19G 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 30, 1883. 
Parnassia palustris (IF. M. B .).—This plant is a native of Great Britain 
and Europe, being found in bogs and damp positions, snd is often cultivated 
in gardens for its simple beauty and its structural interest. There are five 
stamens, and alternate with them are five nectaries, flattened and fan-like in 
form, fringed with small filaments having globular heads. Its structure 
has puzzled botanists, some having assigned it a position in Droseracese, 
others in Violacese, and still others in Saxifragacese. It is popularly termed 
Grass of Parnassus, and is fabled to have originated on Mount Parnassus. 
Asters (J. S.). —The flowers you have sent are very handsome on 
account of the clear and rich colours. In this respect they are highly 
satisfactory and a credit to your seedsman. The plant in the pot is 
admirably grown. The cut blooms are quite up to the average as usually 
grown in gardens, but they lack the size and fulness requisite for staging 
successfully at good exhibitions. Eor producing magnificent blooms Asters 
should be planted, like Celery, in well-manured trenches, and be similarly 
treated as regards watering and supporting with liquid manure. 
Myrtle Rust and Fungus on Sycamore Leaves ((7., Malvern). —The 
Sycamore leaves are affected with a fungus that is very common, and is 
known as Rhytisma acerinum. It invariably forms large black spots on the 
upper surface of the leaf like ink blots, and these are regularly and nume¬ 
rously distributed on the leaves. The Myrtle rust is also a fungus (Capno- 
dium Footii), which often grows on matter excreted by insects, but sometimes 
on the leaves themselves. 
Productive Pea (C. B.). —There is such a bewildering variety of Peas 
that it is utterly impossible for anyone to name a sample such as you have 
sent. The only means of determining the name of a variety is by examining 
it in a growing state in comparison with others. We will endeavour to 
ripen some of the seed and grow the Pea with the object of ascertaining its 
name next year - . It is evidently a very useful variety, and we have not 
often seen finer examples grown in light soil. 
Tacsonia Van-Volxemi (C. I).). —Your plant appears to have made 
good progress, and flowers could not be expected this year under the circum¬ 
stances. You may take of! the points of the shoots if they have extended 
as far as you desire, and then, the growths being trained thinly—that is, 
fully exposed to the sun, will mature and probably produce flowering sprays 
next year. This plant is a rampant grower, and not suitable for a very 
small greenhouse. It soon covers a roof densely, and when flowering freely 
a very handsome effect is produced. 
Azaleas (Idem ).—In a light well-ventilated greenhouse the plants mature 
and set their buds freely. They also ripen and set them in the open air; 
but in very hot weather, such as prevails at present, a light shade, such as 
a screen of hexagon netting, is advantageous. It is also of great impor¬ 
tance that the pots be shaded, or the sun will burn the hair-like roots. The 
soil must always be moist, great care being taken that worms do not enter 
the pots, and the plants should be freely syringed every afternoon when the 
sun is declining. The night dews will be very refreshing to the plants. 
When the buds are set they may be felt by pressing the tips of the growths 
with the finger and thumb. 
Dahlia Leaves Eaten (Lancashire) . — The leaves you have sent 
denote that your plants are being attacked with earwigs, which often, 
when not molested, commit great damage amongst Dahlias, occasion¬ 
ally ruining the plants. The insects feed chiefly at night, and lurk in 
obscure haunts during the day. If you provide them with hiding places 
you will probably be able to reduce the number considerably. We know 
of no better plan than placing a little hay or moss in small flower pots, and 
inverting the pots on the stakes that support the plants, and laying them 
near the stems. We have caught thousands of earwigs in a day on 
examining the traps so provided every morning, and if the insects are 
shaken into boiling water they are killed instantaneously and painlessly. 
Hollow Bean stakes are also employed for entrapping the pests. 
Vines not Thriving (M. T.). —We have carefully examined the roots 
you have sent and find no trace of the phylloxera, nor do we think the 
stubborn condition of the Vines is the cause of any insects on the roots. 
