February 18, 1899. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 891 
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Asparagus forms a profitable crop in Algiers, 
whence it is shipped in great quantities to Paris, 
five days’ journey. 
Bristol and District Gardeners' Mutual Improvement 
Association. —The fortnightly meeting of the society 
was held in St. John’s Parish Room, Redland, on 
Thursday, February ioth, Mr. W. A. Garaway in 
the chair. The subject for the evening was “ The 
Culture of Hardy Fruit,” and it was introduced by 
Mr. E. Poole, F.R.H.S., of Downend. He gave 
some account of his twenty-five years’ experience in 
the culture of fruit, laying much stress on the matter 
of pruning, advocating close cutting in most cases, 
and root-pruning where growth was strong. He 
brought to the meeting several branches of fruit 
trees, proving by them the different results of good 
and bad treatment. The food he recommended for 
dressing was sewage matter. An animated discus¬ 
sion followed, chiefly upon the question of the effect 
of pruning with the knife versus secateurs. Prizes 
for a pair of table plants were awarded :—Mr. Sut¬ 
ton, first, Mr. Shelton, second.— Mr. E. Groves, Hon. 
Sec. and Treas. 
Belgian Horticulturists.—At the last monthly 
meeting of the Chambre Syndicate des Horticulteurs 
Beiges et Societe Royale d'Agriculture et de Botanique de 
Gand the following awards have been made :—Certi¬ 
ficates of Merit to Cattleya Trianaei var., from M. 
E. Coryn; Adiantum bessonianum, Kentia ornata, 
Phoenix canariensis gracilis, and Crinum Laurentie, 
shown by M. Ed. Pynaert; to Anthurium andre- 
anum hybridum, sent by M. C. Petrick ; Cattleya 
Trianaei splendens, from M. L. Desmet-Duvivier; 
Citrus sinensis aureo marginatis, Gloire de Mont.- 
St.-Amand, from M. E. Lossy ; a hybrid Anthurium 
scherzerianum, from M. Louis Desmet; a collection 
of cut flowers of Cyclamen persicum var. papilio, 
from M. L. Draps-Dom ; and Kentia Buckenbergi, 
from MM. Desmet freres. A Certificate of Merit 
was also granted to M. F. Desbois for his work 
■■ Monographic sur les Cypripedium, Selenipedium et 
Uropedium.” M. L. Desmet-Duvivier received 
Floral Certificates for Odontoglossum cariniferum 
and O. ramosissimum. Cultural Certificates were 
granted to Dracaena cannaefolia var., shown by M. 
Louis Desmet, and to Phoenix reclinata robusta 
sent by M. O. Wattecaraps. A species of Dendro- 
bium, undetermined, presented by M. L. Desmet- 
Duvivier, was granted a Botanical Certificate, and 
Erica herbacea rosea grandiflora, shown by M. 
Wallaert, obtained an Honourable Mention. 
Maidenhead and District Gardeners’ M I S.—On 
Thursday evening, February 9th, the members of 
the above society were treated to a very interesting 
paper on •' Orchard House Trees in Pots,” by Mr. 
James Hudson, V.M H., Gunnersbury House, Acton. 
Seeing that the lecturer has some 1,000 trees of 
Apricots, Peaches, Nectarines, Figs, Cherries, Plums, 
Apples, and Pears under his supervision in this form 
of culture, the lecturer's remarks were the production 
of practical experience. The paper would be too 
long to quote in extenso ; but Mr. Hudson convinced 
the meeting that the top and side ventilators should 
open exactly the reverse way to avoid incurrents of 
cold draughts; that these fruit houses in a season 
could be utilised for three or four crops, such as 
early fruit, followed by Cucumbers, Melons, and 
Chrysanthemums; that two to three year old trees 
should be purchased in pots to start with ; that good 
fibrous, loam, and sprinkling of lime rubble should 
form the soil; that re-potting should be done annu¬ 
ally ; that such treatment, with proper pruning was 
all on the side of quantity and quality of the fruit 
and longevity of the trees. Extremes in watering 
and manuriug were to be avoided. When fruit be¬ 
gan to soften less water would be required as far as 
possible. The temperature should be non-variable. 
