Transactions of the London Horticultural Society. 471 



since my trees have been treated in the manner above mentioned ; but whether 

 this has been owing to any beneficial operation of the wash upon the blossoms, 

 or to the more perfect maturity of the wood in consequence of the preserv- 

 ation of the early leaves of the preceding season, I am wholly at a loss to con- 

 jecture. 



" I applied the wash in the present season to my apricot trees ; whether, 

 with any beneficial effects or not, I am, of course, unable to decide ; but I 

 have a very good crop of apricots, of which few persons can, I believe, boast 

 in the present season : it is much better than I have had in much more ap- 

 parently favourable seasons. I place, hov/ever, but little confidence in the 

 wash relatively to its operation in this case, as I am wholly incapable of con- 

 jecturing by what possible means it can operate beneficially. I am, however, 

 much too ignorant of the laws of vegetable life to decide that it did not operate 

 beneficially ; and as the wash banishes the red spider, the experiment appears 

 to deserve repetition. I employed in covering my trees the same article, which 

 I have used during many years. It consists of the slender twigs of the birch 

 tree, which are attached to the wall, generally by being pushed in under the 

 branches of the wall tree, and made to hang with their points downwards. 

 These branches of the birch tree are about a yard long, and so placed that 

 their points stand out about 18 in. from the wall ; and the quantity I em- 

 ploy is about as great as to afford a cover equivalent to that given by a double 

 ordinary net. The young shoots of an elm tree, which has been shreaded 

 two years, will afford nearly as good a covering ; and such shoots may be 

 taken off with benefit to the elm tree. I think the covering here recommended 

 preferable to that of a net, as that is usually employed. The expense of it is 

 very small, and the labour trifling ; and I think that it is better calculated to 

 intercept the heat, which radiates from the ground ; and the effects of such 

 radiating heat are, I believe, in particular states and degrees of the tempera- 

 ture of the night, of no inconsiderable importance. I have, in some cases, 

 applied the wash to my trees before covering them, and in others after ; and I 

 think the last-named practice the best. In making the wash, I use equal parts 

 of flowers of sulphur, of quicklime, and of soot." 



We have given this and several other communications of Mr. Knight entire, 

 because what they contain, in our opinion at least, is of such a nature that it 

 would evaporate under the operation of abridgment. 



31. A new Method of destroying Insects 'in Stoves and Green-houses. By Mr. 

 James Ingram. Read August 1. 1837. 



" It is gratifying to me to be enabled to inform my brother horticulturists of 

 an effective and cheap method to destroy the red spider, scale, thrips, and 

 green fly, without injuring the most tender plant. Where there are but few 

 plants infested with either kind of insect, take a one-light frame and place the 

 plants infested about 4 in. apart, and then procure from one to two gallons 

 of green laurel leaves and well bruise them ; immediately place them between 

 the pots and close the frame with the least possible delay, taking care to 

 keep the frame air-tight ; at the expiration of one hour take out the plants 

 infested with red spider and green fly, and it will be found that they cease 

 to exist. 



" It will take from eight to twelve hours to destroy the thrips and scale ; 

 at the expiration of that time take out the plants, place them in a 

 warm and exposed situation, and in a few days the insects will all dry up 

 and fall off. 



" When plants are infested in stoves or green-houses with either insect, the 

 process must be a little varied. A house 12 feet by 20 will require about two 

 bushels of leaves ; they can be bruised in the house, and placed in a tub or 

 box, and covered with a sack or cloth until a sufficient quantity is bruised ; 

 then they are to be strewed in the paths, and between the pots and other 

 vacant places, and the house must be kept as close as possible for at least 



