490 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Jii'ie  3, 
wise  preparing  them  for  future  use.  Keep  all  weak  colonies  limited 
for  room,  so  as  to  maintain  the  temperature  of  the  hive  as  much  as 
possible.  The  brood  nest  may  be  enlarged  as  often  as  necessary,  but 
it  is  as  well  to  err  on  the  side  of  safety  until  a  favourable  change  in 
the  weather  sets  in. — An  English  Bee-keeper. 
TRADE  CATALOGUES  RECEIVED. 
Fisher,  Son,  &  Sibray,  Ltd.,  Handsworth,  Sheffield.  —  Bedding  and 
Border  Plants. 
II.  Henkel,  Darmstadt.—  Aquatic  Plants. 
E.  Hills,  West  Street,  Reigate. — Seeds. 
W.  Manger  A:  Son,  Guernsey. —  Wholesale  Bulb  Catalogue. 
.a*.  All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should,  until 
further  notice,  be  directed  to  “  The  Editor,”  8.  Rose  Hill  Road, 
Wandsworth,  S.W.,  and  NOT  to  12,  Mitre  Court  Chambers, 
Fleet  Street.  It  is  requested  that  no  one  will  write  privately  to 
any  of  our  correspondents,  seeking  information  on  matters 
discussed  in  this  Journal,  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.  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.  Letters  of  inquiry  must  be  accompan’ed  by 
the  names  and  addresses  of  the  writers,  but  these  will  neither  be 
published  nor  disclosed  when  initials  or  nom  de  plumes  are  given 
for  the  purpose  of  replies. 
Oorrespondents  should  not  mix  up  on  the  same  sheet  questions  relating 
to  Gardening  and  those  on  Bee  subjects,  and  it  is  convenient  when 
each  question  is  written  on  a  separate  sheet.  All  articles  intended 
for  insertion  should  he  written  on  one  side  of  the  paper  only;  and 
the  name  and  address  of  each  writer  must  be  known  by  the 
Editor,  though  not  necessarily  for  insertion.  We  cannot,  as  a 
rule,  reply  to  questions  through  the  post,  and  we  do  not  under¬ 
take  to  return  communications  which,  for  any  reason,  cannot 
he  inserted. 
Heating  Small  Greenhouses  (F.  ff.). — We  presume  you  desire  to  heat 
the  greenhouse,  and  render  it  suitable  for  the  growth  of  plants  in  winter 
without  the  aid  of  a  boiler  and  hot-water  pipes  for  distributing  heat 
throughout  the  house.  We  do  not  know  of  any  oil  stove  that  we  should 
trust  to  do  this  in  a  house  of  ours  of  the  dimensions  you  give.  If  you 
turn  to  advertisements  over  a  few  back  numbers  you  will  find  small 
borders  for  heating  far  more  reliable  than  a  stove  inside  the  house. 
Sewage  Farms  (F.  IF.). — We  do  not  know  of  a  book  on  the  “  manage¬ 
ment  of  sewage  farms.”  If  any  of  our  readers  can  recommend  one  which 
they  have  found  useful,  and  will  favour  with  its  title,  price,  and  publisher, 
we  will  gladly  furnish  you  with  the  information.  We.received  the  com¬ 
munication  you  sent  some  time  ago,  but  doubt  if  its  publication  would 
serve  any  useful  purpose.  Similar  suggestions  have  been  published  more 
than  once  or  twice,  and  the  discussions  that  followed  had  no  practical 
result  ;  your  letter,  however,  is  still  in  existence. 
Muscat  of  Alexandria  Grapes  Blackened  {A.  W.).— The  berries  are 
simply  shanked.  No  doubt  keeping  the  house  too  close  and  moist  would 
the  evil,  but  the  defect  arises  chiefly  from  an  unsuitable 
rooting  medium.  The  border  may  be  too  close  and  wet,  or  deficient  in 
suitable  nutrients,  or  an  excess  of  something  prejudicial.  In  such  cases  a 
dressing  of  lime  frequently  has  a  good  effect.  We  should  give  this  in 
conjunction  with  soot,  using  equal  parts  by  measure,  and  employing  half 
a  pound  of  the  mixture  per  square  yard,*  point  in  very  lightly.  The  lime 
•should  be  best  chalk  lime,  air  slaked,  or  slaked  with  the  least  amount  of 
water  necessary  to  cause  it  to  fall  into  a  fine,  apparently  dry,  flourv 
condition,  and  cool  when  used. 
