JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
414 
[ May 26, 1881. 
muriatic acid and water and the house well painted. The bottom 
of the border, which was bricked, was taken up and relaid, 
running hot lime between the crevices of the bricks. Some 
time afterwards, to be sure the house was thoroughly clean it 
was tested by placing a clean Vine in it, but no trace of the 
insect was again to be found. The drainage was again replaced 
and the salt process repeated, and the house employed during 
winter for forcing and growing French Beans. 
The house here was attacked in the centre, and the Phyl¬ 
loxera appears to remain upon one Vine, or in one portion 
of the border until all the roots are devoured, then spread to 
contiguous Vines. Two or three Vines at each end of the 
house were clean, while in the centre of the house every root 
was covered with knots Temporary Vines had been planted 
near the back of the border to fruit at the top of the house for 
a season or two. A space of 18 inches between the two 
borders was left, and the insects had not reached the temporary 
Vines. 
I cannot think the Phylloxera establishes itself in vineries 
so mysteriously as many suppose without obtaining affected 
Vines in the first place, or wood for eyes from such Vines. 
The insects move so slowly that it appears impossible for them 
to travel from one district to another. The wind might carry 
them, but this appears rather impracticable, as the insect will 
only live a short time exposed to sun and air. If young fibres 
are exposed, which quickly shrivel and dry-up in the sun, the 
insects will not live so long as if a stronger root is exposed 
that remains fresh for a greater length of time. Apart from 
the roots they only live at the longest about thirty-eight hours. 
From various experiments I am thoroughly convinced that the 
Phylloxera will not attack the roots of any other plants.— 
Wm. Bardney. 
SPRING FLOWERS. 
“ Spring's delights are all reviving, 
Verdant leaflets clothe each spray.” 
Spring in its almost full maturity is upon us, daily growing 
more beautiful, and swiftly merging into early summer. From 
the opening of the first Snowdrops and Crocuses we have at first 
daily, and now almost hourly, additions of floral beauty till 
‘‘spring’s delights ” culminate in the regal richuess of the Rhodo¬ 
dendron and the softer tints of Kalmias and Azaleas, the first 
flowers of which are just open, and from which we shall turn with 
lingering regret to greet the first Roses of summer in “ leafy 
June.” 
That old friend of my boyhood, Omphalodes verna, has been 
very beautiful with its abundant clusters of deep blue flowers. 
Its great beauty and easy culture have often been pointed out in 
the Journal, and I am glad at length to see high praise awarded 
it and a discussion of its merits and culture in a contemporary. 
Runners taken off and planted now soon make large clumps—so 
large that some care is required to keep it within bounds. It is 
planted here with Solomon’s Seal, Pseonies, and other perennials, 
among which it rambles unchecked, spreading almost as fast as 
Lily of the Valley. 
Myosotis sylvatica, Silene, and other annuals are now in full 
beauty. The culture of these useful and easily managed plants 
has long ago been explained, but failures are still by no means 
uncommon, and they are generally found to arise from a mistaken 
idea that seeds of all sorts should be sown at the same time. It 
may, therefore, be useful to state once more that Myosotis for 
spring beds should be sown the third week in June ; Escbscholtzia 
a fortnight later ; Silene the third week in July ; Saponaria cala- 
brica. Alyssum maritimum, and Iberis the third week in August; 
Nemophila, Collinsia, Limnanthes Douglassii, and Lasthenia cali- 
fornica a week later. Sow in drills in a garden border of rich 
light soil, prick out into nursery beds as soon as the plants are 
large enough, and transplant to the beds immediately after the 
summer plants are cleared off. Give especial care to plant Nemo- 
philas and Saponarias in light porous soil well elevated above the 
common level and drained. 
Lily of the Valley is now in full beauty. Every garden should 
have a few patches of it. My best bed is on a low bank shaded 
by trees and thinly planted with shrubs, among which the pretty 
little Lily has spread far and wide with surprising rapidity. It 
loves good soil, and is certainly worthy of it. Break up the soil 
and insert the plants in small clusters a foot apart; keep down 
weeds for two or three years till the plants meet, but do not dig 
among them, and the bed once established will last for a lifetime. 
The dry weather caused Daphne pontica to shed its flowers 
sooner than usual this year. It thrives and soon grows into large 
specimens in a light sandy soil. Daphne cneorum is now laden 
with its pretty pink flowers, which “ scent the air with sweet 
perfume.” To have it in perfection it must be planted in sweet 
wholesome fibrous peat—not wet black sour peat from a sodden 
bog. The Andromedas, too, are opening their pretty white Heath¬ 
like flowers. The robust A. formosum has been in bloom for 
some time, but I much prefer my favourite A. Catesbsei, which is 
not yet in full beauty. 
