July 18, 19)3. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
629 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
The Editor invites enquiries for reply in this column. These 
enquiries may cover any branch of gardening. Questions should be 
piit as briefly as possible, and written on one side of the paper only ; 
a separate sheet of paper should Oe used for each question. 
Renders nre nlso invited to give their fellow gardeners the benefit 
of their experience by sending supplementary replies. 
Replies ennnot be sent by post, even if a stamped, addressed 
envelope is enclosed, and the return of specimens can not 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. 
Tan from Lead Works. (Derby.) 
If the tan has been burnt, we should imagine there would be 
no injurious ingredients in it, unless there was a super¬ 
abundance of sulphur or iron previous to the burning. It would 
be as well to ascertain what is the composition of the tan, and 
what injurious ingredients, if any, might be in it previous to 
the burning. The tan pure and simple should consist of Oak 
bark used for the extract of tannic acid. This, when burnt, 
should contain only the ashes of the Oak, but when in the lead 
works it is possible that something else might be added to 
it with which we are unacquainted. It would be worth your 
while to ascertain what is the composition of the tan before 
it has been burnt, and whether anything is used with it or in 
it that would be in any way injurious to plant life. If there 
are no deleterious substances mixed with the tan, the ashes 
ought to make a valuable manure, as it should contain a con¬ 
siderable amount of potash. Though the latter is the most 
important as a manure, several other of the ashes would also 
be beneficial to plant life. 
Manure for Celery. (Derby.) 
The two manures which you mention are very useful in their 
way, and you should be careful not to overdo either of them. 
Very weak manures are always safer and better than highly- 
concentrated ones for the life of the plant. If you can obtain 
the true Peruvian guano, a small pinch of that in the water 
would prove serviceable, just sufficient, to colour the water in 
the can being sufficient. You should not, however, forget that 
diluted drainings from the stables and from the manure heap 
make a very safe and useful manure. You can also prepare 
a liquid by putting some cow manure into a tub amongst water, 
and diluting it for use after a few days- All these manures 
used alternately should be more serviceable, and may meet 
the liking of the plants better than if one kind alone were used. 
It should, however, always be used in a weak state. 
Spring Onions and Mildew. (Omega ) 
The usual method practised with the mildew of Onions is to 
dust the leaves with sulphur when the disease makes its appear¬ 
ance. This, of course, would not destroy that portion of the 
fungus living m the interior of the leaves, but it would destroy 
that portion which is exposed to the air, and serve to keep it 
in check. Vou should ajso pick off the diseased leaves and 
burn them. During the warmer parts of the summer it is the 
practice of many cultivators to frequently syringe the foliage, 
in order to keep the plants growing, but should the disease 
appear it would be necessary to leave off syringing or spray¬ 
ing, sc that the leaves may be kept as dry as possible for a 
time. This would also serve to keep the pest in check. There 
is no absolrite preventive, perhaps, without using some fungi¬ 
cide that might be dangerous to the Onions by lodging amongst 
he scales of the bulb, but you could always lessen the evil 
by the means which we have just indicated. 
Getting Bid of Ant Hills. (Omega.) 
The usual methods adopted with the ant hills is to take off 
tne turf it they are covered with that, then to level the soil 
Where the heap was, treading the ground firm, and relaying 
IH 11 ' , A ^ ts do not hke to be disturbed in this way, although 
l„f/ f 1 cu t Ji° entirely dislodge. The heaps need not be 
i„ ’ii- we ' v ' er > until they get so large as to be unsightly. When 
over the d ? Wn th i!- l! eapS yon could scatter carbolic 7 acid all 
isvervfliSff/w 011 haS been nnturfed- The smell of this 
sorn ^ ,, as ® a ants, and when they become very trouble- 
ie better-dressed parts of the grounds you could 
scatter a little of this acid in their runs- at intervals during 
the summer. 
Dressing the Ground with Slack Lime. (D. W. D.) 
