m 
JOURNAL  OF  R0RT1 CULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  1,  1897. 
date  the  maximum  temperature  was  50°  and  the  minimum  tempera¬ 
ture  45°,  with  high  wind  and  rain  in  the  evening. 
Judging  from  the  condition  of  my  own  bees  and  others  in  the 
neighbourhood  the  past  winter  cannot  be  claased  as  a  good  one  for 
bees,  owing  to  the  excessive  rainfall  of  the  past  six  months. 
More  favourable  weather  may  now  be  expected  ;  the  brood  nest 
will  then  expand,  arsfl.  bees  will  increase  at  a  rapid  rate. 
Drones  in  Hive. 
Although  these  cannot  be  dispensed  with  later  in  the  season 
they  are  not  required  as  early  as  the  fir»t  week  in  March,  as 
mentioned  by  a  correspondent,  page  240.  When  drones  are 
observed  in  hives,  either  very  early  or  late  in  the  season,  there  is 
usually  a  cause  for  it,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  stock  is 
queenless,  or  the  queen  is  old,  or  through  various  causes  her 
ovipositing  powers  are  on  the  wane.  The  workers  are  the  first  to 
detect  this  ;  if  it  happen  in  the  autumn  the  drones  are  not  killed  off, 
and  if  the  stock  is  queenless  the  bees  will  gradually  dwindle  away, 
until  the  few  remaining  drones  and  workers  are  found  dead  in  their 
hive  the  following  spring.  Bat  when  the  queen  has  lived  through¬ 
out  the  winter  and  succumbed  after  laying  a  few  eggs  the  following 
spring,  from  which  a  few  drones  will  invariably  be  raised,  the  same 
thing  will  happen  if  the  queen  is  old  and  worn  out. 
I  have  had  a  practical  illustration  of  this  within  the  past  few 
days.  On  lifting  the  quilt  from  one  of  my  hives  I  saw  a  solitary 
drone  cell  with  the  grub  well  advanced.  I  was  at  once  convinced 
something  was  wrong  with  the  queen,  and  on  examining  the  stock 
found  her  dead  in  the  hive,  although  there  were  plenty  of  bees  and 
brood  in  various  stages  of  development.  —  An  English  Bee¬ 
keeper. 
TRADE  CATALOGUES  RECEIVED. 
J.  Backhouse  &  Son,  York, — Alpine  and  Perennial  Plants. 
Barr  &  Sons,  King  Street,  Covent  Garden. — Hardy  Perennials  and 
Alpines. 
C.  Clark  &  Co.,  20,  Great  St.  Helens,  -London. — Fostite — Eclair 
Sprayers.  , 
A.  Findlay,  Markinch. — Potatoes. 
J.  Laing  &  Sons,  Forest  Hill. — Clivias. 
Yilmorin,  Andrieux  et  Cie,  4,  Qaai  de  la  Megisserie,  Paris. — Tree 
Seeds. 
All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be 
directed  to  “  The  Editor.'’  Letters  addressed  to  members  of 
the  staff  ofter  remain  unopened  unavoidably.  We  request  that 
no  one  will  write  privately  to  any  of  our  correspondents,  as 
doing  so  subjects  them  to  unjustifiable  trouble  and  expense,  and 
departmental  writers  are  not  expected  to  answer  any  letters  they 
may  receive  on  Gardening  and  Bee  subjects,  through  the  post. 
Correspondents  should  not  mix  up  on  the  same  sheet  questions 
relating  to  Gardening  and  those  on  Bee  subjects,  and  should 
never  send  more  than  two  or  three  questions  at  once.  All 
articles  intended  for  insertion  should  be  written  on  one  side  of 
the  paper  only.  We  cannot,  as  a  rule,  reply  to  questions 
through  the  post,  and  we  do  not  undertake  to  return  rejected 
communications. 
Spawning  of  Toads  ( IF.  P.,  Wilts').— Toads  visit  the  water  in 
March  or  April,  their  breeding  season,  for  the  purpose  of  depositing  their 
eggs.  Damp  places  are  absolutely  necessary  for  breeding  purposes,  even 
in  the  case  of  the  dry  land  or  common  toad  (Bufo  vulgaris). 
