476 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 27, 1884. 
if not hardier, than H.P.’s.” This at least is novel, and 
requires consideration. Contradiction is neither argument 
nor good taste. In the face of almost universal experience 
I can make nothing out of it, except this—he recommends 
Marechal Niel on a wall only “in favourable localities.” Is 
it possible that “ A Northerner ” resides so far north that his 
11.P.’s do not ripen sufficiently ? 
The Leek exhibitors seem certainly to be keen com¬ 
petitors, according to a “ Puzzled Inquirer; ” but has he 
not rather disregarded the old proverb about “ washing dirty 
linen at 1 o ne ?” I confess I think most Eose exhibitors will 
sympathise with Mr. Johnson. If the Committee of the 
National, after considering all the evidence, were of opinion 
that the exhibitor who had gummed his Eoses was able to 
j)rove his claim to the cup in a court of law, they were doubt¬ 
less right in advising that it should be given to him; but 
that they should purposely abstain from expressing an opinion 
upon the practice of gumming Eose blooms will seem to 
many a deliberate abdication of their proper functions. 
“ Y. B. A. Z ” has given us an interesting paper on the 
“ Enemies and Friends of the Eose.” The larva of the 
Syrphus which he mentions used to have my hearty squeeze 
whenever found, till one day I happened to see one sucking 
an aphis, but it is not common with me. 
He does not tell us how to deal with the grub, which goes 
straight down inside the shoot. It is easy enough to kill 
him, but not till he has done all the mischief he is capable 
of. I suppose the only consolation is that he will not live 
to breed. 
“ Y. B. A. Z.” does not mention a brown weevil (Otio- 
rhynchus picipes) which has done me considerable damage. 
It affects especially the bud placed in a stock just before it 
begins to push in the spring. It will eat the whole of the 
bark of the bud, and the bud itself clean out; and then, 
leaving the wild buds, look for the treasures of your heart 
all down the row of Briars ; and the aggravating part is that 
you will never see him if you do not know “ his tricks and 
bis manners.” He lies hid all day long in an old wall, or 
bunch of Ivy, or something of that sort, and only comes out 
to feed after dark, and then he will go back to the very same 
plant and the very same bud, if he did not quite finish it the 
night before. 
You^ must look for them with a lamp. I have destroyed 
thirty-six in one evening, but not latterly. I think I have 
nearly finished them. They may be killed by picking them 
off and popping them into boiling water, but I confess that 
my injured feelings have gained more satisfaction from 
“ squelching ” them with a small pair of pincers. 
I am strongly of opinion that in many cases aphides are 
an effect as well as a cause of harm. I mean that they 
will not often attack really strong-grown Eoses so as to do 
them much injury. “ Hit him when he’s down ”—another 
form of Darwin’s celebrated law of Nature. With occasional 
exceptions {e.g., the grub that goes down inside the shoot, 
and, in some instance, mildew), animal and vegetable foes 
choose the weakest and most unhealthy Eose trees for their 
attacks. My Eoses never suffer much from aphides (though 
they came thickly enough at one time last summer), and 
I never use anything but the aphis-brush. 
I am afraid I have not a very high opinion of the friends 
of the Eose. The larva of the Syrphus is not common 
enough with me to do much good. I see but few ladybirds, 
and never fewer than when there is a heavy visitation of 
aphides. This year there were two blue tits’ nests within 
20 yards of the quarter acre of my Eoses. The young ones 
were hatched just about caterpillar time, and I watched the 
old birds feeding them, but never once saw them go to the 
Eoses, but always up into the Beech trees for food, and the 
tomtit has sunk in my estimation accordingly. 
I believe it was a casual remark of mine which started 
“ A Thinker ” upon his valuable and important reasonings 
on the subject of liquid manure on dry soil. I think he has 
quite proved his point and given us much useful teaching on 
the subject. But I started at his last paragraph in last 
week’s number. His conclusion, after twenty years’ expe¬ 
rience, is that “ Masters, as a rule, are pretty much what 
men make them.” Truly this is an age of progress ! 
