254 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



lack the brightness of flavour (which we technically call ' sub-acid ') 

 which is the dominant characteristic of the fruits of temperate climes. 



The Gooseberry Mite. 

 This is the type of a very common complaint this year : " I am 

 sending you a Gooseberry bush I dug up yesterday. Nearly all my bushes 

 are affected in the same way. They looked quite healthy and had promise 

 of a fine crop of fruit. One after another they began to droop and wither 

 away." 



Like so many of us this year, our friend's bushes are attacked by the 

 " Gooseberry Mite " {Bryohia pretiosa), and most destructive the pest is. 

 The only thing one can do is to spray the bushes at once, and again next 

 year, immediately the leaves are formed, with 2 oz. or Calvert's Carbolic 

 Soft Soap dissolved in a gallon of water and applied warm. This may 

 destroy the pest and will not hurt the bushes. 



Affiliated Societies. 

 It may interest the Committees and Secretaries of all Societies affiliated 

 to the Royal Horticultural Society to know that the Council have had a 

 ]\Iedal and a Certificate (or Commendation) Card specially prepared for 

 them. The Modal will have one side blank, so that the local Society can 

 have its name, itc, engraved upon it, and the card will have a large blank 

 space for the same purpose, encircled with a border of flowers and fruit in 

 outline, with the Society's badge above. They will be obtainable, at their 

 actual cost price, by the Secretaries of affiliated Societies, but by no 

 one else. 



Wire -Worm. 



As a sample of scores of letters we quote the following : " Can you 

 tell me a cure for wire-worm, or ' copper- worm,' in a greenhouse already 

 planted with Tomatos ? " The old method was slow, it was also, as far 

 as it w^ent, sure and harmless, and, though it is now pooh-poohed because 

 it is old-fashioned, we would always advise trying it together with the 

 newer plan. The old way is by trapping the wire-like grubs ; putting 

 slices of potato and of carrot on or hardly below the soil, and every 

 morning examining them and killing all found feeding on the toothsome 

 morsels which they love. The newer method is to spread kainit over the 

 surface of the soil — 4 oz. to each square yard — and water it well in, so 

 that the whole of the soil is moistened. Wire- worms, leather jackets, eel- 

 worms, and all such like pests have an intense dislike to kainit, and often 

 disappear entirely after such an application. Care should be taken that 

 the kainit does not fall upon the leaves of any plants. 



What is a Cactus Dahlia ? 

 This is a question addressed to us from the Antipodes, where an 

 exhibitor had shown ' Miss Webster ' amongst a collection in a class for 

 "Cactus only." Now 'Miss Webster' happens to be one of the best 

 " Decorative " Dahlias, splendidly pure white, and is said by the Nat. 

 Dah. Soc. to "approach Cactus form," but the petals are too flat as a 

 general rule to permit its being generally classed as a Cactus. All 

 «-rowers, however, of Cactus Dahlias know, first, that there are two or 

 three different types of Cactus already ; and, secondly, that most true 



