292 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 7, 1893. 
correspondence should be directed either to “ The 
Editor ” or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to 
Dr. Hogg or members of the staff often remain unopened 
unavoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should be written on one side of 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, 
and we do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
violas (6*. B .').—We are glad to hear that Violas prove so satis¬ 
factory in your garden in a large manufacturing town. With deep rich 
soil and early planting they succeed almost anywhere where flowers can 
grow. Your letter shall be forwarded to Mr. William Dean. 
Exhibiting Celery (Cymru'). — You ask if in a collection of 
vegetables, no “ roots ” admissible, Celery would be disqualified. We 
see so many curiosities in schedules and judging that we cannot foresee 
what strange things may happen, but we know that Celery is not a root 
crop, and would consequently be ineligible for the class described. 
Stocks for Fruit Trees (iZ. Smith) —The sentence you quote 
appears incomplete. We understand by it that maiden Apple trees may 
be had and grown on both the Paradise or Crab stocks, Cherries on the 
Mahaleb. Paradise stocks, as you probably know, have a tendency to 
subdue vigour in Apple trees, and the Mahaleb is supposed to have a 
similar effect on Cherries. The Crab is promotive of free growth in 
Apples. 
Spraying IVIachlne (J. C. C.). —The knapsack pump Eclair with 
a Yermorel spraying nozzle is an excellent apparatus for distributing 
the copper solution and Paris green mixture, and is sold by Messrs. 
Charles Clark & Co., Windsor Chambers, Great St. Helen’s, London, 
E.C., who have advertised the Eclair in our columns. Spraying fruit 
trees for the prevention and destruction of fungal and insect pests is 
far less practised in this country than on the continent and other 
countries, and several crops suffer in consequence. 
Transplanting Dlcksonla antarctlca (J. C. C.). —The plant may 
safely be moved, just as growth starts in the spring being a good time ; 
but with care they may be successfully transplanted now. Plants in 
rockwork usually move with a compact mass of roots. With these 
placed in firm soil, kept duly moist, and the stem syringed, the plant 
will suffer little from the removal. We have found such plants improve 
after removal because of new roots having fresh compost to ramify 
in. We have also known plants cut off at any desired point above 
ground, and the stems well and firmly inserted in good soil grow freely 
and satisfactorily. 
Sweet Peas and Asters (A. B.). —It is only in the deepest and 
best soil coupled with early sowing that Sweet Peas have proved even 
moderately good this year in the South of England. Asters also need rich 
moist soil for full development, and, considering the season, the blooms 
you send are quite as good as could be expected from plants in “ cloddy 
soil.” Under more favourable conditions you may expect to have 
blooms quite up to the market average, but you should endeavour to 
have them above the average, in fact as good as it is possible to produce 
them. There is always a demand for the “ best ” of everything when 
relatively inferior produce is a drug in the market. Your soil must be 
brought into a good state of mechanical division, then when it is also 
enriched it will grow Sweet Peas and Asters well. 
Chrysanthemum Eeaves Infested with IVllldew and Thrlps 
{Amateur). — The leaves not only have been but are infested with 
mildew, the brownish spots being due to this cause where the fungus has 
been arrested in growth but not destroyed by the bisulphide of calcium 
solution. This has probably been too weak, or the leaves may have 
been damp when it was applied, otherwise it is a specific for the oidium 
stage of the fungus. It would be desirable to repeat the application for 
the destruction of the mildew. The only insects we can find on the 
leaves are the larvm of thrips, and they are not red but yellow. The 
perfect insects are not present. They have, however, been on the leaves, 
for there are several pupa cases, from which they have emerged at no 
distant date. There is no trace of eggs, so that the present generation 
being destroyed the plants may remain clean. Dusting with tobacco 
powder is a good means of keeping Chrysanthemums free from insects 
and mildew, the tobacco being fatal to aphides and thrips, and the 
sulphur it contains to mildew and red spider. Anti-blight powder has 
also been found to keep the plants clean. It would be better known 
and more largely used if more generally advertised. 
