ro8 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



February I9i 



rnlintrv and ; t is this nersuasion that induces us to draw attention to the Hop Hornbeam. The death and consequent removal of 

 country, and it s tins persuasion „ rIlnt : ntr awarr k tn sneeimen of Ostrva cartiniMia in Rrit»W. «uu L ai _ of 



recent proceet ngs. No useful purpose is served in granting awards to 



largely grown and already popular orchids, for if the work has not ^ 

 already been done the time for it has passed. By all means let new and 7 P * ^ fi 



in Britain, although a grafted?^ * 

 It stood near the Hardy Fernery * 

 years it had not been in good health, and * 



finest specimen of tw/ja carpinijolia in Britain, although 

 fortunately to be recorded. 



already been none me umc iui »«« ~, ~~f~*T " f ... taken down, its roots were found to have been killed bv fun™ na ° n ^ 



rare orchids of merit be recognized, and receive distinctions that wall which is a native of South Europe, Asia Mmo? 17 S 



indicate to the world at large their relative value, whether they are P £ tQ as k fa . F JC^* as lntrod ^H 



indicate to the world at large their relative value, whether they are 

 grown in London or in Manchester, as it is of some importance that 

 meritorious new and little known forms should have prominent attention 

 directed to them. ' Speaking broadly, when trifling variations to be found 



this country pnor to 1724, as it is mentioned in Furber's Nurse 

 published in that year. The actual measurements of the Kew tree 

 Kew Bulletin, were as follows : Height, fifty-nine feet ; spread of 'bran h* * ** 

 eight feet ; girth of trunk, three feet from the ground, nine feet four in X 



... „ _. .T^y— - was abundantly produced, but no perfect seeds were ever developed 



are recognized, the artificial multiplication of varieties will be encouraged Cypripediums with Fungus.— Mr. Douglas exhibited at th 

 and the awards will lose much of the value which it is eminently desirable the Scientific Committee specimens with the roots badly infested h 6 4 



they should possess. 



ff 



ere, rec 



POTATO FERTILISERS FOR HEAVY SOILS. 



In accordance with the policy initiated some years since, the Wilts 

 County Council carried out during 1897 a series of experiments at Calne 

 in the culture of potatos and some other important crops. The demon- 

 stration stations are situate at Quemerford and Lickhill, and the soil at 

 the first-named station is very heavy, while at the latter it is somewhat 

 light, and from the large percentage of lime it contains evidently rests 

 on the chalk. The objects of the experiments on the heavy land at 

 Quemerford were, so far as they related to the use of fertilisers, to show 



so 



Mr. Veitch at once recognised it as the result of a too damp atmosph 

 the fact that having on one occasion made a double roof, it caused 

 damp that he lost many orchids from the same cause, buc on impro i 

 atmosphere this completely prevented any recurrence of the fungus. 



Lonicera fragrant, ssi ma, the beautiful sweet-scented Chinese Hoo» 



suckle, is now at its best in many gardens. Wherever it is grown well it ^ 

 fail to give pleasure during February, when it produces its broad white 9ow» 

 Mr. W. Marshall, Auchinraith, Bexley, and chairman of the R.H.S. Floral 

 Committee, has sent us a flowering branch, and his comment upon the species 5 

 that 14 it is one of the finest winter-flowering shrubs we have." We endorse Ml 

 Marshall's opinion, and state that so many fail with the plant in question becswe 



most other loniceras. It should be pnr- 1 



that if artificials alone be used for the potato crop, it is generally the y P™ ne * M I a 



desirable that nitrogen, phosphate, and potash should all be present, to directly f er flowerin S>. flowers are produced cm wood made the prevk* 



further test the value of stable manure and sulphate of ammonia used J"* W1 * ei 'V™** ™ eans £e loss of a crop of fragrant blosso* 



. - - rr . r • . r i Lonicera Standishi is probably but a form of L. fragrantissima, differing chiefivB 



together; and to compare the effects of varying quantities of complete cHatv nf thp Wvp[ 

 chemical manure, this consisting of equal weights of nitrate of soda, 

 mineral superphosphate, and kainit. The trial ground was divided into 



eleven plots of four perches, and these were divided into two equal !r * u ^ tc " LA1 J /T^tuT J* Hu^"^^ A¥AlllAC !: * a WVCI11 " 1C " 1 warns » 



1 f j Tij- jt r w H Victoria; Professor O. Mattirolo, as professor of botany and director of fl* 



the shape of the leaves. 



