October 19, 1907. 
683 
THE HARDENING WORLD. 
plants. Next year you should commence 
this operation as soon as the rust appears. 
The very worst of the leaves having the 
black spot or brand should be burned, as 
it is very difficult to kill these in their 
resting stage. 
TREES AND SHRUBS . 
2293. Shrub and Michaelmas Daisies. 
Could you kindly inform me respecting 
the enclosed, of which I have several small 
trees. The plants were given me about four 
years ago, and were then growing vigor¬ 
ously upon the roots of Michaelmas Daisy, 
but owing to bad planting they rotted off 
their parent stock, and I then planted them 
as cuttings. They are now small, well- 
wooded, bushy trees of about 6 ft. high, 
bearing in spring what is known as Palm 
upon their branches. I was told they would 
bear double white and pink flowers, but 
I have not yet seen any. The name when 
given to me sounded like Sarastum, but I 
have never seen this mentioned in your 
paper, and therefore should like your ad¬ 
vice, if you can identify the leaf previous 
to destroying the plants, as I want their 
room for flowering subjects. I have re¬ 
ceived much information by reading your 
answers to other correspondents. (Amateur, 
Middlesex.) 
The specimens you sent us were those of 
the grey Sallow (Salix cinerea), which does 
not flower until it gets well established, but 
the specimens you sent us were covered with 
flower buds, which will open next March or 
April, that is, if your garden is not infested 
with sparrows, which often destroy the buds 
of this and various other shrubs. The 
flowers take the form of catkins, or Palm, 
as you say. It is white when commencing 
to open, but gradually becoming silvery- 
grey if it is a seed-bearing catkin, or yellow 
if the pollen-bearing catkin. The two forms 
are, of course, produced by different plants. 
It was all a mistake to imagine that it was 
growing upon the roots of Michaelmas 
Daisy. The colour of the flowers was also 
misrepresented if intended to apply to the 
Sallow, but possibly it referred to the colour 
of the Michaelmas Daisies. In any case, 
you can see whether the catkins are suffi¬ 
ciently ornamental to please you if you wait 
till spring and keep away the sparrows till 
they develop. 
2294 . Aucubas not Producing Berries. 
Can you please tell me how to get berr ; "s 
on our Aucubas, which are large plants. Lut 
never bear any berries? We have had them 
now for some years, and thev are quite 
healthy, so we cannot understand why they 
do not bear berries. (H. E. M., Herts.) 
The plants of Aucuba are male and 
female, and if you do not have the two 
forms growing side by side, or within a 
short distance of each other, you are not 
likely to get berries. If you do not under¬ 
stand the flowers, send some of them to us 
in spring, as they usually flower some time 
in March in your district. If you do this, 
we can then tell you which form to get. 
2295. Evergreen for Porch. 
Can you tell me the name of any flower¬ 
ing shrub that would remain green all the 
winter and do for covering a porch? (E. J. 
Middleton, Hants.) 
There are a few evergreen plants that 
should answer very well for covering the 
porch, but deciduous ones are also very use¬ 
ful for such a purpose, as they do not darken 
the place so much in winter. Evergreen 
sorts are Cotoneaster Simonsii, White Jas¬ 
mine (Jasminum officinale), Passiflora caeru- 
lea, and the Fiery Thorn (Crataegus Pyra- 
cantha). Amongst deciduous subjects several 
climbing Roses would produce a more cheer¬ 
ful effect even than the above subjects. 
Amongst them we should name Gloire de 
Dijon, Reine Marie Henriette, and Long- 
worth Rambler. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
2296. Lifting Early-Flowering Chry¬ 
santhemums. 
I have some Chrysanthemums about half 
in bloom now in an open part* of the gar¬ 
den, and they have made fine bushes. 
Would it be possible to lift and pot them 
without stopping their growth or spoiling 
their flowers? Last year they got very pale 
after frosty nights set in, and the flowers 
were not so good. (P. Granville, Here¬ 
ford.) 
There should be no difficulty in transfer¬ 
ring early-flowering Chrysanthemums to 
pots if they are not altogether too large. 
Go over the plants immediately and cut 
round about them with the spade, which 
should be pushed perpendicularly into the 
ground with the object of cutting the roots 
at certain distance from the stem. Then, 
after eight or ten days, you can start pot¬ 
ting them up, using a size just sufficiently 
large to contain the roots when pressed in. 
During the first few days you should keep 
them in a house, and without ventilation. 
\ou should shade them if the sun is bright, 
and if necessary you could also sprinkle 
the foliage with a syringe once or twice a 
day to keep the foliage fresh until the roots 
commence working again. 
VEGETABLES. 
2 297. Brussels Sprouts not Swelling. 
I have a fine planting of Brussels Sprouts, 
but although they are three feet high the 
sprouts are very small. They are still 
growing, but I should like to see them swell¬ 
ing up the sprouts. What would you re¬ 
commend me to do? The ground was well 
dug and manured in spring, and the sprouts 
planted out in June. (C. E. L., Gloucester¬ 
shire.) 
