646 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 9, 1894. 
The latest advice from experienced practical 
entomologists is to put ilb. of Paris Green, in the 
form of paste, which is far better than powder, into 
from 165 to 200 gallons of water. 
The mixture must be kept well stirred in order 
that the solution may be maintained at an uniform 
strength. 
The object is not to dislodge the caterpillars, but 
to poison their food with the arsenical solutions 
which should fall like gentle rain upon the leaves 
and blossoms. For this purpose fine “rose” jets 
should be used. Riley’s “ cyclone nozzle “is used 
in America. The Vermorel nozzle is also a good 
distributor. 
The other arsenical compound is “London Purple,” 
obtained in the manufacture of aniline dyes and 
composed of lime and arsenious acid. 
One pound of London Purple should be mixed 
with from 160 to 180 gallons of water, and kept well 
stirred, being applied in the same manner as the 
Paris Green, sprayed on in the form of a heavy dew 
or mist, and not squirted violently upon the leaves 
and blossoms. 
London Purple can be obtained as a powder, and 
in a fluid form ready for mixing with water. It is 
as poisonous as Paris Green. 
Stock must not be put on grass in orchards where 
these arsenical solutions have been used on the fruit 
trees until a considerable period has elapsed and 
rains have fallen ; nor must they be used where bush 
fruits for early picking and vegetables are grown 
under the trees. 
Three or four days will elapse before the effect of 
these solutions is apparent, and, as a rule, it will be 
found necessary to repeat the applications. 
These solutions can be put on with hop-washing 
engines, ordinary garden engines, the Eclair, hydro- 
nettes, and other pail engines. Syringing with Paris 
Green, London Purple, and other solutions recom¬ 
mended above, will be equally detrimental to the 
Apple blossom weevil (Anthonomus pomorum) now 
present in large numbers, and to the Apple sucker 
(Psylla mail), which is causing unprecedented harm 
in many localities. 
[Copies of this leaflet may be obtained free of 
charge on application to the Secretary. Board of 
Agriculture, 4 , Whitehall Place, London, S.W.] 
--- 
FRUIT THINNING. 
When there is an abundant set of fruit, this question 
of thinning becomes of paramount importance. Yet 
with the exception of Grapes, Peaches, Nectarines and 
Apricots, very many pay not the slightest attention 
to it, but allow Nature to pursue her own course year 
after year, although it frequently happens that owing 
to their own negligence they either have a heavy crop 
of small and worthless fruit, or very little, and perhaps 
none at all, because owing to the heavy strain cast 
upon the energies of the tree in its efforts to carry 
a prodigious crop it to a certain extent becomes 
exhausted. In such cases Nature takes matters in 
its own hands, and rids itself of the burden long 
before the harvest comes. By a timely reduction in 
the number of fruit set calamities of this kind would 
often be averted; thinning out will be a safe-guard 
against both these evils, and finer better coloured 
and flavoured fruit will be obtained. One large or 
even medium sized fruit is of far more value than 
three or four small, woody and often flavourless 
specimens. Some discretion is needed as to when 
and to what extent thinning out is done, young vigo¬ 
rous trees being capable of carrying heavier crops 
than older or feebler ones, and a proportionately 
heavy crop will serve as a check upon undue 
luxuriance, and help the plant into a staid fruit bear¬ 
ing condition. A safe rule for weak growing trees is 
to crop lightly, and the extent to which it is carried 
out should largely depend upon the character of the 
soil and the facilities for watering and root room. 
Where watering can be efficiently done when required, 
trees can carry heavier crops than where from the 
lack of it they have to remain dry at the root. 
When thinning, always remove mis-shapen and ill- 
placed fruit first, and where there are clusters reduce 
to one and two and take away any injured by insects. 
Possibly no fruits suffer more from overloading than 
Pears and Apples, the produce being often almost 
worthless from this cause alone.— IV. B. G. 
Chrysanthemums and their Culture. By Edwin 
Molyneux. Sixth Edition. By far the best practical work yet 
written on this subject. Price, is.; post free, is. 2d. Publisher, 
Gar£>ening World, i, Clement’s Idd, Strand, London, W.C. 
