302 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 2 18SXV 
light assist the wood to mature. The old rods should be cut away close 
to and even with the main rods. There will not be any bleeding, and 
the earlier it is done the less likelihood is there of its taking place 
when the Vine starts into growth next year. You are quite right as 
to the cropping of Vines and other fruit trees not being overdone when 
fresh growth issues from stopping, laterals and sub-laterals being pro¬ 
duced concurrently with the fruit swelling and perfecting. The wood 
being ripe, air may be admitted constantly day and night, but it is not 
desirable to do this until the wood is thoroughly brown and hard. An 
occasional syringing will benefit the foliage by cleansing it of dust, but 
it will hardly be necessary at this time of year. Dryness is most 
desirable. 
Verbena Cuttings Damping (Inquirer). —The coloured fungus 
is one of the moulds assumed by fungologists to be only an early stage 
of fungi, more complex in structure when matured, and have the power 
of producing spores that when lying in fluid which contains sufficient 
food, cause a ferment. This they may obtain in the soil used for insert¬ 
ing the cuttings, which, containing leaf soil, may afford a fermentable 
substance ; but the fungus exists on plants the leaves of which remain 
damp. The germs exist in the soil, and then it is not possible to prevent 
their growth in damp places when they find a suitable host. We can 
only suggest that the cuttings be inserted in pure sand (drift, i.e., 
road sand, river, or sea sand), using no soil whatever in striking them, 
but keeping the sand thoroughly moist. The sand used hitherto 
probably contains earthy matter, but it is not unlikely the fungoid 
germs are on the cuttings when inserted, and then germinate through 
the damp being regular and prolonged. Have you tried a fresh 
stock ? It often proves satisfactory both in growth and freedom from 
disease. 
Forming - Privet Hedge (J TF).—Dig or trench the ground fully 
a yard wide, mixing with the soil some well-decayed manure. Plant 
in November bushy specimens of the evergreen variety with good roots 
6 inches apart. Cut it down in spring to within 6 inches of the ground 
when the buds begin swelling, trimming in the sides. This will cause 
the plants to branch freely and become dense at the base. Trim the 
sides a little in August ; in fact, cut them bacu so as to form a base of 
not more than 9 to 12 inches width, slightly tapering upwards, and in 
September cut off the top, the mere tops only, so as to form an even 
height. This will be determined by the lowest parts, which will pro¬ 
bably be 18 to 21 inches high. The following year the hedge will 
advance rapidly, and may be treated as in the previous year, when a 
hedge will be had about a yard high, but it is well not to let it grow too 
tall without heading, otherwise it will be weak. About a foot height is 
sufficient to gain in each year after the first up to a height of 3 feet, and 
then 6 inches gain each year until it is of the height required. A hedge 
may be had quicker by planting 2 to 3 feet bushy plants, merely trim¬ 
ming in their irregular side and top growths. 
Apples for Planting - (. Balbriggan ). —If you can not only remove 
a foot in depth of the clay, but lay a drain along the bottom of the 
"trench, which may be 1 feet wide (with outlet into a deeper drain), and 
over this place 6 inches of rubble or broken stones, to be covered with 
turf before filling in with good soil, you will have an excellent station 
for Apples ; but if you cannot provide the drainage as suggested, merely 
digging out the clay would be practically making a tank for the water 
to collect in, and rather than do that it would be better to let the clay 
alone, plant in ameliorated soil, the trees to stand on slight mounds 
with the roots covered about 4 inches deep, and the soil over them 
mulched with rather open manure, not a wet pasty mass. A mulching 
of this kind will be quite as useful in summer as in winter, as if the 
good soil near the surface is kept moist tie roots will ramify in it, but if 
it gets dry in the summer they will strike down to the clay in search of 
moisture. We have excellent Apples grown in the manner described in 
soil over a bed of clay, You say you have room for “ eleven trees, and 
require half to be dessert and half culinary.” We will try to oblige you 
with 54 each, or an equivalent. For your exposed but not cold position 
the following may be suitable :—Dessert: Devonshire Quarrenden, Wor¬ 
cester Pearmain, King of the Pippins (Gulden Winter Pearmain), Cox’s 
<Drange Pippin, and Wyken Pippin. Culinary : Lord Grosvenor, Keswick 
Codlin, Ecklinville, Warner’s King, and Bramley’s Seedling. To make 
up the required number plant Duchess of Oldenburg, and use the fruit 
cither for dessert or culinary purposes as you prefer. 
Manuring Flower Borders (./. IF.).—They are best manured in 
autumn, as the manurial matter is assimilated and absorbed by the soil 
ready for being taken up by the roots when fresh growth takes place, 
whereby a good growth is assured and the plants flower more profusely. 
Nightsoil and soot are powerful manures, and should not be used 
excessively. Soot is more speedy in its action, and should not be 
supplied until it is required by the plants, applying it to flower 
borders in spring during moist weather when the plants are commencing 
growth. It is good against predatory vermin or slugs, &c., and may be 
given at the rate of a peck per rod (30|- square yards), distributing it 
evenly on the surface, and unless thrown on the plants in excessive 
quantity will not injure them. It should, however, be kept from those 
with hairy leaves. During March or early April is a good time to apply 
soot, repeating in June, or it may be given during summer in liquid 
form to any plants requiring stimulation, a tablespoonful to a gallon of 
water is sufficient. Being rather difficult to mix it should be formed 
into a paste with sufficient water, and then it mixes readily with water. 
