r (cambir 6, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
4S9 
servatories this is extremely useful, it being not only evergreen but perpetual- 
flowering. Fine bushes (and this we find much the best shape in which to 
grow it) can be had in 12-inch pots. The Sparmannia flowers but little in a 
young state unless extra sturdy growth is obtained. Cuttings taken from 
the ripened wood strike readily in the spring, and can soon be grown into 
large plants. Avoid crowding ; pinch back and pot on till the end of June 
or early in July. A good head being obtained, discontinue pinching and 
potting, and turn out into an open and sunny spot. The temperature of a 
•greenhouse is the most suitable during May and June. Old plants when no 
longer wanted to bloom are ripened by gradually withholding water, are cut 
back to within a few eyes of the old wood, and placed in a gentle heat till 
they break ; they are then shaken out of the old soil and repotted, employing 
about the same sized pot or tub as they were formerly in. This is rather 
severe work, as the ball is one mass of roots, but when placed in heat they 
soon recover from the effects of their rough treatment. The soil used is 
■composed principally of turfy loam with an addition of a little peat, leaf soil, 
sand, and broken crocks. When re-established they are gradually hardened 
•oft, and in June are placed in a sunny position outdoors. Early in September 
they are taken into their blooming quarters and commence flowering 
immediately. From that time an occasional dose of weak liquid manure is 
administered. They flower freely in a greenhouse temperature, 38° to 48°, 
but 48° to 58° is far the best, the blooms being finer and of a purer white ; 
the foliage has also a better colour for the extra heat.” 
A Hardy Pitcher Plant (E. L. B., Tooting). —You have not been 
misinformed, Sarracenia purpurea, here 
represented in miniature, being quite 
hardy in favourable positions near 
London, and is grown by Mr. Ware 
at Tottenham, it is a native of the 
American swamps, where it forms a 
dwarf prostrate mass, producing large 
winged pitchers of a dark green colour, 
while the throat and lip are beautifully 
veined with crimson. The flowers are 
solitary, nodding, and of a deep purplish 
red colour; a fine associate for Cypri- 
pedium spectabile, Parnassias, Pingui- 
culas, and others of this character. 
Artificial Manure (F. J .).—You may 
achieve success with artificial manure, 
in your case, on light soil. Guano with 
chloride of potash and an equal amount 
of lime applied as top-dressings in spring, 
lightly forked in wherever possible, is 
perhaps the best mixture you can apply to your fruit trees, Strawberries, 
and Roses. From 1 to 2 ozs. per square yard could not fail to be beneficial. 
For your flowers we have no doubt the article sold as fimus would be 
•exceedingly useful. During the growing season Rasps, Strawberries, and 
other fruit-bearing trees would be greatly benefited if further helped when 
swelling their crops by light dressings of nitrate of soda—an ounce to the 
square yard. Light soil which has no manure should only be very sparingly 
limed, if at all. Save every scrap of garden refuse for digging-in ; mulch 
with cocoa refuse, and apply water plentifully when necessary, and there is 
no reason why you should not succeed in your object. 
Names of Fruit (B. P. Williams). —Birmingham Stone Pippin. (A. B .).— 
1, Cox’s Orange Pippin ; 2, Margil ; 3, Fearn’s Pippin. ( P. A.). —1, Beurrd 
Diel; 3, Yicar of Winkfield; 4, Scarlet Nonpareil; G, Yorkshire Greening 
2 and 5, not known. 
Names of Plants ( Pen and Ink). —Sparmannia africana. See reply 
above. (An Ardent Header). —1 and 2, insufficient; 3, Cupressus Lawsoni- 
anus var.; 4, Juniperus chinensis. (IP. B.). —Quercus lanata. (8. F. F.). — 
Pholidota imbricata. ( A Constant Subscriber). —The specimens were very 
imperfect, and as we have frequently stated, we cannot undertake to name 
plants from small shoots or leaves without flowers. 1, Maxillavia picta ; 
2, Tillandsia species ; 3, Linaria Cymbalaria ; 4, insufficient; 5, Dieffenbachia 
marmorata ; G, Maranta Veitchi. 
Fig. 98.—Sarracenia purpurea. 
Wild Bees and their Parasites (A. M. B., Lincoln ).— The insect 
unearthed by you, and concerning which you have given interesting 
particulars, is undoubtedly one of the Bombi, from your description 
probably B. terrestris. A few of the females survive the winter snugly 
concealed under ground, and come forth during spring to found new 
colonies. It is well known to entomologists that these “ big bees ” are 
infested by parasites, which are scientifically called Acari, otherwise mites, 
-allied to the familiar “ tick ” that frequently swarms in cage birds, 
poultry, &c. These bee parasites belong to the genus Hypopus. Their 
transformations are imperfectly known, but it is certain that in an 
■earlier stage they do not live upon the bee. . Some conjecture they feed 
in the nests of the bee, either upon the lanse or upon the secretions 
cf the bee, and so attach themselves to the insicts when mature in order 
to be carried from place to place. It appears that when adult they have 
no mouth organs, therefore they can ru t bite or suck the bees, and it is 
■observable how dexterously they arrange themselves on the body of the 
foee, choosing positions out of its reach as far as possible. 
COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— December 5th. 
Trade remains the same. No alteration of moment. 
FRUIT. 
s. 
d. 
S. 
d. 
8. 
d. 
s. 
a. 
Apples .. .. 
I 
6 
to 4 
0 
Melons .. 
0 
0 
to 0 
0 
per barrel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Nectarines .. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Apricots 
.. box 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Oranges. 
