March 10, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



187 



one or both were the depredators I do not know, but am in- 

 clined to suspect the latter. — Constant Readeb. 



[The Vines' surviving will depend upon how deeply and how 

 far round the stems the bark has been gnawed away. If in a 

 complete circle and down to the wood, the upper part of the 

 Vines will die, but they will shoot afresh from below the wound.] 



PRESERVING GOOSEBEBRY-BUDS FROM 

 BIRDS. 



I THrxi I have at last succeeded in finding a preventive to 

 the destructive ravages of the tomtit and sparrow on the buds 

 of Gooseberry and Pear trees. 



Early this spring my fruit trees were attacked, and a great many 

 of the fruit-buds, which are this season unusually forward, were 

 completely destroyed. I immediately procured some guano, and 

 had it broken down to a powder, and sifted through a very fine 

 sieve. I then set a man to water with a common watering-pot some 

 two hundred trees, and as he proceeded with the watering each 

 tree was immediately sifted over, as soon as watered, with the 

 guano. I do not think a bud has since been attacked. It was 

 done when there was no wind ; and, consequently, all that did 

 not fall on the trees fell at their base, and will be washed down 

 to their roots the first rain that falls, and promote their growth, 

 so there will be no waste. The whole expense of the man's 

 time and of the guano was about 10s. — something less than three 

 farthings for each tree. 



Another suggestion I beg to make is in planting Potatoes. As 

 soon as the tubers are cut sprinkle a little water on them, then 

 throw on them some soot, and stir them over with a spade, so as 

 not to injure them. This prevents wireworm, affords a stimulant 

 to their early growth, and, most probably, prevents disease, as I 

 had last year but about a quarter of a peck out of a considerable 

 quantity at all affected. — W. Copland. 



SLUGS DESTROYING WORMS. 



Seeing that you think the worms eaten by the slug are in a 

 weakened or diseased state, I assure you it is not the case. The 

 slugs catch them when in full vigour both under and above 

 ground. I have worked in different localities almost all round 

 Worcestershire, and a good deal in Shropshire and Hereford- 

 shire, but I never saw that sort of slug (a large yellow one) in 

 any other garden than the one I now have the management of; 

 neither did I ever see that slug eat any vegetable. I have a 

 man who has worked on this ground from a boy, he is now 

 turned sixty, and he says these slugs do not eat the vegetables ; 

 in fact, he never kills them, nor permits the other men to do so. 

 He first pointed them out, and I could not believe it myself till 

 the men frequently brought me the slug with the worm in its 

 mouth ; and I have caught them with their head in the worm- 

 hole, and having a fast hold of the worm, and I have pulled them 

 both out together. These slugs are mostly under ground ; yester- 

 day we dug three up, and two out of the three had a worm in their 

 mouth halt' devoured, the part that was left being in as healthy 

 a state as could be. When they are above ground they are mostly 

 along the walks by the Box-edging, but they are generally in 

 the ground from 6 to 9 inches deep. They seem to suck the 

 inside out of the worm, and to gradually draw the skin in after- 

 wards, and if tuey lay hold of it in the middle they draw it in 

 double. I have two more men that have worked far and wide 

 in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, both at farming and in the 

 garden, and they say they never saw this sort of slug anywhere 

 else; so that I think it is notaverv common kind. — Woboesteb. 



In your Number of the 24th ult. is a reply to a correspondent 

 respecting slugs eating worms. Xour correspondent was probably 

 not incorrect in his supposition ; one, if not more, species are 

 said to do so. There is a description given of two species of worm- 

 eating slugs in London's "Encyclopaedia of Gardening," pageTOO. 

 One of the kinds he describes I have occasionally found in my 

 garden here, and chancing last night to meet with a specimen I 

 enclose it for your inspection. [It is the same species as that 

 sent by " Woecestee." — Eds.] 



