May 18, 1882.1 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
413 
with mildew, and the simplest remedy you can adopt is to sj-ringe them with 
a solution of soft soap, obtained by dissolving 2 ozs. of soap iu a gallon of 
water, and then dust the foliage when wet with flowers of sulphur. This will 
kill the mildew in two or three days, and can then be washed off with pure 
water. In all probability, too, the root-action of the plants is defective, or the 
soil does not contain the necessary support that the plants need. If the pots 
are full of roots liquid manure will be beneficial, or a good covering of soot 
spread on the pots and watered in will prove a safe stimulant. The plants must 
also have all the light and air possible. The presence of mildew usually indi¬ 
cates that the atmosphere is too close and moist, but this is not invariably so. 
You say nothing about the soil in which the plants are growing, and possibly 
the root of the evil is there, or in some error in watering. 
Vines Scorched (II. T. H.) —You say the Vines are “exceedingly healthy.” 
Judging by the samples you have submitted we arrive at a different con¬ 
clusion. Neither the texture of the leaf, nor its colour, nor the appearance of 
the bunch indicates healthy Vines. If you have sent us fair specimens of the 
foliage and bunches we must inform you that the Vines are decidedly unhealthy. 
We think the roots are working in ungenial soil, and we are almost certain some 
of them are decayed, and quite certain the Vines are not receiving the nourish¬ 
ment they need. The atmosphere has also, we think, been kept too close and 
moist, and we venture to say the lights have not been opened soon enough in 
the morning—we mean, they may have been opened soon enough sometimes, but 
not always. We venture also to predict the Vine border is not netted with 
healthy roots near the surface. It is most important that you encourage sur¬ 
face-rooting, as not until you do this and afford proper food can the Vines be 
healthy. Your Vines are producing gross growth and large flabby leaves, and 
this you mistake for health. They should produce short-jointed wood and thick 
dark green leaves, with sturdy bunches. As you do not describe the border wo 
can only say that if it is wet drain it; if poor, enrich it; if too rich already, add 
lime freely. The root of the evil is literally at the roots of the Vines ; while 
the system of ventilation and general management in the house have not been 
the best under the circumstances. Read what Mr. Taylor has recently said on 
the ventilation of vineries. We will readily aid you further if you wish us to 
do so and will supply us with the necessary data for that purpose. We shall 
require to know the precise condition of the border and roots, the age of the 
Vines, with the crops they have previously borne, and any other information 
that you think will enable us to understand the case fully. 
Various (C. A. J.). —We have no doubt the application of carbolic or 
sulphuric acid, as recommended in another column, would be effectual both in 
extirpating worms and destroying weeds. The escape of gas from the mains is 
pernicious to vegetation and often quite sufficient to cause the defoliation of 
evergreens. The cause of trees failing to grow in towns we attribute as much 
to the soil being impregnated with gas as to impurities in the atmosphere, 
and we know of nothing more penny wise and pound foolish than to plant 
young trees in streets where there are gas mains without removing the poisonous 
soil and using fresh sweet compost freely. Salt can only be beneficially applied 
to some lawns; where the ground is w r et it might be more injurious than 
otherwise. It acts as a manure to vegetation or as a destroyer of it according 
to the strength at which it is used. A pound regularly scattered on a rod or 
pole (30J square yards) during showery weather will be a suitable quantity to 
apply, if it is needed. If it rests on the grass long during dry w r eather it will 
probably do some injury. For an answer to your other question apply to Mr. 
Abbott, Fairlawn, Southall. 
Insects on Vines (C. J. Smith). —The box sent, on examination contained 
no beetle, but only a shrivelled larva, which had been so far damaged in transit 
as to render any decision upon its species impossible. It may be that the insect 
in question is one of the elaters, but this is mere conjecture. If you like to send 
more specimens they shall be carefully examined. Whatever it is, we fear after 
the efforts you have made to extirpate it that you have a difficult task before 
you. It is possible that paraffin might be used of sufficient strength to kill the 
insects without injuring plants or Vines ; but you had better try some experi¬ 
ments on a few plants in pots before applying the remedy on a large scale. Or 
you might mix 2 ozs. of hellebore powder with a little hot water to the con¬ 
sistency of cream, and then add a gallon of water and apply this to the soil 
where the grubs abound. Mr. Witherspoon says, “ In soil saturated with 
hellebore no insect can live, and yet plants are not injured,” and he believes the 
remedy suggested would kill the phylloxera without doing any damage to the 
Vines. We should like you to try it and inform us of the results. 
