October 8, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
71 
Autumn Pests. 
Earwigs have been unusually prevalent this season, 
and must be watched closely. Hollow stems or 
hiding places of moss in small pots should be placed 
amongst the plants, and should be gone through 
every morning and the pests destroyed. Mildew up to 
the present should not have made much headway, 
but prevention being better than cure, the plants, 
before housing, should have a syringing of sulphur 
and water, with a little soft soap added; turn the 
plants on their side and give the underside of the 
foliage a good drenching. This generally will suffice 
to keep the plants free until the blooming period, 
when it is nearly sure to show itself to some extent, 
being encouraged by want of air and light, when the 
plants are placed closely together. After housing, as 
soon as the atmosphere has got fairly dry, the plants 
should be fumigated for the same reason as the 
syringing with sulphur water, " preventing ” or exter¬ 
minating greenfly. This also should be done 
thoroughly, which will insure the flowers freedom 
from this pest during their blooming season. After 
the plants are settled in their inside quarters, the 
atmosphere must be kept dry, never fully closing the 
ventilators; whilst during the day an abundance of air 
should be admitted. Water the plants carefully, 
giving on all occasions some concoction of manure of 
fair strength, but not over proof. If from any reason 
the plants are found suffering from dryness, water 
with clear water, to recover them from flagging.— W. 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
The Stove. 
With the advent of October, all need of the blinds 
for shading purposes will have disappeared ; there¬ 
fore, unless it is intended to leave them out of doors 
all the winter for covering during frosty weather, 
they may as well be taken in at once. Where there 
is a number of houses furnished w>'th blinds, the 
latter, on being taken down and rolled up neatly, 
should be all labelled, otherwise there may be a good 
deal of confusion presently. All permanent shading 
should be washed off without delay. The recent 
heavy rains will doubtless have removed the greater 
part, and the rest may soon be got rid of by means 
of the application of a mop or a hair broom 
dipped in warm water, followed up by a good 
syringing. 
With the decline in sun heat and the increasing 
dampness of the air, the plants will need less water 
at the root, and the greatest care must be exercised 
in the giving of manurial stimulants. If the weather 
keeps bright, syringing overhead may be practised 
daily until about the middle of the month, after 
which time it should only be done on bright days. It 
may be that after the wet September, we shall be 
greeted with a bright October, although even this 
will have the disadvantage that bright days are 
almost sure to be followed by frosty mights. The 
fires will now require to be kept going bnskly through 
the night. 
Caladiums, as they go oft, should be removed to a 
pit where they can be allowed to finish off. With 
very few exceptions all the plants are showing signs 
of having had enough of it for the season. 
Nymph ae as —Where the temperature of the water, 
in which these charming aquatics are growing, can 
be regulated at will, it will be advisable to lower it a 
few degrees in a few weeks 1 time. The time is now 
not far distant when the plants will be claiming 
their annual rest, and they should, therefore, be 
excited as little as possible now. 
Euphorbia pulcherrima. - As the flower heads 
of the earliest batch are now beginning to unfold, a 
welcome touch of colour will be obtainable in the 
stove. Anything more brilliant than the appearance 
of a small batch of these handsome plants can 
scarce be imagined, the large scarlet bracts coming 
out all the more conspicuously by reason of the 
prevailing gloom. Those plants that are developing 
their flower-heads may be treated pretty liberally 
with manure water just now. 
Alocasias, Anthuriums, and other aroids will 
need particular care from this time forward. During 
the autumn and winter months, excess of water, 
combined with the low temperatures, causes the 
death of many of the thick, fleshy roots. In 
cases where the large plant stove cannot be main¬ 
tained at a sufficiently high temperature, it will be 
well to remove the tender aroids to the shelter of a 
close pit before the dull weather sets in in earnest, 
Pits and Frames. 
The housing of all the tender subjects that have 
passed the summer out of doors, will now be the all- 
engrossing task, as it will not be safe to leave them 
out any longer. Room, naturally, will be of the 
utmost value, for no matter how much of it there is, it 
will scarcely be possible to avoid crowding in certain 
parts. 
Carnations.— These ought to have been got in by 
this time, as the rains will do the plants nearly as 
much harm as a frost, but if they have not been seen 
to, then they must be taken in at once. First of all the 
securing of all loose shoots must be seen to, then the 
dead leaves must come off and the pots be washed. 
