414 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
December  1,  1898.  [ 
they  reach  the  light.  While  this  is  going  on  the  roots  are  rapidly 
■extending,  gathering  the  force  and  substance  necessary  for  the  full 
development  of  the  flower.  For  these  reasons  I  like  to  plant  fully 
'6  inches  deep.  It  is  important,  too,  that  the  bulbs  in  a  particular 
bed,  clump,  or  line,  be  planted  at  a  uniform  depth,  or  the  growth 
when  it  appears  above  the  soil  will  be  “  patchy,”  and  some  of  the 
flower  spikes  begin  to  unfold  a  week  or  two  in  advance  of  others  in  the 
same  bed. 
To  secure  satisfactory  results  in  this  respect  it  is  an  easy  matter  to 
drive  a  nail  into  the  dibber  6  inches  from  its  point;  the  planter  then 
has  only  to  make  sure  of  inserting  his  dibber  quite  up  to  the  nail.  A 
small  matter  this,  but,  like  so  many  other  trifling  details,  cannot  be 
neglected  with  impunity.  To  secure  a  really  good  show  Tulips  ought 
not  to  be  planted  more  than  6  or  7  inches  apart,  and  Hyacinths  9  or 
10.  Tf  the  latter  are  planted  too  closely,  the  full  beauty  of  their 
spikes  is  not  seen  to  advantage  ;  but  to  my  mind  Hyacinths  are  the 
most  effective  when  planted  a  foot  apart  with  Daisies,  Aubrietia,  or 
similar  dwarf  plants  employed  as  a  groundwork  between. 
In  mixed  borders  we  cannot  well  dispense  with  spring  flowering 
bulbs,  as  they  supply  brilliant  bits  of  colour  before  the  majority  of 
herbaceous  plants  flower.  Patches  or  lines  of  Crocus  and  Scillas  are 
well  adapted  for  planting  near  the  edges.  I  do  not  like  to  see  the 
ordinary  straight  line  of  these  in  a  mixed  border;  to  my  mind  a  much 
better  effect  is  secured  by  planting  a  patch  of  about  two  dozen  Crocus, 
then  taking  from  it  a  thin  irregular  line  to  the  next  patch,  some 
4  or  5  feet  distant,  and  interspersing  patches  of  Scilla  between. 
I  adopted  that  plan  in  forming  a  border  a  few  years  ago,  and  the 
result  was  greatly  admired.  Daffodils,  Narcissi,  Jonquils,  Tulips, 
and  Anemones  are  each  suitable  for  planting  in  goo’d  bold  clumps  in 
other  parts  of  a  mixed  border.  The  stations  should  be  deeply  dug, 
the  bulbs  planted  7  or  8  inches  in  depth,  and  be  left  undisturbed  for 
four  or  five  years;  then  it  is  necessary  to  lift  them,  weed  out  the 
small  bulbs,  and  replant  in  a  fresh  site.  With  good  culture  in  the 
matter  of  an  annual  surfacing  of  manure,  many  bulbous  plants  succeed 
far  better  when  left  undisturbed  in  the  way  above  indicated  than  when 
taken  up  each  year.  During  the  summer  time  annuals  can  be  planted 
above  them,  but  the  stronger  growing  varieties  ought  not  to  be 
employed. 
The  practice  of  planting  bulbs  in  grass  has  during  recent  years 
been  so  much  written  about  that  I  will  not  go  into  that  phase  of  the 
subject  here ;  but  there  is  a  method  of  securing  still  better  results 
which  is  often  overlooked,  this  I  should  like  to  point  out.  At  the 
present  season  alterations  of  various  descriptions  are  in  progress  in 
many  gardens ;  in  some  it  perhaps  takes  the  form  of  planting  shrub¬ 
beries  near  the  sides  of  walks,  with  a  considerable  space  in  front  to  be 
grassed  down,  in  others  additional  spaces  are  added  to  the  pleasure 
grounds.  In  each  case  the  ground  should  be  thoroughly  prepared  by 
trenching ;  then  after  the  trees  and  shrubs  are  planted  a  splendid 
opportunity  occurs  for  planting  bulbs  between  before  the  turf  is  laid 
or  grass  sown.  When  such  a  good  start  is  given  all  bulbous  plants 
grow  infinitely  better,  and  continue  satisfactory  far  longer  than  when 
planted  in  established  turf,  under  which  the  soil  is  often  threaded  with 
tree  roots. 
Next  week  I  hope  to  conclude  this  subject  with  a  few  remarks  on 
bulbs  during  their  sojourn  in  forcing  houses  or  pits. — H.  D. 
