December 11. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
107 
let it be done as soon as any of the fly is visible on the 
plants, or they will increase, and, by sucking out the 
juices of the plant, cause the leaves to curl up, become 
diseased, and, finally, either destroy the plants or cause 
the flowers to bloom distorted in shape and deficient in 
colour, thus disappointing the hopes, and rendering 
useless all the previous cares of propagation and culture. 
The next enemy to contend with is the common garden 
slug. Where this pest abounds in great numbers the 
most effectual destructive agent is lime-water; this is 
made by pouring clean water upon quick-lime—a peck 
of quick-lime will make six gallons of lime-water. The 
best way to make it is to procure a tub, or a vessel made 
of any other material, sufficiently large to contain it; 
this tub or vessel should have a tap inserted in the side, 
about six inches above the bottom, or high enough to 
be above the lime when it is settled to the bottom. 
Put in the lime, pour on the water, and stir it well up 
till the water has taken up as much lime as it will 
absorb ; then let it settle till it is quite clear, which it 
will soon become, excepting a thin scum on the surface; 
then pull out the tap and draw off'the clear water, and 
water the bed with it: do this in the evening of a dry 
day, and again in the morning. This application will 
generally be found sufficient, unless there are in the 
neighbourhood lurking places, such as edgings of box 
or thrift, and beds of vegetables thickly grown; where 
such is the case, a narrow train of quick-lime, in powder, 
should be laid all round the pink-bed, to protect the 
plants, by preventing the slugs from creeping over out 
of their ambush. Traps may be laid for them where 
they are not very numerous ; these traps are cabbage or 
lettuce leaves, or even brewer’s grains ; these traps must 
be examined every morning, and the snails picked up 
and destroyed. 
The last of tins sad catalogue of enemies to con¬ 
tend with is the wireworm, happily not so prevalent 
or so prolific as either of the others, but where it does 
abound it is most destructive, and the worst is that 
it is a concealed enemy, and cannot be perceived till it 
has completely destroyed the plants attacked by it, 
eating out the pith and marrow only, and thus keeping 
the plant alive till the last bit of its delicate food is con¬ 
sumed ; then the plant, looking so green and fresh, 
droops its head and dies a sudden death. This con¬ 
cealed enemy can be destroyed only by presenting to it 
food more palatable, or, at least, more easily come at, 
than the marrow of the pink. This food is thick slices 
of potatoes, or Swedish turnips, buried slightly in the 
soil near the plants, and taken up every two or three 
days; the wireworm will be found with its head buried 
in the slices, and is then easily caught and destroyed. 
A good, useful protection from the wireworm, is to plant 
a few Coss lettuce plants amongst the pinks ; the Goss 
food are more attractive to the wireworm, and conse¬ 
quently, in a great measure, the pinks escape its de¬ 
structive ravages. T. Appleby. 
To be continued. 
NOTES TAKEN DURING A JOURNEY 
IN AUGUST, 1851. 
Instead of our usual paper*on Exotic Stove Plants, 
we shall this week give a brief account of some things 
noted in the gardens at Trentham, belonging to His 
Grace the Duke of Sutherland, which, we think, will be 
interesting, and, perhaps, useful to some of our readers. 
In the first place we would observe, that the gardens 
generally are in the highest order of keeping, both in 
the houses, whether devoted to fruits or plants, and the 
various objects cultivated in the open air. It is not our 
intention to enter into a minute description of every 
department of gardening, so well cultivated and carried 
out there under the well-known skill of Mr. Fleming, 
the talented manager of these most extensive gardens, 
becaitse to do that would be sufficient almost to fill a 
volume ; but we will glance at a few things that appeared 
to us either new, or peculiarly excellent, and worthy of 
imitation. 
Standard Pear-tree Training. —The method practised 
with these is to train them, first up with a single stem, 
to the height of six or seven feet, and then to stop 
them, and as the shoots grow, to train them downwards 
in the shape of an opened umbrella. This method 
appeared to check the strong growth, and cause them 
to be more fruitful, besides being more easily come at 
to prune in the autumn, and gather the fruit when ripe. 
In the centre of one of the fruit gardens there is a long 
walk, trellised on each side, and arched over. This is 
covered with pears, and when we were there they had 
on them ah abundant crop of fine fruit. The blossoms 
had been protected from the late spring frosts by an 
awning of canvass supported from off the trees by 
long rods and iron arches about six inches above them. 
This is an elegant and sure way of growing the pear, 
and the better kind of apples. 
Grafting Pears. —The pears against the walls here 
have grafts put upon the long branches with the best 
effect. Instead of ugly spurs, producing a quantity of 
breast-wood, or, as the old school termed them, lore- 
rights, the long branches are grafted generally with the 
same variety, at two feet apart on the upper side of the 
branches, and then grow; they are nailed close to the 
wall. The trees by this method are furnished with 
bearing well-ripened wood quite to the centre of 
each tree. 
The Apple-trees in these gardens are planted in quarter 
quincunx-fashion, and trained in the goblet shape ; they 
are root-pruned, and were very fruitful. 
The gardens at Trentham are rather low in situation, 
upon a clay subsoil, and consequently cherries did not 
formerly grow well, nor did they fruit satisfactorily, 
especially that useful variety the Morello. In fact, the 
growing of this kind against the north walls was almost 
given up in despair, and Mr. Fleming found them in a 
wretched state. Judging that this was owing to the 
roots being too wet, he had the old soil removed, and 
a foot deep of broken stones, brick-rubble, &c., put in 
the border; upon this he placed six inches only ot good 
rich soil, in which he planted young healthy trees some 
eight or nine years ago. The result exceeded his most 
sanguine expectations. The trees grew luxuriantly,—in 
two or three years bore some fine fruit, and have con¬ 
tinued healthy up to this day. When we saw them 
they were really the finest trees we ever saw. This is a 
lesson in cherry-growing worthy of being studied and 
imitated. 
The Gooseberry. —This useful fruit is cultivated at 
Trentham in a novel way. Two rows of rails are set up 
about four feet high, and nine inches apart; the bushes 
are planted between them, and trained within them. 
In this way they are easily covered with mats to protect 
them from the birds, and preserve the fruit to a late 
period. The method has the advantage of a very neat 
and orderly appearance. 
The Currant. —Red and White varieties are grown 
here as standards to a largo extent. They are trained 
up with a single stem about three feet high, then stop¬ 
ped, and allowed to form bushy heads. Elevated in 
this manner, the fruit ripens much better, is of a finer 
flavour, and each bush can be effectually protected from 
birds by netting, or may be preserved to a late period 
by matting more effectually than in the usual low-bush 
system. 
Fruit-Houses.- —The most striking object in this de¬ 
partment was a house of Queen Pine-apples, just swelled 
ready for ripening. The house was nine lights long, 
and on a very low computation it would yield flOOibs. 
