THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 25, 1903. 
631 
uLnToa ®he Gardening 'World. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
andard Fungicides and Insecticides 
in Agriculture. 
The above is the title of a pamphlet or 
loklet of some seventy-six pages, prepared 
' G. F. Strawson, and published by Spot- 
woode and Co., Limited, New Street 
juare, E.C., at Is. 6d. The object of the 
ok is to give the proper names of the 
rious insecticides and fungicides employed 
agriculture apd the allied arts'. It will 
valuable to' those engaged in horticulture, 
it more particularly those employed in the 
ltivation of fruit trees. The composition 
d the preparation of the various washesi 
nnot but be of value to those who require 
act information on this particular subject, 
large number of insecticides come under 
dice, including various washes and sprays 
epared from soda and potash, also potas¬ 
sium carbonate, potassium sulphide, Bor¬ 
deaux mixture, etc. 
Sunninghurst Wood for Darwen. 
On Thursday, the 2nd inst., Sunninghurst 
Wood was opened as ia, new park and handed 
over to the Corporation of Darwen, Lanca¬ 
shire, for the use of the townspeople. The 
wood was obtained for the town in, com¬ 
memoration of the coronation of King Edward 
VII. The land comprises about 80 acres, in¬ 
cluding undulating ground and dales of great 
beauty. It was. procured for the benefit of 
the town chiefly through the efforts of Aider- 
man Tomlinson, who. commenced the pro¬ 
ceedings on the opening day. He said that 
the first part of the ceremony was to he that 
Mr. John Chadwick, the donor of the Old 
English gateway, should request the 
Mayoress to open the park. Mr. Chadwick 
presented the Mayoress with the key, who, 
said : “ In the name of God and for the 
benefit of the town, I now unlock this gate, 
and declare this wood open.” The company 
then entered the wood and visited the more 
interesting portions of the same. Care will 
be taken that the. wood does not become, an 
Italian garden. There will be no. hot-house 
plants 1 , but.trees and shrubs. 
—o— 
The Mosquito Plant. 
On May 9th last we gave a short account 
of the introduction of a, live specimen of this 
plant by Capt. H. T. Larymore, R.A., and 
which was accepted by tire Kew authorities. 
At the time we thought it most likely to 
be a, useful plant in tropical countries, but 
did not think it should so soon find its way 
in quantity to this country. Messrs. Can¬ 
ned and Sons, of Swanley, are sufficiently en¬ 
terprising, however, to already possess both 
seeds and plants. The species of Ocimum 
best known as Basil are well known for theii 
pleasant odour. We have on several occa¬ 
sions spoken, of the essential oils, of plants as 
being obnoxious to certain animals, and 
highly advantageous for their own preserva¬ 
tion. " It would" be difficult to say, however, 
why Ocimum viride, the plant under notice, 
should be benefited by driving away the mos¬ 
quito. We hope, however, to ascertain more 
about this, when the plant, becomes more 
common. There are several species, of Basil 
which have been utilised by our countrymen 
from very ancient times, but in recent years 
we have been prone to neglect, the value of 
herbs, for medicinal purposes in preference, we 
suppose, to something more easily obtain¬ 
able ; that is, in greater quantity. The 
common or sweet Basil is grown to some ex¬ 
tent at the present day as a, garden herb, but 
its use, even in this respect, is by no. means 
universal, and many gardeners have no. ac¬ 
quaintance. with it whatever. Whether 0. 
viride can be grown in the open air in the 
same' way as 0. Basilicuin remains to. he seen. 
Arc Gardeners Conceited? 
The Mayor of Penryn lias recently been 
making some facetious remarks concerning 
gardeners. At a, meeting of the Falmouth 
District Technical Education Committee lie 
stated that head gardeners did not take an 
interest in the experimental garden. As a 
reason for this lie suggested that, they were 
rather conceited. What evidence he may 
have for coming to this conclusion is not veiy 
apparent, but it will he more interesting to 
gardeners to know that another magistrate 
was of a considerably different opinion, con¬ 
cerning the craft. A Dundee magistrate re¬ 
cently stated that gardeners were far less 
prone than other men to depart from the 
paths of rectitude. His. exact words were: 
“ He had members of eveiy craft and profes¬ 
sion in the dock save horticulturists.” We 
are well aware that many gardeners are. 
, averse to the. undertaking or carrying out of 
experiments', but with the exception, perhaps, 
of some isolated cases, we should not attri¬ 
bute the motive to conceit. Gardeners 
usually have their hands very full in the 
carrying out of actual work for which they 
know they can get some definite result, A 
very large proportion of them have: to rear 
a, given amount of produce annually for their 
master’s household. The land available may 
he scanty, the labour even more so, so that 
such may not really have time for the carry¬ 
ing out of experiments, which may or may 
not result in any definite advantage either to 
themselves or others. 
-—o— 
Light and Injurious Moths. 
We. have on frequent occasions heard of 
the advantages of setting up lights or lan¬ 
terns for the purpose of catching injurious 
moths at night. Those who. 'have tried the 
experiment speak of the number of moths 
which they have caught, by this means. It 
is not clear, however, whether all of these 
night-flying moths may be injurious to garden 
or orchard. The possibility is .that many in¬ 
sects that: are. really friends of the garden 
and gardener would be destroyed just as 
readily as those that are injurious. On the 
other side of the Channel, in the district of 
Beaujolais, where Grapes are grown for wine¬ 
making, the “ Electric Review ” speaks of the 
number of insects that, are caught by means 
of the bright light produced by calcium car¬ 
bide and water for the generation of acety¬ 
lene gas. Just below the burner a, shallow 
dish is placed, into which some water is 
poured, and a film of kerosene is poured over 
the water. The insects, attracted by the 
light, are liable to drop in this kerosene, 
from which they cannot rise. The record for 
a July night was placed at 3,200 insects pea" 
lamp. This is. a rate of destruction which 
ought to' be, thoroughly tested before it is 
permitted in order to determine the kinds of 
insects caught. 