-  On  Behalf  of  the  Sparrows.— Generally  the  homely 
sparrow  is  looked  upon  as  a  mischievous  rascal,  incapable  of  perpetrating 
any  good  in  the  garden.  Many  of  the  charges  brought  against  him  can 
doubtless  be  provfd,  but  occasionally  one  comes  across  instances  where 
oven  the  sparrow  does  his  share  of  good,  and  such  a  case  came  recently 
under  my  notice.  Lucky  is  the  gardener  or  cottager  who  this  season  has 
not  had  reason  to  deplore  the  caterpillar  plague,  and  in  the  south  there 
are  not  many  in  that  enviable  position.  It  is  in  regard  to  the  caterpillar 
pest  that  a  word  is  put  forth  on  behalf  of  the  sparrows.  The  other  day 
when  waiting  for  a  train  at  a  station  where  an  extensive  goods  traffic  is 
done,  my  attention  was  draw  n  to  the  healthy  appearance  of  the  Cabbages 
and  Winter  Greens  in  the  sorrounding  gardens  which  bordered  on  the 
goods  yard.  There  was  scarcely  a  trace  of  caterpillar  destruction,  and 
this,  in  a  district  where  everyone  was  complaining,  led  to  inquiries  as  to 
the  cause  An  obliging  railway  official  offered  an  explanation  by  point¬ 
ing  to  a  large  flock  of  sparrows  busily  engaged  in  picking  bits  in  the 
yard.  He  had  watched  them,  so  he  informed  me,  just  before  the  cater¬ 
pillars  appeared  everywhere  else  in  swarms,  feeding  greedily  among  the 
green  crops  in  the  surrounding  gardens.  At  first  he  thought  they  wero 
devouring  the  leaves,  but  examination  of  the  plants  altered  his  opinion. 
Later  on  he  arrived  at  a  solution  of  what  at  the  time  appeared  to  him  a 
mystery,  for  when  everybody  else  in  the  district  was  complaining  c  f  the 
caterpillar  plague  the  greens  in  the  gardens  close  to  the  station  were 
comparatively  free.  The  inference  can  readily  be  drawn.  At  the  time 
when  suspicion  fell  on  the  sparrows  that  they  were  feeding  on  the  greens, 
they  were  doubtless  satisfying  their  rapacious  appetites  on  the  eggs  and 
newly  hatched  caterpillars.  At  the  present  moment  there  are  men  in  that 
particular  village  who  have  a  good  word  to  say  for  the  much-abused 
sparrow. — II. 
fc  h  rys'aWtheKa  um  s 
*  J  Vt  v  '•y  y 
CHRYSANTHEMUM  LEAF  RUST. 
At  last  (November  1st,  1898)  I  have  detected  on  a  specimen  for¬ 
warded  to  me  by  the  Editor  the  teleuto,  or  winter  spores  of  the  fungus 
which  causes  the  disease  known  as  “  rust  ”  on  the  leaves  of  Chrysan¬ 
themum  sinense  vars.  Hitherto  I  had  only  distinctly  found  uredo  or 
summer  spores,  and  acted  strictly  up  to  what  were  seen.  The  teleuto 
spores  are  not  easy  to  find  on  account  of  there  being  very  few  in  the 
specimens ;  yet  they  may  be  discovered  by  persevering  research  on 
dead  or  dying  leaves  infested  with  the  “  rust,”  a  small  cluster  being 
shown  in  fig.  70  at  A,  with  the  matrix  of  felted  mycelium  (a)  from 
which  they  spring. 
As  the  fungus  first  appeared  in  1897  it  was  provisionally  named 
Uredo  chrysanthemi,  and  as  it  was  stated  in  a  contemporary  to  be 
probably  Puccinia  hieraci,  also  in  an  American  paper  likely  to  be 
found  P.  tanaceti,  I  took  measures  to  work  out  the  life  history  of 
these  species,  and  to  culturally  obtain  them  on  Chrysanthemum 
sinense  vars.  Neither  in  pro-mycelium  spores — the  first  growth  repro¬ 
ductive  bodies  from  a  teleuto  spore — nor  in  uredo  or  summer  spore 
condition  could  they  be  induced  to  invade  the  Chrysanthemum  sinense 
vars.  The  pro-mycelium  and  uredo  spores  of  Puccinia  hieraci  vege¬ 
tated  on  and  invaded  the  leaves  of  the  common  Hardhead  (Centaurea 
nigra),  and  its  life  history  I  have  sent  to  the  Editor  for  reference. 
