382 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February 15, 1896. 
with a round ochre-coloured head, and the same 
colour cn the legs. 
The remedies for the prevention of the fly are 
many. The only effectual method of dealing with 
them would be to prevent, if possible, the fly alight¬ 
ing on the Carrot tops and laying its eggs. Sand, or 
better still, charcoal, which has been broken up into 
small particles, and well soaked in paraffin, then 
sprinkled over the plants, will, to a large extent, pre¬ 
vent the fly alighting, and, if frequently applied from 
the time the crop is above the ground till July, the 
roots will in a great measure be saved. It is 
advisable to procure good seed, sow thinly, and 
single out the plants as easily as possible, so that 
the soil may be but little disturbed immediately 
round the plants that are to form the crop. If this 
is neglected, and the plants become large before 
thinning, every facility is given the eggs of the insect 
to reach their desired quarters, and the object de¬ 
feated. 
Celery Fly. 
The Celery Fly usually appears in April and May, 
and lays its eggs on the Celery leaf, and from these 
the maggots are hatched, and after mining the leaf 
and becoming full-sized they leave the leaf and form 
pupae in the eaith. These insects go through their 
changes from the egg to the perfect fly so rapidly 
that they are able to form two broods in one season. 
If left unchecked a considerable amount of damage 
is done to the crop by the leaves becoming blotched 
and mined and unable to perform their proper 
duties, and growth becomes retarded. 
Wetting the leaves and sprinkling them with soot 
or lime is found to be a good preventive to the fly 
depositing its eggs on the leaves. All damaged por¬ 
tions should be removed and burned as soon as 
noticed, thus destroying the maggots and eggs, and 
by this means the next brood will be much reduced 
in numbers. 
Onion Fly. 
We now come come to a pest of a more serious 
character, and that is the Onion Fly. In very few 
places is the crop of Onions entirely free from it. 
The fly is usually seen as early as April, and the 
maggots are very soon hatched and the work of 
destruction begun. The Onion at this date is usually 
small and tender, and the fly lays its eggs on the 
leaves close to the ground, from which point the 
maggots make their way between the leaves to the 
lowest part of the young Onion bulb, where they may 
be found in numbers varying from two or three 
upwards. Here the maggots feed for about a fort¬ 
night, then they usually leave the bulb and enter the 
earth and there turn to the pupae stage. From these 
the fly comes out in from ten to twenty days in 
summer and almost immediately lays her eggs, and 
thus starts a new attack on the Onions. So the 
destruction continues as long as warm weather 
remains. 
The prevention of this, as in the case of most 
other insects of a similar character is attended with 
greater success than in waiting till a certain amount 
of damage is done before taking steps to check their 
attack. It is a well-known fact that autumn-sown 
Onions are never attacked to the same extent as those 
sown in the ordinary way in the spring months, for 
the very reason that the leaves, being older, are in a 
tough condition at the season when the fly makes its 
appearance; consequently the plant is in a fit state to 
resist their attack. On the other hand those of the 
spring sowing, being young and tender, are easily 
penetrated and the damage is soon apparent. If, 
instead of the ordinary spring sowing, the method of 
raising them in boxes in January or February or 
even March, was more taken up, and the plants for¬ 
warded in frames and then planted out, they would 
also be in a similar condition to those that are 
autumn-sown and a good crop always secured. I 
quite believe that this plan would be more followed 
up if the erroneous idea was not prevalent that a 
large amount of glass was necessary to prepare them, 
and that such Onions were only fit for exhibiting, 
There can be no question that Onions grown as 
stated are not nearly so liable to the attacks of the 
fly even when grown side by side with the ordinary 
crop sown outside. 
