February 27, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
403 
of the preceding, and Jersey reaches its highest 
figure, namely 55 per cent. Sandwick, in the Ork¬ 
ney Islands, furnishes the lowest record, 25 per cent. 
The month of September shows a considerable 
falling off in the amount of registered sunshine for 
all of the stations, the worst being at Sandwick, Glas¬ 
gow, Markree, and Bunhill Row (25). Jersey still 
maintains the highest figure in October, and Sand¬ 
wick is the lowest, with 21 per cent. A complete 
change takes place in November. Dublin takes the 
leading figure with 28 per cent,, and Jersey, Aber¬ 
deen, and Douglas, in the Isle of Man, are on a par, 
taking the sixth place with 24 per cent. The pre¬ 
valence of fogs in the Channel Islands about that 
time, doubtless accounts for the absence of sunshine. 
This would also account for the difficulty that fruit 
growers experience in keeping late Grapes in the 
Channel Islands. Bunhill Row again drops to the 
unenviable position of the most sunless part of the 
British Isles, being in this respect worse than Green¬ 
wich, the record being in fact only one half that of 
the latter place. Jersey again resumes the leading 
position in December, with 23 per cent. Bunhill 
Row shows only 2 per cent, of possible duration, 
while Greenwich and Glasgow are almost as sunless. 
The facts to be gleaned from the above are that 
places-on the sea coast get the most sunshine, except 
large manufacturing cities such as London and Glas¬ 
gow, whose atmosphere is laden not only with fog 
but smoke and their attendant impurities and filth. 
During the summer and early autumn months the 
north-west of Ireland and Scotland, including the 
Hebrides and Orkneys, get relatively little sunshine. 
Curiously enough, Ireland gets more sunshine in late 
autumn than the greater part of England. During 
the last ten years the greatest amount of sunshine 
registered in one month all over the United Kingdom 
occurred in May, 1882. At least 50 per cent, was re¬ 
gistered at 33 stations. The next highest record was 
in June, 1887, Her Majesty’s jubilee month. July 
and August of the same year were also very bright. 
-- 
POTATO DISEASE 
PREVENTION. 
Mons. Aime Girard, whose name is closely identi¬ 
fied with the attempts made in France to combat the 
Potato disease, has just made public the results of 
more of his good work. In July and August, 1890, 
the Potato crops in his country suffered from exces¬ 
sive rain, which washed off the greater portion of the 
preservatives applied, and the leaves became quickly 
covered with parasitic fungus, and the crop was 
practically lost. 
It then occurred to Mons. Girard that, if a solu¬ 
tion could be provided with a faculty for adhering to 
the leaves.it would be of great benefit during rainy 
seasons. He instituted in 1891 a series of experi¬ 
ments, which consisted of submitting to the action 
of artificial watering various plots of Potatos that 
were in full vegetation. These plants were treated 
with various copper mixtures, in order to determine, 
by chemical analysis, the quantity of copper retained 
upon the leaves after treatment, and also after the 
washing. In order to distribute the water evenly, 
Mons. Girard had made a special watering appa¬ 
ratus, which distributed the water in uniform drops 
over the ground. 
On twelve plants of Potatos one of the six compo¬ 
sitions given below was diffused by the aid of a distri¬ 
butor. From four of the plants half of the leaves were 
taken,in order to see how much solution was upon them. 
The remaining leaves were submitted to twenty-two 
minutes’ watering, and were picked in their turn, and 
analysed, for comparison with the first. Four other 
plants of the same lot were afterwards submitted to 
a strong watering of six hours, and the last four 
were subjected to a gentle action for twenty-four 
hours. From these leaves for experiment were 
gathered in the same way. These processes were 
followed in the case of the six compositions, and the 
trials furnished thirty-six lots of leaves showing the 
state of the plant before and after each watering. 
Amongst the various copper solutions to combat 
the disease, Mons. Girard selected six which he con¬ 
sidered to be most known, and of which he gives the 
composition in French weights and measures. (It 
may be mentioned that the kilogramme equals not 
quite 2J lb , and the 100 litres about 22 gallons) :— 
Bouillie bordelaise .—2 kil. of sulphate of copper, 
2 kil. of quicklime, and 100 litres of water. 
Bouillie cupro-calcaire, with little lime.—2 kil. of 
copper, x kil. of lime, and xoo litres water, 
Bouillie cupro-calcaire alumineu.se .—2 kil. sulphate of 
copper, 3 kil. lime, 1 kil. sulphate of alumina, and 
100 litres water. 
