Junk 15, 1912] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



383 





THE 



cncvs'&bromde 



ably it is attributable, in large measure, result, nearly all the Plums set upon it 

 to this cause. That the failure of Black having failed to swell. The case of some 



Currants to set fruit on the ends of 

 the strigs is due to lack of moisture 



young 

 while it 



trees of President is similar, 



is the same with Greengage, 



No. 1J89.—8ATTJHI>AY % June 15, 1912 



CONTENTS 



Agricult ure in the 



Transvaal 



Board of Agriculture 



and Fisheries 



Books, notices of — 



The Botanical Mags- 



Critical Review of the 

 Genus Eucalyptus 



Flo vers of the Field, 

 Woodland, Way- 

 side and Wall 



Gardening for the 

 Ignorant 



The Small Holder's 



Handbook 



Fir, a new species of ... 

 Flowers in season _ 

 Forestry at Cambridge 

 Form >sa, illustrations 



of the plants of 

 " Praam " medal, the . 

 Gardeners* Royal Ben- 

 evolent Institution 



Hay stacks, the tempera 



t ure of 



Hay, when to cut 



International Horticul- 

 tural Eihibition, con- 

 ferences at the 



Law n .'r 



Lemon curing m 

 Leptospermurn 

 ium Nicbollii 

 Manuring forest trees. 



886 



fruit garden, 



• • « 



8W 



SD1 



880 



mi 



m 



4(H 



ST 



m 



Market 

 the 



Mrdmilla inagnthca 

 Neill " uri/e, the ... 

 • ting-places, curious 



Obituary — 



Holmes, Joaeph 



strowskia magmfica ... 



leas and B#»os, thrips 



on 



Plants, new or note- 

 worthy— 



1. ilium Sargenti 

 K.U. Gardens Club . 



Rosary, the 



Rubbish heaps and bon- 

 fires ... 

 bocieties- 



I.innean 



Manchester Botanical 



and Horticultural ... 

 Royal Horticultural 

 iSc itihe Committee) 

 h il Meteorological 

 Scottish Horticultural 

 Southern Counties 

 Agncultu 

 bpnng flowers in the 



south-west 

 Strawberries, record ... 

 Sulphur as a fertiliser... 

 Wandsworth Commo: 



extension of 



W^k's work, the, 3U0 



Wines, Cape ... 



888 



. S*7 

 n- 



... 892 



„. 400 



there can hardly be any doubt, while and, to a less extent, with Coe'a 

 the yellowing of some of the smaller Golden Drop. Pears blossomed pro- 

 leaves may be ascribed confidently to fusely, and set a great crop, which has 

 the drought If called upon to estimate been thinned beyond all experience in my 

 the damage done by drought to my Black orchard by the pestilent midge, leaving, 

 Currants, which were of splendid promise, however, a moderate crop on most varie- 

 I should put it at fully 20 per cent., and ties. The deterioration of Black Currant 

 unless rain had fallen copiously, the per- prospects has already been referred to. 

 centage would have been much higher. The Gooseberry crop is the only one which 

 A moderate estimate of the injury to the has come well up to promise. In addition 

 Strawberry crop should be put at fully to the failure of Apple blossom to set to 

 8«5 30 per cent. Then there is an indefinite a great extent, the damage done to the 



allowance to be made for the injury done crop by one of the worst attacks of the leaf- 

 to Apples, owing to the fact that lack of curling aphis ever known is incalculable. 

 moisture and low temperatures at night A month ago comparative immunity from 

 prevented the shoots from growing away aphis attack was noticed, and this has 

 from the insect peste with which they been maintained in the case of Plums ; 

 were inf< ted. Further, there remain to but the pest has made up for lost time in 



r»4 



897 



401 

 896 



397 



400 

 400 



401 



SiU 



aoi 



3-.U 



be reckoned the ineffectiveness of hoeing its attack upon Apples. In spite of 

 and its extra cost, due to the hardness of spraying, the bunches of leaves surround- 

 ing trusses of young fruit are densely 

 crowded with aphides. Those varieties 

 which bear short-stalked fruit, such m 



the soil. 



A Disappointing Season. 



Rarely before have high expectations at Beauty of Bath and Bramley's Seedling, 



the beginning of a fruit season been more are in the worst case, while Mr. Gladstone, 



bitterly disappointed than they have been Lady Sudeley, Irish Peach, and Wok ester 



this year. It is not necessary to return Pearmain are almost as badly infested. 



to the subject of the immense loss caused In thinning these varieties, the curled and 



in most of the great fruit districts by the infested leaves are being stripped off and 



April frosts, which were not severe crushed. This cannot fail to reduce the 



enough in my district to do any consider- yield of fruit, but is better than leav- 



able damage. But, after that injury had ing the filthy leaves to die after the 



been accounted for, it was found that a aphis has done with them. Spraying 



884 very large proportion of the Plums which is useless, as the wash fails to reach any 



had set failed to swell, probably in con- considerable proportion of the insects in 



sequence of the drought, and these have the curled leaves. Beauty of Bah in the 



fallen, or will fall from the trees. Simi- orchard happens to have been sprayed 



THE MARKET FRUIT GARDEN* larly, and probably from the same cause, three times, soft soap and quassia being 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Elasocarpus eyaneus ^ _ . ^ 



Flowering plants, si group of, exhibited at the lnt« r 

 national Exhibition, by Messrs. James Carter 3c Co. 



