July 14, 1870. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



28 



no highly scented flowers used, and there was but little colour, 

 what there was being quite adapted for its purpose. No faults 

 of deep blues and glaring yellows were to be found there, all 

 being in quiet and sustained harmony, yet I heard numbers 

 of people complaining of too much green, want of colour, &c. 

 There was but one fault to my mind, and as it was candidly 

 acknowledged by the exhibitor I feel less compunction in 

 noticing it. There was a want of something round the base of 

 the Palm stems, as they looked too formal and unnatural 

 coming out directly from the tablecloth. I see some one has 

 suggested allowing the rims of the pots to appear, but this would 

 seriously interfere with the tablecloth. It strikes me that semi- 

 circular troughs of white ware, such as were used at the Palace, 

 to encircle the base, and then to be filled with Lycopodium, 

 would be a desirable method of getting rid of this objection. 



And now to the obverse of the medal. Prizes, liberal prizes, 

 were offered by the President Of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 for table decorations, au<! yet there were only three competitors* 

 The first deserved its piize ; for although there was nothing 

 original in it, it being, in fact, the arrangement that took 

 second prize amongst amateurs at the Palace, yet there were no 

 violations of taste. But why the Judges should ever have given 

 anything to the second and third prize arrangements passes 

 my comprehension. I oan only explain it in one way — they 

 were lady judges, and they leant to the side of mercy, and so 

 would not disqualify ; but it was hardly, in my mind, possible 

 to fiud anything so thoroughly violating all taste. It was a 

 vase filled with a considerable mass of the common white Lily, 

 and the base with the white Water Lily ; around it were placed 

 some cardboard troughs containing single blooms of scarlet 

 Pelargoniums. Imagine the faint and sickly smell of the Lilies 

 in a heated atmosphere, and how utterly the white was lost on 

 the white tablecloth, while the lumpines3 of the arrangement 

 would hinder, if there were more stands, any view that there 

 might be across the table, and most certainly few people would 

 desire to have such a stand before them for the length of a 

 dinner. Let us hope — though giving prizes to such productions 

 is liable to defeat it— that a more correct taste may lead people 

 to copy better examples than the latter one. — D., Deal. 



MORE ABOUT SOFT SOAP. 



I am glad the claims of this article as an insect destroyer are 

 recognised in your number for June 30th by your able corre- 

 spondents — " Annandale," page 460, and " R. P.," page 467; 

 and I hope others who have tried it will report the result, 

 whether satisfactory or not. As my former communication 

 has evidently been misunderstood by " Annandale," and, on 

 the other hand, Ihave since found I was led into an error about 

 the prioe, to which " R. F." very properly calls my attention, 

 I will endeavour to explain both. In the firBt place I may 

 say that the strength of the wash made from this material, as 

 used by the Hop-growers, is not so great as "Annandale" 

 himself advises — viz., 2 ozs. to the gallon, as 1 lb. to ten gallons 

 (the Hop-grower's recipe) is little more than l£ oz. to the gallon. 

 Whether this be too strong for Peaches or not I cannot with 

 sufficient authority affirm, as in the cases where we used it 

 sufficient attention to weights and measures was not paid to be 

 depended on ; but if a less quantity of soft soap be required, 

 so much the better, as it cheapens the solution, unless in sea- 

 sons like the present, when twenty or thirty gallons of water 

 may in some places be more costly than the pound of soft soap. 



