April 6, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
285 
tbe natural store of food. It does not follow that hoiticulturists 
can afford to neglect the teachings of chemistry ; rather, they have 
greater need to study it. 
Iu the article referred to we selected a common case. We 
supposed a garden long cropped with ordinary vegetables taking 
more potash than phosphoric acid from the soil, and long enriched 
with manure containing more phosphoric acid than potash. Such 
a garden might be supposed to have a useless store of phosphoric 
acid, aud this we proposed to utilise by employing more potash 
and much less phosphoric acid. To those who could obtain urine 
we advised the use of that for a time because of its being rich in 
potash, salts, and nitrogen. To those who could not get such we 
thought that sulphate of potash used with manure might supply 
the want at a cheap rate, save the ammonia otherwise lost, and 
enable the cultivator to avail himself of his otherwise useless 
phosphate. 
At present neither the time nor the space at our disposal will 
allow more, and if the difficulties raised by “ Inquirer” have not 
been fully explained to his satisfaction we shall be pleased to 
return to the subject. Nothing is of more importance, and a full 
discussion would be useful.— Single-handed. 
QUEEN WASPS. 
I cannot understand “Duckwing’s” remaiks about queen 
wasps (page 260). He says, “ I can answer for the fact that the 
spring and autumn wasps were in an inverse ratio as to 
number.” In other words, the larger the number in spring the 
less in autumn. Does he also consider the reverse will hold good ? 
If so, we may assume that if there were no spring wasps there 
would be numerous swarms in the autumn. 
He and the Rev. J. G. Wood certainly differ on the subject, as 
the following extract from “ Homes Without Hands ” will show 
—“ At last ”— i.e., at the end of the season—“ the entire popula¬ 
tion deserts the nests, the workers die, and so do all the males ; the 
majority of the females die also, some from exposure to cold, 
others by a violent death. Those, however, that are fortunate 
enough to find a crevice in which they can lie dormant during the 
long months of winter creep into it, and there remain until the 
following spring, when they emerge to be the queens and mothers 
of future colonies. The reader will now comprehend, that when¬ 
ever a wasp is seen in the springtide it is one of the females 
which has survived the winter, and is about to found a new 
colony. Those, therefore, who pride themselves on their wall 
fruit will do well to kill such wasps, inasmuch as a single queen 
wasp in spring is equivalent to many thousand wasps in autumn.” 
—C. T. H. 
CULTIVATION v. MANURE. 
The enclosed letter, written to me by one of the most successful 
cultivators I know—Mr. Lovell of Weaverthorpe, and recording 
his own actual experience in a matter where he has been distinctly 
successful, seems to me so likely to be interesting that I beg to 
ask your insertion of it. Though the facts given and the theories 
upon which they are based cannot be new to a few old students 
of horticulture, these taken together with the practical result ob¬ 
tained make Mr. Lovell’s remarks in a time like the present, when 
we defer so largely to practical results, of the greater value.— 
R. Bailey Walker, F.S.S. 
“ I keep no live stock, nor shall I. I can always buy what manure 
I require, but I hold what to some would appear to be strange notions. 
In the early ages of the world plants had to grow without manure. 
The plants had to grow first from the bare rock, and animals had to 
feed on them before there was any manure. Now we have the accu¬ 
mulated deposit of ages, which only requires cultivation to supply 
the elements of nutrition that a plant requires. Hence on good soil 
cultivation is an equivalent for manure. Thoroughly good soil allows 
a free passage of the circulation of the air. The gases of the air act 
and react on the soil, and set at liberty the latent fertility of the soil, 
or supply food direct to the roots and leaves, so that every time we stir 
the soil it gathers a supply of riches from the air. The gases of the 
air are inexhaustible, and so are the locked-up treasures of good soil ; 
it only needs disintegration and pulverisation to yield food for a hun¬ 
dred or even a thousand crops. Thus on a piece of such land put 
into cultivation I would grow a crop of Wheat year by year of four 
or five quarters, which might be sold at 40$. per quarter, and still 
leave a profit after all the expenses of cultivation were paid, without 
any manure at all, simply depending on cultivation. 
“ The ordinary practice of farmers, and even gardeners, is to hoe 
only to kill the weeds. An advanced cultivator would hoe or dig it 
over, even if there were no weeds, for the purpose of aerating the soil 
and allowing free circulation to the gases from the air. Soil worked 
in this way (good soil I am speaking of) is in a great measure self- 
supporting for moisture, and also for gases of the plant which can 
be absorbed by the roots. I have been an experimentor for the last 
twenty years with soils, manures, and plants, and have learnt from 
failure as well as success. Such a thing as a failure of a crop of fruit 
from Strawberry plants never enters my mind. ‘Work is prayer’ 
was the motto of the monks of old when they cultivated their land, 
as it is with me. ‘ Work is prayer,’ and ‘ Cultivation is manure,’ are 
the two leading principles of my life. 
