July  18,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
53 
Barly  Potatoes. 
In  reference  to  Mr.  H.  Richards1  artiole  on  the  above  subjeot  on 
page  5  of  the  Jonrnal,  I  should  like  to  mention  that  I  find  the  old 
Snowdrop  an  excellent  second  early  Potato  on  a  light  dry  soil  with  a 
gravelly  bottom.  It  is  an  immense  cropper,  even  in  the  present  dry 
season,  and  of  first-rate  quality  and  flavour. — W.  R.  R. 
Exhibitors  as  Committeemen. 
I  READ  with  interest  “  W.  S.’s  ”  version  re  committeemen  being 
exhibitors.  As  my  opinion  is  very  strong  on  this  subject,  and  “  W.  8.” 
has  championed  the  committemen -exhibitors,  I  will  do  the  same  for  the 
outside  exhibitors.  I  can  with  confidence  recommend  all  exhibitors  to 
try  and  get  on  committees.  “W.  S.”  seems  to  say  they  are  useful 
men,  but  still  it  would  be  fatal  to  the  progress  of  the  work  of  the  day  if 
they  were  all  committeemen.  Surely  one  exhibitor  is  as  good  as 
another  as  regards  helping  on  the  show.  Why  should  committeemen- 
exhibitors  take  advantage  over  the  outside  exhibitors  ?  for  outside 
exhibitors  expect  to  find  all  exhibitors  on  the  same  footing.  If  “  W.  S.” 
has  been  to  shows  as  an  exhibitor  he  will  probably  have  heard  the 
request  made  when  judging  time  arrives — “Outside,  gentlemen;  all 
exhibitors  outside.”  I  have  heard  some  of  these  committeemen- 
exhibitors  make  this  request,  then,  after  all  had  cleared  out,  they 
themselves  would  go  round  with  the  judges.  Now,  “W.  S.,”  take  a 
good  show  honourably  carried  on,  and  which  encourages  every  line  of 
horticulture,  you  will  find  none  of  the  committeemen  are  exhibitors. 
I  have  been  secretary  of  a  show  myself,  and  when  I  took  on  the  work 
one  of  my  objections  was  on  this  matter  of  committeemen-exhibitors. 
I  always  looked  well  after  all  exhibitors,  and  we  had  a  good  show. 
Supposing,  “  W.  S.,”  there  was  an  alteration  in  the  schedule,  and  it 
happened  to  be  to  the  committeemen-exhibitors’  benefit,  the  outsiders 
have  to  wait  a  month  or  two  before  they  get  the  schedule,  and  can 
prepare  for  the  show.  This  is  only  one  of  the  many  advantages  of  the 
committeemen-exhibitors.  My  experience  teaches  me,  too,  that  men 
experienced  in  the  art  of  exhibiting  make  the  best  committeemen  ;  but 
if  the  exhibitor  is  a  committeeman  he  looks  after  his  own  interest. 
— George  Wadeson,  Doveridge  Hall  Gardens. 
The  Shrewsbury  Schedule. 
After  pleading  guilty  to  lethargy,  and  readily  admitting  the 
superior  vivacity  (but  not  experience,  though)  of  Mr.  Crump,  I  thought 
to  escape  any  more  hard  knocks,  but  it  appears  to  be  a  case  of  having 
to  face  a  whole  gamut  of  epithets.  Because  I  failed  to  appreciate  the 
“  clearjand  corroborated  testimony”  furnished  by  Messrs.  Adnitt,  Wilson, 
and  Crump,  I  am  not  only  sceptical  and  obdurate,  but  also  vindictive 
and  shuffling.  This,  forsooth  !  from  an  opponent  who  takes  the  high 
ground  of  general  superiority  !  Not  satisfied  with  this,  Mr.  Crump  also 
threatens  me  with  a  “bogey  man”  in  the  shape  of  “  a  certain  V.M.H. 
on  the  Fruit  Committee.”  After  waiting  another  week  to  hear  what 
■this  “  pie  fingerer  ”  has  to  say  upon  the  subject,  I  now  claim  the  right 
of  offering  a  few  comments  upon  what  the  other  lovers  of  pastry  have 
advanced. 
