August 10, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
129 
■■ 
Chrysanthemum Prospects, 
In my opinion the Chrysanthemum season will not be a late one. 
Nearly all my plants showed the crown buds some fourteen days ago, 
and were not taken. The only variety in my collection that has behaved 
to me in the ordinary way this season is Boule d’Or (6 feet high) ; this 
showed the crown bud on August 5th, which of course I took. Japanese 
seem to have grown taller than usual. Mdlle. Lacroix is 8 feet high, 
Florence Davis 7 feet high, Btoile de Lyon 6 feet 6 inches, Gloire 
du Eocher 7 feet, Stanstead White 6 feet. Sunflower 6 feet, Avalanche 
5 feet 6 inches, Viviand Morel 6 feet (after being cut down). In the 
case of the incurved some have grown exceptionally tall, notably Miss 
M. A. Haggas, Violet Tomlin, and Princess of Wales, all of which are 
over 7 feet at the present time. They had a plentiful supply of water 
during the excessively hot and dry weather. The incurves I have 
mentioned went 4 feet high before they made a natural break.— 
F. W. Buckingham, lonlridge^ Kent. 
A SEASON which has thrown the gardening world out of gear must 
have more or less effect on the Chrysanthemum, and be the cause of 
corresponding anxiety to exhibitors of the Autumn Queen, emphasised 
at this crucial period of bud-taking : hence, I take it that notes in the 
Journal are looked for with more than ordinary interest, though 
growers in normal seasons to come may regard their notebooks of ’93 
more as a curiosity than a guide. 
Here with 500 plants grown for large flowers, the wood is unusually 
short-jointed, and the foliage is all that one could desire. The second 
crown bud is the one I usually go for, but many showed that early in 
July, and in those cases we are right with a third crown. This obtains 
with Etoile de Lyon, E. Molyneux, and L. Boehmer, while Avalanche, 
Mons. Bernard, Mrs. Jameson, Mrs. Clarke, and Col. Smith should be 
right on the second crown, not yet prominent. Florence Davis, 
Stanstead White, and some few of Mrs. Hardy are the principal buds 
taken (on August 3rd) so far. These were pinched plants, and generally 
difficult to get out in time with us. Amongst incurves, Violet Tomlin, 
Miss Haggas, Mrs. Heale, and the Princess family generally are not 
affected by the season, but Jeanne d’Arc is now going for a third bud 
which I fear will be rather early, and many other incurves will have to 
be taken on terminals. Robert Cannell and Viviand Morell threw buds at 
every joint in the spring, and had to be cut to the base. They now have 
from three to five shoots 2 feet high, and should give a good bud. 
Amongst the leading varieties in each section some have been stopped 
or otherwise treated that whatever betides there will be a difference of 
time of opening in some plants of each variety, and if any lessons are to 
be learned this year, not the least important may be of having two 
strings to one’s bow. 
I trust the Editor will in this department be deluged with copious 
notes, if only to shut out those belligerent rosarians.—E. K,, Dublin. 
[We wonder what the rosarians will say about this proposition ? 
We think we can find a fair field for both great floral parties to state 
their views on matters of current public interest. Let the notes come.] 
Chrysanthemum Leaves Infested with Eelworm. 
On examining the freshest of the leaves sent by “ Chrysanthemum ” 
it had the appearance shown at A, natural size. The lower part a, of 
the leaf and its footstalk b was found perfectly healthy, the texture 
thick and leathery, and tbe epidermis stout and elastic. The upper half c, 
represented in black, however, was discoloured dark brown or black on 
the upper surface, and clammy, whilst the under side of that part of 
the leaf was found to) be green and apparently healthy. Tested 
microscopically, nothing was revealed externally beyond a stunted, 
swollen, distorted growth of the leaf hairs, on the upper discoloured 
surface. The stomata on the under side of the discoloured portion of 
the leaf were swollen, closed, and the hairs mere stumps. There could 
not be any doubt as to the disease being similar to that produced by 
water hanging on the leaves for a considerable time. This would have 
satisfied me at one time (and that not remote) that it was a case of 
disorganised tissue, the consequence of a bad condition of the soil and 
roots, but that day has gone for ever. 