New  Coreopsis  (^H.  D.\ — If  you  had  seen  the  flowers  on  their 
arrival  their  pitiable  condition  would  have  brought  tears  into  your 
eyes.  Four  flowers,  loosely  placed  in  a  dry  box.  without  any  packing, 
large  enough  to  have  held  200,  were  so  dashed  to  and  fro  in  transit 
that  there  was  really  very  little  left  of  them.  We  could  see  they  were 
larger  than  other  shrivelled  and  shrunken  Coreopsis  flowers  would  have 
been,  and  of  a  rich  orange  in  colour.  We  presume  they  were  cut  from  a 
plant  that  was  raised  from  seed  in  the  autumn.  We  should  think  that 
such  flowers  when  fresh  would  be  generally  acceptable  at  this  period  of 
the  year.  If  they  had  been  so  closely  packed  in'  soft  green  grass  as  to 
ihave  been  immovable  they  would  no  doubt  have  arrived  in  excellent 
^condition.  See  our  remarks  below,  under  “Names  of  Plants.” 
Seedling  Gloxinia  {Rheola). — The  flower,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  from 
its  shrunken  condition,  was  no  doubt  when  fresh  bright  and  attractive, 
lobes  scarlet  margined  with  white,  and  a  spotted  throat.  The  variety  is 
worthy  of  increase  for  home  decoration,  but  we  doubt  if  it  is  of  com¬ 
mercial  value.  You  took  great  pains  in  packing,  but  in  the  wrong 
direction.  See  our  remarks  on  the  subject  in  the  above  lines. 
Hibiscus  sinensis — Maple  Leaves— Magnolias  (/.  C.  S.'). — Hibiscus 
rosa-sinensis  and  its  varieties  are  stove  plants,  but  are  sometimes  grown 
in  a  warm  greenhouse,  the  soil  being  kept  dry  in  the  winter,  but  not 
allowing  the  wood  to  shrivel.  The  sprays  are  not  those  of  Acer 
saccharinum,  for  the  leaves  of  this  are  “  cordate,  smooth,  palmately 
five-lobed  ;  lobes  accuminated,  sinuately  toothed.”  There  is  no  toothing 
on  the  lobes  of  your  specimen.  It  appears  to  be  A.  palmatiim,  or  a 
form  of  it.  Magnolia  giauca  has  white,  very  fragrant  flowers  in  May  to 
July,  and  is  a  very  fine  evergreen  shrub.  M.  obovata  discolor,  syn. 
M.  purpurea,  is  a  pretty,  small,  deciduous  shrub  with  flowers  purple 
outside  and  white  within,  and  fragrant.  M.  fuscata  is  a  greenhouse 
evergreen  shrub  with  dull  purple,  very  fragrant,  small  flowers.  The  two 
first  named  are  hardy,  but  the  first  is  best  grown  against  a  wall  in  cold 
districts. 
Pear  Leaves  Diseased  (F.  D.). — The  cause  of  the  insects  in  the  Pear 
leaves  we  do  not  know,  other  than  that  they  rind  in  them  the  food  essential 
to  their  existence  and  continuation.  The  insect  causing  the  blisters  is 
the  Pear  leaf  mite,  Phytoptus  pyri,  which  spring  from  eggs  deposited  in 
the  tissue  of  the  young  leaves,  and  when  the  mites  arc  developed  they 
pass  through  an  opening  in  the  under  side  of  the  leaf  to  other  leaves, 
biting  through  the  outer  skin  and  causing  a  blister,  in  which  more  eggs 
are  deposited  in  turn  in  the  gall,  and  so  on  till  late  summer,  when 
males  and  females  are  developed,  these  living  dcrmantly  in  the  scales  of  the 
buds  during  the  winter.  The  best  cure  is  to  prevent  the  enemy  attacking 
the  trees  in  spring  by  dressing  the  buds  carefully  with  petroleum  emulsion, 
diluting  the  kind  advertised  with  six  parts  of  water,  and  applying  in 
winter  with  a  brush  or  spray  distributor.  You  may  also  now  use  the 
emulsion,  diluting  according  to  the  instructions,  on  the  under  side  of  the 
leaves,  by  spraying  upwards.  This  will  deter  the  mites  spreading  to 
other  leaves. 
Diseased  Melon  Shoots  (J.  L.  J/.).— The  leaves  had  the  appearance 
of  attack  by  the  Cucumber  mildew,  Plasmopoia  cubensis,  but  under 
culture  the  diseased  parts  have  developed  fruits  of  the  common  mould, 
Pencillium  glaucum,  usually  associated  with  decayed  organic  matter. 