Mr.  Adnitt  I  have  the  greatest  respect  for,  and  from  what  I  know 
of  him  should  say  he  would  not  dream  of  making  a  wilful  blunder,  and 
it  is  not  often  there  is  muoh  “  mental  confusion  ”  about  him.  Knowing 
him  so  well,  I  also  boldly  affirm  that  Mr.  Adnitt  would  be  equally 
careful  not  to  claim  any  real  knowledge  of,  say,  varieties  of  Grapes.  He 
was  wroDgly  advised  by  men  who  ought  to  have  known  better.  If 
necessary  to  limit  white  Muscats  to  four  bunches  in  olass  73,  why  not 
, state  that  much  in  so  many  words,  and  not  make  the  blunder  of  bracketing 
Canon  Hall  with  Muscat  of  Alexandria  p  for  that  is  what  it  amounts  to 
as  worded  in  the  sohedule,  Mr.  Crump’s  wrath  notwithstanding. 
The  judges  who  awarded  the  first  prize  to  Muscat  of  Alexandria  and 
Canon  Hall  Muscat  in  the  class  for  two  distinct  varieties  knew  their 
business,  but  surely  it  is  most  inconsistent  to  group  these  two  perfectly 
distinct  sorts  “as  one  variety”  in  class  73,  and  to  admit  them  as 
distinot  in  another,  thereby  denying  to  the  successful  growers  of 
Muscats  an  advantage  in  the  matter  of  marks  in  one  class  and  giving 
■it  to  them  in  another.  Does  Mr.  Adnitt  mean  to  imply  that  legal 
opinion  had  to  be  invoked  in  1899  to  decide  whether  Canon  Hall  is  a 
Muscat  Grape  or  not,  or  whether  it  is  identical  with  Muscat  of 
Alexandria,  or  not  ?  Will  he  find  time  to  state  exactly  what  the 
difficulty  was,  and  does  he  still  think  the  present  wording  of  the 
conditions  governing  class  73  the  correct  way  out  of  the  difficulty  P 
Is  it  too  muoh  to  expect  him  to  admit  that  a  blunder  was  made  ? — 
W.  Iggdlden. 
Ants. 
In  answer  to  your  correspondent,  “A.  C.,”  on  page  13,  of  July  4th, 
I  had  a  small  house  of  Ferns  infested  with  ants  this  season,  so  I 
mixed  a  quarter  of  a  pint  of  Jeyes’  fluid  with  4  gallons  of  water,  and 
well  washed  the  staging  and  front  wall  of  the  house  with  it,  with  the 
result  that  I  have  not  been  troubled  since  with  ants.  I  had  previously 
used  it  in  one  of  my  plant  houses,  but  I  was  fortunate  in  finding  their 
nest,  and  poured  the  fluid  direct  on  it  with  the  same  result  as  above. 
I  should  advise  “A.  C.”  to  first  try  it  by  soaking  a  sponge  in  the 
solution,  and  lay  it  on  the  ground  round  the  stem  of  the  tree,  and  if 
their  nest  is  sufficiently  far  enough  from  the  tree  to  pour  some  of  the 
fluid  on  it. — W.  G.  Savage.  _ 
A  lady  from  Germany  tells  me  that  she  effectually  destroyed  ants 
by  sprinkling  their  runs  with  insect  powder.  A  gentleman  here  is 
suffering  from  a  plague  of  them  in  his  garden  (lawn),  which  is  overrun 
by  them,  on  too  large  a  scale  for  insect  powder,  and  he  cannot  find 
their  nests.  The  difficulty  is  to  destroy  the  ants  without  injuring  the 
grass. — H.  C.  Ripley,  Minster -Lot ell  Vicarage,  Witney. 
The  Lace-wing  Fly. 
I  first  noticed  the  appearance  of  this  insect  this  year  on  June  25th. 
It  belongs  to  the  same  order  as  the  dragon  flies,  viz.,  Neuroptera,  and  it 
is,  I  think,  more  lovely,  if  only  less  significant.  Such  a  delicate,  flimsy¬ 
looking  creature  seems  as  if  made  only  for  the  outward  beauty  it 
possesses,  and  when  once  it  is  pointed  out  to  the  uninitiated  it  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  forgotten.  But  I  think  it  is  so  little  known  to  the 
average  gardener  that  he  neither  knows,  or  perhaps  cares,  about  its 
beauty,  or  the  amount  of  use  it  can  be  the  author  of  to  him. 
