

614 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Sept, 15, 1855. 



364. Carcinodes* (Canker).— The word canker is 

 used popularly to designate several diseases which are 

 essentially distinct. It is applied, in fac% to all cases 

 in which the branches or parts of them become covered 



was 



I was no " mistake " in my former statement to rectify, 



VEGETABLE PATIIOLOGY.-No. LXXX VIII. , and tfaat ^ n ^ m major part of the large t , ee? 



not transplanted by Mr. Barron, whose skill in tree 



moving I considered established ; and this was the 



reason, and no-hing else, why he was only made to * stand 



, sponsor 9 ' for the large Douglas Fir, 45 feet in height, the 



with unsightly depressions or excrescences leading more on j v tree transplanted worthy of his name — an opinion 



or less speedily to death. There is, however, the j n w i ltCtl i t j nn k m0 st people will concur when I state 



greater need to distinguish between them, because there 

 is a possibility of confounding in the same tree affections 

 which may be either constitutional or caused directly 

 by the attack of insects, and where the treatment is 

 consequently altogether different. Nothing, for instance, 

 is more common than for Apple trees to be covered 

 with rugged, depressed, ulcer-like spots, penetrating to 

 the base of the bark and denuding the wood, to the 



that with the exception of it, the Spanish Chesnut, and 

 the Magnolias, all the others were transplanted three 

 years ago by means of a common truck/ Nevertheless, 

 such is the kind of trees for the removal of which Mr. 



Barron is disappointed he did not receive * a certain 

 meed of praise ! " Those transplanted by me had no 

 such previous preparation to facilitate their removal as 

 that just described ; and all the Deodars, together with 

 ultimate destruction of every part on which they appear. t | ie largest Araucarias and others planted by me, were 

 These spots, however, are not constitutional, but are brought a distance of from 1 8 to 20 miles nearly two 

 caused by the irritation consequent on the presence of mon th s later in the season than when Mr. Barron moved 

 the woolly aphis, commonly known under the name of n j g treeg . therefore, of course, diminishing my chance 



the American blight. If proper measures be taken to 

 destroy and prevent the spreading of the insect, though 

 the parts already affected cannot be thoroughly cured, 

 the new shoots will be clear. There is, however, 

 another affection of somewhat similar appearance which 



altogether constitutional, and therefore cannot be 

 entirely suppressed, though injurious consequences may 

 be warded off by timely excision of the parts affected. 

 New branches will not, iudeed, be exempt from attack, 

 as in the case just indicated. 



365. IF was mentioned above that many trees have a 

 tendency to throw out roots from their bark, where 

 moisture is purposely or accidentally applied, where 

 the natural perspiration is prevented by the intervention 

 of any thick substance in contact with it, or where 

 the sap stagnates in more than usual abundance by mere 

 gravitation. The roots which appear so often on Vine 

 branches, or where felt is in contact with the smooth 

 bark of the Fig, are familiar examples. Such 



cir- 



of success, yet, as Mr. B. himself admits, " all have done 

 well. 1 ' In taking leave of this subject I may add that 

 I have not a word to say against Mr. Barron or his 

 machine, which, by the way, is a very good one ; and 

 to do his man justice, he certainly did give me a 

 " notion " how to work it — a piece of knowledge I regret 

 to say I was unable to put into practice, as my trees 

 were moved by a different apparatus. William Forsyth, 



Gunnersbury Park. 



Dwarf Fruit Trees.— Are Apples and Pears on dwarf 

 trees less hardy than on standards or espaliers \ Your 

 observations in the last Number on the hardy fruits at 

 Chiswick show such to be the case this season. Do you 

 suppose it generally will be so \ R. Varden, Seaford 

 Grange, near Pershore. [The coldest stratum of air is 

 that next the ground. You can ascertain this by placing 

 three thermometers, some cold bright night, one next 

 the ground, one 6 feet above it, and another 6 or more 

 | feet higher. Therefore dwarf trees are most apt to lose 



cumstances maybe attended by no ulterior &&». their blossoms in very cold bright spring nights.] 

 quences, or they may induce dise-C wnere they are Dioscorea Batatas.— Whether our friend " Yam" __ 

 not considered lndica^a of a morbid condition in wr i t ins down this Dioscorea is right or wrong yet remains 



in 



themselvpo^ in ^ ne commoil Laurel, for instance, no- 

 thing is more common than for branches to become 

 cankered where roots have made their appearance. 

