34 2 
THE GARDEN I NO WORLD. 
May 18, 1907. 
two most common and destructive are J ulus 
terrestris and J. guttulatus. They feed 
mostly on decaying matter, but do occasion¬ 
ally attack germinating seeds, such as Peas, 
Beans, Turnips, Caobages, etc. Deep 
trenching has been found a good remedy 
for this and other vermin which multiply 
by means of eggs in the soil, or which rest 
in the ground during winter in the form of 
a cocoon. Indeed, by this means you get rid of 
a great many of the millipedes, slugs, and 
other creatures of that sort. You sent us 
a decaying portion of Cabbage stem, which 
may have been taken out of the ground, and 
if that is the case we would advise y'ou in 
future not to bury Cabbage stems in culti¬ 
vated ground, but to burn them in a heap 
in some out-of-the-way part of the ground, 
just as is done with prunings. The ashes 
can then be spread on the ground for various 
crops to great advantage. Decaying stems 
in the soil encourage pests of this sort. For 
choice plants you may lay traps for the 
creatures consisting of pieces of Carrot, 
Turnip, or decaying Apples laid neat'the 
plants. On a large scale, however, we re¬ 
commend trenching and a recently invented 
remedy known as Vaporite, which has been 
found of great utility in killing or driving 
away insects and other pests. Be careful 
not to sprinkle it on the foliage of plants 
It is obtainable from Mr. G. F. Strawson, 
71a, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C. 
1845. Columbines Infested with Worms. 
I planted out some Columbines, also Del¬ 
phinium nudi’caule, in March, and as they 
made no progress — in fact, look like dying 
off— I took them up and found the roots 
were infested with worms of all sorts and 
sizes. Please tell me if this would account 
for their dying off, and what I am to do. 
I have a lot of fresh soot, if this would be 
of any use to mix with the soil. (S. H. G., 
Sydenham.) 
We are uncertain as to what to say about 
the worms, as you do not specify what kind 
they are. If they are small earth worms, 
they would not cause Columbines to die off. 
We suspect that the soil was in bad con¬ 
dition and that millipedes and slugs have 
been doing mischief upon the roots of the 
plants, while the soil has been kept in a 
cold and sodden condition by the rain that 
has fallen for many weeks past. If that was 
the case, we should suggest the trenching of 
the soil in autumn _or winter and the appli¬ 
cation of a good dressing of lime. The 
trenching, however, would get rid of many 
of these pests, except they are really earth 
worms. Soot might help a little, but you 
must act very carefully with soot as it is 
very dangerous when applied to plants and 
seedlings in too great quantity. Jt kills 
some things outright, as many gardeners 
can speak from experience. Vaporite might 
also be tried at the present time, to see 
whether it will destroy the enemies of which 
you complain. It is used in the form of 
a powder, and must not be dusted on to the 
leaves of plants. See previous answer. 
SOILS AND MANURES . 
1846. General Manures. 
Which of the following manures would 
you recommend as the best general manure 
for all crops, namely, Native Guano, Nitro- 
Guano, or Hop Manure; and, if possible, 
please state what variety of crops each one 
is specially suitable for. (G. Field, Den¬ 
bighshire.) 
The composition of the first two of these 
artificial manures may vary somewhat in 
different samples, but they are really general 
manures, and where an artificial fertiliser 
would be beneficial these may be used ac¬ 
cordingly. All of them should contain nitro¬ 
gen, and though hop manure might be re¬ 
garded as a natural fertiliser, it would also 
be a general manure just as farmyard 
manure is. It consists of the catkins of the 
Hop after it has been used by the brewer 
and partly fermented. Any of these three 
manures may, therefore, be used for a 
variety of crops in heavy or light soils. Just 
what difference there may be between the 
one and the other can only be determined 
by trial in the garden, as the soil of differ¬ 
ent gardens contains the elements of plant 
food in different proportions, so that they 
do not act on all gardens alike. If your 
soil is light—that is, sandy or gravelly— 
some well-decayed farmyard manure should 
be used in conjunction with these artificial 
manures, the object of it being to retain the 
moisture in the soil during the dry weather. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
1847. Gardening Dictionary. 
Can you recommend me a good gardening 
or botanical dictionary? I have an old one 
of Paxton’s, published in 1849 I s there 
any edition of this work on sale revised up 
to date? (G. Field, Denbighshire.) 
We are not aware that Paxton’s botanical 
dictionary has been brought up to date. We 
are afraid it has not. There are, however, 
some very good dictionaries, such as, Nichol¬ 
son’s “ Dictionary of Gardening,” in cloth, 
gilt, and sold at ^3 by L. Upcott Gill, 
Bazaar Buildings, Drury Lane, London. 
This is in four volumes, and there are two 
supplementary volumes sold at one guinea. 
A much smaller book is Johnson’s “ Gar¬ 
dener’s Dictionary,” sold by G. Bell and 
Son, 6, Portugal StreeL London, at 9s. 
1848. Eradicating- Boots of Sunflower. 
I have been trying to eradicate a lot of 
perennial Sunflowers from my garden, to 
make room for other things, but find they 
keep on coming among my other plants 
where not wanted. I have been told a good 
plan is to keep on cutting off the tops as they 
appear above ground, and though the root 
sends up a fresh shoot the root is in time 
worn out by the constant effort of sending 
up fresh shoots. Kindly let me know if you 
can recommend the best way of dealing with 
them. (S. H. G., Sydenham.) 
