June  14,  1900 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
511 
The  Pear  Magg-ota. — These  are  a  terrible  scourge  this  season, 
■worse  than  ever.  They  are  just  leaving  the  Pears  now  they  have  done 
the  mischief.  Is  there  any  practical  means  of  checking  them  on  grass 
orchards  ? — J.  Hiam. 
Soap  Trees.  —  There  are  several  trees  and  plants  in  the  world 
whose  berries,  juice,  or  bark  are  as  good  to  wash  with  as  real  soap. 
In  the  West  Indian  Islands  and  in  South  America,  says  a  contemporary, 
•grows  a  tree  whose  fruit  makes  an  excellent  lather,  and  is  used  for 
washing  clothes.  The  bark  of  a  tree  which  grows  in  Peru,  and  of 
another  which  grows  in  the  Malay  Islands,  yields  a  fine  soap.  The 
common  Soapwort,  which  is  indigenous  to  England,  is  so  full  of 
saponine,  that  simply  rubbing  the  leaves  together  in  water  produces  a 
soapy  lather. 
A.  Pea  and  Bean  Pest. — At  the  last  council  meeting  of  the  Koyal 
Agricultural  Society  of  England  the  consulting  entomologist  reported 
that  numerous  complaints  had  recently  reached  him  of  injuries  by  the 
Pea  and  Bean  weevil — an  insect  which  notches  the  leaves  and  stems  in 
a  curious  and  characteristic  manner.  It  is  rather  remarkable  that  the 
grub  of  this  insect  has  only  been  noticed  as  the  cause  of  injury  to  the 
Pea  and  Bean  roots  during  the  past  two  or  three  years,  though  the 
weevil  itself  has  been  a  familiar  pest  for  many  years.  It  is  stated  that 
the  best  method  of  dealing  with  the  weevil  is  to  give  a  liberal  appli¬ 
cation  of  soot  when  the  crop  is  wet  with  a  heavy  dew. 
Infection  In  Fruit. — Tasmania  has  taken  alarm  over  the  dangers 
of  infection  that  lurk  in  colonial  fruits  that  have  passed  through 
ports  where  the  bubonic  plague  has  made  its  appearance.  Amongst 
others,  the  “  Hobart  Mercury  ”  contends  that  there  is  often  great 
carelessness  in  the  way  in  which  this  kind  of  food  stuff  is  stored  and 
matured ;  and  although  people  have  themselves  begun  to  be  careful 
in  their  consumption  of  these  articles  (which  is  the  best  kind  of 
caution),  they  call  on  the  Government  to  appoint  special  inspectors. 
Indeed,  all  customs’  ofiBces  at  home  and  abroad  ought  to  use  special 
care  in  admitting  consignments  of  produce  from  any  infected  source, 
as,  after  all,  ships’  rats  are  the  most  lively  source  of  plague  contagion. 
Bdlble  Peas. — How  well  these  look  this  season  !  Although  in  many 
places  they  suffered  from  that  too  well  remembered  sharp  April  frost, 
which  left  its  mark  upon  them,  they  seem  to  have  grown  out  of  it, 
and  I  do  not  think  I  have  ever  seen  them  looking  better  than  now. 
At  Feltham  Messrs.  Veitch  &  Sons  have  18  acres  of  Peas,  all  looking 
wonderfully  well.  Great  quantities  of  these,  especially  the  stock  trials, 
are  staked,  but  such  a  season  as  is  the  present  can  only  give  a  6rst- 
rate  trial,  and  a  look  over  these  Peas  in  the  open  field  at  Feltham  will 
presently  prove  to  be  very  interesting.  I  noted  several  new  ones 
and  in  bulk  those  with  which  the  name  of  the  firm  has  been  thoroughly 
identified.  There  will  also  be  a  huge  trial  of  Dwarf  French  Beans 
amongst  many  other  plants. — Wanderer. 
A  City  Kectory  Garden. — It  can  scarcely  be  said  that  gardens 
are  very  numerous  in  the  heart  of  the  City  of  London,  or  that  the 
conditions  are  particularly  favourable  to  the  production  of  plants  and 
flowers  of  the  finest  quality.  Strenuous  efforts  are,  however,  made  to 
grow  plants  by  the  few,  and  amongst  them  must  be  included  the 
Eev.  Clementi  Smith,  of  St.  Andrew’s-by-the-Wardrobe.  Here  in  the 
small  rectory  garden,  completely  girdled  by  high  buildings,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith  enter  enthusiastically  into  horticulture.  They  have  a  few  square 
yards  of  garden  with  a  large  greenhouse,  and  it  is  really  a  matter  for 
surprise  that  such  a  diverse  collection  of  plants  can  be  grown  in  such 
a  limited  space.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  it  a  few  days  ago,  and 
am  looking  forward  to  a  second  visit,  as  it  will  be  more  than  interesting 
to  know  what  plants  will  succeed  and  what  will  fail.  Of  one  thing 
everyone  may  be  convinced,  which  is,  that  if  personal  care  and  coaxing 
can  persuade  a  plant  to  grow  it  will  receive  both  from  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith.  The  former  is,  as,  perhaps,  readers  of  the  Journal  of  Horti¬ 
culture  are  aware,  somewhat  of  a  pomologist,  and  has  Apples  in  his 
fruit  case  that  would  not  shame  many  a  professional  gardener  with 
.much  superior  fittings. — F.  W.  H. 
