262 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 17, 1885. 
Cordon Pears (A. A. B.). —For the west wall: Fondante d’Automne, 
Doyenne du Comice, Jewess, and Glou Morfeau. For the east wall : Dana’s 
Hovey, Comte de Lamy, Comte de Flandre, Beurre Snperfin, Winter Nelis, 
and Huyshe’s Victoria. The Pear Conference will be opened at Chiswick 
on October 21st, but intending exhibitors must give notice to Mr. A. F. 
Barron, Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick, not later than October 14th, 
and consignments of fruit should be delivered on or before October 19th. 
Planting Roses [Amateur). —The standard Roses will occupy the centre 
of the bed<, and from these on each side the dwarfs should be 2 feet 6 inches, 
and 1 foot 3 inches from the edge of the beds, so that the beds will need to 
be 7 feet 6 inches wide, and we should have the Roses 3 feet asunder in the 
rows. Between each two standards we should have a dwarf plant, otherwise 
the centre will be very bare. If you grow for effect, then we should plant 
with dwarfs only, and the plants 2 feet G inches apart every way, but you 
may still have a row of standards between the dwarfs in the central row. 
Faded Vine Leaves [Merchant). —The leaves have on their under surface 
a number of warts, which may have been caused by too close an atmosphere. 
The warts are black on the leaves sent, as if destroyed by the fumes of 
sulphur. The leaves in other respects are healthy in appearance and look 
as if they were naturally ripening. This may have been brought about by 
the treatment the Vines have received, and probably the ripening is prema¬ 
ture. This fact is further borne out by the lower leaves suffering first, 
which is always the case when the supply of food and nourishment fails. 
We expect you have not given the Vines sufficient water or stimulants at 
the time when they needed most. If the border in which your Vines are 
growing is deficient in lime or other food, or too dry, remedy the evil 
without further delay. 
Ventilating a Conservatory ( Ignoramus ).—The system of ventilation re¬ 
quires to be the same both in summer and winter—viz., air should in the first 
instance be admitted by the top lights, but the time of doing so will entirely 
depend upon the temperature and the time of year. In the winter season, 
or from October to March inclusive, commence ventilating by the top 
lights when the temperature reaches 50°, increasing the admission of air 
with the increase of sun heat, and open the side lights. The ventilation 
should be reduced by closing the side lights in the first instance, and finally 
the top lights when the temperature declines to 50°. In summer the same 
conditions are to be observed, only the temperature should be kept at 60° to 
65° through the day, observing the same rules as to commencing and closing 
the house. The temperature in winter should be 40° to 45° at night, and 45° 
to 50° in the daytime, by artificial means, which will be considerably ad¬ 
vanced by sun heat, and in mild weather. Fire heat will only be necessary 
to maintain the temperature named, and to expel damp, when the fire 
should be lighted in the daytime, and ventilation given. 
Asparagus Beds Failing (H. C .).—We have known several cases of 
failure similar to the one described in your letter. In one large garden two 
or three gardeners in succession made beds at great expense, and after 
bestowing every possible care upon them hopelessly failed. They at last 
concluded that the garden would not grow Asparagus. The present gardener 
—a persevering man—having had considerable experience in nurseries, 
determined to make another attempt. He was successful, and has now beds 
as fine as any in the country. He did not purchase plants, but raised his 
own from seed, and he considers that the cause of failure in many cases is 
due to plants lying about for some months prior to being sent out, and are so 
dried with exposure that they rarely thoroughly recover. If your friend 
sows seed on the beds he might hope to attain success. If the soil is of a 
heavy nature the peat would prove rather beneficial than otherwise, but if 
light a liberal dressing of manure with a little clay thoroughly incorporated 
with the soil would be preferable. A light dressing of salt may be used 
with advantage. 
