October 11, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
347 
with linseed oil. I am of opinion that one coat of paint is ample at one 
time, for this reason : If more than one coat is put on I am afraid it would 
scale off. Besides, it would be better to give the wires one good coat 
annually rather than two or three coats at one time, for at least two or 
three years. I have found that Cucumbers, Melons, and Tomatoes have 
been diseased where trained to galvanised wire. I have had my suspicions 
that Vines have been injured where the tender shoots have come in contact 
with the wire, but as a preventive I shall have all the wires painted with 
one coat of good white lead and the walls with Carson’s anti-corrosion 
paint, which answers the purpose admirably. We have tried it on galvanised 
wire, but it does not adhere to it.” 
This letter repeats a remedy that, so far as I know, has never failed ; 
and it does not appear to be necessary to incur the expense of substi¬ 
tuting copper for galvanised wire. 
Mr. Geddes, writing from near Derby, attributes the injury to the 
overheating of the galvanised wire by the sun. He states that— 
“ The wires in a Peach house became so hot that no young shoot in 
contact with them could escapa injury. I immediately had the wires 
painted with two coats of white paint, and a gentleman suggested that blue 
paint would be equally effectual. We painted again with blue, and never 
bad a shoot injured since. Last summer we had two Peach houses painted. 
The painters painted the stout iron rods black, and every shoot that crossed 
those rods was burned, and by way of experiment a part was shaded 
from the sun, and no injury followed there. Galvanised wire becomes 
too hot when not painted, and that is the sole cause of injury. Black or 
brown paint will not prevent the wire being heated ; white will, as it is 
non-conductor of heat.” 
That, as the Yankees say, is a “ new notion,” but the over-heating 
theory fails to answer the question that the wire under notice is 
injurious in some cases and not in others. The sun’s heat is general, 
and is certainly as intense in the country as near towns—at Longleat, 
for instance, where galvanised wire is innocuous to vegetation, as near 
Sheffield and Derby, where its use is dangerous. Further, char¬ 
coal drawn wire is black and safe, and old oxidised wire is much darker 
than new galvanised wire, while the latter and lighter coloured is 
unquestionably the more injurious. 
A Berkshire correspondent, “A. L. N.,” writes as follows on imper¬ 
fections in galvanising :— 
“Assumiug for the moment that perforations in the zinc coating do 
exist—though they may, perhaps, be too minute to be visible with the 
naked eye—what will be their effect. At each one of them we have two 
nut of the three requisites for forming a galvanic cell. We have the two 
dissimilar metals, iron and zinc (the latter the most active ordinary metal 
that could be found for the purpose), and at some near point they are 
perfectly connected. The only thing, therefore, that is required for 
producing a slight local electric current is a drop of water, whilst a drop 
containing an acid will give a considerably stronger current. Drops of 
either kind may be supplied by the rain according to the situation. If they 
fall through the pure air of the country the raindrops will give feeble 
currents; if through the smoke-laden atmosphere of our towns they will 
have absorbed some of the sulphurous acid which is always present, and 
the action will be stronger. In either case its effect will be to dissolve 
some of the zinc, thus en’arging the uncovered portion of iron, which at 
first may have been a mere speck, till sooner or later it reaches some branch 
that is tied to the wire and subjects it to the fatal influence of the electric 
current. Several of Mr. Wright’s facts tend probably to this explanation. 
He finds that—first, wire of the same metal throughout has no injurious 
effect (no galvanic action can here take place); secondly, more injury 
takes place near towns than in the country districts, because ihe rain 
contains acid in the former case ; thirdly, immunity is obtained by well 
painting the wire—the paint closes the perforations and prevents the action. 
The alleged existence of free acid in the body of the wire is curious. If 
it is there and escapes in the manner stated, it would in doing so act more 
readily on the zinc than on the iron, and would thus produce the per¬ 
forations in question. But independently of their being produced in this 
way, one would quite expect to find them, as zincing depends only on 
mechanically moistening the surface of the iron, which is itself far from 
homogenous. Lastly, the almost passive condition which zinc assumes after 
exposure as compared with its chemical activity when bright and clean, 
would seem to account for old wire being harmless in cases where new 
would do mischief.” 
This a very interesting letter, but whatever force the observations 
may have generally, they do not apply to the above mentioned 
experiments, which, with four Vines out of the five, '• not a drop of 
water ” was applied to the wires. The Vines were grown under glass, and 
there was no leakage from the roof. 
In purchasing new galvanised wire any that will not bend freely 
should be rejected. Unpainted and pliable wire may probably be safely 
•employed in country districts where the air is pure, provided the wire 
is placed in water for a week before it is used for the extraction of 
-any acid it may contain, but near towns and in manufacturing and 
mining districts the new wire cannot be regarded as safe if it is not well 
painted.— J. Wright. 
A FASCIATED VEGETABLE MARROW. 
Mr. John E. Jeffries, Oxford, sends us a remarkable example of 
a fasciated growth in a Vegetable Marrow, similar to that depicted in 
the engraving (fig. 5-1). The growth is inches in width and is about 
3 feet in length, and is, moreover, studded with small Marrows to the 
end of the shoot. We have seen fasciated growths in Vegetable 
Marrows on many occasions, but such specimens as that sent by our 
correspondent are not of frequent occurrence. 
UNITED HORTICULTURAL BENEFIT AND 
PROVIDENT SOCIETY. 
Annual Dinner. 
The supporters and members of the United Horticultural Benefit 
and Provident Society held their eighth anniversary dinner at Cannon 
Street Hotel on Tuesday evening, the 9th inst. Arnold Moss, Esq., 
presided, and he was supported by a large company, about 130 persons 
sitting down to the tables. Among those present we noticed Sir Stuart 
Knill (ex-Lord Mayor of London), Clarence Smith, Esq., M.P., Messrs. 
H. J. Veitch, W. J. Nutting, J. H. Veitch, P. Barr, J. Cheal, G. J. 
FIG. 51.— A FASCIATED VEGETABLE MARROW. 
Ingram, W. Marshall, N. Cole, J. Hudson, G. W. Cummins, J. George, 
G. Wheeler, G. Mortimer, and many other patrons of horticulture, 
nurserymen, and gardeners. The tables were beautifully decorated with 
Begonias, Dahlias, Ferns, Palms, and various flowers and plants kindly 
sent by Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, J. Hudson, J. Laing & Sons, and 
others. The first mentioned firm also forwarded bouquets for the 
ladies, who carried out an excellent musical programme. Fruit for 
dessert too was likewise liberally supplied by Messrs. W. Thomson and 
Sons, Clovenfords, and many friends of the Society. The arrangements 
were admirably carried out by the Secretary, Mr. W. Collins. 
The Chairman, after the usual loyal toasts had been honoured, pro¬ 
posed the toast of “ The United Horticultural Benefit and Provident 
Society,” coupled with the name of Mr. J. Hudson. In doing this he 
remarked that the Society was in a wonderfully flourishing condition. 
There were now 520 benefit members, about half of which subscribed 
9d., and the others Gd. per week, exclusive of a small subscription for 
the management fund, and these were entitled to receive 10.?. and IGs. 
respectively for sick pay. Gardeners could not have a better investment 
for their money than this, and it was now proposed to increase the sum 
to 12s. and 18s. a week as the sick pay. (Applause.) He was of the 
} opinion that this fact was worthy of the consideration of all subscribers, 
I and he also thought it was a great pity that more gardeners did not join 
