552 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 27, 1883. 
inner bark of a tree the case would be different; as it is they are appa¬ 
rently merely attached to the old or outer bark, and derive their suste¬ 
nance principally from the air. They may, fungus-like, be contagious, 
and be also to a certain extent injurious, though as a rule I should say 
they as well as canker, unless caused by American blight, are the conse¬ 
quence and accompaniment rather than the cause of the tree’s decadence. 
Restore the surroundings as well as the tree to a better state, and the 
diseases will disappear not to return again for some time to come. 
If I advised a practical fruit farmer to dress all his large orchard 
trees with paraffin, also to scrape and clear off all the moss and lichens, 
in order to restore them to their former healthy and fruitful condition, 
I should very likely get laughed at for my pains. What I would strongly 
advise the holders of many debilitated orchards is to examine well into 
the drainage, as in all probability many of the drains are either dislocated 
or choked by the roots of the trees, while many low-lying orchards found 
undrained ought at once to be thoroughly drained. It is only in damp 
congenial positions where mosses and lichens abound ; and by changing 
the conditions, as we do when we drain land, thereby making it warmer 
and drier, the atmosphere also being changed for the better, they soon 
disappear. Shallow drains in most places would be injurious, as being 
liable to drain land too quickly and thus impoverish it. It is deep 
drains, say from 3 to 4 feet according to circumstances, that are required, 
these doing their work slowly but surely. They should not be under the 
trees. No distances can be given to suit all cases, but generally speaking 
one running midway between the rows of trees if these are 25 feet apart, 
or if much closer together through every other space, would afford ample 
drainage. Then in many cases fully one-third of the tree’s growth ought 
to be thinned out, and the branches where they meet be freely shortened 
to admit more light and air to the trees. If badly infested with American 
blight as well as moss and lichens the bulk of the two latter may well be 
scraped off, and the trunk and principal branches dressed with either 
coal tar and water in equal proportions or soapsuds and brine. A dress¬ 
ing of quicklime and water will also destroy various parasites, and is 
easily applied with a syringe or more thoroughly with a brush. If the 
land is poor it ought to be heavily surfaced with good farmyard manure, 
and much liquid manure is often wasted in farmyards that might with 
advantage be given to the fruit trees. An orchard thus treated, even if 
we omit, as I suppose many will do, the scrubbing and dressing, will 
undoubtedly soon give evidence of renewed vigour, and this will be of a 
more permanent character than can possibly be brought about by a 
bark-improving process alone.—W. Iggulden. 
INFLUENCE OF STOCKS ON GRAPES. 
In the Muscat house here I grafted Gros Colman three years ago, and 
this is the second year it has fruited. But unlike your correspondent, 
Mr. Thomson (page 502) I have not the means of testing so closely the 
grafted Vine with Gros Colman on its own roots in the same house ; but 
we grow it in the late vinery, where the colour is all that can be desired, 
yet the flavour very indifferent when compared with the same variety 
grown on the Muscat stock. The stock has not influenced the scion here 
to ripen its fruit earlier than on its own roots, neither is the colour so 
good, but the berries are larger and considerably improved in flavour, 
and the leaves do not show to the same extent that curled unhealthy 
appearance characteristic with the variety on its own roots. 
A little over twelve months ago in the pages of the Journal, in an 
article on late Grapes, I there referred to the improvement the Muscat 
stock had effected in Gros Colman, and I am glad to hear such an 
excellent fruit-grower as Mr. Thomson has met with even greater success 
than myself on the improvement of so noble a Grape. 
Alnwick Seedling grafted on West’s St. Peter’s is larger in the berries 
than when grown on its own roots, but not otherwise improved. This 
Grape is considered much better in flavour than Black Alicante ; but if 
kept long after being ripe the skin becomes tough and leathery, which is 
no improvement to this otherwise good Grape. 
I consider Barbarossa (Gros Guillaume) the most unsuitable stock 
anyone can graft other varieties on. I have grafted several different 
sorts on this, but never found any improved or even so good as when 
grown on their own roots.— Chs. Egberts, Uighfield Hall. 
PROPAGATION OF ERICAS, EPACRISES, AZALEAS, 
AND CAMELLIAS. 
Ericas, Epacrises, and Azaleas should be propagated in the spring, 
and Camellias in the autumn months. The numbers of plants that are 
killed in large establishments make it necessary to keep up a good 
supply of younger plants to take their places. I do not mean they are 
killed through any want of attention, but through rough usage—viz., 
hard cutting for flowers, furnishing, and conservatory decoration. 
To succeed in striking a good per-centage of those inserted, it is 
necessary to carry out something like the following instructions. In 
February or March make a compost of two parts peat, one leaf soil, 
half sand, and half of charcoal. Fill to within an inch as many 32-size 
pots as required ; fill the remaining space with dust-dry sand. Take all 
the cuttings that can be obtained, which are about 1^ inch long, from the 
old wood with a heel. If sufficient cannot be so procured, take the 
remainder from the most sturdy growths. Do not remove any of the 
leaves, using a sharp knife to insure a clean cut. Insert them without 
the aid of a dibber; the dry sand will then fill up all the cavities. 
