July 27, 1907. 
5 11 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
crops that you could grow in greater or less 
quantity, if you intend the vegetables for 
supplying your own household. The Dwarf 
Beans and Runners are, of course, tender, 
and would not be safe to sow out of doors 
till towards the end of April. The others 
we mention are, of course, hardy, and may 
be sown earlier. Onions and Leeks are 
other useful crops, and if you desire to get 
large specimens of either you should sow 
them in heat about the beginning of Febru¬ 
ary, grow them on in boxes, and plant them 
out When the weather gets sufficiently genial 
in April. If you have no heat, the Onions 
can be sown in February or March, when- 
ever you can get the ground sufficiently dry 
to be workable. Parsnips could be sown 
in March, wiTTi a few Carrots for early use, 
while the main crop may be sown some time 
in April. Speaking generally, we should 
advise you to plant all of the Cabbage kind 
together, so that you may be able to clean 
and trench tfte land and give them fresh 
sites in the following year. They may fol¬ 
low Potatos, but Cabbages or Cauliflowers 
should never be made to follow the same 
kind of crop, nor any of the Cabbage tribe, 
otherwise you will get the ground full of 
the fungus, causing clubbing. 
FRUIT. 
2046. Cherries Splitting-. 
I send herewith a few Cherries (White 
deart), and would be glad to get any infor- 
i.ation re the same through your paper. I 
nay say that they went the same way last 
/ear. The trees are bearing well, but the 
iruits all crack when they begin to ripen. 
! should think it scarcely possible for the 
rees ever to have been dry at the roots, 
is there have been constant and heavy rains 
ill the season. I also have a young Apri- 
ot dying back and gumming very badly, 
lould you advise me anything for it? (G‘ar- 
>ener, Haddingtonshire.) 
We are afraid your soil is heavy and un- 
;enial to the roots of stone fruits, such as 
Iherries, Apricots, Plums, etc. We are not 
.ware what actually is the character of it, 
hough we think they have got down 
.mongst ungenial matter. If not too large, 
hey might be lifted and the long roots 
hortened back, any taproots removed, and 
he trees replanted in the same or a differ - 
nt site after the positions have been pre- 
ared for them by trenching. Indeed, if 
be soil is of a very heavy character, it 
tould be well to have it trenched through- 
ut. While this is being done it would be 
srviceable to incorporate a good deal of 
ime rubble or chalk with the top spit of 
oil. Keep the roots near the surface and 
iake the soil quite firm after the trees are 
lanted and covered with soil. The split- 
ng of the Cherries we think is due to lack 
lime in the soil or to conditions which 
ring about gumming amongst stone fruits, 
he Apricot is, no doubt, suffering from the 
ime cause. It is much more tender than 
ie Cherry. It would be well to lift it and 
eat the ground in the same way as for the 
herries. A good dressing of wood ashes 
1 winter would also prove serviceable. If 
)u cannot get ashes, you could get the 
lemical fertiliser known as kainit. 
047. Strawberry Runners for Early 
Fruit. 
I would be much obliged if you would 
iswer the following queries through the 
edium of your valuable paper. Is it too 
te now to pot Strawberry runners for get- 
mg early fruit? If not, could you give 
e particulars as to method, soil, treatment 
| c ? . (W. D. Hasell, Cumberland.) 
It is rather late to think of potting Straw- 
rry runners now if you intended them for 
i ry early fruiting. We should not despair, 
'Wever, of getting a very satisfactory 
growth by making up a compost of two parts 
loam, one part leaf mould, and a good dash 
of sand and filling a quantity of 3 in. pots 
with this. -Peg good strong runners on the 
top of these pots to encourage them to pro¬ 
duce roots straight away into the pot. The 
runners should not be separated from the 
parent plants until the root system in the 
pots Is well developed. To save labour in 
watering you could plunge the pots in the 
soil amongst the runners. When the runners 
are well rooted sever them from the parents 
and carry the pots to some shady situation 
to stand for a week. Then re-pot them into 
32 size pots—say, 6 in. pots—and stand them 
on a bed of ashes in the full sun and keep 
them well watered in dry weather. They 
should make good roots and plump crowns 
that will give you one or two bunches of 
fruit each. These could be stored by plung¬ 
ing them in ashes in a cold frame until you 
require to place them under glass to start 
them into growth. At the second potting 
you could use three parts loam to one of 
leaf mould and one of well-rotted cow 
manure broken up very finely. Some people 
believe in crowns of moderate size to get a 
fair crop of Strawberries rather than big, 
overgrown ones, so that you should play for 
success, provided you do not start forcing 
too early. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
2048. Slugs and other Pests. 
My garden is infested with slugs and 
other destructive pests, and I have applied 
soot, salt and slug destroyers to no purpose. 
It has been so very wet here that it gets 
washed away almost as soon as you put it 
down. The ground is of a clayey nature. 
What would you advise me to do for next 
year to get rid of these pests? (W. D. 
Hasell, Cumberland.) 