Taking the finest possible section through a diseased portion of the 
leaf, as shown by the white line at d, and placing that on edge on a 
glass slide, I was simply astonished to find an eelworm writhing amid 
the leaf hairs and forming itself into a “sailor’s knot,’’ which has so 
often been well figured by Mr. G. W. Smith, and others, that it is need¬ 
less to repeat it here. On subjecting the section to an alcoholic solution 
the bodies as shown from e-i, were disclosed. In e is seen the smaller 
forms of eelworms present; /, male; y, females; A A, cysts or eggs; Ax, 
an undetermined body, probably a female emerging from the egg ; i, leaf 
hairs distorted and broken off in making the section. These last are 
generally figured as females ; such is not the case, but the eelworms 
probably emerge from the leaves through the leaf hairs, which they 
evidently convert into galls ; anywise they are greatly distorted and 
often lie almost flat on the discoloured portion of the leaf, and in the 
clammy substance among the hairs the eelworm may occasionally be 
found. 
At B is shown a small section of the leaf tissue ; y, cells invaded ; 
A, eelworm ; I, cysts; m, unattacked cells ; n, cells and tissue completely 
destroyed by eelworms ; o, eggs or cysts. The disease first appears as 
spots, these soon spread over the whole leaf until it withers. The 
change is more rapid after rain. Excessive wet favours the entrance of 
the eelworm into the leaf, for I deny that an eelworm can enter a plant 
by its root hairs, and it takes very little in any other way from the 
soil. Eelworms are found in root nodosities of Clover, Cucumbers, 
Melons, Tomatoes, and Vegetable Marrows, but there is no evidence that 
they can pass from root nodosities through the tissues of the plant to 
the leaf. That is a phase of the subject which remains as yet un¬ 
explained ; yet the eelworm gets into the leaves of Carnations somehow, 
certainly not by the root nodosities, for there are none ; nor are there 
any on Chrysanthemum roots, for they may be and usually are un¬ 
attacked by eelworm. If the eelworm makes any attempt to ascend the 
stem internally it must do so by destroying the plant cells, and the stem 
becomes distorted and clammy externally, and the plants collapse 
suddenly. 
There is no reason culturally for this attack, which is most virulent 
on the Princess family. Yet the plants are, as shown, infested with the 
eelworm. The species evidently is a distinct one, closer related to 
Heterodera radicola, Muller, than to Tylenchus devastatrix, but of this 
there is doubt, and the leaves were too far gone to render “ culture ” 
desirable. The only thing to do with the leaves is to pick off those 
Fig. 20. 
diseased and burn them, then spray with Bordeaux mixture. This would 
prevent any further attack if it did not actually destroy the eelworms 
in the tissues, for a small portion of copper must be absorbed, and the 
slightest is fatal to eelworms as well as most other parasites. 
Kainit is the only thing likely to benefit the plants at their roots, or 
a ley formed by steeping wood ashes in water for a few days, then pour 
off the supernatent*liquor and water the plants with it. A quart of 
wood ashes to a gallon of water, not counting the water necessary to 
form the ashes into a paste, would be sufficiently strong, but it is more 
likely the eelworms infest the site upon which the plants are stood 
rather the soil in the pots. A pinch of kainit between the thumb and two 
forefingers sprinkled on the surface of each pot and washed in might 
be of benefit if the eelworms infest the roots. It, however, requires to 
be used with judgment, taking care not to give an overdose.—G. Abbey. 
IN OTHER LANDS. 
A CORRESPONDENT writes:—After reading with pleasure, as I am 
sure others have done, the interesting notes on “ Other Lands ” in recent 
issues of the Journal, I am impelled to send a record of the journeyings of 
Mr. C. Napier Bell, abridged from a New Zealand paper, “ The Christ¬ 
church Press,” and which appears to well depict the characteristic 
features of a great and important colony. It is as follows :— 
The Far West op New South Wales. 
Having seen enough of Sydney I took train on the western line in 
order to take a view of the interior as far as Bourke. Starting from 
Eedfern station, for the first nine or ten miles there is a succession of 
towns forming the suburbs, these contain handsome houses and fine 
villas, surrounded with gardens and shade trees, in which one sees a 
strange mixture of tropical and temperate plants, the beautiful crimson 
Hibiscus, with Palms of different sorts among Roses, Hawthorn, Elm 
and Pine trees. At Parramatta is the junction of the line which goes to 
Newcastle and Brisbane, and beyond this the country is partly culti¬ 
vated and partly in pasture, being covered with a beautiful sward of 