This will prove very beneficial to kitchen garden soil, and we 
should apply it in the spring time as a top-dressing to the soil, 
about a week, perhaps, before you dress it down for planting 
or sowing. We should not bury it to any great depth, as it 
soon finds its way to the subsoil without placing it there. If 
using gas lime for the sake of fungi and insect pests, that 
might be placed at different levels in the trench, but always 
immediately above the soil that has been turned over. For 
the ordinary slacked lime the best plan, we should say, is to 
wait always until the spring, as it would be liable to get 
washed away by rains and melting snow long before planting 
time. 1 a 
Wireworm and Cauliflower. (D. W. D.) 
Tn our experience wireworm is less troublesome in soil that 
has been under cultivation for some time than in soil which 
is recently broken out of pasture. So long as there is plenty 
of decayed vegetable matter in the soil you will also get wire- 
worm to a greater or lesser extent. We are inclined to suspect 
that your Cauliflowers are troubled with something else than 
wireworm. The grubs of the Cabbage fly often prove very 
troublesome to Cauliflowers, and if this is the enemy you will 
find the white grub boring into the stems just at the surface 
of the ground. We should like very much if you would get 
some of the creatures which are troubling you, and send them 
along in a small box, so that we may be sure what it is that 
is giving you so much trouble. The grubs of the wireworm are 
yellow or orange, with a very tough skin. If you are certain 
that this is the enemy, you should get pieces of Carrot and 
Potatos, and bury them in the soil close to the plants infested. 
A piece of stick pushed into these baits will let you know where 
to find them, so that you could examine them every morning. 
If the enemy is wireworm, we could give you a means of pre¬ 
venting them from laying their eggs in the soil to a certain 
extent by diminishing the numbers of the perfect insect. If 
the grubs of the Cabbage fly are the cause of the mischief, you 
could hand-pick them round the base of the plants, and then 
well water the ground about the plants with water in which 
lime lias been steeped and then allowed to settle. If you could 
satisfy us as to the particular insect we could give you further 
information. 
Inseoticide and Lapageria Leaves. (H. Arnold.) 
We have been making enquiries concerning the insecticide 
you mention, and may state that we have never heard of its in¬ 
juring the leaves of Lapageria before you mentioned it. Pos¬ 
sibly the leaves of the plant were too young at the time it was 
fumigated. It is necessary always to be careful with tender 
plants, and especially when making their young growths, because 
an insecticide that would be perfectly harmless to all kinds of 
plants would very often be little use as an insecticide. If yoa 
have reason to suppose that the fumigator was the cause of the 
injury it would be well to use a thin covering of tiffany, or some¬ 
thing of that kind, over the Lapageria, or any other plant that 
proves tender. Orchid growers do not care to fumigate a house 
of 0 d on to gl os su m s, especially if they are in bloom. It is part 
of the skill of the gardener, however, to use all these insecticides 
or fungicides in such a way that the plants subjected to the treat¬ 
ment will not be injured. All this has to be acquired by experi¬ 
ence, so that when obliged to fumigate on another occasion the 
tender plant could be covered in the way we mention, or removed 
from the house altogether. 
Should Lilacs be Pruned in Summer 1 (Finlay.) 
If the plants have flowered you would do well to remove all 
weak and useless shoots that were not likely to give rise to 
strong growth. During the course of the summer many more 
shoots may arise than there is proper rqom for. In such a case 
the foliage gets crowded, and the wood will not ripen so well as if 
every shoot were properly exposed to sunshine by the thinning 
out of weak and useless shoots. Straggling shoots that destroy 
the symmetry of the bush should, of course, be shortened back, 
and this would tend to assist the side buds in developing flowers 
by the proper ripening of the wood. 
Names and Addresses. (W, C. P.) 
The secretary of the Brighton and Sussex Horticultural 
Society is Mr. James Thorpe, 53, Ship Street, Brighton ; and 
