224 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ IIarch 20, 1884, 
the first shower will leave them fully exposed upon the surface in the 
manner of a German Iris, while the actual roots are put right down 
into the soil, there to ramble about. This full exposure of the stems 
to the light and air causes them to be firm and well matured, fit to 
resist the cold and damp of winter, and in cold soils or low and 
humid situations a very slight covering of finely sifted coal ashes 
applied about the end of October, though not sufficient to afford any 
great protection, is yet very beneficial in its effects. If so treated 
they may be allowed to remain for several years without division or 
removal, and will form a dense mass of closely interlaced stems, 
producing annually sheets of bright flowers and attractive foliage. 
The varieties best adapted for outdoor growth will now be mentioned, 
the writer be'ng careful to notice only such plants as have been 
well tested m various localities, especially during the winters of 
1879-80 and 1880-81, although there is no doubt but what the newer 
varieties will prove equally hardy when they become sufficiently 
common for strong plants to be procurable. 
Primula Sieboldi. —This, which is usually considered the type, 
is moderately strong in growth, having flowers of a rich rose colour, 
with white eye. 
P. grandiflora —Larger flowers, of a French white internally, 
but bright rose without. This and the next have drooping flowers, 
but are stronger growers than the type. 
P. grandiflora alba. —A fac-simile of the preceding, but with pure 
white flowers. 
P. intermedia. —Smaller in all respects but that of height than 
the type, but with the petals much narrower in proportion to their 
length, giving it a very distinct and what is often called starry 
appearance. 
P. intermedia alba. —A pure white form of the preceding. 
P. flmbriata oculata. —Flowers bright violet, with a white eye. 
This variety has the petals closely serrated and numerous fine lines 
of white from the eye running into the petals ; very distinct. 
P. lilacina. —Large lilac blooms, with the petals coarsely toothed 
and fringed, the margins frequently' overlapping at the sides in 
regular order, giving the bloom somewhat the appearance of an 
abortive attempt to produce a semi-double flower. 
This list might be easily extended, giving a much greater variety 
of colour, but anyone having been successful with these will no 
doubt be tempted to procure a more varied selection.— Kent. 
A PLAGUE OF MILLEPEDES. 
1 HAVE sent you a small box with some Beans in it swarming with 
insects that have infested my garden since the summer of 1882. They 
were first noticed that summer in the Strawberries. In them they only 
make a hole the size of a knitting needle, often close on a hundred of the 
worms being found in a Strawberry. I took up the whole lot of Straw¬ 
berries, severely salted and dug in salt. Two weeks after I severely 
sooted and limed all the ground, then replanted Strawberries. Last 
season the pests were much more numerous, and hundreds of Strawberry 
fruits were destroyed. They also attacked a few of the Potatoes. I 
found them in roots of Globe Artichokes, all this wet winter in the 
Celery, also in Carrots, also in all the Apples and Pears and Plums that 
ware a night on orchard grass after wind, also in a few Dahlia roots 
when taking them up. Last November when digging all the garden it 
was heavily salted. On planting these Beans the ground was limed and 
sooted, the Beans and Peas were soaked for two hours in a basin with 
half petroleum, some softsoap and half water, and were greasy and wet 
when put into the ground. Not seeing any Beans coming we took them 
up this day, found forty-nine of them rotting, and all infested as those I 
send you. I also found them at the roots of some choice Pansies along 
with the leather grub. The Pansy bed, after being cleared of plants, was 
deluged with extra strong solutions of petroleum and softsoap, half of 
those and half water ; now the Pansies in the same bed look healthy and 
strong. The pests further attacked Nectarines and Peaches on the 
ground last autumn that escaped falling into the nets to receive them. 
I think I have done everything thirty years’ experience has taught me, 
along with all the valuable hints I have had during the last ten years 
from the Journal. I am now utterly beaten by the reptile I send you, 
and can only think of burning the surface of the entire garden, which of 
course no one can do, nor any part of it now or for this season after the 
six weeks’ deluge of rain, the ground all over this locality being water- 
soppe 1 and unable to let down the rainfall of this last week. I apologise 
for the length of this information I send of this pest, but all my neigh¬ 
bours are much in the same boat, and I can neither find out what the 
beast is or how to get rid of it. Again, I say, pray excuse a suffering 
inquirer.— Saxoring. 
N.B.—For four years since I began washing Beans and Peas in strong 
solution of petroleum I have never lost one, and always till now had 
splendid crops of Peas. 
