280 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Karch 19, 189>» 
■walls, Ked and Black Currants, Gooseberries, and Raspberries being 
planted in blocks where they can be readily netted and protected 
from birds, and the Currants trained to walls are mostly allotted 
north aspects for late supply. The collection of Apples included 
several local varieties of good appearance and quality, one 
bright early Apple known in the district as “ Kells ” being remark¬ 
ably prolific, and a fine market variety which I have failed to 
identify with anything known in England. Then there are the 
glass houses, vineries. Peach, Melon, Tomato, and plant houses 
well stocked, and their occupants showing they receive the best 
attention. Of vegetables a long succession is maintained, and 
throughout every department the untiring energy and well proved 
skill of the gardener, Mr. Charles Warwick, are manifest, his 
successes evidently being often achieved in the face of numerous 
difficulties, and therefore the more creditable. His kind attention 
rendered my visit most agreeable, and I hope at some time to return 
his courtesy on this side of the Irish Channel. 
Lough Neagh. 
Before quitting Shanes Castle I should like to say a word or 
two about the great Lough Neagh, which has been repeatedly 
mentioned in my notes, and is really of considerable interest. It 
is the largest lake in the United Kingdom, being twenty miles 
long by fifteen, broad, and has a superficial area of nearly 100,000 
acres. It is very shallow, the average depth not exceeding 50 feet, 
and the bottom is 3 or 4 feet above sea level. From the old castle 
terrace a capital view is obtained of this inland sea-like expanse, 
the extreme limit of which in Armagh is invisible from the shore 
level. Usually it has a very placid surface, but in stormy weather 
it assumes a very difference appearance, and floods the low-lying 
ground by which it is surrounded. Legends abound in regard to 
this Lough, but that generally accepted by the country people is to 
the effect that a well once existed there, which was required to be 
always kept covered, and a woman having once hurried away to 
attend to her child omitted to comply with this condition, and 
then, as Caxton says, “ Ye well sprynged so fastly yd drowned ye 
woman and her childe, and made all ye contre a lake and fysshe 
pond. For to prove this it is a grete argument that when the 
weder is clear fysshers of yd water see in ye grounde under ye 
water round towers and hyghe shapen steeples and churches of yd 
land.” Thus Moore also says, 
“ On Lough Neagh’s banks as the fislierman strays, 
When the clear soft eve's declining, 
lie sees the round towers of other days 
In the wave beneath him shining.” 
One product of Lough Neagh, however, I tested with some 
satisfaction — namely, the pollen or pollan, which is perhaps 
admissible here on account of its botanical name, though it is 
really a fish of the genus Coregonus, about the size of a herring, 
but possessing a pleasing combination of the flavour of whitebait 
and sprats if well cooked. This fish is plentiful, and at one time 
provided an important occupation for the villagers in the neigh¬ 
bourhood. It is also interesting as being a near relative of the 
white fish of North American likes and bays, which constituted 
the only food of the members in one of the Arctic relieving 
expeditions for several weeks. My experience of the pollan was 
not, however, so prolonged as that, and was gained under much 
more pleasant circumstances.—LEtvis Castle. 
GREEN ELY ON PEACH TREES. 
It is a well known fact that Peach trees under glass are not 
much troubled with green fly after the early stages of growth have 
been passed, but in many cases this destructive pest appears just 
after the fruit is set, causing the young leaves to curl and the 
shoots to receive a severe check unless the insects are destroyed 
at once, an effectual method of doing so being to fumigate 
with tobacco paper or syringe the trees with tobacco water ; 
but as prevention is better than cure I wish to point out how, 
according to my experience, green fly may be kept at bay. 
Assuming that the roots of the trees are in a healthy state, and 
the borders in good condition in regard to moisture, I believe 
in the case of Peach trees under glass, to which these remarks 
principally apply, the attacks of these insects are brought about in 
the first place by keeping the atmosphere of the house too hot and 
dry during the flowering period—not enough so perhaps to prevent 
the fruits setting in a satisfactory manner, but still too hot and 
dry for the benefit of the trees, which require more airy and less 
arid conditions. 
The most effectual method of treatment is to ventilate more 
freely than is often done, and to set the flowers with a syringe, 
lightly dewing the trees during the middle of bright days. If 
there is one method of setting Peaches more sure in its action than 
another I would award the honour to setting with a syringe ; stilP 
I am aware that there are gardeners who do not believe in its 
efficacy, or are too timid to try it. To such I would suggest 
drawing a rabbit’s tail over the flowers in the usual way when the- 
pollen is ripe, and then, instead to waiting till the petals of the 
flowers have fallen before commencing to syringe, to do so lightly 
once a day as soon as the pollen has disappeared from the stamens, 
and leave a little ventilation on the house for a few hours after. 
