182 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 1, 1887. 
contingency ; but as I cannot exactly see how a supply of water can be 
had ‘‘for nothing,” I am thinking of reading Mr. Shirley Hibberd’s 
pamphlet on this important subject. 
Last year a very interesting discussion was conducted with great 
ability in the Journal as to the relative advantages of trenching or not 
trenching land for cropping purposes. A generally accepted decision 
did not appear to be arrived at at the time, and further experience 
seemed requisite for testing the different methods that were advocated. 
The soundness of propositions is tested by the strain to which they are 
subjected. There has been a great strain on vegetation lately in conse¬ 
quence of excessive heat and protracted drought. Under what circum¬ 
stances has the strain been best endured ? After thinking over the 
matter I made a point of “ interviewing ” those exhibitors of high class 
vegetables that I happened to meet at a few shows visited during the 
season, and I am bound to say that deep cultivation was recommended 
in every instance, supplemented by surface mulchings. I by no means 
imply that the result of my inquiries settles the point, as they have been 
limited to about thirty successful competitors, yet it is significant that 
all of them were of one mind on the subject. If our surface-tickling 
or spade-deep friends have powerful rebutting evidence let it be pro¬ 
duced. 
Now a thought on mulching. Much good has resulted from it during 
the season, and the most when the mulching was applied the soonest. 
In my opinion the practice is often deferred forwteks too long. Any¬ 
one thinking the contrary is respectfully invited to mulch half a bed of 
Strawberries in April and the other half in June. Even if the season 
should not prove exceptionally hot I shall be very much surprised if the 
earliest mulched part does not afford the greatest weight of fruit, while 
in a dry summer like this the evidence in favour of the early action will, 
I venture to say, be incontestable. It is the same in respect to other 
crops, and I now desire to suggest for the consideration of cultivators 
that mulching, as a rule, might be resorted to much sooner than usual 
with very great advantage. Action will, of course, be determined by 
the weather, but I am convinced that it is easier to err by putting off 
the work too long than by commencing it too soon. What think others 1 
Another subject to which I desire to give a moment’s thought is 
that of watering crops, in hot weather. Is not much water wasted and 
time misspent in daily dribblings ? An example will enable me to put 
the case in a few words. An ardent amateur sowed some rows of Dwarf 
Kidney Beans towards the end of April. He had full rows of plants, 
and every morning all the hot weather, after he had his breakfast, 
he gave his precious Beans theirs. Not a plant in the bed attained 
a height of 6 inches, and instead of the attentive cultivator growing 
anything approaching to half a crop of Beans, he grew a horde of insects. 
A more miserable failure it would be difficult to imagine, and all through 
over-zeal and the misapplication of water. If the ground had been 
mulched in May and not a gallon of water used, or rather wasted, there 
would have been ten times more Beans and a hundred times fewer 
insects. The daily evaporation of probably nine-tenths of the water 
that was given so lowered the temperature of the ground that the 
plants, paradoxically as it may seem, perished through cold under a 
burning sun. The roots could not work in the cold medium, and hence 
the stunted grow th. The soil was good, but spoiled. Had half the 
quantity of water that was sprinkled on the bed as described been 
applied on an evening once a week, and the surface of the ground 
loosened with the hoe the next morning, failing mulching, the disaster 
indicated would have been averted. Frost can be induced by evapora¬ 
tion if the sun be hot enough, and the roots of the ruined Bean plants 
were in a temperature not far above freezing, while the leaves had to 
endure 140° or more in the sun. What wonder, then, at the collapse of 
the plants ? It is feared that many other plants of various kinds have 
suffered in many gardens through the very means that it was hoped 
would promote their growth. The subject of watering demands much 
more thought than I can devote to it now ; but there are plenty more 
thinkers, deeper thinkers, and clearer writers than I am, and I hope this 
confession will comfort a correspondent who once affected to hope I was 
not, to coin a term, a mental monopolist. I plead guilty to monopolising 
a little space now and then, and can endure the penalty that may be 
imposed for the usurpation. 
The present summer has afforded an excellent opportunity for 
observing the kinds of plants and sorts of vegetables that have best 
endured the drought. “ J. H. E.” has introduced the subject on page 
132, and there is not a doubt if other cultivators would record observa¬ 
tions of the same nature that interesting and useful information would 
be forthcoming, for many persons would be glad to know of the best 
shrubs, flowers, and vegetables for dry positions. As flowering shrubs 
and trailers the Hypericums have stoood the drought well, as has the not 
half sufficiently grown summer-flowering evergreen Olearia Haasti. 
Petunias have been extremely floriferous; Zinnia Haageana brilliant; 
and the little Tagetes like a sheet of gold, while the leaves remained fresh 
and green all through the drought period. One of the best drought- 
resisting Peas I know is Laxton’s Omega. Why is it not more grown ? 
