316 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 16, 1897J 
disadvantages of the gas for greenhouse work may be 
summarised respectively as follows : 
(1) Effectiveness with which it works. 
(2) Ease of application. 
(3) Leaves no objectionable odour, the flowers 
being as sweet immediately after treatment as 
before. 
(4) A decrease in the number of applications 
necessary during the season. 
(5) Its quick action and quick diffusion. 
The principal disadvantages are : 
(1) Its deadly poisonous nature to man and beast, 
which, however, amounts to little when care is 
exercised. 
(2) It must be used at night and only on nights 
when the temperature is sufficiently high outside to 
allow of thorough ventilation of the houses for thirty 
minutes. 
The gas cannot be used indiscriminately upon all 
plants. Some, like the Violet, will stand strong 
doses for twenty-five minutes, while the young grow¬ 
ing shoots of the Rose and Tomato are very sensitive 
and easily killed by it. It is necessary to determine 
for each species of plant and stage of growth what it 
will stand. When these points are all actually 
determined by careful experiments we can see no 
good reason why it should not come into general use 
for greenhouse work.—P. H. Dorselt, in the “ Florists’ 
Exchange.” 
[In calling attention to this little known method 
of fumigating to destroy the insect pests of stove and 
greenhouse, we supply illustrations of the remarkable 
insect known entomologically as Orthesia insignis. 
The specimens from which the blocks were prepared 
were taken upon stove plants in this country, some 
of which they infest very badly when allowed to once 
get established. The females are very numerous, 
but the males very scarce and difficult to detect. 
The true shape of the female insect is very much 
masked by a remarkable and curiously shaped 
structure formed by a waxy exudation from the 
insect itself, The pest is spoken of by gardeners 
who make its acquaintance as a new kind of mealy 
bug. The Orthesia is quite distinct from the mealy 
bug, but like that is endowed with the power of 
movement all through its life, though sluggish. In 
any case it is a pest that cannot too soon be got rid 
of when it makes its appearance on stove plants. 
Ed.] 
- -»*•- 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
My Garden Diary for 1897. Publishers, Sutton 
& Sons, Reading. Price is. 
This little work is a diary extending to twenty- 
eight pages, with a cover adorned with an artistic 
garden scene. When spread open the left hand 
page is seen to contain calendarial directions for one 
or other of each of the t welve months of the year, 
while at the bottom is a variety of information on a 
great number of topics of which it is necessary to be 
reminded. The right-hand page, in like manner, con¬ 
tains the days of the month and week, and the rising 
and setting of the sun and moon, after the style of an 
old almanack. More than half of this page is left 
blank, for the use of the owner in making notes and 
memoranda. 
The calender of garden operations will be found 
most useful to amateur and even professional 
gardeners. It is quite surprising the amount of 
information relating to the monthly operations, both 
under glass and in the opeD, that has been crammed 
into each page. The details are neccessarily brief, 
but this affords all the more space for variety of 
topic. We quote one paragraph for the month of 
January to show the nature of the information and 
its concise wording :— “ Many beautiful flowers for 
adorning conservatories and for bedding out in the 
summer months may be raised from seed. Such 
fine subjects as Antirrhinum, Canna, Gesnera, 
Grevillea, Gloxinia, Hollyhock, Petunia, Verbena, 
and others, will, if sown now, be of immense service 
later in the year.” There are ten of such paragraphs 
for the month of January, independently of the 
miscellaneous information at the bottom, and that, 
too, in a month of the year when little is supposed to 
require doing in a garden beyond digging, trenching, 
manuring, pruning, and forcing subjects under glass. 
Flowers and vegetables thus receive a great amount 
of attention, and as the days lengthen and the year 
opens out, the notes become more interesting, and the 
execution of the work indicated more urgent. The 
motto of the diary is, " Doing things in good time is 
the main secret of successful gardening,” which is 
taken from “ The Garden that I Love,” by the Poet 
Laureate. The printing is neatly executed, and the 
letterpress quaint and attractive. The work has 
been distributed to Messrs. Sutton's customers, but a 
few copies remain for sale. 
