92 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  26,  1900. 
Ail  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be 
directed  to  “The  Editor,”  12,  Mitre  Court  chambers, 
Fleet  Street,  Xondon,  E.c,  It  is  requested  that  no  one 
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information  on  matteis  discussed  in  this  Journal,  as  doing  so 
subjects  them  to  unjustifiable  trouble  and  expense,  and  defiart- 
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may  receive  on  Gardening  and  Bee  subjects  throuiih  the  post. 
If  information  be  desired  on  any  particular  subject  from  any 
particulai  authority  who  may  be  named,  endeavour  will  be  made 
to  obtain  It  by  the  Editor.  Letters  of  inquiry  must  be  accom¬ 
panied  by  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  writers,  but  these  will 
neither  be  published  nor  disclosed  when  initials  or  nomit  de  plume 
are  given  for  the  purpose  of  replies. 
Correspondents  should  not  mix  up  on  the  same  sheet  questions  relating 
to  Gardening  and  those  on  Bee  subjects,  and  it  is  convenient  when 
each  question  is  written  on  a  separate  sheet.  All  articles  intended 
for  insertion  should  be  written  on  one  side  of  the  paper  only  ;  and 
the  name  and  address  of  each  writer  must  be  known  by  the 
Editor,  though  not  necessarily  for  insertion.  We  cannot,  as  a 
rule,  reply  to  questious  through  the  post,  and  we  do  not  under¬ 
take  to  return  communications  which,  for  any  reason,  cannot 
be  inserted. 
|P  I  Spinach  Beet  for  Winter  (J.  H.). — We  suppose  you  mean  Winter 
Spinach  when  yon  mention  Spinach  Beet.  If  the  latter,  called  Perpetual 
Spinach  or  Green  Beet,  the  seed  should  h.nve  been  sown  in  May  or 
early  in  June,  similar  to  ordinary  Beet,  so  as  to  give  a  supply  of  leaves, 
which  are  used  as  a  substitute  for  Spinach  during  the  late  summer  and 
onward  through  the  winter.  For  the  general  winter  crop  of  Spinach 
we  make  a  practice  of  sowing  from  the  5th  to  the  10th  of  August,  in 
drills  18  inches  apart,  on  well  prepared  and  enriched  soil,  in  a  sheltered 
situation.  The  seedlings  should  be  thinned  in  the  first  instance  to 
about  6  inches  apart,  and  finally  to  a  foot  asunder  in  the  rows.  The 
thinned  plants  are  excellent  for  early  use,  and  it  saves  picking  the 
leaves  of  the  permanent  plants  until  they  are  of  an  excellent  size  and 
substance.  The  leaves  only  should  be  gathered  during  the  autumn, 
winter,  and  spring  mouths,  and  it  is  not  good  practice  to  pick  them 
too  closely. 
Grapes  Spotted  (IF.  IF.). — The  Grapes  are  spotted  in  a  manner 
somewhat  similar  to  scalding.  It  is  sudden  in  its  action,  and  sometimes 
very  injurious.  On  its  first  appearance  a  small  whitish  maik  is  seen 
on  the  side  of  the  berry,  as  if  it  had  been  bruised  in  some  way  ;  the 
pulp  beneath  dries  up,  and  a  sort  of  contraction  occurs,  the  berries  soon 
assuming  a  one-sided  irregular  form.  In  such  cases  the  berries  should 
be  cut  out  and  burned.  The  spot  is  caused  by  the  fungus  Glaeosporium 
laeticolor,  which  is  favoured  by  a  close  and  moist  atmosphere. 
The  most  certain  preventive,  for  there  is  no  remedy,  is  to  admit  some 
air  constantly  and  maintain  a  gentle  warmth  in  the  hot-water  pipes,  so 
as  to  secure  a  circulation  of  air,  causing  the  moisture  to  be  condensed 
on  the  glass  instead  of  on  the  berries.  Also  increase  the  ventilation 
early,  or  as  soon  as  the  sun  acts  powerfully  upon  the  house,  continuing 
this  procedure,  and  the  fungus  will  be  foiled. 
Potatoes  Collapsing  (Somerset).— The  leaves  of  Sharpe’s  Victor  are 
much  more  curled  than  those  of  Myatt’s  Ashleaf,  and  Windsor  Castle 
being  slightly  affected  indicates  the  general  prevalence  of  the  malady. 