EFFECTS OF THE FROST 
AT CHISWICK. 
The effect of the frost on the 21 st ult. will make 
itself felt in many quarters all through the summer, 
and will doubtless be remembered for years to come. 
Those who are in a hurry to get their summer 
bedding completed as early as possible, will be more 
careful in the future not to commence so early as 
they did in 1894 . Last year, in some cases. Scarlet 
Runners were above ground in March, and being 
encouraged by the success of the venture the culti¬ 
vator is apt to repeat the experiment with various 
, other subjects. We made a general survey of the 
crops the other day in the gardens of the Royal 
Horticultural Society at Chiswick, and noted the 
effects of a late frost upon trees and shrubs as well 
as permanent crops that must take their chance in 
the open whatever the weather may be. The warm 
weather in March and April hurried on vegetation, 
so that everything was really early. The latter half 
of May was very cold, and checked the growth of 
various things considerably. Then came the crown¬ 
ing evil in the frost of the 21 st ult., which ranged 
from 6 ® to 10 ® in different localities. 
Many will remember that Court Pendu Plat used 
to be spoken of as the wise Apple, because it 
blossomed late when the tree was in full leaf, 
thereby affording shelter to the flowers against a 
late frost. This year has taught us that a frost 
about the third week of May is as mischievous or 
more so than a frost at the corresponding period of 
April. All the early Apples had set their fruits and 
were practically out of danger before the advent of 
the frost. Annie Elizabeth is a late-flowering 
variety, and to all appearances the greater portion 
of the fruits are injured and will fall away. The 
young shoots and leaves at the growing tips have 
been injured, while the fruits are safe, and a heavy 
crop in most cases. Lord SuflSeld has suffered more 
in this respect than other varieties. The young 
leaves are browned, often twisted, and curled ; they 
have evidently been damaged likewise by being 
lashed about by the wind, and this injury would 
seem to have favoured an attack by mildew, for the 
older leaves are quite clean. To a smaller extent 
the same effects may be seen on Lane’s Prince 
Albert, Cellini, Mank’s Codlin, Kerry Pippin, and 
Irish Peach. All the trees are only a few year’s old, 
and mostly upon the Paradise stock. On the whole 
the results show that early and even all except the 
latest flowering trees may escape a frost in May. 
Peaches, Nectarines, and Pears have not been 
injured as far as the fruit is concerned, and the crop 
in many cases will be heavy. 
Strawberries present an interesting case. We 
have previously had occasion to note that the 
earliest and consequently the flowers giving rise 
to the best fruits have been killed by a late frost. 
On this occasion vegetation was in advance owing to 
the warm weather of March and April. The early 
blossoms of Strawberries had expanded and set 
their fruit before the frost came and destroyed the 
next set of flowers. Curiously enough both petals 
and stamens seem quite uninjured, but the receptacle 
with their young ovaries have been rendered tough, 
spongy and black. Since the frost happened other 
flowers have opened and seem altogether uninjured. 
The first developed flower stems of some varieties, 
such as Noble, Sovereign, Eleanor, Wonderful, and 
Belle du Bourg la Reine, are dwarf and lie close to 
the ground, where they are more or less protected 
by the leaves. This would help them to escape 
injury, but after they are set and commence to swell 
it is evident they are much hardier than the newly 
developed blossoms. Had the frost occurred when 
the first flowers opened, the best fruits would have 
been lost. As it is a fair average crop may yet be 
expected where the crops are at the same stage of 
advancement as those at Chiswick. The flower 
stems of President, Helen Glaede, and British Queen 
are taller, more erect, and the earliest and best 
flowers destroyed. Keen’s Seedling and White 
Knight have short stems, and the best fruits have 
mostly escaped ; the same may be said of Waterloo, 
which is late. The old and small fruited Black 
Prince has set a good crop. Most of the above 
observations were made on a young plantation ; but 
in the case of an older one, the greater quantity of 
foliage has had a beneficial effect in protecting the 
flowers to some extent. A plantation amongst 
Apple trees and sheltered by them does not seem to 
have suffered from frost in the least. 
