480 
July 18, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
pots, but in the autumn cuttings 9 in. to 
12 in. long would be better, as you can then 
insert about 5 in. in the soil, making it quite 
firm. A slightly shady border would an¬ 
swer the purpose rather better than one fully 
exposed to the sun, as the leaves would still 
be upon them. Use some sand and leaf 
soil or else old potting bench soil in the 
bottom of the trench, as that will encourage 
the cuttings to emit roots. After the leaves 
are off, all the 'Currant and Gooseberry tribe 
are very easy to root as cuttings. The speci¬ 
men you sent us was the Golden Currant 
(Ribes auieum). 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
3036. Chrysanthemums Drooping. 
Might I ask your opinion as to the cause 
of my Chrysanthemums going like the en¬ 
closed ? In the morning I find the tips 
drooping as if broken, while the skin seems 
peeled off. The plants are clean and healthy 
and free from insects. The pots stand in 
the sun, but are kept well watered. The 
weather is extremely hot. I have grown 
Chrysanthemums for many years, but have 
never known them to be affected like this 
before. (C. H\ McNaught, Lanarkshire.) 
The specimens you sent us had been dam¬ 
aged by cats, as the marks of their claws 
were still plainly visible in the shoots where 
the skin had been peeled off. The hot 
weather and dry soil seem to make the cats 
more mischievous than at other times, as 
they were extremely troublesome up our 
way during the hot weather. We should 
advise you to dust the ground with a good 
sprinkling of “ Alphol,” but keep it as dry 
as possible as long as you can, as it seems 
to be most effective against the cats in that 
condition. Some boards might be sprinkled 
with the “ Alphol ” and laid in lines be¬ 
tween the Chrysanthemums. You could then 
avoid wetting the “ Alphol ” when watering 
the plants. We find that cats will tear any¬ 
thing, from Roses to Rhubarb, and even 
wooden poles. It is by this rreans that they 
keep their claws from getting too long. 
Some people have an idea that they sharpen 
their claws upon wood, but the opposite is 
really the case, for it is necessary to keep 
them shortened, or they would get too long 
to be of practical use. 
FRUIT. 
3037. Tomatos Unsatisfactory. 
I have some Tomatos in pots in a green¬ 
house, but they are not doing at all well. 
They have only two small bunches of fruit 
and the leaves are covered with brown spots. 
Please say what is the matter with them and 
what to do. (D. Little, Devon.) 
Your Tomatos have evidently been kept 
too close, making the tissues soft and en¬ 
couraging the disease caused by Clado- 
sporium fulvum. The spores of this fungus 
are always about, but when Tomatos are 
kept too moist in summer by keeping the 
house too close the spores of the fungus ger¬ 
minate and soon do the leaves irreparable 
damage. During summer the atmosphere of 
the house should be kept as dry as possible 
by abundant ventilation, using top and bot¬ 
tom ventilators. 
3038. Pears Falling:. 
Many of my Pears are falling, although 
of no great size. Some of them have brown 
patches on the side and others are deformed 
or lopsided. Can you give me any idea of 
what is the matter ? Our soil is rather stiff, 
but it does not seem to be dry or not more 
so than I should expect it to be at this sea¬ 
son of the year. (B. Kemp, Sussex.) 
In all probability End judging from what 
you say, your trees have been attacked by 
the fungus Cladosporium pyrinum. This is 
the same fungus which makes the fruits of 
Pears appear scabbed in the autumn when 
they should be fit for gathering. It really 
attacks the leaves as well as the fruits, and 
if the fruits are attacked while quite young 
the chances are they never reach any great 
size. You might have sent us specimens of 
fruits and leaves. All you can do is to 
spray the trees with Bordeaux mixture. Next 
spring the affected trees should be syringed 
before the flowers open and again when the 
young fruits are about the size of Peas. 
At this second spraying of the trees the 
Bordeaux mixture should be more diluted by 
using a greater quantity of water than usual 
to prevent the leaves from being injured. 
3039. Grapes Spotted. 
I have a Grape Vine in the greenhouse, 
but the berries seem to be affected by some 
kind of disease. The berries are about half- 
grown, but they have grey marks upon them 
and shrunk spots in places. Please can you 
tell me what is the cause and cure, if any ? 
(F. G. W., Dorset.) 
Your Grapes would appear to be affected 
by Grape spot caused by a fungus named 
Glaeosporium, which attacks the berries in 
places, injuring the skin and preventing 
further growth in such regions. It is usu¬ 
ally brought about by maintaining too moist 
an atmosphere by neglecting to ventilate 
until the temperature gets very high and 
then suddenly opening the ventilators 
widely. This causes rapid evaporation, 
bringing down the temperature in such a 
way as to give the Vines a check. At that 
stage the skin of the berries is very tender. 
All you can do is to keep the house more 
regularly ventilated. The berries with in¬ 
dentations in them may be removed and 
burned. Next year try to avoid a recurrence 
of the malady by ventilating gradually, 
especially during cold weather with warm 
periods of sunshine between. Avoid, if pos¬ 
sible, causing a draught in the house. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
3040. Large Insect to Name. 
Please say what is the name of the en¬ 
closed insect, and if it is injurious to any¬ 
thing. I found it lying with wings folded 
on the stem of an Apple tree. I saw some 
others flying about the garden at dusk last 
night, but possibly they were not the same 
kind. (J. D. Floyd, Nprfolk.) 
