218 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 22, 1894. 
faction of not being able to discover a single maggot or unhealthy 
plant. 
Last year I thought I would try to master the maggot without 
such a lavish use of soot at sowing time, and gave only a moderate 
dressing of it, and discontinued the applications at digging time, 
and shortly after the Onions appeared. Now note the result. When 
the young plants had attained a height of from 4 to 6 inches a few 
of them seemed to fail to make progress. A close examination 
revealed a few maggots in quite a young state beginning to bore 
into the stems of the Onions. Every unhealthy looking plant was 
pulled up and burnt, a thorough dressing of soot given to the bed 
all over, not avoiding the tops in the least. This was done in 
showery weather, but had the rain not occurred at an opportune 
time the bed would have been watered to prevent the plants from 
being injured in the event of bright sunshine following the appli¬ 
cation of soot. 
No further trouble was experienced with the maggot beyond 
pulling up a sickly plant here and there, the total loss being 
insufficient to make the bed in the least patchy, in fact several 
visiting gardeners remarked “You don’t seem to have suffered in the 
least from maggot.” If soot employed as a preventive is successful 
in one instance why not in another ? In truth, I believe it will 
always be so if a heavy dressing is given and thoroughly mixed 
with the soil. Hitherto I have made no minute calculation as to 
the amount of soot used per rod, but in the course of a few days 
we shall again be sowing, I will carefully measure the quantity 
used. Liberal dressings seem to be certain death to all minute 
insects on the surface of the soil, and probably to eggs as well. If, 
therefore, the insects are destroyed before they emerge from the 
soil to deposit eggs on the plants the greatest danger is avoided, 
but we have still to fight against those insects which are lying in 
the soil of adjoining plots not dressed with soot. My opinion is 
that a dressing given soon after the Onions appear (which is the 
critical time when the eggs are deposited) renders that quarter so 
distasteful to the winged enemy that they altogether avoid it. 
The practice of autumn sowing has no doubt much to recom¬ 
mend it, as it must be more difficult for the small maggots to 
penetrate the comparatively hard stems which the plants resulting 
therefrom possess. Many cultivators also pin great faith in the 
application of spent hops as a mulch, and it seems feasible that 
any material of that description must to a great extent prevent 
the newly hatched maggots from reaching the plants. This is a 
point upon which the experience of Journal readers would be of 
special interest. But my own opinion is, that soot intelligently 
-and liberally used, affords the best known means of mastering 
this enemy, and it also has the strong recommendation of being 
■a splendid fertiliser which is always within reach.—H. Dunkin. 
Probably no crop in kitchen gardens during the season of 
1893 caused us so much anxiety as the Onion crop. From all 
quarters, at least in this neighbourhood (Godstone, Surrey), the 
same cry is to be heard—“ No Onions ; the maggot quite ruined 
them last summer.” That the question of “ cure,” or better still 
“ prevention,” from the sad havoc caused by the Onion fly, will be 
eagerly read by numerous gardeners in the pages of the Journal of 
Horticulture is certain, and that each proffered receipt of sound 
reason and easy application it is hoped will be as readily carried 
into effect. It behoves each and all of us to impart any useful hint 
■that has been the means of assistance to ourselves in saving a good 
45rop of that most excellent esculent, which to all classes is second 
only to the Potato for usefulness. 
Previous to last autumn I had not sown any of the so-called 
spring Onions at that season, always having relied on the Tripoli 
kinds ; but last August I sowed both kinds side by side, and all 
have come through the winter satisfactorily. How they will 
ultimately behave themselves I hope to refer to later on ; the 
present conjectures of many are that they will “ bolt.” But to 
revert to the spring sowings, I will describe our modus operandi, 
which has carried us safely through the last four seasons. 
Our land is light and sandy, so we manure and trench very 
early in the autumn to allow the soil to settle firmly before the spring, 
solid cow manure being used. The ground requires little other 
preparation in the spring beyond a good dressing of soot well 
raked in, and some hours of treading to obtain sufficiently hard 
surface. We sow in drills 2 inches deep and 12 inches apart from 
row to row. After sowing the seeds are well trodden in, then 
lightly raked over for appearance sake. Our dates for sowing is 
the first opportunity after the middle of February, this season 
to-day, March 5th. 
