488 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTURB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ December 21, 1871. 



and Diary, -which for all gardeners will be fonnd a very nsefal 

 pocket companion. Messrs. Weeks say, " Not merely as a 

 trade annonncement do we circulate amongst gardeners our 

 annual Pocket Book and Diary, but especially with a ■view to 

 promote the habit of keeping a daily record, or garden memo- 

 randa, of sowing, planting, treatment, temperature, changes, 

 and notes of general information, giving practical results from 

 past experience, which can hardly fail to serve as a useful 

 referenoe for future operations, and thereby reduce tn method 

 and order that which too frequently has been carried out by 

 the ' rule of thumb.' " 



WINTERING GERANIUMS— SANTOLINA 

 INCANA. 



Thinking it might be useful to some of your readers who 

 have Geraniums to keep and have not the best of convenience 

 for the purpose, I write to mention the following circumstance. 



To the south-east of the grounds here is the river Dysyni, 

 near which we have a pretty cottage, with a verandah running 

 round three sides, supported by rustic pillars. Under the 

 verandah, which of course is quite open at the sides, we plunged 

 some Trentham Eose and Tom Thumb Geraniums in pots. 

 For the last six weeks they have had no water, and though so 

 near the river, where the air is generally much colder and 

 moister than on the higher ground (we have had 12° of frost), 

 yet the Geraniums are quite as fresh as in September, thus 

 showing that if kept dry they will endure a much greater degree 

 of cold than if kept constantly saturated with water. 



I can endorse what Mr. Luckhurst says of Santolina inoana 

 (page 313), except as to its being perfectly hardy. In Mont- 

 gomeryshire, in the Severn Valley, I planted several plants on a 

 rockery, but they quite succumbed to the severe winter of 

 1870-71, when we had 34° of frost. I may mention that the 

 rockery was in an exposed position, and that plants in a cold 

 frame with a little covering passed the winter safely. — Geokge 

 Cooke, The Gardens, Feniarth, North Wales, 



DESTROYING AMERICAN BLIGHT, MOSS, 

 AND SCALE. 



Wheee American Blight exists on trees I recommend as the 

 simplest remedy thoroughly coating them with fresh limewash, 

 by means of a brush or an old syringe. At this season, and in 

 a frost, the insects go down into the ground. Baring the 

 roots and watering with ammonlacal liquor, or, what I have 

 found as good, dusting all over with a layer of fresh lime and 

 soot, will to a considerable extent destroy the insects. Simplest 

 remedies are often the best. Turpentine, oil, and other liquors 

 will kill the insect when they fairly reach it, but they often 

 more or less injure the wood. Even if none of the insects 

 appear on the trees now, if they do so in summer they will 

 leave their eggs and young behind, and these may be found 

 on turning up a piece of loose bark in the knots, where they 

 are fond of congregating. The safest application I have used 

 is fresh limewash, which, applied now, and again before the 

 buds swell in the spring, will generally destroy the insects with- 

 out injaring the trees. I have applied it to the bole of a tree 

 and some of the larger branches in the summer, and found 

 that the insects were almost destroyed. The powder of the 

 lime, even when it has become mild, annoys the insects, as it 

 rolls and falls about them. The limewash will also prevent 

 the birds from picking the buds. The whiteness seems to 

 deter as well as the mere action of the lime, for the caustic 

 alkali ere long becomes no better than so much chalk. 



For destroying moss on trees nothing is better then a good 

 application of limewash made with salt water. It is tedious to 

 use a brush, but a good barrel of fresh limewash may be quickly 

 made by powdering the lime, passing it through a fine sieve, 

 and then pouring water on it through the sieve, or a rough 

 canvas bag that will let no large pieces of lime pass through. 

 Then syringe the trees all over with the thickest wash by using 

 the jet of a syringe. This also will help to scare birds, and all 

 will be mild and sweet enough before the buds swell. 



I find some of my friends have their trees so much affected 

 with scale that the bark cannot be cleaned. Anything in the 

 way of a paint that will smother the scale will be of advantage, 

 as clay and lime paint ; but one of the simplest and best 

 remedies I have found is syringing or engining the trees with 

 water at from 160° to 180° in a continued frost. The shoots 

 will soon be encrusted in ice if a proper time be chosen ; and if 

 this ice coating remain, a large portion of the bark that is 



loose, and the clinging insects, will come away ; there will thus 

 be a chance of the bark becoming clean and healthy. — E. F. 



