420 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE ^AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Slay im 
myself in a position to coin new terms. I will, however, endeavour to 
show that science itself recognises the facts connected with it, although 
she employs another kind of phraseology to express it. The term but¬ 
toning signifies forming a blossom-bud, or tiny hca,d, whilst the plant is 
young. One man sows Cauliflower seed, genuine, in the third week of 
August, in order to produce early spring Cauliflowers in May and June. 
He sows them on rich soil, and transplants them—what he calls strong 
fine plants—in October, in frames or glasses, providing again very rich 
soil for them ; for all the world, says he, knows that the Cauliflower re¬ 
quires a generous soil. But, how puzzled may this man be to find in 
March or April that nut of a dozen handglasses, containing half a hun¬ 
dred permanent plants, he will not have much more than a score of 
Cauliflowers after all his pains. ’ 
Another man will sow his Cauliflowers at the same time on poor 
soil, or one of a moderate character, and transplant them on similar 
soil, and not one will button ; yet they were from the same samples of 
seed. Here, then, is another case in point. The fact is, that if Cauli¬ 
flowers, like Celery, are once allowed to become gross, in the seed-bed, or 
where they are transplanted, and are removed afterwards, they are sure 
to possess a tendency to button. 
Spinach is another susceptible vegetable in this way, and the last I 
shall name in this section. This plant is very much excited by heat 
alone, irrespective of rich soils. Indeed, in this case at certain seasons, 
rich soils are averse to that speedy bolting, or running to blossom. 
Spinach sown in August stands the winter ; and, be it ever so strong, it 
scarcely makes an effort to run to blossom until April or May. But the 
same kind, sown in the first week of June, will produce a very different 
j5lant. The former, stout, robust, and exceedingly prolific of foliage, 
also averse to a blossoming tendency ; the latter, just producing a few 
leaves, with a highly attenuated stem, and rushing forward to blossom 
with celerity'. This plant is, perhaps, one of the best we possess, for ex¬ 
hibiting to a student the influences of those laws which govern the 
vegetable kingdom, by presenting to him, in their extreme effects, a first 
proof, or sound and lasting impression. Spinach happens to be ex¬ 
tremely excitable, more so than most of our ordinary vegetables. Heat 
is the most exciting cause, and this, combined with much solar light, is 
doubly influential as to the blossoming tendency. Thus, good gar¬ 
deners Eovv their summer Spinach in shady situations, and on rich soil, 
in order that the growth may be as slow a^ possible in the plant, whilst 
the root is supplied with all the accessories to robustness. 
It may' now be seen that heat and drought, and much solar light, are 
predisposing causes ; and the influences of these are much enhanced by 
checks of any kind, and by poor soil. Heat, of course, is highly exciting, 
as also trying to the whole system of the plant. Heat, with deficiency of 
moisture, has a strong tendency to hasten the development of all annual 
jilants ; and those I have selected to illustrate this matter, may, I sup- 
poose, all be termed annuals, in one sense at least. Indeed, like a host of 
other things, they are annual or biennial, according to circumstances ; 
and to exempflify the latter is, indeed, the chief design of my remarks. 
Heat, with much moisture, has a tendency to produce a profusion of 
exuberant foliage, j)rovided the soil is good. This condition of cropis is 
called “ proud ” by many farmers. “ My Wheat is too proud,” they will 
say, “ it will go down.” 
^ And ^yhat m.akes Wheat or other straw crops go down ? What produces 
this habit, cau ei a crop of Cabbage, Lettuce, Spinach, &c., to become 
lumbering, or to use a technical p)hrase, “to smother itself ?” The fact 
is, that the jilant is too succulent, has grown too fast, and assumed a 
character similar to that of overfed and excited animals. I had almost 
said there was a disproportion of woody fibre. Drought in itself, without 
a superalmndance of solar light, has a tendency to jiromote this 
“bolting” by withholding the necessary supplies, and this, more 
especially, if the subject has been previously much excited by heat, 
moisture, and a f.dr supply of nutriment. Such a course may be fairly 
classed under the head “ sud<len checks,” the tendency of which I will 
further advert to. Those who would fully understand the character and 
influences of sudden checks, after an excitable condition, may refresh 
their ideas by a consideration of the effects' of root-pruning, ringing, and 
those other manipulations. Who thinks of trying to make a seedling 
fruit tree bear when only two or three years of age? And why notl 
Simply because there must be a fund of strength or maturity previous 
to any attempt at fruitfulness. But let a fruit tree of any kind after 
being planted some three years, be planted at a proper season, and under 
proper circumstances, and the roots pruned withal, and you may feel 
almost assured that it will be covered with blossom-buds. Here, then, 
is the sudden check after high excitement; and acting in a manner 
much in analogy with checks on our ordinary vegetables. 
But, to revert to drought and its effects on the foliage of plants, the 
flagging of vegetables in cases of extreme drought plainly shows what a 
change must be induced in the system. A lean or hungry soil is another 
cause of bolting in vegetables, as before observed. Let us also examine 
this portion of the question. Such soils are generally “ hired ” to 
perform their duty by a little extra decayed manure ; and, indeel, without 
it they would be all but sterile. The term “ hiring” is much used in our 
north-western quarter to signify that the land in question is “ ploughed 
out,” to use a farming expression, or, in order to please the ganleners, 
let us say “ dug out.” But still these technical terms may need trans¬ 
lating, to suit ladies and gentlemen of other localities, anditsitrply 
means in its practical acceptation, that the properties the soil acquired 
whilst in a rest state or pasturage are exhausted; thei'e is scarcely 
anj thing soluble left in it, the organic materials especially being- 
used up. 