 Had such spots been in contact with the ground, they 

 would have increased and ramifie'l, without any detri- 

 ment to health, tending only to spread the tree over a 



to be seen. I have no great opinion of its ever being a 

 substitute for or superseding the Potato, yet it may, 

 when we become better acquainted with it, prove a 

 useful auxilliary. " Mr. Yam" seems to have had very 

 meagre success in his endeavours to cultivate this new 

 root. I have only one, of which I will now give you a 



wider surface ; but where they are pushed forward into ' concise history. I received a small (very small) tuber 

 the air alone, their tips soon wither, decay commences, from p aris in tne spr i D g f last year ; I potted and 



the bark separates, and the whole branch ultimately 

 falls from the infection of contiguous tissues. Such 

 roots are sometimes, however, protruded in very 

 different positions, where there is no force of gravita- 

 tion, and where they frequently lead to evil. A 

 young Apple tree for instance may appear to be 

 in the most perfectly healthy condition, fruitful 

 spurs are abundantly produced, a sufficient quan- 

 tity of fruit arrives at perfection, and all seems 

 likely to be well for an indefinite period ; when most 

 unexpectedly, just above the scars of the leaves, which 

 have now become immensely expanded on the smooth 

 stems, little ra : sed spots appear, which soon give rise to 

 fascicles of short roots. The tips soon wither from 

 lack of moisture, the adjacent and subjacent tissues 

 change their colour from the oxydation of the contained 

 chlorophyll, decay commences, and ultimately the trunk 

 is covered with unsightly patches, which give admission 

 to external moisture, afford a fit nidus for destructive 

 larvae, and in the end induce serious mischief. The 

 wisest course is to cut out carefully the spots as soon as 

 they appear, so that they may shortly be covered by 

 healthy bark. If neglected, there can be little doubt 

 about the ultimate consequences. Such spots, more- 

 over, afford a ready hiding-place for the woolly aphis, 

 and the blame is laid upon the insect, though the first 

 attack was perfectly constitutional, and might have led 

 to serious mischief without the agency of more than 



mere atmospheric causes. M. J. B, 



started it in heat, and subsequently planted it out, not, 

 to tell the truth, setting much store by it. The plant 

 in the course of the summer and autumn got overrun 

 by Cucumbers, and was forgotten. In autumn I took 

 it up, when it had grown somewhat larger than my 

 middle finger. It was placed in a pot of light, dry 

 earth, and set on the bench in the potting-shed through- 

 out the severe weather in winter. In spring it was 

 started in heat, and when it had pushed some length, I 

 raised a hillock at the corner of a border, turned it out 

 and tied it to a stick about 34 feet high. It has grown 

 luxuriantly without any further care, the shoots hang- 

 ing by the stick and twining round each other in wild 

 confusion. What the root or tuber will be remains to 

 be seen ; but at present the plant is luxuriant. Since 

 planting it out a pot of water when dry is all the care it 

 has had. It may possibly not succeed in every de- 



old plant a short time after the flowers of the latter had 

 disappeared. The offsets were all rooted, and one lot 

 was wintered in a cool frame ; by being rooted I f 

 course mean that the offsets had pieces of root attached 

 to them when they were potted. The compost in both 

 instances consisted of peat and sand. The second lot 

 was kept close under hand-glasses in the cutting house. 

 Those wintered in the frame all perished, and all but 

 5 out of 25 offsets which passed the winter under hand- 

 glasses likewise died. In consequence of these failures 

 I was induced to detach a few more offsets late this 

 spring ; I potted them as before, and placed them in * 

 shady situation in the open air. These plants are now 

 growing vigorously. R. Miles, Bristol. 