Peaches and Nectarines should be harvested with 
the Grape scissors. The earliest Peach recommended 
was the Cardinal, followed by Early Rivers’. Apples, 
such as Ribston and Cox's, were of much finer 
flavour grown in this manner. The brush was used 
for setting purposes. Red spider was kept down by 
a sharp eye and the syringe. Nothing beats XL All 
for destruction of other insect pests, and this could 
be used even when the bloom was out. He con¬ 
sidered for fruit trees Dickson’s manure as the best 
fertiliser. He always grew May Duke trees along 
with the other Cherries for the sake of pollenising.— 
Hon. Sec., Maidenhead, G.M.I.S. 
An Up-to date American Firm have printed on their 
envelopes the advice of the Scotch laird to his son : 
—“ Aye keep planting a tree, Jock. It will be growin' 
while ye're sleepin’.” 
The Gladstone Park.—The Willesden District 
Council has been considering the purchase of 98 
acres of the Dollis Hill Estate, upon which they have 
an option. The sum asked is £50,000, a low price 
for such valuable land, but too large for the Council 
to pay ; whilst the option expires at the end of April. 
It has been decided, therefore, to appeal to the Lon¬ 
don County Council, the Corporation, and the City 
Companies for help, and we hope in the interests of 
Willesden people that the appeal will not be fruitless 
About 43 acres of the park are well timbered, and 
this part would probably be left as it is. From the 
high ground view can be obtained. On the east is 
Child’s Hill and Cricklewood; on the west, Neas- 
den; on the south, Willesden Green; and on the 
north, the ornamental waters of the Welsh Harp can 
be distinguished. It has been suggested that the 
estate should be named Gladstone Park, for that 
great scholar and statesman was a frequent visitor at 
Dollis Hill, when Lord Aberdeen was its tenant. A 
Scots Fir that he planted in 1887, in memory of the 
Queen’s Jubilee, is still growing ; although it has 
been crippled somewhat by the many pieces that 
have been clipped from it as souvenirs by ardent 
memento hunters. The small strip of ornamental 
water, in front of the mansion, is utilised for the 
culture of Water Lilies ; and the workmen on the 
place relate that it was no uncommon thing to see 
Mr. Gladstone taking a dip in it at six o’clock in the 
morning. 
PEACH BORDERS. 
An able article on making a Peach border occurs on 
p. 344, and whilst giving good advice generally, 
advice I am not goiDg to find fault with, there is a 
question or two I would like to ask your corre¬ 
spondent, Rex. After describing about flower buds 
dropping, fruit dropping, &c., he goes on to say :— 
“ Later on in the season yet another cultivator won¬ 
ders why the wood of the trees has not ripened so 
well as the wood of his neighbour's trees on the other 
side of the wall,” a question I should like answered 
myself. My neighbour's Peach house faces S.W. 
and gets a fair share of sunshine. Ours faces N.E. 
and gets no sunshine after noon, as the back wall 
stands fully 3 ft. higher than the top of the house (a 
lean-to). 
The border of our house has never been made. An 
old lean-to pit, that used to be filled with hot-bed 
manure for Cucumber growing, etc , occupied the 
site. The old pit was cleared away, the manure, 
etc., levelled down, Peach house erected, and trees 
planted, with the result that some of the shoots they 
made were sometimes 6 ft. long in one season. I 
had as much of the manure removed as possible, and 
a good holding loam put in its place. I get short- 
jointed growths, but cannot get the wood ripened, 
which I attribute to the position of the house, and 
lack of sunshine, a commodity we want all we can 
get hold of, in the wilds of North Cumberland. The 
house is 36 ft. long, 10 ft. wide, and 9 ft. high at the 
back, and the only ventilation without opening the 
doors at each end, is four ventilators, each 3 ft. long, 
and 18 in wide, hinged at the top of the house, so 
that we can lift them 6 in. 
On a bright forenoon in summer with all the 
ventilators and doors open, the house is like an 
oven. Now what would Rex advise in our case ? 
I may also mention that there are two rows of 
trees, one row planted along the front of the 
house, the other on the back wall, and the 
roots all confined to the inside of the house. I 
do not know, but part of the concluding paragraph 
might suit our case, i.e. “ building the border on the 
top of the existing soil,” as very often in winter the 
water rises to within a foot of the surface of the 
border, the border being so little above the level of 
the river. Although the article was written for 
amateurs (and I am not one in the strict sense of the 
word) I shall be grateful to Rex if he can suggest a 
remedy for the evils I have mentioned (this is the 
state of things I found when I took charge here, and 
I find it difficult to have a predecessor’s work altered). 
