494 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 30, 1901. 
him remember it is his life work he is starting, and 
waste none of the golden years. Circumstances may 
lead him to start his profession in a garden near his 
home, but after that let every move be considered— 
no haphazard shifting for the mere love of change. 
Let everyone have the prospect of a new experience 
some way or other, though you may have to wait a 
little, and possibly have to shift along way to get it; 
but neither should be allowed to stand in the way if 
success is desired. In this way a wide, all round 
experience will be acquired in the shortest time 
possible. 
In this way the young gardeners of to-day will 
become the worthy ffiead gardeners of to-morrow 
Just one word in conclusion. Though the supply 
may be in excess of the demand, all the head 
gardeners do not have to work for £i a week ; and 
although Britain may be the home for training 
gardeners, do not forget that there is a Greater 
Britain beyond the seas, where some of you may 
find your first charge like your correspondent.— Jim 
Good, Mount Nelson, Cape Town. 
INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 
Many strange tales are told of this interesting class 
of plants. Many people are so credulous as to 
believe there are plants growing in the tropics that 
really capture and devour such delicate morsels as 
dogs, negro guides, unwary hunters, etc. These 
people often cause endless amusement amongst the 
gardeners at large botanic gardens by asking to be 
shown a young specimen if they have one. Fortu¬ 
nately these vegetable terrors exist in name only, but 
nevertheless many plants do capture their food and 
exhibit many wonderful pieces of mechanism in 
doing so. It is not necessary to go into far off 
countries to see these in their native habitats, for 
several very wonderful species may be found growing 
on our British commons. 
Perhaps the most common is the Sundew 
(Drosera). It has a fancy for small flies and a 
weakness for dining on ants in variety. The plan 
forms a rosette of leaves which lay close on the 
ground. The leaves are borne on long stalks and 
present the appearance of tiny pincushions thickly 
studded with minute red pins with silver heads, 
which sparkle in the sunshine, from which feature 
the plant takes its name. These heads are com¬ 
posed of a Sticky secretion, and flies and other small 
insects alighting on them are held there by the 
secretion adhering to their feet. Their struggles to 
extricate themselves only augment the exudation and 
irritate the other pins which slowly curl over, and 
in about ten minutes the whole of the pins on the 
leaf converge on their prey which is soon overcome. 
The secretion has the peculiar property of causing 
quick decomposition and as scon as this is complete 
the meal is ready and the glands of the leaf absorb 
the food thus ingeniously prepared; and the plant 
prepares itself for further captures. 
The Buttervvort (Pinguicula vulgaris) is another 
plant possessing this power, but its modus operandi is 
quite different. It is often found growing close by 
the Sundew and like it rejoices in damp surroundings, 
generally choosing the neighbourhood of springs. 
Its leaves are flat and slightly turned up at the 
margins forming small troughs besmeared with a 
sticky colourless secretion. This plant is more 
remarkable than the last as it picks and chooses its 
food, and any object not containing the ingredients 
requirel is rejected. Whether it does this through 
a tendency to dyspepsia has not been told. If a 
grain of sand or cinder or any substance not con¬ 
taining nitrogen is placed on the leaf no effect is 
produced ; but if a fly settles on the treacherous 
surface it is fixed there and the l ! quid rapidly 
increases, dissolving it and absorbing the product in 
the same manner as the Sundew. If the insect is 
caught on the margin of the leaf, where the number 
of glands are insufficient to accomplish the end in 
view, the margin turns inward and pushes its victim 
with it to where there is a more profuse elimination 
of the digestive fluid. 
Venus' Fly-trap (Dionaea) is another of our car¬ 
nivorous plants. It can be watched with more 
interest as it closes on its prey in about two seconds. 
The leaf is divided down the centre by a midrib. 
The margin is armed with a row of spines. When 
anything touches some hairs on the surface of the 
leaf the two halves immediately close together and 
the spines interlock. Like the last mentioned it 
picks its food and if the object inclosed is unsuitable 
the leaf soon releases it again ; but if it is a nitro- 
geneous substance it immediately pours out a sub¬ 
stance on it which acts in the same manner as the 
fluids of those above-mentioned.— F. C. 
