686 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 27th, 1885. 
Rev. J. H. Pemberton, Havering, Romford, with a first- 
rate box of flowers. For twenty-four varieties of 
Pyrethrums, Messrs. Kelway & Son were a long way 
first, showing a superb stand of flowers, loosely 
arranged bunches of fine flowers of each variety, and 
such flowers! Godiva, pure white, a perfect gem; 
Progress, rosy - crimson ; Diana, rose tipped with 
yellow ; Ajax, deep crimson, and light centre; and 
J. M. Twenty, deep crimson with lemon centre were 
especially fine; but these were not all—there were 
others as good, the names of which, however, we were 
unable to read. The second and third prizes went to 
Messrs. Paul & Son, and Mr. F. Hooper. 
The new plants certificated were as follows :—To 
Messrs. Yeitch & Sons for Olearia macrodonta, a very 
handsome, hardy shrub, with bold, lanceolate, toothed 
leaves, silvery beneath, grey-green above, and pro¬ 
ducing an abundance of dense, compact heads of 
small creamy-white composite flowers; for Styrax 
Japonica, also an exceedingly fine hardy plant, with 
small dark green leaves, and a profusion of small, 
drooping, Snowdrop-like, white blossoms; for the new 
hybrids, Thunia Yeitchii and Masdevallia Gairiana. 
To Mr. H. Bennett, Shepperton, for a new seedling 
Tea Rose, Princess Beatrice, a beautifully-shaped 
flower of good size and substance, pale straw-yellow 
in colour, with apricot centre. To Mr. R. Dean, 
Ealing, for the Rocket Candytuft, Empress, a very 
fine variety, with stout stems breaking out into four 
to six heads of large white flowers. To Sir Trevor 
Lawrence, Bart., M.P., for Anguloa Ruekeri, a fine 
specimen with a number of large flowers, brown and 
dull orange outside, deep crimson with yellow spots 
within; and for Cymbidium Parishi, a species with 
beautiful waxy-white flowers, with a yellow blotch and 
a few red spots on the labellum. To Mr. Wiggins, 
gardener to W. Clay, Esq., for Pelargonium Thisby, a 
good decorative variety, white, with a maroon blotch 
edged with violet on the upper petals. To Messrs. 
F. Sander & Co., for Odontoglossum Alexandria var. 
Johnsonianum, a fine variety of a violet-tinted ground 
colour, and heavy dark chocolate-red blotches ; for 
Odontoglossum mulus Brymerianum, a very pretty 
variety of good size and form, with fine broad sepals, 
petals, and lip of a rose-tinted ground colour, and 
light chocolate-red blotches; for 0. mulus Germiny- 
anum, a large yellow ground flower, with long, wavy, 
margined sepals and petals, blotched with deep 
bronzy-red; and for 0. elegans Alicias, an exceedingly 
pretty form, white, profusely spotted with Chestnut- 
red, and the lip long and pointed. And to the New 
Plant and Bulb Co., Colchester, for Eremurus auran- 
tiaca, a handsome herbaceous plant, with a long spike 
of golden-yellow flowers. 
At the meeting of the Fruit Committee, Messrs. 
Paul & Son, Cheshunt, received a First-Class Certi¬ 
ficate for the Pauline Strawberry as an early variety. 
It is a French variety, raised by Dr. Morere, and 
certainly cannot be called handsome, being oblong 
and corrugated, with a long neck, but is of good 
colour, and, besides being early, is a good bearer. 
Messrs. Sutton & Son’s prizes for a brace of Melons 
brought out only three competitors, and Mr. James 
Douglas took the first with the same varieties as 
carried him to the front last week at Regent’s Park—- 
Hero of Loekinge and Scarlet Premier. Mr, H. 
Eldridge, The Gardens, Chesterfield Park, Saffron 
Walden, with Hero of Loekinge and Masterpiece, was 
second. In the competition originated by the same 
firm for six distinct varieties of Lettuce, the competi¬ 
tion was also on a limited scale. Mr. Waite, gardener 
to Col. Talbot, won the first prize easily, with good 
samples of Sutton’s Superb White and Green, Dun- 
nett’s Victoria White, and Yeiteh’s Exhibition White 
Cos varieties, and two Cabbage varieties. Mr. Mead, 
gardener, Beckett Park, Shrivenham, was second. 
The new Melons shown included Mr. B. S. Williams's 
white-fleshed Harefield Grove, and Mr. Iggulden’s 
Mars!on House, a round, nicely-netted, white-fleshed 
variety. 
->$<- 
Scottish Pansy Society.—The forty-first annual 
exhibition of this old society of Scottish Pansy fanciers 
was held in the Waverley Market, Edinburgh, on the 
19th inst., and proved another success, the number 
of entries being about 300—an increase upon last year. 
