NoVEMrSKH 20. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
Cut ill very sandy and dry soils, tlio water-pot will 
prove of eminent service to tlie Apple, if used in time. 
It is ol no use merely sprinkling; nothing loss than a 
thorough iienetration of the whole mass of soil which 
contains the roots will suffice. And if, on the very heels 
of this, a thick coat of moist mulch, of any kind, can be 
applied, the success will be proportionately comj>lete, 
tl'.e mulch being laid four inches in thickness. This 
should he performed the moment the insects, or fungi, 
appears, jiroviding the weather is dry ; otherwise the evil 
must be sought in other quarters. Where these evils 
are suspected to arise from a soil or subsoil highly re¬ 
tentive of moisture, nothing short of drainage can be 
expected to cure the evil; and this, probably, accompa¬ 
nied by transplanting. Indeed, in all cases of ameliora¬ 
tion by means of draining, wliere trees are standing, 
it is well to take them carefully up and to replant them, 
although they may have been planted half-a-dozen years. 
Where soils have been soured by stagnant moisture, 
they seldom gain a healthful condition without being 
broken up. 
Thus much for soils, as affecting the mishaps that 
occur through insects or fungi; let us now see what 
remains as to this question. Whether Apple-trees havq^ 
been attacked, or no, in the previous summer, it is well, 
in my opinion, to give them an annual dressing of some 
kind. Our great orchardists, our men of acres, will, of 
course, say it is impossible; but we of the garden must 
not allow ourselves to be hedged in by their rough and 
off-hand plans. It is rather for ns to lead them than 
the reverse; audit is sometimes expedient to do that 
in a few poles of land, that would cease to be so in as 
many acres. Besides, we have a more delicate and 
very superior class of fruits to deal with than they have; 
and it is probable thatour superior dessert Apples would, 
as dwarfs, make no great show in a cider district witli 
cider Apple management. 
We all know that brushing in compositions is tedious 
woi’k, especially since labour has become so much more 
valuable ; hut there is no need for it, as to a general 
dressing. If I may suggest annual dressings by means j 
of the syringe, and supposing it requisite to meet as i 
many of the enemies of the Apple as could be in one ! 
mixture, it should be composed nearly thus:—soft-soap, j 
four ounces to the gallon of tepid water; add four 
handfuls of sulphur to each gallon; then add one gallon 
of stable-liquid, and thicken the whole iinally to the 
consistence of a thin paint, by the addition of clay 
water, made by working up clay in tepid water, and 
straining it through a course cloth ; a few handfuls of 
lime may bo added. With such a liquid, I would have 
the trees syringed twice; once in November, when the 
foliage is nearly all cast, and a second time in tlie begin¬ 
ning of ]\larcb, after the trees are pruned. This, I think, 
will prove of eminent service, and will destroy the 
coccus, or scaly insect, as well, which I had forgotten to 
name in its proper place, and which is occasionally a 
great injury to Apple-trees. 
R. EnRtNGTON. 
{To he continued,) 
12.1 
of the country. It was listened to very attentively, and 
its merit frequently acknowledged by loud and enthu¬ 
siastic applause. Several remaikable and curious speci¬ 
mens ot vegetal ion were exhibited and explained by Mr. 
Shophei'd. 'The tirstwas aniagnificentspecimen of al’ern, 
which Mr. She])herd stated was probably a new species 
ot the genus Plalycerium. It was discovered in the 
Illawarra district by a Mr. Richards, who, although he 
did not make any pretensions to a scientific education, 
possessed, nevertheless, a correct appreciation of the true 
beauties of botany. ]Mr. Shepherd took occasion to 
compliment him highly on the perseverance and taste 
wdiich he had displayed in the prosecution of his useful 
and instructive researches. He concluded by suggesting 
that a prize should be awarded to Mr. Richards, for the 
trouble he had taken in furnishing the Society with so 
valuable a subject for consideration. The Eern was 
exhibited in its natural state, completely encircling an 
iron-bark stump about a foot in diameter. Another new 
plant, which elicited much attention, was exhibited by 
Mr. Jessup. It is a specimen of the Gyxjripediiim spec- 
tahilis, and is the first of the kind that has flowered in 
the colony. A third rave and singular plant, from the 
Island of Guadalcauar, was exhibited and explained by 
Mr. T. W. Shepherd, and deservedly admired by the 
audience ..—(Sydney Morning Herald.) 
The Sydney Horttcultural Improvement Society. ' 
—The first monthly meeting of the Horticultural Im- ' 
provement Society took place, July 3rd., at the Royal i 
Hotel. 'The attendance was unexpectedly large, and 
comprised a considerable number of ladies, whose 
presence not only graced, but added considerable interest 
to the proceedings. In the absence of the vice- 
presidents, Mr. Reynolds was voted to the chair, and 
briefly explained the object for which the meeting had 
assembled. The secretary, Mr. Deane, then read a very 
interesting paper from IMr. Muspratt, on the vegetation 
PREPARING POTS FOR POTTING. 
It has often struck me as anomalous, that if there is 
really nothing new under the sun, how it is that some 
of the present race of gardeners lay claim to a new dis¬ 
covery, by mixing all sorts of abominations with water, 
and yet being, themselves, able to turn out that same 
water as clear and scentless as the sprays and sparklings 
at the fountains of the Crystal Palace. The practice 
must have been of old, and kept in reserve for the age 
which produced the present Lord Mayor. Be that as it 
is, there is one thing resulting from the practice, which 
is, certainly, new in gardening, and it is not only new, 
but very difficult to lind out, and no less difficult to be- 
lievm in it after it is discovered and made known ; at 
least, I find it so ; for I have been about, this autumn, 
lecturing on the new discovery, and not one in ten, I 
And, believe tbe story; or, if he does, will not act on it 
to nearly the same extent insisted on by the speaker. 
I shall, at last, write down the lecture, and wait, in 
better bopes of a brighter I'uture. But, no; I shall 
merely give the heads of the lecture, to save time and 
space. 
Well, it is as clear to me, as it is muddy against the 
clear liquid-manure waterers, that their water is not so 
clear as they say; that their now pots suck in the hidden 
poison from the clear water, to such a degree as is suf¬ 
ficient, for the time being, to save their plants from, say 
chronic diseases; but it turns out, I mean on the out¬ 
side of the pots, ultimately to do the plants as much or 
more harm than it ever did them good. I found this out 
by a long and careful examination among a groat number 
and variety of very dirty pots; and the way I account 
for it is this—when I was young, old pots used only to 
be nasty ; but in these days, I find them to be actually 
poisonous to fresh leaves, green shoots, and flower-buds 
—that I am certain of. The green slime and brown 
softiuess with which old pots, in the good old times, 
used to be covered, did no more damage than “ fogging 
off”’ the leaves when the state of the weather would not 
allow oPmuch air being given to the plants. November 
was then the worst time for “fogging;” and so it is now, 
to a certain extent; but not the worst of all. It is when 
the frost comes, and when a little fire is put on, and the 
glass cannot be moved, that the great destruction, or 
greater deterioration, takes place among soft bedding 