Roses and lilllums {F. J.). — The Rose leaves are infested with 
the black fungus. Burn all the leaves and prunings, and apply a 
fungicide early in the season. Roses in poor dry soil, or exhausted 
with age, are more liable to fungoid infestation than are healthy and 
well-grown plants or bushes. Liliums are usually repotted annually, 
after the stems have died down in the autumn, removing the old soil 
and dead fibres, but not the white fleshy roots, the pots being plunged 
over the rims in cocoa-nut fibre refuse. Many are plunged in cold 
frames, but more in the open on a thick bed of ashes, provision of some 
kind being afforded for throwing off heavy rains. We have seen fine 
Liliums, however, grown without repotting, but simply removing some 
of the old and adding fresh soil, following with rich top-dressings and 
liquid support in summer. Under this treatment the drainage must 
be in an efficient state. Why not try both methods, and thus gain 
information of the most practical kind ? but we should repot the 
majority of the Liliums. 
Apple Benonl (Z). E .).—Though you have not seen any mention 
of this Apple in our columns previous to last week, it has been mentioned 
all the same and figured. Perhaps you are a comparatively new reader. 
We reproduce the illustration. The fruit was grown at Chiswick, and 
the following remarks accompanied the figure :—“ The crop was one of 
the best, and the tree is one of the healthiest growers in the collection, 
being upright in habit, and hence well suited to borders in gardens. 
Mr. Barron regarded it as one of the best varieties for following the 
summer Apples such as Mr. Gladstone, Red Astrachan, and others, and 
preceding the regular autumn Apples. The quality of the Chiswick 
FIG. 33.— APPLE BENONI. 
fruit was good, pleasant, and refreshing, but we have tasted fruits 
richer from Sawbridgeworth, while in Kent we have heard the variety 
is not regarded as superior. Soils and circumstances have their influence 
on fruits; but, generally speaking, Benoni may be regarded as a 
September Apple well worth growing.” It is an American variety, and 
was introduced to this country by Mr. T. Francis Rivers. 
Amateurs’ Classes {Bicliard Powell ).—According to this de¬ 
finition of an amateur—“ A person who cultivates a garden for pleasure 
and not for gain ”—neither of the men to whom you allude was 
eligible to compete in the amateur classes, as both of them worked for 
wages. There is another broad distinction in the schedules of some very 
large shows—namely, that all persons who are not nurserymen are re¬ 
garded as amateurs, but this is rarely if ever the case in connection with 
local exhibitions. Why one of the men whose occupation you describe 
was admitted and the other excluded is a question beyond the power of 
ordinary intelligence to explain, and we can only refer you to the 
extraordinary intellects in your locality. 
Timber IVIeasurement (IT.). — Procure “ Hoppus’s Measurer,” 
F. Warne & Co., Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London, it costs two or 
three shillings, and you would probably find “ Nesbit’s Practical Mensura¬ 
tion,” 3s. 6d., “Key,” 5s., useful; it is published by Longmans, 39, 
Paternoster Row, London, E.C. You ought by aid of the Hoppus to 
readily master the measurement of timber. In measuring for sale do it 
yourself ; we have more than once detected buyers of timber making 
mistakes in the girth. The value of timber is very much a local matter, 
and you will do well first of all to thoroughly master its measurement 
and then attend a few timber sales to acquire some knowledge of its 
value. Coppice or underwood also vary according to locality. We 
have sold Ash and Chestnut in Kent for hop poles for £40 an acre, but 
the price has fallen of late years. We have also in Sussex sold Oak 
and Hazel copse wood for £3 and £4 an acre. So you see the range is 
a wide one. This is a matter requiring full knowledge of local require¬ 
ments, of markets, and of the purposes for which different sorts of 
wood may be used. No book would give you such information. 
