252 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. E September ic, im. 
high flavour they are now well known and justly appreciated. 
Amongst dwarfer varieties the Challengers, Invincibles, Non¬ 
suches, and others of equal pretensions must all give way to 
Stratagem. This variety of rare excellency grows about 3 feet 
high. The stems are so strong that they will almost stand 
upright without any support. The pods are produced most 
freely in pairs from bottom to top. They (ill quickly and well, 
each pod containing from nine to eleven large peas. Small 
pods here and there, or just a few large peas in the middle of 
the pod and both ends empty, as is the habit of fruiting of 
some Peas we could name, arc failings unknown to Stratagem. 
It is ten days or so later than Telephone in coming into fruit, 
and, as a dwarf Pea, it continues bearing and supplying a suc¬ 
cession of its splendid pods for a remarkably long time to be 
a dwarf Pea. Jn changeable seasons the weather sometimes 
affects varieties differently; and in case anything should happen 
to any of the varieties recommended, a row or two of Omega, 
which is a fine late Pea, may be grown to till up the gap. 
Wrinkled Pea seed did not germinate so well last spring as 
the round, but all varieties should be thoroughly well ripened 
this year, and we may look forward to having good Peas in 
1881.—J. Muir, Margam. 
DUTCH BULBS. 
These have again come to band, and it is pleasing to find that 
they are generally larger than has been the case for the last year 
or two. For securing good bulbs and satisfactory results it is 
very necessary for buyers to be early in the market. I do not 
know whether the earliest purchasers obtain the best goods, but I 
presume they do and act accordingly, whilst I also like to have 
the bulbs early so as to place them thinly in a cool room, where 
they move slowly under my own eye. Another reason for having 
the stock early is the necessity of potting the first batch early in 
the autumn. Another point which is worthv of impressing on 
those who have only a limited knowledge of the different varieties 
is this, that the number of varieties really worth growing is com¬ 
paratively limited, and it is therefore better, when the quantity 
grown is more or less large rather to increase the number of 
bulbs of one variety than to add to the number of varieties,. As 
a rule it is possible to purchase the bulbs cheaper by the half- 
dozen, dozen, or hundred, than it is to purchase them one or two 
of the different varieties. Suppose a batch is required to bloom 
early in the year, we have amongst Hyacinths Charles Dickens, 
blue ; Homerus, red ; Crown Princess, white ; and Norma, blush. 
The earliest Tulips are Due Van Thol, red and yellow ; Due Van 
Tbol, crimson ; Canary Bird, yellow ; and the common double 
Due Van Thol. Polyanthus Narcissus are represented by Taper 
White and Double Roman. These with Lily of the Yalley and 
some late Roman Hyacinths give a good and cheap display till 
February. From that date there is no difficulty in most gardens 
to insure a more varied display. 
Some of the best and easiest to manage are in Hyacinths Charles 
Dickens, Marie, King of the Blues, Mimosa, and Grand Lilas 
amongst blue shades ; Von Schiller, Macaulay, Fabiola, Gigantea, 
Koh-i-noor, and Lord Wellington (double) amongst the shades 
of rose and red. Useful whites are Alba superbissima, Grandeur 
a Merveille, Mont Blanc, and La Tour d’Auvergne (double). Ida 
and Heroine are good yellows ; and Haydn is an excellent mauve. 
Good and cheap Tulips are Chrysolora, Cottage Maid, Keizers- 
kroon, Pottcbakker, Rose Gris de Lin, Proserpine, Wouverman, 
and Joost Van Vondel amongst singles. I only grow one double 
variety—Imperator rubrorum. Amongst Polyanthus Narcissuses 
Gloriosa, Grand Soleil d’Or, and Grand Monarque are very 
reliable. A quantity of Crocuses grown in pots to cease flowering 
just before those in the borders bloom are very attractive. The 
following have blooms as large as many Tulips—Albion, Caroline 
Chisholm, Correggio, Grande Vidette, Madame Mina, Lord Pal¬ 
merston, Havelock, Sir Walter Scott, Cloth of Silver, and the 
largest yellow. Other bulbs which should be grown are Scilla 
prrecox, Triteleia uni flora, Iris pcrsica, and Iris reticulata. The 
earlier-blooming Trumpet Narcissi are also very attractive grown 
in pots. N. Bulbocodium and N. Horsficldi should certainly be 
grown. 
Many may think that the list of varieties above given is rather 
restricted, but I do not find it so ; and those who have an oppor¬ 
tunity of exhibiting in spring will find it possible to select good 
exhibition plants from amongst the varieties named. I am not, 
however, writing for exhibitors, but for amateurs and gardeners 
who desire to render their houses gay as inexpensively as possible. 
