November 6, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
149 
have thriven for more than a dozen years in the full 
shade of the Rhododendrons. 
I believe the two great points to aim at are to 
prevent the bulbs getting too wet or the roots too dry, 
and especially to keep clear of many tree roots, which 
dry the soil as well as exhaust it. Rhododendrons 
keep their roots to themselves, and do not interfere 
with the Lilies, unless, indeed, they are grown very 
strong and very close. In our little field of L. auratum, 
in full sun, though with some shelter from wind by 
hedges, many hundreds bloomed \yell, some not more 
than 1 ft. high, with stems not thicker than tobacco- 
pipes, had two fine flowers ; many had one. I have 
made no mention of Tiger Lilies, they always bloom 
well. I do not think the species without stem-bulbs, 
L. tigrinum jucundum, is sufficiently known aud 
grown ; it is a beautiful form for cutting. — George F. 
Wilson, Heatlierbank, Weybridge Heath, November 1st. 
JUDGING CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
“A Gardener” evidently misunderstands my 
meaning by the word “across”; I use it in the same 
sense as I should use it were I to tell your readers that it 
was ten miles “across ” the Alps, or two miles “across ” 
the Pennine Range ; and if your readers interpret me as 
saying ten miles through the Alps, or two miles through 
the Pennine Range, then it is they who mislead them¬ 
selves, and not I who mislead them. I observe that 11 A 
Gardener” charges me with having used the phrase 
“8 ins. or 9 ins. in diameter if he will carefully read 
over again what I stated on pp. 90 and 91, he will find 
that I have not anywhere made use of the word 
“ diameter,” and I intentionally avoided using it for the 
very reason that it is so misleading, although it has 
frequently been used in past years, and in the sense 
that I make use of the words “ across ” and “ over.” 
I send you a reduced sketch, drawn from memory, of 
what I consider a perfect flower of Mrs. Rundle before 
it is cut off the plant, and before being “dressed”; and 
in general outline it is a fair representation of flowers 
I have grown in past years of Mrs. Rundle, George 
Glenny, Mrs. Dixon, White Beverley, Mr. Bunn, 
Lady Hardinge, Mrs. Shipman, Golden Beverley, 
Princess Beatrice, and “ that ilk,” the variation being 
in size and colour according to variety ; and referring 
to my memoranda, I find that the actual dimen¬ 
sions from the lower petals on one side to the lower 
petals on the other—not measuring the “guard” 
petals—were as follows :—Mr. Bunn, 9 ins. ; Lady 
Harding, 9 ins. ; Mrs. Shipman, 8£ ins. ; Golden 
Beverley, 8f ins. ; Mrs. Rundle, 8 ins. ; Mrs. Dixon, 
7 ins. ; George Glenny, 7 ins. ; and Princess Beatrice, 
8 ins. It must be remembered that the foregoing were 
all solid and symmetrical flowers, requiring very little 
dressing, and comparatively no “pulling-up” when 
“cupped”; consequently, when staged, they were 
nearly as large as when growing. 
I have no recollection of having seen blooms of Mrs. 
Rundle 5 ins. in diameter, and I certainly have never 
grown one that size ; it is very rarely that one of the 
largest varieties is seen 6 ins. in diameter, without either 
measuring the guard petals or pulling out straight the 
properly incurved petals. If “A Gardener” can 
grow Mrs. Rundle 5 ins. in diameter, and propor¬ 
tionately deep, his agitation for “protection" on 
behalf of his “fancy” class is unnecessary, for Mrs. 
Rundles of those dimensions are strong enough to 
protect themselves. 
The curved dotted line in the illustration shows the 
distance “over” and “across” a Chrysanthemum 
flower, and a straight line drawn underneath the bloom 
will show its horizontal diameter. I do not “oppose ” 
a separate class for the so-called “ fancy ” kinds, but 
I repeat that on the ground of size alone a separate 
class, in my opinion, is not absolutely necessary. I 
hope I have now made myself clearly understood.— 
J. Udale, Elford, Tamworth. 
THE AMERICAN BLIGHT. 