The soil does not appear to be of the best character for Vines, at least 
that adhering to the roots is of a light, soft, and effete nature, and the 
manure that has been intermixed has excited a little fungoid growth, but 
not by any means to a serious extent. Recently planted Vines occasionally 
assume a “ rusty ” appearance, and growth ceases. It does not appear 
easy to account for this, and the cause can only be determined by a close 
examination of all the circumstances that influence the condition of the 
Vines. We have known Vines thus affected when partially cut down 
produce fresh and healthy lateral growths, and eventually form good canes. 
Slow-combustion Boiler (A. J. S .).—Were we to publish your letter 
you would be more bewildered than instructed by the conflicting replies 
it would be certain to evoke—that is, if we published the whole of them, 
and we know from past experience we should be unable to do so. You 
do not mention the particular apparatus to which you allude. All furnaces 
consume fuel slowly when the draught is excluded from the fire, and are 
then slow-combustion furnaces. The manufacturers of all boilers of repute 
will send lists of testimonials to applicants, who are thus placed in a position 
to write to the individuals who have had experience with the boilers in 
question for any particulars that may be required. 
Inarching Vines (.4. J.). —You say the Muscat Vines are not satisfactory 
and you desire to retain them as stocks on which to graft or inarch other 
varieties. You can do this in the spring provided the stocks are healthy and 
make free and good growth. The Muscat, and especially in an inside border, 
is a good stock ; in outside borders in localities where the rainfall is great it 
is not so reliable. The condition of the Vines must be vour sole guide in 
deciding on grafting or removal. If they are satisfactory'in this respect we 
should retain them as stocks, otherwise we should plant young Vines. 
Inside and Outside Vine Borders (Idem). —We receive no questions that 
are more difficult to answer satisfactorily than such as the one before us on 
this subject. You have neither stated the age of your Vines, the length of 
the rods and roof, nor the depth and character of the inside border, all of 
which are important elements in the case ; but even with this knowledge 
our difficulties would not vanish, as so much depends on the skill of the 
cultivator. Some persons can grow Grapes admirably with the roots of the 
Vines wholly inside the house, others fail to do so. Amateurs, as a rule, do 
not succeed so well as when the roots have access to an outside border. 
Such persons do not always judge accurately when to apply water and how 
much to give ; in fact, their engagements do not always enable them to 
attend to the Vines in the right manner and at the right time. When this is 
the case it is the safest to make provision for the roots outside the house as 
well as in. If there is soil outside they will generally find their way into it 
whether it is suitable or not, even if they force their way through the seams 
of the brickwork, as we have known them do in many instanc s ; with the 
wall on arches they are sure to pass through, if there is even a gravel walk 
for them to take possession of. Perhaps some of the roots of your Vines 
are outside now. If this is so, and the soil is not suitable, you will not err 
in improving it, as you will have evidence that they are not altogether satis¬ 
fied with the border inside the house. If you require further information, 
and will supply us with such data as we have indicated, we will endeavour 
to aid you. 
Datura Stramonium (J. Smith). —The plant is occasionally found wild 
in Britain, having escaped from the gardens, and its habitat is generally 
among rubbish and on dunghills. It is easily known by its large oval seed- 
vessels, thickly covered with stout sharp spines. The whole plant has 
a disagreeable, nauseous, and heavy odour, particularly when bruised, and 
an acrid bitter taste. It loses much of its odour by drying, but retains its 
properties. When taken internally in moderate doses it causes numbness, 
vertigo, dimness of vision, dilation of the pupils, produces a slight delirium, 
intoxication, and forgetfulness, and these effects pass off in five or six hours ; 
but if the quantity taken be large, then all the symptoms of poisoning are 
presented, as heartburn, intense thirst, a feeling of strangulation, delirium, 
madness, convulsive movements, and paralysis ; congestion of the brain 
ensues, symptoms of inflammation are manifested, and death follows in 
twelve or fifteen hours. M. Orfila states that Stramonium acts with more 
force on the brain than Belladonna, and produces more furious delirium. 
Stramonium smoked like tobacco is a popular remedy for the cure of asthma. 