Recent Botanical Appointments of interest are : Mr. J. G. Lucha* 



to succeed the late Baron Ferdinand von M tiller as Government botanist to 



portions, one being devoted to Reading Giant and the other to Wonder 



Botanic Gardens and Museum at Florence ; and Professor F. Morini to 



The soil of the first four plots was superior to that of the remaining Pro f e ssor Mattirolo at Bologna. We may add that a hall for the herbaria, p* 



plots, and it is therefore necessary to compare them with each other. parations, and sections of the celebrated botanist Aldrovandi has been erected aod 



The second plot, which received no manure, gave a crop at the rate of opened at Bologna, and the cost has been met by the city and province, 

 nine tons nine hundredweight per acre, and the soil therefore must have Black Currant Mite.— At the recent meeting of R.H.S. ScientificG 



been well stored with food adapted to the requirements of the potato mittee, Mr. Berry gave some particulars of the progress of this destructive pesl 

 crop. With the application of nine pounds per perch of complete Kent. It was first observed some ten years ago, but has now reached alarmi* 

 chemical manure, the yield was raised on plot four to a rate of nine dimensions. Miss Ormerodi recommended picking off and destroying the W 



tons thirteen hundredweight sixty-seven pounds, or an increase of four infested with the mite [Phytoptus riUs) % the cause of the injury. This was done, 



hundredweight sixty-seven pounds only, or not nearly enough to cover but last year a sudden development occurred, when picking became useless. The 



the cost of manure. Lot one received a dressing of two hundredweight Baldwin, a very heavy cropper, *as the variety most seriously attacked. The Red 



per perch of stable manure, and yielded one ton nine hunrliWIw^^Iti f^rtxr. ~ 



Budded Naples were only slightly affected, but this variety is not a heavy cropj 



five pounds in excess of the crop produced on the unmanured^plot, the and the fruit being more readil y shed » lt 1S not so usefu l as the Baldwin formaite 



' purposes. He suggested that experiments might be carried out at Chiswick to 



discover which was the most blight- resisting variety, as was done with other plants 

 in Victoria in the Horticultural Gardens, so as to aid the fruit industry in Australia 

 Mr. McLachlan gave some account of the general habits of the Phytopti, remar 

 hundre. Wurht fnrtv SU^^LLJlT. * *~*T T vmM9 »«tw ing that this species was first noticed by Westwood some thirty years ago. It a 



hundredweight forty-five pounds per acre, or nearly three tons more than n ^ r1v wi™ \Z L- ^ L^^u. ;* r. ^ &La to r 

 trie crop on the unmanured plot, and taking the value of the excess at 



value of which excess is eleven shillings less than the cost of the manure. 

 The heaviest crop of all was obtained on plot three by the application of 

 one hundredweight of stable manure and three pounds of sulphate of 

 ammonia per perch. The yield was at the rate of twelve tons seven 



£0 15s. 3d., and the cost of manure at ^4, we have a net gain of 

 £2 15s. 3d. These results are exactly what we should have expected 



after a careful examination of the analysis of the soil, and they amply — t -.^ n , w rnpi : UML1J _ 



confirm our views with reference to the importance of so regulating the plant/a iLgte'^^^fchtrf^ Owe "on^m^Vindl 



I I* ' 



application of fertilisers as to supply the food constituents of which the 

 soil is deficient. 



