326 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Jan. 24th, 1885. 
showy winter -blooming plants. A fine healthy speci¬ 
men of Cypripedium Yillosum, 2 ft. 6 ins. in diameter, 
bears thirty beautiful blooms, in company with a choice 
lot of Ltelia aneeps; a variety of Cattleya Trianse in 
the way of Dodgsoni, with fine, broad, white sepals 
and petals, and a rich purple lip edged with rose; 
large masses of Coelogyne cristata ; the ever-blooming 
Dendrobium superbiens, &c. 
The collection of Yandas is in rare condition, and 
so also are the Cattleyas and Loflias. Of L. purpurata 
alone, over one hundred sheaths give promise of an 
abundant harvest of flowers in due season. In the 
cool-houses, the brighest bits of colour are furnished 
now by Sophronitis grandiflora, on one small plant 
of which we counted ten blooms. Among “ The 
Crispums ” we noted a fine branching spike of a 
prettily spotted form, also a good white variety. 
Odontoglossum maculatum, a seven-branched spike of 
0. cdoratum, a good variety, and sweetly scented; O. 
luteolum, pale yellow ground, spotted with chestnut; 
and Masdevallia Massangeana, which resembles a pale 
form of M. ignea, are all conspicuous objects in the 
same range. 
In the other department, things are generally quiet 
just now, but we note that by removing a division, Mr. 
Williams has now a Nepenthes-house, nearly 100 ft. 
long, filled with thrifty young specimens ox all the 
best sorts in cultivation. The large Camellia-house 
will shortly be an exhibition in itself, so full of 
swelling flower-buds are the numerous fine specimen 
plants which it contains. To the genuine plant lover, 
too, a visit to the Heath-house also affords a great 
amount of pleasure, so robust, healthy and well 
furnished are the many half-specimens which it 
contains of the leading spring and summer flowering 
sorts. 
—— 
MEALY-BUG IN VINERIES. 
It would appear from letters which I have received 
that in the article on a remedy for mealy-bug on 
vines, which was published in The Gardening 
Wobld on December 6th, 1884, I did not explain 
myself quite so clearly as I should have done, but with 
your permission, Mr. Editor, I will make another 
attempt to do justice to the subject. One of my 
correspondents, a Devonshire 'gardener, “ G. H. M.,” 
writes;— 
“ For several years past I have been troubled with 
the mealy-bug in my vineries, and have tried all the 
remedies I have seen recommended, but without 
success, for, by the time the Grapes were ripe, the 
enemy was as troublesome as ever. A few weeks 
since I saw in The Gardening World your letter on 
1 A Eemedy for Mealy-Bug,’ and have decided to give 
your plan a trial. Before commencing the work, 
however, I should like to know if there is a danger of 
injuring the buds if not careful in applying the gas-tar 
and clay in the proportions of two parts of the latter 
to one of the former.” 
Another correspondent, a Yorkshire gardener, 
“ C. A. P.,” writes: — - 
“ I read an account in The Gardening World of 
December 6th, respecting the dressing of vines with 
tar and clay, as a remedy for the mealy-bug. I have 
only been here a few months, and have had mealy-bug 
to contend with before, but never in so bad a form as 
it is here. Our vineries are all infested to a dreadful 
extent, so badly indeed that I have been obliged to 
wash all the bunches before sending the Grapes to 
table. I am now pruning the vines and cleaning 
them, and intend adopting the tar remedy. Will you 
oblige me by giving further particulars as to the 
proportions of tar and clay to be used ? Please say 
also if it is Stockholm tar, and if applied hot, warm, 
or cold. Not having tried the tar and clay, I am 
anxious to be on the safe side.” 
Ordinary gas-tar, such as is made at any factory 
where gas is manufactured, and which can be bought 
for about 8 d. per gallon (probably enough, or nearly 
so, to destroy all the mealy-bug on vines in this 
country), is what I use. I do not know if there is 
any difference in the strength of the different samples 
of tar, though I have seen some mixtures which 
look very much darker than others, and which, 
perhaps, was owing to the different kinds of clay 
used. However, it would probably be best to err a 
little on the safe side, although I have used the 
mixture as described with the best results. Take 
powdered clay, or that which has been passed through 
a fine sieve, say a quarter-inch mesh, as that is the 
size of the one we use, and to three parts of clay add 
one of gas-tar. Knead them well together until the 
tar and clay are thoroughly incorporated, then thin to 
the consistency of cream with hot or warm water, 
with which it mixes better than with cold water. "When 
this has been thoroughly mixed it will be ready for 
applying at any time, either that day or a month 
hence, all that is necessary being to give it a 
thorough stirring up before using it. 
