August 20 , non. 
TtlE GARDENING WORLD. 
74 5 
Poisoned ey Yew Leaves. —A patient of the Wells Asylum, 
Somerset, named Price, ate some Yew tree leaves and died a few 
hours afterwards. The Yeovil Guardians at their meeting 
expressed astonishment that the asylum authorities should allow 
their patients to get at poisonous leaves, and asked for full 
particulars of the case. 
* * * 
The Trade in Bananas. —We have reason to believe that 
Messrs. J. E. Kerr and Co. are just now endeavouring to charter 
out the steamers “Erica” and “Erna.” It is said that the 
two boats are too large, and accordingly, too costly, for the suc¬ 
cessful conduct of the Banana business during the dull season, 
and, when chartered, the Kerr Line management intend to 
replace them with slhaller boats to carry on the Banana busi¬ 
ness during the winter months. They will thus save several 
thousand dollars a month on running expenses, and will secure 
a better average on cargoes of 12,000 to 15,000 bunches than on 
cargoes of 20,000 to 30,000 bunches. 
* * * 
North American Flora. —Our cousins in America never dab¬ 
ble in small things if they can help it. The authorities of the 
New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, have been busily 
engaged for some time past in preparing a flora which will 
comprise the whole of the North American continent, including 
the islands off the coast, except Trinidad and the small islands 
which belong rather to South America. Many collectors are at 
work on different parts of the continent, and the collections of 
other explorers are purchased by the Botanical Garden autho¬ 
rities. Many years will be necessary for the completion of 
this flora, but previous to the accomplishment of the work as a 
whole, thiee manuals or text-books, by way of a preliminary 
have been prepared. The first is a “ Manual of the Flora of 
the Northern States and Canada,” by Dr. N. S. Britton, thei 
director of the garden ; the “ Flora of the South-Eastern United 
States” has been written by Dr. J. K. Small, curator of the 
museums of the garden; and Dr. P. A. Rydberg, assistant- 
curator of the museums, is preparing the “ Flora of the Rocky 
Mountain Region, and Great Plains.” 
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 b e used for each question. 
Readers are also invited to give their fellow gardeners the benefit 
o+ their experience by sending supplementary replies. 
Replies eannot 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. 
Pest Growing on Marguerite. (P. D. R.) 
The pest you sent us is generally known as Cuscuta reflexa, 
one of the Dodders which is said to come from the East Indies, 
and lives on a great variety of garden plants, particularly those 
which grow in the greenhouse. Some people allow it to grow 
out of curiosity, but apparently you have allowed it to get the 
mastery if it has served all your plants like the two you sent. 
Its method of propagation is by seeds which ripen abundantly 
m those little round clusters produced on the stems. The plant 
m a true parasite, having no green matter in its tissues, no 
roots, and no leaves. When the seeds ripen they fall to the 
giound, where they lie till a convenient time arises for ger¬ 
minating. When this takes place they simply push out a 
slender thread-like stem, which swings or moves about until 
WE 311 s ^ em some live plant to which it can cling. 
VVhen it once attaches itself to a stem into which it can grow, 
it pushes out sucker-like processes which penetrate the stem of 
ie host plant and abstract all the food necessary for its growth 
and continued existence. After it has once got hold of a plant 
m this way it has no longer any hold of the soil, and requires 
no loots. When once firmly attached it grows rapidly and 
owers in abundance, as you have experienced. No doubt, the 
seeds had come in soil with some plant or other where the 
o er is growing of its own accord, or has been sown on pur- 
P os ., e ‘ n ° Ur P^ an * n the future would be to pot the plants 
in lesti soil, and when propagating them to take cuttings from 
P ants having no Dodder upon them. If you could ascertain 
when the seedlings germinate in the soil and pull them out 
carefully it would save further trouble. Even if the Dodder 
had got a hold on the plants you could go over them carefully 
and pull off every vestige that you can find. If this is done 
in the early stages of the pest, you should have no difficulty in 
keeping it in check. Some people allow it to keep possession 
of a few jilants out of mere curiosity. We intend giving an 
illustration of the parasite shortly for the benefit of others 
who have not yet experienced it. 
Time to Plant Herbaceous Paeonies. (Omega.) 
You cannot plant them too early now, provided the foliage 
has ripened and you can get the tubers. If you have not yet 
ordered them you should order at once, so ' as to get served 
amongst the first. It is a bad policy to put off planting till 
spring if you are minded to have Paeonies. The sooner°they 
are planted now the better they will be established before 
spring, so that you could now order and plant them as soon 
as they arrive, taking care to have the ground well prepared 
by trenching and manuring before you get the plants. The 
manure should be put well down, so as not to come in actual 
contact with the tubers. You could plant at various times in 
the autumn up to the end of November and again in earlv 
spring, but there is no necessity to wait, as the present time 
is the best. 
Planting Irises and Anemones. (Omega.) 
You do not state what Irises you mean, but we presume you 
mean either Spanish or English' Irises, or both. If that is the 
case you should plant them as soon as you get the bulbs, having 
previously well dug and pulverised the soil, putting some 
decayed manure well down out of contact with the bulbs. A 
light well-drained soil should always be selected for these 
bulbous Irises. You mention Anemones, but you do not state 
which kinds you mean. If they are the ordinary kinds for the 
herbaceous border you could plant them at once. This would 
also apply to Peacock Anemones and St. Brigid Anemones. 
If you defer planting till the winter has passed, about the end 
of February or the beginning of March would be a satisfactory 
time. To stand the winter in the open, however, they should 
be put into the ground at once, so that they can commence push¬ 
ing out roots and becoming established before winter. 
Vine Leaves Turning Busty, (Jones.) 
We think it likely, as you suspect, that the rustiness of the 
leaves and even the specks on the fruit are due to the presence 
of red spider. It is an easy matter to determine, however, at 
least, if you have a small magnifying glass, so that you can 
detect the mites on the under surface of the leaves. They are 
very small creatures, and may be red or colourless, according 
to age, and difficult to detect by the inexperienced, perhaps, 
but those who have experience with Vines can readily see if 
they are troubled with thrip or red spider by the naked eye 
alone. You might send us some leaves of the Vines, so that 
we could determine the cause of the rust. If your vinery is 
heated with hot water pipes you should make up a paint of 
flowers of sulphur and water. The hot water pipes should be 
painted with this insecticide, and the fire lighted, so as to put 
a little heat in the pipes. This could be done when you close 
the house in the afternoon, and the gentle fumes from the pipes 
will soon destroy the red spider. The spotting of the berries 
may be due to red spider, or may have been caused by handling 
them in the early stages of growth. You mention putting 
several buckets of blood on the border, and if this was in the 
raw condition it. is possible that some of the damage was done 
owing to the ammonia rising from the fresh blood. Usually 
this is not put on a border until it has been put through a 
process termed drying, by which it is rendered black and solid. 
In any case this should not be put on plant borders in great 
quantity, as it is a very concentrated manure. The best plan, 
even with the dry material, is to put a good handful into the 
watering-pot and distribute it over the border in that fashion. 
You could, however, scatter it thinly over the border previous 
to watering. In any case, if we had used the raw material we 
should have used only a small quantity, diluting it with water, 
and we should have watered the border previous to applying the 
manure. Even in the case of ordinary liquid manure it is well 
ro water the ground thoroughly previous to applying the liquid. 
It is always safer for plants to proceed in this way. 
Planting Gladiolus the Bride. (Omega.) 
We understand that you mean to plant the conns in the open 
ground, and, that being the case, we should defer planting till 
the end of February. They might even then have a difficulty 
in reaching the flowering stage if the spring proves wintry and 