The  mycelium  in  the  tissues  and  the  general  appearance  accords  with 
that  of  sleepy  disease  caused  by  Fusariura  solani.  The  fungus  has 
certainly  been  in  the  set,  and  from  there  passed  up  the  sprout  and 
stem  of  the  tops,  destroying  the  underground  stems  and  thus  causing 
the  haulm  to  wither,  the  leaflets  curling  inwards.  The  fungus  is 
shown,  with  an  affected  top,  in  the  Journal  of  Horticulture,  July  11th, 
1895,  page  37,  and  also  that  causing  curl,  this  (Macrosporium  solani) 
being  frequently  associated  with  sleepy  disease,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to 
determine  which  is  the  cause  of  the  tops  collapsing.  In  neither  case 
are  the  young  tubers  diseased,  but  the  sudden  collapse  fungus,  or 
Macrosporium,  usually  causes  the  tops  to  wither  and  die  prematurely 
from  the  extremity  of  the  tops  downwards.  The  Fusarium,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  essentially  an  underground  stem  disease,  and' it  is  the 
one,  in  our  opinion,  causing  the  mischief  in  your  case.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  say  how  it  can  be  prevented,  for  fungi  live  despite  all  efforts 
of  man,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  fungoid  mycelium  passes  over  in  the  set, 
and  to  destroy  it  there  without  killing  the  Potato  is  the  great  problem! 
It  has  been  suggested  to  expose  the  sets  to  a  heat  of  110°  for  about  six 
hours,  this  temperature  being  fatal  to  the  fungus,  and  though  good 
results  have  been  attained  on  a  small  scale  no  one  appears  to  have 
adopted  it  as  a  general  preventive. 
“Vine  Leaves  with  Minute  Blackish  Spots  (F.). — The  leaves  are 
infested  by  the  black  rot  fungus  (Lsestadia  Bidwelli)  a  very  unusual 
occurrence.  So  little  is  known  of  the  disease  in  this  country  that  we 
can  only  advise  dusting  the  foliage  with  a  fungicide  in  powder  contain¬ 
ing  sulphate  of  copper,  such  as  antiblight,  fostite,  or  Strawsonite, 
applying  by  means  of  the  Malbec  bellows,  or  an  apparatus  admitting 
of  delivering  the  powder  upwards.  It  is  very  important  to  admit  a 
little  air  constantly  and  increase  the  ventilation  early  in  the  day,  the 
chief  point  being  to  prevent  the  deposition  of  moisture  on  the  foliage. 
Peach  Shoot  Dying  {Idem). — There  is  trace  of  mildew,  but  the  wood 
is  killed  by  brown  rot  fungus  (Monilia  frnctigena).  There  is  no  remedy, 
and  the  only  palliative  is  to  out  away  the  affected  parts  to  sound  wood, 
and  destroy  the  removed  portions  by  fire.  This  and  lifting  the  trees 
carefully  are  the  only  things  we  have  found  of  service  in  the  case  of  the 
fungus  affecting  the  wood. 
’’^IThe  Gooseberry  Gourd  (IF.  Rahy).  —  The  Gooseberry  Gourd, 
Cuoumis  prophetarum  (grossularioides),  is  rarely  seen  in  gai-dens,  and 
is  known  by  few  amateurs  except  where  such  old  and  interesting  plants 
are  valued.  To  most  botanists  it  is  indeed  well  known,  at  least  by 
name,  for  it  was  one  of  those  which  Linnteus  described  in  his  terse  but 
Fig.  25. — The  Gooseberry  Gourd. 
graphic  style.  Thus  the  plant  is  invested  with  some  historical  interest ; 
hut  in  addition  to  that  it  possesses  some  beauty,  especially  when  well 
grown  and  tastefully  trained.  The  aptness  of  the  popular  name  is  at 
once  perceived  when  the  fruit  (fig.  25)  is  examined,  for  the  small  oval 
or  globular  gourds  are  studded  with  short  spine-like  protuberances, 
exactly  suggestive  of  some  hairy  varieties  of  Gooseberry.  In  size,  too, 
they  are  nearly  equal,  and  when  the  fruits  are  not  fully  ripe  there  is  a 
further  resemblance  in  the  peculiar  green  tint.  The  longitudinal  and 
regular  streaks  are,  however,  a  great  mark  of  distinction  if  there  were 
any  danger  of  confusing  the  two,  which  is  scarcely  possible  even  by  the 
most  superficial  and  unbotanical  observer.  When  the  fruits  are  fully 
matured  the  streaks  are  alternately  dark  green  and  yellow,  the  com- 
parative  difference  in  hue  being  well  indicated  in  the  woodcut,  the 
lighter  streaks  representing  the  yellow  ones.  Like  most  of  its  race, 
this  Cuoumis  requires  a  stove  temperature  to  insure  its  success,  and 
being  an  annual,  seeds  must  be  sown  every  year,  preferably  early  in  the 
spring,  to  obtain  plants  for  fruiting  in  the  summer.  Moderately  light 
and  rich  soil  is  needed,  with  abundant  supplies  of  water  during  growth. 
One  of  the  most  effective  modes  of  training  is  to  take  a  clean  stem  to 
the  height  of  18  inches  or  2  feet,  and  then  train  the  shoots  horizontally 
either  along  a  string  or  so  as  to  cover  a  flat  trellis,  from  which  the  fruit 
will  hang,  and  it  can  then  be  seen  to  the  best  advantage. 
