?74 
off separately in small pots instead of trans¬ 
planting them into boxes when taken out of 
the seed ipans. When they have made some 
growth in these ports you could transfer them 
to a cold frame, where they whuld get more 
ventilationi and be hardened off for planting 
out about the end of May or the beginning of 
June. You should ask your seedsmen for an 
early variety which would come into use 
much more quickly than a tall growing, late 
variety. The cobs of early varieties are 
usually smaller than those produced by latq 
varieties, (but for cooking purposes that 
would not signify. You should cut the cobs 
just when the seeds are passing out of the 
milky state and beginning to get more firm. 
They will then be quite delicate when 
cooked. 
2 7 88. Protecting Potatos. 
This week I planted some early Potatos 
on a south border, well sprouted in a green¬ 
house. The tops of the sprouts are not very 
deep under the soil, and they will soon he 
up if we get any warm weather. What is 
the best way of protecting them? (F. R. C., 
Warwickshire.) 
When they first come through the soil you 
can earth them up so that only the green tips 
are exposed. You could then get some straw 
or dry bracken and lay it in the furrows. 
Then at night, or before leaving off work, 
you could lay the bracken or straw over the 
Potatos, if there is any sign of frost. For an 
early batch you can very quickly uncover 
them in the morning by using a fork with a 
long handle. Avoid treading on the ground, 
and this_you can easily do with a Jong 
handled fork. 
2789. Sowing Kidney Beans. 
How soon can I sow Kidney Beans out 
of doors? I got some frosted last year, and 
they did not come to anything. I had to 
sow again. (F. R. C., Warwickshire.) 
You can make the first sowing on a warm 
border at the end of this month, r bu.t--as soon 
as they -oom-e through the ground it will be 
well to have some protective covering, as in 
the case of early Potatos. You can-also sow 
Kidney Beans in boxes about the beginning 
of May and stand them in a cold frame. 
After they come above the soil they will 
grow very rapidly. You should then thor¬ 
oughly harden them off and have them .plan¬ 
ted out by the end of May or the beginning 
of June/ according to the state of the 
Weather. They will come aloqg quicklv 
after being started in this way. 
FRUIT. 
2 790. Gro6 Colmar Vine not Fruiting. 
The Vine you refer to in question No. 
2730 is growing in a lean-to house amongst 
other Vines, the house ibeir<g about 30 ft. 
long and the cane 12 ft. long. The aspect is 
south. The temperature is about 60 degs. 
(J. R., Notts.) 
Gros Colmar is a free j growing Vine, and 
one of the easiest to cultivate, as a rule, and 
usually fruits very heavily, but it requires 
a long season, for ripening, with plenty of 
heat. For that reason it should be planted 
by itself in a house with Muscat of Alex¬ 
andria, which requires similar treatment. 
Are you sure your Vine is really Gros Col¬ 
mar? Although 60, degs. would be sufficient 
at night at the time of setting, it is highly 
beneficial -to let the heat run up much higher 
by day, with sun heat, as this is favourable 
to setting You say, however, that you do 
not get flowers. In that case we should 
think it a case of imperfect ripening of the 
young shoots. When the berries have finished 
stoning and taken the second swelling, or. 
say, when they are beginning to colour, then 
the day temperature may be allowed to run 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
4 
up to 80 degs, and even if it runs to 90 degs. 
.or 95 degs. by sun heat after closing, this, 
will do no harm, but benefit the Vines if’the 
damping down is done properly at closing 
time. The difficulty in carrying out this_ 
plan, however, is that you have other and 
probably earlier Vines in the same -house. 
When the early ones die away, probably you. 
leave off encouraging the Gros -Colmar to 
complete its iri-pening. It’is highly advan¬ 
tageous to use fire heart in ripening off Gros; 
-Colmar, at the same time giving ventilation 
during the -day; To benefit Gros 'Colmar 
this -heat'should be contiriued for a longer 
time than in the case of early varieties. If 
properly pruned, so-that r.o crowding takes 
place, the young shoots will then get the ad¬ 
vantage of sun heat, and should not fail to 
flower in spring. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
2 7 91. Scale on Vines. 
I have a Grape Vine (Black Hamburgh) in 
a cool greerjhouse. On this year’s -growth 
has lately appeared a number of white look¬ 
ing objects like a large grain of sand, but 
when pressed shows a moisture, which makes 
me -think it may be the egg of some insect. 
. Can 3'ou tell me what it is, and if a pest, 
what is the, remedy? (Delta, Beds.) 
From your description we presume that 
your Vine is infested with Vine scale (Pul- 
vinaria Vitig). It is a very destructive pest, 
and is usually most plentiful out of doorrs on 
the 'Continent. In your -case the cool green¬ 
house would be more like out-of-door oondi-' 
, Hons than a heated vinery. All those in¬ 
sects should be crushed. Then it might be 
worth while getting some of the remedies 
used for this class of insect, such as “ Hojnco 
Soluble Paraffin,” or “ Abol, White’s 
Superior,” which you will find in our ad¬ 
vertising pages. We should not syringe the 
whole Vine with either of these, especially if 
the Vine is in leaf. Instead of that we 
should tie a piece of sponge on a stick and 
paint the infested spots- on the stems. This 
should b-e done at once, before the insect gets 
ortrthe leaves and fruits. A small half-worn 
painter’s brush would answer the same pur¬ 
pose as the sponge. 