Hardy Plants for a Small Rockery [A Youngster). —Provided the rockery 
is ready to receive the plants, commence operations now, as there is yet time 
to allow the plants to become established before the winter sets in. The 
drip from the trees is rather unfortunate, seeing you have such a fine 
exposure. However, if the branches overhang just a little it will serve as a 
protection from severe frosts, and will enable you to have plants that 
would not be quite hardy in the open. Among the plants that will grow 
in such a position are the following :—Helianthemums in variety, Cistus 
crispus florentinus, C. halimifolius, Genista prostrata, Lithospermum 
prostratum, any dwarf Saxifraga, Arabis alhida, Polygonum vaccinifolium, 
G3nothera taraxacifolia, and CE. tanacetifolia, Alpine Auriculas, Saponaria 
ocymoides, Nierembergia rivularis, Potentilla Clusiana and subcaulescens, 
Plumbago Larpentac, Linaria pallida, Sempervivum Laggeri,S. arachnoideum, 
S. tciste, &e. You might also try tbe Opuntias, Erinus alpinus, Linaria 
origanifolia, Gypsophila cerastioides, New Zealand Veronicas, Sedum, 
Arenaria Rosanii, S.umbilicus spinosus, Tunica Saxifraga, Dianthus Seguieri, 
Phlox verna, and P. amoena, Achillea umbellata and Clavennae, Lobelialutea, 
and Othonna cheirifolia. 
Carnations not Blooming ( W. B .).—We have never found any difficulty 
in flowering Carnations and Pinks, and therefore cannot understand the 
cause of your failure from the information you supply. Since you say that 
the plants make plenty of growth, it would appear that the soil is suitable. 
Probably they are too much shaded by the high walls surrounding your 
garden, or they may be attacked by aphides (green fly), which suck out all 
nurishment from the stems. The seedlings in pots you can plant out and 
lay on the growths, which, if done at once, will be well rooted before winter. 
Probably you have failed to water the pipings of Pinks sufficiently, for with 
ordinary care they should root freely enough at this season. You might 
Boon eradicate the wireworm from the soil without applying gas-lime by 
the following method :—Cut a number of Potatoes in half, and place into 
each a small stake 6 or 8 inches long. These should be inserted in the 
soil, leaving the top of the stake several inches above the ground, so that 
you will know where the traps are set, and can draw them out at intervals 
of two or three days. Carefully examine the Potatoes and destroy the 
insects found in them. By repeating this the garden will soon be cleared of 
these pests. 
Bottling Grapes [H. 3 .).—Heat is only required to expel damp from the 
house if you keep the Grapes hanging upon the Vines. Much heat is not 
necessary for this purpose if you exercise care in supplying water to the 
plants in the house, and ventilate it judiciously. We should have no diffi¬ 
culty in keeping the Grapes perfectly well in the house with the plants 
beneath them, but if you have had no experience in this matter your best 
plan will be to bottle them. This we advise you to do if the Vines are weak, 
as the fruit hanging upon them for any length of time after they are ripe is 
an extra strain which ought to be avoided. You have not said how 
old the Vines are, or what weight of Grapes they are carrying, therefore 
we cannot say whether you have overcropped them. The borders should 
not be dug, for this is detrimental to the surface roots, and no kind 
of manure will induce them to come there if you continue this practice. If 
the roots are some distance from the surface, remove the soil down to them 
either in autumn or spring, the latter being preferable, and top-dress with 
about 6 inches of good fibry loam, a few half and quarter-inch bones, say 
an 8-inch potful to each barrowload of soil. You may add the same 
quantity of soot or wood ashes, and about 10 per cent, of lime, or even more 
if you think the border is deficient in this ingredient. Top-dress annually 
as the roots come to the surface, and mulch afterwards with old manure. 
Grapes Shanking [P. O. H.). —It is very difficult to say what is the exact 
cause of your Grape3 shanking just about the time they are colouring. 
Shanking is due to one of several causes, and without an intimate acquaint¬ 
ance with the Vines, the soil they are growing in, the quantity of water 
they have received, the actual condition of the roots from the top of the 
border to the base, and the general treatment the Vines receive, it is very 
difficult to determine to which cause the evil is due. It not unfrequently 
arises from slight injuries to the stems of the branches and footstalks of 
the berries when the operation of thinning is performed. It is also due to 
the roots entering the subsoil or any other unsuitable material outside the 
real border. In deep borders with the roots a long way from the surface, 
where the air cannot penetrite to them, a close and sour soil, caused either 
by over-watering or over-feeding, is almost certain to produce shanking. 