PtalladelpbDS  Boule  d’Brg'ent. — Now  that  this  most  excellent 
variety  is  becoming  more  and  more  plentiful,  I  suppose  we  shall  have 
the  old  varieties  going  out  of  cultivation.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
P.  Boule  d’Argent  is  particularly  useful  at  this  season  of  the  year  for 
the  embellishment  of  the  conservatory,  especially  when  the  plants  are 
kept  dwarf  and  are  as  profusely  flowered  as  a  number  I  saw  at  the 
Temple  Show.  I  have  only  three  plants,  but  I  find  it  so  valuable  and 
so  much  admired  that  I  must  take  the  first  seasonable  opportunity  of 
considerably  increasing  my  stock.  Few  plants  have  been  more 
appreciated  by  my  employers,  who,  as  a  rule,  are  not  keen  on  novelties, 
but  would  rather  remain  loyal  to  the  old  favourites  that  have  been 
grown  in  their  gardens  and  glass  houses  for  about  a  quarter  of  a 
century. — B,.  J.  P. 
Ayrshire  Potato  Crop. — The  protracted  cold  weather  has 
apparently  been  responsible  for  considerable  damage  to  the  prospects 
of  the  early  Potato  crops  on  the  Ayrshire  seaboard.  The  sharp  frosts 
about  the  middle  of  May  nipped  the  shaws  considerably,  blight  being 
reported  in  the  Girvan  Valley,  where  the  earliest  and  best  crops  are 
usually  grown.  It  is  not  expected,  says  a  daily  paper,  that  the  injury 
will  be  permanent  in  so  far  as  its  effects  on  the  yield  are  concerned, 
but  as  the  primary  object  in  these  early  districts  is  to  be  on  the 
market  before  the  general  supplies  arrive,  the  delay  is  serious  from  a 
financial  point  of  view.  Several  of  the  most  advanced  and  healthiest 
crops  have  already  been  sold  at  what  are  vaguely  declared  to  be  very 
high  prices.  Those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  good  early 
crops  will  naturally  reap  a  rich  monetary  harvest,  but  for  the  ordinary 
grower  the  season  does  not  promise  well. 
Hybrid  Streptocarpus.  —  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the 
huge  collection  of  these  singularly  interesting  and  beautiful  green¬ 
house  plants  Messrs.  Jas.  Veitch  &  Sons  have  at  their  new  Feltham 
Nursery,  and  can  well  sustain  what  “  F.  W.  H.”  has  written  about 
them.  Remembering  what  Streptocarpuses  were  not  very  many  years 
ago,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  do  other  than  marvel  at  the  great  advance 
made  in  them  through  intercrossing  and  selection.  The  colours  and 
markings  are  becoming  more  varied  each  year,  and  whilst  the  plants 
are  far  more  floriferous  and  robust  the  flowers  also  are  showing  finer 
form.  It  is  impossible  for  anyone  having  florist’s  ideas  in  them  not 
to  find  admiration  for  all  those  which  not  only  have  clear  decisive 
markings  or  hues,  but  also  have  bold  mouths  and  rounded  edges  to  the 
lobes.  In  colouration  many  are  so  charming  that  they  bid  fair  soon  to 
rival  the  Gloxinia,  if  not  in  size  at  least  in  beauty. — Observer. 
Seedllngr  Verbenas. — Whilst  Mr.  Gardiner  may  have  good  reason 
to  lament  the  decadence  of  the  Verbena  in  named  form,  as  bedding  or 
other  decorative  plants,  yet  there  is  much  reason  to  be  gratified  over 
the  evident  resurrection  of  the  flower  in  bedding  arrangements  in  the 
seedling  condition.  So  marked  has  been  the  advance  made  in  seed 
stocks,  that  one  often  sees  in  beds  of  mixed  seedlings  flowers  of  such 
excellence  that  in  the  days  of  the  old  varieties  to  which  Mr.  Gardiner 
refers,  and  which  I  well  remember,  the  best  of  the  seedlings  of  to-day 
would  have  been  regarded  as  grand  additions.  Seed  of  Verbena  is 
relatively  cheap,  and  easily  raised  if  sown  in  shallow  pans  stood  in  a 
little  warmth,  furnishing  strong  plants  to  bed  out  at  the  end  of 
May.  Later  in  the  summer  a  good  mixed  bed  becomes  a  beautiful 
object.  It  is  also  so  easy  then  to  propagate  by  cuttings  any  that  have 
specially  fine  qualities.  We  have  in  these  seedlings  a  much  greater 
range  of  colours  than  the  old  named  varieties  gave  us. — A.  D.  K. 
Weed  Bestructlon. — An  interesting  experiment  is  at  present 
being  conducted  at  the  trial  grounds  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society 
of  England  at  Woburn.  This  experiment  has  been  instituted  with  the 
object  of  testing  to  what  extent  the  nature  of  the  soil  influences  the 
presence  of  certain  kinds  of  weeds,  and  also  of  discovering  the  most 
effective  as  well  as  the  most  economical  methods  of  eradicating  certain 
of  the  most  troublesome  of  our  common  farm  pests.  The  wild 
Marigold,  wild  Onion,  wild  Oats,  and  wild  Poppy  are  receiving  special 
attention  in  this  respect,  as  also  are  Spurry  and  Sorrel.  The  soils  in 
which  these  weeds  naturally  grow  profusely  are  being  submitted,  says 
the  “  Farmer’s  Gazette,”  to  chemical  examination  in  order  to  ascertain 
if  they  contain  any  constituents  likely  to  determine  or  influence  the 
presence  of  these  particular  weeds.  The  application  of  lime  is  being 
tried  for  a  destruction  of  wild  Marigold,  and  an  effort'is  being  made  to 
exterminate  wild  Onions  by  the  use  of  carbolic  acid.  The  outcome  of 
these  experiments  will  be  eagerly  looked  for  by  agriculturists  in  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom. 