Lastrea patens var. Mftvi 



Lilies, a group of v exhititcd at the International Exhi- 

 bition, by Mess: . K. Wallace A Co. ... — -. 



McHattie, Mr. John W., portrait of -. 



Miltonia vexitlaria " Snow flake " ~- — 



Polypodium Vidgenii 



Rock and water garden shown by Messrs. K. Wallace Sc 

 Co., at the International Exhibition 



Rock garden exhibited bv Me * r Backhouse A Son, 

 at the Internationa Exhibition 



Tudor garden shown by Messrs. J. Cheal 5c Sons 



m 



400 



8*7 



ALTHOUGH the drought was broken in 

 May, the quantity of rain which fell 

 in moat parts of the country was 

 very small. Dry weather quickly re- 

 turned, and lasted t 11 the night of the 



30th. The rainfall during last month 

 varied greatly in different districts 

 some being favoured with copious down- 

 falls, while others had little more than a 



sprinklim My own measurement for 

 May, up to t e morning of the Mth, was 

 only l.i i inch, and as this follow » 1 U8 



the proportion of Apple blossom which the ingredients of the wash on each occa- 



many varieties 



sion. The infestation did not become bad 



has failed to set on many varieties is 

 greater than I have ever seen before. It until just before the third spraying, which 

 would be interi ting to learn whether failed to affect it in any apprecia- 

 tes is the experience also of others in able degree. Lastly, so far as damage to 

 lifferent parts of the country. The fact Apples is com rned, there is to mention 

 that early blossom set well and late blos- 

 som very badly seems to point to drought 

 as the cause of the latter result, as the 



land w;i comparatively moist when early 

 blof-oni was setting. In my opinion the 



Plum crop will not be even equal to the 

 small one of last year, and the Apple crop 



the worst attack of caterpillars or other 

 pests which eat surface holes in the young 

 fruits that 1 have ever known. In many 

 cases not a single fruit in a truss of five 

 or six remain 8 sound. This account of the 

 fruit outlook may strike some readers as 

 of the character of a Jeremiad, but prob 



days which regiitered only 0.07 inch, not much more than half as much as the . ih ] y it will be en( ] orse d by many reports 



it was sufficient only for a temporary 

 refreshment of crops* Moreover, before 

 the completion of the second summer 

 spraying, which occupied most of my men 

 for eight days, the land had become as 

 hard as ever, so that hoeing in the rows 



great yield of 1911. The only good Plum ] ater on There } ias not been time at pre 

 i op in m\ mature plantation is that of 

 Victoria, and even this variety has fallen season's influence to be fully reported. 



sent for the disappointing results of the 



far below its early promise, in conse- 

 quence of the large proportion of fruitlets 

 which have failed to swell. Pond's Seed- 



CONTEMPORANEOUS FRUITING CONDITIONS. 



It strikes me as curious that, in different 



°f trees and bushes where the horse culti- * in S blossomed better than it had ever districts and under varying circumstances 



vator did not work cost twice as much as done befo f in f niy 

 usual, and then the soil was only scraped, never set less fruit 



O 



pply 



and, late though this relief from drought 



ha 



orchard; but it has the same condition as to the fruiting of 



since the time when a crop or of a particular variety should 



30 '"and "siiwe" that * fc began to bear considerably. Early prevail as often as it does. For example, 



n# rain hn* fallen Prolific, MoDarch, and Gisborne did the Early Prolific Plum appears to be a 



not blossom fully in my mature orchard, very short crop in nearly all parts of the 



but they promised a good deal more country. In my own case this is attributed 



Injury from pRorOBl 



It is impossible to value, with any ap with Czar in the 



P roach to precision, the damage done to 



fruit Crop by the persistent drought. \\ 



than the mere sprinkling of fruit which to two causes. The trees bore an im- 

 thej now show. This 



also the case mettle crop last year, and were smothered 

 wnn wmw lu i no viumiu in ques- with aphides circumstances antagonistic 

 tion while the vai s in a younger to the maturing of a good number of 



»_«M. A ...»A ft I 1 f 1 



IS 



orchard 



plant at i«»n 



heavily 1 )d I and indeed fruit buds for this season's crop. Conse- 



cannot tell to what extent the failure of is the only variety which has come up to 



expectations. Black Diamond blossomed 



more freely than ever before, but without 



Plums to swell, or of Apple bloesom to 



»et, is du« to the drought, although prob- 



quently, most of the tre l failed to blossom 

 entirely or to any extent worth notice. 



But in the country at large last year's crop 



