212 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  16,  1899. 
\\  ordsley  Wonder,  Dobbie’s  George  Clelland,  Sutton's  Magnum 
Bonum,  Johnson’s  Prolific  Marrow  and  Magnificent,  Sydenham’s 
Majestic,  Webbs’  Astronomer,  Sharpe’s  Queen,  Dobbie’s  Gladstone, 
and  Carter’s  Michaelmas.  The  sowing  was  made  on  the  8th,  and 
thinly,  a  pint  sufficing  for  a  90  feet  row.  Not  only  is  thick  sowing 
unfair  treatment,  but  varieties  cannot,  when  thick,  display  their  true 
characteristics. — A.  D. 
FIRE  BLIGHT  ON  APPLES. 
I  WAS  naturally  much  interested  in  reading  the  account  given  by 
Prof.  Mm.  Smith  (Leeds)  at  the  R.H.S.  meeting,  of  the  diseased  Apple 
shoots  which  I  sent  to  Mr.  Bunyard.  I  enclose  separately  an  affected 
jiiece  of  the  wood  for  your  inspection,  and  send  a  few  remarks.  I 
dressed  the  affected  parts  with  a  mixture  of  sulphur  and  other 
matter,  which  causes  the  yellow  appearance.  I  see  there  are  numbers 
•  'I  blueish  insects  of  considerable  .'■ize.  The  tree  was  a  large  pyramid 
on  Paradise,  cut  down  close  to  the  ground  and  grafted  with  Cox’s 
Orange  graft  two  years  old,  growing  strongly,  but  the  leaves  were 
not  of  a  healthy  colour  in  the  summer,  yet  not  “blackened,”  but  grey 
and  silvery.  No  sign  of  the  bark  being  affected  was  visible  till 
November,  when  cracks  appeared  and  rapidly  spread,  the  bark  opening, 
rolling  back,  and  disintegrating  with  remarkable  rapidity. 
Professor  Smith  says  the  disease  is  at  rest  in  dry  weather  and 
winter,  but  we  had  no  wet  till  November,  which  may  account  for  if. 
Ihe  outward  signs  ceased  after  the  sulphur  application,  but  as  I  have 
no  desiie  to  spread  an  American  disease  among  English  Apple 
growers,  this  and  the  next  tree  which  is  also  affected,  will  be  grubbed 
up  and  burnt. — W.  R.  Raillem. 
[The  specimen  is  an  object  lesson,  for  which  we  are  much  obliged, 
and  may  at  some  future  time  illustrate  and  describe  more  fully.  We 
found  S' line  bacteria  belonging  to  the  Micrococci,  which  is  common 
on  nearly^  all  iungi  in  a  stale  of  decay  and  many  other  vegetable 
substances,  and  in  mode  of  life  wholly  saprophytic.  '1  he  W'hole 
and  yet  not  sole  cause  of  the  graft  dying  is  wet  entering  from 
the  crown  of  the  stock  on  both  sides  of  the  scion  or  graft  between  the 
bark  and  the  wood,  where  the  graft  had  never  “  knit”  with  the  stock, 
n  scion  and  lower  part  of  the  incision  through 
the  bark  in  the  stock.  The  wet  entering  from  the  crown  into  the 
opening  between  the  bark  and  wood  of  the  stock  on  both  sides  of 
the  large  mafr  prevented  the  inner  bark  of  the  scion  and  stock 
knitting,  and  the  bark  of  both  died  back  near  the  crown  and  from 
it  downwards.  That  began  the  mischief,  but  the  scion  or  graft  wotdd 
not  have  died  unless  something  else  had  intervened — that  was  the  spore 
of  a  lungus.  M  e  can  clearly  trace  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  work, 
so  far  as  the  death  of  the  graft  is  concerned,  in  the  specimen.  The 
fungus  is  still  in  the  stock  eating  its  life  away  between  the  bark  and 
the  wood  tbiit  is,  living  and  growing  on  the  cambial  layer.  The 
devour!  cl  the  cellular  tissue  at  the  base  of  the  scion,  cut  off 
the  descending  assimilated  matter,  and  the  tree  showed  “fire  blight” 
m  the  top.  Ihe  fungus  exists  as  a  white  felt-like  growth  between  the 
bark  and  wood,  and  is  the  mycelial  growth  of  Roly  porus  vaporarius  or 
Roria  %^apiiraria.  About  the  dead  scion  is  a  quantity  of  dead  matter 
and  partly  living  on  the  size  of  the  stock,  and  in  this  a  number  of  eel- 
Tylenchus  obtusus,  commonly  called  root-stem  eelwoim,  with 
the  Micrococcus  before  mentioned.  Between  the  dead  bark  and  wood, 
where  the  fungus  has  done  its  work,  are  found  a  number  of  slate  or 
lead  coloured  creatures,  or,  as  you  term  them,  “blueish  insects.”  They 
are  members  of  the  Thysanura,  famdy  Roduridae,  by  name  Achorutes 
purpurascens  (AttWoc/c),  about  one-twelfth  of  an  inch  in  length,  and 
perhaps  the  finest  jumping  animal  in  the  world.  It  lives  on  dead  or 
decaying  matter.  We  fcnind  nothing  more.  Rrof.  Smith  had  of 
Course  only  th;;  leafy  part  to  investigate,  and  gave  opinion  accordingly. 
