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JOURNAL  OP  EORTtCtJLTtJRE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  6,  i8&?. 
If  the  bees  died  from  any  disease  I  would  recommend  the  combs  to 
be  melted  down,  and  the  frames  destroyed.  They  may,  however,  be 
need  Again  if  placed  in  boiling  water  for  a  short  time,  and  afterwards 
cleansed  with  carbolic  acid  j  but  as  they  may  now  be  obtained  so 
cheaply  they  are  really  not  worth  the  trouble  and  risk.  The  hives,  too, 
should  be  well  scrubbed  with  hot  water,  and  afterwards  painted  inside 
and  out  with  strong  carbolic,  which  will  destroy  all  the  germs  of  disease. 
Hives  and  frames  treated  in  this  manner  should  afterwards  be  placed  in 
the  open  air  for  a  few  days  before  being  used,  otherwise  there  may  be  a 
difficulty  in  getting  the  bees  to  remain  in  the  hive  owing  to  the  unpleasant 
odour.  If  the  bees  died  from  an  infections  disease  the  combs  cannot  be 
purified,  and  if  there  is  the  least  doubt  in  the  matter  it  is  better  to  err 
on  the  safe  side.  But  with  hives  and  frames  it  is  quite  different,  for  if 
they  are  carefully  disinfected  they  may  again  be  used  without  danger, 
as  shown  above.  If  in  doubt  write  again.  —  An  English  Bee- 
keeper.] 
All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should,  until 
further  notice,  be  directed  to  “  The  Editor/’  8,  Rose  Hill 
Road ,  Wandsworth,  London,  S.  W.  ft  is  requested  that  no 
one  will  write  privately  to  any  of  our  correspondents,  seeking 
information  cn  matters  discussed  in  this  Journal,  as  doing 
so  subjects  them  to  unjustifiable  trouble  and  expense,  and 
departmental  writers  are  not  expected  to  answer  any  lettera 
they  may  receive  on  Gardening  and  Bee  subjects,  through  the 
post.  If  information  be  desired  on  any  particular  subject  from 
any  particular  authority  who  may  be  named,  endeavour  will  be 
made  to  obtain  it  by  the  Editor. 
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  communications 
which,  for  any  reason,  cannot  be  inserted. 
Gold-laced  Primrose  [J.  F.  S.).— There  is  no  doubt  a  tendency 
to  lacing  in  the  flowers,  bat  the  colours  lack  definement.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  when  your  plant  gains  strength  it  will  develop  into  the 
Polyanthus  form  of  flowering,  but  whether  it  does  so  or  not  the  variety 
possesses  no  commercial  value. 
Origin  of  Vegetables  [Lecturer). — We  cannot  tell  you  what  you 
desire  to  know.  Tne  intormation  could  only  be  acquired  by  laborious 
research  ;  but  the  following  records  may  not  be  without  interest,  as 
bearing  on  the  subject  of  your  note  “  Old,  Vegetables.— Of  vegetables 
known  in  very  remote  times,  the  Onion  is  the  m&st  conspicuous.  As 
late  back  as  2000  b  o.  it  was  a  great  favourite  with  the  Egyptians,  and 
we  read,  in  Herodotus,  that  there  was  an  inscription  upon  the  great 
pyramid  setting  forth  the  fact  that  1600  labourers  had  been  supplied 
with  Onions  in  one  day.  Another  plant  eaten  in  times  almost  as  remote 
is  the  Pea,  which  has  been  found  in  the  lake  dwellings  of  Switzerland, 
inhabited  during  the  ages  of  stone  and  bronze.  It  was  well  known  to 
Romans,  fried  Peas  being  sold  during  the  performances  at  their  theatres. 
When  the  Pea  was  first  introduced  into  England  we  do  not  know,  but 
old  chronicles  make  mention  of  the  fact  that  Green  Peas  were  eaten  in 
the  monasteries  soon  after  the  Norman  Conquest.  The  Romans,  by-the- 
by,  always  ate  theirs  dried.  Peas  were  a  great  luxury  during  the  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  were  eaten  with  the  ‘cods’  on,  when  young. 
At  the  time  of  Charles  II.  they  were  so  dear  as  to  cost  £1  a  pottle. 