A light house must be chosen, where a night 
temperature of not less 5S 0 Fahr. can be given with 
a rise of about 5 0 by day In this the flowers will 
open freely. 
Winter flowering Pelargoniums. —If no other 
position offers, the shelves in the pits may be turned 
to good service by devoting them to these subjects. 
If the shelves are already occupied, then a cold 
frame will do for the present, although the plants 
must of necessity be shifted to warmer quarters 
before severe frost sets in. The earliest batch, upon 
which the flowers are just opening, will soon be in 
fine condition, and provided they are well fed, 
should keep on flowering for some time to come. 
Chrysanthemums.— The gardener is oftentimes 
compelled to leave these out later than prudence 
dictates owing to the fact that the houses are not in 
fit condition to receive them. A few hundreds or 
thousands of Chrysanthemums severely tax the 
resources of an establishment to find room for them, 
and Peach houses and vineries have all to be made 
the most of. If the Peach trees are full of leaves, the 
light obtained by the Chrysanthemums below, is 
rather meagre in quantity, and the plants are apt to 
get drawn, and in a measure spoiled, A good deal 
of care will be needed in moving the plants to their 
new quarters, more especially the large flowering 
ones. If no other convenience exists, the tallest 
plants may be stood close to the wall of a lean-to 
house, and supported by ties attached to the wires. 
The later varieties may be left out of doors a little 
longer if desired, but if this is to be done with 
safety, preparations must be made so that protection 
can be given easily, and at any time that may be 
necessary. The best plan is to erect a light frame¬ 
work of wood, over which tarpaulin or mats may be 
thrown when required. 
Cyclamen. —Of late years the superiority of 
youog plants over old ones has been well demon¬ 
strated by many growers in different parts of the 
country, and it has been unmistakably proved, that 
in order to get fine flowers and plenty of them, seed 
should be sown each year with the same regularity 
with which cuttings of Chrysanthemums are inserted. 
The present is a capital time to make the first 
sowing. Sow thinly in shallow pots or pans in 
a mixture of mellow loam, leaf soil, and sand, and 
cover with pieces of glass cut to fit them. Place 
the seed pans for the first fortnight, on a shelf in a 
pit, having a temperature of about 45° Fahr. by 
night. At the end of this time they may be 
transferred to a warm pit with a temperature of 
about io° higher. As Cyclamen seed is oft-times 
capricious in the way in which it germinates, it will 
not do to get impatient should the seedlings not 
make their appearance so soon as expected. 
Cinerarias —Attend to the spacing out of the 
plants as growth calls for it, so as to avoid having 
drawn and weakly specimens. The final potting of 
the later batches must not be deferred for too long. 
It is not wise to allow the roots to become muted 
before the shift is given, and besides, the rapid 
passage of the fine weather has seriously to be 
reckoned with. Slugs have been doing a lot of 
damage of late, and some trouble may have to be 
gone through before the marauders are captured. 
Lettuce leaves form admirable traps, and if these 
are visited after dark, and looked over under the 
rays of a lantern, the leaves of the Cinerarias maybe 
saved from injury .—A S. G. 
--- - — 
(Meanings fxirnn ItDarlb 
of Srtenrq. 
Struggle between' Wheat and Native 
Plants.—On the estate of Sir John Lawes, Rotham- 
sted, Hertfordshire, is an interesting portion of 
an old wheat field, where a severe competition went 
on for a few years between wheat and British plants. 
The portion now left to a state of nature was culti¬ 
vated for forty years, wheat alternating with fallow. 
After 1882, it was allowed to lie bare, the wheat 
crop being unharvested and left to its own resources. 
The previous year the crop was reckoned at twenty- 
seven bushels per acre. The first after that was 
only half a crop. In the second year there was only 
a bushel to the acre; and this kept dwindling till in 
the fifth year, when the wheat plants were scarcely 
distinguishable from the other grasses. The wheat 
being altogether unable to hold its own, practically 
became extinct in five years, thus proving that it was 
not a British plant. 