Every Apple grower has frequently noticed knots or 
bunches of a downy or woolly substance on parts of the 
stems and branches of Apple trees, especially where 
any injury has been sustained, or where side shoots or 
branches have been pruned away in an unworkmanlike 
fashion, where the cuts have been delivered slanting 
upwards, instead of slanting downwards, so that the 
wet has rested at the bottom of the cut and caused 
decay. By this means cracks are formed, and gradually 
increase in width and depth. The edges of the outer 
layers of bark do not join together again, and a thin 
and tender tissue alone covers the exposed parts. 
Upon examination of the little groups of wool, it will 
be seen that they are composed of larvse, having woolly 
or downy coverings, actively engaged in piercing the 
denudated surfaces with their suckers and extracting 
the sap, occasioning unhealthy and abnormal growths 
of tissue ; extravasation of sap occurs, giving rise to 
excrescences and warty lumps, which afford shelter and 
food for the numerous generations of larvae, until the 
whole branch is injuriously affected, and its vigour and 
fruitfulness are materially lessened, by means of the 
hindrance to the due circulation of the sap ; other 
branches soon become infested, and the small stems, 
even to the fruit-bearing twigs, are attacked, and after 
a time they are covered with swellings, which check 
both leaf and blossom development, and in time cause 
both stem and twigs to decay. In not a few cases, 
Apple trees have died after a long and uninterrupted 
onslaught of these woolly aphides. In very many 
cases Apple trees might almost as well be dead, as their 
very life sap is being systematically exhausted by the 
constant suckings of myriads of larvie. 
It is far too common to find Apple trees in all the 
Apple-producing counties, whose branches are unsightly 
from warts and swellings, with the tops of their 
branches dead or decaying, and whose general appear¬ 
ance indicates extreme unhealthiness, due entirely to 
the unchecked influences of the woolly aphis. This 
state frequently is called “canker,” and is attributed 
to over or injudicious pruning, or to unskilful pruning, 
or to something in the soil or subsoil that does not suit 
the trees. A little close observation demonstrates that 
it is quite different from canker, and is simply the 
effects of insects which have been permitted to increase 
and multiply for years. 
It also very often happens that the bark, branches 
and small twigs of Apple trees in many orchards are so 
enveloped by lichenous and mossy parasites that the 
presence of the woolly aphides is unsuspected. 
Young trees are seriously injured by these insects 
without any special wonder. Their bark is tender and 
easily pierced by the sharp beaks of the larvie, and 
they cannot withstand their attacks so well or so long 
as old trees. I have seen trees of the sort known as 
Lord Suffield completely at a standstill, though they 
were only about sixteen years old, with their branches 
covered with swellings and swarming with larvae ; yet 
it was stated persistently that the cause of the evil was 
canker, and that the roots had got down to something 
that did not suit them. If a young tree is permitted 
to be much injured by the woolly aphis, it rarely 
recovers, and remains stunted, sickly and unfruitful. 
The Ribston Pippin is very liable to be attacked by 
this insect, as well as Cox’s Orange Pippin, the Blenheim 
Orange, and other valuable kinds both for dessert and 
culinary use, whose skins are comparatively tender and 
not so cased in rugose layers of bark. 
In the cider making districts of Devonshire, Glou¬ 
cestershire, Herefordshire, Somersetshire, and Wor¬ 
cestershire, incalculable mischief is wrought in the 
Apple orchards by these insects, which increase and 
work unsuspected amid the lichens and mosses that 
clothe the branches, and the closely interlaced congeries 
of boughs and twigs. There is a record that the Apple 
trees in the Gloucestershire orchards were so attacked 
by the woolly aphis in 1810 that no cider was made in 
the count} 7 , and it was feared that this industry must 
be altogether abandoned. 
Hot only does the woolly aphis attack the trunks 
and branches of Apple trees, but it infests and injures 
their roots ; also living upon them, and causing ex¬ 
crescences or swellings to form upon them. The 
injuries caused to old trees by the subterranean attack 
is not very apparent, though the constant action of 
series of generations of these insects must in time 
materially affect the health of the tree, and diminish 
Chrysanthemum Bloom : Showing Plow to Measure It. 