The  Cabbage  is  but  a  variant  of  the  common  yellow-flowered  Cabbage 
of  our  seashores.  We  know  this  from  the  fact  that  the  red  pickling 
Cabbage  reverts  to  that  ancestral  form  after  a  few  generations  of 
neglect.  This  sea  Cabbage  is  also  the  parent  of  the  Cauliflower,  the 
Broccoli,  and  the  Kale,  which  parentage  the  Romans  appear  to  have 
been  aware  of,  as  they  always  manured  their  Cabbage  gardens  with 
seaweed.  The  largest  plants  that  they  raised  were  of  the  kind  called 
Sabellian,  one  specimen  of  which  is  mentioned  by  Pliny,  as  having  been 
3  feet  across.  Asparagus  was  sucked  by  wealthy  gourmands  more  than 
200  years  before  the  Christian  era.  E  yen  the  stern  Cato  was  extremely 
fond  of  it,  and  declared  that  he  once  cultivated  three  large  heads,  whose 
united  weight  amounted  to  the  equivalent  of  an  English  pound.  If  one 
wishes  to  enjoy  a  surfeit  of  the  delicacy,  let  him  go  to  the  salt  steppes 
of  Northern  Russia.  Here  miles  on  miles  are  covered  with  the  heads, 
upon  which  horses  and  cattle  feed,  eating  them  like  grass.  Artichokes, 
of  the  kind  known  as  Jerusalem,  are  mentioned  by  Dioscorides  as  having 
been  eaten  during  the  first  century  B  c.  The  Beetroot,  the  Parsnip,  and 
the  Carrot  were  all  Latin  vegetables,  but  of  the  first  only  the  leaves 
were  eaten  before  modern  times.  The  first  Parsnips  we  hear  of  were 
brought  to  Rome  from  Germany,  and  were  served  at  the  table  of  the 
Emperor  Tiberias,  who  ate  them  with  honey.  They  were  known  to  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  who  called  them  ‘  mad  napes,’  because  eating  them 
when  old  was  supposed  to  unsettle  the  reason.  The  Carrot  is  men* 
tioned  by  Theophrastus  in  his  ‘  History  of  Plants,’  as  having  been 
first  obtained  from  Sparta.  It  was  brought  to  this  country  by  the 
Flemings.  Though  our  market  gardeners  have  made  many  attempts 
to  raise  the  Sweet  Carrot  from  the  wild  stock,  they  have  all  been 
unsuccessful.” 
Cucumber  Plant  land  Soil  ( A .  6.  W. ). — The  sturdy  short- 
jointed  stem  and  thick  leathery  leaves  of  the  plant  are  all  that  could  be 
desired  ;  but  the  fruit  is  stunted  and  curled.  There,  however,  was  no 
disease  in  the  fruit,  nor  could  we  find  any  parasitic  organism  on  any 
part  of  the  plant  above  ground.  But  if  the  parts  in  sight  were  normal, 
there  was  something  out  of  sight  to  the  ordinary  vision — serious,  mean¬ 
ing  loss  of  crop,  capital,  time,  and  labour  ;  and  we  sincerely  sympathise 
with  you  in  your  misfortune.  This,  however,  goes  but  a  very  little  way 
in  anything  connected  with  parasitism,  and  to  find  methods  of  relief  the 
nature  of  the  evil  must  be  traced  to  its  source.  Quite  healthy  to  the 
collar,  or  where  the  seed  leaves  had  been,  was  your  plant  in  the  part 
above  ground.  On  making  a  transverse  section  of  the  stem  just  below 
the  seed  leaves,  and  on  the  part  that  had  been  in  the  soil,  and  holding 
this  up  to  the  light,  the  woody  tissue  was  found  to  be  slightly  brown. 
