384 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ October se, issz. 
detect the benefit I was led to expect from previous experiences; 
rather for some time there was not wanting indications that some¬ 
thing was not as it should be. What could it be ? In whatever 
way each and all these three articles were applied, and to what¬ 
ever crops applied to, the results were the same — instead of 
invigorating the plants it impaired them, and in too many 
instances totally destroyed whatever they were applied to. I need 
not say I looked far and wide to account for the cause of this 
deteriorating and dying-out—Strawberries, Vines, Peach trees, 
Peas, Cauliflowers, Celery, bulbs, Chrysanthemums, Spiraeas, 
and herbaceous plants. I had used sewage, soot, and ashes since 
I knew what they were with the best results, which puzzled me 
the more to account for the disastrous effects. We must bear in 
mind due care was taken in applying it. I was some time before 
I could persuade myself that to these I must look to for the 
mischief that had been done. Was it possible that an enemy was 
lurking within all three of those useful fertilisers ? What could 
it be ? It must be potent, and so it is. We have it in that useful 
article paraffin. In a large establishment with a number of careless 
servants this mischief can be done, and has been done, and by 
what means t I account for it in this way. Gardeners who are 
about the indoor establishment much cannot help noticing the 
peculiar liking Mary the housemaid has for the company of a 
tin can in her rounds to light fires. She is late in getting up, the 
wood is damp, and the paraffin can will be found to supply the 
quickest and readiest means of making a fire at once. Again and 
again have I seen it used the same morning. What is the result ? 
Much of the paraffin falls through to the ashpit, and much 
again will pass away with the smoke before it is heated enough 
to burn and lodged in the chimney, and thus it finds its way to 
the gardens in both ashes and soot. The unlucky gardener is 
thrown off his guard, and it is well for him if he finds it out 
before it has done much damage. Truly is it said, “ Protect us 
from our friends, from our enemies we can protect ourselves.” 
Now how are we to account for it in the sewage ? Easily, I 
think. Go to the pantry in the morning, and you will find James 
or Charles trimming two or three dozen lamps, and they, too, 
know not the damage paraffin may do when thrown about care¬ 
lessly. All refuse from the emptying and cleaning of the many 
lamps goes into the sink which leads to the sewage tank near the 
garden. This is one of the many channels. Another can be 
traced to a drain close to where the paraffin is stored. A can is 
turned over, the tap is left running too long, washing out the floor 
of the storehouse, careless tapping the cask, or it may be emptying 
out just the little that is left in the cask, are some more of the 
many ways in which it gets to the sewage tank. I once knew 
a large quantity escape into the drains, some of which leads to 
a fish pond, and the next morning I remember counting seventy- 
five dead fish floating on the surface of the water. Much of this, 
too, I afterwards traced to the sewage tank. All this was arrived 
at when it was too late, the damage being considerable. Since 
this I have some difficulty in placing that former confidence in 
what I thought three of my very best assistants. Still, we must 
remember that it is really not, after all, either the soot, ashes, or 
the sewage, but the paraffin that has done the mischief. What 
we wish to know before we use either is that th re is no paraffin 
in them. I have now such a perfect dread of this oil that I care 
not to use it as an insecticide ; though valuable in some respects, 
in others I have seen much harm from its use.— Jno. Taylor, 
Hardmiche Grange. 
MARGUERITES OR PARIS DAISIES. 
As this is the time for increasing these plants, a few remarks 
on their propagation may be useful. Choose the youngest shoots 
and those without a flower bud. Insert about nine or ten in a 
48-size pot. Employ a compost of two parts fibry loam, one part 
leaf soil, and one part of silver sand, pressed firmly into the pots, 
with a surface layer of sand three-quarters of an inch deep. They 
should then be placed in a cold frame with a north aspect, keep¬ 
ing the frame close for a few weeks. The plants may then be 
transferred to a cool house. The frame should be kept quite close 
and covered in severe weather. At the beginning of April the 
young plants should be potted in large 60’s and placed in the 
frame with a south aspect, ventilating as the plants improve. I 
plant them out in the beds and borders in May and June.— 
C. Stephens, Lync Gardens , Horsham. 
Vagaries of Plants. —I have at present (October 16th) in flower 
in my small garden Lilium auratum with seven large blooms, blue 
Hepatica, Jasminum nudiflorum, Christmas Rose just about to 
flower, Helleborus lividus in flower, Auriculas, Laurustinus, Prim¬ 
roses, Pyrethrum uliginosum just beginning to flower. In the 
kitchen garden Strawberries are flowering and bearing a second crop; 
Currants against a wall have shed all their leaves a month or more 
ago, and show buds as if they intend to give a crop about Christmas; 
Gooseberry trees are the same. Can any of your readers explain why 
some plants are so premature and some so backward this year ?— 
G. O. S. 
VARIETIES OF PEACHES AND NECTARINES. 