It  being  vc  ry  common  to  submit  imperfect  specimen  for  investigation, 
and  thus  place  the  mvesti.ator  at  a  great  disadvantage.] 
PERENNIAL  PHLOXES. 
The  herbaceous  Phlox  is  one  of  the  noblest  flowers  in  the  hardy 
tfower  garden  ;  no  other  plants  give  such  a  wealth  of  flowers  for  three 
month.'.  To  insure  the  best  results,  cuttings  of  sucker  growths  should 
be  taken  in  April  of  each  year,  and  inserted  in  cold  frames  in  sandy 
soil,  or  if  a  frame  is  not  available,  the  cuttings  can  be  rooted  under  the 
sh.ide  of  a  north  wall  in  a  sandy  bed.  These  cuttings,  when  well 
rooted,  must  be  transplanted  in  June  to  a  permanent  bed,  or  other 
desired  position.  If  the  situation  is  not  ready  for  their  reception,  they 
ough^t  to  he  placed  in  a  nursery  bed  for  the  summer. 
I  hloxes  apfireciate  good  treatment.  A  deeply  dug,  well  manured 
soil,  with  heavy  mulchings  when  the  plants  are  in  growth,  and,  if 
possible,  licjuid  manure,  go  tar  to  favour  the  production  of  large  close 
spikes,  with  fine  flowers  ol  glorious  colour.  The  stools  ought  not  to 
remain  more  than  three  y’cars.  These  may  be  divided,  in  IMarch  and 
transplanted,  but  such  good  results  cannot  be  had  as  from  the  method 
previously  advocated. 
The  varieties  in  the  decussata  section  are  innumerable,  but  I  shall 
content  myself  with  naming  two  dozen  that  I  selected  when  in  bloom 
last  July,  and  all  of  which  are  superb,  and  these  are:  Eclaireur,  rosy 
lilac,  centre  salmon,  a  dwarf  grower  with  a  massive  spike ;  bicolor, 
light  salmon,  dwarf;  B.  S.  Williams,  rosy  crimson;  Comedie,  lilac, 
white  edge ;  Congress,  dark  lilac,  very  distinct ;  Defiance,  large  pip, 
crimson ;  delicata,  white,  with  a  lilac  eye  ;  Eugene  Danzanvilliers, 
delicate  rosy  lilac  white ;  Lucy  Genin,  the  best  white ;  L’ Avenir,  deep 
salmon,  dwarf  bushy  spike  ;  John  Forbes,  pink,  with  crimson  eye,  very 
large;  Henry  Bryson,  an  improvement  on  coccinea ;  Meteor,  purple 
lilac,  distinct;  Major  Houston,  intense  purple  crimson,  fine  spike; 
Pantheon,  very  fine ;  Baccdli,  rose,  dwarf ;  Aphrodite,  pure  white  ; 
amabilis,  good  salmon ;  Sir  J.  Douglas,  bright  salmon  scarlet ; 
Selection,  mauve ;  Progress,  bright  rose ;  Mrs.  A.  Ritchie,  crimson  ; 
and  Sheriff  Ivory,  light  salmon,  crimson  eye. 
When  coming  into  bloom  the  spikes  should  be  staked  out,  as 
light  and  air  are  essential  to  perfect  development.  The  stems  too  are 
very  brittle,  and  without  support  may  be  snapped  by  a  gust  of 
wind. — S.  J. 
SOUGHT  AND  FOUND. 
{Continued  from  page  185.) 
We  quickly  found  a  great  benefit  through  tapping  that  spring. 