FRENCH DESCRIPTIONS OF ROSES. 



I CAN assure " D., Deal," that I never take offence at any im- 

 partial and candid critique on my contributions, but if I find 

 any such to contain a misquotation or misapprehension of my 

 meaning I claim a right to reply. The phrase to which I took 

 exception was " se tenant Men," see page 333, not " ielle tenue." 

 I am, however, willing to pass over this trifling difference. I 

 was induced to believe that "erect" was not the meaning in- 

 tended by the French Eose-growers from finding that the result 

 did not tally with the description. 



In reply to "D., Deal's," protest against the retention of 

 " Eemoutant " in preference to Perpetual, I beg to difier from 

 him in toto. I see nothing more ridiculous in telling Jack to 

 water those Bemontants than in directing the same useful in- 

 dividual to water the Perpetuals. It is far more probable that 

 in actual requests of this kind neither word would be used. 

 The protest is equally applicable to depot, prestige, souvenir, 

 critique, and many other useful words of daily occurrence., 

 which are now as much at home with us as Perpetual, which 

 at best is only a clumsy and floundering attempt at translation 

 o! a word for which we have not an exact equivalent. I am 

 strongly inclined to believe, therefore, that the word Perpetual^ 

 as applied to the most important section of Eoses, is as much 

 "doomed" as the Briar upon which they formerly used to be 

 much more grown than at present. — A. H. Kent. 



CONSEQUENCES OF EXPOSING PLANTS TO 

 SMOKE. 



At a recent meeting of the Warrington Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society, Mr. E. Green, head gardener at Bank HalK 

 read the following notes on vegetable life in and about Warring- 

 ton : — ■ 



The few remarks I am about to lay before this meeting will, 

 no doubt, give rise to some difierences of opinion as to whether 

 I am correct or not in my observations. Let me say I have 

 strictly confined myself to what has come under my personal 

 notice with regard to the destruction of trees, shrubs, and 

 plants by smoke and chemical vapours, and also in regard to 

 certain plants that will not grow — I believe from natural causes. 



I have lived in Warrington for twenty-five years ; most of that 

 time I have been employed on the grounds at Bank Hall, and I 

 have paid considerable attention to the decay of vegetable life. 

 Among the evergreens that are most severely injured by smoke, 

 &e., are the Conifers. The Scotch Fir (Pinus sylvestris) has 

 long since disappeared with us. So has the Spruce (Abies 

 excelsa). About two years ago we plauted one hundred young 

 healthy plants ; there are only a few now alive, and these are 

 sickly. I have seen nice plants in other parts of the town 

 gradually dying. The Arbor- Vitass (Thuja occidentalis and 

 Thuja Warreana), the Savin (Juniperus Sabina), Lavender 

 (Lavandula spica), Eosemary (Eosmarinus oifioinalis), Laurus- 

 tinus (Viburnum Tinus), and Cotoneaster microphylla are 

 among the plants that fifteen or twenty years ago flourished 

 well with us but have now disappeared. 



Among (lie plants that just exist are the Yew (Taxus baecata), 

 several vmieties of Heaths, the Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis), 

 Common Laurel (Cerasus Laurocerasus), and Portugal Laurel 

 (Corasus lusitanica). The Cedrus Deodara and Arauearia im- 

 bricata we have not tried here, but I have seen them in the- 

 town, very meagre specimens ; at the cemetery they grow 

 tolerably well. The common Holly (Ilex Aquifolium), has 

 grown very well till within the last three or four years, the tips 

 of the plants are now dying. The Evergreen Oak (Quercus 

 Ilex latifolia), has so far stood pretty well; so has the Bos 

 (Baxus sempervirens). Among the evergreens that flourish 

 beet is the Ehododendron ; the plants here are healthy, flower 

 freely, and grow to a large size, the only complaint is the foliage 

 is very dirty. The Auouba japonica is more vigorous than the 

 Ehododendron, and grows almost under any treatment with us, 

 but the very best of all is the Ivy, particularly the Irish Ivy 

 (Hedera canariensis) ; this does not appear to be damaged in 

 the least, beyond being dirty. 



Among the deciduous trees and shrubs suffering most are 

 the Mountain Ash (Pyrus Aucuparia), Service (Pyrus Sirbus), 

 Beech (Pagus sylvatiea), Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus), Wych 

 Elm (Ulmus montana), and several other large-leaved Elms. 

 The Sycamore (Acer oampestre), and the variegated Sycamore 



