502 



THE OAftT)ENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[July 28, 1 



Wasps. 



much 



GRAFTED RHODODENDRONS. 

 The advocates of grafted Rhododendrons have laid 

 great stress upon the profusion of flower afforded by 

 their favourites in comparison with sell-rooted plants, 

 I was not prepared to contest this advantage ; analogy 

 warrants if, and my own experience was too limited to 

 justify me in contesting the assertion. It is true that 

 my limited experience was most unfavourable. Of all 



the plants of grafted Rhododendrons which I possess or uv ^^ __, 



ever did possess (for several have died), one and one j tb have bee n killed for many years, and they are 

 only has flowered. It is a plant of R. arboreum, of i .{ e ag plentiful as they ever were, borne years we 

 which I possess the original, and it was grafted 18 or £ ave scarce ly been able to see a wasp all summer 



20 years ago, in hopes that it would flower sooner and tnrouK h f and I have particularly remarked tnat trie 

 * « P :, .. r ._ i __i_ mu: ft „t n MAnU c ! . ? ' _^j j ik An . in vtrofnftirm. Any entomo- 



I have often wished to ask your readers . taking place ! an» ««. „ mucnrea.o:, tofearthi 



. ^m u every notice from the committee of an election^ 



whether they have derived any benefit from having 

 given a penny apiece for Queen wasps, and Dr Lisle a 

 5 emarks P remindme of it Many have I know to lowed 

 this plan for years. If I remember rightly the number 

 killed at Mr Strutt's, at Belper, in Derbyshire, was 

 enormous, as mentioned in your Paper some years 

 since" It seems a paradox to say that killing thousands 

 of Queen wasps does not at all diminish them but I have 

 no doubt it is trne. I live close to some gardens where 



;Hp<1 for mar^ „ 



were. Some years we 



*» 



sioners to fill up vacancies, a sufficient number nf * 

 old subscribers thus qualified will present th«™Ji 

 and so prevent an election altogether. 1 hopeth!!t 



2 



me an opportunity of testing its correctness ; not m 

 nursery gardens, where the treatment may be peculiar, 

 but in private collections, where the plants have been 

 subjected to the treatment they must ordinarily receive. 



My own grafted plants are few, eight or ten at most ; 

 they are in full vigour, and have had the advantage of 

 being transplanted annually in two successive year-. 

 The amount of flower produced by them was three 

 heads, and three only ; two on a plant of Victoria ; one 

 on a plant of atrosanguineum. The remaining six 

 produced no flowers. The plants are about 3 feet in 

 diameter, some larger. Self-rooted plants of the same 

 dimensions, planted at the same time, and subjected to 

 the same treatment, have all flowered except K. cauca- 

 sicum ; always, I believe, a shy flowerer. 



Surprised at these facts, I visited a much larger 

 collection of grafted plants in my own neighbourhood 

 somewhat larger and older, and very favourably circum- 

 stanced for flower. They were planted in long narrow 

 borders, and I examined the first 36 plants. Of these 

 two, and two only, had flower-buds, and each of these 

 but few. Self-rooted plants of commoner kinds in the 

 adjacent borders were flowering freely. 



It has been a remarkably favourable season for 

 Rhododendrons, my own have never flowered so freely. 

 I was surprised and disappointed at the failure of my 

 grafted plants. At this present time, when all are 

 growing luxuriantly, the grafted plants may be distin- 

 guished at once by the pale and sickly hue of their 

 leaves ; not deficient, it is true, in size, but utterly 

 deficient in colour and appearance of vigour. Is it the 

 want of chlorophyll which prevents their flowering ? 

 Dark green healthy foliage is generally the precursor of 

 good flower, and pale and sickly foliage the result of 

 excessive flowering, and the precursor of deficient 

 bloom. My observations may be unpalateable, but I 

 can only record facts as I find them, and I have no 

 right to suppose that I have lighted upon exceptional 

 cases. /. J?. 



profuse flowering was more especially directed to ___ f te n much more. 



hybrids of recent origin; and this year has afforded attract wasps in spring, from the abundance of Laurels 



• ' — — ** -*—— • —* ™ &c and they come long distances to them. But I will 



not'lrouble you with more. I will only end as I began 

 by expressing my doubts whether any one can say they 

 have perceived any diminution in consequence of the 

 wholesale destruction of Queen wasps at their gardens, 

 and begging all who have tried it to say. J. 



