254 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTinULrURE  AND  COTTAGE  GABDENEE. 
!\Iarch  19,  1903. 
Extermination  of  Phytoptus  ribis. 
The  following  treatment  has  been  tried  for  three  years,  and 
appears  worthy  of  trial  elsewhere  and  on  a  larger  scale.  It 
.seems  to  have  the  effect  of  stamping  out  the  Phytoptus  (Black 
Currant  mite)  entirely.  In  1897  I  purcha.sed  a  dozen  bushes  of 
Carter’s  Champion  Black  Currants.  These  were  found  to  be  in¬ 
fected  with  big  buds,  but  these  were  picked  off  and  the  bu.shes 
planted  away  from  any  others.  The  .swollen  buds  appeared 
again  in  1898,  and  were  again  picked  off.  The  following  autumn 
(1899)  they  were  again  visible,  so  as  soon  as  the  leaves  fell  the 
bushes  Avere  completely  cut  doAvn,  every  shoot  as  Ioav  as  pos.sible. 
I’his  process  Avas  repeated  in  1900,  as  many  large  buds  Avere  still 
apparent.  No  SAvollen  buds  Avei'e  noticed  in  the  Avinter  of  1901 
nor  1902,  nor  till  the  time  of  Avriting  (March  6,  1903).  The 
bu-shes  Avere  not  cut  at  all  during  1901  and  1902,  although  the 
groAA’th  AA’as  rather  thick.  This  drastic  treatment  is  only  advised 
AA’here  it  is  de.sirable  to  obtain  a  plantation  of  Black  Currants  on 
the  old  site.  To  secure  this  result  otherAvise  it  Avould  be  neces¬ 
sary  to  grub  up  the  old  bushes  at  considerable  expense  and  re¬ 
plant,  which  is  another  serious  consideration. 
.SY.STKMS  COMPARED. 
CUTTING  DOAA’N 
CROP 
REPLANTING 
CROP 
1890  Completely  cut  down  at  small 
expense  . 
None 
Grub  up  old  bushes,  replant. 
Heavy  expense 
None 
1900  Cut  down  again  closely  .. 
None 
Good  growth,  infection  may 
still  linger  in  the  soil  . . 
None 
1901  Very  fine  growth . 
None 
Plenty  of  growth 
.Small 
1902  Probability  of  very  heavy  crop, 
iinice  equal  to  crop  of  lyOl  and 
1902  by  other  method 
Good 
Normal  3-year-t)ld  crop 
Fair 
1903  Chance  of  another  heavy  crop, 
Normal  4-year-old  crop 
and  bushes  are  far  larger  than 
the  others . Good 
I  think  the  successive  cutting  must  interfere  Avith  the  sequence 
of  the  Phytoptus’  life  history.  The  earlier  the  cutting  is  done  in 
the  autumn  the  better. — A.  L.  King. 
Insect  Foes  and  Plant  Diseases. 
I  Avas  surprised  to  see  on  page  190  a  paragraph  relating  to  the 
Black  Currant  mite  “  threatening  the  A'ery  exi.stence  of  a  lucra¬ 
tive  branch  of  the  fruit-groAA'ing  industry.  This  statement,  so 
far  as  mj'  own  fifteen  years’  experience  extends  and  the  expe¬ 
rience  of  numbers  of  others  I  am  personally  acquainted  Avith,  is 
the  very  reverse  of  the  actual  fact  ;  all  report  heavy  crops  every 
year,  our  oAvn  being  .so  great  that  the  bushes  have  to  be  carefully 
supported  to  prevent  their  de.sti'uctiou  by  the  AA'eight  of  fruit  they 
carry.  That  some  groAiers  cut,  burn,  and  root  up  their  bushes, 
or  give  up  attempting  to  groAV  them,  is  certainly  true;  but  it  is  in 
every  case  I  have  knoAin  totally  unnecessary,  and  has  been  dis¬ 
continued  in  every  case  I  have  met  Ai  ith,  and  large  crops  of  fine 
fruit  are  noAV  the  rule  ivithout  a  single. exception.  When  I  came 
here,  fifteen  years  ago,  the  bushes  Avere  almost  dead,  and,  acting 
on  the  advice  of  one  Avho  ought  to  have  knoAvn  better,  I  rooted  ' 
up  and  burnt  part  of  them,  planting  in  a  distant  part  of  the 
garden  some  neAV  bushes  from  a  di.strict  not  infected  at  the  time. 
