March 20 , 188G. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
455 
Scottish Gardening. 
Raspberries.—This most useful fruit does not 
always have the attention which its merits deserve, 
having often to struggle on in poor soil, with the roots 
down in cold clay ; but in deeply trenched ground, well 
manured, and the plants placed not too thickly—well 
mulched every season, and the suckers carefully reduced 
—Raspberries become a very different fruit to the 
miserable dry little things too often seen offered for sale, 
as well as sent to proprietor’s private houses. In some 
positions it is very necessary to renew the brakes often, 
replanting good strong canes, cutting them down to 1 ft. 
or 2 ft. the first year, so that good strong suckers may 
be emitted—growths 9 ft. high may be attained—and 
very few of such left to every stool would produce Fal- 
staff’s about If ins. long. AVe have always had great 
favour for that kind for northern gardens—and think 
in the south, too, wediave seen these of the greatest size. 
At a nobleman’s place in Suffolk, a friend (many year’s 
ago) grew Raspberries to immense size, and in quantities 
really surprising. AVhen asked the secret of success, his 
reply was “plenty of muck.” AVe noticed recently 
an old quarter of canes which had been heavily 
coated with cow manure, rooted right to the surface, 
and which quite changed their' character for the 
better ; another coating of material this season will, no 
doubt, make still greater improvements. Many are the 
methods of training Raspberry canes, such as wires run 
along in lines, and the rods tied outwards and upwards 
to them; stakes are sometimes placed upright 4 ft. apart, 
and the canes tied (three to sis according to their 
strength) to them. The rods are often seen bent into 
arches, 3 ft. to 4 ft. from the ground, three to five 
trained each way and neatly tied together. The system 
recommended first; we practised for many years, but 
have for a number of seasons practised the latter method 
of arching. AVe find that we can do the work at least 
expense, save time, get the heaviest quantity of fruit by 
the canes breaking from near the surface, and the tops, 
which often bear the best, are very little reduced by 
the knife. AVe gave to nurserymen (gratis) for many 
years our spare rods, and they declared the kind 
distinct from any other, but it was no other than 
Falstaff, which (by the treatment our Suffolk friend 
acccorded to his Raspberries) fruited abundantly in 
autumn till the frost stopped them. These had been 
planted by a painstaking predecessor of ours, in extra 
manured and deeply trenched soil.— M. T. 
-—;-- 
SOOT AND THE ONION MAG-GOT. 
In reply to “AV. C.’s” question at p. 444 as to 
whether the Maggot was troublesome in these gardens 
before annual surface dressings of soot was had 
recourse to—my answer is, yes ! I am inclined to 
agree—indeed, I fully agree with “ AV. C.” when 
he says, “it may be that the soot which I have 
used has not been good, or that my mode of applying 
it has been at fault.” However, according to his 
own showing, “ AAL C.’s” cultural treatment of the 
Onion crop is manifestly different from that which 
it receives here (see p. 394), therefore, he is not in a 
position to say that soot lacks any of the virtues which 
I attribute to it as an insecticide and fertiliser of the 
soil when judiciously applied, always providing that 
the soot is kept in the dry until required for use, 
otherwise, its application to the soil will be non- 
effective and so much labour wasted. I have for 
several years advocated in the pages of the horticultural 
press the use of soot both in a dry and liquid state, 
having first proved most conclusively its efficacy in 
practice as is my wont before recommending anything 
either in writing or otherwise. Your correspondent says, 
that several gardeners have recommended him to use soot 
as a remedy against the attacks of the Onion Maggot, 
instancing one who he describes as “a well-known 
gardener,” who, like myself, attributed his freedom 
from the pest to the use of soot, a statement which 
“AV. C.” does not agree with, for he tells us that it 
was “because his garden was a comparatively new 
one,” the “well-known gardener” was not troubled 
with the Onion Maggot. AVill “ AV. C. ” give us his 
reason for disbelieving the statement of the “well- 
known gardener” other than that of his garden being a 
“comparatively new one”? He might also give his 
friend’s name, so that he should have the opportunity 
given him of contributing his own experience of the 
subject to the pages of The Gardening AVoeld. He 
might also state upon what grounds he arrived at the 
conclusion that the crop of Onions in the “ com¬ 
paratively new garden” would be less liable to the 
ravages of Maggots than they would be in older 
gardens, other than the assumption that the Maggots 
are mote plentiful in the soil of the latter than they 
