44 
January 18, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
•» 
the head has been well founded, but it is 
necessary to look over the trees, either in 
autumn or in winter, to remove dead wood 
and also weak or useless shoots, especially 
where they happen to crowd the tree. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
2529. Onions and the Grub. 
In our gardens here is a warm sheltered 
border on which we always grow Onions, 
but every year they get more or less dam¬ 
aged or "thinned out by that pest the Onion 
grub. Some say it is bad gardening to al¬ 
ways grow Onions on the same ground. I 
should like to have your opinion and 
whether 1 can do anything to stop the 
ravages of the pest. (S. T. Sharp, Stirling¬ 
shire. ) 
Various means are adopted for keeping 
the Onion grub in check, but we think good 
cultivation is much better than merely try¬ 
ing to check the grub. We should advise 
you to dig the border deeply or trench it 
and at the same time manure heavily with 
well-decayed cow manure. The best manure 
should, of course, be kept within 1 ft. of the 
surface, that is, in the top spit. This ini¬ 
tial preparation of the soil gives the Onions 
a good chance to make strong and -rapid 
growth. When the Onions are well up, you 
should water them alternately with liquid 
manure and guano water, not too strong, 
but sufficient to stimulate the Onions. This 
watering will be of most service to them 
after the weather begins to be genially 
warm. It may be put on the Onions by 
means of a rosed watering pot. Both of the 
manures mentioned contain nitrogen, which 
serves to urge the Onions into rapid growth. 
If you can get them to grow a way strongly, 
the maggot never does them so much harm 
after that, even if some grubs do get in to 
the Onions. There are, of course, other 
manures, many of which are advertised in 
our pages, that would stimulate Onions in 
these early stages, and there is also, of 
course, nitrate of soda, which is highly con¬ 
centrated and could never be used stronger 
than | cz. to the gallon of water. A quarter 
of an ounce would be safer, at least in the 
early stages, and this manure should not be 
used oftener than once in three or four 
weeks. 
SOIL® AND MANURES. 
2530. Soot as a Manure. 
Everybody recommends the use of soot 
for all sorts of purposes, but I often wonder 
what can be the use of it besides keeping 
away slugs, etc. It would be a great ad¬ 
vantage, I think, if we could use -less of it 
near the dwelling house, especially in the 
front garden and under the open windows, 
where it often stinks strongly on summer 
mornings. Your opinion would much 
oblige. (C. King, Lines.) 
There is, no doubt, much truth in what 
you say about the use of soot in small gar¬ 
dens in keeping away slugs. It is 'possible 
by clean culture to largely get -rid of the 
slugs and snails, but then in some gardens 
and in some situations there are grass verges 
or lawns, and very often box edgings in 
which slugs hide, and it is almost impos¬ 
sible to get rid of them. In such cases, 
systematic trapping with those things which 
slugs like would attract them, where they 
.could be gathered up and taken away. Very 
often soil gets- into a dirty condition on 
account of the rotting vegetable matter in 
it, though in some cases where the ground 
is more or less thickly planted with various 
subjects it is impossible to' clean it by fre¬ 
quent trenching. Where you can trench it, 
however, we should advise you to do so. 
After soot gets wet we -do not think it would 
have much deterrent effect upon slugs, and 
in that case it should be pointed into the 
ground. You will thereby get rid of the 
disagreeable odour. A new substance named 
Vaporite has been found useful in driving 
away slugs, wireworm and other vermin in 
soils, and if you use this it would be put 
in the ground in February or March. It 
is also a disagreeable smelling substance, 
at least in the estimation of some, but as 
you can dig this into the soil it should be 
less offensive. Soot is always laid on the 
surface and very often scattered over the 
foliage of plants as well. We think when 
it is -used it should be handled more care¬ 
fully and not made to disfigure everything. 
Soot contains a small quantity of ammonia, 
and that is a nitrogenous and very useful 
manure, so that it is a fertiliser as well as 
an insectifuge. 
2531. Uses of Gas Lime. 
I notice occasionally that you mention 
gas lime as a suitable thing for killing 
grubs, etc., in soil. Is it of any service as 
a fertiliser, and if so, would you say what 
vegetable crops would be improved by it 
and when to apply it? (M. D., Osman, 
Lines.) 
Gas -lime acts in the same way as ordinary 
lime, but it has something in addition which 
is injurious to plant life if used fresh. It 
consists of calcium carbonate .and calcium 
hydrate, together with sulphides of various 
chemical composition. Thes-e latter consti¬ 
tute a danger to living plants, so that when 
you use gas lime it should be in the autumn 
or winter, or at least six or eight weeks be¬ 
fore planting or sowing anything in the 
soil in which it is used. Nevertheless, as 
an insecticide and even fungicide, it is use¬ 
ful and may be used at various depths in 
the soil when digging and trenching. As 
a manure, gas lime would be highly effec¬ 
tive for the Cabbage tribe, and p-ractically 
any vegetable will benefit by it. If your 
soil is light and sandy it should not be 
used except at long intervals, as the lime 
has the effect of using up the vegetable mat¬ 
ter in the soil, and which is rather scanty 
in all sandy and gravelly soils. Heavy 
soils will take good dressings of it to advan¬ 
tage. This is a manure you can use at 
much the same rate as you would ordinary 
lime. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
2532. Wholesale Seed. 
Could you oblige us with a name or two 
of some large flower -and vegetable seed 
importers? (Suttons, Essex.) 
