324 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 4,1894. 
fine form and white wings, the colour bright and well contrasted, and a 
very fine variety; Countess of Aberdeen, white, margined with pale 
pink, a distinct, charming flower, of fine form ; Captivation, a new 
ihade of rosy purple, distinct and very fine ; Lady Harlech, bright lilac, 
tinted pink standard and white wings, a charming distinct flower ; Mrs. 
Dugdale, a creamy white, striped and coloured with rosy purple, a 
•flower of the finest form. 
Culinary Peas. 
These also have Mr. Eckford’s special attention, and a visit in the 
Pea season clearly proves that he has raised some first-class varieties, his 
aim being to use all along as a type the Ne Plus Ultra to secure flavour 
and a blunt-ended pod, with a dwarfer habit and earlier, and a number 
of really fine seedlings are annually rejected after two or three years’ 
trial, though superior to many leading varieties now in cultivation. 
It was in the year 1879 that he commenced crossing Ne Plus Ultra 
with Pride of the Market, Dr. Maclean, Champion of England, Veitch’s 
Perfection, and others, producing the wrinkled type with a view to 
supersede the race of early round Peas so generally grown for the first 
crop. Several seedlings resulted of a promising character, one of them 
being named Magnificent by Mr. Kichard Dean, and this again was 
crossed with William I., and at least one variety emanating from this 
crop will be sent out in a year or two, and will be welcomed. A variety. 
Censor, introduced last winter, is a very fine Pea about 3 feet in height, 
and a great cropper. Fame is also a first-class Pea, an Improved Ne Plus 
Ultra, earlier, not so tall, with large, well filled pods. Consummate is 
another very fine Pea, dwarf, and of excellent quality. Colossus, The 
Echo, Ambassador, and The Don are also fine varieties. Excellent 
flavour is a characteristic of the Wem culinary Peas, with a profuse 
bearing habit. Thin sowing is the rule, really planting, and with great 
results. With one of the seedlings 680 seeds were saved from one plant, 
and these were sufficient to plant five rows, each from 50 to 60 feet long, 
the plants 2 feet high. 
There is a coming variety named “ Dwarf Monareh,” only 18 inches 
high, and on one plant I counted twenty pairs of large pods, each with 
an average of seven peas in a pod. Another plant had fifty-four pods 
with the same average of peas. A very handsome new Pea “ Memorial,” 
growing 5 feet high, has a slightly curved pod, averaging ten peas a pod, 
of first-class quality and large size. This will be an exhibition Pea as 
well as for general crop, and will, I think, be sent out this season. 
—W. D. 
LILIUM HARRISI. 
It is not an unusual thing for this bulb to throw up a second 
flowering stem the same season. Its whole history is, indeed, a remark¬ 
able one. Although called the Bermuda Lily, it is, no doubt, the 
Lilium longiflorum of Japan. Many years ago, about twenty or more, 
it was exported to Bermuda, and there its whole character seems to have 
been changed. Instead of producing a stem about 18 inches, with a 
tingle flower at the extremity, the Bermuda roots throw up one 4 feet 
high, producing six, seven, or eight flowers; but it will not do for Mr. 
K. Morse (page 294) to rely on the bulbs he has grown this year, for 
they will revert to the original type, so that it is one of those cases in 
which we must rely on imported bulbs, a great number of which are 
annually sent over to this country. I generally plant them out after 
the first year, and they succeed well in the open border. I believe the 
above is the general experience in the growing of this Lily, and your 
correspondent will, I think, save himself much disappointment by not 
relying on the bulbs he has grown this year.—D., Deal. 
I QUITE agree with all that Mr. Morse has written (page 294) in 
favour of this really grand Lilium for decorative purooses. Either in 
pots as specimen plants for groups, or in a cut state, and placed in tall 
vases for the drawing-room, it is invaluable, coming into flower as 
it does at an opportune time when there are but few other varieties to 
be seen. I have grown this Lily very successfully for the past five or 
six years, of which a reference to a note that appeared in these columns 
in June, 1893, will prove. 
My experience is that it is not an uncommon thing for it to flower a 
second tiine the same season, but that it is detrimental to the well doing 
of the bulb the following year there is no doubt whatever, as the spikes 
are of a very meagre description compared with the first, and I have 
given up keeping the bulbs in consequence, obtaining a fresh supply 
in from the nurseryman annually to save disappointment. — 
Wai. Robinson, Wextdury. 
WASPS IN 1894. 
These have been scarcely so numerous with us as last year, although 
most fruit growers will have found them sufficiently so to destroy a 
considerable number of choice fruits on walls in the open, particularly 
Pears. The frequent rains and dull sunless weather did not appear to 
have made much difference to them in point of numbers, and certainly 
they made an earlier appearance than I ever remember them to have 
done before. I do not know if it is unusual for wasps to be active in 
the construction of their nests so early as the first week of June, 
but in the dry terrace bank of the flower garden here we found one at 
the date named with young in various stages of life, from the smallest 
“ maggot ” to the almost fully fledged wasp. Their choice of situation 
for the construction of their nest was a very favourable one, being near 
the top of a deep slope, and this overhung with lofty Plane trees. 