As, however, the price of the soap is the point to which 

 general attention will be directed, I confess to having been led 

 into an error through the imperfeot formation of a figure, or 

 other cause, by which the 2d. per pound should have been 3d., 

 an important advance, which, probably, by the retail dealer 

 will be considerably augmented. I have made further inquiries 

 respecting the soft-soap trade, and have learnt from a friend 

 keeping a shop in a country village (who, amongst his other 

 manifold stores of food, clothing, and tools, also deals, or 

 rather dealt extensively last year in this article), that it is 

 usually made up into small oasks, called firkins, weighing 

 64 lbs. each in the gross, being supposed to contain 56 lbs. of 

 soft soap. These firkins he sold at from 14s. to 16s. each, and 

 at the time the demand was for them, fifty or Bixty firkins a-day 

 were not an unusual sale, and this at a country shop. The con- 

 sumption of soft soap in the neighbourhood during the months 

 of June and the early part of July last year was, therefore, 

 very extensive. Fortunately for all but the dealers in soft 

 soap, none has been wanted this year, the plant being clean, or 

 but little affected by insects. I may add that I believe an 



article cheaper than 14s. per firkin was often made use of, but 

 at thiB price it is just Zd. per pound ; but even if it were twice 

 as costly, it will favourably contrast with any other insect- 

 killing material in use if the sixpenoes so expended furnish 

 ten, twenty, or thirty gallons of solution as the discretion of 

 the party using it may suggest. It would certainly be prudent 

 not to make it too strong for delicate plants, but I am far from 

 certain that it is so dangerous as is represented ; on the con- 

 trary, I believe it to be more harmless to vegetation than many 

 of the mixtures so much recommended. Of this I shall be 

 able to write with more confidence later in the season. Mean- 

 while I advise caution. 



I have no hope of being able to say much on the application 

 of this insect-destroyer to the Hop plant in the present year, 

 for the fly has not made its appearance in sufficient quantity to 

 require the antidote. Other enemies the Hop has, which I 

 hope to refer to in a future communication ; no plant that I 

 know growing in the open air is so liable to misfortunes. 



I may here mention one other quality which soft soap is said 

 to possess, although I do so on general repute rather than from 

 any well-founded experiments of my own, and that is, that the 

 solution is a manure, which certainly cannot be said of some 

 of the mixtures used as insect-killers. Others, however, will 

 probably give information on the subject, and a few experi- 

 ments could be easily tried to test its value as a manure, ae 

 well as to try the effects of solutions of different strengths on 

 the foliage of plants. — J. Robson. 



AERIAL ROOTS ON VINES. 



I differ from Mr. J. Douglas (see last volume, page 419), 

 respecting some of the causes of air roots on Vines. A close 

 moist atmosphere, which is generally an accompaniment of 

 early forcing, is what I consider to be their real cause. Vines 

 exclusively planted in an inside border are those whioh the 

 most fr?quently produce air roots, owing to the bottom heat 

 driving the moisture upwards and causing a great density irt 

 the atmosphere of the house. This condition will produoe- air 

 roots in abundance, if ventilation is not strictly attended to. 



I have seen Vines which were planted in an outside border 

 only, and started about the 1st of January, with about 3 feet 

 deep of horse manure mixed with leaves placed on the border, 

 produce better Grapes than those which had the advantage of 

 bottom heat, and yet scarcely an air root was to be seen. I 

 have likewise noticed Vines that have had the advantage of 

 both an inside and outside border produce air roots freely one 

 season and the next scarcely any. Would Mr. J. Douglas say 

 how he accounts for that ? 



Vines that are cropped late will produce air roots freely 

 enough if the foregoing condition be afforded — that is, a close 

 moist atmosphere ; but this state of things seldom exists, as 

 air can then be admitted without such discrimination as is 

 required in early forcing. — Quo. 



OUR NATIVE FERNS. 

 I have before me my friend Mr. E. J. Lowe's very beautiful 

 work bearing the above title. I begin to think that " distinot 

 varieties " are often made out of nothing at all. Two years' 

 ago I was watching a self-hunting dog ; about midnight I 

 kindled a match under the shelter of a thick bush where I wag 

 concealed, and to my astonishment the blaze revealed a mag- 

 nificent plant of the Crested Male Fern, by far the finest I 

 ever saw. Mr. Dickenson, who has been a botanist all his 

 life, has, I believe, only once found it in Cumberland. This 

 year it has come " bifid " and all manner of shapes. Miss M. 

 Wright, of Keswick, gave me one found by herself, and pictured! 

 in Lowe as Lastrea F.-mas abbreviata cristata. This yearit 

 has come perfectly plain and run back to the normal form, 

 have many similar communications to the same effect, which 

 tend to show that such Ferns are not varieties, but monstrosi- 

 ties which sometimes recover. — Jackson Gilleanks. 



Potatoes. — In answer to a correspondent, the Pebble White 

 Potato has a white blossom. Pebble White, Crystal Palace 

 Kidney, Edgeeote Second Early, Yorkshire Hero, Beaconsfield 

 Kidney, Huntingdonshire Kidney — all strains of the old Cob- 

 bler's Lapstone — Ihave growing by its side, and their blossome 

 and foliage are almost identical to a shade. All the numerous 

 strains of the old Lapstone can scarcely be distinguished from 



