August 31, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
581 
such, a contrast from their purple skin. Do 
you consider they 7 are of any value, and 
do you know of any variety similar to them ? 
Being a regular reader of your valuable 
paper, I should like a reply in your next 
week’s edition. (Albert Pursey, Soms.) 
We have never seen a variety of Potato 
like that you mention, as far as we can re¬ 
member. There are, however, many Potato^ 
in cultivation that have a light skin with 
dark eyes. If any such Potato is in culti¬ 
vation a set might have got amongst those 
you planted. If you had no fresh seed last 
spring, it is just possible that it is a seed¬ 
ling from some other variety, grown in the 
garden last year. The small size of the 
tubers at present would also suggest that 
idea. A suggestive name to give it would 
be White-Eyed Kaffir. Whether it is worth 
anything beyond being a mere curiosity has, 
of course, to be determined. You should 
save all the tubers this year and plant them 
next year with the view of getting an in¬ 
crease in numbers as well as in size. Give 
them plenty of room to ascertain what their 
capabilities are. Also either manure the 
ground in autumn or else select a piece of 
ground for them that is rather rich natu¬ 
rally. Potatos have got to be tried for some 
years to determine their capabilities. They 
should, of course, be shapely, clean-skinned, 
heavy bearers, and of a useful size. Shape, 
of course, refers more to exhibition purposes 
than for cooking, but you should remember 
that there is less waste in Potatos with 
shallow eyes than in those which have very 
deep eyes. Last of all, you have got to 
determine their table qualities as to flavour 
and dryness. 
FRUIT. 
215 2. Apples, Pears, Plums, etc. 
You have previously helped me in gar¬ 
dening matters, and I shall be pleased to 
have your advice now. I enclose rough 
plan of the garden, from which you will 
notice there is a centre lawn and side beds. 
The beds are rather wide for flowers, as 
they get very straggling. I propose plant¬ 
ing some Gooseberry and Currant bushes on 
side A and at side E Plum, Apple or Pear 
trees trained along the fence. I shall be 
glad to know if you think this would be 
satisfactory, and if so, what kind of fruit 
you would recommend ? We do not want 
cooking Apples or Plums, but fruit that is 
nice to eat, preferably that which would 
be ripe about the end of August. (En¬ 
quirer, Surrey.) 
We see no reason why you should not 
attempt the cultivation of all those fruits 
you name in the large garden at your com¬ 
mand. When it is of such a size, air and 
sunshine should get to most parts of it, 
with the exception of the north aspect wall. 
We quite agree with you that the Goose¬ 
berries and Currants should be planted in 
border or bed A, as it faces the east. Bed 
B and the fence faces the west, and is, 
therefore, well adapted for the cultivation 
of fruit trees, as it would not get the sun 
upon the blossom in spring until the day 
warms up. In the way of Gooseberries, we 
should recommend Red Champagne, Whin- 
ham’s Industry (red), Yellow Champagne, 
Golden Gem, ‘ itmaston Greengage, Green 
Walnut, Whi 'smith, and Snowball. You 
have thus two red, two yellow, two green, 
and two white varieties. In the way of 
Currants, you should get Red Dutch, White 
Dutch, Boskcop Giant (Black), and Lee’s 
Prolific Black. You are limiting your 
choice of Apples, Pears, and Plums by con¬ 
fining them to those which ripen about the 
end of August, because many of the best 
mature after that period. If you require a 
succession of fruit, let us know. The best 
flavoured Apples we can recommend for late 
August are Duchess of Oldenburgh and 
Devonshire Quarrenden. More handsome 
Apples are Beauty of Bath, Lady Sudeley, 
Langley Pippin, and Mr. Gladstone. 
Neither of these keep very late, but should 
be eaten from the tree, or in a few days 
after they are gathered. In the way of 
early Pears, Williams, Bon Chretien, Jar¬ 
gonelle, and Beurre Giffard are the best. 
Some of the other early varieties are much 
more highly coloured, but their flavour is 
poor. In the way of Plums, we should re¬ 
commend Greengage, Jefferson, and Early 
Transparent Gage as good dessert Plums 
ripening about that period. Victoria is 
usually regarded as a cooking Plum, but 
when perfectly ripe makes good eating, 
and it bears splendidly almost every year. 
2153. Apple Trees Dying at the Tips. 
. Many thanks for the advice re the Apple 
trees dying at the tips of the branches. I 
enclose pieces of the dead branch for your 
inspection, also the views of our house, 
which I omitted to send last time. (L. E. 
Crofts, Kent.) 
The specimens of dead branches you sent 
were attacked by canker, caused by a fungus 
named. Nectria ditissima. You will see at 
the base of the stem and the branches that 
cracks go right round them, or nearly so, 
and this caused the death cf all above it. 
