May 2, 1953. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
396 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
The Editor invites enquiries for reply in this column. These 
enquiries may cover any branch of gardening. Questions should be 
pvt as briefly as possible, and written on one side of the paper only ; 
a separate sheet of paper should be used for each question. 
Readers are also invited to give their fellow gardeners the benefit 
their experience by sending supplementary replies. 
Replies cannot be sent by post, even if a stamped , addressed 
envelope is enclosed, and the return of specimens cannot be undertaken. 
Anonymous communications are treated in the usual editorial manner. 
Address letters: The Editor, “The Gardening World," 37 and 
38, Shoe Lane, London, E.C. 
Insect amongst Anemones (A. Whyte). 
We inspected the specimen you sent us, and failed to find 
any fungus upon the plant. The leaves were very much damaged 
certainly, but they represented the appearance of having been 
frost-bitten more than anything else. We expected to find some 
samples of the Anemone-becl fungus, but did not detect any. 
You might examine the beds, and see whether any small cup¬ 
like fungi are making their appearance on the surface of the 
soil. If so, that would give a clue to the damage to a great 
extent. We did, however, find mites upon the rhizomes or 
tubers of the Anemone, and belonging to more than one species. 
These mites are highly destructive to bulbs and tubers of a 
great variety of plants, and we suspect that they have much to 
do with the unhealthy appearance of the foliage of your plants. 
The rhizomes are sound enough when cut up, but the mites 
secrete themselves about the crown of the plant, and would 
more quickly affect the health of the foliage than the rhizomes 
themselves. The soil about the plant you sent us was very 
dry, and that in itself would cause the disappearance of many 
of the mites before we had the opportunity of inspecting the 
same. We failed to find any of that scarlet insect named the 
Cardinal, which you suspected as being the cause of the evil ; 
but here again the dry condition of the soil would account for 
their absence. Tt is just possible that the Cardinal was present 
in great numbers, simply on account of the presence of mites. 
Anemones of the class you sent, and which are reared from im¬ 
ported tubers, often behave badly without any apparent cause, 
but possibly if inspected when newlv taken out of the soil and 
in a moist condition, you would find the mites were numerous 
upon them. What we should suggest is that you should) lift 
the rhizomes or tubers after the foliage has died down, and give 
them a good washing with Condy’s Fluid, repeating this after 
a time. The Anemones might then be planted in beds of fresh 
ground, when we think they should give better satisfaction next 
year. Do not dry them off before replanting. 
cucumber Plant Unhealthy (Enquirer). 
The sample you sent had the stem a little broken and covered 
with corky matter upon one side, but we failed to find any of 
the eelworm which you suspected, even after microscopical exa¬ 
mination. The leaves of the terminal bud suggested mites, but 
| we failed to find any of them. The specimen you sent, however, 
Was very small, and merely wrapped in a piece of tissue paper, 
so that it became dried up in passing through the post. Insects 
of all sorts disappear when plants get dried up in that way, and 
we should suggest sending such specimens in a little damp 
moss, which would retain the moisture, keep the specimens 
fresh, and also induce any insects present to stay upon the 
leaves, and thereby give us an opportunity of detecting them. 
.The discoloration of the young growth would lead us to sus- 
i pect that a small mite was the cause of the evil. You might 
examine the young leaves of the plant carefully 7 with this object 
in view, using a magnifying lens for the purpose of detecting 
the mite. Should you find any of this pest, a good plan is to 
syringe the plants with water from a tank in which a bag of 
soot has been immersed. 
3rown Spots on Vine Leaves (W. A. Parsons). 
We examined the leaves you sent us, and find them merely 
[Suffering from warts, a very common occurrence in the early 
part of the year. If not present in very large numbers on most 
of the leaves, the vines will not suffer any appreciable harm. 
Their presence, however, is not desirable, and you should take 
care there is no further increase of them. Usually the warts 
are green, but it would seem that you have been trying to destroy 
I some enemy by fumigation or other method, and the warts have 
: been partly killed and browned by the fumes. The means to 
be taken to prevent further development of the warts is to 
ventilate more freely and regularly than you have been doing. 
