May 18, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
599 
watering in should be given the plants as soon as 
the day is sufficiently advanced to preclude the 
possibility of scorching, and continued at intervals 
as required. 
Newly-laid Turf. 
The period of drought which we have lately been 
experiencing can scarcely fail to be somewhat trying 
to turf that was laid late in the season, and which, 
owing to this, has not been able to make fresh roots 
and thus establish itself in its new quarters. During 
this dry weather, therefore, it must be assisted as 
far as possible by repeated watering with the hose. 
Any trees or shrubs that were planted late in the 
spring in rather light or well-drained scils must also 
be watered now and again if any fear as to the 
satisfactory condition of their roots is entertained, 
for the hot sun will otherwise prove exceedingly 
trying to them. 
Roses. 
There can be no question as to the importance of 
the position which these hold among our hardy 
flower garden subjects; and thus any little trouble 
that may be taken with them is labour well spent. 
All Rose beds and borders should now receive a 
liberal mulching of short well-decayed stable 
manure; for this will serve the double purpose of 
adding nutriment to the soil as well as preventing 
it from drying up so quickly. Mulchings of this kind 
are, moreover, among the best preventatives of 
mildew, which is usually so prevalent amongst 
plants which are growing in a dry soil. Besides 
mildew there are various insect pests which are 
partial to Roses at this season of the year, and which 
all do more or less damage. Among them may be 
mentioned several species of aphides and saw-flies. 
For plants attacked with aphis, or green-fly as it is 
commonly called, nothing is better than to apply a 
solution of Quassia chips and soft soap to the 
affected parts. One pound of the former should be 
boiled in four gallons of water, which should be as 
soft as possible, a pound of soft soap being added to 
the mixture. The syringe may be used as the medium 
for applying, or the infected shoots may be dipped. 
In all cases, however, plants thus treated should be 
given a thoroughly good washing with the garden 
engine within an hour after the application of the 
solution. A dusting of tobacco powder is also an 
efficacious remedy ; this, however, must also be 
syringed off with clear water. An occasional use of 
the garden engine amoDg both the standard plants 
and those which are trained to walls will be of the 
greatest service, even if they are not affected with 
the fly, for it will serve to keep them clean, and in 
good health. Among the various moths that attack 
the Rose, several species are fond of rolling up the 
leaflets into tubes or pouches in which their larvae 
live. Any leaves, therefore, that are observed to be 
deformed in this manner may receive a light pressure 
between finger and thumb in order to kill them. This 
is also the best method of dealing with the various 
saw-flies which burrow between the surface of the 
leaves and thus cause those ugly brown blotches 
which are too often seen. A light dusting over with 
Hellebore powder or with flowers of sulphur may 
also be recommended as an efficacious remedy. 
Watering. 
It is very true that at various times the importance 
of seeing that all fruit trees grown under glass are 
kept well watered has been descanted upon, and yet 
there is still plenty of room left for another word 
upon the subject. While all growers will admit 
readily enough that it is necessary that all the trees 
which are in full growth should receive an abundant 
supply of water, yet, somehow or other, the idea has 
got afloat, and is to a great extent believed in, that 
from the time that the fruit commences to colour, 
the borders which have until then been kept nicely 
moist must be suffered to lapse into a well-nigh dust- 
dry condition. That this is sheer fallacy a few 
minutes' dispassionate and intelligent thought will 
impress upon the mind of all fruit cultivators. 
During the season when vegetative growth is most 
active* stimulated and strengthened by every device 
of which the gardener can conceive, countless num¬ 
bers of young fibrous roots are formed to assist in 
the rapid and extensive food absorption necessary to 
the well-being of a plant that is carrying heavy crops 
of fruit. These young and tender roots must 
inevitably be destroyed wholesale when the strata of 
soil immediately surrounding them is suffered to 
become parched for lack of water, and a correspond¬ 
ingly severe check is sustained by the plant. A 
word of caution to those who have houses of ripe 
fruit may therefore be opportune. While the supply 
of water given to the roots of such plants may be 
very considerably curtailed, on no account must the 
border be allowed to get quite dry. When it is 
necessary to water houses where ripe fruit is hang¬ 
ing the forenoon is always the best time of the day 
to see about it, sufficient time being thus allowed 
for the atmosphere to dry somewhat before nightfall, 
under the influence of the warm sun and the 
assistance of plenty of ventilation. It is hardly 
necessary to add that in this case nothing but clear 
water must be given, or the flavour of the fruit may 
suffer. With Vines, Figs, Peaches, etc., that are not 
so far advanced other treatment will be necessary, 
for liberal supplies of manurial stimulant will be of 
inestimable service. With regard to the temperature 
at which the water should be applied, it should not 
be colder than 65° Fahr., although if it is as warm 
as 70° so much the better. 
Cucumbers. 
Continual attention will be necessary in dealing 
with these usually easy grown subjects to the stop¬ 
ping of shoots that have overgrown their limit, to 
the removal of others where growth threatens to 
become too crowded, as well as to the pinching out 
of male blossoms, which only serve to enfeeble the 
plants. As soon as the fruits reach a suitable size 
they should be cut and their ends placed in an inch 
or so of water in which condition they will keep 
fresh for days. Where the plants are being trained 
to a trellis in a specially constructed house the tying 
in of the growths will be a necessity. If the plants 
are being accommodated in a frame the shoots 
should be distributed over the surface and neatly 
pegged down to keep them in their places. The 
syringe must be kept at work amongst the plants 
each morning and evening, and shade from hot sun 
will also be essential, for if the fruit is exposed it 
invariably acquires a bitter taste. 
Melons. 
