3 G 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 17, 1884. 
Again, on the 21st, after sixty hours’ immersion, they were 
examined, when from 5 to 10 per cent, in each vessel were 
still found to be alive, but their movements at this time 
were so slow and feeble as scarcely to he perceptible. On the 
22nd, after eighty-four hours’ immersion, they were again 
tested, when all were found to be quite dead, in the pure 
water as well as that which was mixed with potash, and, in 
many instances, the insects were partially decomposed and 
required but the merest touch with a needle to fall to pieces. 
These experiments proved most conclusively two things— 
first, that the application of half a pound of sulpho-carbolate 
of potash dissolved in a gallon of water will not instantly 
destroy this pest, nor did its presence in the water appear to 
exercise any decided effect on the insect. As the potash was 
obtained specially for me through a first-class wholesale 
chemist, and as the purpose for which it was required was 
made known to them at the time of ordering, and the 
cost—8s. per lb., I have every reason to suppose it was 
genuine. If the proprietors of the continental vineyards 
pay the same price, and apply it in the same proportion 
as I did, I fear, even if the results were satisfactory, its free 
use would prove far too expensive. 
These experiments also proved most clearly that eighty- 
four hours’ complete submersion, even in pure water and 
loam, will effectually destroy it. Hence, this simple and 
comparatively inexpensive method seems to be, at any rate 
in England where the space occupied by the Vine borders is 
necessarily limited, to be deserving of consideration. To those 
who are about to erect new vineries or renew old borders I 
would particularly recommend tank borders, where the roots 
may be conveniently and completely submerged for four or 
even six days every spring just as the buds begin to swell, 
and again for the same length of time each autumn when 
their growth is completed. I say six days, because it would 
undoubtedly take a longer time for a Vine border to become 
thoroughly saturated than was the case with the soil covering 
the roots in the vessels used; nor do I think complete 
submersion of the border for six days at the two periods 
mentioned would prove injurious to the Vines, provided 
thoroughly efficient drainage be secured afterwards. 
Lest the mention of “ tank Vine borders” should alarm 
some of your timorous readers, I will endeavour to show 
that they are neither such costly nor such inconvenient 
structures as would at first appear, and certainly not so 
much so as to prevent their erection for this special purpose. 
If a tank border will afford a safe means of security against 
the attacks of phylloxera, and I firmly believe it will, its 
first and only cost would prove much less than that occa¬ 
sioned by a visit from this unwelcome visitor into an ordinary 
border. It is not an unusual practice, nor is it an un¬ 
necessary one in low-lying positions, or where the subsoil 
is at all retentive of moisture, to concrete the bottom of a 
Vine border, and where this is done it is but the addition of 
four upright walls 4 feet 6 inches high, and G inches wide, built 
with the same materials and rendered with cement and fine 
sand, and the tank is complete. 
As I do not believe in preaching one doctrine and practis¬ 
ing another, I will briefly describe the steps we have already 
taken in this direction. Having last autumn discovered 
phylloxera in three old vineries in the outside as well as 
inside borders, and having first obtained the permission of 
my noble employers, it was decided to make a clean sweep 
by removing every particle in which it was possible for the 
insects to lodge. After fumigation, painting, and general 
cleansing, it was determined, after the results of the experi¬ 
ments already mentioned, to erect tanks. These houses 
having formerly been used for growing Pines, the tanners’ 
bark pits in them offered favourable facilities for their erec¬ 
tion, the four walls forming the pits having only to be faced 
with cement as well as the base, and the tanks were com¬ 
pleted. Ample provision for drainage was provided by 
giving a sharp fall to the bottom of the border to the lower 
side. Two-inch pipes were then inserted through the wall at 
the lowest points, and neatly fitted with modern plugs on 
the outside, so as to be conveniently adjusted. The drainage 
consists of 9 inches of brickbats laid level on the top, over 
this 4 inches of coarse gravel or stones about 2 inches cube; 
this is made perfectly level and rammed down firm, then 
3 inches of coarse cinders and slag; this is also rammed 
quite level as before, and finally 3 inches of coal ashes also 
rolled dow T n perfectly firm and even. I need scarcely say 
that this will remain porous for any reasonable length of 
time. The soil rests on this, as I do not like the practice of 
inverted turves on the bottom, simply because they form, 
after the grass and fibre is decayed, a bad means for quick 
drainage. The borders being small, they are made of good 
lasting materials— i.e., good sandy loam with a small admix¬ 
ture of bones, lime scraps, and a portion of the old border in 
the form of burnt earth and charcoal; this being dry it is 
placed not lightly, but trodden down firmly to a depth of 
2 feet 9 inches, allowing 6 inches for water space on the 
top. 
The Vines will be planted in the spring, and as there is 
very little vegetable matter in these borders I purpose sup¬ 
plying the missing ingredients by means of a hose from a 
tauk, into which runs the liquid from the decaying vegetable 
heap and stable yard. Fortunately the proper elevation of 
the heating apparatus enables me to warm this water to any 
required temperature by admitting at will into the supply 
pipe a sufficiency of hot water. Similar means also exist for 
the admission of clear water when required. By these 
arrangements I hope to bid defiance to the phylloxera, which 
I need scarcely say has caused me some anxiety and trouble. 
I have, however, the satisfaction of knowing that the labour 
in these vineries in future will be greatly lessened by the 
tank system, which to my mind possesses many advantages, 
irrespective of the great one, of being phylloxera-proof. 
So out of evil sometimes comes good. In examining 
specimens of phylloxera the other day through a magnifying 
power of 300 diameters, I observed that many of them were 
nearly covered with reddish-coloured, beetle-like parasites, 
plainly showing that even these mites in creation are in their 
turn food for others, even smaller still. 
“ Big fleas have little fleas on their backs to bite ’em, 
Little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.'' 
—T. Chaxlis. 
PEA CULTURE. 
In preparing ground for Peas it is very important that it 
should be deeply dug or trenched, and if poor a plentiful supply 
of manure should be given; but in gardens which have been a 
long time under good cultivation it is possible to make the 
ground too rich, and when this happens the Peas run up to a 
great height and make long jointed growths which are not 
fruitful. On very hot dry land it is a good plan to prepare 
trenches in the same way as for Celery. These trenches should 
be left partly open after the Peas are sown. By thus leaving 
the trenches a good opportunity is afforded for drenching the 
soil with liquid manure should the weather be such as to render 
this necessary. The distance between the rows will depend on 
the height of the sorts grown. It is better to give tall growers 
from 6 to 10 feet between them, and to grow a crop such as 
Cauliflowers or Lettuces between than to crowd them. 
I do not think anything is gained by sowing too early. I 
have found the month of February quite early enough for this 
low-lying and somewhat cold district, but I would advise a good 
quantity to be sown at one time for the first two or three sowings, 
after which I make a practice of sowing every week, in quantity 
according to the demand, up till the end of June. Having got 
the earliest sowing fairly up they must be carefully watched, as 
if left unprotected the sparrows will soon make short work of 
them. A very simple though good plan is to place a few spruce 
boughs on each side of the rows in addition to the Pea sticks. 
Around these run some cotton or pieces of old garden netting. 
The sparrows do not like the look of this, though in time they 
will get used to it and will make tbeir way to the young Peas 
if not well looked after. 
One of the most important points in growing Peas really 
well is in keeping them sufficiently moist at the roots, and 
