June  27,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
549 
The  second  mode,  and  that  usually  adopted  by  growers  of  forced 
Strawberries  for  market,  iB  layering  in  the  fruiting  pets.  When  the 
plantlets  form  on  the  runners  and  show  incipient  roots  they  are  layered 
on  duly  prepared  ccmpost  in  the  pots,  and  are  left  until  they  are  well 
rooted.  Some  consider  a  stronger  plant  is  thus  secured. 
Yet  a  third  method  is  adopted — that  of  detaching  the  plantlets  with 
an  inch  or  a  little  more  of  the  wire  above  and  below  each  runner.  Pots 
for  fruiting  the  plants  in  are  previously  prepared  by  draining,  filling 
with  soil,  making  very  firm,  and  watering.  The  portion  of  runner 
below  the  plantlet  is  pressed  down  in  the  centre  of  the  pot  till  the 
pushed  roots  are  just  within  the  soil.  The  pots  are  stood  in  the  open, 
frequently  sprinkled  by  means  of  hose  pipes,  and  thus  the  plants 
become  established.  This  method  is  the  quickest,  but  the  plants  are 
not  as  fine. 
As  regards  varieties,  La  Grosse  Sucree  and  Royal  Sovereign  are 
excellent  for  starting  by  or  before  the  new  year  ;  Keen’s  or  Sir  Harry, 
and  Empress  of  India,  are  superb  for  main  cropping;  and  President, 
well  done,  still  splendid.  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  though  somewhat  liable 
to  mildew,  may  usually  be  relied  on,  being  handsome  ;  as  also  is  Sir 
Charles  Napier.  For  quality  and  good  all-round  properties  Yicomtesse 
Hericart  de  Thury  I'jlds  its  own,  though  having  a  rival  in  Souvenir  de 
Bosuet.  Auguste  J  /caise  has  very  large  crimson  fruit,  is  of  compact 
habit,  bears  abundantly,  and  forces  well.  For  late  use,  none  equal 
British  Queen,  or  its  ?lose  ally  Dr.  Hogg. 
All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be  directed 
to  “  The  Editor,”  12,  Mitre  Court  Chambers,  Fleet  Street, 
London,  E.c.  It  is  requested  that  no  one  will  write  privately 
to  any  of  our  correspondents,  seeking  information  on  matters 
discussed  in  this  Journal,  as  doing  so  subjects  them  to  unjustifiable 
trouble  and  expense, 
Finch  of  Salt  (R.  £.). — Your  cowman  is  perfectly  right.  All 
animals  except  pigs  and  fowls  require  salt.  When  cows  are  out  at 
grass  we  prefer  to  put  a  piece  of  rock  salt  in  the  pasture,  so  that  they 
may  help  themselves.  Some  farmers  always  salt  their  hay  while 
making  it,  or,  rather,  stacking  it,  and  others  use  quantities  of  salt  in 
the  chaffed  straw  or  cut  meat.  Cows  need  more  salt  when  in  confine¬ 
ment  than  they  do  running  out.  The  Canadian  winter  is  far  longer 
than  ours,  and  the  cows  will  be  fed  much  on  concentrated  food,  hence 
the  regular  salt  ration. 