In houses where the fruit is ripening syringing 
must, of course, be discontinued and the plants may 
be kept very much drier at the root for a few days 
before the fruit is cut. More air must also be given, 
and a few degrees lower night temperature will do 
no harm whatever. In the succession house the 
plants may be kept lightly dewed over with the 
syringe in the mornings and evenings of bright 
days. The temperature here must not be allowed to 
fall below 70° Fahr., and may rise to 8o° during 
bright drys. Unlike its closely allied relative, the 
Cucumber, the Melon needs no shade whatever, free 
exposure to the sun being essential, excepting, of 
course, for a few days subsequent to planting out.— 
A. S. G. 
-« » — | ■■ 
Colonel Clarke’s Solid Red Celery. 
According to my experience which extends over 25 
years, and includes the trial of a considerable 
number of varieties, there is no other variety in 
cultivation to equal a good strain of Colonel Clarke’s 
Solid Red for late use. A sort that will stand such 
an ordeal as the past winter must certainly be 
considered hardy. I have made a point of growing 
several rows of this valuable sort for many years 
past, and every season it has proved the best in 
spring, and at this date, May 15th, we have still good 
heads on hand. A friend of mine in Norfolk, whose 
employers will not have any other sort sent to table, 
obtained his original stock from Messrs. Veitch 
when it was first sent out, and has kept it perfectly 
true since by saving a few seeds annually. Growing 
no other variety this is easily done in his case.— Con. 
Planting Broccoli on poor Ground. 
It is in winters like the past when the wisdom of 
planting Broccoli on poor ground and wide apart is 
most strikingly illustrated. I had hardly thought 
there were any Broccoli alive in these parts until a 
few days ago, when I observed some nice heads in a 
cottage garden, and subsequently a good breadth 
consisting of several varieties in the kitchen garden 
at Bovey House, near Seaton, Axminster. These 
were on poor land in an exposed situation, and I 
noticed that not more than 25 per cent, had died. I 
should have been glad to have been the owner of 
such a lot. As a rule we gardeners get these plants 
■ too fat in the autumn for our own good.— Con. 
(fileaninus from the tthnlh 
nf Science 
Apple Scab and Bordeaux Mixture.— Experi¬ 
ments made with this mixture in America go to 
prove that it may be profitably employed for the 
prevention of the fungus named Apple Scab (Fusi- 
cladium dendriticum), and which often proves so 
destructive as to prevent a large number of fruits 
from attaining their natural size, while the remainder 
are disfigured. This fact is recorded in Bullet n 
No. 6 of the United States Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, of the Division of Vegetable Pathology. Three 
and sometimes four sprayings are given, the first 
just as the bud scales expand and show the flower 
buds ; the second is given when the latter are on the 
point of expansion, and the third just as the petals 
are falling and showing that the fruit has set. In 
dry seasons no further spraying need be given, but 
if moist weather prevails, then a fourth spraying will 
be necessary when the fruits are half an inch in 
diameter. Any experiments made beyond this period 
are found to be of doubtful value. The ordinary or 
typical mixture consists of six pounds of sulphate 
cf copper, four pounds of lime, and twenty-two 
gallons of water. A more diluted solution has given 
the best results, to wit, a seventy-five gallon formula, 
differing only from the other in consisting of seventy- 
five gallons of water with a little more lime to neutral¬ 
ise the copper. 
A topsy-turvy Pear. —Travellers that have been 
to the Antipodes come back with marvellous tales 
of everything being in the reverse order of arrange¬ 
ment from what they are here. For instance, they 
state that the sun travels round the north, that 
there are ducks with fur instead of feathers (refer¬ 
ring to the Platypus ornithorhynchus), and that 
Pears hang with the thin end downwards, or topsy¬ 
turvy. The Pears are described as not very large, 
but have a beautiful Peach-like bloom flushed with 
crimson on the cheek. The fruits are very hard, 
even when they mature, and the interior is golden 
yellow with a small pip furnished with a wing resem¬ 
bling an insect. All this shows that the fruit in 
question is no Pear at all, being woody and uneat¬ 
able, while the presence of a wing to the seed shows 
that the fruit was never meant by nature to be eaten, 
but that its woody character was meant to protect 
the seeds from drought and from animals. The 
winged seeds also show that the fruit was meant to 
burst open to allow them to be dispersed by the 
wind. Under the conditions it must be nothing 
more or less than the woody fruit of some of the 
Hakeas, Grevilleas, or other of the Proteaceae which 
are so largely represented in Australas : a. 
AfpiWe Plants on Mountain Tops —The theory 
is that as the glacial ice-cap crept farther and 
farther south, so the plants of northern regions 
retreated to the south in front of the snow and ice, 
appropriating the places that were formerly the 
abode of the original occupants which could not 
withstand the cold. As the temperature again rose, 
melting the snow, the northern plants retreated up 
the mountains, so that when the plants which had 
been driven south straggled back to their former 
homes they were unable to supplant the hardy 
northern species, stranded as it were on the moun¬ 
tain tops. These suppositions are plausible enough, 
but when Madeira is cited as an example of a coun¬ 
try covered with the same kind of vegetation from 
the bottom of the valleys to the mountain tops, to 
prove that the same thing must have prevailed in 
our country previous to the advent of the glacial 
epoch, one is apt to be somewhat sceptical. The 
more southern latitude of Madeira ensures a much 
higher temperature there at the same elevation above 
sea level than in any part of the British Islands. It 
is a moot point whether our lowland plants could 
ascend the mountains to any great extent, even if 
the latter were entirely divested of vegetation by 
way of experiment to prove it. Neither can the 
Alpines drive the lowland plants below the altitudes 
which nature has already prescribed for them. Each 
class is adapted and fitted for certain conditions as 
to temperature and environment. If the above 
theory is true the mountain tops must have been 
bare of vegetation before the glacial epoch, unless 
the temperature in every part of these islands was 
much higher than it is at present. 