Give them a thorough watering, not permitting them to get dry after¬ 
wards. Place under a bellglass, and stand them in a propagating or 
forcing house. Wipe the glass once or twice a week, and shade if 
exposed to sun. 
When the cuttings have formed roots and grown 2 or 3 inches pot 
them into 60’s, return them to their warm quarters for a short time, after 
which they can be placed in a cool house previous to standing them 
outside under a north wall. They will require another shift, this time 
into 48-pots, and I would advise a rougher compost for this potting. 
1 have struck hundreds of cuttings of the above plants, much to 
the surprise of friends and visitors, who were ever eager to know my 
mode of treating them. After the first year, to make doubly sure, I 
always dipped the end in ether previous to inserting them, and in many 
instances never lost a cutting. When potting them into larger pots my 
friend, Mr. Carmichael, Nowton Court, is strongly in favour of broken 
flints being mixed with the compost, and I can testify to their value. 
They keep them cool through the summer, and absorb no moisture in 
winter, and in a year or two it is impossible to see the flints for the 
roots that have netted them. 
Camellias are more easily propagated than Ericas, and many 
succeed with them where they have never succeeded with the former. 
Still a few hints may not be out of place. When well grown there is 
nothing to surpass them for conservatory decoration. What finer sight 
could we wish to see than a lot of Camellias in 48-pots, varying from 
2 to 3 feet high, with from six to a dozen blooms ? The advantage of 
keeping them in small pots is that you can have some in almost all times 
of the year. Even when not in bloom they could occupy many a worse 
plant’s position. 
October is the month for propagating them, as then is the best time 
for getting well-matured wood or growths. Take them about 3 inches 
long, and with large wood buds. Remove all but the two or three 
topmost leaves. Place fifteen or twenty into a 9-inch pan, the soil to 
be one part peat, one loam, one leaf soil, one charcoal and sand. Put 
them under a handglass and stand in a north greenhouse or some cool 
and shady place. After being well eallused remove them to a warmer 
quarter, where they will soon root, and can then be potted into 48 s, 
using two parts loam, one peat, one leaf soil and sand.. They can 
remain in these for four or five years, and always standing in an early 
Peach house except when they are in bloom, and the house being 
cleared, as the temperatures for the Peaches at different periods suit, 
them. When full of roots feed them with liquid manure and w'aterthem 
over the foliage every time the house is damped.—A Foreman. 
BOUYARDIAS. 
Too much cannot be said in favour of Bouvardia Hogarth. At this- 
time of the year its charming vermilion flowers are very acceptable either 
cut or on the plants for decoration in the house or conservatory. 
Another very good variety is Bridal Wreath ; white slightly tinged with 
pink. We also have several more first-rate sorts coming into bloom at 
present, and will continue so for a long period yet. 
The cuttings were inserted early in March, and when they were 
well rooted each one was placed in a large 60-size pot. They were 
grown in a cool stove until the early part of June, then they were 
turned out of their pots, planted in a cold frame, and kept close for a 
few days. After that a little air was given, and subsequently the lights- 
were drawn off on very fine days. The plants were syringed twice daily, 
in the morning and afternoon about 2 P.M., when the frames were closed 
for the day. The tops were pinched off until the middle of August, 
when they were allowed to grow. In September they were taken up 
and placed in 7-inch pots, and then transferred to a heated house to give 
them a start. This I consider the best way of treating Bouvardias, and 
they are now blooming profusely in a temperature of 55° to 60°.— 
G. T. G. 
A WONDERFUL VEGETABLE MARROW. 
In September of the present year we were invited by a gentleman, 
Mr. Sechiari, to inspect in his garden what he described as a ‘‘wonderful 
Vegetable Marrow plant—a perfect novelty, quite a phenomenon ; yet 
it can hardly be called a phenomenon or freak of Nature, because 
more than one such plant was raised from the same packet of seed, 
which was sent to me by my relatives from France.” 
As we were unable at the time to accept that invitation, Mr. Sechiari 
very kindly forwarded samples of the Marrow to our office. They were 
truly wonderful — a large vegetable hamper full of fasciated stems 
thickly studded with young Marrows from 1 to 4 inches long, struggling 
with each other for supremacy, many succumbing, but numbers of others 
attaining the proper size for cooking. A more striking example of the 
familiar doctrine of the “ Survival of the fittest ” it would be difficult 
to imagine. Still there is a survival, for Mr. Sechiari sent us a developed 
specimen 17 inches long and 7 inches in diameter, yellowish green in¬ 
colour, mottled between the ribs with brown. Some of the flattened 
stems were a foot in diameter, and about twice that length. One of 
these we divested of leaves, which were about as numerous as the fruits, 
and requested our artist to represent as accurately as possible. The 
result is seen in the annexed figure. The specimens are reduced one - ' 
