134 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  10,  1899. 
Solanum  jasminoides  (  Worcester ). — Solanum  jasminoides  succeeds 
•against  a  west  wall  in  Gloucestershire  and  produces  abundance  of 
racemes  of  flowers,  which  are,  needless  to  say,  fine  for  cutting.  It 
would  probably  succeed  in  Herefordshire  against  an  east  wall  in  a 
sheltered  situation,  but  the  shady  position  may  be  against  its  succieding. 
Naming  Products  at  Shows  ( II .  B.  P.). — Certainly,  when  a  rule  such 
as  the  following  is  printed  in  a  schedule,  it  ought  not  to  be  disregarded 
by  judges  and  officials,  if  it  is  infringed  by  an  exhibitor  with  an  obvious 
intention  to  deceive.  Here  is  what  you  send  from  the  Prescot  schedule  : — 
“Rule  11.  That  all  articles  for  competition  shall  be  correctly  named, 
and  the  names  placed  in  such  a  position  as  to  be  distinctly  seen,  and 
anyone  violating  this  rule  will  be  disqualified.”  While  we  are  sorry  to 
say  that  not  a  few  show  authorities  lightly  regard  their  own  “  regula¬ 
tions,”  we  suspect  the  misnaming  of  Roses  in  the  case  you  mention  was 
purely  accidental,  owing  to  pressure  at  the  moment  before  judging,  and 
intended  to  be  put  right  afterwards  for  the  public.  No  Rose  grower 
would  be  so  foolish  as  to  try  to  deceive  judges  by  naming  Gustave 
Piganeau  Merveille  de  Lyon.  The  right  names  and  Roses  were  probably 
in  the  box,  and  in  this  case  the  judges  would  see  there  had  been  no 
deception  ;  and  they  would  not  suppose  a  genuine  showman  would  like  to 
win  other  than  by  the  merits  of  his  blooms.  Through  the  misdirection  of 
your  letter  it  could  not  be  answered  last  week. 
Forcing  French  Beans  for  Market  ( Anxious ). —  French  Beans  are 
very  unceriain  in  cropping  at  the  dullest  part  of  the  year,  November  to 
January  inclusive.  The  best  we  have  grown  has  been  Ne  Plus  Ultia, 
closely  followed  by  Canadian  Wonder.  Of  the  Banner  French  Beans  we 
have  little  experience  under  glass,  especially  at  the  time  you  name.  The 
dwarfs,  in  our  experience,  succeed  in  the  beds  after  Melons,  both  sown 
ar.d  transplanted.  If  the  seeds  were  sown  three  in  a  GO-size  pot  at  the 
end  of  August  and  transplanted  from  the  cold  frames  in  September  to  the 
houses  you  should  have  pods  fit  to  gather  in  November  onwards,  the 
temperature  being  60°  to  65°,  advancing  10°  to  15°  or  more  from  sun  heat. 
The  plants  may  be  placed  in  rows  2  feet  apart,  and  9  to  12  inches 
asunder  in  the  rows.  An  average  yield  ranges  from  6  to  12  pods  per 
plant,  and  they  realise  (id.  to  9d.  per  100,  or  1  lb.  The  quickest  time 
French  Beans  can  be  grown  and  cleared  in  a  temperature  of  60°  to  65° 
night,  70°  to  75°  day,  with  10°  to  15°  rise  from  sun  heat,  is  six  weeks 
during  the  spring  -months,  and  at  the  time  you  name  ten  weeks,  or  even 
longer,  the  weather  making  the  difference.  In  the  houses  cleared  of  early 
Chrysanthemums  in  November  you  will  only  have  two  months  for  growing 
French  Beans,  and  our  experience  prompts  us  to  answer  your  question  in 
the  negative,  tor  unless  the  weather  were  unusually  mild  and  clear  we  do 
not  think  you  could  by  planting  early  in  December  have  a  paying  crop  of 
Betms  and  clear  it  off  by  the  end  of  January  for  Tomato  planting.  Why 
not  tiy  on  a  small  scale  ? 