Making  a  longitudinal  section,  and  placing  this  under  the  microscope, 
the  hypba  of  a  fungus  was  plainly  visible  in  the  intercellular  spaces  of 
the  vascular  cells,  and  on  two  sides  the  mycelial  hyphse  had  broken 
through  the  cellular  tissue,  and  appeared  outside  the  stem.  Every 
endeavour  was  made  to  find  “fruits”  of  the  fungus,  but  without 
success.  The  mycelial  hyphse  (web)  was  that  of  the  Bmother  fungus, 
Sclerotinia  sclerotiorum,  Mass.,  of  which  the  conidial  condition  is 
frequently  suppressed.  Following  the  root  stem  downwards  the  discolora¬ 
tion  increased  in  intensity,  till  culminating  in  the  decayed  portion, 
which,  as  you  say,  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  root  stem,  between  the  stem 
and  tap  root.  There  the  root  stem  was  completely  decayed  and 
relatively  dry,  for  this  is  not  a  wet  rot,  and  the  decay  proceeded  both 
downward  and  upward,  chiefly  the  latter,  in  the  root  stem.  In  this  dead 
part  were  numerous  sclerotia  (small  black  elongated  bodies),  the  rest¬ 
ing  stage  of  the  fungus,  and  from  which  spring  the  ascophores,  bearing 
the  Bpores  of  the  parasite.  Other  portions  of  the  roots  were  decayed,  but 
they  only  contained  mycelium.  In  other  respects  the  roots  and  root 
stem  were  singularly  healthy,  and  without  nodosities,  as  caused  by 
eelworm  ;  nor  were  any  of  these  pests  found  in  the  living  tissues  of  the 
roots,  but  a  portion  of  the  decaying  stem  in  a  solution  of  aniline 
yielded  a  specimen  of  the  short  blunt-ended  eelworm  (Tylenchus 
obtusus,  Bastian).  The  eelworm  was  certainly  not  the  cause  of  the 
disease.  Hyphse  of  the  fungus  in  the  woody  tissues,  in  which  the  sap 
ascends,  had  partially  cut  off  the  supply  of  nutriment,  and  the  fruit, 
instead  of  elongating,  Burled  as  a  natural  consequence.  The  case 
is  what  is  known  to  gardeners  as  root  (not  collar)  canker.  The 
fungoid  attack  begirs  on  the  radicle  or  tap  root.  Sometimes  it  kills  the 
young  plants,  and  they  become  mouldy.  That  mould  is  the  conidial 
condition  of  the  parasite,  Botrytis  cinerea  sclerotiophila,  Sacc. ;  yours  is 
simply  this,  suppressed  as  before  stated,  and  it  also  produces  a  sclerotium, 
once  called  Sclerotium  durum.  This  we  have  detected  in  Cucumber  and 
Tomato  seed,  and  is  discernible  by  the  black  colour  of  the  seed  integu¬ 
ment,  therefore  the  malady  may  go  over  with  the  seed.  This  shows 
the  importance  of  careful  seed  saving  from  only  healthy  plants.  But 
the  parasite  usually  goes  over  from  year  to  year  in  the  soil,  and  has  done 
so  in  your  case,  as  the  roots  are  infested  here  and  there  on  the  lateral 
ones  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  radicle,  and  besides  the  soil 
contains  sclerotia.  You  ask  for  a  remedy  and  prevention  in  the  future. 
The  soil  is  good  turfy  loam,  full  of  fibre — a  very  excellent  one  for 
Cucumbers,  but  it  contains  both  eelworms  and  the  sclerotia  of  the 
smother  fungus.  You  may  not  appreciate  our  recommendation,  as 
cultivators  have  an  abhorrence  of  whatever  tends  to  reduce  the  stores  of 
nitrogen,  but  we  must  say  that  the  soil  needs,  and  must  have,  lime — not 
magnesian,  but  best  chalk  or  land  lime — and  it  should  be  mixed  with 
the  soil  some  time  in  advance  of  using  it  for  Cucumbers,  so  as  to  part 
with  its  causticity  and  act  on  the  organic  matter  effectively.  In  bad 
cases  10  per  cent,  may  be  used,  then  let  lie  Bix  months  ;  if  5  per  cent., 
three  months  ;  but  in  most  cases  2 1  per  cent,  suffices,  and  this  allows  of 
the  soil  being  used  shortly  after  mixing.  On  the  plants  as  they  are  we 
should  not  hesitate  to  place  soil  around  the  collar  and  get  roots  from  the 
stem,  mixing  a  little  air-slaked  chalk  lime  with  the  old  soil  without  dis¬ 
turbing  the  surface  much,  adding  some  to  the  fresh  soil,  or  some  mineral 
superphosphate,  37  to  39  per  cent,  soluble  phosphate,  three  parts ; 
muriate  of  potash,  85  per  cent,  purity,  two  parts  ;  and  sulphate  of 
magnesia,  one  part,  mixed,  using  about  2  ozs.  per  square  yard  every 
fortnight  or  three  weeks,  and  washing  in.  To  get  at  the  fungus  you  may 
use  Little’s  soluble  phenyle,  one  in  ninety-six  parts  water,  or  1  gill 
(i  pint)  to  3  gallons  of  soft  water,  which  will  give  value  for  outlay  as  a 
manure,  besides  possibly  killing  both  the  fungus  and  the  eelworm, 
using  it  in  about  the  same  amount  as  in  an  ordinary  watering,  and 
repeating  occasionally.  Some  consider  this  sufficient  without  using 
lime,  as  it  acts  on  the  organic  matter  in  the  soil,  and  the  plants  give 
quicker  and  heavier  returns.  Nitrate  of  soda  has  also  been  used 
effectively  in  the  ordinary  course  of  watering,  but  not  stronger  than 
oz.  to  a  gallon  of  water,  prepared  a  short  time  before  used  so  as  to 
become  aired. 
