I 
August 19 , 1880 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 16B 
between Rumex maritimus and R. sanguineus, and possesses in 
a striking degree characters of both parents. The leaves are 
slightly broader than those of R. maritimus, but by no means 
approaching those of R. sanguineus in width, but the red veins 
are quite as prominent. The perianth segments arc not fringed 
as in R. maritimus ; the flowers are less in number to each whorl, 
but more than in R. sanguineus with the less leafy panicle of 
that species. R. maritimus is the seed parent. The plant has 
been raised here, and it now remains to be seen whether it may 
not, like R. maritimus, prove to be of only biennial duration.— 
T. Enttvistle. 
THE LIMES, GREENFORD GREEN. 
lit the course of an “outing” it is not unusual to meet with a 
place which, though comparatively unknown, is really both well 
arranged and well kept, reflecting great credit upon its owner and 
also the gardener in charge, and such is the case in this instance. 
The Limes is the residence of T. D. Perkins, Esq., and is situated 
near Harrow. It is built on a gentle declivity, of which the most 
has been made by the landscape gardener, the chief points being 
a very ornamental terrace wall with perhaps rather too many 
vases, a good expanse of turf about which are dotted a number of 
plain beds—these at the time of my visit being very effectively 
planted—belts of shrubberies, and large beds filled with a very 
great variety of choice Conifers, flowering, deciduous, and ever¬ 
green shrubs, a piece of ornamental water, Fern walks, and other 
arrangements. A well-built ornamental conservatory adjoins the 
residence, but unfortunately it is of necessity kept much too dry 
for the well-being of many plants suitable for the decoration of 
conservatories. The plants most freely employed are Zonal 
Pelargoniums and Coleuses, and of these there are many of the 
newest varieties, which with a few other plants maintain a very 
gay appearance at all times. 
The plant and fruit houses are situated in the kitchen garden, 
and are very substantially built span-roof structures. They are 
kept in excellent order, the central walk forming a very agreeable 
promenade. One range consists of seven houses, the central and 
largest one being devoted to Grape-growing, one to Peaches, and 
the remainder to Melons, Cucumbers. Tomatoes, and plants. All 
kinds of fruit were carrying heavy crops—in fact, too heavy, the 
Peaches and Nectarines in particular. They were very healthy 
and were forced moderately. The best Peaches were the Royal 
George, Early Alfred, and Barrington, and the favourite Nec¬ 
tarine is the Elruge. In the earliest vinery the bunches of Black 
Hamburgh and Madresfleld Court Grapes were of good size, the 
berries large and fairly well coloured. The Muscats in the later 
house look very promising. The borders are principally inside, 
and the soil used for both Peaches and Grapes consists mainly of 
strong turfy loam ; and thL, coupled with the fact of their re¬ 
ceiving frequent liberal supplies of water and liquid manure, may 
ensure a better “ finish” to the crop than would otherwise be the 
case in lighter soil. The Melons in various stages of growth were 
very promising; the varieties preferred are Suttons’ Earl of 
Beaconsfield and Gemmett’s Hybrid. Tomatoes are grown in 
pots, the best being Hathaway’s Excelsior ; Nisbet’s Victoria has 
the appearance of being more ornamental than serviceable. 
The roof of one plant house was covered wdth two plants of 
Marechal Niel Rose, which Mr. Abbott, the able gardener in 
charge, succeeds in flowering splendidly every season. His prac¬ 
tice, which is worthy of more general imitation, is simply to cut 
the growth hard back to near the main branches, thereby securing 
a number of long strong shoots, w T hich are really requisite for a 
heavy supply of bloom of this very popular Rose. The collection 
of plants comprised many well-grown examples of choice kinds. 
Allamanda Hendersonii, Clerodendron Balfourianum, Stephanotis 
floribunda, and Rhynchospermum jasminoides were well flowered, 
and a plant of Medinilla maguifica was carrying fourteen fine 
racemes of bloom. Croton undulatum of good size was well 
coloured, and is an excellent variety. 1 also noticed good plants 
of Davallia Mooreana, Lomaria gibba, and Areca Verschaffeltii. 
In another range of expensive but not particularly well arranged 
houses there were numerous well-grown tuberous-rooted Begonias, 
some of the best named varieties of which were Rodwellii, Coul- 
tonii, and Vesuvius. Gloxinias were well grown, and also the 
very useful Torenia Fournieri. A collection of Orchids is being 
formed, those in flower—some of which were of good size—were 
Aerides odorata purpurea, Oncidium flexuosum, Dendrobium mos- 
chatum, Cypripediums, and others. Epacrises and Ericas were 
well grown, and the Chrysanthemums were remarkably vigorous. 
