148 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 13, 1885. 
woollen cloths, and but for the dust is better for these too. I recently 
described an efficient and cheap, though neat, cover for all kinds of hives. 
The useful hint regarding covering hives is to have them so covered that 
rain cannot touch any part, while the air circulates freely over every part 
of the hive or coverings. This attended to with a ventilating floor added, 
no hive will suffer from our severest winters or hottest summers. It 
would certainly be a great improvement to have the cover ventilated so as 
to dry up the moisture generated on the top during winter, and to keep 
the same cool in summer. 
The ventilating floors are made with perforated zinc on the top, with a 
sliding bottom beneath, and at a distance between from 1 to 2 inches. 
For taking bees to the Heather safely ventilation both above and below is 
advisable. With paper and cork packed between the combs, which 
requires to be removed at the Heather, where the bees rushing out on a 
strong site would probably never reach their own hive, while robbing, 
stinging, and queenless hives would be the result.—A Lanarkshirb 
Bee-keeper.] 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Dammann & Co., Naples.— Illustrated List of Vegetables and Flowers. 
Ant. Roozen & Son, Overveen, Haarlem. —Catalogue of Dutch Bulbs. 
W. Baylor Hartland, Temple Hill, Cork. —Little Book of Daffodils 
( illustrated). 
L. Spiitb, Berlin. —Catalogue of Bulbs. 
Waite, Nash & Co., 79, Southwark Street, London.— Wholesale Catalogue 
of Flower Bools. 
George Bunyard & Co., The Old Nurseries, Maidstone.— Catalogue of 
Hyacinths and Dutch Bulbs. 
*♦* All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor” 
or to “ The Publisher. 1 ' Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Souvenir de la Malmaison Carnation {Clarke tf Co.). —We think you r 
pink sport from the above variety dissimilar from others we have seen, and 
very good indeed. It is large, fragrant, and pleasing in colour. 
Hautbois Strawberry (H. IF.). — The Strawberry leaves were quite 
withered and the fruit crushed. It is one of the Hautbois varieties, the 
peculiar flavour of which is much enjoyed by many palates. The plants are 
of easy culture. The flower was withered beyond the possibility of iden¬ 
tification. We have received many shrivelled specimens this summer that 
no one could name. 
Fruit Trees for Manitoba (C. A. C.). —We have no data whatever to 
guide us in selecting Apples and Pears for the purpose indicated. The best 
thing you can do is to state your requirements to some extensive grower of 
fruit trees, as most large nurserymen send consignments to America yearly, 
and no one knows better than they do the best varieties, time to send trees, 
and the best method of packing them to reach their destination safely and 
at a suitable time for planting. 
Gloxinia Leaves Rusted (S. W. L.). —The drying and curling of the 
leaves both of Gloxinias and Achimenes is generally caused by too much 
sun and a dry atmosphere. They cannot be grown well except in a some¬ 
what humid atmosphere, and the pots should always stand on a moist base 
in summer, and the plants be shaded from bright sun, and they should not 
be exposed to sharp currents of dry air. With suitable atmospheric condi¬ 
tions and active root-action, in good soil, plants raised from healthy tuber 3 
are sure to flourish. Thrips often infest the plants in a dry atmosphere, 
and in that case there can be no healthy growth. 
Insects on Chrysanthemum ( J. L.). —We gladly do our best to answer 
your queries, but are certainly surprised that a gardener of your experience 
should have enclosed specimens in a slip of paper placed within an ordinary 
letter. The insects should have been put in a box which would bear 
pressure, and it would have also been better to have sent each species apart. 
Your leaping insect, which we may call No. 1, is the frog-hopper (Aphrophire 
spumaria), the mature stage of the too common “cuckoo spit,” which 
appears on many plants in May and June. It is certainly desiiable to kill 
this insect whenever it can be caught. The more quiescent (No. 2) is the 
larva or grub of a ladybird or coccinella, therefore deserving of encourage¬ 
ment. No. 3 seems to be a small beetle of some kind, too damaged for 
recognition. It may be injurious, but small holes in the buds of Chrysan¬ 
themums are occasionally caused by earwigs. 
Croton Leaves Falling ( Toion Gardener). —When we examined the 
leaves, before reading your letter, we arrived at the conclusion that gas or 
some deleterious fumes had found entrance to the house. We observe that 
you have been damping the house with liquid manure. We have not a doubt 
that if the liquid is strong the ammonia arising therefrom has caused the 
injury, particularly as the sun has been bright of late, and houses suitable 
for Crotons cannot be ventilated so early and freely as vineries can. We 
have Been Vines injured in the same way that your Crotons are when strong 
liquid manure has been used for damping, the house closed all night and the 
lights not opened very early in the morning. With a proper system of ven¬ 
tilation Vines are benefited by impregnating the air with ammonia after the 
foliage gets firm and the Grapes are swelling after stoning. 