THE APIARY. 
Foul brood, or Bacillus Alvei, is one of the principal 
checks to bee keeping in this country. Once it has 
obtained a foothold in an apiary it is only by taking 
the greatest care and using the most rigid methods 
and cleanliness that the bee keeper can hope to 
eradicate it. Prevention is at all times better than 
cure, and by keeping the bees strong in numbers on 
clean fresh combs, together with healthy prolific 
young queens and medicating all food supplied we 
can do a lot to keep the wolf from the door. At one 
time it was thought that it was only the brood that 
was affected, "hence the name foul brood"; but 
recent investigations have proved beyond doubt that 
both the worker bees and queen may be affected, 
hence the difficulty of curing. Bacillus Alvei is of 
itself easily killed when in active state, that is, before 
all the juices in the affected insect are used up. It 
has the power to form spores representing seeds and 
it is these spores that are so difficult to deal with. 
The bee keeper may carry these spores from one 
hive to another when manipulating them, thereby 
affecting the whole apiary. Honey is another medium 
whereby the disease is spread for miles around 
through bees robbing one another. A great many 
beginners have a difficulty in detecting the disease. 
Where this is the case they should call in a bee 
keeper of some standing when a hive shows signs of 
getting weaker or a sort of listlessness in working 
when plentyof honey is coming in. Failing one of this 
kind, he should cut out a piece of comb with brood, 
place it in a tin or wooden box (to prevent it being 
crushed),and post it to the Editor, British Bee Journal, 
17, King William Street, Strand, London, along with 
a stamped addressed envelope, who will be pleased to 
give a true decision in regard to it; or it may be 
sent to the office of this paper when I will be only 
too pleased to settle the matter. 
Healthy larvae have a plump appearance and are 
of a pearly whiteness, curled up in the form of a C 
at the bottom of the cell. When attacked by disease 
it assumes a washed out flabby aspect and straigh¬ 
tens out in the cell, the colour changing to a pale 
yellow and then brown. If the end of a piece of stick 
is inserted into one of the cells and the mass adheres 
to it much the same as a thick spittle, you may make 
up your mind that you have got foul brood. Where 
the cell is sealed the cappings are slightly sunken in 
appearance and are perforated by small holes ; on 
removing the capping you find the brown coffee- 
coloured mass before mentioned. 
The sooner measures are taken to cure, the better. 
Where the bees are weak in numbers and the time 
not of much account consign the whole lot to the 
flames at once; but if the bees are strong and the 
hive good, shake all the bees from frames into an 
empty skep confining them in a cool dark place for 
twenty-four hours, giving plentyof ventilation. Burn 
all combs, frames, and quilts connected with hive, 
wash inside of hive with boiling water and soda, and 
when dry give a good coat of paint all over, working 
it well iDto the corners inside and out. Shake the 
bees out in front of the hive, giving them strips of 
fat foundation, along with a young fertile queen, from 
a healthy source. Feed with medicated syrup as 
long as they will take it. Burn all minor appliances, 
and disinfect others together with your person with 
a weak solution of carbolic acid.— Doonfoot. 
LIMING STONE FRUIT. 
It has been said that " Chalk, that is, lime, is the 
chief basis of fertility in the soil." That is a golden 
rule to remember. It is very evident that what all 
our agricultural chemists up and down the country 
from Lands End, to John o'Groats—what they are 
telling us and having been most emphatically of late 
years, about the value and necessity of liming the 
land, is not said without some proof of the goodness 
of lime at the back of it all. But without the 
scientists the practical man in his labours both in 
field and garden, has again and again proved the 
great worth of lime. ComiDg to stcne fruits, it is 
well known that to them lime is essential even more 
than to other kinds of fruit crops. They require 
lime for the makiDg of the stones. Many an orchard 
of Damsons stands in need of a dressing of lime to¬ 
day. The trees cannot go on bearing year after year, 
decade following decade, if there is no lime added. 
