December 7, 1882, ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 523 
years old, but still in good condition. It takes 250 bushels of Pota¬ 
toes to make a ton of starch, and its manufacture, which is very 
simple, is as follows :—After being thoroughly washed and freed from 
dirt the Potatoes are reduced to a pulp by means of a grater. The 
pulp, placed in a sieve, is washed by streams of falling water, the 
starch being carried through the sieve into a proper receptacle, and 
the fibre washed away as waste. The starch is carried with the water 
passing through the sieve into a stirring tank, in which it is washed 
from the finer particles of waste, and, being heavier than water, sinks 
to the bottom. It is then further cleansed in other tanks by washing 
and stirring, until the water is clear and is drawn off. The starch is 
then removed to a kiln, where it is dried and rendered fit for market. 
—(American Cultivator.) 
LYGODIUM SCANDENS. 
This is not a new Fern, but it is much rarer than it should be, 
especially with those whose gardens are small and space under 
glass limited, for it may be made to add another charm, and 
more fully furnish small indoor ferneries that even now, though 
crowded, are in some respects bare. The plant is a climber, and 
either in pots or planted out may be trained over a wall, up a 
pillar, or over baie and otherwise cheerless-looking rafters. It 
is nearly hardy, but it is far best to grow it under glass in a cool 
shady structure. Hardly anything need be said of its cultivation, 
for it is so easily grown that it would be difficult to understand 
under what condition it would fail to grow. Either in pots or 
planted out, if the soil is at all sweet, it is sure to do well, and 
it is just such plants that are wanted, especially by amateurs. 
The fronds grow indefinitely, and so they are termed climbing. 
In winter they turn brown, and it is best to cut them down, when, 
as spring approaches, others will start. These may be trained to 
thin string and carried in any direction the cultivator may choose. 
As a pot specimen when trained on a balloon or pyramidal 
trellis it is by no means to be despised, for when well grown it is 
hardly second to any greenhouse species grown, and, indeed, much 
more imposing than most. For many purposes it is very useful 
for cutting, the fertile portion being very neat and beautiful. Its 
worst enemy is thrips, to which it is by no means subject unless 
grown in an atmosphere too hot and too dry.— Single-handed. 
INSECTICIDES. 
It may be assumed, without fear of contradiction, that gar¬ 
deners do not love insects, although some by their industry and 
ingenuity teach lessons and astonish us ; yet we are so solicitous 
for the well-being of the plants under our care that we cannot see 
them injured, even by the most instructive insect. Nevertheless, I 
do not think that the bulk of our craft love insecticides ; at least 
one of the most noteworthy not very long since in the Journal 
admitted his dislike to them when giving advice as to the destruc¬ 
tion of red spider by painting the hot-water pipes with a solution 
of sulphur. He then naively adds that as soon as possible it is 
washed off. 
However, since insecticides are a necessary evil it is as well 
that we should know a few of those which have the least faults 
attending them. The proper qualifications of a good insecticide 
are that it should kill without injury to the plants, that it should 
be cheap and easily procurable, that it should not be unpleasant 
to the smell nor in appearance when applied. Without aoy one 
of these qualifications an insecticide will never become popular. 
Let us, then, examine a few, such as good cultivation, sulphur, 
Dalmatian powder, paint, limewash, and potash. 
I place good cultivation in the first place, as, although not 
killing insects, yet with healthy robust growth they are abolished ; 
consequently by care and attention, and knowing the wants of 
the plants, the use of any other insecticide is reduced to a mini¬ 
mum. Perhaps a better title for it would be insectiphobia. 
Sulphur I place second, as undoubtedly the fumes or sulphurous 
acid are most deadly to all insect and animal life too ; but the 
common practice of painting the pipes with a solution is not, 
I think, the best way to proceed. A better plan is to use sul¬ 
phurous acid (not sulphuric, which is quite a different article), 
which is simply the fumes of sulphur pressed into water, which, 
when exposed, throws off the sulphurous acid. The method of 
using it is to pour out in plates or shallow pans placed on the 
staging or walks. It has these advantages over sulphur paint— 
that the work is done equally well without the risk of injury to 
tender plants, for if the paint be applied too strong and the piping 
overheated great damage may be done, even the destruction of 
a houseful of plants. Not only so, but the labour is trifling in 
comparison. The morning after the plates of acid have been put 
down, all the fumes having evaporated, the liquor remaining is 
only water, and may be emptied out, whereas the other unsightly 
stuff has to be washed off the piping. 
