1881 . ] 
PARAFFINE V. MEALY BUG. —ROCK PLANTS. 
87 
winch, he specially recommends as capable of 
producing the large Asparagus, in consequence 
of its being so thoroughly congenial to its 
nature, is the silicate of potash, which, in 
decomposing, gives to the soil the elements 
which are indispensable to the successful 
culture of this crop. He adds :— 
“ Asparagus should be cultivated in banks 
of light earth, of the nature of that of Argen- 
teuil or Herblay, or, failing these, in a soil pre¬ 
pared for the purpose. The soluble silicate of 
potash at 28 deg. of Beaume’s hydrometer, is 
to be reduced to 4 deg. of the same instrument. 
Of the preparation at that strength (4 deg.), a 
litre (about If- imperial pints), is to be 
poured into four litres of water; and so 
in proportion for large quantities. The 
manure thus prepared is to be carried to 
the fields in a cask, and distributed with 
a rose watering-pot on the banks of earth, 
before the Asparagus has pushed. Silicate of 
potash at 28 deg. is worth 3Gfr. (£1 8s. lOd.) 
the 100 kilogrammes (220 lb.); reduced to 
4 deg. Beaume, 5 fr. (4s.) the 100 kilogrammes. 
This, added to four litres of water, gives 
a volume of 100 litres of manure for 1 fr. 
(O ld). This mode of production by the aid of 
silicate of potash does not change the aspara- 
gin, or neutral organic constituent of the plant-, 
though the gourmet might, perhaps, find the 
asparagin more concentrated in the middle- 
sized Asparagus than in that whoso parts 
have been strongly developed by culture. 
Our aim is to demonstrate to cultivators that 
they may, almost according to their wish, 
obtain large Asparagus, and to instruct them so 
that they may profit by our experience.”—O. 
Laine. 
PARAFFINE versus MEALY BUG. 
INCE paraffine oil has been used in gar¬ 
dens, mealy bug is rarely to be seen there, 
thanks to Mr. Thomson, of Drumlanrig, 
who was the first to bring it prominently into 
notice. When it is applied neatly and dexter¬ 
ously, it is the most efficacious of all insecticides. 
At one time, I believed in clean water and force, 
but, as the old saying goes, “ There’s naething 
sae crouse as a well-washed louseso with 
the insects of the garden, though they were 
dislodged, they were still as cheery and con¬ 
fident in their new quarters as ever. Now we 
have the paraffine cure, there is no excuse 
for having plants over-run with mealy bug, 
scale, and other insects ; and in applying the 
paraffine we are often reminded of another 
saying, “ There’s naething sae wae as a well- 
washed flae.” We have here a narrow peach- 
house, some 150 ft. long, having peaches on 
the back wall, with Roses up the rafters, which 
are G ft. apart. Before the Peaches were in 
flower or the Roses showed sign of budding, 
we syringed the whole interior of this house— 
roof, walls, in fact every part, including trees 
and Roses, with water and paraffine, two wine- 
glassfuls to four gallons of water, and though 
formerly we used to be troubled with green¬ 
fly, this year we have little or none ; and more, 
we have no spiders about the rafters, for the 
paraffine seems to have entirely discomfited 
them. I also feel assured that red-spider 
will be next to nil with us. When this oil is 
used carefully on growing plants at the rate of 
one wineglassful to four gallons of water, there 
need be none of these pests now in gardens, to 
any such extent as to be offensive.—H. Iv., 
Floors. 
ROCK PLANTS. 
WELL-MADE Rock-garden, well 
'/).("[ planted, is a source of much enjoy¬ 
ment, and is a desirable adjunct to all 
good gardens. The best I have seen is that of 
Messrs. Backhouse, of York ; and if the cost of 
it could be told from its origin up to the pre¬ 
sent time, I imagine the information would be 
rather startling! The rock-garden in the 
Botanical Gardens at Edinburgh is another 
excellent example, the convenient plan of 
giving many plants a separate “pocket” or 
compartment to themselves being there well 
shown. 
There are a good many ways of making a 
Rockery, some good, others the reverse ; but 
of all rockeries, that made of glass or brick 
“ slag,” or vitrified refuse of various kinds, is, 
perhaps, the worst. A rockery of white flint 
stones, garnished with oyster-shells, is another 
bad form ; and mounds of earth of plum¬ 
pudding shape, with sharp-pointed stones stuck 
therein, like almonds, is another barbarous 
effort of which some rock gardeners are very 
proud. It is not always necessary, or even 
advisable, to elevate stones on raised earth¬ 
works, in the making of a rockery for plants. 
Some of the best of all rockeries are those 
made in the hollows of old quarries below the 
level of the surrounding ground, and yet we 
often see rock-work elevated on mounds in 
exposed positions, and find that only the 
