October  16,  189ff; 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
369 
Now  I  must  give  Mr.  D.  another  shock.  In  more  than  one  or 
two  experiments  with  lime  5  per  cent,  applications  did  no  good — 
the  material  wa*  wasted.  Applied  at  twice  the  rate  it  was  profit¬ 
able  ;  at  thrice  the  rate  more  profitable  still.  “  There  was  no  lime 
in  the  land  ”  he  may  say  to  himself.  Perhaps  not,  and  even  then 
the  dressing  would  be  wholly  at  variance  with  his  views.  Who 
this  Mr.  D.  may  be  I  do  not  know,  but  his  writings  indicate  him  j 
t)  be  a  diligent  student  anxiously  searching  for  truth  ;  but  then  : 
also  I  cannot  help  thinking — suggest  that  he  has  not  yet  fully  I 
learned  the  lesson,  which  only  long  practice  can  teach,  that  i 
laboratory  work  is  not  garden  work.  As  to  Mr.  A.,  I  cannot  make  j 
him  out  at  all.  He  describes  good  practice  and  also  deals  in  science,  I 
but  whether  this  is  equally  good  I  must  leave  others  to  determine,  | 
as  he  goes  beyond  my  humble  capacity  to  comprehend  ;  but  I  do  | 
happen  to  know  that  his  little  doses  of  kainit  with  additions  have  i 
not  given  the  results  they  were  hoped  to  accomplish.  i 
I  must  now  get  on  to  the  hot- water,  even  at  the  risk  of  burning  1 
my  fingers,  which  I  have  many  times  found  more  tender 
than  the  roots  of  plants.  That  is  something,  and 
something  more  is  that  tender-skinned  soil  pests  are 
usually  more  tender  than  the  roots  of  the  plants  they 
attack,  as  are  most  of  the  leaf  pests  that  attack  most 
leaves.  Water  may  be  used  hot  enough  to  destroy 
mealy  bug  on  Gardenias,  and  icale,  not  on  Camellias 
only,  but  Perns,  without  injuring  any  of  those  plants, 
while  it  settles  aphis  on  anything.  Further,  it  cooks 
worms  and  grub*  in  soil,  especially  if  seasoned  with 
mustard,  this  tickling  them  up,  instead  of  like  Brer 
Rabbit,  “  lying  low  ”  and  finding  shelter.  Those  facts 
lead  me  to  half  regret  that  my  Cucumbers  and 
Tomatoes  are  free  from  eel  worm.  If  they  were  not 
I  should  certainly  give  them  a  few  doses  of  “  hot  ”  in 
the  hope  of  taking  the  conceit  out  of  the  savants  in 
discovering  a  remedy  at  home  while  they  are  searching 
for  something  that  will  effect  the  same  purpose. 
It  may  now  be  fairly  asked  at  what  temperature  I 
should  use  the  mustard  and  water  to  Cucumbers  and 
Tomat^oes.  Not  having  applied  it  to  them  I  cannot  say, 
but  I  know  what  I  should  do.  I  should  dose  one  plant 
with  the  simple  worm  and  grub  killer  at  120°  and 
another  at  130°,  and  watch  the  result*,  then  act 
accordingly,  just  as  I  have  done  with  other  plants, 
and  what  astonished  me  most  of  all  was  the  heat 
they  could  endure  while  their  attacking  foes  were 
destroyed.  I  am  not  much  of  a  writer,  and  Mr.  A. 
and  Mr.  D.  may  crush  me  with  their  pen*,  but  I  flatter 
myself  I  could  give  them  a  twisting  in  a  day  of 
digging  in  our  Norfolk  cheese.  I  am  only  — 
A  Single-handed  Gardener. 
ACID  ANTHER  A  BICOLOR. 
At  a  September  meeting  of  the  Royal  Horticaltaral 
Society  Messrs,  J.  Veitch  &  Sons,  Chelsea,  exhibited  several 
specimens  of  this  charming  Abyssinian  bulbous  plant, 
which,  though  not  quite  new  to  thi*  country,  is  practically 
unknown  to  other  than  botanists.  We  cannot  say  whether 
the  plant  is  perfectly  hardy  or  not,  though  we  learn  that  at 
the  Coombe  Wood  Nursery  of  Messrs,  Veitch  it  stands  and 
flowers  well  out  of  doors.  It  may,  however,  be  welcome 
EIG,  67.— ACIDANTHERA'  BIOOLOR. 
due  course  the  plants  which  had  been  raised  in  pbenyle-treated  *oil 
were  planted  ;  they  refused  to  grow,  and  in  about  a  month  were  taken  up 
no  larger  than  when  planted,  the  roots  being  covered  with  small  white 
excrescerfces.  Can  Mr.  Abbey  tell  us  why  the  phenyle  did  not  prevent 
disease  m  this  instance  1 — J.  Shalford. 
