246 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
{ September 26, 1878. 
Certainly the devout dedicating of a fixed portion of income 
has brought with it an increased portion of income to dedicate. 
But my mission at Reading was to see Messrs. Suttons’ Roses : 
and here Iam in the position of Canning’s needy knife-grinder. 
Story. Mr. Editor! I have none to tell you. It is much like 
that second chapter of the History of Iceland, ‘“ On the snakes 
of Iceland,” “There are no snakes in Iceland.” Alas! there 
are now no Roses at Suttons’ except a choice few upon Manetti 
and seedling Briar, just to show how well they once were and 
might be grown. Seed-saving and seed-selecting now preyail. 
The Roses are gone, the fruit trees are going, the glass has 
been annexed for series after series of serials. About forty 
acres are under cultivation in the approach to Reading, and 
some eight acres more at the London Road gardens, and in 
each seed-selecting reigns supreme. 
The courteous and highly intelligent foreman Mr. Martin 
did his best to console me, inwardly scandalised, I am sure, by 
my ignorance and indifference, as he showed me what had 
replaced the Roses—beds of the most unblushing and aggra- 
vating Dahlias, amazing Asters, huge Hollyhocks, and other 
heartless supplanters of the choice standards of better days. 
In one place, however, he did fix my attention, and that was 
in the splendid house of Cyclamens, these being at the present 
the reigning beauties of thenursery. Great attention has been 
given of late here to hybridising, special brushes being used 
for special sorts of pollen, all the finest seedlings being selected 
and set aside for breeding from, and the results show already 
a great stride forward in excellence. These charming three- 
months-in-flower denizens of the greenhouse are attaining here 
an excellence I never saw equalled. The variety of leaf at- 
tained appears yet more remarkable. In the persicum house 
there were several that might be called maculatum, but in the 
house of the giant species these were really gigantic, leaves 
of wonderful size and most beautifully variegated. I antici- 
pate a great demand as these come into commerce.—A. C. 
TRAPPING WASPS. 
WASPS are very numerous this season. Many of our Peaches 
Plums, &c., on the open walls were destroyed by them. Where 
there is much fruit to tempt them on open walls it is no easy 
matter to induce them to enter any trap. I find the best way is 
to allow them to congregate in the inside of the fruit, and then 
go round the wall with a pair of gloves on and firmly press 
all those fruits that are filled with wasps, so as to kill them. 
When allowed to eat one fruit they generally prefer this to 
beginning on another, and it is surprising how quickly a crowd 
of them will eat the centre out of any fruit and leave nothing 
but the skin ; but it is just before the inside has been entirely 
cleaned out that is the time to kill them. Sometimes thirty 
and forty may be found inside at a time, and to kill this 
aumber is worth losing a few fruit. 
The vineries have also been a favourite resort of these pests. 
Although all:kinds of netting may be put over the ventilators 
they generally find their way inside by some small hole or 
other. The plan of hanging up bottles filled with sour beer 
is not such a good one as haying some jam mugs set here and 
there with a little jam in the bottom of them made into syrup 
eth water. They go to feed on this and drop into it by the 
ozen. 
Last year a story appeared in some of the gardening papers 
that wasps would not liye in a house where Tomatoes were 
growing. We have Tomatoes surrounding the ventilators, and 
the wasps came through amongst the leaves to reach the 
Grapes. Wherever there is a little space at the bottom of the 
walls it is filled up with Tomatoes, and some of their leaves are 
touching the fruit, yet the wasps attack them the same as if 
there was nothing of the kind there.—A KITCHEN GARDENER. 
NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
WE regret to find by a circular that has been issued by 
the Local Committee of the late HORTICULTURAL SHOW HELD 
AT PRESTON that there is a large deficit of nearly £1500 after 
paying all expenses. This deficiency is attributed by the 
Committee to “the wet weather of the first two days, and the 
presence of the Lord Mayor of London at that time in Black- 
pool on the occasion of the opening of the Winter Gardens.” 
We have no doubt that the appeal issued by the Committee to 
the town and county will meet with the response it deserves, 
and that the town and Lancashire will not allow it to be said 
that the first failure of the provincial shows took place in 
‘proud Preston.” 
