April 29, 1893. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
647 
The same rules apply to fruit trees, whether under 
glass or in the open air, and as different species of 
tree have different insect enemies, so is it the duty of 
the cultivator to become sufficiently acquainted with 
their life histories in order to deal with them effect¬ 
ually. It sometimes happens that remedies are 
applied or thought of after the mischief has been 
completed and the insects safely resting in the soil 
in the pupa or chrysallis state. In such cases the 
imaginary battle is fought after the enemy has safely 
left the field leaving the plants discomfited. Plant 
enemies have their own enemies in the shape of para¬ 
sites that often destroy them in large numbers if 
allowed to do so. 
" So, naturalists observe, a flea 
Has smaller fleas that on him prey ; 
And these have smaller still to bite 'em : 
And so proceed ad infinitum." 
It is a grand mistake then on the part of the culti¬ 
vator to destroy everything that creeps or flies, many 
of them are his best friends, if he would only learn to 
know it. Parasites of plant enepiies have been 
successfully imported from one part of the globe to 
another thousands of miles apart. 
In the application of remedies, man frequently 
proves a greater enemy to plant life than the insects 
he intended to destroy. Insecticides are in many 
cases very injurious to plant life as well as to insects, 
if improperly used or applied too strong. Accidents 
are frequent either through carelessness or ignorance. 
It is true that experience has often to be gained as 
the result of many failures, but the careful young 
cultivator will learn to profit by the knowledge and 
experience of others, and while experimenting for 
himself to ascertain the strength of his- mixture he 
will take care to use some plant or plants, of the same 
kind on which he is about to operate, of no value. 
Paraffin is one of the most effective insecticides, but 
it is at the same time one of the most dangerous to 
plant life. Young and tender foliage will stand less 
of it than leaves of a rigid and leathery texture. The 
oil floats on the surface of water, so that the latter 
must be constantly and violently agitated with the 
syringe all the while it is being used on plants, other¬ 
wise some of the plant or plants will be syringed with 
pure paraffin and the rest with clean water. It is 
quite as dangerous to use too much paraffin for naked 
vine rods in winter as in summer while in growth, as 
the spongy bark absorbs and retains the oil. I know 
a gardener who thus killed his vines and would never 
use paraffin upon vines afterwards, although the 
skillful operator may do it with impunity. 
Paris-green and London-purple are arsenites of 
copper and therefore while powerful insecticides 
they must be used with very great care, according to 
the precise directions of those who have made experi¬ 
ments on a more or less extensive scale. Their use 
first originated in America, where they are largely 
used at the present day for the destruction of orchard 
caterpillars. Paris-green has been chiefly employed 
in this country at the rate of one pound of the powder 
to 16o gallons of water in the case of Piums and 
Currants, 200 gallons to the pound of Paris-green 
for Gooseberries, and 300 to 320 gallons of water to 
the same amount of powder for Apples and Pears. 
A pound of London-purple is sufficient for an acre of 
plants, if properly used. To this add 150 gallons of 
water for Apple trees ; 200 gallons for Plum, Pear, 
and Cherry trees; and 300 to 400 gallons of water 
for Peach and Nectarine trees, which are the tenderest 
of all. The powder in either case merely forms a 
mixture with the water, and must be well stirred all 
the time it is being used to prevent it settling in the 
bottom of the machine used. It should be applied 
to the trees just as the buds are opening and again 
after the young fruits are set, but not while the 
blossom is open. It is of no use spraying trees that 
are affected with plant lice, plant bugs or other 
insects that pierce the tissues of plants with a beak 
in order to suck the juices. Only those insects will 
be killed which have mandibles and eat the leaves 
that will be destroyed by them when eating the 
foliage. It is unsafe to use stronger mixtures for the 
respective trees than the above, otherwise the foliage 
will get destroyed and man himself again becomes 
the most mischevious enemy to plant life. Beware 
of making risky experiments on your own account 
upon valuable trees or plants. Possibly you may 
have heard of the gardener who was boasting to 
some of his companions that he had discovered an 
infallable remedy for killing red spider on vines, and 
that he would communicate the secret to no man. 
but retain it for his own special benefit. Yet this 
gardener was on the outlook for a situation. Soon 
afterwards his late employer came along, and being 
questioned why the services of such a valuable ser¬ 
vant were dispensed with, replied that the gardener did 
indeed kill the red spider, but discovered at the same 
time how to kill the vines by burning sulphur on the 
flues. 