In  three  years  they  Avere  all  as  bad  as  the  old  bushes  had  been, 
and  1  started  Aiith  them  the  system  adopted  Avith  the  others  from 
the  first,  i.e.,  going  over  the  blushes  tivo  or  three  times  each  year 
and  picking  off  all  infected  buds.  There  are  ahi'ays  enough 
healthy  ones  left  to  bear  enormous  crops  of  the  finest  fruit;  if 
the  diseased  buds  had  been  healthy  a  Ailiolesale  thinning  would 
be  needed,  or  the  fruit  Avould  be  too  small  to  be  good.  It  is  a  very 
small  matter  for  any  gardener  to  try  ;  if  his  bushes  are  in  specially 
bad  condition  he  maA^  not  do  so  Avell  as  regards  weight  of  crop 
the  first  year,  but  the  following  one.s  Arill  compensate  for  this, 
Avhich  amounts  simply  to  a  partial  rest  for  one  season.  If  the 
growers,  instead  of  carrying  fire  and  sAvord,  burning  and  de.stroy- 
ing  all  before  them,  Avould  only  use  a  little  common  sense  and 
treat  the  disease  as  an  attempt  of  Nature  to  carry  out  the  neces¬ 
sary  thinning,  they  no  doubt  Avould  get  OA'erj'  j^ear  Avith  certaintA^ 
enormous  and  profitable  crops  of  the  finest  fruit.  The  remedy  is 
simple,  costs  nothing ;  in  fact,  Avhere  there  are  children  it  pro¬ 
vides  them  AA'ith  an  amusement.  The  result  in  et’ery  case  I  haA'e 
met  AA'ith  is  precisely  the  .same  as  m.A'  own;  eA'en  the  expert  (?) 
AA'ho  advised  me  in  the  first  instance  has  followed  my  lead  with 
perfect  success. — Tiios.  Fletcheu,  Glrapptnhall,  Cheshire. 
Apple,  Nelson  Codlin. 
This  comparatively  little  knoAvn  A’arietj'  i.s  one  of  our  best 
culinary  Apples.  I  haA^e  had  it  in  use  from  the  end  of  Augu.st 
up  to  the  present  time,  and  though  I  haA^e  in  no  AAay  a  good 
fruit  room  to  keep  Apples  in,  the  fruits  Avere  quite  fresh,  show¬ 
ing  no  signs  of  shrinking.  It  may  be  described  as  a  long  keeping 
KesAvick  Codlin,  being  ready  for  use  nearly  as  early,  and  keeping 
so  much  longer. — William  Benbow,  February  21. 
Birds  and  Gooseberry  Buds. 
I  shall  be  obliged  to  any  groAA'crs  of  fiekl  crops  of  Goose¬ 
berries  among  your  readers  aaIio  aauII  state  Avhether  they  have 
found  any  treatment  effective  to  preA'ent  birds  from  eating  tho 
buds  during  the  Avinter ;  also  AA'liether  sparroAvs,  as  Avell  as  finches, 
are  knoAin  AA'ith  certainty  to  eat  the  buds.  Many  of  my  bushes, 
in  field  and  orchard  alike,  are  almo.st  denuded  of  buds  except  on 
the  tips  of  the  shoots,  uiion  Avhich  birds  cannot  perch.  Fully 
one-half  of  my  entire  crop  has  been  de.stroyed.  I  left  the  pruning 
till  about  a  fortnight  ago  in  order  that  the  density  of  groAvth 
might  check  the  birds  to  .some  extent;  but  this  AAas  not  effectual. 
I  have  seen  sprinkling  the  bushes  Avhen  Avet  Avith  lime  recom¬ 
mended;  but  surely  a  single  heavy  rain  AA  Ould  Avash  the  lime  off. 
WhiteAiash,  Avith  linseed  oil  or  glue  in  it,  might  keep  on  better. 
Has  it  been  tried  And  can  whiteAvash  be  applied  Avith  a 
spraying  machine  ? — Fruit  Grower. 
Peas ;  Hartford's  Success  and  Dickson  &  Robinson’s  Leviatban 
Marrowfat. 
