226 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 12, 1889. 
of very fine mesh only when closely nailed to the wall will keep them 
out, and even then the smallest possible flaw in the material is quickly 
sought out and taken advantage of, and often after such trouble has 
been taken it is only on the removal of the netting that the partial or 
total loss of the crop is revealed to the gardener in charge. In the 
vinery, too, they sometimes prove very unwelcome, and if measures are 
not quickly taken with them the Grapes are sure to disappear with 
alarming rapidity. Scott’s wasp destroyer is the best antidote I have 
ever used for use in vineries, this being applied with a feather or 
camel’s hair pencil to the berries already attacked. One or two appli¬ 
cations proved sufficient, for the whole of the wasps forsook the house 
in apparent disgust, giving no further trouble for the remainder of 
the season. Bottles partly filled with sweetened beer attract and dis¬ 
pose of large numbers when suspended on the trees or stood on the 
ground near the ripening fruit. Undoubtedly the best method is 
destroying the nests, but this cannot be done by all, and many of those 
who would, have not the time or tact for tracing them. My friend Mr. 
Gibson, Draycot, Chippenham, is the best at this I know, but it is ODly 
by persistent effort. This year over a hundred nests have been de¬ 
stroyed within varying distances from the garden by the use of cyanide 
of potassium, obtained in granulated powder from the chemist. This 
deadly substance may be used in a dry state or in liquid, but probably 
the latter is the more quickly effective. The powder may be dissolved 
by being placed in an open-mouthed bottle and water added sufficient 
for covering. A tablespoonful of the liquid poured in the passage to 
the nest will prove instant death to each wasp that attempts to enter 
or leave, as may be proved by anyone visiting the spot a few hours after 
the application. Unless they are exasperated by juvenile interference, 
the cyanide may be used at any time of the day without fear, as it only 
requires a moment’s delay when once the whereabouts of the nest is 
known. 
It may not be generally known how easy a matter it is to trace 
wasps to their nest. The gardener. before mentioned says that by 
observing the direction they take on leaving a fruit tree laden with 
their burden for home they are sure when on wing to take a direct 
course, but it is not known how far they may travel, and it is only 
persons who have energy and time who are likely to undertake the 
journey. For an isolated garden in a country district the destroying 
of a hundred nests is a feat of no mean order, and certainly deserves 
mention, involving as it does a considerable saving of choice fruit, which 
would otherwise be destroyed by those greedy pests.— W. Stkugnell. 
CARNATIONS AT EXHIBITIONS. 
I think that my friend Mr. A. R. Brown rather misses the point I 
put before your readers ; besides, he is in danger of somewhat degrading 
the Carnation-growing pursuit by insinuating that good Carnations are 
grown only in respect of obtaining thereby a certain amount of prize 
money. I want to see lovers of the Carnation growing good flowers— 
the best they can afford—quite regardless of anything like a mercenary 
spirit. Therefore it is that I complain that the standard of Carnation 
blooms seen at not a few country shows is a low and unworthy one. If 
Carnations are grown solely as exhibition flowers, and with no higher 
view than that of winning some money at flower shows, then I think 
Mr. Brown’s contention would be" a correct one. But it is because the 
Carnation bloom at many country shows is poor, and down at a dead 
level of unworthiness, that I was led to pen the few lines I did in 
reference to this matter. It appears to me that some exhibitors fancy 
anything will do for the exhibition table so long as it bears the name 
of Carnation, even though the flowers may be shapeless masses of rough 
and dull-coloured petals; and judges appear too prone to encourage 
them in the practice by awarding prizes because the flowers are the best 
on the exhibition table. I look to our Carnation societies to do some¬ 
thing in a missionary point of view to convert country Carnation 
growers from the error of their ways, and raise them from the level 
of ignorance into the higher sphere of a better Carnation knowledge. 
I think it is very likely prizes are kept low because the quality of the 
blooms placed upon the exhibition table is poor. Let growers set about 
producing something better—blooms more worthy of the name of Car¬ 
nations—and I think the framers of schedules will not be slow to 
encourage and reward their efforts by increasing not only the money 
prizes, but also by .increasing opportunities of exhibiting this beautiful 
flower. Good varieties are readily obtainable at a comparatively small 
cost. Seeing this is so, I hope judges will in the time to come raise 
somewhat in their mind’s eye the ideal of the flower to which they 
award prizes. If they will do this, the work of reformation will have 
a fitting commencement.—R. Dean. 
Edible Fungi. — I am pleased to see that “ D. G. B.” (page 202) 
bears me out with regard to the prevailing ignorance on this s'ubject. 