We quite understand the difficulty you 
have to contend with when Sunflowers are 
dug out from a piece of ground and the 
latter used for something else. We do not 
think you would wear down the plants that 
come up so easily as you imagine; at all 
events, we should reckon it a much easier 
plan to have a small hand fork and to dig 
up the pieces of root when young shoots show 
that pieces of roots exist there. We con¬ 
sider this a much quicker and easier method 
than to cut down the stems from the same 
roots repeatedly. Except the plants are very 
closely planted, putting in a small hand 
fork would serve to dig out the. roots of 
the Sunflowers without disturbing anything 
else, unless they happen to he very deep in 
the soil. 
1849. Answers to Questions in Name 
Competition. 
I herewith enclose two queries for an 
answer in The Gardening World. How is 
it you did not print the answers to the six 
additional questions in Competition No. 2? 
I trust you will do so next week, f cannot 
trace in any dictionary or seedsmen’s list a 
plant or flower called Lyre. Perhaps )-ou 
would kindly inform me what kind it is 
and in what list it is found ? (W. Green¬ 
field, Carnarvonshire.) 
We printed answers to the six additional 
questions, and you will find them on p. 312, 
in the middle column. The Lyre plant is 
Dicentra spectabilis, and you will find this 
name given it in the catalogues of Messrs. 
Barr ana Sons, Covent Garden, London, 
and Mr. John Forbes, Hawick, N.B. 
1860 . Slugs Swallowing Worms. 
I was watching the gardening operations 
of a friend of mine the other day when to my 
surprise he showed me a fair-sized slug in 
the act of swallowing a worm, the latter 
being some way down the slug’s throat. I 
have never seen such a thing before, and 
was under the impression that slugs fed on 
green stuff only. I should be glad if you 
would tell me whether this is usual or not, 
as I certainly should never have believed it 
unless I had seen it myself. (Onlooker, 
Essex.) 
Most of the slugs are vegetable eaters, but 
there are three carnivorous slugs in this 
country, two of which are fairly common,, 
namely, Testacella Maugei and T. halo- 
tidea. These are popularly known as worm- 
eating slugs. They are not, therefore, to be 
regarded as enemies in the garden, and al¬ 
though worms do little damage, the worm¬ 
eating slugs do less, and may sometimes eat 
other creatures as well as worms. You may 
recognise these slugs by' a very small shell 
on the back, at the tail end of the body. 
1851. Full-sized Tennis Court. 
1 shall be obliged if you will please tell 
me the measurements of a full-sized tennis 
court. (W. J. L., Renfrewshire.) 
A full-sized tennis court for four players 
should be 36 ft. wide and 78 ft. long. For 
two players the same length is necessary', but 
the base line need only' be 27 ft. wide. The 
net is placed across the middle in each case, 
and the service lines would be zr ft. on 
either side of the net. 
NAMES OF PLANTS. 
(Botaniko) Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). 
Study it when in bloom, and you will re¬ 
member it. — (J. Reid) Nephrolepis cordi- 
folia.—-(X. Y. Z.) 1, Saxifraga muscoides 
atropurpurea; 2, Ornithogalum nutans; 3* 
Muscari botryoides; 4, Alyssum podolicum; 
5, Caltha palustris flore pleno; 6, Arabia 
lucida varie^ata.—(Wm. Kingsley), Pyrus 
japonica ; 2, Genista praecox; 3, The Double 
Gorse (Ulex europaeus flore pleno); 4, Per- 
netty'a mucronata; 5, Elaeagnus multiflora 
(often named E. edulis and E. longipes).— 
(T. M. W.) 1, “Magnolia soulangeana; 2, 
Erica mediterranea ; 3, Kerria japonica varie- 
gata; 4,^0^0613 japonica aureoreticulata; 
5, Lonicera Periclymenum. — (T. Hopkins) 
1, Iberis sempervirens; 2, Doronicum plan- 
tagineum ; 3, Erythronium Dens-canis; 4, 
Sisyrinchium grandiflorum; 5, Corvdalis 
tuberosa; 6, Phlox reptans. — (G. S. N.) 1, 
Selaginella uncinata; 2; Davallia sp. ; 3, 
not recognised (Nos. 2 and 3 were not in 
character, being too young' and entirely 
without spores); 4, Selaginella caulescens: 
5, Selaginella cuspidata; 6, Selaginella 
rubella. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Dicksons, The Nurseries, Chester. — Sum¬ 
mer Bedding and Border Plants, Dahlias, 
etc. 
Geo. Cooling and Sons, Bath. — Roses in 
Pots, New Varieties, Climbers and Rambler?. 
-♦ - 
Croton tinctorium. 
A little known and interesting industry 
of the south of France is the culture in 
great quantities of this little, cottony, 
ash-white, stiff-stemmed annual, the dried 
plants of which are shipped by boat-loads 
to Holland. The Dutch extract from the 
leaves and fruits the red dye with which 
their ball-shaped cheeses are coloured. 
This Croton has nothing in common with 
our ornamental greenhouse Crotons. 
