Sept. 13th, 1884, 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
21 
CYPERUS LAXUS VARIEGATUS. 
The merits of this most useful decorative plant 
were first made known in October, 1880, when it 
was exhibited by the defunct General Horticultural 
Company, before the Floral Committee, who awarded 
it a First-class Certificate. Since then it has been 
grown in thousands for table and other decorative 
purposes, and a most useful plant it has proved to 
be. It, has, like many other variegated plants, the 
reprehensible habit of reverting to the original 
green type; but it is noteworthy that those which 
come true in the first instance, remain true to 
colour, and after all the percentage of “ rogues ” in 
a large collection is not of much account. For 
table work, we have found it the most useful when 
grown in 68 sized pots, as shown in our illustration, 
and there is scarcely any limit to the number of 
combinations in which it may be made to take a 
prominent part. It is also a very pretty window 
plant, and thrives well indoors, if kept clean, and 
is not too much exposed to the sun. 
The Kentish Observer estimates the average pro¬ 
duce of hops in East Kent at 63,- cwt. per acre, Mid- 
Kent about 6 cwt., and the Weald at between 4 cwt. 
and 5 cwt. It seems to be the general opinion of 
the best judges that the produce of the entire plan¬ 
tations of this country will be equivalent to an old 
duty of between .£190,000 and 4:200,001). 
GARDEN PESTS. 
It is only those who have to do with gardens that 
can have any idea of the many pests there are to 
contend with in the cultivation of plants, for 
besides numerous crawling insects that hide on 
the surface or beneath the earth, there are many 
others that take up their abode on the branches or 
foliage, from which they extract food in some way, 
and so damage or weaken the plant they infest. 
Not only is this so, but there are vegetable parasites 
as well as insect, one of the worst of which is that 
infesting the potato, which scourge came all at 
once some forty years ago, and I well remember the 
consternation it caused, when the tops were stricken 
YARTEGATU3. 
and the tubers snatched out of the ground with 
view to saving them ; but for all that, those affected 
went rotten, as they have continued to do ever 
since. Whether the murrain that spread broad¬ 
cast over the country, at the time referred to, will 
ever leave us remains to be seen ; but certain it is 
that, last season and this, it has been less 
prevalent, and we have had fine crops of the “ noble 
tuber,” which for so long past has been such a stay 
for the people. The malady from which potato’s 
suffer is a fungus, which scientific men tell us enters 
into the circulation of the plant and so 
reaches the tuber, and that the spores may 
also be carried through the soil and penetrate the 
skins in that way, and if this is so, there can be no 
doubt but that dry lime scattered among the seed 
would do much good by destroying or arresting the 
vitality of the germs that i3 on them or in them. 
Any how, the lime can do no harm, and is worth 
trying, as it is the duty of all to do what they can 
in stamping out a disease that robs us of so much 
food, and causes such distress to poor people. 
Instead of doing this, however, it is much to be 
feared that many are careless in the matter, as it 
has again and again been pointed out that the tops 
or haulm ought to be burned or buried immediately 
after digging, and yet we continually see them 
lying about on the ground, where they are left to 
decay and disappear of themselves. Instead of 
this, how easy it would be, when green and fresh, 
to collect them in a heap, or heaps, made large 
enough to ferment and get hot, and to cover them 
with rubbish or soil, which by keeping the heat in 
would help to destroy any of the fungus spores 
lodging or living on leaves or stems, and so lessen 
the numbers and chances of their spreading about. 
In a more dry or advanced state of the haulm fire 
would do the work, as the tops might be burned 
and the ashes spread to be ploughed or dug in for 
the next crop to be planted. 
Besides the potato fungus, there are other 
mildews to contend with, one of the most trouble¬ 
some of which is that common to the Kose, which 
this year has been very prevalent, for look where 
one will there is hardly a clean plant to be seen, 
For the prevention or cure of this there are many 
remedies, but in all, sulphur must take some form 
or other, as it does in Gishurst, in which it is an 
active agent, as also in Fowler’s Insecticide and 
Nicotine Soap. Ewing’s Blight Composition is 
pentasulphide of calcium, a preparation of sulphur 
and lime, which answers well to apply on foliage, 
as it may be poured in and mixed readily with 
water, and syringed on quickly, and either left or 
washed off again. Good as this Blight Composition 
is for Hoses and other outdoor plants, it does not 
answer for Grapes, as just recently I have seen a 
whole house quite spoiled by it, as the gardener 
had used it in the ordinary way and left it, with 
the result that the bunches and berries were covered 
with great patches of dirty white deposit, which 
made them look so nasty as to be quite unfit for 
the table. If dry sulphur had been applied, as 
might have been done through a distributor, it 
could have been washed off again without much 
detriment to the blooms; but the better way of 
stopping or killing mildew in a vinery is to paint 
the pipes or flues with sulphur, and then light the 
fires, which, by affording heat to the water or bricks, 
will cause fumes to be given off, and these, passing 
through the house in the air, will destroy any 
fungoid germs or keep them away. As prevention 
is preferable to cure, it is always advisable to be 
watchful, with any damp, late houses, and to have a 
little artificial warmth at the start, and towards the 
finish, and to see to the ventilation, as mildew is 
brought about or follows through a stagnant atmo¬ 
sphere, which favours the germs. If sulphur is put 
on the pipes, it should be borne in mind that it is 
not safe to do so till the berries are a fair size, as 
when young and small, their cuticles are tender, 
and sulphur fumes at that stage always causes 
rust, which disfigures them and stops them from 
swelling. 
Peaches, especially the Eoyal George, as well as 
Vines, are subject to mildew, aud for them the 
remedy is just the same, but, besides mildew, the 
foliage is sometimes affected with another fungus of 
a more serious and dangerous nature. This shows 
itself in pustules, like snuff, under the leaves, which 
it causes to fall off prematurely, and not only that, 
but it prevents a proper and full development of 
the buds, which, instead of starting and affording 
flowers in the spring, tumble out and come down 
in showers when the first swelling takes place. 
For years I was troubled with trees in this state, 
when, as a desperate resolve, I made small charcoal 
fires in some pots, and, after shutting up the house 
the Peaches and Nectarines were in, threw on each 
a small handful of sulphur and let it burn out, since 
which time the fungus has left me, and the trees are 
now in the most luxuriant health. I need hardly say 
that the fumigation was carried out iu winter when 
the ti’ees were naked and dormant and not only did 
CYPBRUS LAXUS 
