April 29, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
56 ? 
at the time there seemed to be a considerable amount of doubt 
with regard to that. At present the Primroses continue to be 
culled from the meadows, banks, and woodlands of Kent, 
Surrey, and Sussex. Country children are largely employed 
in gathering them. It is questionable how many years the 
supply may be met in this manner provided the plants were 
not allowed to produce seed, but where they grow wild in 
abundance we may take it for granted that stray flowers are 
certain to be left wherever the plants grow in large numbers. 
Furthermore, they never expand all their blossoms at any given 
time, but continue to throw up fresh flowers for some weeks 
in succession, although the bulk of them would appear about 
the middle of April. If only a few seeds were left to drop on 
the ground they would probably serve to make good any deaths 
thatmight occur amongst the plants naturally. If the meadows 
where these plants grow were ploughed up the supply would 
be greatly reduced during a single year, but so long as whole 
meadows and fields are allowed to lie in pasture there will 
always be any quantity of Primroses, as the roots are not 
wanted for Primrose Day. 
Obituary. 
Sir Hugh Low, G.C.M.G. 
On the 18th inst. Sir Hugh Low, G.C.M.G., son of Mr. Hugh 
Low, the founder of the firm of Messrs. Hugh Low and Co., 
Bush Hill Park, Middlesex, died at Alassio after a few hours’ 
illness. Sir Hugh was in his eighty-first year. To horticul¬ 
turists his name will be interesting as being so closely con¬ 
nected with the firm above named, and because of his residence in 
Borneo, whence so many interesting pitcher plants were sent 
home. We presume that Nepenthes Lowii was named after him. 
At the age of nineteen he went to Borneo, where he made the 
acquaintance of the late Sir James Brooke, who had been ruling 
as the independent Rajah of Sarawak, in the north-west part of 
Borneo. Following upon this visit Mr. Low published an 
interesting and instructive work on Sarawak and its inhabitants. 
In 1848 he was appointed secretary to the Government in the 
island of Labuan close by. In 1850 he was made a polioe magis¬ 
trate, and for a period of twenty-five years he administered the 
government of Labuan. He was next appointed resident for the 
Government at Perak on the mainland of the Malay Peninsula 
in 1877. Two years later he was created a C.M.G., and in 1883 
he was advanced to the dignity of K.C.M.G. He retired in 1889, 
and was further honoured with the Grand Cross of the Order. 
IV e may here state that Sir Hugh was never connected in busi¬ 
ness with the firm of Messrs. Hugh Low and Co. 
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 
enve'ope 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. 
Zygopetalum and Coelogyne Leaves Spotted. 
R ould you please inform me through the medium of your 
paper what is the matter with the leaves of the Zygopetalum 
and Coelogyne? (James Anderson.) 
The leaves you send us in both cases are affected with what is 
known as the leaf spot of Orchids. It is not usually ascribed 
to any fungus, but is considered merely to be an injury caused 
by atmospheric moisture in the house with a very low tempera¬ 
ture. The damage must have been done some time ago, when 
they commenced forming pale brown spots as the result of con¬ 
densation of moisture on the leaves. Later on as the tissues 
cied these spots assumed a black appearance owing to the con- 
iaction or shrinking of the tissues at this stage consisting 
nieiely of dead matter. You cannot now remedy the matter 
as ar as the present state of the leaves is concerned. The only 
- U1 S y° u can do is to remove the worst of them, but do not 
r f\ an “ r ? e 1 ans denudfe the plants of leaves, as that would be 
to ^ le ^ r vigour and the amount of growth made 
g ie coming season. The leaves that are now spotted 
will always present these spots so long as they remain on the 
plant. Encourage fresh growth, however, by giving the house a 
rather higher temperature, though you need not be afraid of 
keeping the atmosphere fail ly moist. The damage that has been 
done was done at an earlier period, when the outside tempera¬ 
ture was low and the light rather poor. Your aim and object 
now should be to avoid tho same evil next winter by keeping 
the atmosphere of the house dry during dull cold weather, and 
by preventing the temperature getting too low during those 
periods. What you should aim at is prevention rather than 
cure, and the winter time is the season when you must exercise 
the above precaution. 