Seakale Seeding (A. I ).).— When Seakale plants are allowed to mature 
seed they are more or less exhausted, and the growths of the following year 
will not be so robust as if seed had not been permitted to ripen ; still a free 
growth of foliage is undoubtedly essential to the production of good crowns. 
We find that two extreme courses are not uncommonly adopted in the manage¬ 
ment of Seakale in summer. One is to allow seed to ripen on the plants, the 
other to cut down the flower stems, thus removing all the foliage. Our plan 
is to let the flowers form on the plants and then cut off the heads just before 
expansion, leaving all the leaves. These unexpanded flower heads are delicious 
when properly cooked. Those that are not required for table are thrown away, 
as we do not consider it wise to allow seed to ripen on the plants. If we want 
a little for sowing, one plant produces sufficient for our purpose. It is right 
and necessary to allow the growths of Asparagus to mature, but ripening seed 
on them certainly does not improve the beds. The application of lime water 
as you propose will be beneficial in extirpating slugs. 
Border for Vines (A. F.). —In your case, where the space outside the 
house appears to be required for flowers, we should have made the Vine border 
inside the house. The space is ample, and with good soil and good management 
we should expect first-class Grapes and full crops for many years. We are aware, 
however, that greater care is requisite in the management of Vines grown in 
inside borders wholly than when the roots are all outside, or part of them outside 
and part inside. You have, therefore, we presume, adopted what you consider 
the easier plan, and probably the right one if the Vines do not have the attention 
of a skilled cultivator. You say the site is wet, but the border has been “ well 
drained.” We have seen much drainage material provided in the form of a thick 
layer of stones and broken bricks, but it was useless by the want of a free outlet 
for the water. For this, however, you have no doubt provided. In wet sites we 
prefer the borders considerably above the general ground level. We could grow 
excellent Grapes in a house such as yours with a border 12 feet wide and 3 feet 
deep ; but we should only make it 4 feet wide the first year, the front consisting 
of a wall of turves, these being thickly covered with long manure in the summer, 
or faced with boards to prevent the soil drying excessively, but if the turves were 
used fresh the grass would grow between them and form a green covering. When 
the border became permeated with roots we should add another 4 feet of soil and 
turves, and so on until the entire border was formed. In all probability we should 
find a width of 10 feet sufficient, as we could support the Vines with periodical 
top-dressings of fresh soil and manure, but 12 feet would be ample. We consider 
this plan in every way preferable to make a border the entire width at once ; 
still, if for the sake of appearance the latter plan is desired, good Grapes can un¬ 
doubtedly be produced. Some of the healthiest Vines we know, with rods 18 feet 
in length, are grown in borders 8 feet wide and 3 deep. The proper size of Vine 
borders can only be determined by their nature and the system of management 
pursued. Some pastures will supply ample food for two bullocks per acre ; on 
others one animal would starve on two acres. It is the same with Vine borders, 
which are simply food stores for the Vines—larders. A large larder may be com¬ 
paratively empty, a small one amply stored, and it is obvious the small larder, or 
border, would be better than the large one under these circumstances. Unless 
the season is very wet and dull we should, with your dry soil and warm district, 
certainly remove the coping from the wall in June. 
Petroleum an Insecticide (ProUtas , Verus, Honos ).—We do not recom¬ 
mend the systematic use of petroleum for Roses, Pelargoniums, and greenhouse 
plants generally; first, because such insects as aphides are easily destroyed by 
other means ; and secondly, unless the oil is washed off the foliage its constant 
use would stop up the pores and thus be injurious to the plants. If we had 
Camellias infested with scale or Gardenias with mealy bug we should not hesitate 
to syringe them with a mixture of petroleum and soapy water, because the oil 
would then be saponified by the alkali iu the soap and could be washed off; but 
this is different from using the oil with pure water and applying it regularly 
for ordinary plants infested with ordinary insects. A fluid ounce of the oil to a 
gallon of water will kill most kinds of insects and injure few kinds of plants, if 
any ; but it is of great importance that the mixing be effectual, the nature of 
the oil being to float on the surface of the water. We have seen petroleum used 
at twice the above strength with safety, and we have seen it do injury, the 
different effects probably resulting from the different qualities of water employed, 
or to imperfect mixing of the two fluids. 
Vines Unsatisfactory (J. A 1 .).—There are no signs of phylloxera either 
on the roots or foliage of the Vines sent; in fact neither this nor any other 
insect has caused the growth to be arrested. You state the Vines were planted 
last June ; that being so they must have been raised from eyes the preceding 
year, and possibly may have been fruited in pots ; but whether fruited or not, 
the pots would be crowded with roots from which the soil was not shaken at 
the time of planting (indeed it could not have been safely done when the Vines 
were in full growth), but planting was done with the roots and soil undisturbed. 