The large insect was the wood leopard 
moth (Zeuzera Aesculi), which lives, or 
rather the caterpillar stage of it, in the 
stems of various trees, including Apple and 
Pear trees. The young caterpillar eats its 
way into the trunk, and as it lives for a 
considerable time and is getting bigger it 
gradually makes a wider tunnel or burrow, 
and if the stem or branch attacked is thin it 
often gets broken off owing to this burrow¬ 
ing. It may, however,, have come from 
somebody else’s garden, but at the same time 
you should inspect all ycur Apple and Pear 
and Plum trees to see if there are burrows 
in them, and have a piece of strong wire 
pushed into the hole with the object of kill¬ 
ing any caterpillars which may still be 
there. During the springtime the presence 
cf this enemy can even be detected by the 
frass or chips of wood being pushed out of 
their burrows. You can then try to destroy 
the caterpillars by means of a bent wire, 
but if this proves unworkable owing to the 
curvatures in the burrow you could drive 
in some paraffin by means of a syringe. You 
could even put a piece of clay on the lower 
side of the hole, so as to make the paraffin 
run in, then fill up the hole with clay to 
keep the paraffin in. Of course, when you 
find full-grown moths they can be de¬ 
stroyed. 
SOILS AND MANURES. 
3041. Silicate of Soda. 
I have a quantity of a thick solution of 
silicate of soda. At what rate can I use 
this to a gallon of water for Tomatos? 
(E. G., Middlesex.) 
As far as evidence goes there is no special 
food in silicate of soda for Tomatos. If 
it had been silicate of potash, the latter con¬ 
tains an essential food for all plants, and 
one that is specially suitable for Tomatos, 
namely, the potash in it. If the silicate of 
soda were applied to Cabbages or Beet, the 
result would possibly be more evident and 
useful. As it is, you may use it at the 
rate of ^ oz. to a gallon of water once a 
week, but we cannot assure you that the 
results will be highly beneficial, if of any 
appreciable service at all. Neither the sili¬ 
con nor the sodium in this manure are ac¬ 
tually essential foods for most plants, and 
only those subjects that originally grew by 
the seaside seem to be in any way influenced 
by them. That is the reason why we advo¬ 
cated its use for Cabbages, Beet and pos¬ 
sibly 'Carrots. In order to prove if it is of 
any service about half of the Tomatos might 
be watered at the above rate and the other 
half treated with clean water or else with 
some other manure. By this means you can 
actually tell whether the Tomatos derive 
any advantage or not. It is possible that 
silicate of soda might answer in another 
way by acting as a base for acids in the soil, 
and in that case they would act like outdoor 
servants, stimulating changes in the soil 
which would be beneficial to the plants. 
NAMES OF PLANT3 . 
(Rex) 1, Geranium Endressi; 2, Geranium 
sanguineum; 3, Polemonium caeruleum; 4, 
Polemonium album; 5, Lady’s Mantle (Al- 
chemilla vulgaris); 6, Tradescantia virgini- 
ana; 7, Dactylis glomerata elegantissima; 
8, Spiraea Filipendula flore pleno; 9, Pfil- 
monaria saccharata ; 10, Selaginella Braunii; 
11, 'Selaginella Martensii; 12, Jasminum 
Sambac. 
(C. W.) 1, Veronica Traversii; 2, Rhodo- 
typos kerrioides; 3, Kerria japonica flore 
pleno ; 4, Philadelphus grandiflorus ; 5, Ve¬ 
ronica parviflora angustifolia; 6, Spiraea 
discolor. 
(C. D.) 1, Lysimachia clethroides; 2, Ly- 
simachia punctata; 3, Campanula lactiflora 
caerulea; 4, Ononis rotundifolia; 5, Galega 
officinalis. 
(A. M. T.) 1, 'Campanula portenschla- 
giana; 2, Erigeron mucronatus; 3, Gera¬ 
nium sanguineum ; 4, Veronica pectinata ; 5, 
Veronica Teucrium dubia; 6, Veronica in- 
cana. 
(H. D.) 1, Veronica Traversii; 2, Spiraea 
digitata; 3, Lythrum Salicaria roseum; 4, 
Epilobium angustifolium; 5, Sedum ru- 
pestre; 6, Helxine Solierolii; 7, Campanula 
garganica. 
(R. Wilson) 1, Sedum Sieboldii variega- 
tum; 2, Fatsia japonica; 3, Ornithogalum 
longibracteatum; 4, Begonia metallica. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
Daniels Bros., Ltd., Norwich.— Seeds 
for July and August sowing. 
-f+4- 
The Bulb Trade. 
The origin of the Holland bulb trade 
dates back nearly 300 years. More than 
2,000 growers of bulbs are now in the trade, 
about eight per cent, of whom are ex¬ 
porters. Some 10,000 acres of land are 
under cultivation for the purpose, and 
the annual export trade probably now 
amounts to 300,000,000 or 400,000,000 
bulbs, the value of which may be roughly 
estimated at £ 1 , 000,000. Britain is Hol¬ 
land’s best customer. 