Fungoid Enemies, &c. 
The question is often asked what causes fungoid 
diseases. The question itself is rather an ambiguous 
one, because the fungus itself causes the disease. 
The rapid spread of the latter is probably what is 
meant. Here again, man must in many cases bear 
the blame. Plants of certain kinds are grown 
together in quantity,thus offering a rich and extensive 
field for the operation of the enemy ; but the real 
crux of the question comes in when, by improper 
treatment, bad ventilation and an undue amount of 
moisture, the plants are weakened, thin skinned and 
liable to severe attack of fungoid enemies when per¬ 
chance a few stray spores find this happy hunting 
ground assiduously prepared for them. Species of 
fungi which live on the surface of plants can, as a 
rule, be easily destroyed by applications of flour of 
sulphur ; but when the fungus lives in the interior of 
the tissues, it cannot be destroyed without at the 
same time destroying the host plants. All that can 
be done in this case is to prevent the spread of the 
evil. A better object to aim at is the entire prevention 
of the evil, if possible, by proper methods of culture. 
Out of doors fungi are more difficult to deal with 
than under glass. So far as can at present be seen 
the Bordeaux mixture is the most valuable of recent 
discoveries in the way of preventative fungicides. It 
consists of six pounds of sulphate of copper dissolved 
in water, to which four pounds of lime is added, and 
the water made up to twenty-two gallons. More 
recently double the quantity of water has been used 
in America, with apparently the same beneficial 
results. Various modifications of this are also used 
and all are employed in the form of a spray. 
Cherries, Strawberries, and other tempting fruits 
of that kind, that are liable’to be completely eaten by 
birds, must be netted as soon as they commence to 
change colour.not after half of them have been eaten. 
Late crops of Raspberries, Currants, Gooseberries 
and others must also be netted in good time otherwise 
birds may determine that they have been left on pur¬ 
pose for them. Now, the question remains, What 
punishment is to be awarded to those gardeners who 
did not, could not, or would not fight the battle of 
life for the plants under their care. The young and 
inexperienced we will let off with an admonition, and 
when they find their tasks difficult, let us encourage 
them to try again, and take as their motto, “ Often 
beaten but never conquered."— J.F. 
--j-- 
Celery. 
For the general crop the plants should now be ready 
to prick out into cold frames. A hard surface of 
ashes is a good place to put the frames on. In the 
bottom of the frames put a few inches of rotten leaf 
soil, and two inches of soil for the surface ; prick out 
the plants about four to six inches apart and keep 
them well watered until they are large enough to 
transfer to the trenches, these can be prepared now 
at any time, so as to be ready when wanted. Single 
rows are the best, and plenty of good rotten manure 
should be forked in the bottom of each trench, and 
see that the plants (which will lift with a good ball 
of earth, if pricked out as described above) are well 
watered during their entire growth, or good crisp 
Celery will not be obtained. Plenty of manure and 
water are the two things necessary for the cultivation 
of good celery. A few sprinklings of nitrate of soda 
will assist growth a good deal.— G.H.S. 
General Work. 
During the next week a good many seeds should be 
sown, and especially should the main crop of Beetroot 
be got in. Any Potatos not already planted should 
be attended to, Scozonera and Ialsify, should be 
sown, also Chicory and Dandelion. Watering is 
taking up a great deal of time just now. We had a 
slight shower during a thunder storm last week, but 
it is now nearly eight weeks since rain fell to do any 
good.— G.H.S. 
