f 
440  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  November  8.  i898. 
very  pretty  for  small  beds.  Alyssum  saxatile  variegatum  is  not  so  much 
used  as  formerly,  but  is  a  great  favourite  of  mine,  and  valuable  among 
plants  of  this  class.  The  variegated  or  Aucuba-leaved  Daisies  are 
charming  for  edging  and  small  designs,  and  must  be  favourites  with 
everybody.  The  variegated  Aubrietia  is  very  neat,  and  so  is  the 
variegated  Forget-me-not,  and  quite  lovely  when  in  flower ;  bat  of  a 
weakly  constitution.  The  variegated  Jacob’s  Ladder  is  a  capital  plant, 
but  is  apt  to  die  out,  and  does  not  like  being  disturbed.  It  is  quite 
worthy  of  being  used  all  the  year  round  where  it  thrives  well. 
Among  white  or  grey  leaved  plants  the  Cerastiums  are  of  good  colour, 
and  make  well  defined  edgings ;  but  are  now  seldom  seen.  Stachys 
lanata  I  look  upon  as  one  of  our  most  valuable  plants  of  this  class  ;  it 
is  most  useful  for  making  our  larger  patterns  among  the  taller  plants, 
and  will  grow  in  almost  any  soil  or  situation.  We  have  a  dry  bank  at 
Park  Place  near  the  house  that  we  always  pattern  with  it,  and  the 
diamonds  formed  by  this  plant  are  filled  alternately  with  dark  and  yellow 
Wallflowers,  an  edging  of  Golden  Feather  or  some  other  effective  plant, 
and  the  angles  filled  in  with  blue  Pansy.  Even  in  gloomy  November  it 
comes  out  very  effectively,  chiefiy  owing  to  the  bold  design  made  by  the 
Stachys.  This  plant  can  be  very  easily  propagated  by  division.  I  have 
tried  it  this  year  from  seed  for  the  first  time,  more  for  trial  than  anything 
else,  and  it  has  given  us  some  very  nice  plants.  For  very  small  work 
Antennaria  tomentosa  is  effective,  looking  almost  like  snow.  Every¬ 
body  knows  the  value  of  Sedum  glaucum  for  edging  or  groundwork ; 
it  has  become  almost  indispensable  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  One  of 
the  very  best  dwarf  or  medium  sized  plants  of  this  class  is  Veronica 
incana.  We  grow  it  largely  for  margins  to  beds,  and  it  is  equally  useful 
for  lines  to  patterns.  It 'is  perfectly  hardy,  and  easily  propagated. 
Achillea  ajgyptiaca  is  another  whitish  grey  plant  of  this  clasa  we  have 
used  with  success. 
Among  yellow-leaved  plants  the  Golden  Feather  is  of  course  the  best. 
Although  it  has  become  such  a  common  and  much-abused  plant  we  can 
ill  spare  it.  We  sow  early  in  March  for  summer  use,  and  we  sometimes 
think  in  the  autumn  the  plants  will  carry  ns  through  the  winter  and  spring, 
but  this  is  a  mistake.  They  show  their  flower  stems,  lose  their  leaves, 
and  become  sticky.  It  is  best  to  sow  in  July  for  winter  and  spring  use, 
we  can  then  get  nice  little  plants  for  our  purpose.  These,  again,  will  not 
do  for  the  following  summer  bedding,  but  will  show  flower,  which  we  do 
not  want.  To  keep  this  most  useful  and  effective  plant  all  the  year  in 
good  condition  we  must  make  two  sowings  at  the  times  1  have  indicated. 
Of  all  plants  for  figuring  designs  it  is,  I  think,  the  most  distinct.  Golden 
Thyme  is  pretty,  especially  after  being  clipped  and  covered  with  fresh 
growth.  When  allowed  its  own  way  it  becomes  ragged  and  stringy. 
The  beautiful  golden-tipped  variety  of  Sedum  acre  is  charming  for 
carpeting,  and  very  striking  when  at  its  best.  It  is  Sedum  acre  aureum. 
I  inention  this  to  distinguish  it  from  Sedum  acre  elegans,  a  cream- 
coloured  variety,  very  pretty,  but  not  so  conspicuous  as  the  first  named, 
Stellaria  graminea  aurea  is  another  effective  little  golden  plant,  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  Spergula  pilifera  aurea. 
Red-leaved  plants  are  not  numerous  for  winter  and  spring  use.  We 
formerly  used  Ajuga  reptans  purpurea  rather  largely,  a  plant  very  little 
known,  but  I  think  the  best  of  its  class.  The  purple-leaved  Plantain  is 
good  in  colour,  but  rather  rough-looking  and  difScult  to  increase.  A 
little  plant  that  helped  us  a  good  deal  when  we  had  our  terrace  garden 
design  was  Sedum  Lydium,  sometimes  called  S.  lividum.  It  changes 
colour  from  green  to  red,  and  sometimes  a  mixture  of  the  two.  It  is  a 
very  peculiar  plant  in  this  respect,  and  very  accommodating. 