The Laurustinus seeds so abundantly, and grows so 

 freely from seed, that I think it is to be regretted that 

 we content ourselves with taking advantage of its pro- 

 pensity for rooting at every joint, and constantly raise 

 our supply of plants from layers or cuttings ; and it 

 must be in a great measure owing to this mode of pro- 

 pagation that we possess so few varieties of this much 

 esteemed shrub. I have been led to offer these remarks 

 from seeing a bed containing several thousands of seed- 

 lings, and a most interesting robust various-leaved group 

 they presented. I found that they withstood the severity 

 of the past winter, when thus only a few inches high, 

 without even the assistance of that excellent protector 

 snow. They consequently suggest the probability of 

 belonging to a hardier race, and assure us of their being 

 different in form by already assuming the perfectly 

 upright pyramidal shape so generally the characteristic 

 of the plant from seed. This alone, irrespective of the 

 chance of a diversity of flower or foliage, would amply 

 compensate for a little more trouble being paid to this 

 subject than it has hitherto received. /. M., Folkestone. 



Transplanting Machines. — I observe with satisfaction 

 and regret the discussion which has commenced in your 

 Paper on this subject, which appears calculated to lead to 

 the comparative value of the various machines for the pur- 

 pose which, within the last four years, have been brought 

 before the public ; with satisfaction because a good 

 honest conclusion thereupon is of importance to pro- 

 prietors of estates generally, and to professional men 

 in particular ; with regret because it is mixed up with 

 an expression of feeling displaying acerbity of manner, 

 and which in all cases is liable to lead to recrimination. 

 Cannot such matters be managed with a simple reference 

 to facts ? It would be more creditable to all parties. 

 I must express my regret that a gentleman of Mr. 

 Barron's well known high standing in regard to personal 

 character and professional ability, should in the third 

 person have ** slashed" so pointedly at your favourable 

 report of Mr. M'Glashen's apparatus and experiment* 

 a few years since ; and have attributed the manner of 

 the report of Gunnersbury to neglect of his merits, or 

 an intention to underrate them, or cast or leave them 

 in the shade. I think no candid man, on reading the 

 said report, would have seen in it a sufficient call for 

 Mr. Barron's sharp rebuke ; and if he felt that omissions 

 or inaccuracies existed in it, a simple rectification of 

 them would, I am sure, have received all due and 

 respectful attention from you, and have been per- 

 fectly satisfactory to your readers. I cannot, more- 

 over, see in " Observer's " letter any sufficient 

 cause for Mr. Barron's manner in his reply there- 

 on. I considered the suggestions of " Observer " very 

 valuable, and if they can be acted upon they would tend 



scription of soil ; but ours is far from being any of the much to give each machine its fair place in the eyes of 



Home Correspondence. 



Trees Transplanted at Gunnersbury Park. — Permit 

 me, in reply to Mr. Barron's request, to furnish you 

 with the names and heights of the trees moved by him 

 and me respectively. Of these Mr. Barron transplanted 

 Magnolia cordata, 22 feet ; two M. grandiflora, 15 fe*t ; 

 one ditto, 12 feet ; a Spanish Chesnut, 20 feet ; Cupres- 

 sus macrocarpa, 17 feet ; ditto, 16 feet ; Pinus cembra, 

 17 feet ; ditto, 11 feet ; Abies Douglasi (not the large 

 one about which so much has been said), 16 feet ; two 

 Pinus insignis, 14 feet; Chinese Arborvitse, 15 feet; 

 a Chinese Juniper, 13 feet ; Juniper us excelsa, 10 feet ; 

 Pinus excelsa, 12 feet ; and two variegated Hollies, each 

 11 feet in height. The above constitute the whole of 

 the trees operated on by Mr. Barron or his man. The 

 following were moved by me, viz. : — Two Deodars, each 

 21 feet in height ; one ditto, 16 feet; four ditto, each 

 15 feet ; two ditto, 13 feet ; two ditto, 12 feet ; and one 

 ditto, 10 feet; also Taxodium sempervirens, 11 feet; 

 A Cryptomeria, 1 4 feet ; and another, 1 5 feet ; Arau- 

 caria imbricata, 13 feet ; ditto, J 1 feet ; ditto, 10 feet ; 

 ditto, feet ; Pinus Pinsapo, 10 feet ; P. macrocarpa, 

 11 feet ; P. Ayacahuite, 8 feet ; Buxus Balearica,10 feet 

 (and 20 feet in circumference) ; a Cork tree (Quercus 

 suber), 10 feet: besides numbers of other trees, the 

 mention of whose names would occupy too much of 

 your space. From the above it will be seen that there 



* From moixme, a cancer; and i#3#r, resemblance. 



best. Quercus. 



