568 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ December 23 , isso. 
have been potted. They root very quickly and surely, forming a 
whorl of strong roots, from which the dust is easily dislodged by 
a tap or two on the stem of the cuttings. When this does not do 
it they are rinsed in tepid water. It may be stated that we have 
a good command of bottom heat, and that the dust is laid firmly 
on the slates to the depth of 4 inches and is kept constantly 
saturated with water. To-day (December 7th) we have inserted 
cuttings of Nepenthes sanguinea—not to be risked in any uncer¬ 
tain quarters—and Dracaena Goldieana, all in sawdust fresh from 
the mill. 
We also use sawdust for plunging Pines in overheated chambers, 
and were to-day clearing out a house of Pines, from which we 
have been cutting fruit for the last two months. The dust we are 
turning out was placed in the pit the winter of 1878, and we find 
it so fresh and free from fungi that, were it not that we had 
brought forward fresh dust, we should have continued employ¬ 
ing it for another year. No other plunging material is so clean, 
free from woodlice and worms, and none so easily plunged in. 
Not only so, but the Pine roots were found rooted through the 
pots into it, and we never before saw such a network of roots as 
were the balls : they looked like a ball of living fibre. If there 
is an objection to the dust for this purpose it is that it becomes 
rather dry ; but any evil consequences arising from this condition 
we counteract by causing the water to run well over the rims of 
the pots when they are watered. This keeps the dust round the 
pots quite damp. The best swelled Pine for its size we ever grew 
was in this bed. It was cut fourteen days ago, was seven pips 
deep, and weighed 8 lbs. all but one ounce, while others were 8 lbs. 
and one 9 lbs., all in 11-inch pots, and cut within the last month. 
With a good command of bottom heat we should never think of 
going far afield for spent bark or cocoa-nut fibre for plunging 
Pines in if sawdust could be had, and it can easily be obtained 
by anyone near a sawmill. That used here is from fresh larch, 
spruce, Scotch fir, oak, ash, &c., all mixed together.— D. Thomson, 
Drumlanrig . 
ASPARAGUS FAILURE. 
Me. Iggulden will be surprised when I tell him that the 
garden where I grew my Asparagus is not drained at all except 
the walks, where the drains are 5 feet deep. I have misled him 
by saying the ground selected was wet. I should have said that 
the water takes a long time in percolating through the ground 
in wet weather, and the district is a wet one. The garden slopes 
towards the east, and at the lowest portion there is a nearly per¬ 
pendicular fall of 25 feet into a valley. I have never found the 
subsoil waterlogged, but when the soil is wet it cannot be worked. 
It is ridged in winter and forked down in spring as wanted, and 
most of the garden receives every winter a dressing of screened 
ashes. Lime is applied when I think it is required. 
The Asparagus borders, with clinkers for drainage, I made 
nineteen years ago, and the last Asparagus beds I dug up on the 
1st of July, 1878. I then commenced preparing for growing 
Asparagus on the French system, the distance being 3 feet from 
plant to plant and 4 feet between the rows. The depth of soil in 
the Asparagus border was about 2 feet. No shale or subsoil while 
trenching is going on is ever brought to the surface on any 
account. The subsoil is broken up as deeply as a man can drive 
his pick in ; it remains at the bottom of the trench, and is covered 
with manure. I have discontinued the use of salt for many years 
as a top-dressing for Asparagus beds, as I found it rendered the 
beds too wet. Seaweed I consider the best of all material for 
top-dressing Asparagus beds on light sandy soil. I thank Mr. 
Iggulden for his courteous reply, which I have read with great 
interest.— John Nunns, Wimbledon. 
GALVANISED WIRE AND FRUIT TREES. 
Many letters were published on this subject in the last volume 
of the Journal of Horticulture, and the opinions of correspondents 
were so widely divergent that I was requested by Dr. Hogg to 
examine the whole question, and to conduct some experiments, 
with the object, if possible, of finding a basis on which the views 
of the different writers are reconcileable. Until the late discussion 
there were many, and amongst them horticulturists of high repute, 
who entertained the opinion that galvanised wire was not injurious 
to fruit trees. This opinion was founded on experience, and those 
who had employed the wire successfully for more than a quarter 
of a century had reasonable grounds for the conclusion they 
arrived at on the subject. For a number of years I have had 
experience with this wire in gardens, and I have never until the 
present year perceived the slightest injury to the shoots or branches 
of fruit trees when in contact with it. Like “ C. P. P.,” I attri¬ 
buted the injury that was experienced by others to too tight tying 
or abrasion. That injury has resulted from mistakes or accidents 
in these respects cannot be doubted, but I am now perfectly con¬ 
vinced that they are quite inadequate to account for the serious 
damage that has occurred to trees under the charge of skilled and 
careful gardeners. Mr. Long of Wakefield and Mr. Simpson of 
Wortley, among others, adduced evidence to the effect that shoots 
of Peach trees that were not tied at all, but which simply rested 
on the wire, were injured. I have found the same results in some 
carefully conducted experiments, and I must dismiss the tight- 
tying and abrasion theory as quite insufficient to account for the 
evil in question. 