(Homings ftrom th% Wovlb 
Owls as Vermin-destroyers. —We have on 
previous occasions referred to the devastation 
caused by voles or field mice in the southern 
districts of Scotland. Natural Science, while review¬ 
ing a book entitled "Ornithology in Relation to 
Agriculture and Horticulture,” mentions a fresh fact 
in the history of this question of field mice. Last 
year on those farms in the infested districts from 
whence specific information was obtained, as many 
as 301 nests of the short-eared owl (Asio accipitrinus) 
were discovered, and supposing that as many more 
remained unnoticed, while allowing seven young to 
each nest, we should then have a total of 4,214 young 
birds on those farms. Previous to 1892 the owl in 
question was known to breed in small numbers, but 
the great abundance of their natural food has 
attracted them from great distances, and since their 
setting down in the infested district the mice plague 
has greatly diminished. As many as twenty-seven 
to thirty-seven dead voles have been found by the 
side of a single nest in one day. The mouse-eating 
kestral has also multiplied in the district. These 
facts should be sufficient to rouse the British public 
to the necessity of restricting the indiscrim ate 
slaughter of useful birds. 
Combined Insecticides and Fungicides —As 
spraying for the Apple grub and Apple scab has 
naturally to be carried on at the same time, it 
occurred to the officers of the Cornell University 
Agricultural Experiment Station that both the 
insecticide and the fungicide might be mixed to 
save time in their application. The results are 
recorded in Bulletin 48. The mixtures were the 
Bordeaux and Paris green, and Bordeaux and 
London purple. There were four applications given, 
the first one on the 13th of June, soon after the 
blossom had fallen, and the fruits were harvested 
early in October. In the experiment with Bordeaux 
mixture and Paris green upon the King Apple there 
was a gain of 347 per cent, of good Apples as 
compared with those which had not been sprayed. 
When sprayed with Bordeaux mixture and London 
purple there was a gain of 30 7 ; while the percentage 
of grub eaten Apples varied from one to three. 
Similar experiments were made on the Baldwin 
Apple, and in the first case there was a gain of 22 
per cent, of good fruits, while in the spraying with 
Bordeaux mixture and London purple there was 
only a gain of 7 per cent. The season, however, was 
a wet one, and the effects of the spraying were 
greatly counteracted. There was a considerable 
gain in the number of good Apples by the use of 
Paris green alone, both in the case of the King and 
Baldwin varieties. 
The Golden Rod as a Weed. —About eighty 
species of Golden Rod (Solidago) are known to 
science. Most of them are natives of Eastern North 
America, and only one is indigenous to the Old 
World, including Britain. A few years ago a great 
discussion was carried on in America about the 
adoption of a national flower, and the Golden Rod 
was proposed as the best for the national emblem, 
but without reference to any particular species. It 
is rather amusing in the face of this fact to find that 
the authorities at the Cornell University Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station are now discussing the 
question of Golden Rod Weeds. Some authorities 
on American weeds reckon that ten of the species of 
Golden Rod must be considered as such. In the 
central counties and the dairy regions of New York 
only four are considered of a weedy character, 
namely, Solidago nemoralis, S. rugosa, S. canadensis, 
and S. lanceolata. They grow naturally on the 
margins of fields, cultivated land, on the banks of 
streams, and on moist land from whence they spread 
over the grass fields or pastures, driving out other 
and useful kinds of vegetation. The two last named 
species are cultivated in British gardens where they 
prove ornamental, particularly S. canadensis, but 
although they have to be considerably reduced in 
size at the winter digging they never stray over the 
grass nor other parts of the garden. 
-- 5 -- 
A Dean's Choice of Occupation.—" If I had not 
been brought up a Dean,” says Dean Hole, of 
Rochester, "there are three other avocations I 
should have liked to have followed—master of a 
pack of hounds, head gardener in a large nursery, or 
a bookseller. I think the last is the best office of 
the three.” 
