January 31, 1884 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
89 
undue evaporation, whilst at the same time the foliage is free to 
perform its functions during the best part of the day. This 
effected, the house is closed early and syringing or damping 
attended to, thereby producing a close moist sun-warmed atmo¬ 
sphere ; then as night draws on the foliage becomes dry, the 
temperature is lowered, and the plants gradually rest. It is 
not good practice to syringe so late that the foliage will not 
become dry before night, and it is not advised to have plants 
dripping with moisture in the early part of the day, especially 
where it is not accompanied by ventilation. 
Water is not always used in the best mode or of the right 
kind. Rain water is undoubtedly the only proper kind to use, 
and it should be clear. Excepting for the coccus or scale family 
it is the best insecticide. Forcible syringings will eject red 
spider, thrips, aphides, and mealy bug, and the neglect of its 
use is the real cause of plants being so much infested. Too many 
use the syringe as if it were a toy. Plants are treated to a 
downpour on the upper side of the leaves, doing no good, only 
keeping that part free of dust, whilst the insects are left to suck 
out the juices of the plant on the under surface. Were such a 
plant laid on its side and turned round so that every part could 
be thoroughly syringed the insects would be removed and the soil 
would not be soddened with water as is too frequently the case. 
Clear rain water will not injure anything, it will not leave any 
sediment on fruit, or stain the most delicate tint of foliage; but 
spring waters, from the mineral substances they contain, are not 
generally available for syringing, and should be used with care. 
—G. Abbey. 
ALPINE AND ROCKERY PLANTS. 
In most English gardens a rockery has become a necessary 
consequence of the advance of outdoor gardening, together with 
the introduction of a greater variety of alpine and rock plants. 
Many of the rockeries, too, have been built by the owners, and 
a few I have had the pleasure of seeing are as regards exposure 
and situation faultless; but it is only in the summer that the 
disastrous effects of planting promiscuously anything that comes 
first to hand is seen. The graceful outline which in all cases 
ought to characterise a well-built rockery is entirely obliterated, 
and tall-growing plants in front disfigure what would otherwise 
be an agreeable feature. It may also be said to be the most 
favourable place where experiments may be tried in the accli¬ 
matising plants that are reputedly not hardy, or at least not 
generally seen growing outside in gardens in this country, and 
a few remarks on the principal rules to be observed in choosing 
situations both for these and the rarer alpines may be useful. 
There are many circumstances which combine to preserve 
different plants through severe winters—such, for instance, as a 
congenial soil in which a sufficient amount of strength has been 
gained to enable them to withstand any keen weather, a proper 
position or exposure, the necessary degree of moisture, and many 
other things not generally taken into consideration by even the 
most attentive cultivators, but which nevertheless assist the 
plants through the most critical period. It is remarkable how 
few growers are aware of the necessity there is of using the 
greatest care and precision in either the making or choosing a 
position suitable to a certain plant, and will often place it where 
they think it will look best, and where, if it lives at all, will in 
all likelihood only eke out a miserable existence. It is not 
unusual to hear of many failures attending the attempts to 
establish newly imported plants ; and the cause I have no doubt, 
in many cases at least, results from an injudicious choice of 
position—placing shade-loving plants fully exposed to the sun, 
vice versa, or, what is even worse, a bog plant in the driest position 
available. The above, of course, applies only to the more spe¬ 
cialised or critical, because, on the other hand, cultivators who 
have had long experience in growing rock and alpine plants know 
something of the extraordinary tenacity of life which some of 
the stronger-growing varieties possess even in positions entirely 
the reverse of those with which they are associated in their 
natural habitations; so that even where nature is not studied 
the hardy constitution possessed by some of these renders the 
work of the cultivator not altogether uphill. 
In the case of alpines proper, such as Saxifragas of the longi- 
folia section, Androsaces, Dianthuses, Sempervivum3, and many 
others, it is always safest if possible to get them established in 
the chink or jointure between two rocks or large stones, provided 
that the necessary supply of soil has been well firmed in. 
This position will be found the most suitable for all plants 
that are injured by damp around their stems and that are of a 
trailing disposition, and even from an ornamental point of view 
when well established will be found far more satisfactory than 
if plants in large flat unsightly pockets; besides, it utilises large 
portions of the rockery that would be otherwise bare. 
