December 16, i860.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 559 

Red Spider on Peach Trees (F . IF.).—No good cultivators permit the 
trees under their charge to get into the state you describe. By keeping the 
trees healthy—the roots being active, in good soil, and plentifully supplied with 
water—ventilating judiciously and syringing thoroughly, the trees are kept free 
from red spider until the fruit commences ripening. If a few insects find their 
way to the trees when the syiinge is discontinued they are easily dislodged by 
a few thorough washings with the garden engine or syringe after the fruit is 
gathered. There are two ways of syringing: one is the too common mode of 
distributing the water gently, as if in fear of disturbing any insects that exist; 
the other is to carefully direct the water so that it strikes directly ou every 
leaf with such force as to dislodge the insects if there are any. The one mode 
maj’ be described as playing with the syringe, the other using it. There are 
numbers of young gardeners and amateurs who either do not know how to 
employ the syringe effectually, or if they do know are afraid of making their 
arms ache in the use of it; if this were not so there would not be so much red 
spider on Peach trees in houses. If Vines are in the same house with Peach 
trees it is not imperative to cease syringing the latter when the Grapes are 
colouring. A heavy syringing applied to the Peach trees now and then early in 
the morning of fine days, when the house can be freely ventilated, will not in 
the slightest degree interfere with the colouring of the Grapes ; but in very hot 
weather is much more likely to assist them in finishing well._ 
Grapes for Market (J. M.). —In compliance with your request we for¬ 
warded your letter to Mr. W. Taylor, and the following is his reply :—“ You have 
too many varieties of Grapes in your house, and the Vines have been too heavily 
cropped. Twelve bunches to a rod would give better results than twenty. The 
best Grape for sale or any other purpose till the end of the year is what is sold 
as Black Hamburgh or Prankenthal. As you appear to have six of these, they 
would probably fill your house sufficiently in time if some of the less valued 
sorts were cut gradually away to make room for the extensions of these, and 
would give a better return than the seventeen now do. If a late Grape must be 
grown with them, Alicante or Mrs. Pince would be more likely to succeed than 
either Gros Colman or Lady Downe’s, which require a very long season and the 
best possible treatment. The late Vines must have the best position, say the 
south-east corner, and even then you must not be surprised if the fruit does not 
attain absolute perfection. A border only 2 feet in depth is rather shallow for 
an inside border, and will require watering very frequently, probably at intervals 
of eight or ten days during the growing season, and must be mulched from 
before midsummer till the fruit is cut. If some of the less valued Vines are cut 
out at once so that the sun has a better chance to assist in warming the house, 
you might possibly find your flue sufficient; but you should see that the flue is 
isolated from the surrounding soil and masonry. It ought merely to rest on 
piers and have nothing touch its sides; and then, although it is below the path, 
the heat will not be lost if there is an open trelliswork above it. A flue properly 
built and properly worked is not to be despised for heating a small house, and is 
generally cheaper than hot-water pipes, although for heating several houses 
which are near together as well as for a large house hot water is decidedly prefer¬ 
able. A minimum temperature of 55° to 60° during the growing season is all 
that is required as regards artificial heating to produce the best of Grapes, there¬ 
fore if the flue is capable of doing that let it remain. Good Grapes such a3 we 
see at exhibitions ought to fetch 6 j. or 7j. a pound now if sold direct to consumers, 
or if to a tradesman who has run all risks they will fetch a third less.” 
Labour for Estate (D. L. (?.).—It is utterly impossible for anyone to 
answer your question without knowing more particulars. Some park and pas¬ 
ture land, when the fences are good, require but little labour ; others, where the 
fences are bad, much labour. Some pleasure grounds, where there are extensive 
borders to be dug and many shrubs to be moved, pruned, and kept in order, 
also a great extent of lawn, with some flower beds, need three times the amount 
of labour that others do where there is comparatively little of such work to be 
done. Then you afford no idea of the extent of the “ beds, borders, and wall 
trees," and as for the “ pumping ” no one ought to know so well as yourself how 
much time it occupies ; certainly we have no means of knowing. An active 
young man would easily manage the houses and plants, and have some spare 
time for attending to the wall trees and other matters. We have known estates 
such as the one in question managed by three men, and others not larger afford¬ 
ing employment for three times the number—every thing depends on their nature 
and keeping. 
Names of Fruits (X I'. Z .).—The specimens you have sent must be of 
some local variety, which we cannot identif}-. 
Names of Plants (IF. G.J .).—1, Pteris serrulata; 2, Pteris cretica albo- 
lineata ; 3, Selaginella Wildenovii. (A. & 0.).—1, Specimen very shrivelled, 
but it resembles Cystopteris fragilis ; 2, Adiantum cultratum ; 3, Asplenium 
longissimum; 4, Aspidium angulare; 5, Hvpolepis distans. 