Bouillie cupro-sodique .—2 kil. sulphate of copper, 
3 kil. crystals of soda, and 100 litres water. 
Bouillie cupro-calcaire sucree .—2 kil. sulphate of cop¬ 
per, 2 kil. lime, 2 kil. molasses, and 100 litres water. 
Bouillie an verclet .—1 kil. 600 of Paris Green, and 
100 litres of water. 
In order to submit the plants treated with these 
six compositions to conditions as nearly as possible 
like natural meteorological phenomena, Mons. 
Girard, on the advice of Mons. Mascot and Mons. 
Augot, adopted three kinds of waterings, all different. 
In the first place, a “ violent storm," corresponding 
to a fall of '67 in. of water in twenty minutes; 
secondly, a ‘‘heavy rain," of six hours’ duration, 
when about -59 in. fell; and in the third and last ex¬ 
periment, a “ gentle rain " was made to fall, which 
corresponded to -40 in. in twenty-four hours. 
The annexed table illustrates the percentage of 
solution washed off the 
waterings:— 
plants 
by the 
different 
Solution removed from 
leaves by 
Bouillie. 
Violent 
Heavy 
Gentle 
Storm, 
Rain, 
Rain, 
22 mins. 
6 hours. 
24 hours. 
Cupro-calcaire ordinaire 
5°'9 
34‘5 
I 3’2 
Cupro-calcaire faible en chaux 
35'8 
35 * 2 
16-5 
Cupro-calcaire alumineuse ... 
317 
24-5 
15-9 
Cupro-sodique . 
197 
15-9 
77 
Cupro-calcaire sucree. 
11*2 
Nil 
Nil 
Au verdet . 
I 7’2 
I 7-3 
10*2 
From the above figures it appears:—1. That, 
the copper solutions used to combat Potato 
disease differ very greatly in their powers of ad¬ 
herence to the leaves. 2. That it is owing to heavy 
rains chiefly, and to mechanical drainage, that the 
copper deposit partially disappears. 3. Of these six 
compositions, that which melts the most is the 
bouillie cupro-calcaire (called the bouillie bordelaise ) ; 
that a diminution in the proportion of lime increases 
the solidity a little, whilst an addition of aluminous 
matter does not produce a perceptible improvement. 
4. That the mixture cupro-sodique on the one hand, 
and the bouillie verdet on the other, have a power of 
adherence nearly double that possessed by the pre¬ 
ceding mixtures; but the one above all others was 
the cupro-calcaire sucree, which resisted the action of 
water with a strength unexpected by the experi¬ 
mentalists. 
Mons. Girard says it is to these last three 
mixtures that preference should be given, but 
particularly to the latter one, which should in future 
be used by growers who are anxious to preserve 
their crops from Potato disease. The bouillie cupro- 
calcaire sucree, which Mons. Girard finds to be the 
best, is simply the bouillie bordelaise compound, with 
the addition of a certain proportion of molasses. 
Those who intend to make experiments, or to try to 
save their Potato crops this year, would do well to 
try a solution made in the improved form .—Bells 
Weekly Messenger. 
LADY GARDENERS. 
A case which caused great interest in Derbyshire 
amongst gardeners occupied the attention of the 
County Court for upwards of four hours on the 16th 
inst. It was an action brought by Miss E. Paterson 
Campbell against Misses Grace and E. Harriman to 
recover £30 for breach of a contract to instruct the 
plaintiff in all matters appertaining to an industry 
carried on at the Grange Gardens, Sawley, called 
The Ladies’ Fruit and Salad Garden Association, 
and to provide employment and a home, with suffi¬ 
cient food and drink, for plaintiff.—Mr. Hextall was 
for the defendants, and Mr. Noble for the plaintiff. 
Mr. Noble said the action was founded on a verbal 
agreement made between the parties on the 17th of 
April, 1889. That agreement was in effect that the 
plaintiff should go to a piece of land owned by the 
defendants at Sawley for a period of twelve months, 
and that she should be instructed there in gardening, 
and in return should give her services, and also be 
supplied with board and lodging. There was a very 
voluminous correspondence, which was, perhaps, to 
be attributed to there being women on both sides. 