Now  that  the  Pea  season  is  upon  us  and  soAving  operations 
commenced,  a  Avord  or  tAvo  in  respect  to  tAvo  .sterling  varieties 
Avill,  I  hope,  be  acceptable.  The  first  is  Hartford’s  Success,  a 
main-crop  A^ariety,  gootl  grower,  and  a  mo.st  prolific  bearer,  with 
long,  slender,  curved  pods,  groAving  4ft  Gin  in  height,  and  averag¬ 
ing  ten  peas  to  a  pod.  It  is  of  deep  green  colour,  Avliich  it  fully 
retains  after  boiling  (a  consideration),  and  has  .splendid  table 
qualities.  The  appearance  of  the  pods  Avhen  groAving  or  gathered 
Avould  lead  one  to  doubt  their  merit  ;  but  on  examination  it  is 
surprising  to  find  so  many, peas  in  such  a  deceptive  pod.  The 
second  is  H.  and  R-.’s  Leviathan  MarroAV.  It  is,  as  its  name 
sugges-ts,  leviathan  in  all  respects,  except  height.  Last  season, 
although  favourable  to  Peas,  it  made  free  groAA’th,  but  did  not  ex¬ 
ceed  5ft  AA'ith  me  here.  It  is  a  .strong  groAver,  main  and  late  sea¬ 
son,  of  exceptional  bearing  qualities,  long  straight  pods,  averag¬ 
ing  nine  peas  to  a  pod,  has  good  colour,  and  excellent  table 
qualities.  As  a  basket-filler,  and  Avhere  Peas  are  e.steemed  in 
quantity  and  quality,  I  do  not  knoAV  of  a  better  variety.  Although 
our  soil  herei  is  cold  and  heavy,  I  invariably  find  the  above 
varieties  to  giA'e  very  .sati.sfactory  results.- — R.  W.  E.,  Whitting- 
ham,  Preston,  Lancashire. 
Plant  Nomenclature. 
I  fear  Mr.  Arnott  (page  206),  in  his  kindly  criticisms  of  my 
article,  has  been  somewhat  hasty  in  judging  one  or  tAvo  of  the 
points  AA'hich  it  contains.  Having  mentioned  several  sections  of 
plants,  it  can  scarcely  Avith  ju.stice  be  said  that  hardy  plants  Avere 
“  singled  out  ”  for  special  reference.  Shrubs  Avere  not  mentioned 
because  it  Avas  thought  sufficient  had  been  Avritten  for  the  sake  of 
illustration  ;  but  I  am  quite  Avilling  tO'  include  them  in  my  pre- 
A'ious  remarks,  and  most  emphatically  do  so.  My  ignorance 
scarcely  affects  the  question  one  Avay  or  another  ;  but  I  should  have 
thought  it  noAA'adays  a  matter  of  common  knoAvledge  amongst 
those  in  the  least  conversant  Avith  horticultural  literature  that 
AA'hat  for  convenience  sake  is  called  the  priority  rule  is  folloAved 
in  the  naming  of  species.  The  admitted  discrepancies 
exi.sting  in  modern  botanical  Avorks  of  this  and  other  countries 
only  make  my  plea  for  a  higher  authority  than  Ave  noAv  iiosse.ss 
the  stronger.  To  the  present,  the  R.H.S.  is  almost  useless  to 
look  to  for  aid  ;  but  in  any  event  pe.ssimism  Avill  be  of  small  ai-ail 
in  preventing  a  loAA'er  fall  or  as.sisting  in  rising  to  a  higher  level. 
— Proa'incial. 
In  his  remarks  on  plant  nomenclature  (page  20G)  Air.  S. 
Arnott  complains  that  the  “Index  KeAvemsis  ”  and  the  “KeAv 
Hand  Lists  ”  do  not  alAA'ays  agree.  The  folloAA'ing  extract-  from 
the  “  Kew  Bulletin,”  189(3,  page  29,  AA'ill  perhaps  enable  him  and 
others  to  understand  AA'hy : — “  The  title  of  the  former  AA  ork  pro¬ 
bably  misleads  many.  It  AA'as  prepared  at  KeAV,  not  by  the  KeAv 
staff,  but  by  Mr.  Daydon  Jack.son,  secretary  of  the  Linnaean 
Society,  and  a  staff  of  assistants.  The  co.st  of  it  Avas  entirely  de¬ 
frayed  by  the  late  Charles  DarAvin  and  his  family.  The  ‘  KeAv 
Hand  Lists  ’  are  prepared  by  the  Kew  staff,  and  whilst  eA'ery  rea¬ 
sonable  care  is  taken  to  make  them  accurate  as  far,  that  is,  as 
accuracy  is  possible  with  plant  names,  there  are,  no  doubt,  dis¬ 
crepancies  in  them.  They  are  issued,  in  the  first  place,  to  shoAv 
AA'hat  species  are  actually  groAvn  at  Kew ;  and  in  the  next  to  re¬ 
duce,  if  possible,  the  nomenclature  in  use  in  gardens  to  something 
like  a  standard.” — W.  W.,  KeAv. 
