THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
M3 
^foreign IHotes. 
James Herbert Veitch, F. L. S., F. R. H. S., of the well- 
known firm, James Veitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nursery, 
Chelsea, England, during the years 1891 -’93, made an extend¬ 
ed tour through India, the Straits Settlements, Japan, Corea, 
the Australian colonies and New Zealand, for the purpose of 
examining the flora. He embodied his interesting observa¬ 
tions in a volume entitled “ A Traveler’s Notes.” 
Garcia, Jacobs & Co., of Covent Garden, who recently sold 
3,600 barrels of apples, say : “ The apple crop this year in the 
United States and Canada is unprecedentedly large, and the 
shipments to England are estimated at the lowest at about 
1,000,000 barrels, without considering Nova Scotia, whence 
there are now being shipped to London 20,000 to 30,000 
barrels per week. We are of opinion that, owing to the 
climatic conditions, English growers up to the present have 
not been able to produce a sufficient quantity of apples for 
winter consumption.” ^ 
The extent of the gardens at Kew is somewhat over two 
hundred and fifty acres. The great features of interest to 
visitors are the Palm and Temperate Houses, Orchid Houses, 
Conservatory, Lily House, Rock Garden, Lake, Bamboo 
Garden, and Herbaceous Ground. There are eighteen glass 
houses open to the public, but though the number is small, 
some of the houses, like the Palm House, Temperate House, 
No. 4, No. 1, and the Succulent House, are of great size, the 
two former being huge covered gardens. The glass houses at 
Kew altogether cover over two and a half acres, or about 
i i ii 3j53° square feet; the pathways under glass are nearly 
two miles. There are nearly fifteen miles of paths and road¬ 
ways in the gardens. 
The practice adopted by the French National Horticultural 
Society of holding a congress in conjunction with their prin¬ 
cipal exhibition, held at Paris in May, and arranging the pro¬ 
gramme nearly a year in advance, has much to recommend it. 
The'programme of the congress in 1897 has been issued, and 
the subjects for discussion include the selection of species and 
varieties of fruits ; the culture of flowers by children and 
workmen ; the influence of selection by cuttings and grafts ; 
the results obtained by the hybridisation of orchids, and the 
degeneracy of certain species ; comparative value of different 
stocks for roses ; the classification of roses from a 
botanical point of view, and the classification of the varieties 
of roses according to their section. 
STOCKS FOR FRUIT TREES. 
This subject is, obviously, of paramount importance. As 
with a horse, without good feet a tree is worthless. The two 
main ideas which must be indelibly fixed upon the mind are : 
First, that all roots are not equally suited to all conditions of 
soil and atmosphere, and second, that varieties closely allied 
do not necessarily succeed equally on the same stocks in the 
same location. The general rule is to graft or bud on to 
seedlings of the same kind, but experience has taught us that 
there must be some variations to this practice. Standard 
apple trees are worked upon seedlings raised from the seed of 
any apple, or from crab apples. These are the only distinctions 
as far as the seedlings are concerned, and opinion is divided as 
to which is best. Apple seedlings show very little difference 
in the seed bed, and are graded and sold according to size. 
In the nursery row, however, various differences will be noted 
the second year, and it should be the duty of the nurseryman 
to weed out all seedlings which show a weak, stunted, crooked 
or very thorny growth, and only those which show a clean, 
vigorous and straight growth should be budded or grafted. 
This, and many other details of the nursery business, cannot 
be properly attended to at last year’s prices. It remains for 
the public to say whether it wants trees properly grown on 
selected stocks, and will pay a fair price for the same. Dwarf 
apple trees are grown upon what are called Paradise and Doucin 
stocks. These varieties are of bushy growth, raised from 
cuttings, and which impart to the tree grafted on them the same 
bushy, dwarfish characteristics. These trees come into bear¬ 
ing very early, and produce very large, fine fruit. They should 
always be selected for garden or small orchard culture, or, as 
shown in a previous issue, may be planted commercially eight 
or ten feet apart. They should be planted rather deeper than 
standards. 
CIRCUMVENTING THE APHIS. 
In Australia, to circumvent the depredations of the “woolly 
aphis,” the trees are usually “double worked” by grafting 
Northern Spy or Winter Majetin and then grafting the desired 
variety on to them. There is something in the sap or fibre of 
these varieties objectionable to the louse, and trees so worked 
are said to keep free from it. It should be done here, for 
these root lice, working also on the branches, are becoming a 
very serious pest. Apples will grow on the pear, but it is not 
recommended, except in the case of large orchard trees, where 
it may be desired to change one into the other. The pear is 
also mostly grown on its own seedlings, which to a large extent, 
come from France. The same remarks apply to the selecting 
of seedlings in the nursery row, but more care still is needed 
in their cultivation. Apple and pear seedlings should be im¬ 
mersed in a solution of whale oil soap, about one pound to five 
gallons water, for two minutes, and the solution at a tempera¬ 
ture of 100 to 120 degrees. This will kill any aphis which 
may be on them, and it is not safe to trust to any guarantee or 
close inspection, as the insects spread rapidly as soon as they 
get a start, and the eggs might not be discernible. Pear seed¬ 
lings are also liable to be affected in the nursery row with pear 
slug, or with a kind of scab or rust. Bordeaux mixture will 
prevent the latter, and whale oil soap solution, or kerosene 
emulsion, the former. Care must be taken not to use the 
washes too strong while the seedlings are growing. 
Japanese pear seedlings are being used, and, should they 
prove to be objectionable to the aphis, will be a God-send. 
They make a particularly clean, straight growth, partaking of 
the nature of all the Oriental pears in having very fine foliage 
and a vigorous growth. They have been rather difficult to 
procure in large quantities, and consequently more expensive, 
but such Japanese varieties as Hawaii, Von Siebold, Mikado, 
etc., bear so early and so heavily that it would pay to plant 
them for seed. The quince is used in the same way that the 
Paradise and Doucin are for the apple, and with similar results, 
but it is necessary to success that on this stock the trees be 
planted an inch deeper, and only in moist land. The plum 
and prune are in California variously worked upon the plum, 
peach and almond seedling. In the case of the former, there 
are several distinct species used, notably Myrobolan, Ameri- 