“ Nothing is easier than to produce disease in plants by feeding them 
with gross manure, especially if of a stimulating nature or in a liquid 
state. Feasting plants brings on disease and predisposes to disease. 
As with animals so with man ; and when I say that man might live 
to a hundred years or more I argue in this wise—Men live to eighty 
who have spent their lives feasting and fasting, drinking spirits and 
smoking tobacco, breathing impure air (in bedrooms at night espe¬ 
cially), and drinking polluted water, the pores of the skin clogged 
with the accumulated deposit of years, besides other excesses. In 
spite of all this living, in defiance of the laws of life, men live to 
eighty or ninety. Yet is it any wonder that man is subject to disease ? 
No, the wonder is that he does not suffer more. If after abusing and 
wasting life, as is the too common practice, disease did not make its 
appearance I should be inclined to doubt the truth of that wise law 
of Nature which ordains that punishment shall follow breach of law. 
—W. L.” 
AN AMATEUR’S GARDEN. 
A DESIRE to hear about a few of the triumphs of amateurs has 
been recently expressed in the Journal, and that has induced me 
to enumerate a few of the good things I have had from my garden 
lately. On Christmas Day we had a good Cucumber hanging 
(Wheeler’s Empress, and a good variety it is), but did not cut it 
until January 1st. Since then we have had one to two per week 
12 to 18 inches long, until about three weeks ago, when I had to 
commence a contest with red spider. I have won so far, and I 
have now again two fruit hanging 9 inches long and others 
coming on. Mustard and Cress we have at all times. Apples, 
stored (from an orchard), the Wellington being the best for 
kitchen by far. Potatoes of the Magnum Bonum variety are of 
excellent quality with me. Outdoor Leeks not quite 5 lbs. in 
weight, but 1^ inch in diameter and 8 inches blanched. Parsley 
we have indoors and out. Mint was ready by Christmas, but 
much more is wanted at Easter for the lamb ; and Cabbages 
were quite fit to cut last week, but were not wanted, as we still 
have Seakale and plenty of Broccoli and Greens ; but, alas ! no 
Mushrooms this time. 
In a house which I built last year the Vines have started well ; 
the leading shoots are about 6 inches long, and are showing very 
large bunches of flowers. Peach trees planted in the winter are in 
leaf, clean, and healthy. Some of my flowers are good ; about 
thirty Cinerarias are in full bloom, each 1 foot high in the pot=, 
and the heads of flower are nearly as much in diameter. Of Roses 
I shall have a succession for some time. I have also some very 
fine Calceolarias. Here is another trouble ; I want a cool house, 
but must not spend any money this year, so I have filled a frame 
with the best plants placed on ashes, and they would please any¬ 
one who loves flowers. The others are coming into bloom in the 
house ; they will be pretty, but will run up I think. 
I must not omit to mention that I have fifty pots of Strawberries 
in fine bloom ; some of the plants placed under cover first have 
the fruits swelling, and I also have many Coleuses, Begonias, 
and a few Ferns. My seedling Coleuses, Cockscombs, Verbenas, 
Pyrethrums, Capsicums, Balsams, and also Tuberoses and a few 
Liliums are coming on well.— Amateur. 
PITCH PINE AND OTHER GARDEN LABELS. 
I QUITE agree with Mr. Wolley Dod’s view of our respective 
labels. No. 6 wire cannot be attached to the label by my method 
because it is too thick to be pliable, and labels are wanted that 
can be made simple and neatly. I cannot see a better way in 
attaching a wire of that thickness than the one Mr. Wolley Dod 
has pointed out. True, labels will have to stand many casualties 
when fixed in the border, and unless they are strong they will 
soon be ruined. Even good strong wooden labels are thrust out 
of their places in many ways. My mode of making labels will 
answer very well for pots and various other purposes.—G. Garner. 
A QUESTION was raised at the last meeting of the Horticultural 
Society on the subject of pitch pine. We find by reference to 
commercial and botanical books that the pitch pine of English 
commerce is the wood of Pinus australis, the “ Swamp Pine,” a 
tree not grown in England, but abundant on the seacoasts of the 
south-eastern States of North America, especially Georgia, from 
which it is imported to England. It appears (see Gordon’s 
“ Pinetum,” index of popular names) that the wood of two dif¬ 
ferent trees is called in America pitch pine, the other being Pinus 