Dalmatian powder is another good insecticide, but I do not 
remember having seen it commented upon in the Journal. I use 
it in two ways—sprinkling on the soil and for syringing. As a 
dressing on the soil it is best applied before it is brought under 
glass, about an ounce to the bushel. What pests it does not kill it 
drives away, leaving the soil in an excellent condition for potting 
or otherwise used, free from woodlice, worms, &c. I use it prin¬ 
cipally for destroying woodlice. For syringing 4 ozs. may be 
infused in a quart of boiling water, allowed to settle, and the clear 
liquor used ; half a pint to an ordinary watering can full of water 
applied with a syringe and not washed off, taking care to wet the 
under side of every leaf. Two to three doses of this will be found 
very useful. 
The next two insecticides will, I doubt not, meet the same ob¬ 
jection as the first I named ; but properly used paint and lime- 
wash are insecticides of the first order, as well as preservators 
and ornamentors of our greenhouses. When paint is being 
applied I would advise every plant that can be moved to be put 
out, all the ventilators opened night and day two days at least 
before commencing to drive out all damp. Commence with a 
thin coat, adding plenty of turpentine, which is most deadly to 
insects; and to combine remedies as the doctors do, instead of 
using the ordinary dryers use paraffin oil, which not only serves 
the same purpose, but used in this way is very beneficial. I 
think it is not sufficiently well known that this common oil may 
be used in this way, and many times at a distance from town 
would save considerable time in waiting for the ordinary dryers. 
The second coat should be applied thick to stop all cracks, which 
effectually imprisons all eggs which may be deposited there. 
Limewash, too, ought to be applied thickly on all new work for 
the same reason, and care should also be taken to have new 
slacked lime, if possible while it is hot. I would here strongly 
urge upon all gardeners to advise when new work is being put up 
that it should be plain, for it is only in such structures that we 
have a fair chance to master our insect foes. In ornamental struc¬ 
tures there are so many out-of-the-way places for them to multiply 
that we are forced to risk the displeasure of the aesthetics and 
plead for plain houses. 
Lastly, a few words about potash. I use it for cleaning the 
glass, swilling all wood and brickwork everywhere, in fact, inside, 
and find it useful both for cleansing as an insecticide ; and I am 
inclined to think it has another good property—that is, a good 
dressing for the soil. I have used it as strong as one ounce to the 
gallon of water for syringing glass over plants, and it has not 
injured the leaves, but I imagine improved them. However, I 
would not advise its use in this way, at least not carelessly, but 
used as I have described it gets into every crack and crevice, deal¬ 
ing certain death to the insect tribe. I would strongly advise 
all who have not had a thorough experience of them to be 
very cautious in their use of insecticides and note carefully their 
results, as many are more dangerous than useful. Paraffin, for 
instance, when applied to plants in any form whatever kills the 
insects; but how often does it close the pores of the leaves and 
make the plants unhealthy, and as a consequence more liable to 
future attack from their insect pests !— Hortus. 
PLANTING SHRUBS. 
It occasionally falls to the lot of gardeners to carry out changes 
in grounds necessitating, amongst other work, the transplanting 
of shrubs. I bad a hint on the subject the other day which 
may be worth bringing to the notice of gardeners and others who 
have not paid much attention to this subject. We have had several 
weeks of this kind of work, and a gentleman visiting mentioned 
this as. to him, a curious fact. Some two or three years ago 
he had bought in a number of good-sized ornamental shrubs and 
young trees, and lately his attention had been called to some of 
these which had been blown over, and the balls were in the same 
condition as when planted, no roots having passed into the sur¬ 
rounding soil. In my opinion these shrubs had been placed into 
holes cut to fit the size of their respective balls as nearly as 
possible. The harm would be greater through the soil having 
been hard or clayey, so that the plants, though surrounded with 
soil on every side, were practically isolated from it. Planting 
when the soil was too wet would also conduce to a similar 
result. It will be conceded that if a plant costs a large sum to 
purchase that it is worth a little care to secure its succeeding when 
planted. 
Of the many hundreds of shrubs which have passed our hands 
this autumn it would be impossible for one to blow over in 
the condition of those noticed. In every case the hole has been 
at least twice the width of the ball of the plant inserted, some¬ 
times larger, and with the exception of extra large plants a liberal 
