1877. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
1)5 
inaclc a few inches in depth, and the rods laid in it and covered over, taking care that the two 
uppermost eyes are left out of the ground. These will come into growth early if not killed 
by frost, and the protected buds will be proportionately retarded. If frost ensue the upper 
exposed buds will bo killed, but the subterranean ones will be preserved. When danger from 
frost is over, the young shoots are pruned away if frozen; if not, they are pinched in so as to 
etpialise the growth from the long wood. The covering-up is done in February, the uncovering 
at the end of May. 
- ^s a weed-destroye.r Carbolic Acid seems likely to prove a boon to 
gardeners. Sucli weeds as Dandelions are killed by one application, tlie mode of 
applying it to destroy single plants being to make a hole into tlie crown with an 
iron point, and then to pour on a little of the liquid from a bottle. For paved yards, and 
also for garden-paths, the carbolic acid is mixed with from ten to fifty times its quantity of 
water in a bucket, according to its original strength, and applied with a brush or broom, or 
from a rose watering-can, a sunny day being the best. 
- ^NE of the great necessities in the cultivation of plants such as fruit- 
trees and flowering-plants, and excluding such as annuals, is llest. The gardener’s 
axiom is to ripen the season’s growth properly, and then to give a long period of 
complete rest. Kest, however, in this case does not imply inaction, but rather change of 
work, for during what is called the resting-period many physical and chemical changes take 
place, such as concentration of liquid juices, changes in their chemical composition, consoli¬ 
dation of tissues, and the like, all aptly enough summed up in the expression “ ripening the 
wood.” But a plant “ at rest ” is really no more inactive than the chrysalis of a butterfly, in 
which wonderful transformations are taking place. 
- a Substitute for Persian Insect-Powder^ the wild rosemary {Ledum 
palustre) has been suggested in America. When dried as well as fresh it is destructive 
to lice, bugs, fleas, moths, &c. The tincture prepared from it is also a remedy for 
the bites of gnats, and insects generally, not only relieving the itching in a short time, but 
also the pain, when applied to a wound. The tincture repels gnats, when mixed with 
glycei'ine and rubbed upon the skin. It seems to deserve notice on account of these proper¬ 
ties, and its possible substitution for the more expensive and frequently adulterated Persian 
insect-powder. The plant is most effective when fresh and in bloom, and should be gathered 
in the latter condition. 
- ®HE true Dwarf Purple Queen Stock is not only one of the hardiest of 
its class, but scarcely behind the best imported summer kinds in the production 
of double flowers. In a large bed raised from seed saved indiscriminately, and 
not subjected to any particular thinning or selection, just seventy-five plants in the hundred 
are double, a proportion that ought to satisfy the most exacting, having regard, at the same 
time, to the necessity for the production of seed. This Stock is of a rich, deep, violet- 
purple hue, and is very dwarf and compact, seldom exceeding 15 in, in height when in full 
bloom. In some cottage gardens in the neighbourhood of Feltham, Middlesex, it is ■well 
grown, the double flowers being cut in bunches for market. When grown in bulk, it is a 
capital successor to the dark Wallflower, and furnishes an immense amount of deliciously- 
perfumed flowers all through the month of May. As a bedding-plant it is most effective, 
and produces a mass of colour that would rival any other bedding-plant. 
- ®E learn from M. Ortgies that the Colorado Spruce, Abies Menziesii 
Parryana^ mentioned at p. 47, is without doubt the same as one of which Mr. B. 
Roezl collected a great quantity of seeds in the Colorado Mountains in the 
autumn of 1874. Mr. Roezl spoke very highly of the decorative value of this Spruce, the 
foliage glittering like silver in the sun, and said it ought to be called Silver Spruce, and when 
once fairly known would become a great favourite. He also took it for a variety of Abies 
Menziesii, but said that it never made such tall trees, and had a better and much more 
compact habit. On examining the specimens sent to him, M. Ortgies found it to be the 
Abies co7mnut<%ta of Professor Parlatoro {Abies Engelmanni, Parry), under which name the 