It  will  perhaps  be  gratifying  to  ••  W.  D.”  to  find  that  “  By  the  Sea,” 
for  whom  he  inquires  in  last  week’s  issue,  has  not  thus  far  succumbed  to 
eelworm,  or  the  remedies  recommended  by  “  Phenyle  Adviser viz , ,  phenyle 
solution,  1  oz.  to  the  gallon  of  kainit,  nitrate  of  soda,  or  boiling  water. 
expect  a  plain  man  to  join  issue  with  two  such  experts  as  Mr. 
Abbey  and  “  W.  D,”  upon  this  subject  reminded  me  too  forcibly  of  the 
rate  which  befel  the  bo’sun  in  Mr.  Midshipman  Easy’s  famou* 
triangular  duel.  I  was  content  to  look  on  whilst  they  indulged  in  their 
chemical  signs  and  “  euphonious  ”  names,  which,  sad  to  relate,  so  far  as 
conveyed  to  me  might  as  well  be  Egyptian  hieroglyphics. 
Wny  do  not  they  explain  their  signs,  and  so  make  their  meaning  clear  ? 
burely  it  would  not  be  derogatory  to  their  'status. 
for  the  adornment  of  the  cold  greenhouse  and  the  conservatory, 
where  its  blooms  would  be  very  acceptable  to  impart  the  much- 
desired  variety.  The  flowers  are  borne  on  long  footstalks,  that  spring 
from  the  small  Gladiolus-like  foliage  to  a  height  of  upwards  of 
12  inches.  They  are  not  produced  singly  but  number  four  or  five 
on  a  stalk.  The  colour  is  creamy  white,  with  a  purplish  blotch  at 
the  base  of  all  the  segments  with  the  exception  of  the  upper  one.  A 
first-class  certificate  was  awarded  to  Acidanthera  bicolor  (fig.  67)  by 
the  Floral  Committee  of  the  Society. 
ROOT  EELWORM  IN  CUCUMBERS. 
A  LITTLE  more  light  might  well  be  diffused,  I  think,  on  this  snbject 
by  some  of  our  icientific  writers.  Light  and  ventilation  are  useful  for 
most  thiugs  horticultural,  and  learners  such  as  myself  are  thankful  for 
all  we  can  get  in  the  pages  of  tbe  Journal. 
The  following  experience  may  be  interesting  to  some  who  have  been 
following  the  discussion  by  Mr.  Abbey  and  “  W.  I>.”  Last  spring  I 
had  a  three-light  frame  (heated),  the  soil  of  which  I  knew  contained 
this  pest  owing  to  the  behavour  of  some  French  Beans  which  had  pre¬ 
viously  been  its  occupants.  The  soil  and  walls  were  treated  to  a 
strong  solution  of  phenyle,  the  former  being  thoionghly  saturated.  In 
However  it  maybe  some  gratification  to“W,  D.,”  it  is  very  much 
the  reverse  to  me  to  know  that  the  trial  of  the  remedies  above 
enumerated,  with  the  exception  of  boiling  water,  which  though  cleansing 
would  prove  rather  too  effectual  in  the  case  of  growing  plants,  resulted 
in  failure  both  as  preventives  or  cures .  Why?  Perhaps  Mr.  Abbey  will 
lell  us  the  materials  were  not  used  sufficiently  strong.  They  were  used 
according  to  ”  Phenyle  Adviser’s  ”  instructions.  Of  course  to  increase  the 
strength  of  the  solutions  is  one  thing,  but  to  increase  by  double  the 
strength  at  one  remove,  as  “  W.  D.”  asserts  has  been  done  by  the  kainit 
solution,  a  few  snch  doublings  would  soon  lead  to  no  one  knows  where. 
"  W,  D.’s”  deduction  that  immersing  plants  in  a  1  oz.  to  the  gallon 
solution  and  applying  the  said  solution  to  plants  growing  in  borders 
and  the  open  ground  are  two  very  different  things  is,  to  my  mind  very 
much  to  the  point,  and  well  worthy  of  Mr.  Abbey’s  consideration.  We 
have  so  far  had  no  record  of  success  obtained  against  eelworms  by  the 
use  of  any  of  these  things  if  we  except  the  indirect  reference  made  by 
Mr.  Iggulden.  Someone  else  may  have  had  these  pests  ”  under  vision, 
watching  their  capers,”  and  can  tell  us  how  he  killed  them,  or  expelled 
them  from  soil  in  which  plants  were  growing  without  injuring  the 
latter.  So  far  we  have  no  substantial  record  of  this  having  been  done. 
Let  us  have  this  record  by  all  means,  and  I  for  one  will  hail  it  with  as 
much  satisfaction  as  I  first  hailed  soluble  phenyle  with  the  thought  that 
it  would  prove  a  way  out  of  the  diflSculty  with  which  I  was  wrestling. 
—Bn  the  Sea, 