New Belgian Strawberry. — At page 739 of last year's 

 Chronicle you noticed very favourably a new Belgian 

 Strawberry called De'lices d'Automne ; shortly after- 

 wards Mr. Verschaffelt, of Ghent, advertised it at the 

 rate of six plants for 10s. I immediately ordered that 

 quantity, and in due time received them. I potted 

 them and placed them in a cool pit for the winter, 

 and brought them gently forwards with a late 

 crop of forced Strawberries. I planted them out in 

 May on a south border, where they have made a great 

 quantity of runners, but not a single blossom has as yet 

 appeared. I shall, therefore, be glad to know if any 

 of your correspondents who may have purchased and 

 tried this variety has been more successful than myself. 

 S. B., Elton. 



To make Guava Jelly. — Have Guavas ready peeled by 

 midday ; put them whole into, say a 4- quart glazed jar ; 

 put the jar into an iron pot of boiling water, and as 

 the Guavas sink, by the drawing of the juice, fill up 

 with other Guavas. Keep a fire under the pot during 

 the night. Next midday strain off the juice through 

 linen ; put it into a preserving pan ; to each teacup- 

 full of juice add a teacup of sugar, clayed sugar will do, 

 refined preferable ; just as the juice and sugar are well 

 mixed and boiled up, take off the fire and carefully 

 strain ; clean the preserving pan, put again on the fire 

 and constantly skim till it becomes of proper consistence, 

 which you see by dropping a little on a plate from the 

 ladle, immediately cooling and becoming hard. /. Sal- 

 mon, J un., Goshen, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, Aug. 1. 



Propagation of Gynerium argenteum } or Pampas 

 Grass. — The hardiness of this Grass has been sufficiently 

 tested, several large plants of it in the neighbourhood of 

 London having withstood the sharp frost of last winter; 

 it is, however, generally admitted to be difficult to pro- 

 pagate. There are few herbaceous plants capable of 

 being propagated by division that do not grow freely, 

 provided the division be effected after the parent plant 

 has ceased flowering. This does not appear to be the 

 j case with the Gynerium. Two instances occurred last 

 I autumn in which the offsets were separated from the 



the public. As your Paper is so extensively circulated 

 amongst landed proprietors, perhaps some of those who 

 desire to have large trees moved would allow a fair 

 competition of the kind to be carried out upon their 

 property, and I would move an amendment to the sug- 

 gestion that, if possible, several experiments be made 

 on different soils, giving the competitors also any choice 

 of time and season, with liberty to make such pre- 

 liminary preparations as they deemed necessary, within 

 twelve months of the arrangement being made. As to 

 terms I would suggest that the proprietors should defray 

 the usual charges of the operators ; that the public 

 might be made acquainted with the comparative expense 

 as well as with the result ; and further that perfect fair- 

 ness may be insured, the operations should be watched by 

 a committee of professional men to which each competitor 

 should name a member ; and the proprietors of the 

 several estates on which the experiments were con- 

 ducted should also be on the committee themselves or 

 name a deputy ; and with yourself as chairman, 

 hope Mr. Barron will believe that I have no interestett 

 motive in recommending this course save that of obtain- 

 ing conclusive information ; and I offer the suggestion 

 as one by which he may have fair play, but no * av0 ?£ 

 I believe Mr. Barron desires no more. William D*™* 

 son, Landscape Gardener, 36, Great Russell Street* 



Bedford Square, London. * 



Cattleya Mossice.—l have this with three seed poo* 

 on it, each more than an inch in diameter. The p» 

 had 1 6 flowers all expanded upon it at one time, anam 

 order to keep it in perfection as long as possible, A n» 

 it suspended in a shady corner of an airy ff^^^Z 

 There were at the time quantities of humble and op 

 bees working amongst the greenhouse flowers, ana 

 these I attribute its having been fertilised and set 

 seed. I have flowered this Cattleya some years au>«* 



i u— * t nn .«-^M r**\+ £\rt€x **\ ct*f>i\ hftfore. ** G 



with others, but I never got one to seed before 

 the description given of one shown in June last u 

 Sion I judge mine to be the same variety ; »t nas w 

 large flowers ; one which I measured was » in 

 across, and it had the deepest-coloured purple «*J» 

 or markings on the lip which I ever saw on any °* *" 



