5C0 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 20, 1894. 
Christmas Day). Hark back to your bothy days and say if minus this 
time-honoured institution could Christmas be Christmas still 1 We 
thought not, and I venture to say that in many a bothy such thoughts are 
common at the festive season, and more than one sigh goes up for the 
big pot at home. 
Now, it is more than probable that this may be noticed by some 
situated as we were, feeling as we did, and moreover possessed of 
similar hazy ideas on the subject. Those I should like to help. Not 
daring to go into details, and presupposing the essential elements 
necessary to construction are known to all, I will just say, Go in for equal 
quantities and you wilt not go far wrong, making such additions as fancy 
may dictate, or the village shop be able to supply. But, remember, I 
beseech you that there is one thing indispensable, the omission of which, 
by an Italian chef, resulted in an English ambassador’s plum pudding 
being served up in a soup tureen. That one thing is the cloth. Do not 
•forget it. As for a boiler, neither saddles nor tubulars will serve your 
purpose so well as the old-fashioned pot. Stoke well for eight or ten 
iours, and may your labours be rewarded, as ours were, by a merry 
'Christmas. 
D.S.—It has crossed my mind that an expert, in the shape of some 
bothy lad’s mother, may see this, criticise and condemn my formula as 
likely to result in a “ Killmright ” compound. To her I will say. Madam, 
with all deference to your superior knowledge, you have yet to learn the 
capabilities of a bothy appetite and digestion.— The Xmas Cook. 
THE TOMATO—FRUIT OR VEGETABLE? 
Why not add to the above, “ or both ? ” I am constantly having the 
question submitted to me by secretaries of local societies, and my 
- answer is invariably to the following effect—viz., a Tomato is without 
any question a fruit. That is a fact which admits of no gainsaying. 
Therefore (unless by the express words of the schedule it is excepted) 
it may always be shown in any “ collection of fruit.” How many 
points the judges would give it when so shown is a different matter, 
but it is impossible that anyone can be fairly “ disqualified ” by 
showing this particular fruit in a collection of fruit. 
It is a little more difficult to say what a vegetable strictly is, but of this 
we may be sure, that in our gardening language fruits may be vegetables, 
c.g., Cucumbers, Capsicums, Aubergines, and Marrows, and therefore 
Tomatoes, though often eaten at dessert, may also quite properly be 
shown in a collection of vegetables. 
Whether fruits which are only used green as vegetables could be 
•properly shown as “fruits” is a different question. If schedules ran 
“ collection of dessert fruits ” it would certainly exclude them, though 
it would still leave Tomatoes in ; but schedules are, I am sorry to 
say, generally somewhat indefinite. This, however, is certain, Tomato 
is a fruit, is often eaten at dessert and often at dinner as a vegetable- 
-It may, therefore, be shown as either.—W. Wilks. 
[The Tomato is, of course, strictly speaking, a fruit, and similarly, 
strictly speaking, so is a Cucumber, and even a Kidney Bean pod, and 
when we eat any of them we eat “ fruits but those which are eaten 
in a cooked state, or sliced and used in salads, are eaten as vegetables, 
and as such therefore they are shown in vegetable classes. 
As it will not be disputed that nine out of every ten Tomatoes are 
eaten in one or other of those forms the custom has become established 
to admit them in collections of exhitited vegetables without any objec¬ 
tions being raised, and as they are so rarely regarded as dessert fruits 
and eaten as such the custom has also become established only to admit 
them as eligible for exhibiting in collections of fruit by special stipu¬ 
lations in schedules. 
In the absence of any established law, or the provision of a rule 
formulated by an authoritative body and generally accepted, “ custom ” 
becomes the determining factor, and therefore it is very much safer, for 
the purpose of avoiding disqualification in fruit classes, to exclude 
Tomatoes from them than to include them, because if included (in the 
absence of any stipulation specially admitting them), and judges dis¬ 
qualify, there is no existing means of upsetting the verdict, and in a 
court of equity it would be sustained by the weight of established 
custom. On the other hand, no one would think of disqualifying a 
collection of vegetables for containing a dish of Tomatoes. 
The existing presumption is that Tomatoes must be relegated to 
vegetable classes, because, though “fruits” (as Cucumbers, Pumpkins 
and Kidney Bean nods are, and even Peas “strictly” speaking) they 
are in the main used as vegetables. Mr. Wilks would change the pre¬ 
sumption, and it is a fair and legitimate subject for consideration, but 
until it is changed judges at shows can do as has been done in the past_ 
disqualify if Tomatoes form part of a collection of fruit in the absence 
of special stipulations rendering them admissible. 
If Tomatoes are improving into dessert fruits, and being to any 
considerable extent used as such, they will have a claim to be admitted 
into fruit classes. As we have advised intending exhibitors on many 
occasions not to run the risk of disqualification by showing Tomatoes in 
fruit classes, we feel it a duty to point out in these remarks the basis of 
our advice. It is not because we have any preferences in the matter, 
or the least desire to appear in conflict with any proposed change, but 
because we are convinced of the prudence of acting in accordance with 
what comes next to law—“ customary usage ” as a safeguard against 
disqualification in this reference. 