Potatos and Scarlet Runners have suffered more 
than anything. On an open square of ground 
towards the south-west portion of the garden, they 
must have seemed utterly destroyed on the day after 
the frost; since then they have partly recuperated. 
There is evidence, however, that some varieties are 
more hardy than others. For instance Belle de 
Fontenay and Internationale have only lost a few of 
the leaves that were newly expanded when the frost 
occurred. Rushcliffe Beauty and Oxford Perfection 
have suffered to a slightly greater extent. These 
four varieties form as many contiguous lines towards 
the eastern end of the grounds, and might have 
received some shelter from the adjoining Pear trees, 
but other varieties on either side of them are greatly 
cut up, a fact which would indicate that there is a 
varietal difference. All the rest have been sadly 
destroyed, and some of the worst cases are those of 
Wrangler, G. S. Eaton, Beauty of Oxford, George 
Dickson, Tait’s Seedling No. 4 , Eclipse, and Pride 
of Tonbridge. The side buds in most cases are safe, 
and the terminal ones, as a rule, have escaped, so 
that the stems have commenced to sprout again. 
What effect the severe crippling of the foliage will 
have upon the crop remains to be seen. Another 
plantation not far from here has suffered to a 
similar extent, but one to three plants at the 
northern end of each line and close to a Box hedge, 
sheltering them from the north winds, have suffered 
very little. A plantation on a west aspect border, 
and some on a south aspect one, but in both cases 
sheltered from the north and east winds by high 
buildings, have not apparently been injured in any 
way. Thus it is evident that if they could be 
sheltered from wind that all would have escaped 
injury. Out in the open, however, all that can be 
depended upon is the relative hardiness of the 
varieties unless they are protected by evergreen 
branches stuck in the ground, or by straw loosely 
shaken over them as a guard against frost. 
The earlier sowing of Scarlet Runners have had 
their tops completely cut down, and the ground now 
appears bare, except where a few of the seeds were 
late in germinating, and now have a pair of green 
leaves. Scarlet Runners, however, have one advan¬ 
tage, inasmuch as their cotyledons do not rise above 
ground. Young shoots are developed from their 
axils, and renew the growth of the plants. The 
result must be that the crop will be later, but 
whether so good as from the primary stem remains 
to be seen. A sowing made on the 30 th of April, 
and apparently not above ground when the frost 
occurred, is now safe, and to all appearances will be 
the first to attain the fruiting stage. With one 
exception we did not notice any dwarf or Kidney 
Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). These throw their seed 
leaves above the soil and stand a greater chance of 
being more completely destroyed than the Scarlet 
Runners. The exception we noted was F. B. 
Veitch’s New Climbing Bean, and belonging to the 
dwarf species throws its seed leaves above the soil. 
It was sown at the end of April, and has not been 
injured. 
A number of subjects grown chiefly for orna¬ 
mental purposes have suffered greater or less injury, 
notably a hedge of the Cherry Laurel, which has 
had the tips of the young shoots and their leaves 
turned red or partly so as if they had been scorched. 
The leaves that were fully developed when the frost 
occurred have not been injured in any way. The 
younger leaves of Funkia Sieboldii, F, subcordata, 
and F. ovata have lost all their substance, and 
become pale gray as if they had been scalded. By 
the removal of these, however, the injury in a 
month’s time will hardly be apparent, although the 
plants may not be so vigorous as they otherwise 
would have been. The younger leaves of the 
varieties of Paeonia albiflora have suffered to a 
slight extent, and show it by curling and becoming 
partly browned. Plumbago Larpentae and Aucuba 
japonica have also suffered some injury to the young 
leaves. The stems of Polygonum cuspidatum had 
been 2 J ft. to 3 ft. high when the frost occurred, and 
the newly expanded leaves were killed and are now 
of a reddish-brown hue. Since then the tips of the 
stems have continued growing, making 6 in. to 12 in. 
of new growth, so that healthy leaves above and 
below the injured ones give the plant a curious 
appearance. Many of the young shoots, including 
leaves and wood of the large London Plane, have 
been completely destroyed, Probably this result is 
greatly due to the lashing of the branches by the 
