear, was last 
year quite Joaded, and promises equally well for next sea- 
son. Having got the tree into a bearing state, a great part 
of the weak shoots are cut out; but a few are left on each 
branch, to draw up the sap, and to prevent a large num- 
ber of buds from breaking into wood. J should state that 
I train many more branches in than is usually done. I 
have a Gansell’s Bergamot, which has not been planted 
above ten years ; this was last year full of blossom, and is 
this year the same. It isa tree generally more given, 
when young, to make strong wood than to produce fruit. 
—Tebroe. 
Grafting Camellias.—Mr. Beaton tells us, at p. 104, 
that “* Grafting Camellias in spring never answers well 
with any one.” He certainly cannot have written from 
experience upon this point; for, with common care, Ca-= 
mellias may be grafted in spring with almost a certainty of 
success. J have seen scores grafted at that season, and 
scarcely one in a score has failed. For grafts, well- 
ripened young shoots should betaken when they are just be- 
ginning togrow, and beforethe buds arefaradvauced. These 
are to be worked upon healthy young stocks, which should 