A very old judge used to settle the matter in this way—“a ‘fruit’ 
that is dressed with pepper, salt, or vinegar for use, is used as a vegetable, 
and should be exhibited as such ; a fruit that is served with sugar or 
syrup, if not sweet enough without, is not used as a vegetable, and its 
proper place is in the fruit classes.” Is this appeal to the palate out 
of date ? 
The whole question is particularly worthy of serious consideration by 
the proposed committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. It is only by 
the combined efforts of a strong body of experts, scientific and practical, 
legal and literary, that a decision can be arrived at on this and other 
matters that will have sufficient weight for general acceptance by 
managers of shows and exhibitors of garden produce.l 
JOTTINGS ON APHIDES. 
For six months of the year, or rather more, the farmer and the 
gardener are comparatively free from the annoyance of insects. It is a 
matter of common observation that from October to April very few are 
to be seen on the wing or crawling about. Certainly, out of doors 
during the winter season there is little to afford them food in the shape 
of leaves, flowers, or fruit, so that they have good reasons for disappear¬ 
ing from view. Aphides are no exception to the general rule; most of 
them die with the fading leaves of autumn, and, as is the habit of many 
other insects, the last brood of the year deposits eggs to produce aphides 
in the spring. 
It has been known, however, for a long time that living aphides were 
to be found during the winter. Some in a torpid state, waiting warmer 
weather to prompt them to egg-laying, others not only active, but feeding 
in warm or sheltered situations. Recently, entomologists have reason to 
think, that the number of aphides alive in the colder months is larger 
than was supposed, but our observations are interfered with by their 
propensity for hiding, also by the habit some species have of migrating 
from one plant, or tree, to another quite different. Still, though the 
Aphis group is popularly called the “ fly ” to distinguish it from the 
Coccus or scale, flying is occasional only, and the most serious damage is 
done by those aphides that are wingless and viviparous. 
Few gardeners make acquaintance with the winged males of the 
Coccus, the female, with her shield-like body, being chiefly known. 
Before referring more particularly to hybernating aphides, I will say a 
tew words upon those now hidden in the egg state, because the eggs are 
often laid upon the bark of trees, hence the thorough cleansing carried 
out by some fruit growers during the autumn or winter months removes, 
with many other insects, aphis eggs deposited on twigs or branches, 
perhaps also on the trunks, if laid there, the young insects must have 
some difficulty in reaching the leaves. 
The Apple species (A. Mali) is a good example of one that lays eggs 
upon hark ; these are black, and large for the size of the insects. Rapid 
as is the increase of aphides, it is observable that the females, when they 
lay eggs, deposit only a few ; these, however, soon produce numerous 
and wingless broods. Another curious fact is that the eggs of aphides 
increase in size after they are laid owing to an elasticity of the shells. 
Frequently they resemble in colour the substance upon which they rest, 
and being flat they are not easily detected by the eye. 
One of the Hop aphides (Phorodon Humuli) comes to the bine in the 
summer, living previously on the Sloe and fruit trees; probably when 
the Hop dies off, an autumn-winged brood migrates back to the early 
food—at least, they return somehow. Some entomologists conjecture 
that many eggs of aphides are deposited on leaves, and subsequently 
carried through the air by the autumn gales to new localities ; if so, a 
proportion of these must perish. Another well-marked instance of 
migration is seen in Siphonophora granaria, which sucks the sap of the 
leaves of young cereals, and subsequently attacks the ears after the 
cutting of the crops, travels to various grasses, mostly the softer meadow 
species, upon which it winters. There is no doubt that a proportion of 
aphis eggs are deposited in the earth, probably upon or near the surface, 
and the young are conveniently situated for reaching seedlings. It may 
be advisable, therefore, to scrape off the surface soil in autumn wherever 
shrubs or plants have been much infested during the summer. By this 
means the increase of such a species as the Bean aphis, “ black collier,” 
or “dolphin” (A. fabas) might be checked, and also by the thorough 
clearance of weeds about fields. 
Then we have also new information concerning the habits of certain 
spring-laying aphides which might be called “ queen mothers,” and fulfil 
an office similar to that of the queen wasps which hybernate to found 
colonies in the next season. These queens of aphis race get into hollow 
stems of plants, amongst Docks and Nettles, or they secrete themselves 
in evergreens, such as Holly and Ivy. Nooks and corners under glass 
afford shelter to others of them, in fact conservatories are comfortable 
winter quarters to aphides, and they are frequently active, their presence 
being sometimes overlooked. Speaking generally, it may be asserted 
that they are insects liking moist places, unvisited by rough draughts of 
air; and as sudden changes of temperature do not suit them, any 
regulated warmth is agreeable, both in summer and winter. They have 
their favourites among our greenhouse plants; thus the Cineraria is 
much infested by Aphis opima, and its effect is very prejudicial, for the 
dropping of the leaves, and the rapid decay arising from the insect’s 
attack, indicate that the plant suffers a more serious injury than the 
mere loss of sap, and is affected by some poisonous secretion. Though 
not apparently partial out of doors to plants of a strong odour, yet 
