386 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 27, 1892. 
%*A11 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 
Odontoglossum cttrosmum not Flowering: (C. i2.).—No doubt 
your plants have had too much water, as this lovely Orchid is often 
spoiled in this way ; the plants should be hung near the glass in the 
house they are in at present. When growth has finished they require no 
water for weeks together, and even when growth commences no water 
should be given until the spikes are several inches long. Do not be 
afraid to keep them dry while resting, then you may expect better 
results. 
Plum Trees for a North "Wall ( Amateur ).—As the Currants are 
not wanted Plums and Cherries may be grown. Morello Cherries would 
be more certain to bear and ripen well than dessert sorts, though we 
have no doubt good fruit might be had from these. All except the 
latest Plums would answer. We have had good crops of Czar, Victoria, 
White Magnum Bonum, Prince Englebert, Kirk’s, Pond’s Seedling, and 
Purple Gage, from trees against a wall facing due north, the second- 
named bearing most heavily. We should prefer covering the wall with 
diagonal cordons, planted about 18 or 20 inches apart. The space would 
be covered much more quickly than with fan-shaped trees, and the 
former are inexpensive. 
Simple and Good Methods of Storing: Apples (id G. B.). _In 
many gardens there exists a collection of Apples, and, as in your case, 
no adequate provision made for storing the produce. Very frequently 
the crops are comparatively small, or, say, do not exceed a bushel of 
each variety. The best course to pursue with these is to gather and 
store each variety separately in quite clean boxes, which may be bought 
or made at a trifling cost, None but quite sound fruit are suitable for 
this method of storing, and these should be carefully gathered and placed 
direct in the boxes. The lids should be then put on and all be set in a 
dry room or outhouse, and protected from severe frost w T hen necessary. 
Apples thus stored and left alone will keep surprisingly well. 
Grafting Tea Roses (Rosa ).—Grafting can be done at almost 
any time provided the stocks and scions are in suitable condition, but is 
generally delayed until after the turn of the year, as with increased 
light and heat from natural causes the plants then grow with vigour 
after the union is complete. Grafting usually commences in January 
using wood in a dormant state or nearly so, and the stocks must be in 
the same condition. It is not necessary that the plants from which 
scions are taken should have flowered if you are certain that the 
varieties are true. The greatest success by a beginner would be attained 
by starting his plants from which the scions are to be taken in heat and 
the stocks also until the sap has commenced rising freely. The wood of 
the scion should be nearly half ripe; it should have, at any rate, a 
certain amount of solidity. It is not necessary to introduce the stocks 
into heat as early, the scions producing plants. Still, if you work any 
m a dormant state you may introduce the two together, and when the 
sap in both commences flowing graftmg can be performed. One eye on 
each scion is ample. It will be necessary to have a close frame the 
same as you would employ for propagating, to place them in after they 
are grafted, and if slight bottom heat can be given them all the better. 
This is especially necessary when moderately young wood is used for 
scions. 
r> 1,lme for Ground to be Cropped with Potatoes 
(R. B.). We use gas lime on ground intended for Potatoes alike as 
a preventive of attack by vermin and fungi. It is from our 
own works, the gas being manufactured for lighting the mansion, 
stables, and the driving engine for pumping, consequently we have 
always got some available. The best time to apply it is, to ground to be 
cropped with Potatoes in October or November before the ground is du^ 
or manured and at the rate of half a bushel per rod (30£ square yardsh 
it should be disposed as evenly as possible on the ground, and either 
lightly hoed or pointed in with a fork. At that time vermin and 
ungoid germs are on or near the surface, and more readily available 
tor attack, and any injurious effect the gas lime may have passes off 
hy exposure to the atmosphere ; in fact, passes quickly into the gypsum 
state, in which it is not a despicable manure. After lying a month or 
so the ground is manured if necessary, the gas lime being buried in the 
work of forking or digging. In spring, before the Potatoes are planted, 
we occasionally use the gas lime again, particularly for ground that has 
not previously or recently been dressed with it, at the same rate as 
in the autumn, spreading it evenly on the surface, and leaving it there 
for at least a month before “ setting ” the Potatoes. This, however, is 
only practised when the ground is foul with slugs, as the full appli¬ 
cation of gas lime—viz., 1 bushel per rod, should ODly be had recourse 
to when the soil, as shown by the attacks on the crops, is extremely foul. 
As to the beneficial effects of a dressing as a preventive of scab, 
we can only state that on some ground which three years age 
gave scabbed crops, the Potatoes are this year free, the land having 
been consecutively cropped with them, which in this particular 
instance is a necessity. It is not, however, sound practice to follow 
Potatoes on ground that produce scabbed tubers, nor to use “ 6eed ” tubers 
that are scabbed or taken from an infected crop. Necessity, however, 
precludes choice, and it is not certain that the ground is at fault, as 
tubers show no trace of scab at lifting, but during the winter it deve- 
lopes, and they become much deteriorated in value, the quality being 
invariably good. 