Rose Leaves Losing Colour. 
Would you please inform me what is affecting the Rose leaves 
of W. A. Richardson, giving the causp and the remedy? 
(James Anderson.) 
Judging from the leaves sent you have been treating the Rose 
veiy well in some respects, but badly in others. You have been 
allowing the atmosphere of the house to be too dry by neglect- 
ing syringing while the Rose was in full growth. If you carefully 
examine the under surface of the leaves you will find them very 
badly affected with red spider. A good remedy is a heavy 
syringing of clean water, making sure that you thoroughly wet 
the under surface of the leaves. Flowers of sulphur put on the 
hot-water pipes would also destroy the red spider, but it is 
necessary to exercise great caution with sulphur in Rose houses 
if heated either by means of a ffue or hot water. We should 
not advise you to put sulphur on a flue for any class of plants. 
If the hot-water pipes were gently heated there would be no 
danger perhaps, hut instead of that if you intend to try the 
sulphur remedy you should either lightly syringe the foliage, 
especially the under surface, and then dust the leaves with 
sulphur. Another way of applying it would be to mix it in a 
can of water and then syringe the leaves with it. There could 
be no harm in applying two of the remedies we have just given 
you, namely, syringing the leaves with clean water and then 
dusting them with sulphur while wet to make the powder 
hang on. 
Caper Spurge. 
A plant with blue-green leaves comes up in the garden here 
vc-* 1 ' 1 ''i i ■D' £ l r ’ an d I have been told it is the Caper Spurge. 
YY ould it be safe to pickle the young fruits, as we have an idea 
that the Spurges are poisonous? (A. P. M.) 
All of the Spurges are more or less poisonous, so that it is 
necessary to exercise caution with them when you come to eat- 
them. The young fruits of the Caper Spurge are sometimes 
made into pickles, but only a few of them should be used for 
this purpose at any given time. You can, to a certain extent 
destroy tneir deleterious properties by steeping the fruits in 
salt and water for some days, when washing them and placing 
lem m vinegar. We do not think, however, it is desirable to 
use such doubtful material for pickles when you can get the 
leal article in the shops at a reasonable price, and incur no 
danger by the use of them. 
Onion Blight 
Some of our Onions were badly blighted last year, the leaves 
being coveied with something like mildew. Can anyth in cr be 
done to prevent it coming again this year? (Tom R.) 
In our experience, Onions are more liable to be blighted in 
cold damp summers than in fairly dry ones. When you notice 
the disease commencing you should pull up and burn the in¬ 
fected plants. Previous to this, however, you should take the 
precautions to use a fungicide that- will prevent the fungus 
from getting established. A good preventive is Bordeaux 
mixture made up at the rate of 4 lbs. of limp to 6 lbs. sulphate 
of copper in 50 gallons of water. The sulphate of copper or 
blue vitriol should he put in a coarse bag and the latter dropped 
in the barrel amongst the water until it gets dissolved. This 
is to hold back any insoluble impurities that would serve to 
choke the nozzle of a syringe or a proper sprayer. After the 
sulphate of copper has been dissolved and the impurities re¬ 
moved, the lime may be put in a pail with a quantity of water 
and broken up fine until it forms a thin paste, making sure 
that the lime has been thoroughly pounded, leaving no lumps 
in it. This lime may then be added to the water, and the 
barrel filled up. Rain water should he used if you can get it, 
otherwise use ordinary well water. Before syringing the whole 
of the Onions you might try the spray on a. few plants and 
wait a day to see if it has any injurious effect upon the leaves, 
and, if so, add some more lime to the mixture, which will 
render it harmless. The Onions may then be syringed with this 
mixture, and the operation repeated at intervals of tlire e weeks 