Its use in this way has been derived from the East Indies, where other 
species are used for this purpose. It is the root and lower parts of the stem 
which are so employed, and the smoke excites a sense of heat in the chest, 
followed by copious expectoration, and sometimes attended with temporary 
vertigo and drowsiness. The seeds have the same nauseous bitter taste as 
the leaves, and in them Brandes discovered an alkaline principle, called 
Daturia, combined with an excess of malic acid. It is in the form of colour¬ 
less crystals, inodorous, and when first applied to the tongue is bitterish, 
but afterwards of the taste of tobacco ; its action is poisonous. 
Woodlice in Mushroom Bed (W. B. B.). —Your only safe plan is to 
entrap the pests. There are various ways of destroying them, the most 
wholesale plan being to place some pieces of boiled potatoes near to the 
places they infest and cover with a little hay, and in the morning pour 
boiling water over the hay, so that the baits must be laid where no injury 
will accrue to the Mushrooms by the scalding water. Another plan is to 
wrap a boiled potato in a little hay very lightly, and place in a flower pot 
laid on its side near to where the woodlice congregate or commit their depre¬ 
dations, and the following morning shake the pests from the hay, in which 
they will be secreted about the bait, into a bucket of boiling water. Repeat 
for a time, and the pests will be reduced so as to do very little injury. 
Parsnips boiled nearly soft, cut into slices, and dressed with arsenic form 
deadly baits. These, if placed where the insects abound, will reduce their 
numbers considerably. It is, of course, necessary to so place the poisonous 
baits that no accident can possibly arise by their misuse. 
Second Growths of Fruit Trees (G. J. E.). —When trees are pinched 
early they always, if vigorous, produce second growths, just in the same 
manner as Vines produce sub-laterals. At once remove the growths by 
breaking or cutting them off at the first leaf—that is, leaving one leaf at the 
base of each second growth. They are best removed when a few inches long, 
as they then snap off with ease, and a good-sized tree can be dressed in a few 
minutes. When they have attained a considerable length and become hard, 
as very probably is the case with yours, the knife or pruning shears must be 
employed in their removal. Where trees are unusually vigorous some good 
cultivators, instead of cutting off the shoots, give each a violent twist, or 
partly break them, so that the ends hang down and appropriate a share of 
the sap, which otherwise would be directed to the base buds, and might 
induce some of them to start that it is desirable should remain dormant. 
This is a safe method of procedure, as, so far as we know, it never does harm, 
but is often decidedly beneficial. 
Mushroom Bed not Heating (P. P.).—If the manure is of the kind 
recommended in the treatise, and has been prepared as there described, its 
non-heating now can only be attributed to its having been made up in too 
dry a state. This frequently happens during hot weather, such as has been 
general in most districts. In such a case the remedy is to turn over the bed, 
well sprinkle the materials, and when fermentation commences make them 
up again. It is never safe to spawn a bed when the requisite temperature is 
indicated and the heat is yet rising. The bed should first be allowed to 
attain its maximum heat, and when this has declined to the proper tempe¬ 
rature the spawn should be inserted, and that temperature should be main¬ 
tained as long as possible by coverings of straw if needed. A strip of border 
18 inches wide on the north side of a wall is too narrow for a Mushroom bed, 
as, except in summer, the material would not be kept warm enough ; while 
in hot weather it would be very likely to become too dry if not in charge 
of an experienced cultivator. 
Analysis of Soil (IF. K.). —We have examined the soil and considered 
your letter, and this is our reply. It is not by subjecting soils to chemical 
analysis that advanced agricultural chemists now-a-days ascertain what 
manures are necessary. They read the lessons the plants themselves teach 
—a certain and sure method, which the older plan is not. In testing the 
value of a manure chemical analysis is of great service ; in the case of soils 
it is different. But it has been ascertained without any doubt that Turnips 
will not grow without phosphates being present in an easily available form, 
and that the application of these alone, even in inferior soil, will produce 
good crops. Your soil without manure grew Turnips, and “ immense ” ones 
too; also “ large Cabbages.” “ Immense ” Cabbages and Turnips are not 