A few good exhibition varieties of bronze Zonal Pelargoniums 
grown there are The Shah, W. E. Gumbleton'Mrs. Quilter, Prince 
Arthur, Black Douglas, Celebes, and The Czar. There was also a 
good selection of stage Pelargoniums. The best of these were 
Rob Roy, Dr. Masters, Queen Victoria, Chameleon, Humphrey, 
Angelina, Prince Leopold, and Captain Raikes. Bridal Bouquet 
is a very useful perpetual-flowering variety. 
The kitchen garden was well stocked with all kinds of vege¬ 
tables. The soil is a very stiff clayey loam, very difficult to 
manage. The fruit are very properly arranged in a quarter, and 
not distributed throughout the garden, as is too often the case, 
to the detriment of both the vegetable and fruit crops.— 
W. IGGULDEN. 
MEALY BUG ON VINES. 
In hope that my experience may benefit those whose Vines are 
infested with mealy bug, I will state as briefly as possible how 
in my case I got rid of the pest. When I arrived here in May, 
1878, I found one of three vineries pretty much infested—and as 
I fortunately had no previous experience of it on Vines, I was 
not a little annoyed at it. The fruits were ready to thin, and 
during the process I had full opportunity of seeing the extent 
of the pest. Every spare moment was devoted to the hunting 
all through the summer, but spare moments were not very plentiful 
that season, for reasons I need not mention ; and by October I 
found them inside at least a dozen bunches, while they were 
more or less over the whole house of fourteen Vines. As the 
leaves turned yellow I took them carefully off by hand and 
burned them, pruning the Vines immediately after, and burned 
the prunings as well. Shortly after I had the Vines carefully 
scraped of all loose bark, and all round the spurs brushed with 
a narrow hard brush ; I then with a strong pocket lens examined 
the rods carefully from end to end. With a paste made of clay 
and Gishurst compound every crevice was filled, and the whole 
coated over in the usual way with this same mixture, to which I 
added a good quantity of sulphur, and well mixed the whole with 
hot water. I then painted all the wood and wires of the house 
with two coats of strong white lead and turpentine, filling all the 
eyes of the wires and every other suspicious hole with the paint 
as we went on. I fully thought that they would be extinct after 
all this, but not so. Next spring at thinning time I found a few, 
and to my dismay every time I looked I found them more or 
less all through the summer. Still I saw that I was gaining 
ground, and I repeated the same process of stripping the leaves, 
and, if possible, was more stringent with the painting of the wood 
and wires, from which, I fancied, they must have come this spring 
when heat was applied. I resumed the watching, and have 
continued it up till to-day without seeing a trace of one. The 
fruit has been ripe some time, and is partly cut; and as a proof 
that no damage was done by stripping the leaves, the quality is 
better this year than I have seen it, while the remainder of last 
year’s crop was sent to table on May 1st in good condition. I 
may add that I consider the strong point in the battle was remov¬ 
ing the leaves before the insects retired to winter quarters. I 
examined the prunings as we gathered them in a sheet, and 
found hundreds on them which would otherwise have found 
shelter inside the house.—A. C. 
[The above letter, written in reply to the one which appears 
on page 13S of our last issue, is extracted from The Gardener 
of the present month. The plan of removing the bug-infested 
leaves from the Vines, instead of permitting them to fall and 
the insects to remain in the house, is a most sensible one. We 
are able to confirm the observation of “ A. C.” that after the 
foliage turns yellow no injury whatever results to the Vines by 
its removal.—E ds.] 
SUCCESSIONAL CROPS. 
Under this heading, on page 132, “A Kitchen Gardener” 
remarks that it is now “ too late to plant greens to come in well in 
either autumn or winter,” and according to his ideas such crops 
only as Turnips and Spinach should be put in ; whereas your 
Clonmel correspondent (page 134) finds that “no time is better 
than the present ” for planting Broccolis. Probably both may be 
correct according to their respective climates, but the two experi¬ 
ences have the appearance cf being rather contradictory. “A 
Kitchen Gardener” may be practising in a late and cold dis¬ 
trict, or, what is more likely, is satisfied with nothing less than 
heavy crops, and in either case he is then correct. In this southern 
district planting is still going on among the cottagers’ allotment 
and home gardens especially, and I shall have plenty of applicants 
for my surplus plants of Broccolis, Kale, and Savoys for some days 
to come, according as they have the opportunity of lifting Potatoes 
and replanting. I do not advise them or anyone else to crop 
their ground with nothing but Turnips, or Turnips and Spinach 
as the case may be, but to sow a requisite quantity of each, and to 
fill the rest of the space with greens and Broccoli, taking care to 