Messrs. R. B. Laird & Sons, and Messrs. Dickson 
& Co., kindly lent collections of plants to assist in 
decorating the tables, besides showing Pansies and 
Yiolas in considerable numbers and fine form. The 
President’s Gold Medal, which is given to the com¬ 
petitor who takes the greatest number of prizes, was 
won by Mr. Black, of East Calder, who in the 
amateurs’ and open classes secured a large number 
of awards. Three of the leading prizes, open to lady 
members of the Society only, were won by Mrs. D. P. 
Laird, who had the best arranged table-glass of bed¬ 
ding Violas, the best six small glasses of bedding 
Yiolas, and the best-arranged basket of Fancy 
Pansies ; and the prize for the most novel and most 
tasteful design in Pansies or Violas went to Mrs. 
Pelkman. Amongst nurserymen competing in the 
trade classes, Mr. John Sutherland, of Lenzie, and 
Messrs. Dickson & Co., took the leading honours, the 
first-named exhibitor maintaining his well-earned 
reputation by showing the best two dozen Show and 
Fancy Pansies respectively. Mr. Alexander Borrow- 
man, of Beeslack, among practical gardeners, secured 
the highest honours in the classes for eighteen, twelve, 
and six Show Pansies; and Mr. Andrew Borrowman 
was first with eighteen Fancies, while the highest 
award for twelve went to Mr. R. Stewart. There 
was a strong competition in the open classes, the 
leading winners being Mr. Black, Mr. Dick, Mr. 
Sutherland, Messrs. Dickson & Co., and Mr. Geo. 
Ross. Among the Fancy varieties, the most popular 
sorts appeared to be May Tate, James Grieve, William 
Dick, Mrs. Jamieson, Miss Bliss, Mrs. M. H. Miller, 
Lady Wolseley, Bessie Campbell, William Dean, David 
Findlay, Mrs. John Downie, and Mrs. Welsh. Of 
Show varieties we may note Archibald Rolland, Bella 
Hannah, Paragon, George Ross, Mrs. Ross, as being 
specially fine and well represented. The bedding 
Violas of Messrs. R. B. Laird & Sons and Messrs. 
Dickson & Co., who were respectively first and second 
for twenty-four varieties, were exceedingly fine all 
round, such popular sorts as Countess of Kintore, 
Countess of Hopetoun, Queen of Crimsons, and 
Pantaloon being especially well represented. First- 
Class Certificates were awarded to Mr. J. Hampton 
for Fancy, Miss Darling; to Mr. W. Dick for Show, 
Miss Brooks; to Mr. J. Black for Fancy, James 
Craig; to Messrs. Dickson & Co. for Fancy, Miss 
Grieve; to Mr. Thomson for yellow self, Maggie 
Thomson; to Messrs. Dobbie & Co., Rothesay, Mrs. 
Lyle; white Fancy, commended Mrs. Maxwell.— 
(Communicated.) 
INSECTICIDES. 
Of insecticides any number of substances have 
been recommended, and many of them tried with 
more or less satisfaction. Of these may be mentioned 
lime, sulphur, soot, salt, wood-ashes, corrosive sub¬ 
limate, naphtha, naphthaline, turpentine, alum, 
carbolic acid, phenyle, cyanide of potassium, blue 
vitriol, ammonia, alkalies, benzine, vinegar, sulphuric 
acid, quassia, vitriol (the sulphate of copper), hot 
water, &c. Most of these may be safely used for 
specific purposes, either dry, in liquid, or in vapour ; 
but the three most useful insecticides of general 
application in use during the early days of economic 
entomology in this country, and up to within a few 
years, were undoubtedly tobacco, white Hellebore, 
and soap. Tobacco-water and tobacco-smoke have 
long been employed against aphides and other delicate 
insects, and are most useful. A quite recent advance 
in its use is by vapourising. The vapour of nicotine 
is most effectual in destroying insects wherever it can 
be confined, as in greenhouses. Thus the boiling of 
tobacco in such a greenhouse is as effectual as, and 
less injurious to the plants, than the older methods 
of syringing with a decoction, or of fumigating by 
burning; while experience by Mr. William Saunders 
at the Department of Agriculture, during the past two 
summers, shows that the vapour gradually arising 
from tobacco-stems strewn on the ground, and regu¬ 
larly moistened, is likewise effectual. 
White Hellebore, either dry or in liquid, has long 
been one of the most satisfactory insecticides against 
Tenthredinid larva, otherwise known as false-cater- 
pillars, of which the imported Currant-worm (Nematus 
ventricosus) is a familiar type ; while soap, syringed 
in strong suds, will kill some soft-bodied plant- 
destroyers, and when used as a paint on the trunks 
of trees, is an excellent repellant against the parents 
of different borers. 