There  are  two  or  three  other  useful  plants  1  should  like  to  mention  of 
this  class.  Herniaria  glabra  is  a  capital  all-the-year-round  little  plant 
of  a  refreshing  green  colour,  contrasting  well  with  some  others  I  have 
mentioned;  and  Sempervivum  tectorum  and  californicum,  especially 
the  latter,  making  a  neat  fringe  to  a  bed  or  border.  It  is  aa  advantage 
in  almost  all  cases  to  keep  the  bloom  picked  off  all  variegated  or  coloured- 
leaved  plants  ;  it  is  optional,  of  course.  The  bloom  does  not  as  a  rule  add 
to  the  effect,  and  it  is  exhaustive  to  the  plants. 
Among  plants  with  green  foliage  the  first  place  must,  I  think,  be  given 
to  the  Wallflower.  It  is  the  best  plant  from  its  size  for  filling  up  the 
centres  or  larger  areas  of  our  beds  and  borders,  and  if  properly  prepared 
will  be  uniform  in  size,  dwarf,  bushy,  and  compact.  The  following  is 
the  way  we  prepare  the  plants  during  the  growing  season  for  autumn 
planting.  The  seed  is  sown  the  last  week  in  April,  and  when  the 
seedlings  are  large  enough  to  handle  well  they  are  transplanted  to  a 
piece  of  the  hardest  ground  in  our  kitchen  garden,  a  piece  that  has 
perhaps  not  been  dug  for  a  year.  The  plants  are  put  in  holes  made  with 
an  iron  bar,  and  for  some  little  time  after  planting  they  look  rather 
pitiful,  but  with  a  little  watering  and  sprinkling  they  soon  recover,  and 
by  the  autumn  they  make  just  the  plants  we  want,  not  leggy  or  scraggy, 
but  dense  and  sturdy,  as  broad  as  they  are  high,  a  few  hundreds  of  which 
will  fill  a  large  surface.  We  have  many  good  varieties,  the  dark,  the 
purple  and  ruby,  orange,  yellow  and  primrose,  creamy  white  and  salmon. 
The  Wallflower  is  very  hardy  and  seldom  fails.  You  will  remind  me  of 
the  winter  of  1895,  but  I  want  no  reminder  of  this  disastrous  time.  I 
never  in  my  experience  saw  Wallflowers  so  much  cut  up. — (Jleai  by 
Mb.  Gko.  Stanton,  Henley,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Reading  Hortioultural 
Society. ')  • 
(To  be  continued.) 
Roses  for  Sandringham. — We  are  informed  that  Messrs.'  Wm. 
Paul  &  Son,  Waltham  Cross,  who  already  hold  the  appointment  of 
Rose  growers  to  the  Queen,  have  lately  received  commands  to  supply 
the  plants  for  a  new  Rose  garden  for  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales  at 
Sandringham. 
NOTES  ON  DESTROYING  RED  SPIDER. 
I  SINCERELY  hope  “  W.  D."  will  receive  a  satisfactory  answer  to  the 
question  he  puts  in  the  last  line  of  his  communication  at  page  393 
(October  22nd),  and  that  someone  will  give  us  an  effectual,  easy,  and 
safe  remedy  for  red  spider.  I  am  afraid  I  cannot  add  much  to  what  has 
already  appeared  from  my  pen  in  this  line,  but  if  in  the  following  notes 
a  hint  is  dropped  that  will  start  others  thinking  and  acting  I  shall  be 
amply  rewarded. 
“  W.  D.”  is  scarcely  correct  when  he  writes,  “  Sulphurous  acid  gas 
fumes  will  not  kill  red  spider  when  used  strong  enough  to  scorch  the 
leaves.”  According  to  my  experience  it  is  easy  to  scorch  the  leaves 
without  killing  the  spider,  and  it  is  quite  possible  to  kill  the  spider  at 
certain  stages  of  its  existence  without  scorching  the  leaves,  but  there  is 
always  some  amount  of  risk  in  the  operation,  and  we  certainly  ought  to 
find  a  better  plan. 
There  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  sulphurous  acid  is  produced  when 
sulphur  is  placed  on  the  pipes  and  the  latter  are  made  sufficiently  hot. 
A  greyish  mist  is  seen  to  pervade  the  entire  house,  and  it  has  the  same 
suffocating  smell  that  comes  from  burning  sulphur,  though  in  a  much 
milder  form,  and  it  makes  one’s  eyes  tingle  considerably.  If  sulphur  is 
dusted  on  to  red  spider  it  may  perhaps  cause  it  some  inconvenience,  but 
I  have  never  found  that  it  killed  it  unless  the  sun  shone  pretty  warmly 
while  the  sulphur  was  fresh.  The  sulphur  itself  is  of  no  use  without  a 
certain  amount  of  heat,  but  what  the  lowest  effectual  temperature 
may  be  I  am  very  anxious  to  learn,  and  have  been  so  for  many  years. 
Gunpowder  and  Sulphur. 
