1Q2 
TUB UARDBrsllHG WORLD. 
March 14, 1908. 
should be very glad if you can tell me a 
little about these. (Jacob,. Suffolk.) 
No. 1 is Apple Lady Henneker. The fruit 
should be much larger, and to secure this it 
will be necessary to give it good cultivation. 
For instance, in September, while the leaves 
are still on the tree, you can see where 
crowding takes place and cut away some of 
the branches to let light and air play freely 
upon those that are left. If too many fruits 
are produced in a bunch, you can increase 
the size by reducing them to two or three, 
and if you want the largest fruit possible 
reduce each bunch to one. This, of course, 
js meant for exhibition purposes, but gene¬ 
rally there is only room for two or three. 
Apples at one point. During winter and 
also in summer after the fruits are set, a 
good watering now and again in dry weather 
would be of advantage, and if you use liquid 
manure so much the better. It may be used 
as a dessert or cooking Apple. No. 2 is 
Apple Lord Raglan, the fruits of which 
should be larger. It is only a cooking 
variety. No. 3 is Apple Pearson’s Plate, a 
dessert variety that is naturally of small 
size. Some varieties are given to shrivelling 
after being collected from the tree, and the 
only provision you can make against that is 
to let the fruits hang as long as you possibly 
can, provided the weather is not too wir. dy 
or frost too severe. No. 4 is Pear Josephine 
de Malines. This is a dessert Pear, never 
attaining a very large size, but if properly 
dealt with it should be buttery, melting, 
juicy and rich, and is classed as a valuable 
variety. To get it in this condition from 
December 'onwards you should take some 
fruits from the general 'heap and place them 
in some warm situation, such as the vicinity 
of hot water pipes or near a kitchen fire, 
where they will be decidedly influenced by 
the warmth of the room. This warmth en¬ 
ables them to complete their ripening when 
they assume their true character and high 
quality. If you have a heated greenhouse 
you could put the Pears in a basket and 
stand it on the hot water pipes for a few 
days, and you will find that it makes a re¬ 
markable difference to the flavour. 
2690. Seedling Plum Tree. 
I have a seedling Plum tree which has 
made two seasons’ growth. The seed was 
from a Victoria Plum. It is growing in the 
open, where it gets plenty of sun and mois¬ 
ture, and is now pushing its buds. I should 
like to grow it as a standard. Will it re¬ 
quire pruning or grafting in any way? If 
so, kindly state when and how. Any infor¬ 
mation concerning the treatment of same will 
greatly oblige. (W. J. S., Essex.) 
It does not follow that the Plum will be a 
Victoria, though you raised it from the seed 
of that variety. It might come true or might 
produce a better variety, but probably prove 
quite inferior to the original. If you desire 
to find out what is the quality of it, then 
you will have to grow it to the fruiting stage 
without being grafted. If you require ’t 
to produce good Plums then you will have 
to obtain grafts of a good variety and put 
on it. Grafting should be done before the 
end of this month, though it much depends 
upon the advanced stage of growth or other¬ 
wise. With regard to pruning it will he 
necessary to prune so as to secure a stem. 
This is done by cutting off the side branches 
and encouraging the top to grow straight, 
so as to form a stem. Sometimes this can 
very conveniently be done if it is making a 
bush without a clean stem. The plan would 
be to cut it down rather severely to a height 
which y< 5 u can determine on the spot. All 
the crooked and branching portion could be 
cut away, and as a result the stem will throw 
out a number of shoots. When you see 
which is going to be the strongest cut away 
entirely all the weak ones, reserving only 
the strong one. When the stem has attained 
sufficient height for your requirments, then 
top it in order to get a branching head. The 
shoots produced during the first summer may 
be shortened at the winter pruning to get a 
greater number of branches, so as to form a 
head. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
2691. Goat Moth Caterpillars. 
Will you kindly answer the following 
question through the medium of your valu¬ 
able paper :—What can be done to rid trees 
of the Goat Moth caterpillar? I have re¬ 
cently had to cut down a tree, the trunk of 
which had a hole made by the caterpillars 
throughout almost its entire length, and I 
now have a similar and larger tree being 
damaged in the same-way. (S. H. Haines, 
Essex.) 1 
Several expedients are employed to get rid 
of Goat- Moth caterpillars. You should aim 
at discovering whether any of them are pre¬ 
sent amongst your trees before the damage 
has gone too far. When once a tree has been 
attacked eggs continue to be laid upon it in 
after years, until the whole of the trunk gets 
riddled or tunnelled with borings. Usually 
they enter low down or have openings there 
where they push out the sawdust-like chips, 
usually named frass. If you find such evi¬ 
dence amongst your trees you should proceed 
at once to deal with it. A wire of sufficient 
strength may be pushed into the hole with 
the object of crushing the caterpillar in its 
burrow. You can sometimes tell whether - 
it has been effective when the wire is with¬ 
drawn. Usually a considerable number will 
get into a tree, varying sometimes up to 
forty or fifty. This is all the more reason, 
therefore, why you should commence early. 