An insufficient supply of food during the time when fruit-bearing is press¬ 
ing most heavily on the Vines will also bring about the same results. This 
has been a dry season, and if you have failed at any time to give sufficient 
water, this alone would be sufficient to cause shanking. If you cannot find 
out the exact cause, lift the roots just before the foliage falls. They should 
he brought near the surface and encouraged to remain there. Lifting and 
laying the roots among fibry loam, one bushel of half-inch bones to each cart¬ 
load of soil, with the same quantity of wood ashes and about 10 per cent, of 
lime, frequently proves a cures for shanking. You can keep the roots near 
the surface, after they are once there, by rich top dressings and mulchings 
with manure. 
Vines Exhausted ( Walter V. Lister). —Judging from the smallness of 
the berries, we should think the Vines are exhausted by the previous heavy 
cropping, though the uuusually dry season will, no doubt, have helped the 
present result considerably. The roots should be examined, and the sooner 
after the Grapes are ripe and the wood firm the better. Remove the surface 
soil down to the roots, and if they are not deep do not attempt to disturb 
them, but, picking the soil from amongst them carefully, so as to injure 
them as little as possible, replace the removed soil with some fresh turfy 
loam of a medium texture, but light rather than heavy, and chopped 
moderately small, adding about a tenth of old mortar rubbish, half as much 
charcoal, and a less quantity of half-inch bones, the whole thoroughly incor¬ 
porated. Do not cover the roots deeper than 6 inches, and make the soil 
moderately firm. If inside a good watering should be given with tepid 
liquid manure, and the surface mulched with a couple of inches of well- 
decayed manure. Outdoors the watering will not be necessary, but the 
border should be covered with dry material so as to protect it from frost. 
If in removing the soil it is found the roots are deep, then they should be 
lifted carefully, kept from the air by covering them as they are removed 
from the soil; and the drainage being seen to, and if defective rectified, 
proceed to lay in the roo:s in fresh compost, raising them so as to lay them 
in the top foot or 15 inches depth of the border, the nearest being about 
4 inches from the surface. If the Vines have both inside and outside borders 
it is well to only attend to one, deferring the other until the following 
season. After the Vines are in full leafage supply tepid liquid manure 
liberally. 
Insects on Vines [A. B). —We have examined carefully the Vine 
foliage and shoots sent and fail to find any trace of phylloxera upon them. 
We wish you had sent us roots as well. You had better examine the roots, 
and if you discover any small globular swellings on the fibry portions send 
them to us for examination. Your Vines are, however, attacked by a small 
insect, which is the cause of the shoots being affected as they are and the 
reason they have ceased to grow. It not only attacks Vines, but Cucumbers, 
Melons, Tomatoes, French Beans, Gloxinias, Begonias, Celosias, and many 
other plants besides. The warmer and moister the atmosphere is kept the 
more certain it is to attack plants, Vines, and whatever it prefers, and, like 
the red spider, it does not appear very particular in this respect. It does not 
spread so rapidly in a coolei, drier, and airy atmosphere. We have known 
Vines attacked by it commence growing freely after they have been kept 
cool and given more air. It frequently attacks Vines when they are in a 
young state, such as those raised from eyes, and either grown in pots the 
first season or planted out; but very rarely afterwards, for they appear to 
grow too vigorously. It is indeed questionable if your Vines are attacked 
by it another year. On whatever it becomes established it completely arrests 
the growth. We advise you to pinch off the affected points, and no doubt 
the petroleum solution you propose will destroy it. It will be necessary 
to shade the Vines after using the petroleum. A cultivator who has a large 
collection of both fruits and plants suffered severely for a few seasons from 
this insect, nearly every plant he grew being attacked, and he found that the 
best means of eradicating it was by maintaining a cool atmosphere as advised 
above and syringing with a weak solution of softsoap and sulphur, leaving 
the latter upon the shoots and foliage for some days before washing it off 
again. 
Names of Fruits [A Subscriber). —1, Lawson's Golden Gage ; 2, White 
Magnum Bonum ; 3, Corse’s Admiral; 4, Corse’s Nota Bene ; 5, Washington; 
6, Victoria. [B. C. P., Andover). —1, Lucombe’s Nonesuch ; 2, Washington; 
3, Denbigh. [J. F. L.). —Beurre de l’Assomption. [A. B.). —The specimen 
resembles Dunmore, but we cannot determine Plums without shoots and 
