November  28,  1901.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
487 
possesses  also  the  name  of  Puck’s  Needle.  In  the  olden 
time  this  species  was  gathered  when  fully  out  and  carefully 
dried  to  make  herb  tea,  made  into  a  winter  cordial  drink. 
Nor  do  we  wonder  that  Puck  took  a  fancy  to  the  pretty 
Wood’s  Cranesbill  of  crimson  hue,  and  the  meadow  species 
with  blue  or  variegated  flowers.  In  a  different  tribe  of 
plants,  the  Horned  Poppy  of  our  coats  is  said  to  have  been 
the  resort  of  fairies,  its  long  curved  pod  might  furnish  Puck 
with  a  helmet.  It  is  observable  that  both  fairies  and  witches 
were  believed  to  dislike  yellow  flowers,  and  to  shun  places 
about  which  they  grew  plentifully. 
Fairies  were  supposed  to  visit  gardens  occasionally,  being 
sensible  to  the  charms  of  Tulips  for  one  thing.  Within  these 
flowers  both  young  and  old  could  hide  themselves  and  sleep, 
possibly  they  bedecked  themselves  with  the  showy  petals. 
The  presence  of  fairies  amongst  the  Tulip  beds  tended,  so 
they  said,  to  make  the  plants  thrive,  and  they  sometimes 
imparted  a  fragrance  to  the  flowers  which  was  not  natural 
to  them.  But  if  a  patch  of  Tulips  was  removed  that  the 
pixies  had  resorted  to,  this  gave  great  offence  to  the  fairy 
folk,  who  might  be  expected  to  destroy  any  other  crop  on 
their  ground.  Rosemary,  a  favourite  herb  with  our  an¬ 
cestors,  was,  it  seems,  an  attraction  to  Puck  and  his  com¬ 
rades.  People  going  to  cut  or  pick  it  were  cautioned  lest 
they  should  unawares  injure  some  fairy  lurking  amongst  the 
twigs.  Elves  were  supposed  to  like  Strawberries,  and  feast 
on  them  at  night ;  but  in  our  age  we  should  attribute  any 
damage  done  them  to  beetles  or  slugs.  The  Rev.  H.  Friend 
tells  us  that  in  North  Hants  he  heard  a  particular  variety 
of  Polyanthus  called  “  Pug-in-a-primmel.”  Evidently,  he 
adds,  “  pug  ”  stands  for  Puck,  and  “  primmel  ”  is  just  Prim¬ 
rose.  Whether  Puck  has  any  admiration  for  the  red-topped 
Tritoma  I  cannot  say,  it  has  been  called  the  Devil’s  Poker. 
Fairies,  it  h4s  been  remarked,  disliked  yellow  flowers 
generally,  but  they  made  some  exceptions.  We  may  put 
into  Puck’s  posy  the  Elecampane  (Inula  helenium),  with 
large  golden  flowers,  for  it  was  also  the  Elfwort,  and 
esteemed  for  its  medical  nature.  Some  of  the  St.  John’s 
Worts,  especially  those  occurring  in  or  near  woods,  I  pre¬ 
sume  were  fairy  flowers,  and  reputed  to  have  the  power  of 
driving  away  demons.  Then  the  Globe  Flower  (Trollius 
europseus),  which  exhibits  its  conspicuous  blossoms  upon 
moist  spots  on  northern  hills,  was  sacred  to  the  elves,  being 
regarded  as  a  lucky  plant,  and  often  woven  into  wreaths  for 
house  adornment.  Then  the  Herb  Paris  was  called  by  the 
Swedes  Puck’s  Berry,  the  leaves,  from  their  figure,  typifying 
fidelity.  We  add  one  more  species,  the  familiar  Mallow  of 
the  hedgerows,  which  supplied  fairy  cheeses  to  Puck  and  his 
folk.— J.  R.  S.  C. 
The  Cherry  House. 
Where  a  structure  is  devoted  to  the  production  of 
Cherries,  and  the  trees  are  trained  to  a  trellis  about  a  foot 
from  the  glass,  they  must  now  be  pruned.  Full-grown  trees, 
properly  attended  to  in  stopping  during  growth,  will  require 
very  little  pruning  now.  Any  summer  shoots  that  have 
grown  considerably  should  be  cut  back  to  about  an  inch  from 
the  base,  and  the  worn-out  spurs  may  be  shortened  or 
removed,  as  required  ;  but  cut  dead  wood  and  spurs,  and 
thin  those  where  crowded,  always  reserving  sufficient  for 
forming  a  crop.  The  terminal  shoots  in  the  case  of  trees  ex¬ 
tending  must  not  be  shortened,  but  when  they  reach  the 
extremity  of  the  trellis  they  will  need  shortening,  always  to 
a  wood  bud.  Young  trees  will  require  shortening  or  cutting 
back,  as  necessary,  the  central  shoots  being  shortened  so  as 
to  originate  others,  for  filling  the  space  regularly ;  bub  it 
is  not  advisable  to  start  them  too  closely  together,  as  that 
may  cause  the  branches  to  press  against  each  other,  and  this 
is  a  common  cause  of  gumming.  Fan-training  is  unques¬ 
tionably  the  best  for  Cherries,  as  it  admits  of  replacing  any 
branch  that  may  fall  a  prey  to  disease. 