Few  of  the  young  gardeners  of  my  experience  know  what  an  aphis 
lion  is,  and,  if  the  insect  is  pointed  out,  they  do  not  know  that  it  is  one  of 
the  best  friends  they  have  in  the  garden.  Its  voracity  for  green  fly  is, 
I  should  think,  only  equalled  by  that  of  the  modest  ladybird.  The 
aphis  lion  is  the  larva  of  the  lace-wing,  and  is  such  a  curious  looking 
insect  that  it  does  not  fail  to  attraot  attention,  but  it  is  often,  I  think 
through  ignorance,  taken  as  an  insect  harmful  to  the  plant  it  is  found 
on,  and  very  naturally  killed.  An  incident  of  this  nature  I  was  the 
disgusted  witness  of  last  year.  I  pointed  out  some  lions  to  a  Chrys¬ 
anthemum  grower,  on  whose  plants  there  also  was  a  noble  army  of 
aphis.  “  Yes,”  he  said,  “  I  kill  all  those,”  meaning  the  lions,  “guess 
they’re  no  good.”  “  Alas  !  my  friend,”  said  I,  “  would  that  you  were  as 
learned  in  entomology  as  chrysanthology  (to  coin  a  word),  and  then 
you  would  know  the  evil,  too  late  to  remedy,  so  unthinkingly  committed 
through  ignorance.”  The  lace- wing  may  now  be  found  at  evening  time 
flying  about  the  Rose  garden,  and  Chrysanthemums  are  always,  when 
out  of  doors,  good  subjects  to  examine  for  lace-wings.  The  lions  may 
be  seen  in  the  day,  but  not  easily  at  eventide. — W.  H.  R.,  Kent. 
[Has  our  correspondent  taken  special  notioe  of  the  beautiful  eyes 
of  this  fly ;  or  experienced  the  nauseous  effluvia  which  the  excreted 
liquid  it  voluntarily  ejects  when  captured,  imparts  ?J 
Gros  Maroc  Grape. 
“  R.  M.”  need  have  no  fear  about  getting  a  crop  on  his  Gros  Maroc 
if  he  will  keep  it  well  stopped  during  this  summer,  so  as  to  keep  the 
foliage  thin  and  to  get  the  wood  well  matured,  and  at  the  winter  pruning 
to  prune  it  long,  leaving  about  6  inches  of  the  current  year’s  wood. 
My  Vine  has  two  rods,  on  one  of  which  are  twenty-four  bunches,  and  on 
the  other  fifteen  ;  the  rods  are  12  feet  long,  the  bunohes  range  in  weight 
from  1  lb.  to  2  lbs.  I  should  say  the  total  weight  is  between  40  lbs. 
and  50  lbs. — John  Kitley. 
“  R.  M.”  seems  to  doubt  the  veracity  of  my  statement  anent  Grape 
Gros  Maroc  (see  page  13,  July  4th),  simply  because  he  is  not  alone  in 
being  unsuccessful  in  the  culture  of  this  variety.  He  ought  not  to 
think  it  so  very  extraordinary  that  there  are  growers  who  can  succeed, 
and  even  grow  large  bunches  as  well  as  large  crops.  I  have  little 
doubt  in  saying  that  there  are  other  successful  growers.  If  not,  why 
is  the  Grape  grown  for  market  at  all  ?  A  market  grower  cannot  afford 
to  grow  scanty  crops.  I  certainly  am  not  acquainted  with  any  growers 
of  Gros  Maroc  on  a  large  scale  for  market,  but  have  seen  the  Grape 
exhibited  in  shop  windows  often,  and  at  prices  realised  nowadays  it 
stands  to  reason  it  is  not  being  grown  at  a  loss.  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  am 
not  in  a  position  to  make  public  the  locality  of  the  Vine  or  name  of  the 
grower,  the  latter  being  quite  unaware  that  any  notice  concerning  his 
Grapes  had  appeared  in  print  till  several  days  after  publication ;  but  I 
think  I  have  succeeded  in  getting  him  to  regularly  subscribe  to  the 
Journal  (“  Our  Journal  ”),  so  “  it’s  an  ill  wind  that  blows  nobody  good.” 
The  rod  is  18  feet  in  length,  and  nineteen  years  old  ;  now  there  ia 
added  two  extension  rods,  one  on  each  side,  these  are  three  years  old, 
and  carry  wh&t  bunches  there  may  be  room  for.  I  have  seen  five  and 
six. — W.  H.  R. 
[Our  correspondent  sends,  in  confidence,  the  name  and  address  of 
the  grower  of  Grape  Gros  Maroc,  to  whom  he  formerly  referred  as 
being  so  successful.  “  R.  M.”  will  please  aooept  the  reply  from 
“  W.  H.  R  ”  ;  one  is  not  always  free  to  publish  others’  names  and 
addresses. — Ed.] 