He proceeded to read extracts from letters which 
made it appear that the plaintiff formerly resided at 
Harrow. They had written for the Strand and other 
magazines with the object of drawing tne attention 
of ladies to a scheme which they desired to float. 
That scheme was that the piece of land mentioned 
at Sawley should be changed from turf or grass-land 
to garden land, and that the ladies joining in culti¬ 
vating it should join in the receipts from the pro¬ 
duce. Eventually, on the 25th of February, the 
parties met and arranged that three courses were 
suggested to carry out the scheme of the Misses 
Harriman, which v/ere — (1) That the defendants 
should give six ladies a 99 years’ lease of the ground, 
and that these should contribute £100 each, and that 
the house and grounds should at once become their 
own, and that it should at some future time be con¬ 
verted into a company; (2) That the Misses Harri¬ 
man should take the entire risk, and maintain the 
ladies, teaching them gardening for the payment of a 
fixed sum ; and, (3) That Miss Campbell might 
board for thirteen weeks at a guinea per week, giving 
such services as she felt inclined to do. Miss Camp¬ 
bell made an agreement on the second of the courses 
proposed, paying £20 for the course of instruction. 
Mr. Noble went through the whole mass of corres¬ 
pondence, which was of a very interesting if some¬ 
what amusing nature. It chiefly related to in¬ 
struction sent by Miss Harriman to her " Dear Lady 
Gardeners," regarding the growing of Potatos, 
Radishes, Tomatos, etc., the time when they ought 
to be got ready for market, etc. One letter caused 
some merriment in Court, which was in reply to a 
letter from the Lady Gardeners at Sawley, from Miss 
Harriman, telling them that they must not expect men 
of spotless character to dig up Potatos. (The Judge 
interposed a remark that they could hardly be ex¬ 
pected to be saints.) In consequence of some delay 
in some hampers of Potatos not being sent to market 
and a loss of /80 on a crop of Radishes being pulled 
too late, the relations between the instructress, Miss 
Harriman, and the Lady Gardeners became strained. 
Miss Harriman was not residing at Sawley, but 
wrote her instructions. She went about the country 
selling the produce. (The Judge : What, selling Rad¬ 
ishes ?) Miss Campbell wrote a letter owing to a 
wrong inference she had drawn from a letter of Miss 
Harriman, that she was not going to work from 
4 o'clock in the morning with men of questionable 
character, whereas 4 in the afternoon was meant. 
Matters eventually reached a climax, and the defen¬ 
dants stopped the provisions being sent to the house, 
and starved the Lady Gardeners out. Mr. Noble 
contended that the whole of the mischief and the 
misunderstanding had arisen through the absence of 
the defendant, which was contrary to the terms of 
agreement. She left all the responsibility on the 
lady gardeners and pupils. There was no personal 
supervision, and the dismissal was unjust. 
The Judge suggested that the case might be settled 
between the parties. It would be much better for 
both. 
Mr. Noble concurred, and Mr. Hextall also. He, 
however, would like it to be stated that there was not 
the slightest imputation of incompetency against the 
defendants, who occupied a high position as agricul¬ 
turists. He, moreover, entirely absolved the Misses 
Harriman from all blame. They had acted with 
the highest and most bona fide motives. 
A consultation was held in the Judge’s room, all 
imputations being withdrawn on both sides. 
-- 
AZALEA MOLLIS. 
A correspondent, "J. B.,” asks for some hints as 
to the management of these plants in pots after 
flowering. Where they are intended to be flowered 
in pots regularly, the usual plan is to grow it in pots 
all the year round. After flowering, the plants 
should be encouraged to make as much growth as 
possible ; they should then be well hardened off by 
giving them plenty of air before placing them out of 
doors. During the heat of summer they should be 
placed in a somewhat shady position on a bed of 
ashes to prevent worms getting into the pots. Later 
on, say in autumn, they should be moved into a 
lighter position to assist in thoroughly maturing the 
wood. At no time should they be neglected in the 
matter of watering. If you resolve to try some o'f 
them planted out, prepare a bed or piece of ground 
for them by mixing a good proportion of peat or leaf 
soil and sand with the natural soil. e have seen 
the varieties of A. mollis grown and flowered suc¬ 
cessfully in an open, sunny position in a moist peaty 
soil. You might even try them planted out in a cold 
frame, in peaty soil, using the sash in the spring an 
early summer to encourage gocd growth, after 
which the sash should be draw n right off when the 
weather gets fine. 