With this treatment, other cultural details being well carried out, we- 
should see and hear less of green fly on Peach trees.—H. DuNKiy> 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
March 10th. 
Scientific Committee.— Present : Mr. D. Morris, in the chair p 
Dr. Masters, Mr. McLachlan, Professor Church, Dr. Muller, Dr. Scotr, 
Dr. Oliver, Eev. W. Wi'ks, and Mr. P)landford. 
liranclies Injured hj Cold. —Dr. Masters showed branches of PeacL 
and Rose trees with injuries similar to those shown at the last meeting. 
These had not been in contact with wire, showing that that is not the 
only cause of the injuries. Professor Church suggested that the appear¬ 
ance pointed to the rubbing of branches on each other. 
Fofl Investigation. —Mr. Morris stated that he, as the recipient 
named in the Royal Society’s grant, had sent in a short report, and had 
made formal application for a further grant of £50. This course was 
agreed to. Dr. Oliver announced that the Interim report promised 
would be produced at the next meeting of the Committee. 
CrowtlLS on Yucca Jtaccid t .— Dr. Scott said that he had received 
very good material from Mr. Burbidge of Dublin, and promised an. 
investigation into them. 
3Hldcio on Vin'^s. —The Council referred to the Scientific Committee- 
a letter from Mr. Tait of Oporto, in which he states that he has 
discovered a remedy for mildew on Vines, which has been successfully 
used in Portugal, and w'hich he is anxious to have tried at Chiswick. 
They wished to know if the Scientific Committee were prepared to- 
appoint someone to conduct an investigation. 
The Committee were of opinion that the main constituents of the- 
remedy should be kno’wn first, so that no investigation shmli take 
place unless they wmre neiv and not previously tried. Dr. Mas ers said 
that that particular form of mildew did not occur at Chiswick, but i! 
could be tried on Tomatoes. Professor Church pointed out tiat the 
composition being patented there would be no difficulty in ascertaining 
its constituents, and the Committee then resolved to communicate with 
Mr. Tait about the composition, on the understanding that if new it 
would be experimented with. 
Death of Wcllingtonia. —A letter was read from the Duke of Welling¬ 
ton, asking for information as to the cause of death of a Wellingtonia, 
roots of which rvere forwarded. There was no obvious cause of death in 
these, and it was resolved to write for further information as to the 
history of the tree, character of soil, &c. 
Dhododendron Falconeri. —A plant -ivas shown from Mr. James 
B.ateman of Worthing, described in a letter as “ a dismal specimen of 
Rhododendron Falconeri, which with many other things perished 
miserably in the late winter. The first to attract attention was a fine 
specimen of the wdld Olive tree, -which had been raised from a cutting- 
taken from the one that marks the site of the ghastly well of Cawnpore. 
It was nearly 20 feet high, and had flowered last summer for the first 
time ; moreover, it retained its freshness after the winter was more 
than half over, when my gardener accidentally discovered that it had 
lost all its bark on the lower part of the stem, and was in fact a corpse.. 
The next to succumb was a New Zealand Olearia Hastii, which 
perished in exactly the same manner. It was then the turn of a large- 
Fuchsia, of which the bark under precisely similar conditions was 
stripped off the stem. After the Fuchsia a brigade of Sikkim and- 
Bhotan Rhododendrons was destroyed. And now as to the cause. 
Before winter set in we had a delicious Indian summer in portions of 
October and November, and to such an extent that our thrushes and 
blackbirds took to singing, and, T believe, to nesting. The exceptional 
warmth no doubt set the sap rising, and in this s'a‘'e it was caught, as 
in a trap, by the sudden change of temperature.” Dr. Mliller said 
he had seen the same thing in plantations of Rhododendrons near 
Bagshot. Mr. Wilks said the outer bark of R. Falconeri scaled off 
normally as in a Plane tree. From examination he doubted if the 
plant were quite dead. He himself had had a very large plant of 
Erica mediterranea which was throwing its spikelets ; on examination 
the stems were found split open longitudinally, and appeared as if full 
of cotton wool. This was due to frost. Dr. Masters, after examining 
the leaves of the plant sent, concluded that the plant would not have 
lived if left in the ground. I he Committee decided that its condition 
was probably due to the action of frost. 
Ihjyptian Mealy Buy —Mr. McLachlan showed twigs covered with 
this insect, and in addition to statements made on previous occasions- 
(December 10th, 1889, &c.), said that Mr. Douglas first described it as- 
Crossotosoma cegyptiacum, but had since concluded that it was probably 
no other than a true Icerya. The Egyptian Government are taking- 
steps to introduce the Australian and New Zealand ladybirds, which 
had been so successful in America. As the Egyptian species is not the- 
same as the Australian and American pest, and as the climate is so 
different, the success of the experiment is doubtful. 