Mossy  Park  Land  ( Grass  and  Moss). — The  practice  you  propose  would 
have  a  good  effect  on  the  moss  by  removing  a  part,  and  the  barrowing 
would  not  materially  injure  the  grass.  Moss  and  dead  grass,  however, 
afford  evidence  of  poverty  of  soil,  and  the  treatment  you  propose  would 
'  not  have  a  permanent  effect.  If  you  adhere  to  your  plan  we  should  not 
•harrow  the  ground  until  the  occurrence  cf  favourable  weather  during  the 
w  inter,  and  then  remove  all  the  moss  possible,  deferring  the  sowing  of 
•the  grass  seeds  until  the  early  part  of  April.  We  happen  to  have  made 
some  experiments  under  similar  conditions  to  yours.  On  a  gravelly  soil 
we  found  the  best  cure  for  moss  was  liberal  dressings  of  compost,  all  the 
refuse  of  the  pleasure  grounds  and  park  being  collected  in  a  heap,  and 
these — grass  edging  parings,  ditch  cleanings,  road  scrapings,  tree  leaves, 
and  similar  substances — mixed  with  a  tenth  part  of  gas  lime,  allowing 
the  heap  to  lie  a  few  months,  then  turning  the  outside  to  the  inside, 
throwing  out  and  burning  any  woody  portions,  and  scattering  the 
resultant  ashes  on  the  heap.  Turned  once  again,  and  lying  until  winter, 
the  stuff  was  applied  at  the  rate  of  forty  cartloads  to  the  acre,  spread 
evenly  in  November.  During  favourable  weather  at  the  end  of  February 
it  was  bush  harrowed,  and  again  early  in  April,  when  10  lbs.  of  renovating 
grass  seed  mixture  was  sown,  and  at  once  rolled  well  down.  We  had 
2  tons  of  hay  per  acre  on  land  that  in  the  previous  ten  years  had  not 
averaged  more  than  J  ton  of  hay  per  acre.  The  compost  was.  of  the 
previous  year’s  collection  and  current  season’s  preparation.  On  another 
portion  of  park  land  we  used  10  tons  of  quicklime  per  acre  at  the  end  of 
summer.  This  made  an  end  of  the  moss,  and  burned  up  the  dead  grass, 
making  the  land  very  bare.  In  the  winter  it  was  given  20  tons  of 
farmyard — stable,  cowhouse,  and  pigstye — manure,  evenly  spread  ;  bush 
harrowing  followed  in  March,  and  grass  seeds  were  sown,  as  before 
named,  early  in  April.  The  result  in  the  first  year  was  rot  so  good  as 
from  the  dressing  of  compost,  but  in  the  second  season  the  hay  crop  and 
aftermath  were  both  better  crops  than  the  other.  On  another  plot  we 
applied  no  lime,  but  tried  the  manure  alone,  20  tons  per  acre,  and  the 
result  was  an  apparently  heavier  crop  of  grass  than  either  of  the  other 
plots,  but  the  hay  crop  was  only  1^  ton  per  acre.  On  yet  anolher 
portion  of  the  park  we  had  sheep  penned  on  the  aftermath  in  the  autumn, 
and  fed  with  “  cake,”  with  the  result  that  the  moss  disappeared,  and  a 
heavy  crop  of  sweet  grass  followed.  Kainit  is  excellent  tor  mossy  land, 
applied  at  the  rate  of  5  cwt.  per  acre  in  late  autumn  or  before  February, 
following  with  2^  cwt.  of  nitrate  of  soda  per  acre  at  the  end  of  March,  or 
when  the  grass  commences  growing.  At  the  time  of  our  experiments 
basic  slag  phosphate  was  not  obtainable,  but  we  have  since  observed 
most  satisfactory  results  by  using  8  cwt.  per  acre  with  3  cwt.  of  kainit 
in  furrowing,  followed  by  nitrate,  as  advised,  in  the  spring.  Whenever 
possible,  however,  we  advise  the  use  of  a  natural  manurial  compost  to 
gravelly  soils,  as  theynepd  humus,  and  this  materially  helps  such  artificial 
manures  as  may  be  applied. 
Growing  Filberts  ( A  Kentish  Amateur'). — Several  articles  on  this  subject 
have  appeared  in  our  columns  from  time  to  time.  The  number  to  which 
you  particularly  refer  is  out  of  print,  and  we  therefore  reprint  the  article 
specified  on  page  127. 
Mountain  Ash  Trees  Dying  (K.  L.  A.j.  —  The  portions  of  bark  indicate 
destruction  by  some  fungoid  body,  but  that  on  the  specimen  is  of  a 
saprophytic  natuie.  Possibly  the  trees  are  affected  by  the  Mountain 
Ash  canker-fungus,  Cucurbitaria  Sorbi,  which  we  found  very  malignant 
on  the  stems  and  branches,  dead  patches  appearing  on  the  bark,  and  from 
these  small  fungus  bodies  were  produced.  It  destroyed  the  bark  on  the 
stems  in  patches,  and  even  on  the  branches,  in  every  case  killing  the  part 
above  the  point  of  infection  where  the  parasite  had  girdled  it,  even  killing 
the  trees  in  some  cases.  We  found  nothing  better  than  uprooting  the 
diseased  trees  too  far  gone  for  remedy.  In  other  cases  cutting  away  the 
diseased  parts  in  the  stem  and  branches  into  the  quick  or  living  bark, 
ar.d  dressing  the  wounds  with  Stockholm  tar.  thinned  into  consistency  of 
ordinary  paint  with  paraffin,  and  applying  with  a  stiff  brush  was  advan¬ 
tageously  resorted  to.  Possibly  something  may  be  wrong  at  the  roots, 
as  the  Lilaos  near  appear  to  be  dying.  You  should  make  an  examination. 