Tulips  “  Blind  ”  («/.  A.,  York). — The  Tulips  are  quite  clean  in  the 
bulb,  and  have  abundance  of  white,  remarkably  healthy  roots,  nothing 
whatever  being  amiss  there,  while  the  leaves  are  large,  deep  green, 
perfect  pictures  of  health ;  the  stem  also  short  and  stout,  but,  as  you  say, 
“  blind.”  The  flower  bud  never  appears  to  have  been  much  larger  than 
a  pea,  hence  we  consider  the  failure  due  to  the  imperfect  formation  of 
the  flower  bud  in  embryo,  or  what  is  generally  termed  unripeness  of  the 
bulbs.  You  ask,  “  Is  it  through  any  fault  in  the  cultivation  ?  ”  Certainly 
not,  as  regards  the  bringing  of  them  into  flower,  for  no  one  can  place 
flower  buds  in  “  blind  ”  bulbs,  and  that  appears  to  have  been  the  fault. 
The  buds,  however,  have  the  mycelium  of  a  fungus  (Botrytis  galanthina, 
the  conidial  condition  of  Sclerotinia  bnlbosum)  in  them,  but  we  do  not 
consider  this  to  have  been  the  cause,  but  rather  the  consequence  of  the 
“  deaf  ”  flower  bud  and  its  decay. 
Discoloured  Tomato  Leaves  (P.  L.). — The  specimens  shall  be 
microscopically  examined  as  you  desire.  They  did  not  reach  us  in  time 
for  tbis  to  be  done  and  the  results  published  in  the  current  issue. 
Swollen  Peacb  Roots  (J.  L.). — Your  letter,  with  Mr.  Abbey’s 
reply  on  the  subject,  we  expect  to  publish  in  our  next  issue.  Our 
diligent  searcher  and  experimenter  has  not  only  discovered  the  cause  of 
the  swellings,  but  another,  what  we  may  term  “  miticide.” 
Spiraeas  wltb  Dead  Flower  Stems  (A.  BQyling). — The  stems 
are  browned  and  dead  from  the  top  of  the  should-have-been  panicle  to  a 
little  below,  and  have  the  appearance  of  having  had  the  part  destroyed 
by  some  grub  burrowing  in  the  stem  and  eating  out  the  pith,  as  some  are 
hollow,  and  where  not  hollow  brown  as  if  permeated  and  killed  by  some 
fungus.  We  could  not,  however,  detect  either,  therefore  can  only 
account  for  the  flowering  stems  dying  through  the  plants  being  brought 
on  too  rapidly,  the  temperature  being  too  high  and  the  plants  at  too 
great  a  distance  from  the  glass.  We  have  had  similar,  and  were  unable 
to  account  for  their  condition  in  any  other  way.‘  Indeed,  plants  of  the 
same  batches  in  a  vinery  were  complete  failures  and  others  in  a  Peach 
house  flowered  splendidly,  the  difference  in  temperature  being  10°  to 
15°,  and  the  amount  of  light  and  air  about  twice  as  much  in  the  latter 
as  former  structure.  This — forcing  too  rapidly — we  consider  at  least 
one  cause  of  failure,  the  plants  having  run  to  leaves  and  impoverished 
the  flowering  parts. 
Yellow  Spots  and  Blotches  on  Tomato  Leaves  (IF.  J.  H.). — 
The  yellow  parts  of  the  leaflets  are  traversed  by  the  mycelium  of  some 
fungus  which  has  abstracted  the  substance  and  caused  a  slight  depres¬ 
sion,  but  we  cannot  detect  any  outgrowths,  or  only  one,  and  that  appears 
to  be  the  stalk  or  conidiophore  of  the  smother  fungus  (Botrytis  cinerea 
sclerotiophile),  the  conidial  condition  of  Sclerotinia  sclerotiorum,  Mass. 
The  fungus  ultimately  forms  a  mould  on  the  dead  tissue,  and  amid 
the  Bmall  externally  black  sclerotia,  once  called  Sclerotium  durum,  from 
which  spring  the  conidial  stage  again,  the  Pezizse  being  produced  by  the 
final  stage,  which  forms  a  smother  mould  on  the  roots  and  stems  of  Potato, 
Cabbage,  Beet,  and  Turnips,  the  conidial  condition  being  suppressed. 
There  is  one  of  the  spores  (conidia)  on  a  hair  and  pushing  a  germ-tube. 
