May 30, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
477 
Vermorel’s Knapsack Sprayer “ Eclair.” 
The fio-hting of insect pests and fungoid enemies is one of the 
more important operations of gardening of the present day. 
The o'ardener has to wait a. whole year for a crop of fruit from 
eachclass of trees, and, in the case of flowers, he may have to 
spend a deal of labour extending over twelve months before he 
reaps the reward of his labours. Vegetable crops also, require 
much attention, and constitute one of the most important duties 
the gardener has to attend to. In any of these cases, if the 
enemies are allowed to overrun the plants, fruits, or vegetables, 
the crop may be more or less completely destroyed, and the 
gardener's labour lost, quite independent of the trouble he 
may get into because unable to supply the' plants or products 
required. It behoves the gardener, then, to be well equipped 
for his labour with good tools, machines, or other requisites. 
The Knapsack Sprayer “ Eclair ” is both a handy and a. useful 
machine. It weighs 14 lb., and has a capacity of gallons. 
A handy workman can, therefore, take it on his back and enter 
any plantation of vegetables or fruit trees which might requiie 
spraying for insect pests or fungoid diseases. It is furnished 
with a single or double nozzle, one or both , of which can be 
used at pleasure. The double nozzle may be turned on one 
to the roots being better established. These trees are not to be 
lifted annually in order to dig the ground, but should be left. 
That is the secret of getting a strong, rampant growing stem, 
and provided you get that, you can depend on getting large 
leaves, say 2g ft. to 3 ft. in length. 
Nettles near the Garden. (J. Warner.) 
We have no doubt that the seeds of these Nettles find their 
way into the garden if allowed to seed freely in the vicinity. 
We understand that you refer to the common Nettle, which is 
a perennial. If you would take the trouble to have them all 
cut down close to the ground-line with a scythe just when they 
are coming into bloom you will weaken the plants greatly. They 
will send up shoots again, probably, making good growth before 
autumn. You can then cut them down in the same severe 
manner, which will therefore prevent them from storing up 
material in the roots for next year’s growth. By dealing with 
Nettles in this way several times, we have seen fine clumps of 
them become very weak or entirely disappear in a year or two. 
The point is to attack them while most of the food material is 
still in the leaves and stems. 
Foxglove with Regular Flowers, (G. S ) 
This particular form of Foxglove is by no means new, as it 
has been known ..for the past twenty or-thirty years, and after 
line of plants or on two. The portability of the 
machine is one of its most important features, 
apart from its efficiency as a sprayer. The 
sprayer may be obtained from Messrs. Charles 
Clark and Co., 20, Gt. St. Helen’s, London, E.C. 
We give an illusration of the machine, which will 
save further description. 
Rhododendron Lord Roberts, (See Trees and Shrubs.) 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
The Editor invites enquiries for reply in this column. These 
enquiries may cover any branch of gardening. Questions should be 
put 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 
of 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. 
Ailanthus with Large Leaves. (T. M. W.) 
The way to get lar^e leaves on this tree is to plant specimens 
early in the spring, and prune them hard back in March. The 
shoots that arise from them will grow strong, and if more than 
one arises you could pinch it away, leaving only the strongest 
one. Unless the tree was a strong one when planted, you may 
only get a shoot of moderate dimensions the first year, but in 
the following season you will get a much stronger shoot, owing 
enjoying popularity for some years, lias again become neglected 
and forgotten. We may describe it as a particular strain of the 
Foxglove which produces a large percentage of plants bearing 
these slightly regular flowers on the top. As far as we are 
aware, only the top flower behaves in this way, and we think 
it would he difficult to get all the flowers on the stem to become 
regular ; otherwise it would have turned up before this time. 
Planting Roses in May. (H. D.) 
You can plant mostly anything in May, provided you get 
specimens in pots. There should be no difficulty in getting 
certain Roses in pots now, or even later, though the particular 
kinds you want may not be easily obtainable. It is a custom 
frequently practised by gardeners who raise Roses from cuttings 
inserted in pots in the autumn to plant them out some conve¬ 
nient time in spring after they have fairly well started into 
growth. 
Communications Received. 
Harold J. Baker.—Pem.—D. M.—Alex. McPherson.—P. H. 
—J. J. Willis.-—'Charles Johnston.—M. D.—A. R. N.—C. H. 
.—A. B.—R. M.—G. West.—Arthur R. Goodwin. 
(Owing to pressure on space a number of replies are held over.) 