The British flora had gained the complete 
mastery, and the relatively small piece of ground 
now supports something like seventy species. On 
the 6th of July last we made a rapid survey of the 
ground and identified fifty species. One or two 
inspections earlier in the year, namely, in spring, and 
again about the end of May, would have enabled us 
to pick up the early flowering plants, and possibly to 
add even to the seventy species recorded. The most 
rampant and predominant members of the vegetation 
are Couchgrass (Triticum repens) Cock’s-foot 
(Dactylis glomerata), Cow Parsnip (Heracleum 
Sphondylium), and Bent (Agrostis vulgaris). 
Woody plants.—Trees and shrubs would un¬ 
doubtedly in a few years monopolise the ground if 
allowed to do so ; but it is evidently the intention of 
the proprietor and his assistants, to retrict the woody 
vegetation within prescribed limits so as to allow 
free scope for the herbaceous species. A hedge of 
trees and shrubs surrounds the field, and these have 
been scattering their seeds broadcast over the ground 
since 1882. The trees that came up had become 
bulky, and were beheaded some months before our 
visit. The Hawthorn, the Oak and the Ash were 
the most common intruders, taking the order given 
for their frequency. Next to these the Dog-rose 
(Rosa canina), the field Rose (R. arvensis), the 
Bramble (Rubus fruticosus discolor), the Goat 
Willow (Salix Caprea), and the Hazel (Corylus 
Colurna) might be placed. Their powers of aggres¬ 
sion are now held in obeyance, so that their power 
to exterminate other vegetation cannot be observed, 
though there could be no manner of doubt about the 
ultimate result. Altogether we noted eight woody 
plants. 
Natural Orders represented.—Of the fifty 
species of plants we identified, eight were woody, 
thirty-six herbaceous perennials, and six annuals. 
Moreover, the fifty species represented forty-seven 
genera and twenty natural orders. Compositae took 
the lead with ten species, namely, Centaurea nigra, 
Crepis virens, Carduus arvensis, Taraxacum offici¬ 
nale, Senecis Jacobaea, S. erucaefolius, Leontodon 
hispidum, Achillea Millefolium, Tussilago Farfara, 
and Sonchus arvensis. The Gramineae took the 
second place with eight species, to wit, Phleum 
pratense, Lolium perenne, Avena elatior, Dactylis 
glomerata, Agrostis vulgaris, Holcus mollis, Festuca 
ovioa rubra, and Triticum repens The Rosaceae 
followed with Crataegus Oxyacantha, Geum 
urbanum, Rosa arvensis, R. canina, Rubus fruti¬ 
cosus discolor, and Potentilla reptans. Then came 
the Leguminosae, including Trifolium repens, T. 
pratense, Lathyrus pratensis, Vicia tetrasperma, and 
Medicago lupulina. The above four were most 
largely represented. The Labiatae mustered Prun¬ 
ella vulgaris, Stachys sylvatica, and Calamintha 
Clinopodium. Three orders, each contained two 
species; the Umbelliferae included Heracleum 
Sphondylium, and Pimpinella Saxifraga ; Cupuliferae 
contained Quercus pedunculata, and Corylus 
Avellana ; and Scrophulance3e were represented by 
Veronica Chamaedrys, and Bartsia Odontites. 
Twelve natural orders had only a single representa¬ 
tive each. Epilobium montanum represented 
Onagrarieae; Myosotis arvensis, the Boragineae; 
Convolvulus, the Convolvulaceae ; Plantago lanceo- 
lata, the Plantagineae; Scabiosa arvensis, the 
Dipsaceae; Valerianella olitoria, the Valerianeae ; 
Fraxinus excelsior, the Oleaceae ; Galium Mollugo, 
the Rubiacae; Rumex ecetosa, the Polygoneae; 
Salix Caprea, the Salicineae; Ranunculus repens, 
the Ranunculaceae; and Equisetum arvense, the 
Equisetaceae. All were flowering plants except the 
Equisetum. 
It will be seen from the above that a fair pro¬ 
portion of the plants were useful or ornamental; and 
those which came under that category were woody 
plants, five pasture grasses, the Dandelion, Lamb’s 
Lettuce (Valerianella), two Clovers and the Meadow 
Vetch (Lathyrus pratensis), in all about seventeen 
out of fifty species, or 34 per cent. 
