28 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 13, 1893. 
powder and sulphur, or tar, is a nest can be taken any time during 
the day, and clean and short work made of it.—A. Aldbeman, 
Lffi,ngham Hill, JDorhing. _ 
I SEE in this week’s Journal a correspondent has been giving his 
eKperience wdth cyanide of potassium for the destruction of wasps and 
their nests. As he would like to hear the experience of others who have 
tried cyanide, I quite corroborate your correspondent’s remarks. I have 
repeatedly tried cyanide of potassium (strength as much as 90 per cent, 
of cyanide), and although I have poured as much as 6 ozs. of strong 
solution at a time down the holes of their nests, I have never yet 
succeeded in destroying a nest completely. The most efficacious remedy 
my gardener has found is gas tar poured down the holes, and this is a 
very cheap and certain destroyer of wasps and their nests.—J. K. G. 
I NOTICE Mr. Broady (page 14) is not very much in favour of cyanide 
of potassium for destroying wasps, because it does not at the same time 
destroy the larvm ; but he would himself confer a boon on the fruit¬ 
growing community by suggesting some other chemical so easy of 
application that would destroy at the same time the adult wasp as well 
as the larvm. The value of cyanide of potassium is found in the extreme 
convenience of its application, because no night journeys are demanded 
such as that occasioned by the use of gunpowder and sulphur squibs 
commonly adopted for their extermination. Anyone on a wasp-destroy¬ 
ing expedition with the cyanide in a soluble state might, by carrying a 
spade, dig out the nests on the return journey after an application of the 
liquid an hour or two previous. 
Mr. Broady says, “ When the nest is close to the entrance, which 
very often happens, it kills a portion only of those inside, whilst the 
rest are merely held prisoners until the fumes of the cyanide have 
evaporated, when the wasps pass in and out as usual.” This experience 
certainly does not coincide with that I have gained by observation ; so 
long as the entrance is open they are not held prisoners, because of the 
presence of the deadly fluid placed for their destruction. In an hour or 
so after the cyanide has been poured in at the mouth of their nest I have 
noticed that not a wasp was seen to move inside or out; all would be 
quiet. Even should it not kill the larvm it certainly would be worth 
an extra journey to dig out.the nest, and the expense and trouble in its 
application must be repaid. 
It is well to have a store of Scott’s wasp destroyer in hand, in antici¬ 
pation of attacks on choice fruit; usually this is effectual in checking 
their depredations, but not always. Last year I knew of more than one 
case where this was used persistently with no good effect, while in other 
years wasps were careful to avoid fruit where it had been used. To be 
effectual it should be put on the flrst fruits they attack, and particu¬ 
larly so on Grapes. I am under the impression that the cyanide would 
be more effectual in a liquid than a dry state, and perhaps more 
economical. When kept in a corked bottle there is less loss of evaporation. 
—W. Strugnell 
I have tried several plans for dealing with wasps’ nests, but I have 
never found anything so convenient, and to my mind so safe as the 
cyanide, but Mr. Broady (page 13) is certainly right in some degree in 
his assertion that it only kills the wasps going in. I give it credit for 
more than this, it stupefies those in the hive. The vapour is, I believe, 
heavy and goes down into the nest. Let me tell of one nest I took some 
years ago. A friend told me he was bothered with a nest in the roof of 
his dining room bow window, could I take it ? Well, I said I would try. 
I found that the wasps had three entrances under three different tiles. 
At each entrance I put a piece of linen well soaked in a strong solution 
of cyanide, and suggested lunch for myself. In the course of twenty 
minutes I repaired to the roof. There was a stillness, and I removed one 
tile, this brought me on the edge of the nest, and all was still yet, so 
we removed some six or seven tiles and then the nest in all its beauty 
was revealed, and beautiful it truly was, clean as if carved out of some 
yellow veined marble, there it lay about 2 foot in length and 1 in 
breadth, and from 5 to 10 inches in thickness. Still no sign of life ; so 
I placed the spade flat on the roof between two rafters, and pushing 
it as far as I could lifted the major portion bodily down on the spade 
and deposited it in a foot tub filled with water. The smaller divisions 
were removed in the same way. Neither the lookers-on or I were 
stung, but the stable boy playing with the pieces of comb soon after 
managed to squeeze a half dead wasp and was rewarded for his inquisi¬ 
tive attentions. 
The vapour certainly does not affect the pupm covered in, and as 
numbers of these are hatching daily, the nest will very soon become 
lively again ; indeed, I have frequently after digging out the nest placed 
it under a bell-glass, just lifting the bottom, and they soon begin enlarg¬ 
ing the nest and increasing in numbers, but if the queen have succumbed 
to the poison the nest must, I suspect, come to an end in a few weeks, 
when all the pupm in the nest have hatched. Wherever it is possible 
to dig out and break up the nest I think this should be done, and I 
think it may be done safely in a quarter of an hour or so after placing 
the cyanide at all the entrances to the nest. 
