September 8, 1881 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
233 
forcible washing. If you can wash off the protective mealy covering from the 
pests they will be at your mercy. So long as this remains on nothing will 
destroy them. These heavy syringings will at least check the increase of the 
insects, and if the work is thorough will reduce their numbers considerably. As 
soon as the leaves turn yellow remove them from the Vines with the hand and 
burn them, you will then destroy thousands of the enemy : shortly afterwards 
prune your Vines and burn the laterals, then roust follow a cleansing process. 
“ Ordinary ” measures, as you describe them, are of no use ; the cleansing of the 
Vines and house must be of an extraordinary kind. The Vine rods must be 
washed with an insecticide. It is not of such great importance what this is as 
the manner in which it is applied. Gishurst compound, fir-tree oil, nicotine 
soap, or softsoap and tobacco water may be used, and any or all of them will be 
of service if rightly used. The solution, of the strength recommended by the 
vendors, must be brushed into every crevice with a spoke brush until you are 
certain that not one insect is left. Go over the Vines twice, and spare neither 
the solution nor the brisk action of the elbows. Wash also every portion of the 
woodwork of the house wherever this may be, and let paraffin penetrate every 
chink wherever it is situated. Cleanse the walls similarly and limewash them. 
Remove all the soil from the border in the house (if any), and add fresh, and in 
fact adopt every possible means of exterminating the enemy. After all you can 
do some insects will probably appear in the spring, and must be searched for 
daily and promptly destroyed. Mealy bug in vineries is one of the worst foes 
that the gardener has to deal with, yet it is conquerable, but only when the 
battle is fierce and persistent, and you can only succeed in your object by adopt¬ 
ing some such measures as we have suggested. 
Names of Fruits ( II. I)., Lancashire ).—We are unable to identify your 
Apple from the specimen sent. In all probability it is a local variety. (Flora). 
—The Apple appears to be the Red Astrachan. We are unable to inform you 
of the origin of the local name which is applied to the fruit in your district. 
(G. B. C. IF.).—We have little if any doubt that your Plum is the Victoria. 
We have seen thousands of fruit of that variety of the form of those before us, 
and it is not improbable that another year you will have longer fruit. We have 
frequently gathered long and almost pointed fruits, and others like those you 
have sent, from the same tree. 
Names of Plants (G. 0. S .)—Polygonum cuspidatum. (G. L .).— The 
fungus you send appears to be a small and immature specimen of the Giant 
Puff-Ball, Lycoperdon giganteum. (Miss Riddell ).—It is not a Spirma, but one 
of the Bugworts, Cimicifuga spicata. (C. M. Major).—Lea. Mays. 
CO VENT GARDEN MARKET.—SEPTEMBER 7. 
There are still large quantities of Grapes arriving from the Channel Isles, 
causing home-grown fruit to realise low prices. Very little demand for best 
grown fruits. 
FRUIT. 
Apples. 
Apricots. 
Cherries. 
Chestnuts. 
Currants, Black . 
„ Red.... 
Figs. 
Filberts. 
Cobs. 
Gooseberries .... 
Grapes . 
d. 
9. 
d. 
9 . 
d. 
9 . 
d. 
J sieve 
X 
0to3 
0 
Lemons. 
IF case 18 
Oto25 
0 
doz. 
1 
0 
1 
6 
Melons . 
each 
l 
6 
3 
s 
IF tb. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Nectarines. 
dozen 
3 
0 
6 
0 
bushel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Oranges . 
IF 100 
4 
0 
8 
0 
£ sieve 
6 
0 
0 
0 
Peaches . 
dozen 
4 
0 
9 
9 
j sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Pears,kitchen .. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
dozen 
1 
0 
o 
ft 
dessert . 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
IF lb. 
0 
0 
0 
6 
Pine Apples .... 
IF tb 
2 
0 
3 
0 
IF tb 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Strawberries .... 
per tb. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
j sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Walnuts . 
bushel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
IF tb 
0 
9 
4 
0 
ditto . 
IF 100 
0 
0 
0 
0 
VEGETABLES. 
9 
d. 
s. 
d. 
9 . 
d. 
8 . 
d. 