You  have  done  well  to  burn  the  infested  plants,  for  it  is  the  most 
malignant  of  the  Tomato  fungi,  and  in  the  conidial  stage  has  swept  off 
whole  fields  of  Turnips  in  the  North  of  England,  where  it  was  very 
prevalent  last  year.  It  cannot  live  in  a  dry  atmosphere,  being  essentially 
a  damp-loving  fungus,  as  aho  is  the  Bpecies  B.  cinerea,  sometimes  found 
on  Vines  in  vineries,  turning  the  leaves  yellow  and  then  brown  in  places 
as  if  scorched.  Afford  plenty  of  air,  and  do  not  over-water,  then  the 
parasite  cannot  make  much  headway,  as  it  must  have  a  close  moist 
atmosphere  and  a  succulent  plant  to  thrive  on.  By  plenty  of  air  we 
mean  that  atmospheric  condition  essential  to  a  sturdy,  short-jointed, 
fruitful  growth.  To  prevent  further  mischief  you  might  use  some 
fungicide  in  powder,  such  as  anti-blight,  fostite,  and  other  preparations 
of  sulphate  of  copper,  a  very  light  dusting  being  all  that  is  necessary. 
But  hardness  of  tissue  in  the  plants  is  of  the  first  importance,  together 
with  removing  the  spotted  leaves  promptly. 
Insect  on  Apple  Twig-  ( Kentish  Gardener). — The  ring-like  band 
on  the  Apple  tree  shoot  is  that  formed  by  the  lackey  moth  (Bombyx 
neustria)  in  depositing  its  eggs,  which  are  laid  in  the  late  summer  or 
autumn  of  the  year  preceding  that  in  which  the  attack  of  the  cater¬ 
pillars  takes  place.  The  eggs  are  arranged  around  the  twig  in  regular 
order.  When  the  caterpillars  hatch  they  at  once  spin  a  web  over  the 
nest  or  shoot  on  which  the  egg-band  has  been  placed,  so  that  they  have 
a  snug  shelter.  There  had  been  nearly  200  in  your  specimen.  The  cater¬ 
pillars  are  black  when  hatched,  and  have  an  enormous  head  for  their 
size.  They  cast  their  skins  several  times,  and.  at  last  come  out,  so  to  say, 
in  full  dress,  and  are  styled  “  livery  ”  caterpillars.  This  is  about  mid¬ 
summer,  when  they  are  about  lj  inch  long,  and  have  abundance  of 
hairs  some  a  quarter  inch  in  length.  The  ground  colour  of  the  body  is 
a  bluish  grey,  and  there  are  two  black  eye-like  spots  on  the  head,  three 
orange  or  scarlet  stripes  along  each  side  of  the  body,  and  between  the 
two  lowest  of  these  a  blue  stripe,  the  whole  set  off  by  lines  of  black  or 
black  spotted  with  blue.  They  then  scatter  themselves  separately,  spin 
cocoons,  become  brown  pupa,  and  towards  the  end  of  summer  the  moths 
emerge,  resting  by  day,  and  active  at  night.  In  the  matter  of  destroying 
the  pest  there  have  been  various  expedients,  such  as  crushing  the  eggs 
with  the  back  of  a  knife,  waiting  until  the  webs  are  seen,  then  cutting 
the  twig  or  shoots  through,  and  destroying  the  web-nests — a  bad  French 
plan.  As  the  caterpillars  hatch  out  about  the  vernal  equinox  they  may 
be  destroyed  easily  when  tender  with  any  approved  insecticide  ;  even 
the  eggs  can  be  “  cooked  ”  by  spraying  with  the  Coates'  solution  of 
caustic  soda,  98  per  cent.,  and  commercial  potash  or  pearlash,  half  a 
pound  each  to  6  gallons  of  water,  using  hot  (120°  to  130°),  in  March,  or 
before  the  buds  start  growing.  That  is  the  best  plan.  If  the  buds  are 
swelling  before  the  caterpillars  are  noticed  hatching  spray  or  syringe  the 
trees  with  a  solution  of  softsoap  and  petroleum  made  as  follows 
Softsoap,  lb.  ;  petroleum,  1  pint ;  water,  10  gallons.  Dissolve  the 
softsoap  in  a  gallon  of  the  water  by  boiling,  and  when  dissolved  remove 
from  the  fire  for  safety,  then  add  the  petroleum,  stir  briskly  till 
thoroughly  amalgamated,  add  the  remainder  of  the  hot  water,  mix  well, 
and  use  when  cooled  to  90°  or  100°,  coating  every  part  of  the  trees. 
This  will  kill  all  the  young  caterpillars  it  reaches,  as  well  as  other  pests. 
If  any  caterpillars  escape  spray  the  trees  with  Paris  green,  1  oz.  to 
20  gallons  of  water,  or  add  half  an  ounce  (in  paste)  to  the  petroleum 
and  softsoap  solution,  and  thus  make  an  end  of  the  chief  Apple  tree 
enemies.  Spraying  is  much  more  economical  than  syringing,  also  more 
effectual. 