Manure is good, but lime is equally so. Indeed, if 
the soil is heavy, it will unlock much of its closely 
held plant food; and besides being directly valuable, 
it will also increase the present fertility of the land. 
To apply lime to orchards of stone fruit, carl in the 
chalk direct from the kiln, leaving it in heaps 
beneath the trees so that it may become air slaked. 
It should not be spread over just at once. When it 
has become thoroughly pulverised take a shovel one 
damp morning and fling the lime among the branches 
of the trees. The lime must not be lumpy else the 
buds would be injured. The lime will do the trees 
good, and will help to clean them. Much of it will 
of course fall down, but the roots will take up this 
as they require it. A lime dressing has been known 
to have a good effect in securing a good " set ” at 
the flowering period. Sometimes trees are smothered 
with blossoms and yet they do not set well. One of 
the reasons for this undoubtedly is the lack of lime 
whereby the organs of fructification are starved of 
an essential element. 
From forty-five up to ninety bushels an acre may 
be used. Plum trees on walls will mostly have been 
root pruned or otherwise treated, but a thin top¬ 
dressing may be spread over the soil. Some lime 
should always be mixed with the sail when planting. 
It would pay the commercial grower to spend a 
pound or two on lime for his orchards.—C. 
LAYING OUT FEUS. 
I have been favoured in laying out three feus at 
Barnton Gate about three miles from Edinburgh. 
There is a private drive extending several miles in 
extent on the south side. On the north of the feus 
is the famous golf course. The park is beautifully 
wooded, and the scenery is charming with Dalmeny 
Woods, the breezy Firth of Forth and the Fife Hills 
in the distance. A new idea struck me that instead 
of dividing the feus as is usually done by stone or 
brick walls, or wire or wooden fences, I went to 
Cunningham and Fraser at Comley Bank Nurseries. 
I just saw what I wanted, Mackenzie’s Holly, from 
6 ft. to 7 ft. high. The price charged was 5s. per 
plant, but as I told them that I should require 
several thousands, they reduced them to 3s. 6d., 
including planting and a guarantee for making good 
any deaths that might occur for twelve months. 
Everyone who sees them is struck with the appear¬ 
ance, such a beautiful green. It works out at two 
plants to the yard, and no one could get through 
them or sheep or cattle, and if required they may be 
allowed to grow 20 ft. to hide any object not 
wanted. 
No. 1 feu is one acre in extent; No. 2, acre; 
and No. 3, 2 acres. In each feu I have made open 
three roods in extent. In No. 3 feu I have planted 
a rosery, botanically arranged, of 23 beds. A number of 
the beds are 5 ft. in width, and a number of them 
much larger and of different designs for stronger 
growing roots, such as rugosa and polyantha and 
Sweet Briers, which are now very handsome. Every 
family of the Rose is represented. There is one 
bed of each of some kinds, and large beds of hybrid 
perpetual and hybrid Teas. In No. 3 garden I have 
got one espalier, 6 ft. in height, planted with choice 
Pear and Apple cordon trees. The cordon trees 
make by far the best system, as they bear at once by 
planting three year old trees The old fashioned 
system of fan and horizontally training takes four or 
five years to produce fruit, and cutting back every 
year to form the trees ; besides, the cordons produce 
triple the fruit and required ocly summer pinchiog, 
the leader not to be shortened till they reach the 
allotted space. By planting the trees 18 in. apart the' 
roots get all in a mat, and they seldom fail to pro-* 
duce good crops. 
In No. 2 feu I have had erected an arch 7 fr. in 
height by 10 ft. in width. I have given the order to 
the Messrs. Cheal, of Crawley, who are famous for 
their cordons. It will require six dozen Pears and 
six dozen Apples, 18 in. apart, as the trees were 4 ft. 
or 5 ft. in height, and furnished with fruit buds from 
the base to the top. At each end of the arch I will 
plant Turner’s Rambler Rose which will be very 
effective. If all goes on well I will send you a list of 
the choice selection which I have made, some three 
or four trees of each. A few of the sorts of Pears 
will be double worked, such as Jargonelle aid 
Seckle, as they fruit there freely. 