Last year I placed several along with a worm under a propa- 

 gating-glass to see what would take place. The worm disap- 

 peared during the night, but I did not take sufficient care to 



enable me to state positively that they must have eaten it. You 

 will perceive that they ara not so slimy as the common slug, and 

 that they differ from the slugs with shells (which, by the way, I 

 have never met with near London), in having the shell placed 

 near the hinder extremity instead of on the back or thorax, 

 and not covered by the skin. They are by no means common 

 here ; nor, as an old conchologist and collector, have I ever found 

 them anywhere but in my garden. — E. SI., Hotting Sill. 



PEACH TREES FAILING IN A COOL 

 VINERY. 



The accompanying letter has just reached us ; and as the sub- 

 ject is one of considerable importance, we insert the complainant's 

 letter at full length, with the reply of one of our regular corre- 

 spondents. 



" I should be much obliged by a little information on the 

 probable cause of about three-fourths of the blossom-buds of 

 my Peach trees falling off. The trees were planted at the back 

 wall of a vinery in 1860, in a border about 9 feet wide and 

 2 feet deep, of good light loam, with a little manure and bones. 

 They made splendid wood in 1861 ; this was well cut back, and 

 in the following spring, though a good many buds fell a little 

 after Christmas, yet a fair crop was produced. They also made 

 abundance of wood, which was stopped three or four times in 

 the year, and when the wood was ripe the trees were covered 

 with blossom-buds. About Christmas, on washing the trees 

 with Gishurst, a good many of the buds seemed a little shrunk 

 and loose, and since that time they have continued to fall, 

 though they were as healthy as possible last year, and free from 

 insects, with the exception of a trace of red spider. 



"After the fruit was gathered last year, the trees were 

 syringed a good many times, and a moderate quantity of water 

 was given at the roots ; but during the last four months they 

 have had little or no water, and the border has seemed pretty 

 dry all the winter, though not by any means dust dry. 



" As I do not force, the vinery has been cool all the winter, 

 and as the weather has been so mild, the house had generally air 

 front and back, day and night, through the winter, and no fire 

 heat was given except such as a small How and return pipe pass- 

 ing through the house has afforded, and the trees are now just 

 coming into bloom, though this is very scattered." — 3. J. 



[Your letter, though carefully written, omits the most im- 

 portant circumstance, and which most probably is the cause of 

 your failure. How many Grape Vines are there against the 

 roof of the vinery of which the Peach trees occupy the back wall ? 

 If the glass be pretty nearly covered, it is hopeless to expect 

 Peaches. A few Vine rods may be trained up the rafters, but 

 when they bear and do we:l there is a strong temptation to 

 allow them to straggle over the greater part of the glass roof, 

 and it is hopeless, then, to look for fruit on the back wall. 



We have a large vinery in which Grape Vines are planted in 

 the front in the usual way, and some were also planted against 

 the back wall. The latter have long ceased to be of any use, 

 except at the tops, and we expect your Peach trees have been 

 suffering in like manner. Tour mode of stopping the growing 

 shoots three or four times was certainly not likely to produce 

 well-perfected fruit-buds ; stopping the gross, rampant shoots, 

 if there were any, very early in the season, and continuing to do 

 so, in order to throw more vigour into the weaker ones, would 

 have been better practice, for buds imperfectly ripened are not 

 likely to produce fruit. Watering is rarely wanted in winter 

 inside a house that receives so little firing : therefore, we think 

 its absence is not likely to have caused the failure. 



We would not by any means advise a severe cutting down in 

 winter, such as you say you gave them in 1861. Vines may be 

 cut back with impunity ; but Peach trees do not do so well with 

 too much knife work. We hope you did not apply Gishurst 

 Compound too strong. So many causes operate in producing 

 failure, that it is not always to one only that we attribute it. 

 In your case we think it is badly-ripened wood ; but if that evil 

 be caused by the trees not having sufficient light, owing to the 

 Grape Vines usurping all the glass, either a part of them or the 

 Peach trees must be sacrificed. Both cannot be fully and 

 successfully cultivated. If, on the other hand, the bad ripening 

 arose from the growth being prolonged in the autumn, the 

 leaves would hang on late, and the tip ends starve rather than 

 mature. 



Xou will most likely be able to j udge which of these evils 



