April 28, 1E00 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
553 
mornings, or white hellebore powder used in the 
same manner. This latter is poisonous, so that you 
must not dust the bushes with it when the fruits are 
ripening. 
Snails Devouring Cabbages, &c —L .: Dusting 
with soot, lime and other mixtures have little eflect. 
Hand-picking at night by the light of a lantern is the 
most genuine means of riddance. Sometimes ducks 
can be turned on to a piece of land, but in this case 
they might destroy more Cabbages than the snails 
are doing. 
Open-air Yines.— W. Veitcli : The reasons why 
Vines are not so extensively grown in the open-air 
seem to be that the returns from them do not repay 
the labour expended. Glass being so cheap, also 
acts against the development of this fruit in the 
open. Cold, sunless seasons and the liability to 
mildew deter many. To prevent a recurrence of 
mildew on your tree, dust the young leaves when 
the mould appears with flowers of sulphur Do not 
allow the roots to become dry ; and afford what pro¬ 
tection you can from sudden chills or cold winds. 
Attend to pinching, tying and thinning of the shoots 
and fruits. Water with liquid manure to aid the 
swelling. Even if the fruits do not ripen thoroughly 
they can still be made use of for jelly, tarts or for 
wine. The Royal Muscadine is one of the best out¬ 
door varieties. Reine Olga is also suitable. 
Artificial Manures for Cucumbers and Tomatos. 
—It would be better for you, seeing you grow only a 
limited amount of either crop, to confine yourself to 
such manures as Thomson's, Clay’s, or Canary 
Guano. These manures have long been tried and 
proved. They act speedily and are lasting. Un¬ 
prepared chemical manures, suitable for Tomatos 
and Cucumbers, would be sulphate of potash, super¬ 
phosphate and nitrate of soda, applied as dressings 
fortnightly at the rate of 2 ozs. per square yard, or 
half a teaspoonful on the surface of each 12-in. 
pot. 
Lawn Sprinkler.— James Wight : You do well fo 
prepare yourself in advance. We believe any good 
general seed and nursery firm will get you a lawn 
sprinkler. If not apply to Messrs. Osman & Co., 
I 3 2 ‘ I 34. Commercial Street, London, E. You 
should obtain their catalogue of sundries. 
-- 
DESTROYING COCKROACHES. 
Cockroaches are such an unmitigated evil, to so 
many folks in all parts, that we are pleased to give 
prominence to a letter recently sent to us by a 
reader. It runs as follows :—" Seeing in a recent 
number (March 31st, p. 389), a plan to eradicate 
cockroaches, by r M. T. O., would you be good enough 
to give him my experience (after long sufferingyears) 
of Vermite Insect Powder ? Vermite was blown into 
all the cracks round the kitchen grate (the last thing 
at night), with the result that the pests came out 
first of all slowly, then in a rush. They then 
appeared to have a little dance peculiar to them¬ 
selves, which terminated fatally, inasmuch as they 
reclined gracefully on their backs and gave up the 
ghost. The next morning, the dead were swept up 
in large numbers. On repeating this “ invasion 
into the enemy's camp ” three times, at a few days’ 
interval, the whole lot was cleared. I buy Vermite 
from my oilman, and no doubt M. T. O. could do 
the same if still troubled with these most obnoxious 
insects.—5. Young, Southend-on-Sea. 
- < 1 — — 
Asparagus Sprengeri does best when its shoots are 
allowed to hang instead of being trained upward like 
A. plumosus and others. 
Sparrows and Woodpigeons.—The committee 
appointed by the Highland and Agricultural Society 
of Scotland to consider ibe reduction in the 
number of sparrows and pigeons seem to have put 
their memorandum before the Board of Directors, 
these having referred them to approach the landlords 
and land-owners themselves upon the subject. The 
following directions which we note in an Irish paper 
are made by the committee: — (1) The destruction 
of e^gs and youDg birds from April to July. (2) The 
use of nets on light poles with a slight laxity in the 
centre and placed against roosting places at night. 
(3) Sparrow traps. (4) Shooting. 
HOW TO RAISE FLORISTS’ SHOW 
TULIPS FROM SEED. 
