66 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 24, 1884. 
fruit, if it ripens, will not be fit to eat. In the south it is 
perhaps the largest Strawberry, and useful because late, but I 
have never yet seen it brightly coloured or highly flavoured. 
After this bold utterance I await the usual fate of Strawberries 
—a crushing. _ 
A CAPITAL hint is given in a paragraph in the same series of 
calendarial notes on flowering the beautiful old summer Lily, 
Lilium candidum, in winter. Observant gardeners are always 
finding somet iug out, and this is a discovery, the author of 
which, I think, is as much entitled to a certificate of merit as an 
enterprising individual is who shows something that somebody 
else raised, and is awarded that mark of approval by the dis¬ 
criminating Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
It is not, 1 sometimes think, the man who does the most, but he 
who takes care to show the little he accomplishes, that becomes 
famed in his day and generation; yet I may be wrong, still I am 
inclined to think that some have got honoui’ed for little while 
others have dene much for nothing, and so I suspect it will 
continue to the end of the world, and there will be an end of the 
whole matter. 
The hint of Mr. J. Pithers respecting covering the soil of 
Melon beds, when the crop is grown in frames, I thought good, 
and for this l eason—that in a certain district where the gardens 
are famed for Melon culture on beds of fermenting material 
covered with frames, the surface of the soil is covered with either 
shingle, tiles, or slates, and the practice answered admirably. It 
is one of those good old plans that appear to have gone out of 
fashion very much, and I think is worth being brought in 
again. - _ 
What comfort and solace plants and flowers give to those 
who love them. That was my thought on reading the article on 
Filmy Ferns last week. I believe the author of that article has 
been blind for years. Is it not wonderful that he can write, or 
dictate, so cheerily ? We ought to be proud of such a man as 
Mr. Smith, gratified that he is still with us, hopeful that he 
may be permitted still much longer to remain. For years he 
has worked amongst Ferns, studied their requirements, and 
ruinistered to their wants. The great collection at Kew, with 
his published works, form a monument to his perseverance, 
ability, and knowledge. I, with others, admire the man I have 
never seen and never expect to see. I think of him sympa- 
thisingly, reflect on his patient research, and if I in a moment 
of vanity presume to dwell on what I have done with what he 
has accomplished, the great fear is impressed on me that I am 
an unprofitable— Thinker. 
HONEYDEW. 
I OBSERVE it noticed in the Journal that the question how honeydew 
is formed was raised recently before the Scientific Committee of the 
Horticultural Society. It was settled in my mind long ago, and I believe 
that the substance is simply the excreta of insects. It is of course possible 
that a similar substance, known by the same term, is formed in another 
way. In order to discover whether insects could deposit honeydew, I 
-made a cage for them, using a glass microscope slide for the bottom and 
two other slides for the sides. The ends were made of cardboard per¬ 
forated with pin holes, for the admission of air, and in the same way a 
cover was made to fit the top. Then a number of insects—probably 
aphides—were collected from a Lime tree and put inside, and in a short 
time they had congregated on the under side of the cover. Within a few 
hours a great number of spots of honeydew were found on the glass slides, 
quite sufficient, in the short time, to account for the large quantity found 
on the leaves of trees. Thus it appears to me quite clear that honeydew 
is the excreta of insects. I may ask the question whether anyone has ever 
found honeydew upon trees that had no insects upon them.— R, Irwin 
Lynch. 
HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSE A. K. WILLIAMS. 
What a great pity it is that this grand Rose, which is unquestionably 
' the most perfectly formed and best crimson Rose yet introduced, should 
‘ have baffled the skill of all the great rosarians to get it to succeed pro¬ 
perly when it is transplanted from where it has grown since it was 
budded. Nevertheless, that it is a fact no one who has planted what are 
generally called maidens or one-year-old plants from the time of budding 
will question this statement, as so very many who have planted it must 
unfortunately be able to testify to their cost. I regret to say my experi¬ 
ence as regards these failures is extensive. Out of sixty p'anted last 
November only three are now living, and these are small weakly plants. 
They were lifted and replanted immediately, and received every care and 
attention, side by side with many other varieties which are all succeeding 
well. 
All who wish to grow successfully and exhibit this most beautiful 
crimson Rose, I would recommend to procure plants in what is termed 
the dormant bud—that is, such as will be budded during this or next 
month. If these are procured and properly planted on carefully prepared 
ground about the end of next October they will do well, and will prove 
far more satisfactory than strong promising plants, even though they 
cost as much to procure as the strong plants would. Having once 
obtained a stock of it, the course then to be pursued is to have a few stocks 
of seedling Briar or Manetti—the former should be preferred—on which 
some should be budded each season. These stocks may be planted in 
their permanent positions, so that transplanting need not be found 
necessary.— One Who Knows. 
WARD’S PATENT TROUGHS FOR GRAPES. 
All growers of Grapes are familiar with the many inconveniences 
attending the plan generally adopted for keeping Grapes after they 
are cut from the Vine—viz., keeping each bunch separate by insert¬ 
ing the end of the shoot in a bottle of water. Among these incon¬ 
veniences may be mentioned the difficulty of fixing the bottle at such 
an inclination that the bunch of Grapes shall hang in its natural 
position (an essential point). Then the inclination of the bottle prevents 
Fig. 11. 
it being properly filled with water—the part of the bottle which remains 
empty being at its upper edge, the place where the end of the shoot is 
most likely to take its position ; so that unless great care is exercised, and 
each bunch has a separate tie, the end of the shoot does not touch the 
water. The anxiety of the gardener to insure the shoot being in the 
water leads him to put so much water into the bottle that drip is the 
result, the water being drawn up by capillary attraction over the mouth, 
from whence it drips down cn to the Grapes below with a fatal result. 
The difficulty of supplying the bottles with water without letting it run 
over. The difficulty of removing the Grapes for examination and 
replacing them. In fact, although if properly carried out, it answers the 
purpose, the “ bottle ” plan is about as inconvenient an expedient as 
could well be adopted. 
We have much pleasure in bringing to the notice of our readers an 
invention patented by the well-known Grape-grower, Mr. George Ward 
Fig. 12 
of Bishop Stortford, which obviates all these inconveniences. The chief 
beauty of Mr. Ward’s invention is its extreme simplicity. 
Mr. Ward’s troughs, which are oblong in shape, and about 17 inches 
long, are single (see figs. 11 and 12) and double (see figs. 13 and 14). They 
are made in glazed earthenware, which possesses the advantage of being 
non-porous, cleanly and cheap ; but they could be made in many other 
materials. Each trough has a flange or ledge, P, against one of its sides 
in the single trough, and in the middle of the double trough. The manner 
of using them is as follows :—The trough is filled with water nearly up to 
the brim. The shoot bearing the bunch of Grapes is cut from the Vine 
sufficiently long to admit of the bunch hanging free of the trough in its 
natural position, while the end of the shoot is inserted under the ledge or 
flange f. The bunch of Grapes, having been thus placed, remains in the 
