61 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 23, 1885. 
on the north side, and Alicante on the south side. On this aspect the 
Vines receive abundance of light without strong sunshine. Those 
gardeners who may have a span-roof to plant situated like the above, 
and who intend planting any Gros Colman, should take the above hint, 
for the Grape cannot be of such good quality when the foliage has a 
withered appearance.—A. Young. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
July 14th. 
Scientific Committee. —Mr. A. Grote in the chair. 
Fungoid Diseases in Fruit Trees. —A communication was received 
through Sir J. D. Hooker from Mr. T. Kirk, Wellington, New Zealand, ask¬ 
ing for advice as to remedial measures. In some districts the fruit trees 
are being destroyed by the mycelium of a ground fungus—a small Puffball, 
though the author suspects that several Agarics affect them. When the 
ravages are most serious the reproductive state is but rarely developed. It 
first appears as a circular patch, in which all vegetation (as in fruit trees, 
Oaks, Walnuts, Grass, Sorrel, Strawberry, Ac.), is more or less “ blighted,” 
the plants exhibiting a withered appearance, the leaves becoming slightly 
curled, droop and fall long before their time, and the plant dies. The roots 
are more or less covered with mycelium. The effects extend in a most 
singular fashion, travelling half way across a garden or orchard from one 
side only, at others extending in all directions. It is most fatal to fruit 
trees. It is almost exclusively confined to light soils, on which Fern 
(Pteris aquilina) has grown. Damp or dry soils have no attractions for it. 
It occurs abundantly in the decaying rhizomes of the Fern, transferring its 
attentions to fruit trees whenever the opportunity is afforded. The first 
parts on which the affection shows itself is the juncture of root and stem. 
The bark becomes absolutely rotten when permeated by the mycelium, and 
emits a nauseous odour. Plum trees usually show but little mycelium as 
compared with Apples, but the trunk is more obviously affected, and exudes 
gum freely. Experiments are being carried out in the following directions : 
—1, Soaking the soil with tar water and dressing the affected parts with the 
same. 2, Dressing the soil with soot. 3, With sulphur. 4, With mild brine 
washes, both for trees and soil. So far the tar wat;r seemed the most effec¬ 
tive, but the author was inclined to think that sulphur will have the most 
permanent effect. 
Peach Blight. —The author adds, that in all parts of the country the 
Peach is dying wholesale, but the cause is most obscure. The treeB appear 
to flower with their accustomed luxuriance, and the fruit to set as usual. 
If a sudden change of temperature or a severe frost has been experienced 
during the flowering time, the fruit does not swell, the leaves make their 
appearance readily and fall quickly—minute orange-coloured blotches are 
seen on the twigs. These become confluent and black, and then the buds 
decay. At this stage the plant may die, or if the season prove favourable, a 
weak autumn growth may be made, and new leaves developed, tassel-like, at 
the tips of the branches ; but a renewed attack the following spring proves 
fatal, and the plant dies. Plants one year from the seed are attacked as 
readily as the oldest. Occasionally a tree partially sheltered has suffered 
less than its neighbour, or has escaped entirely ; while two kinds appear to 
resist the disease more than others—viz., Cornet and Salway, but they are 
eeitainly not blight-proof by any means. In the absence of material the 
members of the Scientific Committee did not feel competent to pass an 
opinion on the subject. 
Poppies, vars. —Mr. Smee exhibited seedling Poppies of P. Rhseas with 
wedge-shaped black patches and white borders at the base; they had 
originated from the common form. 
Amorphophallus (Hydrosme). —Mr. Ridley exhibited a seedling he had 
raised from a fruit from Gambier. 
Abies polita. —Dr. Masters exhibited a spray of this new Japanese Conifer 
with cones ; it was received from Mr. Veitch.' 
Elms Diseased. —Dr. Masters mentioned the fact of an avenue of Elms 
fifteen years old, in Guernsey, of which some thirty or forty were rapidly 
dying. Diseased branches were referred to Mr. Murray for examination 
and report. 
Plants Exhibited. —Mr. Lynch brought from the Botanic Gardens, 
Cambridge, a fine flowering spike of Yucca angustifolia; the anthers 
appeared to be abortive, and it never set seed. A spray of Pelargonium 
Endlicherianum, from Australia ; Jasminum angulare var. glabratum, a 
plant new to cultivation, from the Cape; Nelumbium luteum, from North 
America. Dr. Masters exhibited an umbel of Euryanzium (Ferula) Sumbul, 
remarkable for the acrid and musk-scented juice. 
Clover, Virescent —Mr. Houston exhibited specimens of a not uncommon 
form, in which the ovules wer i particularly well developed as leaves. 
Potentilla reptans with Uni- to Septem-foliate Leaves. —The Rev. G. 
Henslow exhibited specimens of Cinquefoil, showing transitorial states 
from one-foliate leaves, through ternate and quinque-foliate to seven-foliate 
forms. 
Ox-eye Daisy. —Mr. Smith sent specimens in which the ray-florets were 
tubular, like those of Centaurea, and not ligulate, as usual. 
