5*2 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 27, 1907. 
once. At the same time, by shaking the trees 
you would cause other infested fruits to fall, 
and if these are gathered up at once and 
burned, to destroy the maggots, it will save 
you a deal of trouble next year. By this 
time, probably, most of the maggots have 
turned into pupae in the upper 2 in. of soil 
beneath the trees. If the ground is bare, a 
good plan would be to keep the cultivator or 
planet junior running through the soil 
through the summer, and probably a good 
many of the pupae will be destroyed by the 
process. According to some experiments car¬ 
ried out in America, a dressing of muriate 
of potash to the soil would prove serviceable 
in destroying many of the pupae in the soil. 
Next year keep a close watch upon the trees 
from the time the young fruits begin to make 
their appearance, and as soon as they show 
by irregular swellings that they are infested 
you should gather all such fruits and burn 
them. 
2052. Black Fly on Nasturtiums. 
My Nasturtiums are infested with a kind 
of fly which is jet black, making them look 
very filthy and quite useless for cutting 
purposes. Can you tell me what they are 
and how I can get rid of them, if possible? 
(W. D. Warner, Kent.) 
No doubt your plants are infested with 
black aphis, which is more or less trouble¬ 
some this year, notwithstanding the heavy 
rains which we have had. They are rather 
more difficult to destroy than the green aphis, 
but there are several washes mentioned in 
our pages which, if employed according to 
directions, will keep them in check or en¬ 
tirely destroy them. If the plants are only 
moderate in number you could syringe them 
so as to damp them, and then dust all the 
infested parts with tobacco powder. Very 
strong soapsuds, say, at the rate of 2 ozs. 
to the gallon of water, with a pint of tobacco 
water added, would make a good wash for 
this insect. The soap is necessary to make 
the insecticide cling to the insect until it 
is destroyed. 
SOILS AND MANURES. 
2053. Trenching. 
You recently told me to trench and manure 
my land in the coming winter, but the re¬ 
marks were not quite clear to me. I do not 
understand whether you meant me to dig 
and trench about 2 ft. deep and then put a 
layer of top * 1 soil and a layer of horse 
manure until I filled the trench up and then 
dig another trench at the side of the recently 
filled one, so covering the whole ground, or 
whether I was to dig trenches about 3 ft. 
apart from each other and trust to the 
manure working the intervening untouched 
soil. (Constant Reader, Birmingham.) 
It is quite a mistake to suppose that we 
advocated taking out trenches alternating 
with other trenches left undisturbed. The 
matter is a very simple one in good land. 
The plan is to take out a trench 2 ft. wide 
and 2 ft. deep, or even deeper if you like, 
but all this soil which is taken out of fhe 
trench is wheeled to a part of the ground, 
where you can fill in the last opened trench 
with it. When you have taken out the first 
trench, use a fork or a pick J:o loosen up 
the soil below that which was taken out. Then 
with a rod 2 ft. long mark off another width 
for the second trench, and stretch the line 
so that you can cut it exactly 2 ft. wide all 
along. Then proceed to dig the top spit 
into the trench. You can then place a layer 
of manure on the top of this spit of soil. 
Then proceed to shovel out all the loose 
material formed as a result of digging the 
first spit and place it on the top of thq 
manure. Usually this forms a thick layer, 
and manure may be placed on the top of 
this. Then proceed to take out another spit, 
laying it on the top of the manure. Now 
shovel up the loose crumbs from the bottom 
of the trench and lay them right on the top 
of the first trench. At this stage you will 
have the first trench completely filled up and 
the second trench of an equal width open to 
the bottom. Loosen up the latter with a 
fork or pick, and so on till all the area has 
been trenched. You will then have the last 
trench open, and this is to be filled up with 
the soil taken from the first one. The opera¬ 
tion, as far as trenching is concerned, is 
then completed. Do not on any account 
leave portions of the ground untrenched be¬ 
tween the trenched portions, otherwise you 
will put the ground into a very bad condi¬ 
tion by having pieces that are relatively fer¬ 
tile alternating with strips that are rela¬ 
tively poor, because undisturbed and un¬ 
manured. In looking at your diagram, we 
note you have taken out the first trench; but 
have laid the soil close by it, instead of 
wheeling it to the place where it will be 
wanted to fill in the last trench. The layers 
of manure alternating with layers of soil, 
as shown in the diagram, are all right, ex¬ 
cept that you have no open trench. You 
will be giving yourself an immense amount 
of trouble by having to lift the soil of each 
trench twice to do it according to the dia¬ 
gram. The first trench is really filled with 
the soil taken out of the second one. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
2054. Greenhouse without Top Venti¬ 
lation. 
A neighbour of mine has a greenhouse 
without any means of giving air except by 
the door. He says he can open the door 
and use shade when the weather is hot, and 
can keep up a greater heat at other times by 
keeping the house closed. I should be 
pleased for your opinion on the subject, as 
I intend having one put up in the autumn, 
and if there is any advantage I would adopt 
the plan. (Greenhouse, Essex.) 