Artichokes. dozen 2 oto4 0 
Asparagus. bundle 0 0 0 0 
Beans, Kidney.... 0 3 0 6 
Beet, Red. dozen 10 2 0 
Broccoli. bundle 0 9 16 
Brussels Sprouts.. J sieve 0 0 0 0 
Cabbage. dozen 0 6 10 
Carrots. bunch 0 4 0 6 
Capsicums. IF 100 1 6 2 0 
Cauliflowers. dozen 0 0 3 6 
Celery . bundle 16 2 0 
Coleworts_doz. bunches 2 0 4 0 
Cucumbers. each 0 4 0 6 
Endive. dozen l o 2 0 
Fennel. bunch 0 3 0 0 
Garlic . V lb. 0 6 0 0 
Herbs. bunch o 2 0 0 
Leeks. bunch 0 3 0 4 
Mushrooms .punnet 1 0 to 1 6 
Mustard* Cress .. punnet 0 2 0 3 
Onions. bushel 3 6 5 0 
pickling. quart 0 0 0 5 
Parsley.doz.bunches 3 0 4 0 
Parsnips. dozen 10 2 0 
Peas . quart 0 9 13 
Potatoes. bushel 3 9 4 0 
Kidney. bushel 4 0 4 6 
Radishes.... doz .bunches 16 2 o 
Rhubarb. bundle 0 4 0 6 
Salsafy. bundle 10 0 0 
Scorzonera . bundle 16 0 0 
Seakale . basket 0 0 0 o 
Shallots. pit, o 3 0 0 
Spinach . bushel 3 0 0 0 
Turnips. bunch o 4 0 0 
Vegetable Marrows each 0 0 0 2 
IP 
1 
HOME FARM ' 8 
^ s 
POULTRY AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 
A WET HAYTIME AND HARVEST. 
The lessons taught by a wet haytime and harvest are many 
and sometimes very serious as regards the conducting of a home 
farm ; still, when we look back and review our own experience 
in the hay and harvest field for a period of many years we may 
probably be able to bring to the notice of the young men and 
beginners not only some of the most exceptional seasons, but also 
how they were encountered, as well as the advantages to be ob¬ 
tained by the use of means which are of comparatively recent 
introduction. By so doing we may be enabled to understand the 
benefits to be derived from a departure from the harvest customs 
which formerly prevailed. 
We have been induced to some extent to take up this subject 
now in consequence of the serious aspect of the weather. It must 
always be difficult, however, to characterise and calculate upon 
the weather occurring during haying or harvest, because there is 
quite a difference of a month or six weeks in certain parts of the 
kingdom. The haying season in the early districts lasts from the 
first week in June until the middle of July ; in the latest climates, 
however, such as the north-western and northern districts, it 
extends from the first week in July until the middle of August. 
In like manner the harvest period for corn in the early southern 
or eastern districts generally commences the first week in August 
and continues until the middle of the month of September; 
whereas in the northern and north-midland counties and Scot¬ 
land the harvest period extends from the 1st of September until 
the middle of October. Such, however, is the variation of climate 
and seasons that we have occasionally to record exceptions to any 
general period of time for either haying or harvest, and notably 
we may mention 1853, 18G0, and 1879, without going back to the 
years 1829 and 1830. In these exceptional seasons in various parts 
of the kingdom there was absolutely no time when the produce, 
either bay or corn, could be harvested in fair saleable condition 
by the old-fashioned mode of drying and storing in sunny and dry 
weather. The new implements—such as the mowing machine, 
the tedding machine, the horse rake, &c.—enable an amount of 
work to be done in the shortest period, and thus reducing the 
risks in ordinary management which formerly attended the saving 
both of hay and corn crops. In respect of the saving of field hay, 
and also of meadow or pasture hay, we could extend our observa¬ 
tions and remarks to great length ; as this is not our intention we 
must refer our readers to the subject as treated in this Journal 
on the 20th and 27th of June and 1th of July, 1878. 
We must not omit the notice of certain modes of preserving and 
securing both hay and corn by two separate devices. The first to 
be noticed is the machinery invented by Mr. Gibbs, which for a 
time attracted but little attention on account of the cost being a 
very serious item. The late untoward seasons, however, as well 
as the present one, will cause more inquiry into this mode of 
saving hay and corn, for it must be remembered that certain 
circumstances will favour the use of the machine, which are of 
great importance. The first is, that in seasons when but little hay 
can be saved by the ordinary means the value of that portion got 
up in condition reaches a higher value, and the same observation 
applies also to the saving of corn, especially in those districts 
where the rainfall is nearly always heavy. Again, in prevent¬ 
ing waste of the leaf of Clovers and Saintfoin, and in saving 
corn without sprouting or shedding, especially upon large occu¬ 
pations, or in climates usually adverse to haying and harvest 
operations, the purchase of one of these drying machines may be 
really judicious and economical. 
We must now refer to the latest proposal for the practical 
saving of hay under certain conditions. It is called the self¬ 
harvesting of hay and corn, of which the following report was 
given in the Times of August 11th. The originator is Mr. R. Neil- 
son of Halewood, near Liverpool, who farms 300 acres on the 
estate of the Earl of Derby. This system has also been taken up 
by an enterprising gentleman, Mr. R. M. Knowles, J.P., of Colston 
Bassett Hall :—“ Mr. Knowles, we are informed, has several farms 
iu his own hands, but upon his home farm has put up permanent 
hay sheds made of corrugated iron roofing upon iron pillars, the 
breadth 20 feet, and the length forming a series of square bays. 
Along the middle of each shed is laid in the ground an air-tight 
drain of sanitary pipes, having an aperture in the centre of each 
