October 1. 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
793 
Big Vegetable Marrow. —Mr. Hope has grown some excep¬ 
tionally large Marrows at the Hall Gardens this year. One re¬ 
markable specimen measures. 42in. round the widest part ; it 
is 26in. long, and weighs 5st. 
* * * 
Change of Address. —Messrs. Dickson and Robinson, the 
King’s Seedsmen, Manchester, have removed Rom Old Millgate 
to tiieir new city office and shop in Cathedral Street, where the 
new office faces the Cathedral. 
* * * 
Cheap Apples. —At Spalding Apples were recently selling at 
the rate of 141b. for twopence. There are immense quantities of 
fruit on the market, and much will be left nil gathered because 
of unremunerative prices. At the same time the retail price is 
kept unduly high. 
* * * 
Atples with TnE King’s Portrait. —A box of six remarkable 
Apples the other week fetched a remarkable price at Covent 
Garden. They weighed a pound each, and each had on it the 
portrait of H.M. the King and the Royal Arms. These portraits 
of the King had been made by fixing photographic films on the 
Apples as. they grew. 
* * * 
Shakespearean Mulberry Tree. —Arrangements have been 
made by the Southwark Borough Council for planting on the 
open space in front of the Town Hall, Walworth Road, a seed¬ 
ling from the Mulberry tree which grew in the garden of the 
house in which Shakespeare died. The seedling is the gift of 
the Stratford-on-Avon municipal authorities. 
* * * 
Potatos at £20 Each. —Mr. A. Findlay, Mairsland, Fifeshire, 
has just had a visit from some, of the leading Potato experts 
in Lincolnshire to examine the new variety of Potato, the Mairs¬ 
land Queen. On being asked to fix a price for a single tuber Mr. 
Findlay named £20, which was at once given by five of those 
present. 
* * * 
Early American Apples. —The English fruit market, has had 
a consignment of early American Apples. This is the first 
occasion upon which the experiment has. been tried, and the 
result is not. of such a nature as to encourage another. The im¬ 
portations. which come later are required, and there is ample 
demand for them ; but we do not need foreign Apples just when 
our home orchards are yielding their toothsome produce, nor, 
indeed, is the popular palate likely to take kindly then to strange 
fare. These early American Apples were sent over here as a test. 
* * * 
Croydon and District Horticultural Mutual Improvement 
Society. —Before the members of this society, at the Sunflower 
Temperance Hotel, on the 20th ult., a lecture on “Fruit as a 
Necessary Food” was delivered by Mr. H. Cannell, V.M.H., 
Swan ley. For the last ten yearsi Mr. Cannell’s diet had been 
strictly vegetarian he said, and he was happy to say that 
although just before his commencement on this diet lie was feel¬ 
ing very much an old man, yet now he felt more active, enjoyed 
better health, and looked at his future with brighter views in 
every way. Men sometimes, abstained from fruit for months 
together, and in so. doing brought upon, themselves ailments 
which would not exist if greater thought were bestowed on, what 
they should eat and drink. In fruit, they had enough nourish¬ 
ment to keep the body in proper working order, and not only 
tills, but it created the appetite and provided everything to. build 
up a. strong constitution. The liking for fruit was, a, natural 
taste. He also emphasised its economy. At a nominal cost meals 
could be provided for families, whereas, now the cost of living was 
one of the most serious items the working man had to face. 
With the cheaper sustenance obtained in fruit and vegetable 
food healthier bodies and healthier minds would naturally 
follow. Mr. Robert Cannell, a son of the lecturer, explained an 
easy method of preserving fruit, and handed round samples of 
this a.nd wholemeal bread, which were very palatable and appre 
oiated by all present. A hearty vote of thanks was unanimously 
accorded Mr. Cannell for his address, and also for the exhibit of 
fruit from his nurseries. Thanks were also conveyed to Mr. 
W. Lintott, Marden Park Gardens., for an exhibit of Begonia 
(Marie Bauchet). 
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. 