The Journal of the Royal Horticultural 
Society. 
The second part of the twentieth volume of the 
Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society is an inter¬ 
esting one, since it contains a great variety of useful 
information. The history of the society, as read at 
Chester by the president, Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
Bart., will interest a great many into 
whose hands this volume may fall. Many of the 
Fellows would previously have had but a vague idea 
of the long history and vicissitudes of the society till 
brought into a concise form like the present, and laid 
before them. 
As a piece of literature, and interesting reading on 
the subject of horticulture, " Garden Craft,” by the 
Very Rev. S. Reynolds Hole, Dean of Rochester, 
will be read with pleasure by a large number who 
were unable to be present at Chester, where the 
paper was read. The Dean, according to his wont, 
makes numerous quotations, both in prose and verse, 
from his predecessors who loved their gardens. 
This is how he describes what is meant by garden 
craft:—“The art, surely, of obtaining the greatest 
possible enjoyment from our garden by making it a 
place which shall refresh our spirit with its restful 
quietude, and delight our senses with its graceful 
outlines, its varied colours, sweet fragrance, and 
singing birds. It should be a place of reverent 
admiration, cheerful exercise, happy intercourse, 
tender memories, immortal hope.” He discusses and 
compares horticulture and architecture, and horticul¬ 
ture and agriculture, indicating their relationships. 
" Garden Literature ” is taken in hand by Mr. F. W. 
Burbidge, M.A., F.L.S., who gives a condensed 
account of the subject from the earliest of recorded 
times to the present. He also deals with ” Reference 
Books on English Gardening Literature,” etc. 
An account is aho given in this volume of the 
great fruit show at the Crystal Palace, together with 
papers read at the conference held during the show. 
“ The Importance of British Fruit Growing from a 
Food Point of View ” is taken in hand by Mr. 
Edmund J. Baillie, F.L.S. While dealing with fruit 
as food he gives various opinions of different writers, 
one of whom, tersely summing it up in one sentence:— 
“ Give me good bread and pure water, and I have 
the necessaries of life, and an Apple, and I have its 
luxuries.” This same man had lived on a few pence 
a day for months, to show the poverty-stricken 
people of the East End of London, how little was 
really necessary to maintain life. Numerous statis¬ 
tics about food are also given in a classified 
form. 
This number of the Journal will also prove inter¬ 
esting as containing a full account of the trials 
conducted at Chiswick during 1896, and which will 
be handy for reference at any time, as showing the 
relative value of those fruits, flowers, and vegetables, 
which were placed under suitable and similar con¬ 
ditions, so as to assist the committees in coming to a 
decision as to the merit of any particular variety. 
Each of the latter is briefly described, and the 
marks attached to them indicate their garden value 
as it appeared in the trials at Chiswick. 
--e— —. 
GRAND YORKSHIRE GALA. 
The annual meeting of the guarantors and life mem¬ 
bers of the Grand Yorkshire Gala was held at 
Harker’s Hotel, York, on the 8th inst. In the 
absence of Aid. Sir Joseph Terry, J.P. (the chair¬ 
man of the council), the Lord Mayor (president of 
the gala) took the chair, and there was a good 
attendance. A letter was read from Mr. Matthew 
Cooper regretting his inability to be present.—The 
president regretted the enforced absence of Sir 
Joseph Terry through illness, but thought they 
would all be glad to hear that he was recovering. 
Upon the result of last year's gala, he said that 
those associated with the fete had every reason to 
congratulate themselves. It had proved one of their 
most successful ventures. Had the weather been 
fine on the opening day, the gala might have been 
a record one. As it was there had been some 
extraordinary expenses, so that a most favourable 
balance had been somewhat diminished. 
They were, however, prepared with a schedule of 
of £750 for the ensuing year, which amount he 
believed was as large as that offered by any horti¬ 
cultural society in the country.—Aid. Border 
proposed the re-election of Sir Joseph Terry as 
chairman of the council for the ensuing year, and 
alluded to his long connection with the fete.—Mr- 
George Kirby seconded the proposition, which was 
unanimously agreed to. 