I  know  persons  who  make  a  practice  of  walking  through  their 
vineries  carrying  a  small  quantity  of  burning  sulphur  on  a  fire  shovel ; 
others  there  are  who  heat  some  bricks  on  a  fire,  place  them  in  the  house, 
and  test  carefully  by  dropping  a  grain  or  two  on  them,  whether  the 
sulphur  will  flare.  As  soon  as  it  is  seen  that  no  flame,  but  only  fumes 
are  emitted,  the  bricks  can  be  covered  with  sulphur  ;  but  every  brick 
must  be  tested  carefully  in  more  than  one  part,  for  one  end  may  probably 
be  much  hotter  than  the  other. 
I  have  never  practised  either  of  these  plans,  and  consider  there  is  a 
great  amount  of  risk  in  doing  so.  But  a  plan  partly  experimented  on 
is  as  follows : — Thoroughly  pulverise  and  mix  four  parts  of  sulphur  to 
one  part  of  gunpowder  ;  make  a  train  along  the  floor  of  the  house,  and 
ignite  it  in  one  or  more  places,  according  to  the  length  of  the  building. 
If  the  house  contains  immature  foliage  which  it  is  desirable  to  preserve 
commence  with  an  ounce  of  the  mixture  to  10,000  cubic  feet ;  but  to 
carry  out  the  experiment  properly  it  should  be  done  with  a  few  plants 
of  no  value  in  an  otherwise  empty  house  or  a  vinery  at  rest,  gradually 
increasing  the  dose,  also  repeating  mild  doses  several  times  the  same 
evening,  and  note  the  results. 
The  old  plan  of  coating  the  hot- water  pipes  with  sulphur  and  keeping 
them  quite  hot  on  two  or  three  successive  nights  till  the  small  hours  of 
the  morning  I  have  practised  successfully  very  many  times,  killing 
every  red  spider  in  the  house ;  bat  it  will  not  kill  the  eggs,  and  the  next 
batch  is  not  long  in  hatching  out.  This  plan  can  only  be  practised  with 
any  degree  of  safety  during  the  latter  part  of  the  stoning  period. 
Each  of  the  above  plans  has  the  same  object,  that  of  prodacing 
sulphurous  acid  sufficiently  strong  to  kill  red  spider  without  injuring 
vegetation.  The  success  in  every  case  is  only  partial.  The  most  successful 
one,  that  of  coating  the  pipes  with  sulphur,  has  the  great  disadvantage, 
even  if  there  is  no  visible  injury,  of  necessitating  keeping  the  Vines  for 
several  hours  in  a  temperature  which  is  very  much  too  hot  for  them. 
The  thing  could  doubtless  be  done  by  having  something  in  the  shape  of 
large  flat  foot-warmers  placed  over  oil  stoves,  arranged  so  that  the  heat 
could  be  regulated  to  the  requisite  degree,  and  coating  the  upper  surface 
with  sulphur.  But  I  look  to  chemists  for  something  much  simpler,  and 
am  certain  it  will  be  forthcoming  when  we  can  make  them  understand 
our  position,  and  what  is  the  real  agent  which  kills  red  spider. 
In  the  winter,  when  the  Vines  and  the  spiders  are  both  dormant,  no 
amount  of  burning  sulphur  will  kill  either  of  them.  I  have  stripped 
pieces  of  old  Vine  bark  off,  finding  the  enemy  underneath,  hung  the 
strips  of  bark  up  in  the  centre  of  the  house,  and  burned  2  or  3  lbs.  of 
sulphur,  in  some  cases  repeating  the  dose  on  successive  days  ;  but  the 
red  spider  was  unharmed.  There  was  no  visible  movement  during  all 
this  time  ;  but  on  placing  the  insects  on  the  hot  plate  of  an  oil  stove,  and 
allowing  them  to  remain  there  a  considerable  time,  they  woke  up, 
evidently  imagining  the  spring  had  come,  and  started  travelling.  When 
they  have  gone  to  rest  for  the  winter  nothing  short  of  roasting,  boiling,* 
or  crushing  will  have  the  least  effect  on  them.  All  the  real  spiders  (and 
they  are  a  great  nuisance  where  they  are  plentiful),  and  even  a  poor 
toad  inadvertently  left  in  the  house,  succumbed  in  one  instance  to  the 
fire  and  brimstone  treatment ;  but  the  so-called  red  spider  was  perfectly 
unconcerned. 
When  it  is  desirable  to  stove  a  house  in  winter  with  sulphur  the  best 
way  to  proceed,  I  think,  is  to  make  a  number  of  firebricks  red  hot,  or 
nearly,  place  them  at  intervals  on  the  soil  inside  the  house,  and  quickly 
drop  a  quantity  of  sulphur  over  the  surface  of  each  brick,  beginning  at 
the  end  farthest  from  the  door.  It  is  necessary  to  be  quick,  for  although 
it  will  not  kill  the  red  spider  it  would  certainly  prevent  the  operator 
giving  us  a  record  of  his  experiments  if  he  remained  long  in  the 
fumes. 
'  As  there  has  been  so  many  mishaps,  it  is  necessary  to  once  more 
warn  amateurs  and  young  cultivators  that  the  fumes  of  sulphur  produced 