The  teleuto  spore  (fig.  70,  B )  of  Puccinia  tanaceti  in  the  spring, 
under  favourable  atmospheric  conditions,  pushes  pro-mycelium  from 
one  or  both  cells  at  b,  and  as  these  pro-mycelial  threads  iucrease  in 
length  the  protoplasm  pours  into  the  tubes,  as  shown  in  the  higher 
magnified  figure  ( C).  A  series  of  septa  then  appear  (indicated  at  c), 
wine'll  enclose  the  protoplasm  in  three  cells  at  the  end  of  the  respective 
tubes,  and  from  each  of  these  cells  springs  a  pale  yellowish  pro-mycelium 
spore  ( d ),  which  speedily  falls  from  the  slender  support  and  floats 
readily  in  dry  air.  In  the  presence  of  moisture  (D)  it  readily  pushes 
a  germinal  tube  (e).  If  on  a  Tansy  (Tanacetum  vulgare)  leaf 
the  germinal  tube  breaks  down  the  epidermis  by  emitting  a  fluid,  and 
bores  its  way  into  the  tissue  ;  or  it  may  force  through  a  stoma  or 
breathing  pore  (so-called),  then  by  growth  of  mycelium  give  rise  to  a 
pustule  containing  uredo  or  summer  spores,  and  these,  breaking 
through  the  epidermis,  be  broadcasted  by  wind,  and  on  suitable  hosts 
— which,  so  far  as  I  have  noticed,  are  those  of  the  genera  comprised 
in  the  sub  tribe  Artemisineae  of  the  Order  Ccmpositae — reproduce 
the  uredo  stage  again,  and  finally  the  winter  condition — teleuto 
spores. 
This — the  life  history  of  Puccinia  tanaceti — accords  with  that  of 
Puccinia  hieraci  and  many  other  species  that  have  only  two  kinds  of 
spores— namely,  uredo  or  summer,  and  teleuto  or  winter.  The  two 
species,  P.  hieraci  and  P.  tanaceti,  cannot  be  distinguished  from  each 
other  by  morphology  (Gr.  morjihe,  form ;  logos,  description) ;  but  this 
can  only  be  determined  by  biology  (Gr.  bios,  life;  logos,  a  discourse). 
In  the  “  rust  ”  of  Wheat  there  are  some  eight  species  known  under  that 
term,  and  not  morphologically  distinguishable  from  Puccinia  graminis, 
hence  history  alone  affords  any  satisfactory  evidence  of  identification 
in  species  of  common  origin.  The  type  form,  Puccinia  graminis,  has 
three  kinds  of  spores — secidia,  produced  on  Berberis  vulgaris;  uredo, 
borne  on  Wheat ;  and  teleuto,  also  following  on  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  Puccinia  glumarum — the  common  rust  of  Wheat,  and  almost 
inseparable  from  the  plant  in  any  part  of  the  world — dispenses  with 
the  aecidia  stage,  and  its  pro-mycelium  spores,  or  even  the  germinal 
tubes  from  the  teleuto  spores,  vegetates  on  the  Wheat  plant  and  enters 
its  tissues  by  pushing  in  the  tubes,  which  give  rise  to  pustules  or  sori 
containing  the  uredo  spores. 
There  semblance  of  Puccinia  hieraci  to  Chrysanthemum  rust  fungus 
in  uredo  (summer)  and  teleuto  (winter)  spore  condition,  and  P.  tanaceti 
being  exactly  like  it  in  both  respects,  implies  nothing  definite  as  to 
identity,  for,  neither  P.  hieraci  nor  P.  tanaceti  have  taken  to  Chrys¬ 
anthemum  sinense  vars.  That  is  the  great  point.  Neither  of  the 
species — P.  hieraci  and  P.  tanaceti — appear  on  our  native  species  of 
Chrysanthemum,  C.  Leucanthemum  and  C.  segetum,  nor  is  any  other 
species  of  Puccinia  found  on  them  in  uredo  or  teleuto  form,  but  the 
mcidia  stage  of  a  Puccinia  producing  uredo  and  teleuto  spares  on  a 
Carex  may  occasionally  be  found  on  the  Ox-eye  Daisy  (C.  Leucanthe¬ 
mum).  The  Chrysanthemum  belongs  to  the  sub-tribe  Chrysantlie- 
mineae  of  the  order  Compositse,  and  affinity  goes  much  farther  than 
anything  else  in  liability  to  parasitic  affections  of  the  same  kind. 
The  rust  fungus,  Puccinia  chrysanthemi,  first,  strictly  adhering 
to  evidence,  appeared  on  the  American  raised  variety  of  Chrys¬ 
anthemum  niveum,  some  say  three  years  ago ;  but  it  was  not  recognised 