For some years I have made it a point to trans¬ 
plant in this manner nearly the whole of the Onion 
crop, and the maggot gives little or no trouble. It 
is quite apparent that steps should be taken in good 
time to prevent their attacks, and the best means to 
my knowledge is to soak sand or pounded charcoal in 
paraffin and allow it to become dry, and then sprinkle 
it over the crop when the dew is on the leaves, 
repeating this application frequently. Soot freely 
sown on the Onions is also very good, and has the 
additional advantage of assisting the plants in their 
growth; but whatever is done, an early beginning 
should be made and the work vigorously carried out- 
If, on the other hand, the damage is done before any 
steps are taken, all affected plants should be removed 
carefully and burned, making sure that all the 
maggots are likewise removed, otherwise these reach 
the pupae stage and develop into flies, and in 
increased numbers their work is renewed .—James 
Gibson. 
--- 
TREE CARNATIONS. 
After the wholesale feast of Chrysanthemums we 
have been regaled with of late, perhaps a little 
reminder of the claims of the winter-flowering 
Carnation will not come amiss. As a friend once 
said—"The Chrysanthemum is a grand flower, but 
so is the Carnation." Most people will admit that 
such is the case ; yet how seldom one sees a really 
well-grown representative collection of the Carna¬ 
tion that is worthy of the name!—leggy, sickly 
specimens, with two or three stunted flowers are 
generally more abundant than otherwise. Why this 
is so I cannot quite understand, seeing that few 
flowers stand so long in a cut state, or lend them¬ 
selves to so many uses. The colours being many 
and varied the taste of even the most fastidious can 
be suited. Some of the Chrysanthemum committees 
might with profit introduce a class for Tree Carna¬ 
tions in pots at their exhibitions. It would help to 
foster and popularise this too-much-neglected class 
of winter flowers. 
Side shoots, with a heel attached if possible, should 
be put in without delay. I prefer putting the cuttings 
singly into small 6o’s, which, when the pots are 
plunged in a gentle bottom heat, soon take root' 
more especially if a close case can be put over them 
They should be removed at once when rooted 
through, and placed as near the glass as possible in 
a cold frame or on a shelf in a cool house; shift 
into larger pots when well rooted. After they have 
taken to the shift they ought to be pinched, and in 
due course side shoots will appear. Four of the 
strongest shoots are left to build the plant; the 
others I remove, as I consider four quite sufficient. 
The final shift can be given in early summer or when¬ 
ever the plants are ready. A good deal depends 
on the variety, but on no account should they be 
over-potted or water-logged; 5-in. or 6-in. pots are 
quite large enough to flower them in, if they are one- 
year old plants. The pots should be stood outside 
and plunged to the rim in ashes during the summer 
months, and should be housed according to their 
various stages of growth or as circumstances will 
allow. A slight dressing of Thomson’s Manure at 
this stage I find very acceptable, but hot manure of 
any kind should be sparingly used, or tall, spindly 
plants will be the result, with but few flowers to re¬ 
pay your labour. Miss Joliffe is of all others the 
most useful and at the same time the most prolific in 
every respect. The habit is dwarf and graceful, and 
its lovely soft pink flowers are always welcome. The 
so called “Improved’’ variety I find lies with the 
grower, the said improvement taking place when well 
grown. 
Mrs. W. H. Grenfell is also a good salmon-pink, 
a little taller than the preceding one, but not so free. 
La Niege and Mdlle. Carle are both good whites, 
perhaps the best going. Andalusia, primrose-yellow, 
and Comtesse de Paris, a fimbriated pale yellow, are 
both good of their colour ; their only fault is in being 
tall growers. 
Of scarlets, Alegatiere, Duke of Fife, and 
Winter Cheer are amongst the best I have, but I was 
much taken with a new variety called Yule Tide 
which was exhibited at Edinburgh and elsewhere 
last autumn by Mr. John Forbes, Hawick. In colour 
it comes pretty near a soldier’s coat, and is a fine 
smooth flower. It appeared free and of good habit, 
and has all the appearance of one that has come to 
stay. 
Of crimsons, Duke of York takes the first place 
as a full, good, and refined flower of robust habit. 
