April 13, 1871. 3 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENBE. 



271 



aeyeral years in succeasion. It is also more injarious to the 

 cultivator than the aphis, for while the latter lessens the crop, 

 it often happens that what is produced is of good quality, and 

 commands a fair price, but buyers will not look at a sample 

 that has been mouldy. 



Moiat warm seasons are said to encourage mould, and some 

 varieties of Hops are more liable to it than others, the Golding, 

 the most valuable Hop, being most so of any ; and well-culti- 

 vated grounds are as liable to suffer as those which are not so. 

 Kemedial measures have been adopted of late years, and al- 

 though it is too much to say the disease is entirely preveutible, 

 it is in a great measure so, and the acreage that has been 

 affected to a serious extent during the last three or four years 

 is certainly smaller than it used to be twelve or fifteen years 

 ago. There is reason to infer that the measures adopted to 

 arrest the progress of the disease have done much good. The 

 Tnodes of doing this have certainly been less varied than those 

 adopted with the aphis, for sulphur is used now as it was twenty 

 years ago, but the mode of applying it has been improved, and 

 sulphurators are amongst the implements met with at agricul- 

 eultural shows in the Hop districts. The most approved are 

 strong and heavy, requiring a horse to draw them along the 

 alleys between the Hops ; the movement given to the wheels 

 turns the machinery, which is very much like that of an ordin- 

 ary corn-winnowing machine, only instead of the sulphur being 

 blown out at one end as it is in the winnower, it is blown straight 

 upwards in the sulphurator (flour brimstone or sulphur vivum 

 is used), the feeder being at another place. A boy leads the 

 lorse, and a man behind, protected by suitable clothing, guides 

 the machine, a cloud of sulphur falling on the foliage all round, 

 and a considerable share on the man who guides the apparatus ; 

 hut so beneficial are the results that most large growers apply 

 sulphur prior to the time mould is expected, and there is little 

 doubt that as a preventive it is of great value. — J. Eoeson. 



THE CUCUMBER DISEASE. 



Aftek having had my share of the Cucumber disease, and 

 confessing my perfect ignorance of the cause or cure, I regret to 

 find that some of the best Cucumber growers in the country 

 have been baffled with this disease for several years, and, like 

 myself, are as ignorant of the cause as ever. I could do nothing 

 by way of remedy, except by sowing and planting often, for by 

 the time a few fruit were produced the disease would appear, 

 and then no treatment was of any use. 



I have had several applications for a remedy. Sorry I am 

 to repeat what I have frequently stated — that I know of none, 

 and but one alleviation, and that is frequent planting. I have 

 many suggestions before me as to change of seed and soil, 

 composts, temperature, air-giving, watering, &c. All I will say 

 is, that it is proper to try every means ; but I tried all, and all 

 •were in vain. I had seed from all parts of the country ; I had 

 maiden loams and soils of all kinds, including heath soil pure 

 and unmixed, and all conceivable mixtures of the same ; and 

 whether in a pit heated by hot water or in a dung-bed frame, 

 in ridges under hand-lights, or in the open garden without 

 anything, just when the plants began to fruit the spot on the 

 leaf, and sometimes a gummy exudation from the fruit, would 

 appear, and then all was about over. That I am not troubled 

 with the disease at present is no merit on my part. There are 

 old friends of mine, one of whom I have noticed years ago in 

 this Journal as perhaps one of the most successful Cucumber 

 growers I ever met with, who have been plagued with the disease 

 for several years, whilst neighbours are perfectly free from the 

 disease whether they plant in a house, frame, or ridge. 



I have several times alluded to this perplexing subject, and 

 I would not have done so at present but for the fact that the 

 disease is making some good gardeners uncomfortable with 

 their employers, who ascribe the failure to want of skill and 

 attention. Although everything possible should be done and 

 tried, still, were I at liberty to give the names of successful 

 Cucumber growers who have suffered from the disease, and 

 feeling my own inability after many experiments to find out 

 the cause or cure, I hope that employers will be inclined to 

 sympathise with their gardeners on this subject, and not make 

 it a source of more unpleasantness than they already feel. 

 Some of the most successful Cucumber growers made light of 

 the disease until their turn came. One of them last season 

 found that in a fine span-roofed house heated by hot water, in 

 a lean-to heated by a flue, in a brick pit with fermenting mate- 

 rial beneath the soil, in a ridge under hand-lights, in the open 

 ground without anything, and also in the open air with the 



plants trained against a wall — anywhere and everywhere — the 

 disease showed itself ; and after trying every mode to arrest its 

 progress he felt himself powerless. I should, therefore, feel 

 sorry if any good gardener were rendered uncomfortable and 

 obliged to leave his situation because he could not conquer this 

 disease, for as yet, from the highest to the lowest, we know 

 nothing at all about it. That is a good reason for finding a 

 remedy, but it is no reason why those who are suffering under 

 the misfortune should be unduly depressed. The same prin- 

 ciple would have applied to the Potato disease, only so far, un- 

 fortunately, that was more general than the Cucumber malady. 