“ Masters,” please note ; not “ employers.” And if 
“ masters,” should not the other word be “ servants ? ” 
Mr. Soper, in his admirable paper, which is surely well up 
to the times, makes it so. So, masters are to be trained and 
“ cured,” if necessary and possible, by their servants ! If I 
recollect right, “ A Thinker ” suggested some time ago, 
when I offered some remarks on the subject, that I was “ of 
a good old-fashioned sort,” a description to which I take no 
objection whatever. Will he, then, be surprised if I still 
retain the old-fashioned idea (or perhaps ideal ?)—that ser¬ 
vants (or men, if you like) as a rule are pretty much what 
masters make them ?—A. F. M. 
CULTUEE OF MUSCAT OF ALEXANDEIA 
GRAPES. 
One of the most fertile causes of sbrivelling in this variety, 
as shown by Mi’. S. Castle, is no doubt due to overcropping, 
especially when the Yines are young. When so weakened they 
in some instances take years to regain their proper health and 
vigour, even if they are cropped but lightly in the meantime. 
Another cause, and one also referred to by Mr. S. Castle, is 
undoubtedly in maintaining too high a temperature, especially 
during the early stages of growth ; and this error is frequently 
committed just at the critical period when the Yines are in 
flower by the adoption of a practice of materially raising both 
the day and night temperature, and in also maintaining a very 
dry atmosphere at this period, under the erroneous impression 
that more perfect fertilisation is thereby insured. Instead, 
however, of this good result being achieved, very frequently a 
too sudden and too great demand is made upon the roots which 
they are unable to supply, exhaustion occurs, and imperfect 
setting is the natural consequence. If these shrivelled berries 
be opened and examined, in no instance will they be found to 
contain more than one seed each, and more frequently none at 
all. This c'early points to imperfect fertilisation as the chief 
cause, and although this may often be the result of previous 
mismanagement, it is undoubtedly as frequently caused by too 
exhaustive treatment during the current year. “ By no means 
hurry the period of flowering ” is an old and very valuable lesson 
taught by Nature which we should wisely remember in culti¬ 
vating the Yine. 
Nor is this the only evil that ensues from maintaining too 
high temperatures, as the Yines in such a condition quickly 
become a prey to inject pests, amongst which the red spider is 
perhaps the most formidable and the most difficult to eradicate 
—so difficult, in fact, that when once fixed on the foliage it is 
almost an impossibility without injuring the Yines to do so until 
the customary winter dressings and cleansings can be again 
applied. Heavy syringing may partially dislodge but will not 
destroy it, nor is such an amount of syringing desirable nor 
advantageous in other respects. The sulphur remedy is gene¬ 
rally advocated, but sulphur fumes will not destroy red spider 
unless evaporated at such a high temperature as to make the 
remedy quite as bad or even more injurious than the attacks of 
the insect. The person who could discover a simple, safe, and 
effective mode of destroying this pest on Yines in the middle 
and latter stages of growth without producing any blemishes or 
other injuries to the foliage or fruit would fairly be entitled to 
great and lasting honours. Yines so affected cannot swell their 
fruit properly even if the berries be perfectly fertilised—they 
may, however, become sweet—nor can the buds for the successive 
crop be well formed nor fully developed. 
Undoubtedly prevention in this case, as in most others, is 
better than cure, and where vineries are appropriated solely to 
their proper purpose this is comparatively easy; but where, as is 
now customary, all kinds of plants have to be cultivated therein, 
the matter is not quite so simple nor so free from difficulty. 
Under the latter conditions a lower and more equable tempera¬ 
ture would be more conducive to success, and much less likely 
to result in shrivelled berries, which are simply the result of 
check either to the root or branch, too often caused by main¬ 
taining an unsuitable and unnatural atmosphere. Deficiency of 
w’ater or insufficient food at the root is another cause of shrivel¬ 
ling, but my experience differs somewhat from that ©f your 
correspondent with respect to the comparative amount required 
by Muscats and black Grapes. I find their requirements in this 
