120 Answers to Queries, and Queries. 



thing that might lead to that desirable end, and confer an invaluable benefit 

 on all those connected with horticultural pursuits: — 



Is mildew a constitutional disease in some genera of plants ? Is it itself a 

 vegetable, or is it an insect ? 



It is generally thought that cold wet soils and cold wet seasons, if they 

 do not actually produce it, very much promote its growth ; but it is a well 

 known fact, that mildew is found prevalent in a greater or less degree in 

 almost every soil and situation in this country, in hot and dry, as well as 

 in cold and wet seasons ; and, unless there are different species or varieties 

 of it, how is it that in the hottest seasons, and on the driest soils, our culinary 

 vegetables, particularly the leguminous and brassica tribes, suffer so much 

 by it as often to be entirely destroyed ; while on cold soils and in wet sea- 

 sons, mildew on such vegetables seldom appears ? 



It is well known to many gardeners that peach and nectarine trees, 

 bearing dark-coloured fruit, as the Royal George, Red Magdalen, Ga- 

 lande, &c. peaches, the Red Roman, Newington, and other nectarines, are 

 very subject to mildew in almost every soil and situation, while the light 

 or pale coloured, as the Noblesse, Montauban, and Vanguard peaches, the 

 white, Due de Tello, and other pale-coloured nectarines, are scarcely ever 

 affected by it. With roses I have found it the same. Rose trees, bearing 

 dark-coloured flowers, are seldom free from mildew, while those which 

 bear light-coloured flowers are very little affected by it. 



It may be said that the dark-coloured peaches and nectarines are the 

 finest, and require more heat to ripen their wood ; but that, I should sup- 

 pose, is hardly correct, for we see that some of the light-coloured peaches 

 are latest, and, indeed, scarcely ripen either, their fruit or wood in this 

 country in the best seasons : I might instance the Catherine and other 

 Clingtone peaches, and the White and other nectarines, both Clingstones 

 and Freestones. 



Some are of opinion that mildew is a plant, and its seeds being very 

 small are carried about with the wind, and, if those species or varieties of 

 plants whose juices are congenial to its nature are more glutinous or more 

 pubescent than their neighbours, they are most apt to catch the seeds as 

 they fly, and consequently liable to be most affected by it ; but, on the 

 most minute inspection, I cannot perceive that dark-coloured peach or 

 nectarine trees are more glutinous or more pubescent, either in foliage, 

 wood, or fruit, than those of a light colour. The dark-coloured roses are 

 certainly more pubescent, in the young shoots and leaves, than some of the 

 white or blush varieties ; but none of them are so pubescent as the differ- 

 ent varieties of the moss rose, which are not so subject to mildew as the 

 darker-coloured roses. 



From the above considerations, I would ,beg to submit, Is mildew infec- 

 tious ? and, Why are trees, bearing high-coloured fruits or flowers, more 

 liable to its attacks than others ? I am, Sir, &c. — J. Y. Perthshire, June 7. 

 1827. 



Fruiting the Pine-apple. — In large collections of pine plants, it fre- 

 quently happens that several full-grown plants fail of fruiting in due season, 

 while at the same time some of the succession plants show fruit twelve 

 months earlier than is desirable, though precisely under the same mode of 

 treatment as to soil, air, water, &c. Any information by which the evils 

 stated above may be remedied, and the fruiting of pine plants be reduced 

 to a greater degree of certainty, will be very acceptable to — A Pine-Grower. 

 May 25. 1827. 



Bearbindand Wire-worms. — I am much troubled with these, and very 

 desirous of knowing how I can destroy them. — A Kentish Reader. Bar- 

 frestone, June 30. 1827. 



