140 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
faster by radiation than beat can be re-snpplied. In a word, it is occasioned by 
tbe earth being colder than the air. Dew first ascends and then descends. After 
the atmosphere is impregnated to the full with the ascending dew the surplusage 
returns to the earth. As the dew descends perpendicularly, thatched fruit walls 
have an advantage over walls without copings, or with narrow copings. 
We all like a fine dewy morning, but none of us like a hoar frost, which is 
frozen dew. I am more afraid of hoar frost than dry black frost. Severe frosts 
usually occur in the early part of winter, during Nature’s dormancy : moreover, 
very severe frosts occur but seldom. Hoar frosts occur every year with frequency 
after spring-quickening; and hence, though not so severe as winter frosts, they 
are, on the whole, more injurious. In either case moisture gives frost power. 
Plants, or vegetables, suffer more in low damp situations than on the hills. 
Therefore, keep tender things as high and dry as you can. 
Rushton. W. F. Eadclyffe. 
RECIPE FOR DESTROYING GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR. 
Take 1 ounce of hellebore powder, and 2 ounces of powdered alum, dilute 
these first in a small quantity of water, so as to get them thoroughly mixed, then 
add a gallon of water. Apply the mixture to the bushes affected either by wetting 
them with a syringe or waterpot over the upper surface of the leaves, the cater¬ 
pillar will drop soon after feeding upon the leaves. I have made use of the same 
proportion for a number of years, and I have always found it most effectual. 
Hellebore powder will destroy these pests by dusting them dry, but it cannot in 
this way be applied so regularly over the leaves as when diluted. The principal 
use of the alum is to cause it to adhere to the leaves. The price of hellebore 
powder is Is. 6d. per lb., and alum M. One gallon would do from ten to twelve 
full-sized bushes, it is therefore by no means an expensive affair. It is, however, 
very requisite to keep a vigilant eye over the bushes in watching their first 
attacks, and applying the recipe as soon as the insects are observed. If only 
applied to those bushes which are seen to be attacked, the first or second good 
shower of rain makes the leaves as clean as if nothing had been done to them. 
Gordon Castle. John Webster. 
HOYA PAXTONI. 
This is a gem and a worthy addition to recently-imported plants. All the 
Hoyas are undoubtedly beautiful when well grown. Bella makes a fine plant for a 
basket, but it is far from being such a free grower as Paxtoni. The subject of 
these few remarks strikes freely from cuttings at almost any season. If spring 
cuttings are employed it is advisable not to allow the plants to bloom the same 
season, but grow them on all through the season in an ordinary stove near the 
glass, pinching out the points occasionally to secure a good bushy plant. Three 
struck cuttings in a pot make a good specimen much sooner than one, I would 
never put in less than two. Be careful not to over-pot at any stage, it grows freer 
under than over-potted ; a 24-size pot is amply large enough for a tolerably good 
specimen; a 32 is a most suitable size to grow in for table-decoration, of which 
Paxtoni is well adapted: I scarcely know a more suitable plant. It will grow 
freely in sandy peat and leaf mould with a few lumps of charcoal or a few pot¬ 
sherds in the soil. I have plants of Paxtoni now in bloom, which have been sub¬ 
jected to this treatment, which are beautiful objects. 
Crom Castle. John Edlington. 
ON THE BARK OF THE LIME TREE. 
Gardeners know the use of bast mats, both for protecting and tying-up 
plants ; but some may not know how the useful material is obtained ot which 
they are made. Bast is derived from the Eussian word “ Bast,’ which means 
bark. Lately a friend showed me some matting, fully equal in quality to that of 
foreign growth, which he had made from the bark of the Lime tree after it was 