I certainly think that it would be better not to remove 
any of the bark, although we did so ourselves last 
year, but with an ordinary carriage-washer’s spoke 
brush, or a hog’s bristle scrubbing-brush, scrub the 
vines from beginning to end. A narrow brush is 
better than a broad one, as it will pass between the 
spurs and the rod better. This should be done with 
strong soapy water, afterwards syringed off. The 
house should also receive a thorough cleansing, and 
soft-soap and paraffin answers well for that purpose. 
The walla should also receive a dressing of hot lime 
toned down by other mixtures to the desired colour. 
The vines should then be washed over again, this time 
using clear' water, and thoroughly wetting every part, 
and before the vines are dry they should be gone 
over with the above described mixture of tar and 
clay, applying the same with a soft painter’s brush, 
thoroughly working it into all rough places in the bark, 
and taking care that every part is covered. Having 
the vines damp not only facilitates the application, 
but economizes the tar-dressing. 
There need not be the slightest fear of this injuring 
the buds if put on with a soft brush, so that the buds 
are not bruised in its application. The floors of the 
house must be thoroughly cleaned also. If the border 
is inside, a few inches should be removed and carried 
right away, adding fresh material, a process which 
generally takes place, whether to remove insects or 
not. If the floor is paved this should be thoroughly 
washed down, and it cannot be done too soon after 
the vines and roof have been cleaned.—C. Warden, 
Clarendon Park. 
TUBEROUS-ROOTED BEGONIAS. 
If the seed of these beautiful plants is sown now 
and every attention is paid to their growth, they 
will develop into strong plants full of flower by 
the months of June, July, August and September. 
Preparatory to sowing, some well-drained pans should 
be filled with soil composed of equal parts of loam, 
leaf-mould, and sand, after it has been well mixed 
together and sifted through a very fine sieve. The 
pans should be well watered, so as to solidify the soil, 
the surface of which should be levelled before watering. 
About an hour after the pans have been prepared, the 
seeds can be sown very thinly on the surface of the 
soil. The pans should be placed in a warm house, 
upon a moist shelf or platform, upon which an inch 
layer of river sand or sifted cinder-ashes should 
previously have been laid. As the seeds would be 
much damaged by the drip of water from above, and 
if no better means are at hand to prevent it, it is a 
good plan to place three long thumb pots around each 
pan, two at one end and one opposite them, thus 
forming a triangle, upon the top of which a sheet of 
glass can be placed, and this will have the desired 
effect. The seeds should be watered when getting 
dry and shaded from the strong rays of the sun. 
As soon as they appear in the seed-leaf, they 
should be pricked off into pans, prepared similarly 
to those for seeds, the young seedlings being placed 
about an inch apart. They should then be watered 
with a fine rose pot and placed upon a shelf or plat¬ 
form as near the glass as possible. Here they should 
be lightly sprinkled with a fine rose pot night and 
morning, also shading them from the stronger rays of 
the sun. When they have grown in the pans so much 
that they nearly touch each other, they should be 
separately pricked off into small thumb pots. After 
watering, replace them upon the platform, to remain 
there until they have well rooted through the soil, 
when they should be potted into small 60’s, again 
to undergo similar treatment, with this addition, that 
besides being watered night and morning with a fine 
rose pot, air must be given them on all mild days, to 
make them as sturdy as possible. They will soon 
require to be rooted into large 60’s, and when they 
have rooted through the soil of those pots the strongest 
of the plants should be potted into 32’s and the 
remainder into large 48’s. 
In these pots they must still be kept to the shelf, 
lightly shading them in strong sunshine, never allow¬ 
ing them to become dry and on every mild day giving 
them a good supply of air. But as soon as flowers 
begin to appear, the plants should be moved to the 
greenhouse, there to be well supplied with both air 
and water. Thus in a few months the careful 
gardener can raise from seed to full-flowering plants 
large quantities of these beautiful subjects. 