How long are the working wasps absent from the nest? This is a 
question somewhat difficult of solution, but judging from my experience 
v/ith the cyanide in taking nests, I should say that in fine weather it 
would be exceptional for them to be away twenty minutes. I recollect 
many years ago my old friend Mr. W. Taylor, then at Longleat, narrated 
in your columns his plan for destroying the outsiders ; this was to bury 
a bottle in the old nest, the entrance to the nest being the mouth of the 
bottle, containing some syrup. 
Applying cyanide and nothing else being done may be disappointing, 
as Mr. Broady seems to feel, but complete the business, dig out the 
nest, and cyanide is our most useful and most manageable help, at least 
that is my experience.—Y. B. A. Z. 
Messrs. W. Paul & Son’s Boses. 
Messrs. William Paul & Son request us to state with reference 
to the notice at page 8 of the Journal of Horticulture of their exhibit 
of Roses at the Show at Earl’s Court on June 28th last, that a gold 
medal (instead of a silver-gilt medal as mentioned) was awarded to the 
exhibit in question. 
Rose Margaret Dickson. 
What your interesting contributor, “ W. R. Raillem,” has said in 
recent numbers of the Journal of this beautiful Irish Rose is perfectly 
true. When half blown I find it exceedingly impressive, surpassing in 
purity of colour and majesty of aspect Merveille de Lyon. But at that 
picturesque stage of its development it indicates a central iulness which 
is not subsequently adequately sustained. In other words, when 
fully expanded, it discloses an “ eye,” though by no means so con¬ 
spicuously as some other equally famous varieties, such for example as 
the Baroness Rothschild from which it is descended. — David R. 
Williamson. 
An Old Man’s Views. 
Ip the Rev. David Williamson desires to be an authority on Roses he 
w'ould surely do well to be less flattering in his references to individuals 
and look more carefully into the subjects on which he writes. He will 
doubtless learn in time what most experienced rosarians know, that it 
is not prudent to dogmatise on the merits of Roses or anything else on 
the mere authority of their raisers. I have heard it said that Mr. 
Williamson cannot have studied the new catalogue of the N.R.S. as an 
oflSicial guide ; and it is also a matter of comment that he does not 
appear to appreciate the cardinal difference between the raiser and 
the introducer of a Rose, since he praises both alike, except when he 
confounds them. Something more than a generous heart is needed to 
fit a person to write with general acceptability on the subject of the 
Rose. As one of the oldest contributors to the Journal of Horticulture 
I feel I shall be doing a kindness to young, talented, and well meaning 
writers if I can induce them to temper their zeal in (xtolling their 
friends. The temptation may be great at times, and " sweet are the uses 
of advertisement.”—A Jubilee Rose-grower. 
Briers or Briars. 
I see that a contemporary, which is not often wrong in spelling, and 
was able lately to defend the word “ Chesnuts ” learnedly against an 
impugner, speaks of Lord Penzance’s hybrids as “ Sweet - Briers.” 
“ Briars ” is certainly the commonest form of spelling to which we are 
accustomed ; but probably, as in so many other cases, either mode can 
be defended. However, I remember an amusing incident as to the 
spelling of this word, where “a ” or “e” was not the question. It was 
at the examination of a night school for the Government grant, and the 
teachers were allowed to examine subject to the rules sent to them. A 
young East Anglian labourer was going through the reading ordeal, and 
his teachers, of whom I was one, were anxiously watching his struggles. 
He had sunk twice—I mean he had made two mistakes in his allotted 
piece, and three would mean a failure. He came to the word in question, 
stopped dead, and spelt it slowly. We encouraged him, and patted him 
on the back, for he had all the appearance of having a word in him, 
but of being afraid to part with it. At last, after much exhortation 
to play the man and “ out with it,” he spelt it again very carefully, 
“ B-r-i-a-r,” and then the word burst forth quite suddenly like an 
explosion, “ Brumble bush 1 ” “ Well, well! yes, oh yea ! eh, Raillem ? ” 
said my dear old colleague (long since deceased) “ pass that—oh yes I 
He knows what it means.” My conscience was against it, my rosarian 
conscience, which knew that to the Suffolk rustic both Briars and Black¬ 
berries were “ Brumble bushes.” However, I said nothing, and the 
Education Department was defrauded, but rosarian taxpayers will, I 
hope, forgive.—W. R. Raillem. 
Orange Fungus, 
All rosarians, and the more modest Rose growers and lovers, must 
feet grateful to Mr. Abbey (page 481, June 15th) for his interesting 
article on this great pest. So far as my experience has gone, what I 
have called orange fungus is not very common. The beautiful orange 
spots have been with me comparatively rare, but the sort of powdery 
dull yellowish brown appearance of the under portion of the leaves has 