Like Mr. Iggulden (page 335) I am much interested in the 
culture of the above-named fruits, and 1 gladly give my expe¬ 
rience on the subject. The soil here is very suitable for Peaches, 
being a strong holding loam, resting on magnesian limestone. 
When I say it suits them, I allude to the trees growing freely in it; 
in fact, too much so if left alone, consequently we have frequent 
recourse to root-lifting. In fact, we do this more or less annually, 
otherwise we should seldom have such heavy crops of good fruit as 
we usually do, especially during the late dull wet summers we 
have had here for several years. Our borders are both inside and 
out, and about 3 feet in depth. Were we constructing them now 
we should limit the depth to 2 feet 6 inches, and restrict the root 
space to 6 feet inside and about 4 feet outside, having the roots of 
the trees in the early house all inside. In pruning we make it a 
rule never to shorten the young wood unless we wish to fill up a 
vacancy in the lower part of the tree. We thin out all superfluous 
wood as soon as the fruit is picked, leaving but little to be done at 
the winter pruning. We have a quantity of shoots on the trees in 
our early house nearly 3 feet long covered with fruit buds their 
entire length. 
A word now as to varieties. Our best and surest cropping 
variety in the early house is Royal George. The tree entirely 
covers a trellis space of 18 feet by 14 feet. Next to it is a tree of 
A Bee equally large. This is a splendid Peach as to size, colour, 
and flavour, but withers, and is a shy cropper. It usually loses 
quite one-half its flower buds, not in the usual way of dropping off, 
but they appear to shrivel and never open. Were we planting 
now we should plant it in a second house. Our next tree is an 
Elruge Nectarine, which usually bears good crops of fine fruit. 
We have not tried Lord Napier Nectarine under glass, but have 
a fine young tree on a wall. While on the subject of early Peaches 
I would just mention that Mr. Iggulden’s remark respecting there 
being two varieties of Hales’ Early is, I fear, only too true. We 
have on a wall a tree procured from a source where fruit trees 
are usually kept true to name that ripened a few fruits this 
year, but they were quite a fortnight later than Pine Apple 
Nectarine and Red Nectarine Peach growing on the same 
wall, so that ours cannot be the true variety. I have grown 
several varieties of the small-fruited early Peaches, but do not 
think them worth the room under glass. We have a good tree 
of Early Beatrice on a low south wall that ripened a fine crop 
of fruit this season. They were ripe the last week in July. In 
an early Peach house a few miles from here there is a tree of 
Early Victoria that has ripened fine crops of fair-sized fruit each 
year for the past eight years to my knowledge. It comes in fully 
three weeks sooner than Bellegarde in the same house, the latter 
being at the warmest end of the house too. Had we a vacancy in 
our early Peach house I should certainly plant a tree of Victoria 
to come in before Royal George. I believe it was originally sent 
out by Mr. Rivers of Sawbridgeworth. The tree I allude to came 
from that source. 
In our second house we have four trees of as many varieties— 
viz., Belle Bauce, Grosse Mignonne, and Goshawk Peaches, and 
Violette Hdtive Nectarine. The first-named is a very fine Peach 
and a good cropping variety, its only fault being that it ripens 
about the same time as Grosse Mignonne, consequently we have 
not such a long succession of fruits as if we bad either Bellegarde 
or Barrington in its place. Belle Bauce has ripened sixteen dozen 
fruits for several years in succession, many of them 7 oz3. each. 
Grosse Mignonne is in my opinion the finest midseason Peach we 
have, and I have grown it and seen it growing in four different 
gardens in as many counties and always giving satisfaction. Our 
own tree here has never produced less than twelve dozen fruits, 
and frequently more, for the past ten years, many of them half a 
pound each. Goshawk is growing on the back wall, consequently 
has not such a good chance as the rest, as all our trellises run 
parallel with and about 18 inches from the glass all up the roof ; 
still, what few fruits we have had have been good, and we should 
not hesitate to plant it as a permanent tree had we a vacancy. 
Violette Hative Nectarine is too well known as a good standard 
sort to require any further remark than that it keeps up its well- 
known character with us. 
In our late house we have two trees of Bellegarde Peach and a 
Balgowan Nectarine. The Peaches were, I believe, planted as 
Violette Hative and Bellegarde, but I cannot see the slightest 
difference either in fruit or foliage. They are fine Peaches, both 