The colours of the flowers are red, white, scarlet, 
pink, purple and many other bright or delicate shades 
of colour, and among the many things for which its 
flowers are prized, is its excellence for decoration, 
especially for basket work in conservatories and for 
small vases on the dinner-table or other places where 
water cannot conveniently be placed, because they 
will last out of water for a whole evening without 
flagging. When the plants have stopped flowering, 
they can be placed in rows underneath the stage, with 
the sides of the pot on the ground. Messrs. John 
Laing & Co., of Forest Hill, and Messrs. Sutton, of 
Beading, have grand strains, each distinct from the 
other and consequently both are worth trying together, 
as the beautiful plants will give a high rate of interest 
for the cost of the seeds. 
With regard to the old bulbs, they may be had in 
flower from May until September, by starting the old 
roots into growth at intervals of a few weeks. To 
start the bulbs into growth, they should be shaken 
out of the old compost and be potted into fresh soil 
composed of good turfy loam, mixed with small 
quantities of leaf-mould and river sand. In potting 
the tubers, a little sand should be placed around each 
one, and when potted they should be placed on a 
front platform in a house where there is a little heat. 
The bulbs must not be watered for at least a week 
after they have been potted, but at the end of that 
time they should have a good supply of air and water, 
besides being slightly shaded from the rays of the 
sun. When they have rooted through this soil, they 
should be potted into larger pots, or rather they 
should be potted into the pots it is intended the plants 
are to flower in, because they are gross-feeding plants 
and therefore like plenty of pot-room. 
The following is a selection of very choice varieties 
from which anyone can choose for themselves, with 
the certainty of obtaining something good:— Single 
varieties. — Black Douglas, dark carmine-crimson; 
Countess of Bosslyn, bronze-orange; Dr. Masters, dark 
reddish-crimson ; Dr. Sewell, bright crimson ; Earl of 
Chesterfield, vivid crimson ; Earl of Bosslyn, orange- 
scarlet; Golden Queen, golden-yellow; Lady Brooke, 
rose, shaded with violet-magenta; Lady Chesterfield, 
rose-pink; Lothair, scarlet-carmine, shaded with 
crimson; Madame Stella, bright rosy-pink; Mar¬ 
chioness of Bute, rose-pink; Marquis of Bute, carmine- 
crimson; Miss Warren, dark rose; Mr. A. Forbes, 
vivid crimson ; Mrs. Anson, rose-cerise ; Mrs. Morgan, 
pure white ; Mrs. Pontifex, orange-yellow ; Novelty, 
orange-scarlet; Orange Boven, orange-red; Princess 
Beatrice, orange-red; Bose Perfection, bright rose; 
Bed Eover, red; Snowflake, pure white; Torey 
Laing, yellow, suffused with orange-red; and White 
Perfection, pure white. 
Double varieties. — Alba plena, white; Apricot, 
bronze-yellow; Canary Bird, yellow; Dr. Duke, 
brilliant scarlet; General Gordon, carmine-crimson; 
John T. Poe, China rose; Jules Lequin, clear red, 
shaded with salmon; Madame Crousse, soft white, 
shaded rose; Mons. Duvivier, red; Prince of Wales, 
crimson ; and Bobin Adair, carmine-crimson.— T. H. 
-- 
Luculia gratissma.— I find that, in order to have 
this plant in good health and always plenty of bloom, 
planting out is the best system. I tried it in pots 
every way, but never was satisfied with the results 
until it was planted in a small border 18 ins. wide, 
close to the back wall of a vinery, on which it was 
trained on wires. Here it has done well, and annually 
gives us a large amount of fine heads of bloom. It is 
growing in nothing but pure loam, which is very light 
and sandy in this district. The growths are not long 
and weak, as would be expected, being so far from the 
glass, but short and stiff, with a truss on every point. 
It always gets liberal waterings when the vines get 
them in the growing season. There is not a plant 
that gets less attention, and still it gives us a great 
amount of bloom.— A. H. T., in The Field. 
