62 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 19,1883. 
expires by permission of the owner. No charge is made for answering 
questions in this column to regular subscribers. 
Melons railing- (Hall). —Are you sure the soil is not dry next 
the slates over the hot-water pipes ? We suspect it is, and possibly the 
atmosphere may be too damp. Dig down to the slates, and if the soil is 
dry there make it moist in the best way you can, and raise the night 
temperature 5°, rather more than less, and continue the application of 
lime when gumming appears. Perhaps the soil is not so firm as it 
should be. 
Photograph of Rose (C. —We thank you for sending the 
photograph, but no one knows better than yourself how inadequately 
it represents the plant and blooms. This is, as you suggest, no fault of 
the artist, but is due to the subject and position. A Rose on a wall is 
.about as difficult to “take” well as a house of Grapes, and nothing 
like justice is done to one out of ten of either by a photographer, how¬ 
ever competent he may be in his work. 
“ Adam’s Needle ” (Amateur). —The plant of which you send 
flowers under the above name is Yucca gloriosa, a native of America, but 
known in this country for nearly 300 years. It is by no means uncom¬ 
mon to see this Yucca in flower, though it docs not flower quite so fre¬ 
quently as some other species. The plant is not likely to die if it is in 
■good soil, though it may suffer a little if it has a very large head of 
flowers. In any case suckers are produced freely, that will enable you 
to perpetuate it. The term Aloe is often applied to Agave americana, 
but it is really a distinct genus. 
Melons (I). C.). —We have never seen Melon leaves in a more filthy 
-state than those before us. They are infested with the black and green 
aphides, and the leaf surface is taken possession of by a fungus, hence the 
incrustation. All such leaves should be cut off and burned, and if the 
whole of them are equally bad the plants should be destroyed, for they 
are beyond recovery. If there are a good number of fairly clean and 
healthy leaves, sponge them with one of the insecticides advertised in 
the Journal, but we suspect the plants are ruined. When the house is 
■empty it must have a thorough cleansing in every part, or you will have 
the same trouble next year. 
learning Gardening (C. C.). — Gardening cannot be better 
learned by an earnest student and worker than by reading attentively 
the articles and answers to correspondents in this Journal, taking note 
■of information that is given on various subjects, comparing it with the 
work in hand, and storing it for future use. Thompson’s “ Gardener's 
Assistant ” is a standard work on gardening, but the price is about 
35s., but an enormous amount of information is contained in the 
thousand pages of the “ Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary,” price 8s. by 
post from this office. There are works on special subjects, but those 
named embrace nearly everything pertaining to gardening. 
Mushroom Spawn (J. T .).—Your questions are unanswerable > 
indeed they are so peculiarly framed as to be scarcely intelligible. 
Every spawn brick is not equally permeated with mycelium through¬ 
out, and that fact alone does not permit a reply being given to your 
first question. A lump an inch square full of spawn suffices for 
insertion, and three of these for a brick, but every inch you cut or 
k>reak up may not be full of spawn, hence useless. About 80° is a 
-suitable temperature in the manure for the running of the spawn. We 
■cannot tell you about the practice adopted by all the vendors, but all 
of repute sell good spawn, and probably much better than you can 
make unless you have seen the entire process in operation. The nearer 
the spawn is obtained from spores the stronger it is, and the finer the 
Mushrooms produced under suitable conditions. 
Rose Growths ( Kittie). —In the first place you must be sure the 
■strong growths from the base of your dwarf plants are Rose growths. 
We have seen such growths encouraged more than once, and a luxuriant 
mass of the Manetti Rose established. Some of the base growths are so 
luxuriant that they do not bloom in the autumn, and those that are 
•very sappy may be topped when as high as the older growths. Others of 
medium strength that give promise of producing flower buds may be 
left for giving late blooms. The character of the shoots can be fairly 
determined on close examination and comparison. The basal growths of 
moderate strength and well ripened usually give the finest blooms next 
year, and it is a good plan to cut out weak growths after flowering, for 
admitting light and air to the stronger: but these should be kept as 
uniform as possible by topping, not allowing one or two to rush far 
ahead of the others and deprive them of a fair share of support. 
Wiring- Garden Wall (Win. B.). —The best wire for walls and 
espaliers is No. 13, L.W.S. galvanised. The wires should be fixed in 
every alternate course of bricks, or about to 7 inches apart. For 
guiding the wires on the walls galvanised malleable eyes should be used 
about 6 feet apart, and they should put in quincunx— i.e., the first eye 
an the bottom row should be 3 feet from the end, then 6 feet, and the 
first eye in the second row should be 6 feet from the end. The eyes should 
not project more than three-quarters of an inch from the wall, between 
that and half an inch being a proper distance. Both eyes and' 
winders are made to project the wires H inch from the wall, which is a 
mistake, as the trees do not thrive well with a space between them and 
the wall more than is necessary for tying purposes, deriving little 
benefit from the shelter and warmth of the wall. All the materials: 
should be galvanised. 
Peach Tree Foliage Turning Yellow (An Anxious Inquirer). 