Let us turn from the shrubs to the rockery, and the eye is at 
once arrested by the long trailing growth of Lithospermum pro- 
stratum, studded thickly with deep blue flowers. The plants are 
large, for they have been left undisturbed for five or six years. 
Some are growing singly, but two are intermingled with a varie¬ 
gated Honeysuckle, and the beauty of the flowers is much en¬ 
hanced by its delicate yellow foliage. Upon the low rock beds 
there are several plants of Azalea amoena, that are just now 
masses of deep pink blossom clustering so thickly upon the 
branches that the foliage is quite lost to view. There are several 
lovely pink cushions of Phlox frondosa, and equally attractive 
white masses of Phlox Nelsoni. 
Saxifraga pyramidalis is throwing up its bold flower spikes that 
will ere long become lovely tapering cones of white flowers a 
foot or two in height. This fine Saxifraga gives numerous offsets, 
which should be taken off and planted singly in order to secure 
fine spikes of bloom. Most of the minor Saxifrages contribute 
their little cluster of white flowers, and S. muscoides rubra is a 
red sparkling gem. A charming soft downy cushion of Thymus 
lanuginosus is studded with pretty little pink flowers. It is 
extremely dwarf, hardly rising an inch above the surface of the 
soil in which it is planted, but it has spread its velvety growth 
upwards over two large masses of rock, clothing them so beautifully 
that is now one of the most attractive of the rock plants. This 
plant and the aromatic Thymus corsicus were given me some five 
years ago by a friend who has since gone to his rest, and they 
have spread with equal rapidity, but the former is decidedly the 
more ornamental. 
I have not devoted the rock beds altogether to alpine plant?. 
There are plenty of them in little nooks and trailing over the 
rocks, but they are broken up into groups and colonies by plants 
of bolder aspect, such as Erica carnea, which has been very 
beautiful but has now done blooming, Azalea amoena, Rhodo¬ 
dendron ferrugineum, Erica Foxii, so remarkable for its compact 
globular outline and tiny flowers, Kalmia nana, K. glauca, Andro¬ 
meda polifolia, and A. polifolia angustifolia, both having pale 
pink flowers and forming pretty dwarf bushes. \ 
As we go from the rocks past the pond containing the hardy 
aquatics we see Aponogeton distachyon in full bloom ; it is often 
called the Water Hawthorn from the sweet scent of its singular 
pure white flowers. Along the side of the pond there are other 
white flowers springing upwards from stout trailing stems into 
spikes of great beauty. The unopened flower buds are charmingly 
tinged with pink, but the expanded flowers are quite white, and 
are most curious from the fact of the entire inner surface being 
thickly set with delicate filaments. This is the Bog Bean, Meny- 
anthes trifoliata. It is one. of our loveliest native plants. I found 
it growing in a bog on Ashdowm Forest, among which also grew 
thousands of Drosera rotundiflora, Asphodel, and Bog Cotton. 
In its wild state the Bog Bean is not very attractive, but under 
cultivation its foliage and blossom become very ornamental. 
There are many other spring flowers worthy of notice, for all 
are beautiful. The Mountain Ash is just opening its sweet 
flowers ; the grand old Lilacs are laden with huge clusters ; the 
Laburnums will soon wave their golden.arms, rich with a wealth 
of floral beauty that imparts a peculiar and most attractive aspect 
to the garden. Soon will the Gueldres Roses give us their huge 
white snowballs again, and the Weigelas put on their vernal 
display of pink and white blossom that in the distance is not 
unlike Apple blossom. Apple blossom ! is it not glorious this 
spring ? The pyramids are very beautiful, but they are altogether 
eclipsed by the huge old standards at the farm, unpruned and 
wild-like, but so picturesque !— Edward Luckhurst. 
Low versus High Night Temperatures for Muscat 
Grapes. —At page 383 a correspondent remarks that Mr. Simp¬ 
son has not had justice done him in the matter of low night 
temperatures for Vines, which he has for a long time advocated. 
In going through the houses lately at Wortley when the Muscats 
were setting I noticed on a slate (one of which is hung in every 
house) the following figures for the men’s guidance—Day tem¬ 
perature, with sun, 80° to 90° ; dull days 60° to 65°; night 50°. 
In a Black Hamburgh house, where the bunches were well out 