Oak Tree with Withered Leaves. 
We have an Oak tree on the lawn. The north-west side of it 
has gone quite, brown, and the south-west side is. quite green. 
Should be much obliged for your opinion of the same. Have 
enclosed small branch taken from the, north-west, side for your 
inspection. (C. Etherington.) 
Oak trees are liable to many enemies,, both insects and fungi. 
Your tree is affected with several. Some insects have been at 
work, one of which causes the blisters which you may see on the 
under-side of the leaves. Another has produced the Oak spangles, 
forming circular scale-like processes on the under surface. The 
greatest enemy, however, is a fungus which lives in the interior 
and is now pushing its spores to the outside in large numbers. 
There is also evidence that other insects were at work, including 
aphides, and possibly red spider at an earlier period of the year, 
when the weather was dry and warm. The health of the tree 
would be improved by giving it a good .soaking of water by means 
of the hose during dry weather, allowing the hose to run for some 
hours at a time. You would also help, the tree at the same time 
by giving it a forcible washing from the hose or garden engine. 
The fungus would be more difficult to deal with as it lives in the 
interior. The only thing you can do in this case is to, syringe 
the tree at intervals during June, July, and August with the 
Bordeaux mixture—that is, sulphate of copper and lime in the 
proportion of 3 lbs. of sulphate of copper, 2 lbs. of fresh lime, 
and 23 gallons of water. This should be done with thei object, of 
destroying the spores that germinate on the young leaves at 
intervals of ten days, which would probably have the effect, of 
greatly checking the fungus, and the tree might in time get rid 
of it. Make sure, that the fungicide itself contains ho, free copper 
that, would destroy the leave®, by testing the mixture on 
a few leaves a day or two previous to its use on the tree as a 
whole. If there, appeal’s any injury upon the leaves, you should 
add a little more lime to the water. This should be put through 
a piece of coarse sacking to retain all the undissolved lime, and 
thereby prevent it from choking up the nozzle of the spraying 
apparatus. You should also carefully rake up all the leaves from 
beneath the tree and burn them, so as to destroy fungi and insect 
enemies lodging upon the same. The fallen leaves may be raked 
up on different occasions, so as to prevent them being blown away 
over the grounds. 
Plants for a High Elevation. 
What plants would you advise me to get, to cover a wall 7 ft. 
to 8 ft. high, with an eastern exposure, at an altitude of 1,100 ft. ? 
The soil is rich and. porous,, and about 50 yards .’of the, wall is 
partly shaded by trees. An answer in The Gardening World 
will greatly oblige. (Ronald Dingwall.) 
Gardens at the elevation you mention are very unusual in any 
part of the country, because proprietors usually select positions 
at low elevations, in the, valleys,, where their gardens will be 
sheltered. We think your chief difficulty will be, to contend 
against the high winds which frequently prevail in exposed 
situations. You said, however, that part of the wall is shaded 
by trees,, so we take it for granted that you have the, advantage 
of shelter for a portion of the wall a,t least. For this shaded 
position we should recommend plants that are usually grown for 
the sake of their foliage only, as, flowering plants, to do, them 
justice, would require, more sunshine, or, at least, to be well 
exposed to- light. For the shaded portion we should recom¬ 
mend you to, plant some or all of the following: —Cotoneaster 
Simonsii, C. microphylla, Ampelopsis* Veitchii, and any of the 
more hardy varieties, of Ivy, such as Hedera Helix oanariensis, 
H.H. palmate, H.H.p. aurea, H.H. caenwoodiana, H.H. pedata, 
and other beautiful varieties. We think the green varieties 
would be more likely to give satisfaction than variegated ones at 
the elevation you give. Much of the planting must be done in 
the way of an experiment, and we should suggest such flowering 
plants for the sunny portion of the wall as Jasminum officinale, 
Honeysuckle, Clematis Vitalba, the Fiery Thorn (Crataegus 
Pyracantha), Viburnum Opulus sterilis, Deutzia crena.ta., D.c. 