Nightsoil mixed with dry fine ashes or dry soil may be applied at the 
rate of a bushel per rod for general dressings, the ashes or soil used not 
being more than an equal quantity of the night soil ; but when the 
soil is poor it may be applied at double the rate named, and should be 
pointed in. This should be done in autumn or some time in advance 
of growth in the plants. It will be rendered very powerful by adding 
urine to form a paste and dry wood ashes to form it into a dry powder. 
This kept in a dry place is little inferior to guano, and can be applied to 
any crop with material benefit. A good handful per square yard is a 
sufficient dressing to apply at once, and before cropping or a little in 
advance of the plants requiring assistance in accelerating their growth 
or enlarging their parts. 
Indian Figs—Cochineal ( IG .).—You are quite right in saying 
the fruit of Opuntia vulgaris is so called, but it is not that species that 
supports the cochineal insect. O. vulgaris has been naturalised in the 
south of Europe, where, in Sicily, it has spread over expanses of volcanic 
sands and ashes where not a particle of vegetable soil exists. The fruit 
is about the size of a Fig, and red on the inside. It is very much 
relished by some, but varies in quality according to the climate in which 
it is produced. The Sicilians grow it extensively, and esteem it one of 
their most valuable esculents. It forms an important article of diet 
with the inhabitants of that island during three months of the year, 
though strangers generally consider it insipid. In the countries where 
it grows the Prickly Pear is, on account of its rapid growth, much used 
for the formation of fences round lands and dwellings ; and the quick¬ 
ness with which it grows, and its long stout spines, speedily render it 
such a formidable enclosure that neither man not beast can penetrate it. 
0. Tuna also makes strong fences, and when the island of St. Christopher 
was divided between the English and the French three rows of the 
Tuna were planted by common consent between the boundaries. Sir 
J. E. Smith states that the long and slender stamens of the flower are 
very irritable, and that if a quill or feather is thrust through them, in 
the space of two or three seconds they begin to lie down gently on one 
side, and in a short time become recumbent at the bottom of the flower. 
The fruit yields a rich carmine pigment, which is used at Naples as a 
water-colour. 0. cochinillifera, or Nopal, is the plant on which the 
cochineal insect feeds and breeds. It is in Mexico where the production 
of cochineal is carried on to the greatest extent, but it is also produced 
in the Canary Isles and in Java. The insect is the Coccus cacti. A 
number of the females are preserved during the rainy season. After the 
rains have ceased they are distributed over the plants, and having 
deposited their eggs speedily die. The eggs are hatched by the heat of 
the sun, and give rise to innumerable insects, the males of which are 
only in the proportion of one to a hundred or two hundred females, and 
being provided with wings they move about and fecundate the latter. 
After this period the females which before moved about attach them¬ 
selves to the plant, and increase rapidly in size, so that in the end their 
legs, antennae, and proboscis are scarcely discernible, and they appear 
more like excrescences on the plant than distinct animated beings. 
They are now gathered by scraping them off by means of a blunt knife, 
or brushing them off with a quill, a feather, a squirrel’s or deer’s tail, a 
few being left to continue the race. They are destroyed by dipping 
them in hot water, or by the heat of a stove. In the former case they 
are afterwards dried in the sun. 
Maggot in Wood (E. G. G .).—The caterpillar in the wood is the 
larva of the goat moth (Cossus ligniperda). As is stated in Miss 
Ormerod’s i( Manual of Injurious Insects,” the moth lays her eggs 
in crevices in the bark commonly at the lowest part of the tree, and the 
caterpillars which hatch from these eggs feed at first in the bark, or 
between the bark and the wood ; as they grow stronger they eat their 
way into the wood, and form chambers and galleries of various size and 
width, some as large as a man’s finger. The caterpillar has the power 
of exuding an oily fluid from its mouth with a remarkably pungent 
goat-like smell, whence the name of the moth. Infested trees may often 
be known by this disagreeable smell, and sometimes by heaps of dirt 
or wood-dust thrown out by the caterpillars lying below the entrance of 
their burrows. During the winter they lie quiet, otherwise they feed 
for a period of three years, and when ready to change form cocoons of 
little bits of wood roughly spun together just inside the entrance of 
their burrows, in which they turn to a reddish-brown chrysalis. Shortly 
before the moth is ready to emerge the chrysalis forces itself partly 
through the cocoon, where the empty case remains sticking out from 
the tree, and is a useful guide as to infested timber. The moths are 
heavy and sluggish, and may be taken easily by hand as they rest quietly 
during the day on the bark of the tree out of which they hatched. The 
caterpillars sometimes leave the trees, and may be found straying about 
in May and in the autumn, and in such case they should always be 
destroyed ; but generally (as above mentioned) they change to chrysa¬ 
lids at the entrance of their burrows, and where trees are known to be 
infested these reddish chrysalids should be looked for during June or 
early in July. Any mixture that can be laid on the tree, so as to 
prevent the moth laying her eggs on the bark is useful, and a thick 
coating of clay and cowdung has been found to answer well. The 
caterpillars may be diminished in number by crushing them in their 
holes with thick strong wire ; a glance at the state of the end of the 
wire when it is withdrawn from the hole will show whether the cater¬ 
pillar has been reached or not. If the direction of the hole admits of 
the caterpillar being dragged out by a finer wire doubled at the end, so 
as to form a kind of hook, this plan is also serviceable. Paraffin in¬ 
jected by a sharp-nozzled syringe with as much force as possible into 
the holes where the caterpillars are working is a good remedy, and any 
fluid poisonous to the caterpillar, or which would make the wood of its 
hole poisonous or distasteful to it for food, would be serviceable, such 
as tobacco water or a solution of softsoap. The fumes of sulphur 
blown into the hole are also effective. 