We should imagine that you have been keeping the house too 
close in order to economise fire heat during the cold weather 
of the past few weeks. If you take care to let the foliage get 
dry for a few hours about the middle of the day, at least during 
every 24 hours, we calculate that you will check the malady 
and have no further occasion for anxiety. 
Photograph of Chrysanthemums (Borderer). 
1 he season for Chrysanthemums is now long past, so that 
the photo at present would be unseasonable. We thank you 
for the offer, but you can understand that our readers would 
not be very much interested in it at this period of the year. 
Bulb from South Africa (A. D.). 
The dry ffowers you sent us were those of Ornithogalum 
lac|eurn, a greenhouse bulb that is sometimes grown in this 
country, and is very showy when well done. If still in a dry 
condition we suggest that you pot up the bulbs so that they 
may possibly make some growth during the course of the 
summer. They would have done much better if they had been 
potted up at least as early as Christmas. The only thing that 
we could suggest you Should do now is to try what growth you 
can develop upon the plants, watering carefully while in full 
growth, and exposing the foliage to light in a frame or green¬ 
house, whichever may be most convenient. When the foliage 
dies down you should repot the bulbs at once in a rich light 
loamy soil, so as to get them into growth earlier. If you could 
secure good growth this summer you may expect to flower the 
plant some time in winter or early spring. In any case, how¬ 
ever, the bulbs are not hardy, and you must give them green¬ 
house protection and treatment in winter. They would pro¬ 
bably do best in frames in summer, whether resting or not. 
Information about Japan (T. Ainsworth). 
We are afraid we cannot help you in the matter of information 
that will deal with the soil and average temperatures of Japan. 
The literature of the subject, as far as we know, is somewhat 
scattered. There is a book, however, named “ Favourite Flowers 
of Japan,” by Mary E. Unger, wife of A. Unger, proprietor of 
the firm of Boehmer and Co., Yokohama, Japan. She deals with 
most of the favourite flowers of Japan, and which are closely 
connected with the national customs and private life of the 
Japanese. The book is well illustrated, the illustrations being 
reproductions from water-colour representatives. We think this 
would certainly deal with many of the bulbs which are grown in 
Japan, and would at least furnish you with a considerable 
amount of information on that country by one who has lived m 
it. Another book is ‘‘Forest Flora of Japan,” by C. S. 
Sargeant ; illustrated. The price of this book is 31s. 3d. The 
price of “ Favourite Flowers of Japan ” is 6s. 3d. Both of these 
books are obtainable from A. T. De la Mare, Printing and Pub¬ 
lishing Company, Limited, 2, Duane Street, New York, U.S.A. 
Dendrobium Auchterarder Pearl (Northern). 
There is a Dendrobium named the Pearl, and this was ob¬ 
tained from D. Ainsworthii x findlayanum. D. Ainsworthii 
is itself a hybrid, and was obtained from D. nobile x Aureum. 
Your plant is evidently one of the same affinity, and, in our 
opinion, is worthy of preservation. D. Auchterarder Pearl 
would be a very appropriate name. The sepals of the specimen 
you sent us were white, slightly tinted with pink, and deeper 
at the base. The petals were white, with rosy tips. The lip 
had a large, rayed, maroon blotch, and the upper portion of 
it was finely veined with rose on a creamy yellow ground, at 
least by the time we received it. We suspect, however, that 
the box was delayed in coming through the post, or that the 
flowers were very old before you packed them, as the flowers 
were not in the best condition when they arrived to give us a 
correct idea of the true colour of the blooms in a fresh state. 
We saw sufficient of them, however, to warrant us in saying that 
the variety is a pretty one, and, though not widely distinct from 
others we have already seen in cultivation, it is nevertheless as 
good as many of them, and worthy of joreservation till you get 
a better. 
Botainic Gardens of Europe (Amos Perry). 
There is a book printed in German giving the addresses of 
various botanists and botanic gardens in Europe. This is I. 
Dorfler’s Botaniker-Adressbuch, Vienna, III., Barichgasse 36. 
We cannot say what the price of it is, possibly a few shillings. 
We give you a few addresses taken from this book, in case you 