We can quite understand your difficulty, 
with a wet season like the present and clayey 
soil. If you have grass verges or borders 
alongside of the grass, you are very likely to 
get troubled with slugs unless the edgings are 
kept very neat by being cut straight in 
spring and the grass frequently trimmed 
along the edging with the shears. A good 
remedy for a great variety of vermin in the 
soil is to trench the ground at least 2 ft. 
deep, putting the top spit into the bottom, 
thereby burying the eggs and pupae of 
various pests. This, of course, could be done 
in autumn or winter, when the ground is 
bare. In the summer time the ground should 
be frequently stirred with the hoe, which 
serves to keep it aerated, to keep down weeds 
and to disturb the snails. In the case of 
choice plantsi you can set traps of fresh 
Cabbage or Lettuce leaves, or lay down 
little heaps of oatmeal or bran near the 
plants, and examine these in the morning. 
We have thus given you three or four general 
methods by which the ground may be kept 
clean. We make a point of thoroughly clear¬ 
ing out every corner of the garden where it 
is possible for plant enemies to hide. This 
is chiefly done, of course, when trenching 
and digging in the winter and after the 
pruning of hedges, etc. The prunings are 
burned and the ashes spread over the soil. 
We have pursued no other course this year, 
yet during all the rain we have not been in 
the least bothered with slugs, although we 
had considerable torment from snails, owing 
to their having a hiding place under a 
frame. While trenching the ground'in win¬ 
ter a dressing of gas lime would also prove 
serviceable. 
2049. White Wool on Apple Trees. 
Can you tell me what the enclosed is and 
whether it is likely to do much damage to 
the trees. It is quite thick in places, and 
seems extending on to the young growths of 
this year. I did not notice it last year, but 
if present it was only in small numbers. 
What can I do to get rid of it, and the best 
way of applying the remedy? (W. J. 
Frisby, Lancs.) 
Your Apple trees are suffering from Ameri¬ 
can Blight or Woolly Aphis. Winter is the 
best time for attacking this pest, as then 
the area to be treated is considerably re¬ 
duced and the leaves being off the trees 
there is not so much danger of injury to the 
foliage by the use of insecticides. Owing 
to the woolly covering protecting this insect, 
the ordinary wash for aphides is of very 
little service. The best plan at this time 
would be to get some methylated spirit and 
a half-worn brush. Dip this into the methy¬ 
lated spirit and rub it over the infested parts 
of the branches and trunks. It will destroy 
the insect where it comes in contact. In the 
winter time, if there are rough excrescences 
and holes in the bark of the tree where the 
insect has been hiding, these should be pared 
smooth with a knife and then the whole of 
the surface, but especially the crevices, well 
brushed with paraffin emulsion. Very likely 
some of the insects will also be living upon 
the roots just beneath the surface, and in 
that case you could lay bare the roots and 
give them a good soaking with strong soap¬ 
suds, mixing also with it a quantity of wood 
ashes. The American Blight keeps old sores 
open from year to year, and where the in¬ 
sects puncture the bark of young shoots in 
summer these are likely to split open. The 
pest is, therefore, very hurtful to Apple 
trees. 
2050. Chrysanthemum Leaves Dis¬ 
coloured. 
I bought some plants of a yellow flowered 
annual Chrysanthemum some time ago, but 
the leaves are tunneled and discoloured by 
something which is destroying them. Can 
you tell me what it is and the remedy, if 
any ? Is it likely to attack any other plants ? 
(B. Roberts, Derbyshire.) 
The Chrysanthemum you mention has been 
tunneled with^ the Chrysanthemum leaf 
miner, a two-winged fly, named Phytomyza 
nigncornis. It will attack the autumn 
flowering, as well as early flowering. Chry¬ 
santhemums, and sometimes also gets into 
the leave of Cinerarias. It is most destruc¬ 
tive, however, to the annual species of 
Chrysanthemums, such as C. coronaria, C. 
carinatum, and their varieties. You should 
proceed to pick off the very worst of the 
leaves, because, besides being disfigured 
they will soon die. These leaves should be 
burned or otherwise completely destroyed, 
to get rid of the maggots wSidh are inside 
them. By carefully looking over the under¬ 
side of the leaves you can see where the 
P a &oOts are located'. If there is only one 
in a leaf, you should preserve the leaf and 
squeeze the maggot between the finger and 
thumb. The earlier you can begin to do 
this the better in any season, as you will 
then, lessen the trouble afterwards by pre- 
venting the maggots from reaching the 
winged stage. If they can reach the perfect 
state they commence laying eggs upon 
healthy leaves, and the trouble may go on 
all the summer out of doors and under glass 
tn winter. After you have done this syringe 
the plants with strong-smelling tobacco 
water, to drive away the flies and prevent 
them from laying eggs on healthy leaves. 
2051. Maggots in Young- Pears 
Some of the fruits on my Pear trees are 
dropping, and on cutting one open some 
little time ago I found a number of wrig¬ 
gling maggots. Are these the cause of the 
fruit dropping, and if so, please say what 
■the maggots are, and how I can get rid of 
them? I have never seen anything like it 
before. {B. Roberts, Derbyshire.) 
The maggots are the young of the Pear 
gnat midge. You should have collected all 
the fruits you could find on the ground at 
