JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
240 
[ September 9, 1880. 
the form of a pyramid in a back row of a large border of plants, 
and is nearly covered with its charming silver-coloured flowers. 
By pinching-in the shoots it affords a grand display through the 
summer. It is by no means particular as to soil, good loam and 
decayed vegetable matter meets its requirements. It is easily 
increased by seed sown in the spring. There is another of our 
wild Vetches that is worthy of notice and a place in our borders. 
The Tufted Vetch (Vicia Cracca) is a charming plant when well 
grown. It requires confinement at the root. A large pot or 
other vessel should be sunk in the ground for it to grow in. It 
thrives in ordinary garden soil, and is increased by seed sown in 
the spring.— VlNClO. 
WASPS. 
A correspondent asks how it is that wasps are so numerous 
this year, when they were comparatively scarce for two years 
before. Wasps are always numerous after a dry spring, and more 
especially a dry May. If the weather be wet and cold when they 
first appear a very large per-centage will die, but this year it 
would seem as if every one had lived. Hornets are later, and did 
not appear in large numbers till the wet month of June, conse¬ 
quently they are unusually scarce. It is surprising that wasps 
should be allowed to have their own way as much as they do, 
when a little organised resistance could scarcely fail to keep them 
in check. It is comparatively useless for one person here and 
there to pay a large sum for their destruction if the majority of 
people are apathetic till precautionary measures are of no avail, 
when they merely grumble at the nuisance and promise to do 
something next year. Those who do pay are liable to great im¬ 
position (which the many could in a great measure prevent), and 
at the most can only effect a temporary local benefit. If towns 
or districts would start some organisation for collecting queen 
wasps in the spring—and for the destruction not only of nests, 
but of the whole colony of wasps which belong to each nest, 
during the summer—some diminution of their numbers must soon 
be apparent. Should there be a dry May next year it will be 
quite useless for the majority of people to think of growing any 
outdoor summer fruit unless something is done to check the 
increase of wasps, for I can warrant there will be no scarcity of 
stock to start with. 
If allowed I shall do the same as I have done for the last 
eleven years, and hope to be as fortunate as now in saving a con¬ 
siderable quantity of fruit; but again I say, Why do not every¬ 
body combine for the destruction of their common enemy ? I pay 
3d. for every wasp brought to me in spring till such time as the 
young insects come about, say the end of June, excepting when 
they are very numerous, and then half price is given. Sixpence 
is paid for every nest when all which belong to such nest are 
destroyed. If the insects are not past the grub state then the 
queen and the comb are sufficient for the money, but if any of the 
wasps have flown something more is necessary. The best way to 
destroy a nest and all its belongings when built in the ground is 
to fire a squib made with sulphur and a little gunpowder in the 
hole, and immediately stop it up to exclude the air and prevent 
the sulphur fumes escaping fora few seconds ; then without loss of 
time dig out the nest, destroy its occupants before they have time 
to recover, and insert a wine bottle half filled with water in the 
place of the nest, so that the top of the neck may be level with 
the surface of the ground, and in or near the same place as the 
entrance to the nest was. The bottle must remain there for three 
days, and will catch every wasp belonging to the nest which may 
have been away from home at the time the nest was destroyed. 
Sometimes one bottle, although it will accommodate from seven¬ 
teen hundred to two thousand, is not sufficient to hold all the 
rovers, and then it must be replaced by a second one. The 
bottles must be clean and have no scent with them, or the wasps 
will hesitate about entering. You may generally see, when a nest 
has been merely destroyed without any provision being made to 
catch the absent insects on their return, that it appears as strong 
as before it w T as disturbed, but not a wasp is to be seen after the 
third day when managed in the w r ay I recommend. Sometimes a 
nest is so situated that a squib cannot be fired into it, and the 
comb cannot be removed, then I believe cyanide of potassium is 
the best thing to use ; but as it is a dangerous substance w r ith 
which I am not familiar I will leave the task of giving directions 
for its use to someone else. 
Many people may think 3d. too much to give for a queen w r asp, 
so it is if you can have it caught for less, and I have no doubt that 
school boys would gladly bring half a dozen for that sum ; but it 
takes considerable skill to catch them, and I am afraid that if we 
left them all for the school boys many would escape ; nevertheless 
a great many thousands might be caught by boys if clergymen 
and schoolmasters would move in the matter. 