Then there is the sudden check occasioned by transplanting things 
after growing somewhat gross, anti I must offer a few remarks concern¬ 
ing it. Plants thus circumstanced have already a fund of sap in store, 
nearly equivalent to the demands of the fructifying principle, and the 
only thing necessary to induce the habit is a- temporary and partial 
cessation of rapid growth, and that this is a sure consequence of summer 
planting is notorious to everyone. But our readers may like to know 
why this result should follow, and without attempting to flounder 
amongst abstruse phases of science, I may offer a simple explanation, 
which will, I think, be borne out by both science and practice. We all 
surely know that the principal functions of plants may be, for sin off¬ 
hand purpose, reduced to two divisions—absorption and elaboration. 
As for the process of assimilation, or the appropriation of the elaborated, 
sap, we may pass it by, taking it for granted that, as in the animal 
world, so in the vegetable, the frame is built up and the general purposes 
of nature carried out by a process of the kind. Now, there is at times, 
I conceive, a condition in which the root is able to satisfy the- 
demands of the branch, and rice rersa. When the former is the ease 
what may we expect but a tendency to produce leaves and branches, and 
a postponed fructification; when the latter, a precocious tendency to the- 
blossoming principle, which soon, of course, overtakes the supplies. And 
this applies to fruits, and even shrubs, as well as vegetables. Thus, even 
a common countryman, without any recognition of such facts, in¬ 
stinctively, as it were, cuts off a part of the exuberant foliage of his 
Cabbages, his Greens, or his Swede Turnips, and this, although performed' 
by mere rule of thumb, happens frequently to be correct as to principle,, 
inasmuch as it reduces the perspiring powers of the plant, thus avoiding 
too heavy a tax on the root action, now in a somewhat debilitated state- 
I mean, of course, when transplanting gross or leafy plants during warm-, 
weather.—R. N. E. 
EELWORMS AS GARDEN PESTS. 
W’'e are inclined to think that these creatures occur more frequently 
in gardens than has been hitherto supposed, the mischief they do being- 
attributed to other enemies as insidious which lurk in the soil of gardens 
and beds. In the course of 1886 we received several,communications■ 
from a correspondent in this journal describing the annoyance and loss- 
he was experiencing from the attacks of some mysterious insect, which 
was seldom seen and difficult to secure, but -which seemed to be- 
extending its ravages alike amongst flowers and vegetables. Om 
examination it was found that the soil was infested with at least two- 
species of the millipede tribe, Geophilus longicornis and G. subterraneus, 
and it also contained specimens of a species of eel worm in different 
stages of growth. 'These, by most, w-ould probably be taken for 
extremely minute worms of the earthworm tribe. Their identification, 
however, was not then possible ; they might have belonged to the species; 
which Miss Ormerod has specially noticed in her annual entomological 
report, and which had previously been chronicled as occurring at the 
roots of garden plants, or if not, then to a species very similar in size- 
and habit. 
Doubtless the effects produced by this eelworm vary according to* 
the nature of the plants it may attack, but to the Oat, upon which 
it has now been found for some years, it is injurious by causing the; 
curious appearance known as “ Tulip root,” a diseased swelling at the- 
base of the stem ; the leaves also take a sedgy character. Having 
been found besides swarming at the roots of the Teazle, there origin-- 
ated the earlier name of 'Tylenchus Dipsaci, but as it is now believed 
to visit a large number of plants, its appellation has been changed 
to T. devastatrix, alluding to its activity as a destroyer. During 
1887 samples of this pest were obtained from Clover fields in coun¬ 
ties lying as far apart as Kent and Linlithgowshire, farmers com¬ 
plaining of “ Clover sickness ” amongst their crops, a malady formerly 
ascribed to a fungus, and many fungoid spores were observable, but 
the abundance of eelworms also at the roots suggested they might be- 
the cause of the mischief. Dr. R. Bos, a naturalist, who had fre¬ 
quented the 'Tylenche in the fields and gardens of the Netherlands,, 
verified the Clover specimens sent him as being T. devastatrix. He has 
reported instances of its damaging Onion crops and feeding on the roots; 
of meadow grasses, on Rye, and of course on Oat, both in England and 
on the Continent. Oats grown on sandy or gravelly soil are most 
affected, and in severe attacks the ear is never formed. This eelworm- 
has been discovered on Carnations occasionally, a ]ieculiar malforma¬ 
tion which Dr. Bos styles the “ Pine Apple growth,” and Hyacinths 
have been infested, the effect being “ ring disease.” It was supposed 
'T. devastatrix visited crops of Beans and Peas sometimes, but Dr. Bos 
thinks it docs not touch these plants. Minute as are the eelworms, theif 
length varying from the sixth to the twenty-fourth of an inch, so that 
some cannot be seen without a magnifier, it is believed each individual 
worm lives several years, and not only so, such is their vitality, that 
after being laten by animals they will pass through them uninjured to 
recommence their attack on vegetable substances. Ordinary insect 
killers do not touch these eelworms, but gas lime proves effective, and 
also manuring with a mixture of the sulphates of ammonia and potash. 
It must be allowed that all the eelworms are not to be dreaded, for 
certain species appear to limit themselves chiefly, if not entirely, to 
decaying matter, and hence form a part of the great army of Nature’s- 
scavengers.—J. R. S. C. 