German Yeast — I observe in the evidence of Dr. 

 Normandy, before the Committee on the Adulteration 

 of Food, that the use of German yeast is supposed to be 

 the cause « of a peculiar disorder." Owing to the diffi- 

 culty, in the country especially, of obtaining brewers' 

 yeast, and the bitterness it often imparts to home-made 

 bread, the use of German yeast has become general, 

 notwithstanding its high price, which is Is. Ad. per lb. ; 

 and as it does not keep above a few days, I have to send 

 for it twice a week, so that it is a tax of some moment 

 in one's housekeeping. Surely, the nature of the sub- 

 stance in question may be ascertained by analysis ; how 

 is it, then, that the profits on its sale are entirely in the 

 hands of foreigners ? for I am told that it is all manu- 

 factured on the continent. Perhaps some one of your 

 readers will take in hand this important subject ; and 



committee have well considered the probable eft* 

 this rule upon future prospects ; in my opinion, if fc£ 

 carried out, it will m a manner swamp the instiuwS 

 preventing the general body of subscribers from f£5 

 exercising their privilege of voting at all el*-^? 



which I again assert must be preserved to UW 

 violate. I do not intend to defend Blair's *" 

 indeed I regret that a man who never si 



election* 



««!•. 



guinea to the institution should so easily hare 

 rough-shod over so many deserving men ; at the 

 time such a case as Blair's is exceptional, aad"^ 

 occasionally, but very rarely occur, for there wen p«Z 

 liar circumstances attending his election ; for am» 

 gardeners, amateurs, and horticulturists, Blair's i2 

 is a " household word," the beautiful Rose raised bjkj 

 " a gem among gems," having made many friends for tj 

 long before the Gardeners' Benevolent Instiratioii m 

 in existence, and I am informed that many nefa 

 became subscribers to be enabled to vote for Mm 



One who has looked into Rule 6. 1 have i*. 



nessed with regret the results of the last election of 





Home Correspondence. 



How to Cut Hedges. — Almost all the Thorn hedges 

 one sees are. clipped square, i. e., the top is made flat 

 and the sides perpendicular, the object apparently being 

 to make them as like a wall as possible. An obser- 

 vation I heard made lately seems to have a great deal 

 of truth in it, viz., that this system has a great tendency 

 to make the hedge grow thin below, and that it is a 

 much better way to keep it widest at the base and let it 

 gradually taper to a point at the top. I have certainly 

 seen hedges managed in this way present a beautifully 

 close surface, which I attribute to the plan of allowing 

 a much greater number of shoots to reach the outside. 

 Hedges kept square are very apt, when old, to get 

 M blanky," and grow bare near the ground, even though 

 the top may be quite thick and flourishing. In this 

 case there is no remedy but cutting down, always a dis- 

 agreeable necessity, for then all shelter is gone at once, 

 whereas this would very seldom be necessary if the 

 hedge was kept in a pyramidal shape, for then there 

 would always be plenty of shoots close to the ground 

 equally young and growing as those at the top. A 

 Northern. [Tin's is excellent advice, but we are con- 

 cerned to hear that our north-country friends stand in 

 need of it.] 