The  land  would  bear  to  fork  out  the  beds  of  rushes  preparatory  to- 
sowing  a  meadow  mixture  of  grass  seeds  the  following  spring,  and  thus 
we  reclaimed  quite  an  acre  of  land  as  extra  pasture.  But  to  make  more 
certain,  I  got  Tillen  to  run  two  more  short  drains  at  right  .angles  down 
the  bank  to  the  streamlet;  and  after  that  I  put  his  draining  capabilities 
to  a  severe  test.  I  said,  “You  see  how  undulating  the  land  lays  in 
wrong  directions.  It  seems  to  me  to  represent  a  tap  for  an  immense 
extent  of  rising  country  above  u.s.  It  will  be  impossible  to  drain  it 
by  an  easy  system,  as  there  are  substrata  of  gravelly  loam  or  clay 
running  p.arallel  in  wrong  directions.  It  will  be  best  first  to  lay  a  few 
deep  drams  longitudinally  in  the  low  inequalities  of  the  land,  and  then 
feel  our  way  as  best  we  can  by  shallower  ones  to  feed  them  from  those 
beds  of  water  weeds  which  you  call  ‘smart  grass’  and ‘cat  tail.’ 
That  will  keep  you  continually  in  work  from  December  till  the 
spring.” 
I  will  repeat  the  word  “  continually  ”  (for  you,  Mr.  Editor), 
feelingly,  for  the  “ Three  Kings  or  Jack’s  Booth,”  and  the  “Dog  and 
Partridge,”  not  far  off,  had  such  attractions  for  “drainer  John,”  who 
would  much  too  frequently  come  to  his  work  in  a  state  quite  unequal 
to  the  demand.  “  John  Tillen” — very  severely — “  how  often  am  I  to 
tell  you  that  I  will  not  allow  a  man  to  come  on  my  premises  unless 
he  is  sober  ?  Go  home,  I  advise  you,  and  come  to  your  work  when 
you  are  in  a  fit  state.”  Further  expostulations  were  useless  to  his 
stolen  brain,  so  down  he  would  throw  his  “graft,”  or  other  implement 
he  might  be  holding  at  the  time,  and,  in  unparliamentary  language  I 
fear,  tell  me  to  do  the  draining  myself  for  the  future,  and  off  he  would 
go.  But  not  often  to  act  on  my  advice,  “go  home,”  for  I  often  heard 
of  his  using  the  old  cattle  pound  on  Upton  Green — in  the  next  parish 
where  he  lived — as  a  half-way  dormitory.  “Tillen’s  bedroom”  it  is 
called  by  some,  even  to  this  day.  It  is  sad  to  remember  how  this 
habit,  in  wet  clothing  often,  shortened  the  life  of  a  strong  and  most 
capable  man.  I  missed  him. 
However,  to  cut  a  long  story  short,  it  took  three  years  for  us  to 
complete  so  complicated  a  series  of  drains.  I  send  you  a  peep  at  them 
by  chart  (“chaos!”).  Please  do  nou  let  your  gasping  basket  get  a 
glimpse  ol  if,  for,  in  that  case,  I  shall  be  nonplussed,  as  by  its  means  I 
can  alight  upon  any  one  of  the  drains  requiring  rec^'ification.  They 
have  behaved  almost  perfectly  up  to  this  day.  The  water-grasses  have 
quite  disappeared,  and  every  inen  of  the  land  has  become  cultivatable. 
The  dark  lines  on  the  map  mark  out  the  third  series,  the  blue  the 
second,  and  the  red  the  first — the  deep  mains,  which  convey  the  under¬ 
plus  water  down  to  the  river  “  ditch.” 
“Ditch!  Edward  Pearce,  you  insult  it  by  calling  a  tributary  of 
the  Kennet  a  ditch  !  ”  “  It  is  not  a  tribotory  !  ”  quoth  “  Teddy,”  “  it 
is  the  river  ‘Auburn,’  from  the  Ilamp.'hire  Hills,  and  conies  past 
Darby  Griffiths’,  Padworth  House.”  “  ‘  Sweet  Auburn  !’  river  of  the 
vale,  and  all  the  more  reason  why  it  should  not  be  called  a  ‘ditch.’” 
Good  old  “Teddy”  Pearce,  he  was  a  deft  hand  at  pruning  and  pre¬ 
paring  a  species  of  'Willow  largely  planted  and  trained  into  tall  stems 
hereabouts,  on  the  margins  of  waterways,  for  the  purpose  of  cricket- 
bats,  erst  for  making  Dunstable  bonnet-s.  “Teddy”  gave  me  his 
pruning  knife,  a  sort  of  two-edged  blade,  fixed  at  a  right  angle  on  the 
top  of  a  long  pole,  two  young  Yew  trees,  and  a  Portugal  i  aurel,  as 
mementoes,  not  long  before  he  died. — RoBT.  Fenn. 
[We  have  returned  the  plan  referred  to,  and  are  thankful  we  have 
not  to  undertake  a  similar  task  just  at  present.  The  system  is 
admirable,  and  we  fail  to  see  how,  after  proper  laying  of  the  drains, 
it  could  possibly  fail.l 