. 100 
6 
0 
10 
0 
Chestnuts 
.. bushel 
10 
0 
0 
0 
Peaches. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Figs .. .. 
0 
9 
1 
0 
Pears, kitchen 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Filberts.. .. 
.. .. ft. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
„ dessert 
dozen 
1 
0 
5 
0 
Cobs .. .. 
1 
6 
0 
0 
Pine Apples English 
.. lb. 
2 
0 
3 
0 
Grapes .. .. 
.. .. lb. 
1 
0 
s 
0 
Plums and Damsons 
, 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Lemon .. .. 
15 
0 
21 
0 
Strawberries.. .. 
.. ft. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
VEGETABLES. 
Artichokes 
dozen 
s. 
2 
d. 
0 
s. 
to 4 
d. 
0 
Mushrooms .. 
punnet 
s. 
1 
d. 
0 
8. 
to 1 
d. 
6 
Beans, Kidney 
100 
i 
0 
0 
0 
Mustard and Cress 
punnet 
0 
2 
0 
0 
Beet, Red 
dozen 
i 
0 
2 
0 
Onions . 
bushel 
2 
6 
3 
3 
Broccoli. 
bundle 
0 
9 
1 
0 
Parsley .. dozen bunches 
3 
0 
4 
0 
Brussels Sprouts .. 
h sieve 
1 
6 
2 
6 
Parsnips. 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Cabbage . 
dozen 
0 
6 
i 
0 
Potatoes. 
cwt. 
4 
0 
5 
0 
Capsicums 
100 
1 
6 
2 
0 
,, Kidney .. 
cwt. 
4 
0 
5 
0 
Carrots. 
bunch 
0 
4 
0 
0 
Rhubarb. 
bundle 
0 
4 
0 
0 
Cauliflowers .. 
dozen 
2 
0 
3 
0 
Salsafy. 
bundle 
1 
0 
0 
0 
Celery 
bundle 
1 
6 
o 
0 
Scorzonera 
bundle 
1 
6 
0 
0 
Coleworts doz. bunches 
2 
0 
4 
0 
Seakale. 
basket 
2 
3 
2 
9 
Cucumbers 
each 
0 
4 
0 
0 
Shallots. 
.. 1b. 
0 
3 
0 
0 
Endive. 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Spinach. 
bushel 
2 
6 
3 
8 
Herbs . 
bunch 
0 
2 
0 
0 
Tomatoes .. .. 
.. ft. 
0 
3 
0 
4 
Leeks . 
bunch 
0 
3 
0 
4 
Turnips. 
bunch 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Lettuce. 
score 
1 
0 
1 
6 
ERADICATION OF COUCH, TWITCH, AND OTHER 
WEEDS. 
(Continued from page 478.) 
It has not been intended to recommend the use of the fork 
in any case where through neglect or otherwise the whole surface 
of the land has become a mass of couch or twitch, or both, for in 
such cases a long, or what is called a winter and summer fallow, 
is essential as a rule. Still there are other modes of cleaning 
the land in certain districts—for instance, paring and burning 
is stated to be one of the best modes of eradicating twitch, 
because the manure arising when the turf or foul surface of 
arable land has been stitle-burned is of more value than the 
cost of burning. This applies chiefly to the clays or strong 
loams, especially those situated on the limestone or chalk soils, 
because some particles of chalk or limestone found in the soil 
would be converted into lime or a valuable mineral manure 
of that character. It must, however, be quite understood that 
on sandy or almost any light soil the burning would not answer, 
because the act of paring would not take up the white and deep- 
rooted couch grass, which would afterwards require considerable 
tillage in fine weather to destroy it. There is yet another system 
on strong lands subject to couch or twitch, but more especially 
the latter, for it has been found that by growing and ploughing 
under two or three crops of white Mustard in one season, the 
land has been made not only clean, but also manured as well by 
the smothering as the poisonous and deleterious effect of the 
Mustard on the couch or twitch. 
This brings us to the point where consideration is necessary 
as to the difference and habit of growth between couch and 
twitch; the former being white-rooted, and deeply piercing the 
subsoil where permitted to remain on all sandy, light, or loose 
soils of almost any district. The latter, however, is peculiar in 
growth, by running only on the surface, and at every knot or 
joint on the stems roots are formed, and take to the soil some¬ 
what in the same manner as the runners of Strawberry plants, 
and is thus propagated. But they so differ in their habit of 
growth the same treatment will not eradicate both in every 
instance; but yet the forking-out plan, where only isolated 
bunches or tufts are found, each have been equally and success¬ 
fully eradicated when the work has been carefully done. 
After successfully accomplishing the eradication of these 
injurious grasses in one or two following seasons, we have 
yet to consider the insidious nature of their habits, for they are 
in some cases as it were indigenous to certain soils, for the young 
plants will frequently again appear on the surface, haying started 
from seed. It must, however, be remembered also, if the home 
farmer has a farm thrown up by a tenant on the estate that it 
is usually, and especially in such times and wet seasons as we 
have experienced since 1874, to have been in the majority of 
instances left in a condition foul with couch or twitch. In such 
cases where bad farming has prevailed, the seed, of injurious 
grasses have fallen and been incorporated with the soil 
under tillage, and these will be sere to prove serious and costly 
enemies. To obtain the full effect of fallowing for the purpose 
of eradicating either couch or twitch, the former must not be 
tilled or the earth moved by the common plough in the first 
instance unless it has gained such strong possession of the soil 
as to show like an ordinary pasture on the surface. It may then 