Although he questions the utility of my suggestion as to coloured plates 
I am not at all dogmatic on the point, but he in his haste to find fault 
falls into the very common error of neglecting to suggest something 
better. There were coloured plates of edible fungi in South Kensington 
Museum some twenty years ago, which, if memory serves me right, a 
member of the enigmatical majority alluded toby “ D. G. B.” might have 
safely taken as a guide. He also says that while I am loud in the praise 
of Mushrooms I have not a single word of praise for edible fungi. Why, 
the whole end and aim of the few remarks I made on the subject was 
with the view of obtaining better information, and my reasons were 
principally that, while in this district there is scarcely a Mushroom this 
season, there are so many toadstools as to be a positive nuisance, in the 
grounds at all events; and I thought it a pity to see these collected 
daily and wheeled to the dung heap! At the same time I should be sorry 
to think that by any contortion of language it could be construed that 
I said there were fifty different varieties. As to the people north of the 
Tweed being unable to distinguish between Mushrooms and toadstools, 
he again errs. They look upon them as worthless, and speak of the whole 
class of funguses collectively as puddock stools. One of the easiest 
things in the world is fault-finding ; one of the hardest is obtaining 
information. The question still remains, How is better information to 
be obtained ?—A. C. W. 
THE ROSE SEASON OF 1889. 
Now that the din of battle is over, the warriors have gone into their 
winter quarters prepared “ to fight another day,” and there is a feeling in 
a'l connected with Rose showing that one may “rest and be thankful, ,r 
it is possible to sit down quietly and take a survey of the field, see 
where the .dead are lying, and where the banner floats which tells of 
victory ; and in truth it is a field where reputations are wrecked and 
others made, and to the lover of the flower there is ever coming up the 
memory of some pleasant times, happy meetings, and let it be fairly 
said times of disappointment and depression ; but it is well to look afc 
the bright side of things, although we dare not keep out of sight the 
shadows which sometimes give by their contrasts greater breadth to the 
lights. _ 
And now as to the season itself. We get so used to writing about 
exceptional seasons that we wonder if there is ever to be a normal 
Rose season. One is too hot, another too cold ; one is too forward and 
another too late, and the wishes of Rose growers vary so much according 
to their localities that it is very difficult at times to come to a right 
conclusion. We have growers from far Aberdeen and sturdy Down, 
from canny Yorkshire and soft and luxurious DevoD, from the coun¬ 
ties where the east wind has its home, or where at any rate it strike* 
them with unhampered fury, to the soft and relaxing western counties, 
from the cold midlands and the bright and warm slopes of the 
southern counties ; and the difference of climate, soil, and situation 
will colour to a certain extent the ardent east grower with promises. 
And in truth there are two different ways in which we may regard 
the season, one as to its connection with Rose exhibitions, the other 
with regard to its presence in the garden. With regard to 1889 as a. 
Rose exhibition season I think we may safely say that it has been 
acknowledged on all hands to have been a most irritating and dis¬ 
appointing one. There was as fair a promise as could well be. The 
May frosts which have been so injurious of late years were absent. 
May was such a month as poets raved about, and redeemed them from 
the charge of poetic licence we were wont to charge them with when a. 
piercing north-easter froze the very marrow of our bones. But the 
May of 1889 was a treat, and under its genial influence Roses grew 
rapidly, formed their buds, and gave promise of great beauty. There 
was a check at Whitsuntide, but still the Roses went on ; and indeed in 
some places at such an express speed that before the exhibition time 
they had in many places passed their best. Thus at the great Show of 
the National Society at the Crystal ralace, July 0th, the Rose growers 
of East Anglia, Reigate, and Devon were almost out of the field alto¬ 
gether. Mr. Baker, who won the challenge trophy last year, could not 
show at all. Mr. T. B. Haywood, who won it in 1884, was pretty well 
over, and could not exhibit in the large class. The Roses from Suffolk 
and Norfolk, which have always formed a conspicuous feature of the 
Show, were almost altogether absent, and thus a Tery material difference 
took place in the number of prizes gained by the same persons in the 
past year compared with the last; and not only did the season make a. 
difference, but the quitting of the field by several who have occupied a. 
distinguished position in it has made a very serious difference, a differ¬ 
ence that will be still further accentuated another season. 
Two of our very best northern exhibitors, Messrs. T. B. Hall and 
E. R. Whitwell, have entirely given up exhibiting. It is not to be 
wondered at when an exhibitor has been successful, when he has gained, 
the “ blue riband ” of the Rose world, and has had ten years of hard 
work (for exhibiting is hard work). It is no wonder if, like Mr. Hall, 
he desires to rest on his laurels ; and then sometimes fancy changes, and 
Orchids usurp the place the Rose once held. The gap thus made will be 
still further increased by the retirement of Mr. W. J. Grant of Ledbury, 
another of our most successful exhibitors, and who perhaps never showed 
in better form than he did in this his last season for exhibiting. It 
will be readily seen what a difference these things must make. Are 
there others to occupy their places ? I hope so. Mr. E. B. Lindsell has 
come very much to the front this season, has exhibited in good form 
this year, and I quite expect to see him take a very foremost p'ace. 