Another plan is to inject paraffin into the 
holes by means of a jet-nozzled syringe. 
Fumes of sulphur are sometimes blown into 
the holes. You can often get them in the 
resting condition, that is, as a chrysalis or - 
pupa at the mouth of their burrows, in 
June or early July. They should be searched 
for and destroyed to save further laying of j 
eggs. The perfect moths are rather sluggish 
and may be caught resting on the bark of 
trees early in July when laying eggs. _ They 
are easily recognised by their large size, as 
they measure about iin. across the wings, 
which are of an ashy white with brown 
markings. If by chance a tree gets so in¬ 
fested as to be riddled by burrows, the best 
plan is to cut it down and split it open with 
the object of destroying the caterpillars-. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
2692. Price for an Orchid. 
Please could you inform me what is the 
most money an Orchid has ever realised to 
your knowledge? (H. Avis.) 
We often hear of Orchids for which the 
vendors want £1,000, but these are very fine 
varieties which the owners wish to keep 
rather than to sell. One of these was 
Odontoglossum crispum apiatum. Last April 
Odontoglossum crispum Leonard Perfect 
sold for £y35- In June three specimens of 
Miltonia vexillaria memoria G. D. Owen 
sold for .£ 1 , 375 . Another Orchid is men¬ 
tioned more recently as -having been sold for 
^1,200. 
2693. Address. 
I see in your valuable paper that Messrs. 
Dobbie and Co. have brought out the new 
Sweet Pea The Marquis. As I cannot get 
it from Eckford, who has sold out, I thought 
I might be able to obtain it through Messrs. 
Dobbie and Co. Could you, therefore, 
kindly give me their address? {E. A. 
Flower, Dorset.) 
The address is Messrs. Dobbie and Co., 
Rothesay, N.B. 
SPECIAL NOTICE FOR 1908. 
REALLY GOOD SEEDS 
at moderate prices 
SEND TO 
MR. Robt. SYDENHAM, 
NEW TENBY STREET, BIRMINGHAM. 
No one will serve you better. 
HIS UNIQUE LISTS 
sent post free on application, 
are acknowledged by all to be the Best, Cheapest, and most 
Reliable ever published. They contain only the Best 
Flowers & Vegetables 
WORTH GROWING, 
Being the Selections of the Largest Seed Growers, Harkei 
Gardeners, and the most celebrated Professional Gardeners 
and Amateurs in the Kingdom. They also contain ven 
useful cultural instructions. 
SWEET PEAS A SPECIALITY. 
No flowers give so much cut bloom at so little cost and 
trouble if treated as instructions sent with each collection 
12 Good Varieties, 50 Seeds of each ... Is. 6d 
12 Better Varieties, 50 Seeds of each ... Is. 9d. 
Or the Two Collections for 2s. 6d. 
12 Best Varieties, 50 Seeds of each ... 2s. Od 
Or the Three Collections, 4s. post free, 
and four striped and four other varieties added free 
of charge. 
NAMES ON APPLICATION. 
12 Newest Varieties ... ... ... 4s. Od. 
or what X consider the best of the newest. 
The number of seeds in these packets varies ; the quantities 
are stated in black figures after each name : 
Agnes Eckford (15) soft blush pink, 3d. ; Earl Cromer 
(20) mulberry. 4d.; Frank Dolby (20) lavender, 4d.; 
Herbert Smith (25) orange bi-color, 6d.; Lord Nelson (20) 
dark blue, 4d.; Miss Millie Maslin (25) rich crimson, 4d.; 
Mrs Hardcastle Sykes (20) blush pink, 6d.; Mrs. Collier 
(20) new primrose, 4d. ; Nora Unwin (20) white, 4d!: 
Primrose Countess or Clara Curtis (10) new wavy prim- 
rose, 6d.; Queen of Spain (20) salmon-pink, 4d. : White 
Countess (10) syn. or improved Etta Dyke, the newest, best, 
and largest wavy white, 6d. 
Collections Nos. 3 and 4, 5s. 
Primrose Countess and White Countess may be had in pkts. 
of 25 seeds, Is. each, or 6 packets for 5s. 
Special Price for the four collections, 7s. 
THE BEST TOMATOES. , 
3d. per Packet of 200 Seeds. 
THE BEST CUCUMBERS. 
6d per packet of 10 Seeds. 
THE BEST ONIONS FOR EXHIBITION. 
EXCELSIOR, 6d. per Packet of about 1,500 Seeds. 
AILSA CRAIG, 6d. per packet of about 1,200 Seeds. 
Please compare thes?prices 
with what you are paying. 
ALL OTHER SEFDS EQUALLY CHEAP AND GOOD. 
MR. SYDENHAM’S SEEDS AND BULBS 
have been represented and gained as 
many First Prizes at London, Birmingham, 
Cardiff, Preston, Edinburgh, Newcastle- 
on-Tyne, Plymouth, Hanley, Shrewsbury, 
Taunton, Wolverhampton. &c., &c., tor the 
past twelve years as any firm in England. 
FULL LISTS POST FREE ON APPLICATION. 