 It will be of no use for those who have never had their Cucum- 

 bers diseased to give their opinions and speculations. I used 

 to have much of such well-meant kindly help, but it was of no 

 use, as some of my advisers found to their cost before many 

 months were over. The great thing is to find out from those 

 who have been tried something like cause and effect, malady 

 and cure. — E. Fish. 



ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY'S SPRING SHOW. 



This Show commenced yesterday on a day whicli offered a cheerful 

 contrast both in its warmth and brightness to those which we have so 

 long experienced ; and the exhibition which will close this evening is 

 not less bright than was the opening day. Roses form its principal 

 feature, and when we say that the principal exhibitors are Mr. Turner, 

 of Slough, Messrs. Paul & Son, Mr. W. Paul, and Messrs. Veitch, 

 these names will he snificient guarantee for the excellence of the spe- 

 cimens placed before the pubhc. Mr. Turner is first and Messrs. 

 Paul & Son second for nine, and in the collection of the latter is a 

 magnificent specimen of Madame de St. Joseph, which was awarded a 

 special certificate for excellence of cultiTation. Extra prizes were 

 given to Mr. W. Paul and Messrs. Veitch for their extensive and beau- 

 tifully bloomed collections. Among amateurs the prizetaters are Mr. 

 Baxter and Mr. James. The latter also shows fine examples of Ama- 

 ryllis, including the varieties sent by him last week to Kensington. 



Azaleas are shown in excellent bloom by Messrs. Lane, and we par- 

 ticularly noticed Minerva, a free-flowering orange scarlet, and Princess 

 AUce, pure white. A first prize was awarded to Messrs. Lane, the 

 second going to Mr. G. Wheeler, gardener to Sir F. Goldsmid, Bart., 

 the former exliibitors being also first for twelve compact finely-flowered 

 Rhododendrons, for six plants of Deutzia gracilis in excellent bloom, 

 and for a collection of forced hardy shrubs, consisting of Rhododen- 

 drons, Azalea pontica, and Dentzia. 



The best collection of hardy herbaceous plants in flower comes from 

 Mr. Ware, of Tottenham, who has the lilac-flowered variety of 

 Primula cortusoides blooming very freely, double Wallflowers, Dielytra 

 spectabilis, Spiraea japonica, Lily of the Valley of the ordinary and 

 variegated kinds, and Triteleia nniflora well bloomed. Mr. Wheeler 

 is second. Mr. Ware receives also an extra prize for a collection in 

 which the little heart-leaved white-flowered SmUacina bifolia is very 

 elegant. Dielytras and Lily of the Valley are but of moderate 

 quality. Mr. Wheeler takes a first prize for each, and a second prize 

 for Cinerarias, Mr. James, gardener to W. F. Watson, Esq., Isleworth, 

 being first. A similar award was made to Mr. Goddard, gardener to 

 H. Little, Esq., Twickenham, for well-grown Mignonette, and to 

 Messrs. Paul & Son for cut Roses. 



Mr. Wheeler is the only exhibitor of twelve greenhouse plants in 

 flower, and takes a first prize for a collection which does not call for 

 remark, and also obtains extra prizes for fine-foliaged plants and 

 exotic Ferns. Messrs. Lane contribute a large collection of Roses, 

 Azaleas, &c ; Messrs. Rollisson, Mr. WUUams, and Messrs. A. Hen- 

 derson, groups of Palms, Orchids, and mixed stove and greenhouse 

 plants ; Mr. Goddard and Mr. James, Cyclamens, and the latter an 

 excellent stand of Pansies ; Messrs. Carter & Co. jaaskets of their new 

 Tricolor and Bronze Pelargoniums ; and Mr. Needle the collection of 

 Orchids and Ophrys shown last week at Kensington. For all the 

 above extra prizes were given. 



Botanical certificates were awarded to Messrs. Veitch for Acer poly- 

 morphum palmatifidum, with beautifully cut bright green foliage, and 

 very elegant in its appearance ; to Messrs. A. Henderson & Co. for 

 Malortica speciosa ; to Messrs. Rollisson for Euterpe antioqnensis, a 

 graceful slender-leaved Palm suitable for dinner-table decoration ; and 

 to the same firm for Tillandsia argentea, with narrow greyish leaves, 

 a rather graceful-looking plant. A floral certificate was given to Mr. 

 Williams for an Amaryllis called hybrida gigantea, with white flowers 

 feathered with crimson, and said to be a hybrid between an Amaryllis 

 and LUium giganteum, the flowers having long slender tubes like the 

 latter, but it has been suggested that it is more likely to be a hybrid 

 between Amaryllis vittata and solandriflora. Mi'. Little also received 

 a floral certificate for his fine white Cyclamen Snowflake. 



GLADIOLI. 



How well I remember years ago being the first to introduce these 

 lovely bulbs into the neighbourhood in which I then resided — the 

 intense interest with which I watched the first break of the green 

 spike through the ground — how spasmodic was their arrival — how I 

 despaired in many instances of their appearing at all, and with what 

 joy I welcomed their advent when I had finally abandoned all hope I 



