1875. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
167 
results different materials, such as old fishing-nets, tiffany, woollen nets, mats, 
hay and straw bands, beech-boughs, fern-fronds, &c.; but I now give preference 
to the use of small branches of the common spruce, which I consider better than 
any of the other materials I have just mentioned, with, of course, the exception 
of glass. 
Hay and straw bands are exceedingly littery, and are not always found to be 
effectual, while fern-fronds, being very light and brittle, are blown about by the 
wind. Similar objections also apply to beech and laurel-boughs ; but when the 
trees are lightly covered by small boughs or twigs of the common spruce, newly 
cut from the trees, and applied when the blossoms are beginning to expand, 
the leaves being small, do not greatly exclude light and air from them, and as 
the season advances, the leaves of the spruce-twigs continue to fall gradually off 
without producing litter or confusion. At the same time, protection is gradually 
becoming less necessary, so that by the last week of April the twigs may gene¬ 
rally be removed altogether, from Apricot-trees, at least, as by that time the 
natural foliage will generally be sufficiently advanced to afford the necessary pro¬ 
tection to the newly-formed fruit. 
I cannot say whether there is or is not anything in the resinous nature of the 
spruce-branches which proves inimical to the development of insect life, but I 
have always found that where this material has been used, the trees are less in¬ 
fested by aphis and leaf-rolling caterpillars than in cases where other materials 
have been used for the purpose of protection.—P. Grieve, Culford , Bury St. 
Edmunds. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
XHIBITIONS are quite the order of the day in the months of May and 
June, and several have taken place around the metropolis since our last 
number was printed. The Eoyal Botanic Society has held two—one 
on May 26, and another on June 16. The first was remarkable for its 
abundance of Flowering-plants, imparting a rich colouring to the whole display; the second 
was also a well-filled and nicely varied exhibition of fully average merit. The Royal 
Horticultural Society held its great summer show on June 2; and thanks to the competition 
for Mr. Bull’s silver cups, it proved one of the most interesting shows ever held, its principal 
feature being New Plants. Some fine Palms, Dracaenas, and Cycads were also produced, 
but there was a deficiency of flowering-plants. The show of the Crystal Palace Company, 
on May 29, was another excellent show, most remarkable for its Pot-Roses, Stove and Green¬ 
house Plants, Orchids, and New Plants. A large group of plants belonging to the Company, 
and arranged by Mr. G. Thomson, one of the officials, was most effective. 
- (Cultivators of Ferns, even those of some experience, are frequently 
perplexed with the results of their attempts to raise Ferns from spores. M. 
Mayer, in a very interesting paper on this subject, points out some of the chief 
difficulties and the best means of surmounting them. The principal aim should be to exclude 
the spores and germs of other Ferns, Liverworts, &c., but this is no easy task; in fact, it is 
impossible to do so altogether. To abate the evil as much as possible, the animal as well as 
the vegetable life contained in the compost used must be destroyed, and this is most effectually 
done by boiling or baking it for a short time, and using it immediately afterwards. The 
greater danger, however, is in the Fern-house itself, where there are spore-bearing plants of 
some of the exceedingly fertile species of Pteris, Gymnogramma, &c., the spores of which 