No doubt the warmth of the spring had much to do with their 
early movement in nest building, but it was not one in which it might 
have been expected to be favourable to them to the extent it has actu¬ 
ally proved to be. Last year we destroyed over a hundred nests, but 
this season only half that number has been dealt with, although it must 
be admitted a smaller circuit was made in search. Cyanide of potas¬ 
sium is the agent employed for dealing with them in the nest, and 
nothing more simple or effectual could be imagined. It may be applied 
in a liquid or dry state, but I have used it only in a liquid form, 
being under the impression that it is more economic and easy of applica¬ 
tion. What we have is in a hard lump state, requiring warm water to 
dissolve it quickly. With one half-pint bottle of the cyanide we make 
3 quarts of liquid ready for use, and a small tin is kept for the purpose 
from one year to another for measuring and pouring the needful 
amount in the entrance to the nest. About a tablespoonful, more or 
less, according to the strength of the colony and the size of the 
entrance, is given. What its action on the insects is I cannot explain, 
but whatever it may be, they have no apparent suspicion that anything 
unusual awaits them. They fly in direct as is their custom, but do not 
return to commit further mischief. 
There is no comparison in the use of cyanide and the ordinary gun¬ 
powder squib ; the latter is of no use until nightfall, when all are in, 
while the other is best applied in the day when they are active. In the 
one case a single journey suffices, the other demands two visits. In the 
early part of the season it is necessary to dig out and destroy the 
” brood ” the same as is done by those who adopt the squib, because 
unless this is done they soon become re-established in the natural course 
of hatching, the cyanide not affecting them unless it can be poured 
directly on the comb, and this is not often possible. These young ones 
have been actually observed this year carrying away their dead which 
was obstructing the passage to the nest. 
The influence of one summer-like day on the energies and destructive 
powers of the wasp is remarkable. The general experience of fruit growers 
hereabouts was that on Sunday, August 19th, they suddenly set about 
their destructive business among Plums and other soft fruit in such a 
manner as to create considerable alarm, the trees being almost a living 
mass of insect life. Plums, Gages, Cherries, and Peaches disappeared as 
if by magic, and if immediate steps had not been taken to check them, 
but little presentable fruit would have been left for the grower to dis¬ 
pose of. 
Scotts’ destroyer was a valuable help this season applied to the 
damaged fruit and on some of the leaves here and there. The wasps 
devour the liquid poison bait greedily, and in a very short time after 
they disappear for the remainder of the day and sometimes the following 
one. Last year for some unexplained reason neither Scotts’ or Davis’s 
gave uniform results. I procured some of the latter, being advised to 
do so by a friend who had found Scotts’ to be ineffectual, but my success 
was no better than that of my adviser. This season, however, Scotts’ 
acted in a magical manner both in the vineries, where they had com¬ 
menced their attack in earnest, and on wall trees outdoors. By following 
up its use, together with the cyanide, their numbers are very much 
reduced, and now but little damage is done by them at all, and none 
among Grapes still hanging on the Vines. 
Hornets have given but very little trouble so far, and only one neat 
has been found, while last year several were destroyed, not however 
before a number of Pears and Apples had been completely spoilt by 
them.—W. Strugnell. 
A CIRCULAR TOUR. 
Shrewsbury. 
On leaving Osmaston on an afternoon in August it was with the 
object of arriving at Shrewsbury on the eve of the great show. Hotel 
accommodation had been secured a fortnight in advance, as is necessary 
on the occasions of the annual horticultural gatherings in the interesting 
town of black-and-white striped houses and quaintly carved architec¬ 
tural ornamentation. Some of the old houses in Shrewsbury, as well as 
others more modern but in the same style, are decidedly picturesque ; 
and it is to be hoped that however advantageous in some respects our 
In de siecle buildings may be, the ancient style will never be wholly 
banished from Shrewsbury, for this would simply spoil it. It is a clean, 
thrifty looking town, but “ full ” in the fullest sense of the word at show 
time ; and it may be expected the hotel proprietors, among others, sub¬ 
scribe liberally to the Society which brings so much grist to the mill 
yearly. Our hostel was the “ Raven ”—a county house of high repute, 
every room taken—some by great magnates, others by great gardeners, 
and still others by the representatives of great nurserymen. It is to be 
remembered the show is a great one, and so let those who are associated 
with it be “ great ” for the time. But perhaps another excellent hotel, 
the “ George,” is the “gardeners’ house.” It was simply packed with 
the professional descendants of Adam—a veritable brotherhood from 
various parts of the kingdom. It will probably be correct to say that 
at no other time and in no other place can so many skilled gardeners be 
found assembled as in Shrewsbury during the show week—as fine a body 
of men, too, physically and intellectually, as could be found in any 
industrial craft in any country in the world. 
Ventilation Wanted. 
The Shrewsbury Show has been reported, and is not going to be done 
over again now. Those whose duty it was to note the wealth of splendid 
produce in the closed tents on that tropical Wednesday will not soon 