NAMES OF PLANTS . 
(A. T.) Dendrohiu-m fimlbfi-atum ocul-atum. 
(J. Welch) 1, Scilla sfbirica ; 2, Pulmo- 
naria officinalis; 3, Saxifr-aga • Geum;’4, 
Aubretia deltoi-des variegata; 5, Carex Mo- 
rovii variegata; 6, Sedum gJaucu-m; 
Sedu.m acre. 
(€. W,) 
■Cleyer-a iaponicia 
cata ; 4, Ficus stipulata minima; 5, Ruel-lia 
Port-el lae. 
(L. M. D.) 1, Sisyrinch-ium grandiflorum ; 
2, Iris reticulata; 3, Er.antbis hy-emallis; 4, 
Primula rosea ; 3, Arabis albida variegata ; 
6, Thymus Serpyllum lanvigirnosus. 
(P. R.) 1, Ornitho-galum longibraeteatum ; 
2, Ox-alis so. ; 4, Fatsia -japonica (often 
named Arajia Sieboldii) ; 4, Sedum Sie- 
boldii. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Hobbies, Limited, Norfolk Nurseries, 
De-reham.—Seeds and Plants. 
James Strudwick and Son, Silverhill 
Park, Si. Leonards-bh-Sea.—Descriptive- 
Catailogue of Dahlias. , . 
Harlan P. Kelsey. Salem, Mass;, U.S.A., 
•^American Hardy Rhododendrons, Andre- 
med-ais, Kalmias, Azaleas, etc. 
April 18, 1908. 
‘Homco’ Soluble Paraffin. 
♦++ 
Paraffin has long been known as an. ex¬ 
cellent remedy for plant enemies of a 
great variety, but the practice for some 
years was to mix-it with water, which was; 
of course, an impossible thing, except 
when continually stirred all the time it was 
being used upon plants. Careless work¬ 
men were very frequently remiss in these 
observations, with many a fatal result to 
the plants. They destroyed the vermin, 
but, alas, destroyed the plants as well. 
Since then, however, several methods have 
been discovered of using paraffin com¬ 
bined with some other substance which 
held this in a diluted condition, thereby 
preventing damage to plants. 
One of the more recent discoveries in 
this respect is “Homco” Soluble Para¬ 
ffin, which when obtained in tins is a 
creamy white,'semi-liquid paste, but when 
this is poured into hot or cold water and 
stirred it produces a creamy liquid not 
unlike milk. One gardener of our ac¬ 
quaintance was afraid the cat might drink 
this milk, but puss had a far better use 
for her nose than to drink such an insec¬ 
ticide with its unmistakable aroma. 
This insecticide is invaluable for the 
destruction of green and black fly, or for 
the matter of that brown and red fly as 
well. Other enemies that may be des¬ 
troyed are thrips, red spider, American 
blight, scale, meally bug and other pests 
of that character which multiply at an 
alarming rate when the conditions are 
favourable to them, and in a very short 
time destroy the plants which they infest. 
Gardeners well know that the aphides 
tribe has many members that are difficult 
to kill, especially those which have colour¬ 
ing pigment in their bodies. 
“Homco” may be used at the rate of 
2 oz. to 4 oz. per gallon of water for 
green fly, but black fly, red spider and 
other troublesome enemies of that class 
require 4 oz. to 8 oz. per gallon. This 
may be applied with the syringe to a 
great variety of plants even in the open 
air. It could be done late in the after¬ 
noon, and then next morning the plants 
should be washed with clean water, as 
the oily character of the paraffin in the 
composition has the effect of stopping up 
the pores of the leaves, but the washing 
with clean water will accomplish the re¬ 
medy, and leave the plants clean. This 
or Hops. The odour of the paraffin lin¬ 
gers for some time, and has the effect of 
keeping insects from making fresh 
colonies. “ Homco ” Soluble Paraffin is 
manufactured only by the Hull Oil Manu¬ 
facturing Co., Ltd., Hull, to whom in¬ 
tending users of this valuable insecticide 
should make application. 
- 444 - 
Royal Botanic Society. 
The Council of the Royal Botanic So¬ 
ciety 'have failed to carry their scheme, 
for raising the Fellows’ subscription by 
charging an extra guinea in consideration 
of the club in the gardens being thrown 
open to the Fellows generally. A majority 
voted for the amendment of the by-laws 
in this sense, but not the three-fourths 
majority requisite to tarry the scheme, 
Sparm.anni.a 
variegata ; 
africana; 2, 
3, Ficus fal- 
insecticide may also be used on a.n exten¬ 
sive scale for the washing of fruit trees 
