538 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December ID, 1889. 
Insect Injurious to Sugar-cane in Barbadoes. —This was sent from 
the botanical station at Barbadoes, and was referred to Mr. Michael. 
Production of Seedling Sugar-canes in Barbadoes. —Mention was 
made of the discovery of seedling Sugar-canes in Barbadoes, and to the 
interest attaching to them, as furnishing a possible means of obtaining 
new and improved varieties. It is singular that up to this time the 
variations in the Sugar-cane have been derived from sports or bud 
variations. 
Bactylopius (Mealy Bug ) in Egypt. —Mr. Morris read a letter addressed 
to the Director, Royal Gardens, Kew, by Mr. II. W. Blunfield :— 
“ I see in the August number of the Kew Bulletin an interesting 
account of the Icerya Purchasi, and its depredations in South Africa, 
California, Ac. During the past four years our gardens at Alexandria 
have been invaded by a coccus, which threatens now to destroy all our 
trees, and is causing the greatest alarm here. I have taken the liberty 
of sending some specimens in a tin box. Our local savants do not seem 
satisfied as to its scientific name, though one has pronounced it to be 
the common mealy bug—C. adonidum—which I imagine to be a very 
much smaller insect. It first appeared about four years ago, when I 
noticed it in quantities on the under side of the leaves of a Banyan tree, 
but it has since spread with extraordinary rapidity, and one of our most 
beautiful gardens, full of tropical trees and shrubs, has been almost 
destroyed. A breeze sends the cottony bugs down in showers in all 
directions. It seems to attack almost any plant, but the leaves of the 
Ficus rubiginosa and one or two other kinds of Fig seem too tough for it, 
and it will not touch them. It seems almost hopeless here for a few 
horticulturists to try to eradicate this formidable pest, while their 
indifferent neighbours are harbouring hotbeds of it, and there will have 
to be some strong measures taken by law to put it down.” 
The insect in question had been referred to Mr. Douglas, and was 
said to be an undescribed species of Dactylopius. Spraying with 
kerosene emulsion was recommended, but no remedy was likely to be 
■effectual that was not carried out universally. 
Excaicaria Fruits. —Mr. Morris exhibited fruit “ shells ” of this 
Euphorbiaceous plant received from Formosa, and which were tied 
together in necklace-like arrangements by silken strands, the work 
probably of the larva of some moth. 
Canker in Apple Tree. —Mr. A. Dean exhibited a branch of Welling¬ 
ton Apple showing a well-marked illustration of canker in a tree grafted 
on the Crab stock, and planted on a subsoil of clay. The specimen was 
referred to Professor Marshall Ward for a report. 
Action of Frost.— Mr. A. Dean sent a branch of Keddleston Pip¬ 
pin, showing the effect of frost in bursting the tissues and cracking the 
bark. The injury had probably been done some time previously, though 
only recently observed. 
Fruit of Stephanotis. —From Mr. Denning came a seed-pod of this 
plant, and which is only occasionally produced in cultivation, owing 
probably to the absence of the insect adapted to fertilise its flowers. 
Cone of Pinus Ayacuite. —Dr. Masters showed a fine cone of this 
Mexican species, grown in the Isle of Man, by Mr. Farrant, and made 
■some comments on the species, which is somewhat tender in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of London. 
PARKHALL, STIRLINGSHIRE. 
It is not often that when one enters a somewhat obscure place like 
Parkhall that such a display of glass erection for horticultural purposes 
meets the gaze, and more than one has been struck with amazement at 
the immense amount of means applied to the production of fruit, and 
the success which attends the judicious management of Mr. Murray, 
Mr. Learmonth’s skilful gardener. Passing over a piece of rising 
ground gigantic ranges meet the view ; on the left two large span- 
roofed houses, 100 feet long, 21 feet wide, and about 16 feet high each 
are passed, and those who have hadithe privilege of looking into them 
during the autumn months have witnessed sights of Grape-growing 
seldom met with. The kinds grown in these fine structures are chiefly 
for late supplies. Those most worthy of special mention are unusually 
fine Gros Marocs. We have seen finer bunches of this kind at Parkhall 
•than anywhere else. Gros Colman (extra fine at present), Gros Guil¬ 
laume, Alicante, and Mrs. Pearson are also extensively represented— 
bunches large, many of extra size, and finely finished. The last-named 
kind is much valued at Parkhall; the quality is rich and refreshing. 
Fine exhibition Grapes have often been taken from Parkhall, and when 
the gigantic bunches, so handsome in form, are seen among the com- 
petitition lots they are easily recognised. The Muscats which have 
been tabled of late years show fair examples from the general stock of 
Grapes. Such are not the results of light cropping, as the whole of the 
Vines are heavily cropped, some of them with about a score of these 
huge bunches hanging on them. In one of the fine houses referred to 
there were nearly 1000 bunches hanging. This is only a small portion, 
however, of the fruit-growing accommodation, as looking further ahead 
ranges are seen on both sides of the pathway, and the principal one is 
■over 400 feet in length, enclosing three sides of a vegetable garden— 
wide roomy houses, where Grape growing is finely represented—not on 
Vines with the insignificant crops of half a dozen bunches, but loaded, as 
they should be, with three times the quantity one may see on some 
Vines, and quality of the first rank, while the popular late kinds are 
well represented. The favourite old Black Hamburgh holds a prominent 
position, and the best Hamburgh at the late Caledonian Show held at 
Edinburgh were from these vineries ; but that is not saying much, as 
what Mr. Muir states is only part of the truth, and most cultivators 
which we meet endorse very strongly his remarks. The time was when 
no other Grapes were supplied to well-appointed tables than Ham- 
burghs (as blacks) up to Christmas, but such is now the exception. At 
Parkhall many other interesting objects may be seen. The quantities of 
Peaches, Pears, Plums, &c., grown under glass, and the long low ranges 
of span-roofed houses for the growth of Cucumbers, Tomatoes, &c., has 
given Parkhall a name among the leading establishments of the north. 