The door is not sufficient to give ventila¬ 
tion to a greenhouse either in summer or 
winter, because the air is not so equally dis¬ 
tributed as it would be if two or more venti¬ 
lators were placed along the ridge of the 
house so as to let the warm air escape when 
required. There should really be two sets 
of ventilators—one placed along the base of 
the building under the hot water pipes and 
another set at the top. You can then keep 
the air of the house in proper condition 
when required. If you had any planfs in 
the top of the house, or any tall plants 
reaching up there, you would soon see its 
ill effects by the accumulation 01 heat which 
ought to be allowed to escape. Hot air al¬ 
ways rises to the top of the house naturally, 
and above a suitable temperature for the 
greenhouse this ought to be allowed to es¬ 
cape by raising the ventilators to a sufficient 
degree, according to the season and the heat 
of the sun. Badly ventilated houses are 
always a source of trouble by producing 
shelter and encouraging the development of 
green fly and other insect pests, as well as 
fungoid diseases. 
NAMES OF PLANT8. 
(C. E. R.) 1, Alyssum maritimum (You can 
propagate it by seeds or cuttings as an edg¬ 
ing plant. It is the Sweet Alyssum); 2, 
Scented Verbena (Lippia citriodora) ; 3, 
Lavender Cotton (Santolina Chamaecyparis- 
sus incana); 4, A bedding Pelargonium 
which we do not recognise.—(Murdieston) 
1, Diervilla grandiflora variegata; 2, Loni- 
cera involucrata; 3, Viburnum Opulus; 4, 
Diervilla grandiflora var. ; 5, Philadelphus 
coronarius flore pleno ; 6, Diervilla flori- 
bunda. — (G. G.) A garden variety of the 
garden Plum (Prunus communis). — (R. Law- 
son) 1, Appears to be a pale bloom of Caro¬ 
line Testout; 2,The Bride; 3, La France (The 
foregoing are what we take them to be, but 
we do not guarantee to name florists’ 
flowers).—'(W. C. L.) 1, Campanula persici- 
folia flore pleno; 2, Lilium japonicum; 3, 
Lychnis coronaria; 4, Lychnis dioica flore 
pleno; 5, Veronica spicata; 6, Silene mari- 
tima.—(C. Read) 1, Clarkia pulchella; 2, 
Limanthes Douglasii; 3, Lavatera tri- 
mestris; 4, Linum grandiflorum rubrum; 5, 
Nemophila insignis. 
- ++4 - 
Laxton’s Rose Show. 
Messrs. Laxton Brothers, of Bedford, 
recently threw open their Goldington 
Road Nurseries to the public in order to 
afford them an opportunity of inspecting 
their grand display of ten thousand Rose 
plants in full bloom. 
Figs 5,000 Years Old. 
The latest discovery on what is sup¬ 
posed to be the site of the palace of 
King Nestor, near Pylos, is a number of 
prehistoric jars containing Figs and 
grains of Wheat almost petrified. They 
are said to be 5,000 years old. 
The King and East End Gardeners. 
To mark his interest in the encourage¬ 
ment of floriculture among the poor of 
the East End of London the King was an 
exhibitor at the annual show of the 
People’s Palace Horticultural Society. 
The Society, which has 1,200 juvenile and 
'400 adult members, recently received an 
invitation from his Majesty to visit and 
inspect the Royal Gardens at Windsor 
and Frogmore, and a large party went 
down under the care of Mr. Harold Boul¬ 
ton. 
The Tailor and the Apple. 
The inhabitants of a small country 
town were surprised recently to see that a 
new tailor’s shop had been opened, and 
on looking over the door they saw an Apple 
hanging. For some time they gathered 
round in doubt as to its meaning, and 
finally one more plucky than the others 
entered the shop and demanded the mean¬ 
ing of the curious sign. The tailor 
looked delighted, and glanced at the in¬ 
quisitive crowd with great satisfaction. 
“If it hadn’t been for an Apple, my 
friends,” he cried, “where would the 
clothing business.be to-day?” 
A Garden College. 
The annual prize-giving and presenta¬ 
tion of diplomas in connection with the 
Horticultural College for Ladies at Swan- 
ley took place on July 12th, the awards 
being distributed by Sir William Hart- 
Dyke. Amongst successful students was 
Mrs. E. M. Sherris, who received the 
Gold Medal of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, this being the ninth time in 
thirteen years the medal has been gained 
bv a student of the College. Miss M. 
Legg won a silver salver for the highest 
aggregate of marks in the diploma ex¬ 
aminations. Sir John Cockburn, the 
chairman, gave a favourable report of the 
past year, and said the College aims at 
giving a thorough training to fit women 
to become market growers, gardeners in 
private places, or to enable them to 
manage their own property. Miss Keke- 
wich, the secretary, said that the demand 
for trained women gardeners at fairly re¬ 
munerative wages still continued in ex¬ 
cess of the supply. 