Understanding that the Royal National Tulip 
Society (southern division) will hold their annual 
show at the Temple Gardens, in May next, and that 
there has been some important new blood infused 
into it as regards membership, it occurs to me that 
a few remarks as to raising new varieties from seed, 
and the method of producing same by the 
fertilisation of selected varieties, might be deemed 
acceptable by those who are embarking into the 
cultivation of the “ Florists’ Show Tulips,” which 
“ Thomas Hogg,” in his treatise of florists’ flowers, 
describes as *■ those beautiful, exquisitely beautiful 
“ flowers, which are the pride and boast of every 
" amateur who grows them.” 
Hogg, when he penned those remarks, early in this 
century, was, doubtless, justified in speaking of their 
beauty in such flattering language; for they were, 
according to all the old florist writers, the really 
fascinating flower of the period, and at that period, 
although the prices of the bulbs were extravagantly 
high, there was scarcely a florist of any notoriety in 
the neighbourhood of London but who cultivated 
them ; and now, alas ! such cultivators are few and 
far between. Had it not been for that enterprising 
florist, Mr. Peter Barr (Messrs. Barr& Sons), buying 
up, a few years ago, all the English show Tulips he 
could lay his hands upon, with the determination of 
bringing them again before the public at the 
principal London exhibitions, the Show Tulips would 
have been now, in the South, as they were for the 
past thirty to forty years, almost out of sight and 
out of mind ! Thanks to Mr. Barr for his persever¬ 
ance and bold venture, which must have been a 
costly one, this beautiful florists’ flower is again 
becoming as conspicuous at the leading London ex¬ 
hibitions as it was fascinating sixty years ago 
Great strides have been made during the past 
twenty years by the Lancashire and Midland 
Counties florists, in the improvement of the Show 
Tulip, by raising seedlings from carefully selected 
fertilised flowers; and there are, at the present 
time, certain seedlings which represent, as nearly as 
possible, the standard of perfection, which consists 
of purity, shape, markings, and substance of petals. 
The process of seedling raising is as follows : — In 
three or four days after the blooms are fully matured 
or expanded, and whilst the sun is upon them, decide 
upon which varieties it is intended to make the 
parent seed bearers, and by what varieties they are 
to be fertilised, and the guide for selecting both the 
parent and fertiliser, must be, first, purity ; next, 
form and substance of petal; and thirdly, markings, 
the latter to embrace refinement in the feathering, 
distinctness in the beam of a flamed flower, and the 
brilliancy in the colour. Always select, if possible, 
flowers whose petals touch, or nearly so, at the base 
when fully expanded, so as to prevent the blooms 
from quartering when they are getting old ; and such 
whose petals are of good substance, leather-like, not 
thin and flimsy ! 
Having proceeded so far, and selected the flowers 
to work upon, take off, with a pair of tweezers, the 
stamens from the filaments of the flower intended 
to bear the seed ; then, with a camel's hair brush, 
remove any pollen dust from inside of the bloom 
which may have fallen from the stamens during 
their removal. This being done, shake or wipe all 
the pollen from the brush, then go to the flower it 
has been decided to fertilise from, and, with the 
tweezers, take from it one or two of its stamens, 
which can be carried in the hand, or in a pill box, to 
the flower to be impregnated ; then pass the brush 
over the stamens, which will pick up the polleD, 
and gently press the former two or three times on the 
stigma of the parent, which will immediately after¬ 
wards turn from its natural light appearance to a 
bluish-black colour. This being done, cover over 
the bloom with a piece of very fine muslin, and tie 
the latter round the stem of the bloom so as to pre¬ 
vent the bees, &c. from interfering with what has 
been done. 
So soon as the petals fall remove the muslin, and 
insert a stick in the ground, to which tie the stem. 
Afterwards cover the seed vessel over with apiece of 
clear window glass about 2$ in. from the top of the 
pericarpium or seed vessel. This covering will keep 
the wet from getting on to the vessel, which is very 
liable to damp off, without some protection. The 
glass cover can easily be contrived by sowing 
through the edge of a small piece of wood about an 