The president moved the election of Aid. Border 
as vice-chairman, expressing regret that Mr. Edward 
Rooke’s health prevented him from being further 
identified with the gala, he being practically unable 
to leave the house.—Mr. T. M. Lambert suggested 
that his lordship should allow himself to be 
nominated, but the Lord Mayor declined, remarking 
that if elected it would be quite impossible for him 
to discharge his duties.—Mr. Henry Scott seconded 
the election of Aid. Border, which was assented to 
nem. con. —The president announced that satisfactory 
arrangements had been made with the Bootham 
Asylum authorities for the holding of the fete in 
June next, whilst he again consented to act as 
president, and the City Sheriff (Aid. Dodsworth) had 
agreed to become a life member.—Mr. Joseph 
Wilkinson was re-elected treasurer; Mr. C. W. 
Simmons, secretary ; and Messrs. Pearson and 
Taylor, auditors. The council was appointed as 
follows:—Messrs. R. AndersoD, G. Balmford, J. 
Blenkin, J. Biscomb, Aid. Clayton, J. W. Craven, 
M. Cooper, H. C. Day, G. C. Dennis, Aid. Dale, 
Councillor L. Foster, G. Garbutt, T. G. HodgsoD, 
J. J. Hunt, Councillor A. Jones, G. Kirby, E. B. 
Kendall, T. M. Lambert, Aid. Purnell, E. S. Robin¬ 
son, H. Scott, W. S. Sharp, and J. B. Sampson. 
The following grants were made :—Floral, £700, 
and a special prize of £50 in celebration of the 60th 
year of her Majesty’s reign ; music, £200 ; fireworks, 
£130; balloon ascents, £60; amusements, £175. 
The Sheriff of York was unanimously elected as a 
life member, and a vote of thanks to the Lord Mayor 
for presiding conclude! the meeting.—His Lordship, 
in replying, alluded to the valuable aid which the 
gala had afforded to the local charieties, and said he 
did not think that there was anything in the country 
to equal the fete. 
-- 4 *- 
PRUNING GOOSEBERRIES. 
Neither at p. 297 nor in preceding issues do your 
correspondents seem to have taken any notice of 
Gooseberries pruned on the spur system as practised 
more or less in the northern counties. The ruling 
idea seems to be how to get the biggest possible crop 
from any given number of bushes. I do not seek to 
minimise the utility and praiseworthiness of such a 
plan ; but I do not forget than an outcry but too often 
arises during the berry season, when the crops in 
various market and other gardens are so heavy that 
the picking of them becomes an unremunerative 
occupation owing to the temporary glut in the sale 
market. 
Now the method advocated by ” Brightspade,” 
“ Rex,” and Mr. Benjamin G. Berry, enables the 
cultivator to obtain a heavy crop and fill the centre 
of the bush with shoots in such a way as to shield the 
berries from the hot sunshine of the south. All the same 
the pruning given and the excessive crop obtained in 
fruitful seasons, tends to wear out the bushes at a 
much earlier stage than happens to spur-pruned 
plantations. Supposing, for argument’s sake, that 
quick returns pay best, which they would do provided 
the grower were unable to sell his entire crop at a 
paying price; you must not forget that dry summers 
shorten the berry harvest and wet ones spoil the 
fruits, especially when gathered in a wet state and 
sent even to local markets in large quantities. Would 
it not be better to encourage moderate cropping by 
spur-pruning some plantations at least, in those 
districts where the climate favours this plan ? Goose¬ 
berry bushes, whether upright or drooping in habit, 
may be pruned precisely as you would a Red 
Currant so that I need not give any details of a pro¬ 
cess that is well known. My argument is that 
Gooseberries pruned on the spur-system and planted 
in good holding soil will last twice as long as those 
on which the shoots are left at their full length, and 
consequently overburdened with fruit. If the crop 
is lighter on spurred bushes (which is open to doubt), 
compensation would result from their being longer 
lived, thus saving the expense of renewing the 
plantation after ten years or' so. These remarks 
would apply to market and private gardens as well 
as to those of the amateur grower.— Pruner. 