Protecting Fruit Trees from Frost in Spring is a thing 



to which I have paid considerable attention. My father, 



who for nearly 40 years had the care of an excellent 



Peach wall, never protected, and always had a good crop 



when the greatest sticklers for protecting had. I have 



tried both ways in different places, and I am yet at a 



loss to know which is best. In a situation in which I 



lived 10 years, I always protected with old tarred fishing 



nets, fastening them under the wall coping, and then to 



the bottom, as if to protect Cherries from birds, and 



forked sticks, about 8 inches in length, propped them 



out from the wall ; but the best crop and finest was 



always from a part of the wall where the foundation 



had given way, causing it to lean south, with the coping 



projecting 4 inches, which cleared the trees of rain, and, 



consequently, kept them always dry or nearly so. I am, 



therefore, most in favour of coping-boards, about a foot 



in width, and projecting from the wall top so as to throw 



ram or strong dews *ff the blossom, and if matting or 



canvas is to be employed it can be readily done by 



fastening wire rods under the boards, and curtain rings 



fastened to the nets or canvas will allow the covering 



to be easily drawn aside during fine days, and the whole 



should be removed when the season- is sufficiently 



advanced to render such coverings unneceattrv, W H 



if he cannot altogether discover the exact composition 

 of German yeast, he may ascertain what is the poisonous 

 matter (if any) which it contains. I should be glad 

 also to know how to remove the bitterness of brewers' 

 yeast, which also (so my housekeepers have averred) 

 is less favourable to the lightness of the bread than 

 German, and how bakers, who use their own yeast, 

 make it. As respects the adulteration of food in 

 general, it is high time that Government inspectors 

 should, as is done in weights and measures, visit period- 

 ically the shops of provision-dealers of every descrip- 

 tion, and in addition to a punishment by fine, &c, 

 publish the name of every delinquent. No doubt the 

 baneful influence of the tradesmen on borough members, 

 and through them on Government, will be brought to 

 bear against such a measure (and the licensed victual- 

 lers know well what can be done in that way) ; but let 

 us hope for some check on such wholesale poisoning. 

 W. B. [It appears from a letter in the Times that Dr. 

 Normandy's evidence was misreported, and that he did 

 not attribute to German yeast the production of a 

 " peculiar disease," whatever that might mean. What 

 he does appear to have said was, that he was uninformed 

 on the subject. According to Pereira, this substance is 

 merely ordinary yeast deprived of its water by filtra- 

 tion and subsidence. If so, there is no apparent reason 

 why it should produce illness more than other yeast, 

 unless it becomes putrid, in which state it would doubt- 

 less be unfit for use unless the high temperature to 

 which bread is exposed in baking should destroy its 

 noxious quality. The most ready means of removing 

 the bitterness of brewers' yeast is by repeatedly wash- 

 ing it. As to adulteration of food, no doubt there is 

 enough of that ; but there is no lack of exaggeration 

 also.] 



Black Italian Poplars. — I had not failed to observe 

 your notice of my query some months ago, but the 

 surprise you expressed at learning that I considered 

 these trees profitable induced an unwillingness to reply 

 until I had well ascertained some facts. The only uses 

 to which I believe the wood is applied in this neighbour- 

 hood are roofs and floors for cottages and outbuildings, 

 and the repairs of bottoms of cart bodies and wheel- 

 barrows, but for these purposes it meets a ready sale at 

 1*. per foot. Of two trees which were planted in 1821, 

 and blown down in 1853 on a farm of mine in the south- 



pensioners to this institution, and like your corresn 

 ents who have written on the subject, I cannot Up 

 thinking that an undue amount of influence is exerewd 

 in the election of pensioners, which may, if not speffflj 

 corrected, lead to unpleasant consequences. It ii & 

 tressing to think that " favouritism * should hare pa* 

 trated so far as the Gardeners' Benevolent InstitotiOB. 

 I should be glad if you could inform subscribers to tke 

 charity in whose hands this influence is vested, for 

 elections be more fairly conducted, 1 have good reuoc 

 to believe that they will give rise to strong and genenl 

 dissatisfaction, and the benevolent intentions of then- 

 stitution be marred and defeated by the exercise of i 

 system as utterly opposed to the principles of soda 

 charity as it is contrary to all fairness and common seat 

 /. T. K., Croydon, July 25. 