Transcending in importance, however, any of these 
older insecticides are the three now most commonly 
used because most satisfactory. They are;—(1) 
arsenical compounds, (2) petroleum, and (3) Pyre- 
thrum. The first act through the stomach, and are 
effectual chiefly against ■ mandibular insects; the 
second and third act by contact, and are, therefore, 
of more general application, affecting both mandibular 
and haustellate species. 
The use of arsenic as an insecticide in the field 
dates from the year 1871. At .the rate of 50 grains of 
arseniate of soda and 200 grains of dextrine dissolved 
in a gallon of water, and this diluted at the rate of 
about 1 oz. to 10 gallons of water, it furnishes one of 
the cheapest of insecticides at command, and various 
patented combinations of it have been extensively sold 
and used. Again, 1 lb. of arsenic and 1 lb. of sal- 
soda boiled in 1 gallon of water till the arsenic is dis¬ 
solved, and diluted at the rate of 1 quart to 10 gallons 
of water, is also a good formula. The chief merits of 
arsenic are cheapness and solubility. Its demerits are 
its white colour, which makes it liable to be mistaken 
for harmless substances of the same colour, and its 
tendency to burn the plant. Paris green, or Scheele’s 
green, has been more extensively used than any other 
arsenical compound, and is, on the whole, one of the 
most satisfactory insecticides. I first used this poison 
against the Colorado Potato-beetle (Doryphora 10- 
lineata) in the summer of 1868, but owing, doubtless, 
to the use of an inferior article, reported adversely 
upon it ( First Report on Insects of Missouri for 
1868, p. 116). George Liddle, jun., of Faiqflay, 
Wis., experimented with it the same summer, and 
with one part of the green to two of flour found it 
eminently satisfactory (American Entomologist, i., 
p. 219); and from the time he announced his experience 
—May 25th, 1869—in the Galena, HI., Gazette, the 
green became rapidly popular against the Doryphora. 
I first recommended it in 1872 for the Cotton-worm, 
and its use gradually extended to other leaf-eating 
insects, until hundreds of tons have been sold for 
insecticide purposes in a single year. It is used dry 
with various diluents, as ashes, plaster, flour, &c., at 
the rate of one part of the green (if pure) to twenty, 
five up to one hundred parts of the diluent. Flour as 
a diluent has the great advantage of causing greater 
adhesiveness and permanence. In liquid suspension 
Paris green can be used at the rate of 1 lb. to from 40 
up to 100 gallons of water. The liquid should be kept 
constantly stirred, and a little dextrine or other sub¬ 
stance added to give adhesiveness is an advantage. 
A refuse obtained in the manufacture of aniline 
dyes, and known as “London purple,” is the third 
important arsenical compound that I will mention in 
this connection. It consists of lime, arsenious acid, 
and carbonaceous matter, and was first used by me 
against the Cotton-worm and other insects in 1878, 
and more fully and thoroughly in 1879. It is used 
with diluents, either wet or dry, in the same manner 
as Paris green ; while for some insects experience has 
shown it to be less satisfactory than Paris green, 
for many others it is equally effective, and has the 
great advantage over Paris green of being vastly 
cheaper (costing on an average but five cents against 
sixty cents per pound); of covering twice the ground, 
weight for weight; of being more soluble, less 
poisonous, more adhesive and permanent in its effects, 
and of decided colour, so that when intelligently used 
it is in all ways preferable.— C. V. Riley, in American 
Entomologist. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Names op Plants. — R. TV. M. —1. Ceanothus azureus; 
2. Pyrus arbutifolia, probably; 3 Viburnum Opulus; 4. Lim- 
nanthes Douglasii.—-V. Y. —1. Antennaria margaritaeea ; 2. 
Helianthemum (not in flower) ; 3. Send when in flower; 
4. Veronica spicatum.— J. M .—Weigela rosea, one of the finest 
hardy flowering shrubs now in bloom.—TV. 11. G. —Coronilla 
glauca. 
Cooper’s Patent Protection Syringe.—I purchased 
one of these syringes at an “L T ncle’s” recently, and am so 
well pleased with it, especially as a spray-producer, that I am 
anxious to get another one. I have failed to do this through 
the ordinary channels, and shall be glad if anyone can give 
me the address of the maker.— G. S. 
Tea Seeds. — T. B. O. —Fill ordinary cutting-pots up to 
within 1 in. of the surface with good ordinary potting com¬ 
post. Press the seeds down level with the top of the soil, give 
a good watering, and cover with ) in. of moss or cocoa-nut 
fibre refuse. No heat is required at this season to induce 
them to germinate, if good. 
Communications Received.—E. 3V.—J.—R. G.—G. T. 31. 
—H. W. \V— X. Y.—J. A.—W. E. G— II. 1S.-S. 31. (Many 
thanks.)—J. S.— W. E. G.—G. S. O.-J. D. 