As to cultivation, the main object is to extract as much as 
possible out of the bulbs, it being well known that very much 
depends on the growth made in Holland the previous year for the 
quality of the display in spring. We take every care of the bulbs 
after reaching us to keep them cool and free from excitement, so 
that a long rest may be ensured, and that as little loss as possible 
may be felt by the bulbs during this resting process. When they 
show signs of growing, as when roots are discernible and young 
growth is noticed from the centre of the bulb, then it is time to 
pot. Throughout winter coolness and darkness are very neces¬ 
sary, and until the young growths have been inured to light after 
removal from the plunging material coolness is very essential. 
After that heat is given according to the time the plants are wanted 
in bloom, though it is well to bear in mind that much better 
spikes and flowers are secured in a moderate temperature. Nor 
do the flowers last so long when they have expanded in heat. 
The amount of water required will also have to be regulated by 
the degree of heat given. When the plants are kept rather cool 
much water will cause the quill-like roots to decay, while a higher 
temperature will cause these same roots to appropriate much 
water. The soil must be very open, the addition of coarse sand 
to the compost being very necessary. A fourth part of old Mush¬ 
room bed material, or dry cow manure rubbed down fine, should 
also be incorporated with the loam for all Dutch bulbs. The size 
of pots must be to a great extent determined by the requirements 
of the place. Most of our Hyacinths are potted singly and grown 
in 5-inch pots. Many of the Tulips are grown three to five in pots 
of same size, Crocuses and Scillas eight, and Double Roman, Paper 
White, and Gloriosa Narcissus three in pots of the size named. 
We also grow Hyacinths two, three, and six bulbs in a pot, Tulips 
and Polyanthus Narcissus more or less after the same manner 
according to size of pots employed, those 8 inches in diameter 
being the largest used. As to dates for potting—our Roman Hya¬ 
cinths have been potted for some time, and the earliest Tulips, 
Hyacinths, and Narcissuses will be potted this week, the main 
quantity of bulbs being potted in October. 
Perhaps a word or two would be useful to cultivators of Hya¬ 
cinths in glasses. All the varieties above named are suitable for 
that purpose. I place the bulbs in glasses at the same time the 
main lot are potted, the water being kept just a little below the 
bulbs. Clean soft water only is used. The glasses are placed in 
a cupboard in a bedroom kept generally quite cold, and there they 
remain until about the same time the others are taken out from 
amongst the plunging material, say the middle of January at 
latest. They can be brought on rapidly or slowly, according to 
the temperature of the room in which they are placed.—R. P. B. 
THE PLAGUE OF WASPS. 
A PLAGUE of wasps this summer is no myth ; the air is full of 
them. For every ten that are killed twenty wasps are at hand to 
rush into their places. The hordes which are at this moment 
devouring all our fruits are, in their own field of operations, scarcely 
to be outdone in the completeness of their destructiveness even 
by the locusts. Such is our experience on the southern hill slopes 
of Surrey. 
How it happens that after an exceptionally wet and sunless 
summer and autumn, followed by a long and frosty winter, there 
are found to be this season more wasps than the memory of 
living man can parallel, is a matter well worth inquiry. So also 
slugs, which are said to perish during hard frost, have been most 
numerous here this year ; whilst bullfinches in the spring, and 
blackbirds and thrushes, as well as other smaller birds in the 
summer, have been unusually destructive in this neighbourhood. 
There are clearly many things of everyday occurrence of which 
we know but little, and about which we should certainly become 
wiser if we would patiently observe and record facts before we 
express merely opinions. 
Reverting to the wasps. They come as soon as the air is 
warmed by the sun, and whatever fruit is showing the first signs 
of ripening, upon it they alight. One or more commence opera¬ 
tions by eating an aperture in the skin, and a cavity is soon 
formed, into which enter as many of the greedy marauders as the 
hole will contain, and soon nothing is left but the skin and the 
stone. They appear to eat and drink to repletion ; for when 
shaken from the hole in the fruit they fall heavily to the ground, 
and seem to be incapable for some moments to rise, so that they 
can be easily crushed beneath the feet. They work rapidly. A 
tree of Reine Claude de Bavay Plum in an orchard house bearing 
a fine crop of fruit fit to gather was safe at 10 A.M., but at 2 p.m. 
half the crop was utterly destroyed by wasps. Some of the 
creatures even at night do not go home, but linger on the scene 
of their depredations, whilst some abide within the fruit which 
they have excavated. There is an opinion in these parts that 