An Essex correspondent attributed the recorded instances of 
injury to frost in combination with unripe wood, as such wood 
was affected when m contact with cold iron, and that paint or 
any covering to the iron was remedial in proportion to its non- 
conductibility. Against this theory Mr. Simpson gave a reply 
that was conclusive, for the trees under his charge were ruined in 
a house which the frost did not enter, as was proved by the pre¬ 
servation of tender plants in the structure ; also trees that had 
been secured to well-painted galvanised wire and wwpainted copper 
wire for a dozen years had received no injury whatever. Mr. 
Long sent examples of wood to the Editors, some of which had 
been injured in winter and some in summer, the latter being the 
worst. Mr. Crowley of Croydon found that most if not all the 
injury was done in summer, the foliage and tendrils of Vines 
turning black when they touched the wire. I also had negative 
proof last winter, and positive proof this summer, that extreme 
cold is not the cause of the evil. I visited a garden in which the 
mercury of the thermometer fell below zero on several nights, and 
after minute examination I could not find a trace of injury to any 
portion of the fruit trees that were secured to unpainted galvanised 
wire, although some of the fruit spurs were killed by the frost. 
That is what I call negative proof. The positive proof is that the 
laterals of Vines under glass which I attached to some wire in 
June were very seriously injured during the summer months ; in 
fact the damage they sustained in six weeks, ending with the 
close of July, was far greater than they have sustained in twice 
the time that has elapsed since. The evidence, therefore, against 
the “ cold ” theory is overwhelming. 
Mr. Wm, Taylor contributed an excellent and suggestive letter 
in an endeavour to aid in the solution of the problem. Zinc he 
recognised as a very sensitive metal, and might be acted on by 
some water so as to render it noxious to vegetation. He adduced 
evidence of zinc shortly rendering water undrinkable, and also 
hinted that the rain falling through an impure atmosphere might 
bring down a chemical agent on the zinc and render it. noxious 
to vegetation. I thank Mr. Taylor for that hint, for a reason that 
will be hereafter stated. Although this correspondent had gal¬ 
vanised wire obtained from different sources, yet in no case had 
it proved injurious ; therefore the pure water of Longleat, even 
when in contact with zinc, is not dangerous to vegetation. But 
Mr. Woodcock of Sheffield adduced striking proof of the effect of 
the water of that town on zinc, which crumbled off the wire like 
powder after having been kept moist for a week. It is noticeable, 
too, that in and near that town injury to Peach trees has been 
very severe, and much galvanised wire has had to be painted to 
save the trees. It is not at all improbable that some water em¬ 
ployed for syringing may have had an injurious effect in combi¬ 
nation with the zinc on the wire, yet I have this summer found 
decided injury result to Vines that have never been syringed. 
Another correspondent, “ T. H.,” states that Vines and Peach 
shoots, also Melons and Cucumbers, trained to well-painted gal¬ 
vanised wire sustained no injury whatever, but when some new 
wire was put up and not painted it “ attracted the lightning,” and 
great damage resulted to the growths in contact with the wire. 
Another writer takes this view of the case, for he states the trees 
have suffered so much that all the wire has been thickly painted 
to “prevent injury by electricity.” This view of the question 
may be worth a little examination, yet at the same time a formid¬ 
able difficulty arises at the outset—namely, electricity is not a 
local agent, while the injury resulting from the use of the wire is 
certainly not general, but on the contrary, as I shall be able to 
show, is to a very marked extent local. 
It is generally admitted that electricity is universal as an agent 
of great force affecting all kinds of matter. Dr. Franklin sup¬ 
posed that all terrestrial subjects were pervaded with electricity ; 
but if the equilibrium were destroyed, as it is by a variety of 
causes, one part of the excited body, the positive, contained more 
than its natural quantity of electricity, and the other part less— 
the negative. When one body positively and another negatively 
electrified are connected by a conducting substance, the electricity 
passes from the positive to the negative body and the equilibrium 
is restored. Granting for the sake of argument that the branch 