After  pruning  thorougniy  cleanse  the  house — the  wood¬ 
work  with  soapy  water  and  a  brush,  limewash  the  walls, 
use  freshly  burned  lime  with  a  handful  of  flowers  of  sulphur 
to  each  pailful  of  limewash,  for  acting  against  red  spider 
and  the  fungoid  organisms  that  produce  disease,  especially 
“  spot  ”  in  Cherries.  Wash  the  trees  with  soapy  water,  and 
afterwards  dress  them  with  an  insecticide,  being  careful  not 
to  injure  the  buds.  Remove  the  loose  surface  soil  from 
the  border  and  supply  fresh  loam.  The  roof-lights  being  off, 
they  need  not  be  replaced  until  the  time  arrives  for  starting 
the  trees,  which,  to  have  ripe  Cherries  in  May,  should  be 
at  the  middle  of  December.  The  very  early  varieties  will 
ripen  sooner,  such  as  Early  Rivers  and  Belle  d’Orleans, 
these  being  well  in  advance  of  Black  Tartarian  and  Goyernor 
Wood,  the  quartette  being,  perhaps,  the  best  of  Cherries  for 
forcing  on  the  planted-out  system.  These  divergences  in 
ripening  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  forcing  Cherries,  and  it 
is  not  advisable  to  bring  them  forward  too  rapidly, 
especially  when  forcing  them  for  the  first  time.  Trees  under 
fixed  roofs  should  be  well  supplied  with  water  if  necessary 
to  keep  the  soil  moist.  Fixed  roofs,  however,  are  great  mis¬ 
takes  in  the  early  forcing  of  Cherries.— G.  A. 
Winter  Washing  of  Fruit  Trees. 
A  neglected  orchard  not  only  harbours  all  manner  of 
insect  enemies  during  the  winter,  which  come  out  in  the 
spring  and  commence  their  ravages  in  that  particular 
orchard,  but  it  forms  a  nursery  or  breeding  ground  from 
which  other  orchards  are  supplied  with  noxious  insects.  It 
is  desirable,  therefore,  that  all  such  orchards  should  be 
treated  in  some  way  to  stop  the  damage  that  is  caused  by 
the  various  insect  pests  they  encourage.  For  this  purpose 
a  caustic  or  burning  wash  known  as  caustic  alkali  wash 
is  most  successful.  This  mixture  serves  a  double  function. 
It  removes,  by  means  of  its  caustic  properties,  all  vegetal 
incumbrances,  moss,  and  lichens  ;  and  at  the  same  time  it 
causes  all  rough  and  decaying  bark  to  fall  off.  A  tree  so 
treated  soon  assumes  a  more  healthy  appearance.  By  the 
removal  of  the  moss  and  lichen  from  the  trees,  the  favourite 
quarters  of  many  hibernating  insects  are  destroyed.  The 
woolly  aphis,  the  Apple  blossom  weevil,  the  earwig,  the 
codlin  map-vot.  thrips,  and  numerous  other  small  insects  are 
found  during  the  winter  beneath  the  vegetal  growth  and 
rough  bark  on  fruit  trees.  The  destruction  of  their  winter 
quarters  places  these  often  serious  pests  at  a  disadvantage, 
and  they  cease  to  multiply  abnormally. 
Scale  insects,  of  which  two  at  least  are  more  or  less 
harmful  in  this  country,  namely,  the  Apple  bark  louse  or 
mussel  scale  and  the  brown  Currant  scale,  may  also  be 
destroyed  by  caustic  alkali  wash.  Not  only  are  moss  and 
lichens  and  the  insects  referred  to  above  destroyed  or 
stopped  from  excessive  increase  by  this  wash,  but  it  acts 
also  in  another  way  by  attacking  the  eggs  of  certain  species. 
The  extent  of  its  action  on  the  epvs  has  not,  however,  been 
fullv  determined.  Groups  of  the  eggs  of  the  Apple  sucker 
(Psylla  mali)  treated  with  it  were  all  killed,  as  also  were 
those  of  the  red  spider — a  species  of  Bryobia — on  fruit,  and 
those  of  certain  aphides.  Spraying  the  wash  over  eggs 
recently  laid  had  little  effect  on  them ;  but,  when  the 
embryos  were  nearly  matured,  the  majority  of  those  of  the 
insects  mentioned  above  were  destroyed.  At  present,  there¬ 
fore,  the  wash  is  mainly  recommended  for  cleaning  the 
trees  in  an  orchard  and  thus  destroying  the  shelter  of 
various  insects  during  the  winter,  and  for  killing  certain 
hibernating  pests  themselves,  as  the  codlin  maggot,  woolly 
aphis,  and  others.  It  certainly  has  no  effect  in  the  open 
on  the  ova  of  the  winter  moth,  lackey  moth,  and  those  of 
certain  plant  lice. 
Caustic  alkali  wash  has  a  most  beneficial  effect  on  both 
old  and  young  orchards  in  which  the  trees  are  infested  with 
moss  and  lichens  and  with  woolly  aphis.  The  best  time  to 
sprav  the  trees  is  about  the  middle  of  February,  as  the  eggs 
of  some  insects  and  mites  are  then  more  likely  to  be  affected 
than  earlier  in  the  winter,  and  it  is  not  so  late  in  the  season 
as  to  harm  any  developing  buds.  To  prepare  caustic  alkali 
wash,  first  dissolve  lib  of  commercial  caustic  soda  in  water, 
then  lib  of  crude  potash  in  water.  When  both  have  been 
dissolved  mix  the  two  well  together,  then  add  fib  of  agricul¬ 
tural  treacle,  stir  well,  and  add  sufficient  water  to  make  up 
to  10  gallons.  As  the  wash  has  a  burning  effect  on  the  hands, 
care  must  be  taken  in  employing  it.  Rubber  gloves  g,re 
sometimes  used  to  protect  the  hands,  but  these,  unless  close 
filling,  allow  the  wash  to  run  under  the  rubber,  and  more 
harm  is  done  than  usual.  With  ordinary  care  the  sprayers 
need  suffer  little  inconvenience. — (Board  of  Agriculture 
Leaflet,  No.  70;  November,  1901.) 