Experiments with Nitragin were conducted at Calne last year under the 

 auspices of the Wilts County Council, and more satisfactory results appear to have 

 l«en obtained than at other experimental stations in England and Scotland. 



tragtn consists 



bacteria 



. f*"^ UM9 UUUU1CS 01 



leguminous plants, and subsequently increased in numbers by a process of cultiva- 

 tion prescribed by Professors Nobbe and Hilrn*r_ The bacteria referred to are 



nearly legless, and lives inside the bud, consequently it is very difficult to reach bf 

 means of insecticides. He could only recommend hand picking, unless a rain- 

 proof variety could be found, as they had raised more or less phylloxera- 

 vines. Mr. Michael also contributed further details, observing that all the spec* 

 of Phytoptus were parasites, and that while many species might attack the sat 



They were excessive^ 



minute, possessing only two pairs of legs instead of eight, and always protect 

 themselves, so that it becomes a very difficult matter to reach them, as, t/i ■ 

 the curled-up edges of leaves, and within buds. It had been found that kerase* 

 emulsion continuously applied by spraying had been more or less effective aga» 

 P. pyri, but acari are far less sensitive to chemicals than insects. The eg* 

 especially have a dense cuticle, so as to render it quite impervious to chemial 

 action of inseedcides. The ionly chance was to repeat the process of spray* 



They only thing absolutely fatal toacarus * 



reply** 



and catch the successive broods. 



present in all fertile soils, and attach themselves to the roots of the growing plants 



!°^/ h ? *? thC fo . rmation . of the nodules. When thus associated with the 



assii 



was boiling water ; eggs and all were destroyed at once. Mr. Berry, in 

 observed that the remedy hitherto suggested of cutting down the shoots of » 

 currant bushes attacked was quite useless. Mr. Veitch suggested that analyst 

 the branches of the varieties affected or otherwise might reveal some difference 



nitrogenous compounds, which are used by their hosts for the purposes of growth but Mr * WiIks ex P ressed himself as very doubtful of any appreciable different 

 ThU 



1 his accounts for the fact that leguminous crops are usually regarded as inde- 

 pendent of artificial supplies of nitrogenous manures ; and some idea of the 

 amount nf netful umrU carried ■* • . . 



Mderation that although a large quantity of nitrogen (ninety-eight pounds in an 

 average crop of beans) >* — J — ■«-•-- -« •« • * - - - F 



being attainable even if they exist. 



The United Horticultural Benefit and Provident Society hj 



now 714 members, no less than twenty-seven having been duly pr°P° sed 

 elected at the recent committee meeting. Mr. George Wythes, V.M.H.j SP 

 Gardens, has consented to take the chair at the annual meeting which will 



than it w« M tfc w — ' — r* r~ " «»>-ucr in nitrogen ww w 10 taKe tne cnair at rne annu 



U. AM 1 f Cr ° P ' 11 13 assumed that s °n»e soils are more or P kce * the Caledonian Hotel, Adelphi, on March 14. 



cr^t^pX -^ h Di -ased Pine,-S P ecimens of Scotch fir and of Abies 



have been received by R.H.S. from Mrs. Marshall, Ambleside, tnc ' 



carried 



•btained 



plants with bacteria den\e7frnmX UU TV ^/"PP 1 ™ ine v ™°™ leguminous attacked by the Pine beetle, the latter by Kermes abietis. This insect n» 

 the Quemerford station Jt^^as a^i t T Ti At Foved to be very fatal to this species of abies, and the only suggesdon that** 



the seed for snri™ ..J appUed t0 t . he . S ° l1 for w,nter ^d to be made was to cut down the tree and burn all parts attacked. It was sugg*» 



This insect has «Wj 



„„„_ 1 , -, - beans. — . ^ w ucillcxl SI i Uwea no rr ain ln ,u f nrm „ r 



case, but one of 4 per cent, in the Utter At T j^k.h t u . Iormer 



tresis « e >l. ^ " MDt °* the P 1 " s< '*■' <*h «mik,ly 



« ■««••. down the tree and burn all parts attacked. — - \<t0* 



with regard to the Pine beetle that to encourage the multiplication of insecti 

 birds as far as possible might be advantageous. t 

 Messrs. J. Carter and Co. inform us that during the recent great ^ ^ 

 Holborn only the outer fireproof walls of their premises were scorched, 

 particular warehouse contained only a few score bales of breakfast oats ' 

 quentiy orders will be executed and despatched with the usual promptit"^' 