Diseased Onions.— With respect to your suggestion of 

 securing seed from some ot the diseased Onions, t 

 sample of which I sent you, and distributing it to suck 

 persons as might be willing to try whether the cwp 

 will fail equally in other districts, I beg to inform pn 

 that such is the destructive nature of the disease that 

 not one Onion was left in less than a fortnight from the 

 time I sent you the specimens. When they armei* 

 that stage of growth they fall to the ground like wee* 

 cut with the hoe, and wither away. Next season I pjf- 

 pose to grow some in pots, using of course the soda 

 which they have hitherto failed, and place the pots a 

 various positions and situations, and should the due* 

 again make its appearance, I will not fail to send joii 

 pot of them. D. Sinclair, Campsall Ball, Doncutff' 



Foreign Correspondence. 



Leaves from my Chinese Note-Book, No. a.- 

 Effects of Rebellion on China and its Prod*ctm£<» 

 returning to Shanghae a few days ago I found tW \m 

 rebel band who had held the city so long bad tea 

 destroyed or dispersed, and the ^ penal i^"£ 

 hoisted once more on the ramparts. But wbaU*-» 

 of desolation was now presented to my view . «r 

 the rebels evacuated the city, the brave topMJJ 

 entered it and immediately set * <» ^ ^J 

 places. The evening on which tfui i tool £> J 

 perfectly calm, and the scene must have wen 

 the grandest and at the same timeonej^J 

 painful ever beheld. The fire was «/* «J /J 

 along the ramparts and destroying teDtane 

 thesf having been occupied only a few h^*j 

 the insurgents. Then the city ™^j£c* 

 been set fire to in several places, and ow ug t «■ ^ 

 struction of the houses (they » ta £v£ J&. 

 Pine and bricks), the fire spread witl fe«rw jg^ 

 The whole city, about three miles m j* ~ 

 appeared to be in flames -guilty ™*%* hf0 » 



knew not. 



the Imperial 



In the midst of all this terror - j- 

 ial soldiers were plundering what d 



was n<rt ver )' 



left by the rebels, which I believe wmj- ^ 

 and l/unting down the un fortua » » , » $"^4* 



heads off and claim the promised £"*{ in 



I.,,.. .. _ i„of vocnnree. hid tnemseivc 



mi* 



latter, as a last resource, 



hoping thus to escape the- r^J^ *>** 



them were discovered and d^^Sg <** * 

 used this as a pretence for to* * ^ # 

 coffins of the dead in order to g ^ 



gold and silver ornaments which are fe ^j 



with the bodies after death Su eb ^ ^J 

 accompaniments of a wbefton « d ^ 



But these details are jww ^j^ 



west of Suffolk, one contained 128, the other 57 cubic 

 feet, and in this immediate neighbourhood 336 trees 

 planted at intervals in the years 1819 to 1822 were 

 sold in the spring of 1854 by auction, and fetched 

 124Z. 15s. The area of the ground in which they grew 

 was 4 T ^ acres, and whilst the trees stood the pasturage 

 of the land was let for about 5s. per acre. Diss. 

 ^{Gardeners' Benevolent hist itut ion — I think your corre- 

 spondents are labouring under a mistake in the observa- coumry. w» imvuv - , matters. Tf * B TJ f 

 tions they have made respecting this most excellent ! leave them and pass onto otne^ one-tW rd *^ 



institution. In my opinion the election of pensioners hArft a few dftYS since - — ^habitants 



must be left to the general body of its subscribers, irre- 

 ' spective of being bound or tied down to vote for this or 

 that man. The privilege of voting should be freely exer- 

 cised, the more free the better for the institution ; if 

 your correspondent's ideas were fully carried out, the 

 institution in a very short period would become a mere 

 benefit or annuity society — a state of things never con- 

 templated by its founders. Are your correspondents 

 aware that the time will soon arrive when many of the 

 older subscribers will become entitled, according to 

 rule 6, to be placed upon the funds, without any election 



here a few days since i w» inbab 



ancient city in ruins. 1h* P o(s wte* -£ 



wandering about looking out lor im w&*fe 



dwellings formerly stood f}"™J* brick^S 

 ing their boundaries with a fow^ ken and ^ 

 oAhem seemed completely hear b o^ , Mg 



and were taking no steps f re ^ veranc e for fjg^ 

 With all the industry ; and perse ^ W£ # 