Mr. IGGULDEN and another correspondent recently 
alluded to ANTS AS INSECT LESTROYERS. Testimony of the 
same nature now comes from the land of Olives. JZ’ Italia 
Agricola, in speaking of the cultivation of fruit trees. says 
that the cultivators of Mantua are in the habit of forming a 
colony of ants every spring time at the foot of each Olive tree. 
with the certainty that the tree will remain untouched by any 
other insects. The general opinion is that ants are enemies to 
fruit trees, but in Ratzeburgh it has long since been proved 
that ants destroy laryz and chrysalides, and that they only 
touch such fruit as has been picked by the birds. 
UNDER the heading of “a novelty indeed” the Rural 
Nen Yorker prints the following relative to a BLUE GLADIOLUS. 
“We were asked by a friend one day last week to call at the 
sale-rooms of Young & Elliott, of this city, to see a blue seed- 
ling Gladiolus. It was among an extensive collection of seed- 
lings of this beautiful flower raised by Mr. C. L. Allen of 
Queens, L.I. Seeing that our friend was in earnest, which we 
doubted at first almost the same as if he had spoken of a blue 
Rose, we hastened to the place of exhibition. The individual 
flowers of the spike were rather large and well opened, and 
the colour of all the petals except the lower ones was a uniform 
greyish-blue or lavender, without streak or blotch. The lower 
ones were marked with a tongue of a deeper colour—a deep 
blue inclining to violet. The upper part of the spike alone 
was exhibited: the flowers of the other half, left upon the 
flowering stalk, had been pollenated in the hopes of securing 
seeds.’ What do the Messrs. Kelway think of this “pollenated” 
novelty? 
Mr. H. J. Ewes, F.L.S., in his splendid Monograph 
on the Lily genus, notices as a curious fact “that all the 
AMERICAN LILIES, though varying remarkably among them- 
selves, differ entirely in their bulb structure from those of 
Europe and Asia, and the same peculiarity is noticeable 
among the American species of Fritillaria (Crown Imperials), 
which, as far as we know them, have bulbs of small white and 
granular scales loosely attached to a solid central axis, from 
which the stem springs. Of all the Old World Lilies and 
Fritillarias only two (Lilium arenaceum and Fritillaria kam- 
schatkensis) resemble their American congeners in the forma- 
tion of their bulbs, and both of these are restricted in their 
geographical limits to the shores of north-eastern Asia, which 
have many aflinities, both botanical and zoological, with the 
Pacific coast of North America.” 
WORK FOR THE WEEK. 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
CHOOSE a dry day for giving the earliest crops of Celery a final 
earthing-up, well batting the sides of the banks of soil so as to 
exclude rain as much as possible. The work is much facilitated by 
tying the stalks together with matting just below the leaves, and 
not too tightly, or, what is better, use the “ Wortley collar.” In 
heavy wet soil sawdust is a good material for earthing with, and 
ashes also are good and not liked by either worms or slugs. The 
best material of all is cocoa-nut refuse, and is a capital dressing 
for heayy soil. The main and late crops should only have a 
moderate earthing as yet, a little soil placed around the base of 
the stalks doing much to prevent injury from winds. See to the 
tying-up of Cos Lettuce and Endive in favourable weather, com- 
pleting the planting of the latest crops in pits or frames without 
delay. Have in readiness any spare lights or covers for placing 
over Lettuces or Endives coming on for use in case of sudden 
frosts. Cauliflowers coming in should have a few of the outer 
leayes broken over the heads to keep them in good colour, and as 
protection from heavy rains and sudden frosts. French Beans are 
often destroyed by a single night’s frost, which may often be pre- 
vented by having at hand some protecting material to ward off if 
necessary the evil effects of one or two cold nights, thereby pro- 
longing their bearing probably for some weeks longer. This crop, 
however, often suffers as much from prolonged cold and wet as 
anything else ; therefore cover wherever practicable with a ground 
yinery, admitting air liberally, throwing mats over the lights in 
case of frost. Parsley in frames, or that in an open yet sheltered 
situation intended to be covered with frames, should now have 
the shelter of glass when necessary, removing all yellow or de- 
cayed leaves, and if the plants are at all crowded thin them well 
out. Some charcoal broken up rather small and sprinkled over 
the surface will be beneficial in arresting damp and mildew. The 
lights should remain off during all mild weather, and if it be 
necessary to employ them on account of frost at night remove 
them in the daytime. If no frames are available take up some 
of the strongest spring-sown plants, planting them in deep boxes 
or pots, standing in a shady position for a few days, subsequently 
removing them to a sheltered situation, and eventually placing 