, now till the plants are large enough for thinning we have 
but little to dread; but whether or not the enemy makes its 
appearance, we commence operations to ward off the attack by ‘ 
dressing over the beds with a solution of softsoap and petroleum, 
by thoroughly dissolving the soap in boiling water, in quantity 
about the size of a hen’s egg, and half-pint of petroleum to ten 
gallons of water, preferably soft, using moderately fine rose to 
waterpot, so as to thoroughly moisten each plant, choosing quiet 
evenings, and repeating the operation every few days for a 
month or six weeks. Last season we went over the beds on six 
different occasions, the Onion fly being so prevalent in this part 
of Surrey, 
The result of the practice is that we have at the present time 
many bushels of good Onions, a fair sample of which I enclose. 
Thorough ripening, with a dry airy structure to hang them in after 
being properly roped, are necessary for their long keeping.— 
J. Friend. 
[The bulbs received of Veitch’s Brown Globe and Main Crop 
are in size, shape, and firmness all that could be desired.] 
As far as my experience goes, I think that those correspondents 
who have obligingly given information on mastering the Onion 
maggot by applications of soot, lime, petroleum, and wood ashes, 
during various stages of cultivation, have hit upon right methods 
of subduing, if not always preventing the enemy. “ W. K. W.” 
in his admirable remarks on page 198 lays stress on good culti¬ 
vation. I endorse what he says with regard to autumn manuring, 
trenching, liming, early and thin sowing, followed by the frequent 
hoeings and stimulating dustings to help the plants along. All this 
tends to that desirable robustness in the stems which defies the 
fly ; but even with this the plants are often exposed to danger 
from unexpected quarters. 
Good cultivation reaches further than the manuring, digging, 
and tilling of the particular plot of ground on which the Onions 
are grown. It is my firm conviction that the surroundings have 
more to do with Onions being attacked by the maggot than is 
generally conceded. For instance, every good cultivator is aware 
of the importance attaching to the cleanliness of the soil and its 
freedom from weeds between the rows of plants. Is it not 
reasonable to infer that if this is a danger in the immediate 
vicinity it is very little less so at a distance where, it may be, weeds 
are growing rampant or useless vegetables provide a cover for 
vermin and insects ? Suppose Onions are growing within easy 
distance of a tall overgrown hedge, which may also be choked with 
long grasses and perennial weeds, here is a splendid vantage ground 
for the Onion fly, whence it may advance upon a crop at an oppor¬ 
tune time, when perhaps the vigilance of the gardener was relaxed 
for a while. In my opinion, hedges unless scrupulously trimmed 
and kept very clean are a nuisance to kitchen gardens. The 
same may be said of many trees. Overcrowded plantations 
harbour insects innumerable, and breed them for attacking gardens 
far and near. A considerable amount of good might be done by 
the forester in helping the gardener. If the high cultivation 
adopted by many gardeners were only imitated and carried out by 
their neighbours and others there would be less of the Onion fly 
and many other detrimental insects. Extend the circle of good 
cultivation. It will keep many enemies at bay. Is there not 
something in this ?—E. D. S. 
THE ORIGIN OF CARNATION SOUVENIR DE LA 
MALMAISON. 
I HAVE recently noticed in your columns inquiries as to the origin 
of this fine Carnation, and my name mentioned in connection with it. 
I think it was in 1860 that I had a plant of it from Mr. Young, Assistant 
Secretary to the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, and I have 
asked him if he knows its origin. He informs me that a gentleman in 
Fife brought the seed from which it was raised from France, and in 
1855 Mr. Young obtained a plant and was the first to flower it. About 
the year 1860 he gave plants of it to the late Mr. Trail of Aberlady, the 
late Mr. Lees of Tyninghame, and myself, hence it was largely grown 
about Edinburgh and East Lothian for several years before it was known 
in the south. The pink variety was a sport obtained by Mr. Thomas 
Dunn of Musselburgh. The variety known as Lady Middleton, and 
probably the finest of the strain, was a sport got and propagated by Mr. 
Young, and was sent out by the late Mr. Thomas Methven of Edinburgh. 
This latter is the sweetest of any of them, and Mr. Young has grown 
blooms of it nearly 6 inches in diameter.— David Thomson, Drumlanrig 
Gardens. 
[We are much obliged to our correspondent for obtaining, and Mr. 
Young for supplying the foregoing information, which will be of 
interest to many growers of the popular “ Malmaisons.” The varie'y 
was offered in Messrs. E. G. Henderson’s catalogue in I860.] 
