836 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 15, 1885. 
parts loam and peat, with a good sprinkling of sand. They should be 
put into a genile heat; a newly started vinery answers very well, and 
if kept.syringed they soon grow freely. 
If it is desired to increase the stock cuttings may now be had 
which will strike readily in a gentle bottom heat under a bellglass. 
Some prefer root cuttings taken off when potting. I have tried both 
methods, and prefer taking youog growths : they strike easily and 
make better plants, at least this has been my experience. When the 
growths are 3 or 4 inches long the points should be pinched out to 
get the plants dwarf and bushy, and they should be attended to in 
this matter during summer, stopping them whenever sufficient growth 
has been made to allow of so doing. 
As soon as the roots begin to appear at the side of the pot the 
plants will require repotting, using the same compost as previously 
recommended, with a small quantity of well-decayed manure and a 
little soot. Early in June they may be placed in a cold frame and 
kept close until they are thoroughly hardened, when air should be 
admitted on all favourable opportunities. Shade for a few hours 
during bright sunny weather. When the soil has become well tilled 
with roots a little liquid manure applied once a week will prove bene¬ 
ficial. When the nights begin to get chilly the plants may be re¬ 
moved to a house where a temperature of 50° or 55° is maintained, 
which will assist in bringing forward the blossom, and where this 
heat can be had they will continue flowering for several months 
during the dull season of the year. —William Little, Moncrieffe. 
THE ROSE APHIS. 
I BEAD with some surprise “ D., Deal's ,” review of the now past 
year s Rose seasoD, on which he remarked on the general absence of 
aphis. My experience was so directly contrary to this, that I quite ex¬ 
pected to see some letter on the subject in the Journal. A day or two 
ago I received a letter from one of the most successful Rose nurserymen 
in England, in which he writes —“ With regard to the past Eose season I 
have found it as you state, the worst I ever had . . . At the end of July 
we had such a shower of green fly a9 to completely smother the plants. 
It was no use trying to clear them, so they remained until they took their 
departure. I think they remained nearly three weeks.” I should like 
to hear the experience of others. Perhaps “ D., Deal'' is unusually 
happy in his surroundings. Terse tells us that St. Patrick 
“ l)ruv the frogs from out the bogs, 
And banished all the sarpints.” 
Is it possible that the vicinity of Royalty to Westwell Vicarage has had 
the same happy effect on the aphis ?—H. B. B. 
LATE GR4PES AND LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
I notice a suggestion has been duly proposed and seconded in 
your columns. Shall I be out of order in saying one or tw r o words 
in support ? 
The suggestion is that a few prizes should be offered for late 
Grapes at our late Chrysanthemum Exhibition in January next, to 
be held at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster. I have but little 
doubt such a competition would prove both interesting and instruc¬ 
tive, and am quite sure the Committee of this Society would be 
glad to give every possible facility towards carrying into effect the 
suggestion. 
I should, however, like to have the opinions of some of our 
leading Grape-growers as to the number of classes, and for which 
varieties they would suggest prizes should be offered. The amount 
of the prizes I take it need not be very high, and the cost of arrang¬ 
ing for the Show, as it is in conjunction with a show already provided 
for, would be nil. It will therefore only be necessary to raise a 
small fund just sufficient to pay the actual prizes awarded. I should 
be pleased to contribute my mite, and, should the suggestion find 
favour generally, most glad to co-operate with anyone in the matter. 
William Holmes, Hon. Sec., Frampton Parle Nurseries, 
Hackney. 
The suggestion that the National Chrysanthemum Society 
should provide a class for late Grapes is well worth the attention of 
the Secretary and Committee, and I hope we shall hear something 
more upon the matter. It seems to me that one class would be 
sufficient for the purpose, and three prizes might be offered, together 
with the Society’s silver and bronze medals, for the first and second 
winners. This would increase the interest of the competition 
materially ; and though a large display could not be expected, yet it 
would be useful, and it would moreover be a novelty to see an 
exhibition of Grapes in the middle of January. I should like to see 
some other opinions on this subject.—A. 
STEPHANOTIS AND GARDENIAS. 