Some of the principal wholesale seedsmen 
are Messrs. Hurst and Son, 152, Hounds- 
ditch, London, E. ; Messrs. Watkins and 
Simpson, Exeter Street, Strand, London, 
W.C. ; Messrs. Nutting and Sons, 106, 
Southwark Street, London, S.E. ; Messrs. 
Carter and 'Co., 237 and 238, High Ilolborn, 
London; and Messrs. Cooper, Tabor and 
Co., Ltd., go, Southwark Street, London. 
NAMES OF PLANTS . 
(Murdieston) 1, Berberis wallichiana; 2, 
Berberis stenophylla; 3, Heder-a Helix ar- 
boresoens; 4, Cupressus lawsoniana var. ; 5, 
Cup-ressus obtusa ly-copodioides; 6, Juni- 
perus virginiana. 
(J. L.) 1, Salvia rutilans; 2, Begonia par- 
viflora : 3, Eupatorium riparium ; 4, Euphor¬ 
bia pulcher-rima; 5, Erica gracilis. 
(D. Read) 1, Abutilon Sawitzii ; 2, Abu- 
tilon megapotamicum variegatum ; 3, Co- 
prosma Baueri varieg.ata; 4, Acacia armata. 
(C. Groves) 1, Asplenium obtusatum luci- 
dum; 2, Cyrtomium falcatum ; 3,. Lofnaria 
gibha; 4, Lygodiu-m scandens ; 5, Asparagus 
Sp-rengeri; 6, Asparagus- medeoloides ; 7, 
Callistemon s&lignus, 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Daniels Bros., Limited, Norwich.—Illus¬ 
trated Guide for Amateur Gardeners. 
Little and Ball ant yne, Carlisle.—Gar 
den Seeds. 
W. Atlee Burpee and Co., Philadelphia, 
U.S.A.—Burpee’s Farm Annual. 
Stewart and Co., 6 , Melbourne Place 
(George IV. Bridge), Edinburgh.—Stewart’s 
Stronghold ” Seeds. 
R. H. Bath, Ltd., The Floral Farms, 
Wisbech.—B-ath’s Select Garden Seeds. 
Howden and Co., Inverness.—Garden 
Seeds. 
-- 
Reading and District Gardeners’ Mutual 
Improvement Association. 
At a recent fortnightly meeting of the 
above association, held in the Abbey Hall, 
Mr. H. J. Tones, the well-known Chrysan¬ 
themum grower and exhibitor, of Lewis¬ 
ham, delivered a most practical and ex¬ 
haustive lecture on Chrysanthemums from 
the cutting to the drawing room and ex¬ 
hibition table. For ninety minutes the 
lecturer kept his audience fully interested 
as he treated minutely with details of 
culture, etc., from the time the cuttings 
were taken to the show day when the 
flowers were staged for the judges’ ex¬ 
amination. He strongly impressed upon 
his listeners that attention to the very 
smallest details very often decided 
whether the first or some other prize was 
obtained. The first important point 
touched upon was naturally propagation 
and under this heading'advice was given 
as to size of cuttings, soil, light, the best 
method of striking, time, etc. Then 
followed directions as to the first shift, 
size of pots, subsequent shifts, constitu¬ 
ents of a good soil, date and timing of 
buds, topping, housing, temperature, 
damping, ventilation, selecting and stag¬ 
ing for show. There was very little time 
left for discussion, but a good deal of 
information was gained by the questions 
asked by Messrs. Hinton, Durward, Judd, 
Exler, Wilson, and Goodyer. A very 
hearty vote of thanks, on the proposition 
of the chairman, was accorded to Mr. 
Jones for his very instructive paper. Mr. 
G. Hatch, of Cavenham Park Gardens, 
Mildenhall, Suffolk, sent -twelve splendid 
bulbs of Sutton's selected Ailsa Craig 
Onions which had recently been awarded 
first prize at Bury St. Edmunds show and 
also first prize at the Norwich Chrysan¬ 
themum Show, and Mr. A. F. Bailey, of 
Leopold House Gardens, Reading, ex¬ 
hibited two seedling plants of Crytomeria 
gracilis. 
Says Plants Can See. 
At a recent meeting of the Bristol Gar¬ 
deners’ Association the lecturer for the 
evening, Mr. Pentland, advanced some 
startling theories respecting plant life, 
suggesting that there is a reciprocity of 
feeling between the gardener and plants, 
where the attendant is sympathetic to¬ 
wards the plants, watching over them and 
attending to their wants. The sympathy 
is returned by the plants thriving in a 
marvellous manner. Mr. Pentland also 
said he firmly believed that plants have 
sight, that they are suspicious of pam, 
that they can walk and fight, and that we 
should look upon plants as something 
endowed with instinct. These theories 
were rather sceptically received, and 
brought on a warm discussion, 