POULTRY, PIGEON, AND BEE CHRONICLE. 
CLOVER AS A PREPARATORY CROP FOR WHEAT. 
(Continued from page 536.) 
In continuation of this subject we shall show that which the 
home farmer requires specially to understand—namely, why a 
crop of Clover is so good a preparatory crop for Wheat. The 
practical farmer of long experience knows the result, but he is 
unable to account for it without reference to the scientific chemist, 
and the researches of men like Dr. Voelcker. There is yet another 
important point to be considered. Does the organic remains of 
the Clover plants—their roots, stems, and leaves—after decom¬ 
position leave more manure in the land than the Wheat crop can 
make use of ? If so, we have the means of obtaining a further 
valuable crop after the Wheat. The questions also arise, If there 
is a large residue of manurial elements left in the land after the 
wants and requirements of the Wheat growth has been supplied, 
what is the nature of it ? Is it best suited for the production of 
another cereal crop, or best suited for a pulse or root crop ? If the 
home farmer read the following quotations from Dr. Voelcker’s 
experiments and observations he will, with a little consideration, 
be enabled to answer these questions. 
We must first refer to the following analysis of Clover roots 
by Dr. Voelcker. “ The roots, having been first shaken out to 
free them as much as possible from soil, were then washed with 
cold distilled water, and after having been dried for a while 
in the sun were weighed, when the square yard produced 1 lb. 
10£ ozs. of clean Clover roots in an air-dry state ; an acre of land 
accordingly yielded, in a depth of 6 inches, 3^ tons, in round num¬ 
bers, of Clover roots. The analysis gives the general composition 
of the roots—water, 44-675 ; organic matter, 49-236 ; mineral 
matter, 6-089 ; total, 100-000 ; containing nitrogen, 1-297 ; equal 
to] ammonia, 1-575. Assuming the whole field to have produced 
3^ tons of Clover roots per acre there will be in round numbers 
100 lbs. of nitrogen in the Clover roots from 1 acre, or about twice 
as much nitrogen as is present in the average produce of an acre 
of Wheat.” This clears up one of the difficulties which we wish 
the home farmer to remember. The next and highly important 
experiments “were made upon a Clover soil from part of 11 acre 
field at Burcott Lodge Farm, Leighton Buzzard, in Bedfordshire, 
once mown for hay, and left afterwards for seed. The produce of 
Clover hay was 2\ tons and 3 cwts. of seed per acre. 
From the analysis we find, as might be expected, the proportion 
of nitrogen is largest on the surface soil, where all the decaying 
leaves dropped during the growth of the Clover for seed are found: 
and wherein root fibres are most abundant. For the contents of 
the first 6 inches we have of nitrogen 4725 lb3. ; nitrogen in roots: 
51| lbs.; nitrogen in second 6 inches of soil, 3350 lbs. Total 
amount of nitrogen per acre in 12 inches of soil 8126^, equal 
to ammonia 9867, or in round numbers 3 tons and 12i cwt. of 
nitrogen per acre, equal to 4 tons 8 cwt. of ammonia. This is a 
much larger amount of nitrogen than occurred in the other soil, 
and shows plainly that the nitrogen accumulates in the surface 
soil when Clover is grown for seed, thus explaining why Wheat 
succeeds better on land where Clover is grown for seed than where 
it is mown for hay. This, however, is denied by others, who say 
land cannot become more fertile when a crop is grown upon it 
for seed which is carried off than when that crop is cut down and 
the produce consumed on the land. The chemical points brought 
forward in the course of this inquiry show plainly that mere specu¬ 
lations do not much advance the true theory of certain agricultural 
practices. It is only by careful investigation that positive proofs 
are obtained. No manure can be compared in point of efficacy 
for Wheat to a really good crop of Clover. The farmer who 
wishes to derive the full benefit from his Clover lay should plough 
it up for Wheat as soon as possible in the autumn, and leave it in 
a rough state as long as is admissible, in order that the air may 
find free access into the land, and the organic remains left in so 
much abundance be changed into plant food—in other words, in 
order that the crude nitrogenous organic matter in the Clover 
roots and decaying leaves may have time to become transformed 
into ammoniacal compounds, and these in the course of time 
into nitrates, which I am strongly inclined to think is the form in 
which nitrogen is assimilated by cereal crops. When the Clover 
lay is ploughed up early the decay of the Clover is sufficiently 
advanced by the time the young Wheat plant stands in need of 
readily available nitrogenous food, and this being uniformly dis¬ 
tributed through the whole of the cultivated soil is ready to benefit 
every single plant.” 