Black  Truffles  (T.  O roves). — The  specimen  you  send  is  an  excellent 
Black  Truffle,  of  which  we  reproduce  an  illustration  (fig.  99),  as  we 
think  it  w  11  be  of  interest  to  you  and  other  readers.  Just  as  many 
Fig.  29.— Black  Truffle. 
aerial  fungi  orly  grow  on  dead  wood,  and  that  of  a  particular  kind,  so 
the  Black  Truffle  is  only  met  with  among  the  roots  of  trees,  and  more 
especially  the  common  and  Evergreen  Oak  and  Quercus  coccifera.  It  is 
among  the  roots  of  these  trees  that  tho  Truffles  are  most  abundant,  and 
acquire  a  perfume  that  makes  them  esteemed  all  over  the  world.  Truffles 
increase  like  other  allied  fungi.  When  ripe  they  contain  minute  spores 
not  exceeding  1-250  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  when  the  Truffle  decays 
in  the  ground  these  produce  white  threads  or  mycelium,  like  Mushroom 
spawn  when  running,  and  a  fresh  crop  results. 
Tomato  Diseased  (Nom  de  Guerre).— The  fruit  is  affected  by  the  disease 
called  “  spot,”  and  is  produced  by  a  fungus  named  Cladosporium  fulvum 
(lycopersici),  which,  as  a  spore  or  spores,  commences  attack  mostly  at  the 
eye,  though  it  sometimes  infests  other  parts  of  the  fruit.  It  is  supposed 
to  be  induced  by’  moisture  resting  on  the  fruit,  this  weakening,  if  not 
destroying,  the  epidermal  or  rind  tissues.  Thus  the  fungoid  germs  find 
the  essential  condition  of  germination— namely,  moisture,  and  push  the 
germinal  tube  or  tubes  through  the  cuticle,  breaking  it  down  by  causing 
a  fermenr.  Once  under  the  skin,  the  germinal  tubes  branch  and  grow  in 
all  directions  beneath  the  cuticle  from  the  common  centre  in  concentric 
fashion,  thus  giving  a  ring-like  appearance  to  the  affected  part  ;  the 
mycelial  hyphas  penetra’ing,  abstracting  nourishment  from  and  destroying 
the  under. ymg  cells  or  flesh,  which  turns  brown  or  black,  and  a  depressed 
"spot”  is  the  consequence.  This  gradually  increases  in  size,  and  the 
fruit  ultimately  becomes  rotten.  Though  this  particular  disease  enters 
the  fruit  from  the  atmosphere,  conditions  of  culture  have  been  found  to 
exert  considerable  influence  on  the  disease  resisting  power  of  the  plant. 
Plants  grown  sturdily  from  seed  in  firm  and  not  over-rich  soil,  with 
abundance  of  light  and  ample  space  for  development,  are  generally  most 
disease  resistant,  and  as  the  malady  is  known  to  be  accelerated  by  a  moist  or 
stagnant  atmosphere,  the  precaution  should  be  taken  to  admit  a  little  air 
constantly,  and  increase  the  ventilation  by  or  before  the  sun  acts  power¬ 
fully’  on  the  house.  The  object  is  to  prevent  the  condensation  of  the 
moisture  on  the  fruit  by  keeping  it  as  warm  as  the  surrounding  air.  It  is 
assumed  that  this  prevents  the  germination  of  the  spores  of  the  fungus, 
and  it  certainly  conduces  to  the  hardening  of  the  euticular  tissues,  thus 
rendering  them  more  disease  resistant.  In  dull  weather  a  gentle  warmth 
in  the  hot-water  pipes  keeps  the  air  in  motion,  and  with  due  attention  to 
ventilation  tho  disease  seldom  attacks  the  fruits,  water  being  withheld 
from  them.  Spot  is  most  prevalent  during  the  latter  part  of  the  summer, 
when  fire  heat  is  dispensed  with,  and  though  air  be  given  day  and  night, 
there  is,  from  the  range  of  temperature,  some  deposition  of  moisture  on 
the  fruit,  and  the  fungus  then  takes  advantage  of  its  opportunities. 