It and the now well-known Uriah Pike, which every¬ 
one should grow, are the two best crimsons procur¬ 
able as far as I am aware. I grow many other 
varieties, but those I have named I consider the 
cream of the lot. If I am behind the times I trust 
some kind reader will let me know. 
For a succession of bloom, any of my old plants 
that are not too leggy when out of flower are cut 
back, leaving about half a dozen of the strongest, 
shoots, which I take care to leave at the base of the 
plants when taking the cuttings. These, if kept 
cool and near the glass until the end of May, can 
then be planted out in a well-prepared bed, where 
they will give little trouble until the beginning of 
September. They should then be lifted and potted, 
care being taken that as good balls of soil be attached 
as possible. The plants should be kept close for a 
time until they take to the shift, after which they 
may be treated in the usual way. Water sparingly, 
however, until there is plenty of root action. Cut¬ 
tings rooted now, if potted on and pinched once, 
may be treated in the same way with good results.— 
Coila. 
-» « ■ ■■ - 
ALLAMANDAS. 
Of all the beautiful plants which adorn our stoves 
none are more worthy of recognition than the 
Allamandas; in fact, they are veritable princes 
among other subjects requiring a stove heat in order 
to develop to the full their gorgeous beauty. Many 
of our most beautiful plants have their undoubted 
merits heavily discounted by the fact that they are 
of somewhat delicate constitution, and, as a result, 
need a great deal more coddling than persons with 
limited conveniences can give them. Others, again, 
seem to afford inviting refuge for everything that 
creeps, crawls, or flies, and insecticides have to be 
pretty liberally applied in order to keep the plants 
clean and in a decent state of health. Neither of 
these bad qualities can be urged against the 
Allamandas, for they are certainly not difficult to 
grow, they flower with surpassing freedom, have only 
very ordinary wants, and last, but by no means least, 
they are not liable to become infested with any of the 
many and various insects that mark out our stove 
plants as their especial prey. 
Their beauty and effectiveness when trained to 
rafters, pillars, or to the roof in the stove is beyond 
question, and in such a position they are enabled to 
display themselves to the best possible advantage. 
Now and again one meets pot plants trained to 
wooden or wire balloons, but the stronger-growing 
kinds never seem really at home when thus treated. 
The general effect in the first instance is very heavy 
and decidedly inartistic, and this method of training 
has but very little, if anything, to recommend it. It 
is when the plants are trained to wires strained along 
some 8 in. or 9 in. from the roof, and the branches 
allowed to ramble somewhat, that the imposing 
character of the gorgeous yellow flowers is so fully 
demonstrated. 
As they do not need a great deal of root-run, plants 
may be grown to a considerable size in large pots. 
Where practicable, however, it is by far the better 
plan to make up a border especially for them. This 
need not be of any great size, but it must be well 
and efficiently drained, and it should be enclosed 
either by slates or a wall of brickwork. For soil, 
good fibrous loam must be procured, and mixed with 
cow manure in the proportion of three parts of the 
former to one of the latter. A few handfuls of 
nodules of charcoal and a fairly liberal addition of 
sharp sand will also be required. It is very neces¬ 
sary that the soil should be made nicely firm about 
the roots, and planting should therefore be conducted 
when the compost is not too wet, so that the rammer 
may be employed without danger of making the soil 
hard or pasty. 
During the summer months an abundance of water 
may be given, and after the plants get well 
established in their quarters, occasional doses of 
liquid cow manure may be employed with the best of 
results, particularly when the plants are flowering 
profusely. As the autumn advances, less %\ater will 
be needed, whilst in addition to this, free exposure to 
the light should be given in order to properly mature 
and ripen the wood. Through the months of late 
autumn and right up till the end of January, they 
should be kept rather dry at the root, but not suffi¬ 
ciently so to cause shrivelling of the wood. Pruning 
will also need very careful attention. It may be seen 
to at any time during the quiescent period, but in all 
cases should be completed by the end of January, as 
after the expiration of that month they begin to make 
a start for another season. The shoots of last 
season's growth should be spurred back to within a 