Understand that every wasp seen before the middle of June is a 
queen, and liable to have a nest of ten thousand at least. I lately 
estimated the number of cells in a rather large nest, and made out 
nine thousand of them. A great many of the young had flown, and 
fresh eggs were laid in their places, and I have reason to believe 
that there is often more than one succession of young insects from 
the same cells, therefore ten thousand is a comparatively small 
family. 
I have this season to pay for 1192 queens, and this leaves out a 
goodly number killed by myself and family. About 230 nests 
have been destroyed within a mile of the garden up to the present 
time, but there is more than enough left for stock now.— 
Wm. Taylor. 
"Wasps are quite a plague. Our late Gooseberries that we hoped 
to save are scooped out completely, and nothing in the shape of 
fruit escapes their voracity. Although we have destroyed a 
hundred nests within a radius of less than half a mile, and trapped 
a large number of insects in bottles and handlight traps, still they 
swarm in the fruit quarters. Having thrown some waste fruit 
away it was soon covered with wasps, and I tried the effects of a 
dose of nicotine soap ; it had the effect of instantly killing most of 
them. This seems to me a more humane method of destroying wasps 
even than either bottles of sweetened beer or the torture of starva¬ 
tion in handlights, as by placing the garbage fruit in heaps the 
wasps may be destroyed in an instant by syringing with nicotine 
soap, 8 ozs. to a gallon of water, as hot as the operator likes to use 
it, or it will answer cold. A few heaps of fruit will attract the 
representatives of a wasp nest, and if the application is repeated 
they will soon be disposed of. Taking the nest is of course the 
most speedy method of destruction, and the other will dispose of 
the stragglers. Wasps will not touch anything impregnated with 
nicotine soap, therefore fresh baits must be used.—G. Abbey. 
SYRINGING PEACH TREES. 
It is necessary to allude to the importance of syringing Peach 
trees after the fruit has been gathered in order to keep the red 
spider in check. An instance recently came under my notice 
where the leaves were entirely falling off prematurely through 
the red spider. The trees in question had evidently been neglected 
after the fruit had been gathered. This is a practice that is too 
common. It is not surprising that we frequently see puny fruit 
and sickly plants when subjected to such treatment. If cul¬ 
tivators who practise these systems knew the result consequent 
upon the treatment, they would preserve the foliage of the trees in 
a healthy state. This keeps the trees healthy and vigorous, and 
abundance of large fine-flavoured fruit is the result. The other 
plan rapidly impedes the luxuriance of the trees until at last they 
are exhausted, the trees become diseased and gradually die off, 
bearing, perhaps, for a few years poor ill-flavoured fruits. If 
water is freely employed at the roots and the foliage well syringed 
red spider will rarely appear upon the trees.— Scientia. 
A WEEK IN YORKSHIRE.—No. 1. 
A week spent in a county so large necessarily afforded no 
adequate opportunity for inspecting more than a few gardens, and 
those not the most extensive ; yet in even small and moderate¬ 
sized gardens some good result or some suggestive hint may be 
found that is worth recording. A rambling horticulturist some¬ 
times finds a garden or nursery in which some feature is espe¬ 
cially prominent. Orchids, Grapes, Roses, or what not may be 
the strong point, and in these cases the work in hand is usually 
done well. Sometimes he finds a curious garden, such, for in¬ 
stance, as one having a greater extent of walks beneath the sur¬ 
face than above it, for such a garden surely exists. Sometimes 
he finds, not so much a curious garden as some novel practice, 
such as growing Grapes in a stokehole and subsequently seeing a 
prize card attached to the bunches in a large exhibition and 
splendid competition ; and sometimes he finds an extraordinary 
garden. As most readers have a preference for “ something ex¬ 
traordinary ” I will endeavour to describe my last “ find ” first. 
But I should never have found this remarkable garden without a 
guide. A kind friend sent me the following letter—“ The story 
of the life of Isaac Holden was given in ‘ London Society ’ of Feb¬ 
ruary, 1879. He has been a wonderfully successful man in busi¬ 
ness, and now spares no expense in everything he takes in hand. 
His residence is in this neighbourhood, and a visit from you would 
not prove a disappointment. There are about forty glass houses all 
new. The winter garden has cost about £25,000, I believe, and 
covers nearly half an acre. The mosaic pavement took nine Italians 
about three months to lay, and Frenchmen were years erecting 
rockery. The roof of one house is covered with Tomatoes, and 