—The cause of the foliage turning yellow is no doubt want of water, 
and support of a nitrogenous nature. The border being well drained, 
bones and old mortar rubbish used freely, water would be required at 
least once a week after the trees were in good foliage, as their roots 
ought not on any account to be allowed to become dry, but water ought 
not to be given until there is need for it, yet before the soil becomes so 
dry as to affect the foliage. Enough should be given to well moisten the 
border down to the drainage. As no manure is used in the border—a 
very wise plan—nutriment should be supplied as mulchings of short 
manure—not in excessive quantity, especially of fresh short litter, with 
the droppings from the stables. It is better to give a little and often 
rather than a large quantity at once. A mulching 2 or 3 inches thick 
is quite sufficient, just covering the surface when the fruit begins swell¬ 
ing after setting, and from that time forward adding a few fresh knobs 
weekly, so as to have the mulch about 3 inches by the time the fruit is 
well advanced in stoning. A sprinkling of soot, followed by a good 
watering, would do much to improve the colour of the foliage, or liquid 
manure, not too strong, may be given if the trees are not vigorous, each 
time water is required. 
Earwigs (M. P.). —The following, chiefly extracted from Kollar, 
will perhaps meet your wishes :—“ The Earwig (Forficula auricularia). 
—This well known insect, considered, without cause, as very dangerous 
to mankind, must find a place among those chiefly injurious to fruit 
and flowers. Its size varies according to its age and sex. When fully 
grown it measures 8 or 10 lines, including the forcep-like appendage 
at the end of the abdomen ; its breadth is 2 lines. The body is light 
brown free from hair ; it has very short wing cases, under which the wings 
lie concealed, folded both longitudinally and transversely. Its usual 
habitats are under the bark of trees, in the hollow stems of trees, in 
rolled up leaves, and under stones. The female sits upon her eggs like 
a hen and broods her young. The only certain method of destroying 
earwigs is by catching them, which is best effected by hollow tubes laid 
here and there in orchard and flower beds. The common Reed is fit for 
this purpose, but the hollow stem of the Sunflower is even more so, as 
the insects are eager in the pursuit of the remains of the sweet pith. 
They are also easily caught between the folds of paper, or in pieces of 
cloth and linen laid on the ground. They creep into these traps in the 
morning after their nocturnal rambles, and may easily be shaken out 
and killed at any time of the day. Some amateurs of Pinks and Carna¬ 
tions place the feet of their flower stands in vessels of water, which pre¬ 
vents the earwigs from creeping, but not from flying upon the plants, 
for the earwig has wings.” 
Cucumbers Dying- (R. T.). —The roots you have sent afford no 
signs of the disease that is caused by nematoid worms or vibrios, and 
we do not think they have been so affected. As the plants have failed 
for many years we suspect some error in management, either in regard 
to soil, watering, atmospheric moisture, or ventilation. If the plants 
root freely in rough rich loam, and are adequately watered, also that 
top-dressings of rich composts are applied as often as roots protrude 
through the surface, Cucumbers usually grow vigorously if properly 
attended to in other respects. If the plants have not been well fed in 
the manner indicated, and have also been allowed to bear all the fruits 
that set on them from the outset, they have been prematurely exhausted. 
We have seen many collapse through overbearing them when young and 
not encouraging the production of fresh roots for appropriating the food 
supplied. As you say nothing about the stems gumming or cankering, 
we assume these evils do not exist, and as the roots are clean and the 
stem has a starved appearance, we attribute the failure to inadequate 
support. Liquid manure will not compensate for the absence of new 
roots, and these can only be encouraged by frequent top-dressings of 
rough soil and manure kept regularly moist. If jmu can send us further 
information we will readily consider the case again, but with the sample 
and data before us we can arrive at no other conclusion than that the 
p'ants succumbed through overcropping them when young and inadequate 
support. 
Troublesome Insects (Thomas 0.). —The specimens marked 
No. 1 are insects of the centipede family, the species being known as 
Geophilus subterraneus ; at present they are immature, but in autumn, 
when they have become larger, they change their mode of life. We then 
often find them out of concealment, crawling on paths or amongst 
herbage, apparently with the object of preying upon other insects, and 
being occasionally luminous in the dusk they are sometimes called glow¬ 
worms. This, and similar species, are apt to be more troublesome in 
moist seasons. Gardenias are particularly liable, it seems, to the attacks 
of insidious foes such as centipedes and scale. Many centipedes may 
be caught and killed by setting traps for them of slices of Carrot, 
1’otato, or Apple buried loosely in the soil. The application of soot or 
lime is also destructive to them, and in the case of delicate plants they 
may be watered with a clear solution of the latter. When these fail 
petroleum has been tried as an application to the roots of plants, about 
1 oz. to gallon of water well agitated and mixed, but this requires care 
in using. No. 2 contains the larva nr grub of a small weevil, the red- 
legged or Apricot weevil (OtlorhigftjE gR tenebricosnsY which comes out 
later than the larger and eveimvisjR* roubiesome 0. sulcatus. The 
perfect beetles infest the young shoots and leaves of various fruit trees 
during the spring, and their progeny lie at the roots of shrubs, such as 
the Currant, also visit Strawberries, and occasionally vegetables, as in 
your case. They are difficult to reach, and not easy to kill when in the 
larva state as sent. Diluted ammoniacal liquor and a solution of salt 
have been found serviceable, and recently a decoction of quassia chips 
in which some softsoap has been dissolved. 
Peach and rig- Diseased (Sixteen-years ■ Subscriber). — The 
appearance of the fruit indicates too rich and open soil, with a deficiency 
of calcareous matter. The decay is resultant of disorganised tissue, 