There are several reasons why they should 
be like what they are. Possibly the roots 
are in a bad condition owing to their being 
in badly-drained or otherwise ungenial soil, 
causing them to ripen late and making them 
liable to damage from frost. This would 
let in the spores of the fungus. If the land 
is wet it ought to be drained. Hailstones 
sometimes split the immature bark, letting 
in the fungus. Besides seeing that the land 
is drained, you should, in September, have 
all the dead wood cut out, also shoots and 
branches where they are in any way 
crowded. You should, of course, avoid cut¬ 
ting out any branches that are set with 
blcom budis. Burn all the prunings and 
thinnings, and spread the ashes equally over 
the ground, as it will supply potash, a very 
useful manure for Apple trees. Well-de¬ 
cayed cow manure may also be spread on 
the ground and lightly pointed in if the 
ground is not in grass, otherwise merely 
lay it on the surface. The liquid drain¬ 
ings from the stables and cow houses could 
be collected in a tank and spread over the 
ground during winter, and the trees will 
thereby get the benefit of it. If you can 
get fresh life into your trees by this pro¬ 
cess of manuring it will enable them largely 
to get rid of the disease. It may be that 
the roots are merely starved in ungenial or 
impoverished soil. 
215 4, Seedling: Gooseberry. 
I enclose a few Gooseberries to know if 
you have seen any of the same sort or colour. 
I cannot find anyone who has seen it. The 
judge at our show did not know it, nor had 
he seen one like it. I have shown them to 
several large growers, but they know no¬ 
thing of them. It is a seedling which 
fruited last year for the first time. It is 
very full of fruit. The berries I send you 
are small, as the best have been pulled 
several times. (E. R. Wit TON, Cambs.) 
We have not seen any Gooseberry exactly 
like the one you sent as far as we remem¬ 
ber. It comes very near to the old variety 
known as Green Gascoigne, Early Green 
Hairy, and Early Gem, all these being 
names for the same thing. The fruit 
you sent us was, however, twice the size 
of Green Gascoigne, and while they retain 
the green colour for a long time, they ulti¬ 
mately assume a greenish-yellow hue. The 
thin skin also reminded us of that variety. 
The flavour was good, being somewhat 
acidulated, and even after some days when 
this acid had left them the fruit was then 
sweet and juicy. We think it would make 
a good dessert Gooseberry, but it lacks size 
in face of the numerous varieties new in 
cultivation. It may, however, improve in 
size as the bush gets established. 
2155. Pear Leaves Brown. 
Can you tell me what is wrong, and what 
I am to do with my Pear trees? The small 
leaf is from a young tree trained against 
a wall facing west. The larger leaf is 
from a young tree trained as an espalier fac¬ 
ing east and west. They have never borne 
any fruits. I carefully followed directions 
in planting them; the small leaf last year, 
the larger leaf the year before. (Waratah, 
Devon.) 
The small leaf was attacked by gall mites 
(Phytoptus Pyri), producing what is known 
as Pear-leaf blister. The mite is a very 
small one, invisible to the eye, and gets 
inside the leaf while it is still in the bud 
state. You cannot do anything that would 
help the tree now, as the mites, have in 
all probability left the leaves for the young 
buds. Next spring, when the young leaves 
are unfolding, look over the trees and pick 
off and burn all these showing decided 
greenish-yellow spots, as each of these con¬ 
tains a mite. By this means you will de¬ 
stroy the mites while still in the leaves. 
Some trees get so badly infested that the} 7 
are scarcely worth the labour of trying to 
keep dean. If only a few leaves are blis¬ 
tered it is of no material ocnsequence, and 
the leaves could be burned, but some varie¬ 
ties get badly blistered all over the tree. 
The large leaf had been attacked by insects, 
possibly aphides, in the early part of the 
season, but nothing now is left except a 
brown spot, probably diue to the growth of 
a fungus, merely growing upon the excre¬ 
ment left by the aphides. Ait present, there 
are skins and eggs of the insects. The 
worst, of the leaves might be taken off and 
burned, in order to destroy the eggs. Next 
June, when the leaves are young and in sect 0 
active, you should wash the tree with a 
solution of soft soap, to which some tobacco 
juice has been added. This will wash down 
the aphides and clean the foliage at the 
same time. If the trees are not in a very 
bad way, you could manage to clean them 
with a syringe and clean water, applied 
rather forcibly to the foliage in spring. 
SOILS AND MANURES. 
215 6. Soil for Carnation Bed. 
I am .making a Carnation bed in my lawn, 
and have already taken away the turf. Will 
you please tell me how to proceed, and if 
the following are to be used, and what, pro¬ 
portions, as I can get plenty of each :— 
Rotted leaf mould, fine sand or coarse, light 
yellow lbam and rotted horse manure My 
soil is clay subsoil, and the top soil gets 
very hard in the summer with not much 
goodness in it. Now I want to make a per¬ 
fect bed in my sunny position, and would 
you advise a barrow full of lime? If so, 
what sort do I ask for when buying it ? Any 
help you can give me will be greatly appre¬ 
ciated. Whose book is the best for begin¬ 
ners for Carnation growing? (Enthusiast, 
Essex.) 
You should first of all take out the natural 
soil to the depth of 2 ft., then with a fork 
or pick loosen up the bottom soil below 
that. Then put in about 6 in. of brickbats. 
Over this lay some turves, so as to keep 
the drainage clean. Then mix up a compost 
consisting of three parts of light Yellow 
loam, one part of rotted horse manure, half¬ 
part of leaf mould, and half-part of sharp 
or coarse sand. This should make a good 
compost, but you ca.n also add old mortar 
or lime rubble, which you may get from 
your sundriesman or from a local builder. 