[The reptiles infesting the Beans are millepedes. From reports that 
have reached us it appears that this spring much mischief has been done 
in some gardens by various species of this garden pest. It has been 
noticed by naturalists that most insects, even subterranean feeders, are 
sufferers by such a mild and damp winter as that of last season, but the 
species of Julus are evidently none the worse for it ; and probably, as a 
rule, all the year round those gardens that are insufficiently drained are 
likely to be harbourers of the pests. The commonest species are J. pul- 
chellus, so called from a double row of crimson spots along the back, a 
very small but active species ; and J. terrestris, a larger insect, of a 
brown or reddish-brown colour, and which, if less numerous than its 
relative, makes up for this by its size. It is also supposed to live and 
feed for nearly two years. These and other species of Julus destroy 
slugs, smaller insects, and decayed vegetable substances. Their taste 
for variety, however, leads them to attack bulbs and corms, also newly 
sown Beans and Peas, the roots of Cabbages, and many other plants. 
Hence it is necessary to take measures against them, as by setting traps, 
pots being loosely filled with such articles as are likely to attract them, 
moist rotting roots, damaged Potatoes or Apples, &c. Numerous we 
know are the compounds recommended for destroying root-feeders ; but 
the Julidas are so tough, and cling so closely to the object they are 
attacking, that it is difficult to kill them without damaging the plants. 
We fancy hellebore tea would be sometimes efficacious. In potting, 
when there is reason to suspect that small millepedes may be present in 
the soil, this should be baked before using. In bad cases ground may be 
so infested with them as to need dressing with sulphuric acid, to the 
destruction of all animal and vegetable life. They seem to have few 
natural enemies. Birds seldom meddle with them. Our correspondent 
has himself indicated one of the best remedies—petroleum. This applied 
to the infested ground the same as it was applied to the Pansy bed would 
also probably have a similar effect in extirpating the pest, and act as a 
manure for the crops succeeding. The soil also probably needs draining, 
and should be thrown into ridges in the autumn to the action of frost, 
breaking the crust whenever possible, to expose the greatest possible 
quantity of the soil to the severity of the weather. Burning the soil 
would be efficacious, but that at present is out of the question.] 
THE GARDENERS' ROYAL BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION. 
I Am very sorry I have not been able to send Mr. Cutler the information 
he asked for. On reading his communication in November last I wrote at 
once to my friend for all particulars and permission to forward his name, 
&e., to Mr. Cutler, that the Committee might inquire into the case. He 
did not reply. I wrote a second time, but have received no reply. I 
waiLd, hoping to have an opportunity of seeing him personally, but have 
not been able to do so thus far, as the last time I heard anything of him he 
was living nearly 100 miles from here, and he is now old and probably in 
feeble health, so that I do not wish to trouble him more than is necessary. 
The member of the society whom he spoke to for assistance on the subject 
has been dead for some time, so that his name n°ed not be mentioned ; and 
here is probably where the mistake occurred through my friend not 
applying to the Secretary in the usual way. It seems from what has been 
published on the subject since I first wrote he would have then obtained a 
very different answer. Why he did not pursue the subject any farther I 
know not; perhaps his circumstances improved. At any rate he did not 
appear to trouble himself any farther, and contrived to do without the 
assistance of the Society. 
It will now be seen how I have been misled, as he told the ease to me 
and a friend as stated, and now withholds permission for me to move any 
farther in the matter ; but as I stated in your issue of November 29th last 
I was not writing on his behalf in any way. If he still required the 
assistance of the Society he would doubtless have used some of the means 
mentioned by Mr. Cutler for obtaining it, or if he had requested me to 
move in the matter for him I should certainly have applied to Mr. Cutler 
in the first place. 
I do not allow my imagination to run riot when I take up the pen; on 
the contrary, no one dislikes fiction of all kinds more than myself ; but, as 
stated at the time, “ I wrote for information for myself and also for 
others ” on a subject which the rules of the Society gave, practically 
speaking, no information whatever, as I fully intended joining the Institu¬ 
tion as soon as my circumstances permitted if I received a favourable reply. 
And I was thus giving the Secretary an opportunity to clear up a dark 
question and advance the claims of his Society before the public, as I felt 
most likely the same difficulty had appeared to others as well as myselE 
(which conclusion was afterwards justified by another correspondent), and 
I merely' mentioned the case as an example of the information I wanted, and 
knowing it is more convenient for many to pay down a sum of £10 105. at 
once when young than to keep up an annual subscription of £1 Is. through 
life under varying circumstances, “ provided each gave equal advantages.” 
These were my sole motives for asking for the information. Most 
certainly I had not the least wish to disparage an institution which I know 
has done so much good to members of my vocation. 
In conclusion, if anything I have at any time written has in any way 
prejudiced the Institution or anyone connected therewith I fully apologise 
for the same. Speaking for myself I have more confidence in the Society 
now than I ever had, and I sincerely hope everyone else has also.—W. H. 
Divers. 
Controversy. —Acting on the principle I suggested to others when 
writing on this subject before, I do not reply to “ C. W.’s” irrelevant 
question (page 208) concerning Vine shoots, but advise him to find out 
why the contents were put into the bottles in the first instance, and why 
the Vine shoots were inserted in these contents. When he has discovered 
the reason of this he will learn how the shoots grew and were supported 
also. The form in which “ C. W.’s ” question is put now leads towards 