are of the former. In reference to the closet manure 
which “ AV. C.” says he dresses his ground with prior 
to solving therein the Onion seed, I beg to say that I 
consider it very unsuitable manure for an Onion bed, 
both on the score of its richness, and its great tendency to 
produce Maggots. Although I am willing to admit 
that the Maggot is more plentiful in new soil than in 
old, I cannot agree with “AV. C.” in saying that it 
is in old worn-out soil that it is most prevalent, as it is 
in soil the reverse of this that the Maggot is to be found, 
not only in greater numbers but also of greater size 
than it attains in poor soil. Very few Maggots are to 
be found in ground which is dressed annually with 
patent manure in comparison with the number to be 
met with in a like space of ground, which has been 
dressed with farmyard manure. In conclusion, I beg 
to remind your correspondent that I have no wish to 
make the fact of his being only able to secure a partial 
crop of Onions annually by reason of the ravages of the 
Maggot go to prove his inability to eradicate the pest, 
but simply to point out a single and most efficacious 
method of dealing with it, and, consequently, the 
production of good crops of Onions instead of half ones, 
and to say that 1 never make random statements, 
and that I am always prepared and pleased when 
necessary to support those which I do make. Hence 
my name and address. U. IV. TFard, Longford Castle. 
-- 
LACHENALIAS. 
Some cut specimens of these were staged by Mr. 
T. S. AVare, of Tottenham, at the meeting of the 
Royal Horticultural Society on the 9th inst., but 
among them was the true form of L. pendula, said to 
be very scarce. The examples, as stated above, were 
in a cut state, but they had been strongly grown, and 
the flowers were very large, of a lovely chestnut- 
crimson colour, with green tips round the mouth ; it 
seemed to put all other Lachenalias in the shade, and 
this true form is unquestionably a first-rate greenhouse 
plant. There wereluteola and Nelsoni, also two yellow 
flowering varieties, and very pleasing, but lacking the 
size and massiveness of L. pendula. The Lachenalias 
form a beautiful family of Cape of Good Hope bulbs, 
of dwarf habit and early flowering. AVe can remember 
the time when Lachenalias were much greater favourites 
than they are now, but they have been thrust aside by 
so called novelties of less than half their value in some 
cases. Now, these Lachenalias are easily forced into 
bloom in winter, and to secure plants at that time the 
bulbs should be potted about the end of June, and grown 
in a cold frame until early in November, when they should 
be placed in a moderate heat, but not a high temperature. 
A compost made of good loam, a little peat, sand, and 
well decomposed manure, suits them well. 
— -►>-:£<-—- 
SCARCITY OF VEGETABLES. 
AVe are not often troubled so much to provide 
a few vegetables for the table as is the case this 
season, and during a long experience I do not re¬ 
member a greater scarcity even when the weather 
has been more severe for a short time. The great 
evil this winter has been the long continuance of frost 
and bad weather, for since October last we have not 
had a week at a time of fine weather. The conse¬ 
quence is that vegetables of all kinds have suffered 
terribly, and we have now nothing out of doors except 
some heads of Scotch Kale that look scarcely fit to eat. 
Brussels Sprouts are all gone, and I see that those in 
the markets are fetching extremely high prices ; any 
growers who have been fortunate enough to keep some 
will be able to command a profitable sale. AVe have 
been relying chiefly upon Broccoli Sprouts, but these 
have been now destroyed ; while Cabbages that we had 
been counting upon to come in quickly are suffering 
very much, many are absolutely killed, and the others 
are far from progressing favourably. Our lowest tem¬ 
peratures have ranged from 15° to 22° of frost; but I 
hear from several friends in the Midlands and northern 
parts of the kingdom that the temperature has fallen 
below zero in several districts. It is too early to tell 
what the effects upon shrubs and other outdoor plants 
will be, but I fear some bad results, for such ordinarily 
hardy plants as AA r allflowers have been killed, except in 
the most exposed places, where, strangely enough, they 
seem to have escaped. So far, however, the prospect 
of the fruit crops is a good one ; all our trees, Apples, 
Pears, &c., are well-set with stout buds that are at 
present quite dormant, and it takes an exceptionally 
severe frost to injure them in that state. If, when 
this weather breaks up, we get a continuance of mild 
temperatures without the disastrous late frosts, which 
frequently spoil our prospects, there is every likelihood 
of a favourable season and good crops to compensate for 
the present trials.— It. T. TV. 