Pheasants Poisoned by Fungi. — The following communications were 
received from Mr. W. G. Smith “ A week or two ago Mr. Henry Mills, 
of The Gardens, Enys, Penryn, Cornwall, sent me an example of a fungus 
which had poisoned pheasants: the gamekeeper had cut open the pheasant’s 
crop, and found pieces of the fungi in them. The birds swell, and are soon 
dead. Oa asking Mr. Mills to secure other specimens of the fungi he could 
not find them, but, strange to say, the pheasants, with superior eye 3 for such 
things, found them easily, for other birds died, and pieces were again found 
in their crops. It is remarkable that sheep and lambs have died suddenly 
in the same field, as well as in an adjoining field. Whether the Bheep have 
died from the effects of the fungi is uncertain, but Bheep will, no doubt 
sometimes eat fungi. I have seen sheep eat Mushrooms. I hope to be able 
to name the species of Agaricus with certainty at the next meeting of the 
Scientific Committee, as I have ju9t received fresh and better material. I 
am, however, able to point out the series to which it belongs. It is one of 
the Hyporhodii, or pink spored Agarics, a serifs limited in Britain to a 
somparatively small number of species. The Agaric is a small one, ab*ut 
1 inch in diameter, with characteristic nodular spores. It is probably an 
Entoloma, close to A. placenta, A. helodes, and A. repandus. A close ally 
0 f these—viz. A. sinuatus, once put me to considerable inconvenience and 
annoyance.” 
Hesting-spores of Peronospora pygmcea .— u A correspondent, Mr. George 
Brebner, of Aberdeen, has sent me a large supply of the oospores of this 
Peronospora detected by him in leaves of Anemone nemorosa. He has also 
forwarded the accompying drawing and a microscopic slide showing the 
oospores in situ. In the slide the oospores can be distinctly seen attached 
to the same mycelial threads as the conidiophores. Mr. Brebner states that 
Professor Trail has recently lighted on the oospores of Peronospora arbo- 
rescens in the leaves of Papaver Argemone. It is a mistake to suppose that 
oospores of Peronospora are rare ; they are easily found by competent 
observers ; and when seen on the same threads as the conidiophores—as by 
me in Peronospora infestans, and by Mr. Brebner in P. pygmsea—no unpre¬ 
judiced person can doubt their true nature.” 
DRUMMOND’S TURF-CUTTING MACHINE. 
I have seen the remarks you make in your issue of the 9th July 
about the turf-cutting machine invented by Mr. F. T. Drummond. As 
I am, I think, one of the few gentlemen who have seen the machine work, 
I write to give my testimony to the admirable way in which the machine 
takes up the turf. It cuts the turf very cleanly both as to length and 
width and thickness. The last piece of turf that I saw removed by the 
machine was quite full of Elm tree roots, in spite of which the machine 
made capital work, and removed in a few hours what it would have 
taken several men all day to get up. I feel sure the machine has only 
t) be seen to be thoroughly appreciated.—E dw. M. WakemAn. 
ABOUT THE SURFACE OF SHRUBBERIES. 
Quite lately I had to wait an hour or two in one of our large 
cities before I could get out of it by train to my destination, and 
to pass that most weary period of time which I describe under 
the term waiting I made my way to the well-kept gardens and 
parks of which its citizens are proud. No expense for. labour 
seemed to be spared. The lawns were in good condition, the 
shrubs kept neatly primed to shape, while that- greatest of eye¬ 
sores to a gardener, weeds, were entirely absent. I do not know 
whether it would be most correct to describe the whole affair 
as trim or prim. Some people would undoubtedly call it trim, 
though I must confess the latter term better denotes the effect it 
had on my mind. This effect was mainly, 1 may say entirely, 
produced by the shrubberies. Each shrub was trimmed into 
shape, and each stood by itself with plenty of space for a few 
years’ free growth in beds, the soil of which was kept hoed and 
raked. What a difference could be effected at an outlay of a 
shilling or two and a walk round these shrubberies. With the 
money a supply of seed of Wallflowers, Foxgloves, Canterbury 
Bells, Sweet Williams, Poppies, Columbines, and Cornflowers 
would be procured, and during the walk the supply so bought 
would be judiciously sprinkled over the vacant ground. Nature 
would do the rest. 
On my way home from the station I passed a little place the 
whole of which, house, garden, lawns, Ac., might have been set 
down in one of the shrubberies above alluded to. I imagine it 
would have been impossible to have found as much bare ground 
in the whole place which one’s hand might not easily have 
covered, and the result is that perhaps as many flowers are grown 
in the little garden as in the huge public garden, and certainly a 
greater amount of enjoyment to be extracted from it. 
Unfortunately the large gardens are typical of what is to be 
found in private gardens, and perhaps in small gardens the 
offence to good taste is the more glaring. It is no uncommon 
thing to find artificially raised shrubberies in small places, with 
the shrubs trimmed and a large space of kept ground either 
bare or covered with weeds throughout the better part of the 
summer months. The same in a modified degree applies to large 
places, as in these the shrubs are larger and the weeds do not 
show so much in the surroundings. But in any case the whole 
method of shrubbery gardening is wrong Weeds are an outcome 
of the attempt to keep shrubberies trim and neat, and that by a 
process which is almost always a failure. Bare ground in any 
portion of a garden shows something that should not be, more 
especially in all kinds of decorative gardening, of which shrubbery 
gardening ought to be one of the higher forms. 
There are three simple methods of keeping shrnbberies neat 
and attractive, the easiest being to cover the ground with grass 
and keep it cut short during the summer months. This does not 
entail so much labour as would at first sight appear. The same 
space of ground can be as rapidly mown with a scythe as hoed, in 
some cases more rapidly. Where an American mower is kept 
the labour is greatly lessened, as the matter of three or four 
runs over the grass during the growing season keeps it in good 
order. Another method is to plant certain suitable flowers on 
the grass and among the shrubs. Fceories; wild, Damask, and 