It will be seen I am willing to practise in a small way what I preach, 
and should be glad if a few more of my brother blue aprons would 
preach a little more of what they practise—not, however, following in 
my bad example of spinning long yarns. It has been said there is hope 
of a person improving who knows his faults, and therefore I 'will not 
despair, though I am not yet under sufficient self-control to pull up just 
as I could wish when the thinking cap is donned and the scribbling fit 
upon me. 
No small amount of anxiety seems to have been prevalent amongst 
gardeners as to procuring Strawberry runners early enough to develop 
into strong plants for forcing. The subject is of practical importance. 
It may be admitted that it is not safe to rely on old bearing plants for 
producing early runners, as their crops demand all their resources, and 
young plants that have not yet fruited are very superior for the work in 
question. Failing these, however, does not the plan mentioned by Mr. 
Inglis of establishing plants from late runners this year and potting- 
them early next season to some extent meet the difficulty ? It is a 
method worth trying and a very old one. I remember its being adopted, 
more than twenty-five years ago, and with very good results, after a 
selection was made of the plants so potted, for some of them were cha¬ 
racterised by “ split crowns ” that are not coveted in the preparation of 
plants for forcing. Yet by carefully thinning the clustered crowns most 
of the plants may be brought into fairly good condition for early bearing. 
Mr. Inglis does not refer to the crown-splitting tendency of the plants, 
raised as he has described, and a supplementary note on the subject 
would not be unwelcome. 
While thinking about Strawberries the subject of barren plants 
comes to mind. Mr. J. Muir, who is nothing if not emphatic, has said 
that inferior culture is always the cause of barrenness, and that high* 
culture will always bring good crops of fruit. I do not pretend to quote 
his exact words, but that is their meaning. His advocacy of high 
culture may be generally endorsed, but I think I have seen Strawberry 
plants as luxuriant as they could be grown that refused to produce 
flowers. The stock was raised from a very strong yet barren plant, and 
grown for testing the theory of the late Mr. Robert Fish. The plants 
were kept for six years and young plants raised from them, but neither 
young nor old flowered, though others in the same beds afforded full 
crops of excellent fruit. I think there is something in propagating from- 
fruitful plants that are at the same time healthy, and I also think it is- 
possible to induce over-luxuriance at the expense of fruit. I remember 
having what was considered a wonderful crop of the President. A Straw¬ 
berry fancier, who grew fruit of the British Queen and some other varieties, 
that I have never seen excelled, desired runners of my President. These- 
he had and planted in his deeper and richer ground. They grew aston¬ 
ishingly. I never saw such gigantic plants, but they never produced a. 
crop worth gathering, and after three years of patient waiting were 
chopped up. 
I like the plan recommended by Mr. Bardney of taking healthy 
runners from fruitful plants, and growing a given number of these for 
producing runners only, picking off the flower trusses the first season, as 
I have found that plants so raised and well grown are capable of afford¬ 
ing a full crop of the finest fruit within twelve months after planting-, 
and if these are planted together triangularly with clear intervals of 2 feet 
between the “ clumps ” in July, they will have the appearance of two 
or three-year-old plants the following June, and as great a weight and 
value of fruit may be had of the ground as two-year-old plants can pro¬ 
duce planted singly. For gathering the best crops of the finest fruit in 
the quickest time, I have found no plan equal to that just described, and! 
I have tried every one that I have seen recommended in the Journal 
during the past twenty or thirty years. 
Controversy has not been a prominent feature of the Journal this- 
hot summer—not perhaps, as a correspondent appears to suggest, quite 
prominent enough ; hence he seems to be interested in the literary duel, 
with a respectable interval between the shots, of Mr. Abbey and his- 
opponent, who intimates that all his teachings are founded on experience- 
It may be supposed that he is not quite singular in that respect; indeed 
the two disputants appear to be very much on an equality on the point; 
but what is particularly curious is this—they try to prove each other 
wrong, while each claims his opponent as a supporter of himself. That 
being so, and it is clearly enough expressed, it is not easy to see whether 
they are struggling for supremacy in what is wrong or what is right- 
It is a peculiar case, and perhaps I had better leave it, or both of them 
may be turning their guns on myself, and in that event there would* 
soon be an end of—A Thinker. 
WASPS AND THE FRUIT. 
Wasps are plentiful this season in the north I believe, but in some 
parts of the south reports say they are scarce. In this locality, how¬ 
ever, they are numerous, and together with blackbirds are doing 
much damage to the fruit. I do not know of any means wherewith 
blackbirds can be kept from the fruit except by netting the trees, and 
in large orchards this cannot be done very well. One can greatly 
diminish the number of wasps by destroying their nests. If the nests- 
are not already known to the gardener or others interested, they can 
soon be found by watching the wasps when on the wing and tracing 
them home. The easiest way I have yet tried in destroying them is to 
roll a piece of rag together about the size of one’s finger, saturate it with- 
turpentine, place the rag in the hole leading to the nest, and cover it 
with soil to keep the air out. This should be done about six o’clock 
at night. Nothing further is required, but if the nest be dug out next. 