In that case further root-extension and the production of fibres would be slow, 
and the growth correspondingly sluggish. The Vines themselves have told 
you, at least they tell us, how much they have objected to the treatment they 
received, and how insufficient the cramped roots were for supplying them with 
what they needed ; hence they have produced a whorl of "collar” roots, and 
very fine roots they are, distinctly above the roots that were planted. You 
erred, then, in planting old Vines in the way we conclude you have done in 
June. Old Vines we do not prefer for planting, and were we compelled to have 
them we should shake all the soil from the roots, spreading them out straight, 
nnd plant before they had made any foliage. The next mistake you have made 
is permitting the whole length of cane to remain the first year. One of the 
canes before us is 9 feet long ; more than half of this, which was weak and un¬ 
satisfactory, ought to have been removed last autumn, the sap would then have 
been concentrated on fewer buds, and you would have now a few strong canes 
instead of a number of weak, and we may add useless, growths ; in fact the 
resources of the Vines are being frittered away. We think you have made three 
mistakes—1, planting old Vines ; 2, planting them wrongly ; 3, not shortening 
the canes. Still there is, we think, a remedy. The collar roots will support 
the Vines if you give them support by top-dressing and water as needed. The 
laterals on the upper parts of the Vines are worthless, therefore remove them, 
retaining those only towards the base that are strong and vigorous. On the 
weaker of the two Vines you have sent we should only retain one growth, that 
near the base, which would make a good cane during the season ; on the other 
we should retain three growths, which are strong, one to be trained up the 
roof without being stopped, the other as laterals. If you act on the principle 
we have suggested of removing the weakly laterals and encouraging those that 
are strong near the base of the Vines, allowing the strongest in each case to 
take the lead and form the future rods, you may, we think, with otherwise good 
management, obtain healthy Vines. Cannot you induce some competent Grape 
grower to examine your Vines and advise you how to proceed with each, as 
they may not all require precisely the same treatment ? 
Names of Plants ( R. C.). —Placing a few specimens iu a large box with 
no packing material is one of the worst ways of sending flowers by post, as they 
are shaken about so much as to arrive at their destination in a very unsatisfac¬ 
tory condition. Those sent by you in this way were scarcely recognisable, as 
the blooms had fallen from the stems, and were mostly withered. Begonia 1 ap¬ 
pears to be B. nitida ; Begonia 2 is B. semperflorens. Azalea 2 is Souvenir du 
Prince Albert. ( SciUbuni ).—Your plant is the ordinary form of Agapantbus 
umbellatus. (A. C.). —Maurandya Barclay ana. (IP. II. S., Blackheath). —1, Francoa 
ramosa ; 2, Diplacus glutinosus ; 3, Cerasus Padus. (Reader). — Centaurea 
montana. (TP. R. S.). —1, Cytisus sessilifolius ; 2, Genista hispanica; 3, Odon- 
toglossum cirrhosum ; 4, Odontoglossum vexillarium. (A. R. IP.).—-1, Cerasus 
Padus; 3, Oncidium concolor; 8, Viburnum plicatum ; 4, Veronica gentian- 
oides ; 5, Epidendrum bicornutum. (IP., Surrey). —1, Onychium auratum ; 
2, Gymnogramma peruviana; 3, Asplenium viviparum ; 4, Selaginella Mar- 
tensii. 
Figures in Honeycomb (Star ).—We forwarded your letter to Mr. Pet¬ 
tigrew, the writer of the article to which you refer, who has replied as 
follows :—“ As nothing is said as to the width and depth of the star or box con¬ 
taining it, I cannot well understand the plan submitted. If I wanted my bees 
to build a star I would get a circular wooden super 15 inches wide and 3 inches 
deep, made of half-inch stuff, unplaned or from the saw. The star would be cut 
out of the lid, with narrow strips of comb foundations sealed to it before it is 
screwed on. A sheet of paper should be placed between the crown of the hive 
and the super to prevent contact; and when the super is cut off another or 
double lid should be screwed on to hide the cavities of the star in the crown of 
the super. If the super is only 10 inches wide an inner circle will be unneces¬ 
sary. We all learn by experience, and if our correspondent makes a mistake in 
his first effort he will be able to avoid it in his second attempt. By a little care 
and contrivance a beautiful star may be built from a board or lid of a super, 
lifted out of the super without injury to the figure, inverted and covered with a 
glass shade.” 
COVENT GARDEN MARKET.—Mat 17. 
A better business doing at last week’s lower rates, forced fruits and vege¬ 
tables reaching us in good supply. 