—M. Temple. 
COPPER SULPHATE AGAINST FUNGI. 
Experience during the summer of 1889 encourages the belief tha* 
we have in the solutions of copper sulphate a defence against many of 
the fungus pests which so seriously threaten the prosperity of our 
agriculture. In 1888 the efficacy of what is known as the Bordeaux 
mixture as a preventive of mildew and black rot of the Grape was fully 
proved. This year experiments have taken a wider range, and many of 
the so-called diseases of plants have been successfully treated. The 
Apple-leaf rust (Roestelia pyrata) succumbs to an occasional spraying 
with the Bordeaux mixture. The Quince blights (Morthiera Mespili 
and Hendersonia Cydonias) are likewise prevented, and the fungus 
which causes the blight of leaves and cracking of fruit of the Pear may 
now be regarded as under the control of the copper solutions. 
The prevention of this Pear fungus, Entomosporium maculatum, is, 
perhaps, of greater advantage in the nursery than in the orchard. 
Where the disease is epidemic in the nursery it places a veto upon the 
budding and grafting of young Pear stocks. The leaves are destroyed 
just when their aid is essential to the vitality of the bud or scion. By 
spraying the nursery rows every three weeks duringthe season of growth 
with the Bordeaux mixture the leaves are preserved in health and the 
Buccess of the grafter’s labour is assured. 
But in addition to this use of the copper solution it is found to be 
preventive of the Tomato blight (Macrosporium Solani), and (which is 
of far wider importance to our agriculture) it prevents the rot of the 
Potato, Phytophthora infestans. In treatment of this disease of the 
Potato plant some of our experiment stations have this year been quite 
successful. My experiments in this line have had gratifying results. 
For many years in this region of southern New Jersey every attempt to 
grow the Peachblow Potato has been a failure. At about the time the 
plant is in blossom and the tubers are say one-fourth grown, this deadly 
blight invades the Potato field and sweeps over it like fire. I have had 
an acre of Peachblows showing every sign of thriftiness and giving 
promise of a heavy crop, and in one week from the time of the appear¬ 
ance of this blight every plant was dead or dying. It is the prevailing 
opinion here that the Peachblow Potato is a variety which is “ run out,” 
and its culture has been generally abandoned. 
Happening to see, last autumn, a few bushels of small Peachblow 
Potatoes for sale, I bought them for the purpose of giving them 
another fair trial under the protection of the Bordeaux mixture. Last 
June I ploughed a Clover sod between the tree-rows of an orchard, and 
there planted these Potatoes in five equal plats of three rows each, 
manured in the row with the Mapes Potato manure at the rate of half 
a ton per acre. The plats lay side by side, running north and south. 
When the plants were a foot high, and before they blossomed, I began 
to spray some of them with the Bordeaux mixture, and repeated this 
operation every two or three weeks thereafter until nearly the last of 
September. The times of treatments were regulated somewhat by the 
weather and the frequency of heavy rains. At any rate, I aimed to 
keep leaves and scalks on the sprayed plats pretty thoroughly white¬ 
washed with the copper sulphate solution, so that its presence was 
always visible all over the plants. Whenever a drenching rain washed 
off the application it was renewed as soon as possible. I made the 
treatments with the portable Eureka spraying machine. I thus sprayed 
plats 1 and 2, left plat 3 (the middle plat) untreated, and sprayed 
also plats 4 and 5. 
About the time the plants blossomed the middle plat (No. 3) was, as 
usual, struck by the blight, and in two weeks all of the Potato tops on 
this plat were dead and dry. The plants on the other plats were green, 
and growing as vigorously as could be wished. They remained green 
and growing until killed by frost in November. 
I then dug and weighed separately the total product of each plat. 
Plat No. 1, sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, yielded 346 lbs. of fine large 
marketable Potatoes, which were sold as soon as dug for a dollar a 
bushel. Plat No. 3, not sprayed, yielded only 164 lbs. of small-sized 
tubers, scarcely one of which is marketable. 
The diameter of the largest tuber on the untreated plat was 3 inches. 
The diameter of the largest on the treated plat was 5 inches. There is 
a marked difference in the cooking of Potatoes from the unsprayed and 
from the sprayed plats. Those from the plat not treated are immature 
and “ soggy.” Those from the treated plats are mealy, and have all the 
excellence for which the Peachblow Potato was formerly esteemed. 
I have saved 10 or 15 bushels of these Peachblows to plant next year, 
in the confident expectation of a crop of 350 bushels of Potatoes per 
acre. Under the unfavourable conditions in which these experimental 
plats of Potatoes w ere grown (between rows of trees 20 feet apart and 
twenty years old) I did not expect a large crop ; yet the yield of the 
treated plat (No. 1), 346 lbs. from 225 hills, is not bad under the 
circumstances, being about 125 bushels per acre. 
Of the Bordeaux mixture employed the formula is 6 lbs. of pulverised 
sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), dissolved in four gallons of hot water ; 
4 lbs. of fresh lime, dissolved in four gallons of cold water ; mix the two 