Caterpillars on Vines (E. D. C.). —Your Vines, we regret to say, are 
attacked by a very destructive insect, a species of Tortrix, which is fortu¬ 
nately not very prevalent in this country. We are quite familiar with this 
Vine scourge, having seen an example of its destructiveness in a very fine 
house of Grapes in Lincolnshire, and it was only banished by the most 
Bedulous attention of the gardener in destroying every moth, chrysalis, and 
caterpillar he could find. By shaking the bunches the latter fall by a 
web, and many of them may be caught: also by fumigating a vinery 
moderately and shaking the Vines the moths are disturbed and succumb 
to the fumes. It is very important that the house and Vines be thoroughly 
cleansed in the winter, every portion, Vines, walls, woodwork being 
washed, and, if the border is inside, removing the surface soil down to the 
roots and adding fresh. Any plants in the house should be similarly 
cleansed and top-dressed. If this work is well done the pest may possibly 
be erradicated, or nearly so, and by prompt action next year in destroying 
the first moths the house may be cleared of this highly destructive pest. 
Can you oblige us with more specimens so packed that the Grapes do not 
crush the moths, as was the case with those you sent ? 
Cucumbers Failing—Coelogyne (Trike). —We cannot account for the 
failure of your Cucumbers unless the soil is too rich or the leaves imperfect, 
so that the sap is not elaborated and assimilated. Are you sure there is no 
disease—tubercles on the roots ? Place the Ccelogyne in a rather shaded 
position in a cool stove ; or if it has made its growth it will be quite right 
in a vinery, but not in a position where it will be exposed to a dry current of 
air. It may be sprinkled daily and the roots kept moist, but not saturated, 
a sour medium being ruinous to Orchids. If you possess back numbers of 
the Journal and consult the indexes you will find the culture of this useful 
and easily grown Orchid described. 
Mealy Bug on Vines ( Y. Z.). —There is no ready method of clearing 
mealy bug from Vines when it has been permitted to become established in 
the bunches. Methylated spirits applied with a small brush will destroy 
the insects. The haves should be gathered from the Vines after they have 
turned yellow in the autumn and burned. This is far better than allowing 
them to fall and thus scattering thousands of insects in the house. Pruning 
should be done early, the rods washed and dressed with tar and clay mixture, 
every part of the woodwork and walls washed, and plants cleansed as sug¬ 
gested to another correspondent in clearing his house of another Vine pest. 
It depends on the thoroughness on which the cleansing is done as to whether 
the Vines are seriously attacked next year or not. 
Painting Stage in Vinery (A. B.). —After the Grapes are ripe you may 
safely have the stage painted, as the foliage of the Vines will not be so 
readily injured as when in a young state; indeed no injury will ensue either 
to the Grapes or the foliage providing you ventilate freely by the top and 
front lights day and night, so as to secure a free circulation of air. The best 
Grape of the two you name for exhibition at the end of August would be 
Alnwick Seedling, which, when well represented, is a very telling variety, 
but the other is very good, yet not in season until a later period. Better 
than either for the time named is Madresfield Court, as a rule, judging by 
the successful examples staged at the leading shows. 
Applying Liquid Manure to Roses (Mechanic). —As you wish to avoid 
diluting with water, the liquid should be applied just after or along with 
rain, or it may be applied at other times without injury, only keep at a 
distance of, say, a foot from the stem. Be caieful, however, not to apply it 
in very dry weather, as there is not only great waste in so doing, but the 
hungry roots will lay hold of it, and even if they are not injured, the manure 
will have an injurious effect upon the plants, hence we advise its being 
used only when the soil is moist. It may also be applied in early winter 
and spring as a means of enriching the soil. We should not use any dis¬ 
infectant, as there will not be much smell, or only whilst applying (which 
should be done at night), the soil being the best of all deodorisers, but you 
may put on a sprinkling of dry soil after each application, so as to absorb 
any matter remaining on the surface, an inch thick being sufficient. 
Crimson Galande Peach (IF. II. Divers). —The fruits you have sent are 
well-grown examples of the above well-coloured and richly flavoured variety, 
and we are not at all surprised to hear it is a favourite of such a good judge 
of fruit as Mr. Hopwood is. This Peach is described as follows in Hogg’s 
“ Fruit Manual: ”—“ Fruit large, roundish-, and rather uneven in its outline, 
marked with a very faint suture, and pitted at the apex. Skin almost 
entirely covered with very dark crimson, nearly black. The little on the 
shaded side that is not coloured is a pale yellow. Flesh very tender and 
melting, very much and deeply stained with blood-red at the stone, from 
which it separates freely. Juice very abundant, rich, sprightly, and deli¬ 
ciously flavoured. Flowers small. Leaves with round glands. This is a 
very distinct and very excellent Peach, and ripens from the middle to the 
end of August. The tree is a remarkably free grower, and an abundant 
bearer. It was raised by Mr. Rivers of Sawbridgeworth from Belle BaHce; 
but it is a much better grower than that variety.” -w- 
Chrysanthemum House ( Cambridge). —The section you have sent re¬ 
presents a very good house. The only improvement we can suggest is, that 
four rows of plants on each side would be much more convenient for water¬ 
ing, as the middle icw would be difficult to reach from either side, and the 
plants would be much less likely to lose their foliage from mildew through 
overcrowding, but it they are tall and clean-stemmed these objections 
would fall. It is not a good plan to sink the pots down below the ground 
level. The flowers of Chrysanthemums never finish better than when the 