Where large patches of Primulas, low-growing Potentillas, 
Campanulas, and Geums are desired, the best plan is to select 
pockets near the front well exposed, and raise the back by the 
addition of soil at least 6 to 9 inches higher than the front, 
placing plenty of small angular stones on the top, thereby 
retaining sufficient moisture. The tall-growing plants must be 
arranged nearest the top, and in all cases associated with the 
larger stones.—M. S. 
DRESSING VINES. 
HOT WATER versus TAR. 
Mr. Igg-ulden, whose writings I read interestingly and, I 
hope, profitably, will not, I trust, think me disrespectful in not 
answering his letter on page 43 sooner. He will also, perhaps, 
excuse me for saying that when I read his last communication 
on the above subject I could not help thinking that, as the 
phrenologists say, he appears to have the bump of veneration 
largely developed. There are various objects of worship—some 
of them curious enough, as we all know—but the latest and not 
the least remarkable is the worship of tar. Truly fancy plays 
strange pranks occasionally. It was amusing to see dirty pig¬ 
ments denounced for smearing Vine rods, and then in the same 
letter to observe tar recommended as if it were the cleanest of 
materials ; but to “ almost worship it ” indicates that the 
subject has a serious aspect. On this I will only say that while 
honest convictions deserve respect I am yet far from being a 
convert to tarolatry. 
Your correspondent is perfectly correct in assuming that I 
have had experience with insects in vineries. There is perhaps 
scarcely one kind that I have not had something to do with— 
from the phylloxera on the roots to scale on the stems, thrips 
and mealy bug on the bunches, the curculio on the young 
shoots, and the tortrix on the ripening fruit. He is also per¬ 
fectly justified in expecting me to make known my method of 
extirpating one of these insects—mealy bug. It is simplicity 
itself, and I think, though tastes differ, decidedly cleaner than 
tar. Tar is an old remedy, although it is made to appear as if 
new. The clay-and-tar pigment has been prescribed in the 
“ Gardeners’ Year Book ” for years past as a remedy for the 
American blight on Apple trees. For that purpose it is good, 
and it would be singular if it were not more or less efficacious 
in destroying a similar insect on Vines. It will destroy every 
insect that is painted with it; and so will hot water destroy 
as completely every one to which it is properly applied. The 
question is now reduced to one of hot water versus tar. 
I am not quite sure whether I was pleased or disappointed 
when I observed hot water advised in the correspondence 
columns of the Journal last week as a remedy for the aphis 
on Auricula roots. As soon as I saw it I felt I was deprived 
of the credit of making, what Mr. Cannell calls in his advertise¬ 
ment, an “ announcement; ” but then I reflected on the counter¬ 
vailing advantage of having the efficacy of what I call my clean 
remedy in some measure confirmed by anticipation. This hot- 
water remedy, like the “ new ” tar doctrine, is really no novelty, 
it is just a good old method of destroying insects that has fallen 
into disuse; but though old, I do not remember its having been 
prominently advocated in your columns. It is, however, a safe, 
good, clean and cheap remedy for all that, as may be proved by 
anyone who will give it a fair trial in cleansing Vines from mealy 
bug and Roses from aphides. 
But to the Vine-cleansing. I commenced painting Vines 
with dirty pigments when I was ten years of age, and for 
ten more years consecutively I had a large share in this work; 
notwithstanding, we appeared to have also a large share of the 
insects we were supposed every year to destroy. For five 
succeeding years I had the pleasure of being relieved from the 
“ dirty work.” The Vines were never painted, but washed 
with hot water, and we had no mealy bug. Eventually 
the longed-for time arrived when I became wholly respon¬ 
sible for the management of a garden, and in that garden 
was a vinery containing seven Vines, all equally well fur¬ 
nished with the pest alluded to. Here was an opportunity 
for experiment. After the Vines were pruned four of them were 
well daubed with clay, sulphur, soot, and lime, mixed to the 
consistency of paint with ammoniacal liquor from gasworks, 
which is as nearly like tar as Mr Iggulden could wish, only 
perhaps a trifle cleaner. The other three alternate Vines were 
washed with hot soapy water, and the house was cleaned in the 
manner recommended by Mr. Murray on page 2. As much 
depends on cleaning the house and everything in it as the Vines 
The insects pass the winter in the fissures of the under sides of 