Many an employer who reads these articles never 
takes into consideration any of the defects I have 
mentioned, but simply thinks because they have a 
Peach house (?) they ought to have Peaches.— 
L' Allegro. 
DOES FROST KILL GERMS ? 
In the above headed paragraph of a recent issue, p. 
365, “A. P.” asks if any experiments have been 
made to determine the hardiness of insects, etc I 
can speak with confidence of two insects. When re¬ 
moving the winter covering of bracken, which was 
very slight, from the outside Figs in the spring, 1897, 
a number of mealy-bug were detected, and upon 
closer examination were found to be as fat and mov¬ 
ing as briskly as if they were on a nice young growth 
of a Vine in a temperature of 90 or 100 degrees. 
These trees are on a wall facing the east, and we 
had had frost ranging from 15 to 20 degrees during 
that winter. I can also speak of the large brown 
scale; for here, if allowed to remain, it will give off 
its young in the spring, which make such fine speci¬ 
mens by the end of the season that I can safely say 
finer cannot be found in this county.— F. G. Brewer, 
Oaklands, St. Albans. 
Some years ago Miss Ormerod, in her annual 
“ Report of Observations of Injurious Insects,” 
said that severe frost did not seem to have 
any injurious effect upon several moths, upon 
which observations had been made, but that the 
business of egg-laying took place as usual, as soon as 
the frost gave place to mild weather. The Winter 
Moth, Mottled Umber Moth, Early Moth and the 
Satellite Moth were mentioned by that lady 
amongst others as indifferent to long continued frost. 
The last-mentioned moth passes the winter in the per¬ 
fect state, and simply lays up where she can keep her 
clothes dry till the egg-laying season in March. The 
caterpillar of the Gooseberry Moth is not hatched 
out till September, and after feeding for a short time 
drops to the ground with the leaves, or it ties a leaf 
up in a roll by means of a thread, and goes to sleep 
unconcernedly till the young leaves unfold in spring, 
and it can get tender eating to complete its growth 
before changing to a beautiful wasp like chrysalid, 
also hung up to the bushes. Mr. ” A. P ” (p. 365) 
seems to be somewhat sceptical about the popular 
belief that insects and other pests get killed by 
cold weather ; maybe these remarks will increase 
his wholesome doubt.— P. IV. 
-- 
CALANTHES. 
Now that the flowering season of the majority of 
varieties of deciduous Calanthes is over, the plants 
may be shaken out of their pots, and the pseudo-bulbs 
packed closely together with a little moss in shallow 
trays and placed on a shelf or some light place in a 
warm house, until growth commences again. 
When the young growths are about two inches 
long, the plants will require repotting. A compost 
that we have found to suit them admirably, isone- 
third fibrous loam, one-third peat, the remaining 
third consisting of sweet leaf mould, cow dung dried 
and rubbed through a half-inch sieve, and charcoal 
broken to about the size of filbert nuts in equal pro¬ 
portions ; some sharp sand may be added to make 
the soil more porous. In potting, care should be 
taken not to damage the young growths or roots ; and 
the soil should be pressed only moderately firm. 
After potting, the plants should be placed in a 
house with a minimum night temperature of 65°; and 
if they could be placed where they can obtain a little 
bottom heat, it is all the better. If the soil is not 
too dry, no watering will be required until fresh roots 
are being freely produced, overwatering at this stage 
being, I believe, the most frequent cause of failure to 
grow Calanthes well. When the plants are showing 
unmistakable signs of strong growth water may be 
freely given ; and as the leaves become fully devel¬ 
oped 1 do not think too much water can be given in 
reason. Liquid manure from the farm yard greatly 
diluted, may with advantage then be given once, or 
at most twice, a week. In the autumn as the 
leaves turn yellow, water should be gradually with¬ 
held until, when all are off, noneat all should be given. 
There will be enough in the pseudobulbs to develop 
the spike and flowers. 
In following the above treatment we have been 
very successful the last few seasons in growing goid 
spikes of flowers, the majority of the plants of C. 
Veitchi carrying from thirty to forty blooms.— 
A. Reid. 