We  found  no  trace  of  any  other  micro-organism,  nor  was  there  anything 
to  account  for  the  browning,  or  rather  scorching,  of  the  points  of  the 
shoots  and  young  leaves.  We  have  known  such  to  arise  from  excessive 
evaporation  on  bright  weather  recurring  after  a  period  of  dull  and  cold, 
the  plants  not  being  in  very  good  condition  at  the  roots,  or  too  dry.  The 
symptoms  are  not  inconsistent  with  an  attack  by  eelworm  at  the  roots, 
but  of  that  we  can  offer  no  opinion.  There  has  been  a  sudden  check  of 
some  kind,  but  by  what  caused  we  are  unable  to  say  in  the  absence  of 
any  information  to  guide  us.  The  plants  affected  may  recover  if  the 
disaster  has  been  caused  as  suggested,  the  conditions  of  growth  are  as 
favourable  as  possible.  In  most  cases,  however,  stunted  plants  seldom 
prove  satisfactory.  If  eelworms  are  present  you  will  find  the  roots 
knotted  or  swollen,  in  which  case  uproot,  scald  the  soil,  and  plant  anew. 
Vine  Leaves  Brown  and  Sickly  (JT.  D.). — The  leaves  have  every 
appearance  of  being  attacked  by  red  spider,  but  they  are,  as  you  say, 
“  very  clean  ”  in  that  respect,  and  there  is  no  trace  of  insect  infection. 
The  younger  leaves  have  the  upper  surface  freckled  by  yellowish  brown 
spots  with  yellow  centres  and  reddish  borders,  with  numerous 
yellowish  pustules  on  the  under  side  of  the  leaf.  On  the  older  or  fully 
developed  leaves  the  spots  have  reddish  borders,  the  leaf  assuming  a 
brown  appearance  as  if  mature,  but  with  a  sickly  and  dried-up  aspect. 
The  under  side  of  these  leaves  is  covered  with  numerous  small  black 
pimples,  and  from  these  issue  a  very  curions  thick  thread  from  the  apex 
of  each,  which  twists  about  in  a  horn-like  manner,  and  consists  of  threads 
of  bodies  glued  together  by  an  adherent  substance.  The  minute  pimples 
on  the  young  leaves  are  the  early,  and  those  on  the  older  foliage  the 
matured  pustules  or  pycnidia  of  the  black  rot  fungus  of  the  Vine, 
Loestadia  Bidwelli.  The  berries  show  no  trace  of  the  parasite,  but  the 
disease  does  not  appear  upon  them  until  about  a  fortnight  after  the  spores 
mature  on  the  leaves,  and  we  are  pleased  to  find  they  are  not  very 
active  in  germination,  and  may  not  develop  on  the  cuticle  of  the  Grapes, 
as  they,  being  in  the  ripening  stage,  may  have  too  tough  and  hard  a 
skin  for  their  penetration.  Under  the  circumstances  we  should  not  do 
more  than  use  a  little  sulphur  on  the  hot-water  pipes,  heating  them 
occasionally,  say  twice  a  week,  to  as  near  the  boiling  point  as  possible 
without  actually  making  the  water  boil,  keeping  the  house  close  for  about 
an  hour,  and  then  allow  the  pipes  to  cool,  and  after  a  time  admit  the 
usual  amount  of  air  at  the  top  of  the  house.  This  we  consider  will 
prevent  the  spread  of  the  fungus,  for  it  certainly  cannot  thrive  in  a  dry 
and  well  ventilated  atmosphere.  Damp  is  an  essential  of  germination  and 
development,  favoured  by  moisture  on  the  leafage  and  fruit,  such  as  occurs 
at  night  when  the  house  is  kept  close,  and  in  dull  weather  when  little 
or  no  air  is  given.  When  the  leaves  fall  or  those  attacked  become  useless 
burn  them,  including  all  damaged  fruit,  so  as  to  get  rid  of  the  resting- 
spore  stage  of  the  fungus,  and  in  winter  dress  the  rods  with  a  10  per 
cent,  solution  of  sulphate  of  iron,  applying  with  a  brush,  also  remove 
the  surface  soil  of  the  border  inside,  and  use  an  ounce  of  the  sulphate  per 
square  yard  as  a  top-dressing,  and  leave  it  there.  Follow  in  the  spring 
with  best  chalk  lime,  half  a  pound  per  square  yard,  and  leave  it  on  the 
surface  to  be  washed  in. 