In reading the correspondence on this subject between Messrs. Muir 
and Jenkins, it has o< curred to me, that though much may be said for 
their different views of the question, both of them have somewhat missed 
the mark. The question as stated seems to be whether certain of our 
most valuable and ornamental stove plants are worth the trouble occa¬ 
sioned by constant washing, &c., to keep them free from mealybug? 
The somewhat obvious query, Why grow bug at all? seems to have been 
overlooked. My advice to those who already have a stock is, Get rid of it 
as early as possible; and to those who fortunately have not, Be careful 
not to introduce it. 
Some gardeners hare an idea that certain plants, as Gardenias, 
Stephanotis, breed mealy bug spontaneously. I have succeeded in 
some cases in upsetting this notion by showing them a batch of Gardenias 
4 feet high and through, which have not been washed for years, and 
offering £10 each for all the bugs they could And. By starting with a clean 
stock and putting every new plant introduced through strict quarantine, 
we manage to grow Gardenias, Stephanotis, and Eucharis in quantity, and 
a collection of other stove plants, including Crotons, Dracrenas, &c., all of 
which have scarcely ever been sponged, our annual saving in labour, &c., 
being reckoned in three figures. The case is more simple when com¬ 
mencing with clean houses, &c.; hut that an infected place may be abso¬ 
lutely cleared has been proved by many of our best gardeners, and I 
could name a place under my own observation, which, to uso a Nottingham 
expression, “ snived ” some years ago, but which is now perfectly free. 
Granted that the clearing process entails a period of general upsetting 
and hard work to begin with, followed by months of constant watchful¬ 
ness, I hold that the result will well repay the outlay. 
The constant washings needful to keep down bug are certainly detri¬ 
mental to the health of the plant, and, in addition to the actual labour 
bill, the fact must be taken into consideration that mealy bug breeds the 
fastest, and therefore requires the most attention in the early summer 
months, the busiest and mo9t critical season of the year to gardeners and 
nurserymen. 
To sum up, it is possible to grow all and any kind of stove plant 
without this dreaded pest, no one will dispute that the method is easier, 
cheaper, and more pleasureable. Query, Why not ? 
I should like to add a note as to the glowing extract regarding the price 
of Gardenia blooms. If such extracts be quoted from local papers 
(which as a rule are proverbial for dense ignorance on matters horticul¬ 
tural) it would be less misleading if it were stated that Gardenias may 
now be sent into Covent Garden during several months of the year 
without realising more than Id. or 2 1. each, from which cost of carriage, 
salesman’s commission, See., have to be deducted.— Chas. E. PEARSON, 
Chihvell Nurseries, Nottingham. 
A meeting of the Council and JCommittees of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society was held at South Kensington on Tuesday, the 13th inst, 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., in the chair. The object of the meeting 
was to consider the desirability of holding an International Horti¬ 
cultural Exhibition at South Kensington in 1887, and it was 
resolved that, with the object of obtaining a larger representation of hor¬ 
ticulturists than was then present, another meeting be held on November 
10th. The Council desire the co-operation of all who are interested in 
these matters, and invite them to take part in the proceedings of the 
forthcoming meeting. 
- “ J. U. S.” writes— ‘Madresfield Court Grape, as I have seen 
it grown at Trentham and elsewhere, is one of the best flavoured and finest- 
looking mid-season Grapes in cultivation. I cannot understand 1 bags 
of sugar and water ’ being placed before the rich, luscious, and piqumt 
Madresfield Court, if all other conditions are equal as to finish, and Madres¬ 
field Court will and does finish well.” 
- The meetings of the Linnean Society will be held at Bur¬ 
lington House, Piccadilly, W., on the following dates 1885.—Thursdays, 
November 5th and 19th ; December 3rd and 17th. 1886.—January 21st; 
February 4th and 18th ; March 4th and 18th ; April 1st and 15th ; May 
6th and (anniversary) Monday 24 h ; June, Thursdays 3rd and 17th. 
The chair will be taken at 8 o’clock in the evening, excepting on May 24th, 
which is appointed for the anniversary elections, when the chair will be 
taken at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The library is open daily from 10 
o’clock till 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and the reading-room, adjoining, 
from 10 a.m. to 6 P.H., but on days of Council meetings and on Saturdays 
only till 4 p.m. 
- A well-known exhibitor, Mr. J. Child, gardener at Girhiand 
Hall, Ewell, is, we are informed, about to leave that establishment owing 
