72 
y THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[Jawvany 19, 1895, 
heat was maintained; but directly the wind rose, 
and became in the least gusty, it invariably blew 
down the flue a sort of snapdragon-kind of blue fire, 
which issued in volumes through the cracks of the 
door, and had an immediate toxic effect upon all 
young growth, and out went the gas, suffocated by its 
own fumes, leaving everything to freeze at its leisure. 
I tried to bafils this in all sorts of ways—various 
forms of revolying-cow!], &c,—but in vain; until one 
day, standing in the fernery, the door of which open- 
ing outward was shut, I noticed to my intense 
the heating apparatus hermetically inside, and made 
the inlet outside, no air could possibly blow down the 
fine, damp out the gas, and poison the plants, because 
the same pressure was simultaneously applied at both 
ends, i.e., the inlets and outlets, I therefore had the 
thing reconstructed, and after that I had only to 
turn on the gas when frost sets in, turn it out when 
it was not needed, and pay the bill. Unfortunately, 
I cannot give definite data on this last point, as no 
separate meter was kept, but with a good atmospheric 
burner a little gas goes a very long way, and in my 
opinior, its reliability and freedom from trouble 
fully redeem any little extra coat involved. I have 
f 
anating from a small copper cone 
heated by a ring and little more than a pipe- 
light jet, and it keeps all frosts out in the worst 
weather, This is in a galvanised cylinder, housed in 
a little box set against the ing-house wall, and 
merely screened from tempestuous winds by a slate, 
Chas, fas Druery, F. L. &. já 
ASPARAGUS. 
HERE is. perhaps. noc hiah 41 4 
iy 2 oe 
to its production is so largely repaid by the enhanced 
value of the product as Aspar. It may be said 
extent, and cultivate 
entirely with the plough; nevertheless, 
should always be employed in earthing-up an 
: isa n. 
s regarda varieties, preference should be 
the early and late Argenteuil Varieties, Ths ud 
Varieties should be combined in ey lantation, i 
the proportion of fourths of — Baine rene: 
fourth of the latter, 
of production as in the more continuous 
shoots of one or the other variety, At ote 
of "18 season the early sort yields very fine a- 
— 5 but soon the crop, though still abundant, 
ene considerably in size, It is then that the 
crop of the late variety comes in usefully to furnish 
which then is till more 
kr l scarcer, ; 
used to improve the appearance of the 
bundles, or to form of itself choice bundles which 
sell for higher prices at the end than even at the 
beginning of the season, Among the reasons why the 
attention of growers should be directed to the whole- 
sale cultivation of Asparagus may be mentioned : Lat, 
the general popularity of this vegetable, which keeps 
up its price in spite of the increase in its production; 
2ad, the long endurance of Asparagus plantations 
when once established; 3rd, the possibility of making 
the cultivation of it exceptionally productive, by 
growing other crops at intervals between the rows, 
thorough preparation of the soil, and judicious use 
of manure; 4th, the relatively high prices obtained 
for the crop, which can be sent even to consider- 
able distances to markets, before the local supplies 
are available, H. de Vilmorin, in an address on Les 
Legumes de Grande Culture,” at Troyes, 
APPLE CANKER. 
ALTHOUGH many years have elapsed since the life- 
history of the canker-fungus (Nectria ditissima), see 
fig. 12, p. 79, has been worked out by the mycologist, 
m ep g 
to fully recognise the fact that t ti 
* p bion 
18 the d and that wh 
Eth Ad 
ila 
7 neee, 
endeavour should be made to remove any unsuitable 
conditions of growth that may predispose to, and thus 
indirect causes of, canker—it is essential that 
steps should be taken to destroy or check the para- 
site itself, 
It is not surprising that the “rank and file” of 
practical gardeners should fail to attach sufficient 
importance to the life-work of the destructive 
fungus, for nearly all our leading, pomologists have, 
in their 
as of quite secondary importance, Others again look 
upon the fungus as an effect rather than as & cause, 
Thus, for instance, a well-known authority in a 
recently published and otherwise excellent little book 
on fruit culture says, with reference to Nectri 
sima, “ although this fungus 
canker wounds, yet it is 
sent the fungus; but the inaccuracy of the drawing 
compels one to suppose that it is the work of some- 
u the organism under th 
microscope, The fact of such an illustration being 
admitted indicates the slight importance attached to 
the by the author, 
Many similar instances might be cited, but my pre- 
sent purpose is not so much to criticise the work of 
recommended, In other words, 
- id pests should be offensive as well as defen- 
sive, if we desire to obtain a complete mastery over 
Unfortunately, the Presence of the fun 
. » the pi gus is not 
usually detected until it has been at work upon its 
spore capsules some time, for the bright red-coloured 
perithecia do not at first appear, and even these often 
unless 
ally looked for, 
e warty 
proclaim the 
to an advanced stage, It is 
aay that when thedisorder has — bene 
nt is oD 
clean out with r e 
a sharp kni 
after ba ving 1 knife, 
a 
substan ce would doubtless p 
coveri surfaces, 
for this excision of diseased 
- season 
wood and bark, If the 
cankered tissue extends so far round a8 to tenie 
the latter too weak to support a crop or to wi 
dormant bud be pushed into growth by the heading 
back, in which case the gap may quickly be il 
without re-grafting, . 
Although much may be done to arrest the im 
of the disease by excision and amputation, it i 
highly desirable that the fungus should be checks 
at a sufficiently early stage to make such drasty 
measures unnecessary, F 
The most obvious precaution is to avoid grati 
with a scion that is already affected, even in ih 
slightest degree. If any of the red fructifications (pi 
thecia) are to be seen, the shoot should be rejecte 
for, even if none of the innumerable spores contain) 
in each perithecium succeed in obtaining a food 
the mycelium which has given rise to th 1 
is able to grow within the living tissues of the sten 
It is probable that the mycelium is able to keep pm 
with the growth of the host, so that a scion in whi 
healthy cortex, or whether the fungus can only git 
admission through cracks in the bark caused bytho 
(Peziza Willkommii)—a not dines 
nly its host 
punctures or fissures in the bark, but it has bee 
stated recently by Mr. J. B. Carruthers ti 
pierce sound cuticular layers if the latter are 
ciently young. It is quite possible that ** 
Nectria possess the same power, This autum b 
have observed numerous perithecia upon this od | 
growth of a badly cankered Victoria Pea A 
These perithecia are situated some thirty pir 
inches above the point to which the shoot was 1 
the growth in question hit 
ble to judge, Z 
attacked by aphides or other insects. * “Al 
I been able to detect, although I have en at 
examined microscopically several hundr sit 
tions, any t f insect attack. From 
c 
may reasonably be concluded either 
mycelium can traverse, in 
30 inches of stem during a season; or (2) 
sapores pe te sound cortex. 
it is evidently essential to attack directly # 
isease, and to do so as earl 
necessary, because the shedding of Bpo! 
ecia is a process which continues 
The ammoniacal carbonate of copper yi 
much used in the United States and cg 
or four times in early summer 8t ae 
three weeks, Mixture, 
I am not aware whether Bordeaux Potato fogh 
is so valuable in connection with the Eo ie 
Phytophthora infestans, has been tr iil while 
ditissima ; but it would certainly be Greats 
apply it experimentally, C. V. Herbert , 1 