Preventing Disease in Tomatoes (S. S). —When the white 
mould that you call mildew is seen on Tomato plants it is then too la'e 
to save that part of the leaf from destruction, for the “ mould ” is the out¬ 
growths from the mycelium of the fungus which has pushed through 
the cells of the leaf and abstracted their contents ; in fact, destroyed the 
tissues, and the brown or black spot or patch appears in consequence of 
their death. The best way to avoid the Tomato disease, the “ white 
mould ” (Phytophthora infestans), is to maintain a warm but airy yet 
genial condition of the atmosphere, for the simple reason that the spores 
cannot germinate in a dry atmosphere ; therefore the “ white mould ” is 
seldom seen in Tomato houses until the weather becomes warm and the 
atmosphere is laden with moisture. True, it makes its appearance some¬ 
times early in the season because the moisture condenses on the leaves. 
The conidia of the fungus needs and must have this moisture to liberate 
the zoospores, and then is the time to prevent these finding a seat and 
pushing their germinal tubes through a stomate or weak part of the leaf 
into the internal tissues. If that is done there cannot be any white 
mould. The way to do it is as follows :—Dissolve li oz. of carbonate of 
copper (precipitated) in a pint of liquid ammonia ; of this one fluid 
ounce to lj gallon of water, mix, and spray (not syringe) every part of 
the plants, particularly the under side of the leaves, using no more than 
just sufficient to coat the leaves with the finest possible dew. This may 
be done just before the plants come into flower, again when the fruit is 
fairly set and swelling, and about the time the fruit is half swelled. 
The first two applications are usually effective, but if a third or more is 
needed it is necessary to have some oilskin bags made with a slot and 
string at the mouth to slip over the fruit and secure them around the 
fruitstalks by means of the string, so as to keep the solution from the 
fruit, taking them off when the plants have been sprayed and become 
dry. If the solution is found too strong, blackening the leaves, dilute to 
3 gallons, and if any “ white mould ” appear cut off that part of the leaf 
or leaves and destroy by fire. This procedure requires care and judg¬ 
ment. When both are duly exercised the operations pay cent, per cent. 
Pears Cracking (May). —The fruit you have sent is suffering from 
an attack of a fungus, Cladosporium (Fusicladium) pyrinum, Feld., a 
form of Cladosporium dendriticum, which causes “scab” in Apples, 
Certain varieties are peculiarly liable to injury from this fungus, also 
locality and soils exert an influence, for a variety will crack seriously 
in one part of a garden or orchard, whilst in another position the fruit 
will be clean. It is often found that lilting a Pear tree, subject to suffer 
from cracking in its fruit, and giving it some good top-spit loam, is 
effectual in warding off attacks of Cladosporium, and it must be dis¬ 
tinctly understood that healthy trees are always the least liable to an 
attack. Attend, _ therefore, to those essentials that are known to 
promote health in the tree and clear skins in the fruit, that 
is, fortify them so that they form clean bark and thick leathery 
leaves. Aim at not strong and sappy, but medium, healthy, firm growth. 
Whatever, therefore, is wanting at the roots supply it. If the soil is 
wet, drain it ; if too heavy, make it lighter, and vice versa ; if the tree 
grows too luxuriantly, lift, root-prune, and replant it in firmer or less rich 
soil; if the tree is stunted, afford some manure of a sustaining nature ; 
if the soil is exhausted, remove it, and supply fresh of a good holding 
nature; if there is a great show of blossom in spring, remove half or more, 
and thin the fruit. The scab fungus lives through the winter on the young 
shoots and upon the scales of the buds, and if the germs are killed before 
or during germination there cannot be any scab in Apples or cracking 
in Pears as occasioned by this fungus. First, in the early spring before 
the leaves appear, spray the tree with the preparation of‘sulphate of 
copper mentioned in the preceding reply, choosing a dry period and 
with a prospect of fine weather. Second, as soon as the petals have 
fallen, apply 1 oz. of carbonate of copper (precipitated) in suspension 
with 12£ gallons of water, first mixing the carbonate of copper in a 
small quantity of water, adding the mixture so formed to the water ; 
keep it agitated whilst being applied as a spray, a knapsack pump 
doing it effectually. Third, repeat the application of carbonate of 
copper in suspension in fourteen to twenty-one days, and again at a 
similar interval in bad cases, but the three first dressings are usually 
effectual, a fourth only being required in wet seasons. 
Planting- Yews and Hollies ( Amateur ). —Some shrubs fail no 
matter when they are planted, through not being in proper condition 
for removal. We have seen hundreds of large shrubs purchased at a 
low price, the possessors having been not a little jubilant in getting 