-- 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
♦ _ 
*♦ 9 
THE A7EGETABLE GARDEN. 
AVork is still greatly retarded in this department, 
and we have prepared for a late spring with very meagre 
supplies during the next few weeks. Our winter crops 
are nearly all gone, and the recent severe frosts have 
seiiously damaged what little still remained in the shape 
of green vegetables ; even the hardy Borecole has 
suffered, and there is now scarcely anything left but 
this. Some of our neighbours are even in a worse 
plight, their vegetable stock being entirely exhausted, 
and unfortunately the ground still continues so hard 
that we can do no sowing. The few seeds sown in a 
fine interval last month will fare badly, and it is 
questionable if we shall gain anything in point of 
earliness even if they are not killed. A^egetation will 
be rapid when the weather becomes more favourable, 
but the soil is so cold that seeds will germinate slowly, 
and the crops will all be proportionately late. 
AVe have the bulk of our seeds to sow, such as BeaDS, 
Beet, Savoy, Carrots, Leeks, Lettuce, Peas, Spinach, 
Radishes, and Turnips ; but at present they must wait, 
though we shall seize the first opportunity for placing 
them in the ground. The principal work just now 
consists in attention to some details that will save 
labour later on, such as clearing the ground of rubbish 
or the remains of winter crops, placing dressings of 
manure over the roots of fruit trees, especially for 
Gooseberries or Currants and Raspberry stools that need 
encouragement of some kind. Birds are very trouble¬ 
some with us, and the pruning of the two former will 
be delayed for a short time yet, as our feathered foes are 
busy amongst them, and have a great partiality for the 
upper buds. It is a difficult matter to keep the birds 
away, and though we scare them as much as possible in 
several ways, they still do considerable mischief which 
we cannot prevent. On several occasions we have had 
the mortification of seeing early-pruned bushes stripped 
of their buds, and this season we shall try what late 
pruning will do to avoid the evil. Gooseberries we 
prune but little at any time, merely removing the 
weakest shoots, shortening those unduly long, or cutting 
away any that are causing the bushes to be crowded. 
In some districts Pear and Apple trees are much 
affected with American blight, and a dressing is ad¬ 
visable at this time of year to cleanse the stems and kill 
the eggs. Nothing is better for this purpose than 
strong brine, which can be scrubbed well into the 
crevices of the bark, the addition of a small quantity of 
soft-soap assisting this in its action. The stems are 
usually washed with lime, which is excellent in its 
way, but disfigures the trees very much, and it is pre¬ 
ferable to employ lime in a dry state for dusting over 
the trees that are much affected by moss. It can also 
be used on paths or lawns that are similarly affected 
with the best results. AValls are great harbours for 
insects, especially old walls which have not been re¬ 
pointed for some years, as the crevices in the mortar 
form good refuges for numberless insect pests and 
shelters for their eggs. The expense of having such 
walls properly pointed will be well repaid in the increased 
health of the trees trained to them. AVhere insects 
have been particularly troublesome, and in glass houses, 
a dressing of hot lime must be applied to the walls, 
thoroughly washing all wood-work and staging. 
Any roots of Rhubarb out of doors may now be 
covered with old tubs or large pots,. and long hot 
manure heaped over them. This will hasten their 
crowth surprisingly, and a cutting will be obtained in 
a week or two’s time. AVe are still lifting a few 
Jerusalem Artichokes, which prove very acceptable as 
a change. It is a useful vegetable, as it will grow in 
any corner and in almost any soil. Directly the soil is 
sufficiently thawed we shall divide some Globe Arti¬ 
choke stools, re-planting the off-sets in rich soil, and 
applying a dressing of manure to the old plants.— 
Scolytus. 