The sprouts may have been planted a little 
too close, or they may be somewhat shaded. 
In any case, it seems that they are still 
growing, and these conditions would prevent 
the sprouts from swelling up. You can help 
them, however,, by going over the plants 
and cutting off the blades of the leaves on 
the lower half of the stem at least. The 
cluster of leaves at the top should not be 
disturbed, as it serves to protect the sprouts 
to some extent against the weather. By 
removing the blades of the leaves in this 
way the sprouts will be encouraged to 
develop. 
FRUIT. 
2298. Plums for a Succession. 
I am once more in need of your advice. 
Will you give me the names of the six best 
dessert Plum trees for succession, as wall 
trees, south aspect? Also six cooking varie¬ 
ties for a similar purpose. (H. W., Essex.) 
Six first-class dessert Plums ripening in 
the order given are Denniston’s Superb, 
Greengage, Jefferson, Kirke’s, Coe’s Golden 
Drop, and Ickworth Imperatrice. The first- 
named ripens about the beginning of 
August, and the last finishes up some time 
in October. For culinary purposes you 
could get Early Prolific,' Czar, Victoria, 
Pond’s Seedling, Monarch, and Grand 
Duke. The first-named ripens about the end 
of July, and the last some time in October. 
2 299. Root-pruning' a Pear Tree. 
I have a Pear tree about eight years old 
which has not borne fruit for the’ last two 
3 r ears. Since then it has been making very 
strong growth, and I have been told it re¬ 
quires root-pruning. It is 10 ft. high. 
\our advice would be much esteemed, and 
if it requires root-pruning, when is the best 
time to do it, and how should I proceed ? 
(D. Hewitt, Notts.) 
Pear trees do not fruit every year, as a 
rule—at least, some of them do not, and 
others very sparingly. Probably, however, 
your tree is growing too strongly to fruit. 
It may be that the soil is rich, or the roots 
have got down into moist soil, that keeps 
them growing till late in the autumn. In 
any case, root-pruning would check it and 
help to throw it into a fruiting condition. 
Ihe present is a good time for accomplish- 
ing this work, as the roots will develop 
fresh fibres better at this time of the year 
than later on. Take out a trench all round 
the tree about 3 ft.' from the trunk, which 
will give you a ball of soil about the roots 
6 ft. wide. All the strong roots that pass 
out through this trench or into it should 
be cut back with a sharp knife, so as to 
make a clean cut. If any roots are too 
thick to conveniently cut with a knife, 
you can use a saw, and then dress the cut 
with your knife. An important point to 
observe would be to dig in beneath the tree 
at one side in such a way as to see whether 
any roots are going directly down into the 
subsoil. All such should be cut in the same 
way as already recommended. By this plan 
you can get all round the tree and half¬ 
way beneath it at one side. Fill up the 
hole beneath the tree, making the 
soil quite firm. Then go round to the 
other side of the tree and dig out the soil 
in the same way to get at the strong roots, 
and have them removed.- During these 
operations be very careful not to destroy 
any fibrous roots you come across, as all 
such tend to keep the tree near the surface 
and bring it into a fruiting condition. The 
soil may then be filled in again and trodden 
firm all round the tree to keep it from sink¬ 
ing or from swaying with the wind. The 
last layer of soil only need not be much 
trodden, but left loose on the surface. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
2300. Apple Trees and American 
Blight. 
I have found on looking at my Apple 
trees in my garden that they are verj' badly 
attacked by (apparently) American blight, 
though I am not sure, and I enclose a small 
bit picked off this morning showing it. I 
have not noticed it, and it has got hold 
of the trees rather badly. Gould you sug¬ 
gest a remedy or cure? (F. G. Tarrett 
Kent.) 
The piece of twig you sent us was really 
attacked with the woolly aphis or American 
blight (Schizoneura lanigera). There is 
plenty of woolly matter on the shoot, and 
li\e insects as well. \ou will notice that 
many of the twigs damaged in this way are 
covered with out-growths or swellings, the 
result of being punctured by the insect. If 
you wait until the leaves have dropped, you 
will be much better able to clean the trees 
than at present. The leaves had better be 
raked up and carried to a distance and 
burned. Then jx>u can proceed to pare off 
some of those outgrowths or swellings with 
your knife. They are the result of punc¬ 
turing, and the insects continue to hide in 
these swellings, which get larger from year 
to year. After having carefully pared off 
these ragged swellings, you can then pro¬ 
ceed to wash the trees with paraffin emul¬ 
sion. It would be well also to get a half- 
worn painter’s brush and scrub the ragged 
edges of any outgrowths which mav°be 
upon the trees and all crevices on the trunk. 
Before finishing, you could dig away the 
soil from the top of the roots around the 
trunk of the tree, and }x>u will probably 
find some of the woolly aphis harbouring 
there, as they often take that means of 
sheltering during winter. The remedy for 