Weeds  in  Garden  (7,  T.  A.). — The  weed  you  send  is  named 
Equisetum  arvenee,  commonly  called  Horsetail.  The  Equisetums  are 
usually  found  on  moist  loose  soils.  They  produce  slender  underground 
hrizomes,  from  which  shoots  of  fresh  growths  continually  spring 
up.  They  are  allied  to  Ferns  and  Club  Mosses.  Eradication  is  a 
matter  of  time,  and  patient,  persistent  effort.  Liming  may  have  a 
beneficial  effect,  but  will  not  absolutely  rid  the  land.  The  most  reliable 
way  would  be  to  trench  the  land  and  carefully  gather  every  scrap  of 
root  and  stem.  This  would  require  to  be  done  for  a  number  of 
successive  seasons.  If  any  reader  can  suggest  a  better  method,  will 
they  let  us  know  P 
Black  Spots  and  Blotches  on  Grapes  (Nemo). — The  small  black  spots 
are  due  to  a  minute  fungus,  Gloeosporium  ampelophagum,  which 
occasions  the  disease  known  as  anthraonose  or  Grape  rot.  It  is  not 
common  in  Britain,  and  seldom  does  more  than  produce  greyish  spots 
bordered  by  a  dark  line,  and  in  the  centre  appear  black  points,  which 
are  the  “fiuits”  of  the  fungus.  Beyond  this  stage  the  disease  does 
not  spread  in  vineries,  at  least  such,  so  far,  has  been  our  observation, 
though  the  affected  part  may  hecome  depressed  and  have  the  appearance 
of  a  mild  form  of  scalding.  The  safest  means  of  preventing  the  disease 
spreading  is  to  dust  the  Vines— shoots,  leaves,  berries — with  flowers  of 
sulphur,  repeating  at  intervals  of  ten  days  if  the  disease  continues  to 
spread.  A  small  quantity  of  quicklime  should  be  mixed  with  the 
sulphur  on  the  second  application,  and  the  quantity  of  lime  should  be 
increased  on  each  successive  apj  lication  until  the  proportions  of  lime 
and  sulphur  are  nearly  equal,  always  keeping  a  little  more  sulphur 
than  lime.  This  will  act  well  also  against  mildew,  of  which,  however, 
we  failed  to  find  any  trace.  Ia  the  winter,  when  the  Vines  are  at  rest, 
say  after  pruning,  they  should  be  dressed  with  a  solution  of  sulphate  of 
iron,  1  lb.  to  1^  gallon  of  water,  applying  by  means  of  a  dean,  half- 
worn  paint  brush,  to  the  rods  and  spurs.  The  relatively  large  blackish 
brown  blotches  are  due  to  some  substance  applied  to  the  berries,  and 
thereon  resting  for  some  time,  has  caused  the  destruction  of  the 
cuticular  and  even  epidermal  cells.  The  insecticide  you  name,  used  too 
strongly,  would  produce  the  blotches. 
Time  to  Visit  Kew  Gardens  (T.  B.). — Personally,  we  think  Kew 
Gardens  are  lovelier  and  more  interesting  between  the  first  week  in 
May  and  the  third  in  June  than  at  any  other  period.  However,  as  the 
time  is  now  gone  for  seeing  the  beautiful  Rhododendron  dell  and  Azalea 
garden  in  flower,  you  would  do  well  to  come  about  the  middle  or  end  of 
August.  The  London  parks  are  then  also  fairly  well  furnished,  and 
the  effect  of  the  bedding  combinations  may  be  judged. 
Poor  Grass  in  Pasture  (A  Thirty  Years’  Subscriber) . — The  Grass  is 
the  common  or  fine  Bent  (Agrostis  vulgaris),  and  occurs  abundantly  in 
poor  meadows  and  pastures,  also  as  a  weed  in  arable  land,  though  not 
then  having  the  tufted  appearance  as  sometimes  occurs  in  pastures,  in 
consequence  of  cattle  not  eating  it.  The  Bent  Grass  would  certainly 
disappear  to  a  great  extent  by  manuring,  20  tons  of  half-rotted  farmyard 
manure  being  applied  in  the  autumn  or  early  winter.  In  February,  or 
as  soon  after  as  the  ground  is  thawed,  a  dressing  of  ground  rock  salty 
5  cwt.  per  acre,  may  be  applied,  which  will  have  the  effect  of  sweetening 
the  herbage,  thus  rendering  it  more  palatable  to  cattle.  Failing  the 
farmyard  manure,  we  advise  a  dressing  of  the  mixture  recommended  in 
the  Journal  of  Horticulture,  which  we  are  pleased  has  been  of  service, 
the  10  acres  dressed  with  it  still  having  a  good  bottom  and  a  good  crop 
for  the  season.  Under  the  circumstances  we  do  not  advise  the  breaking 
up  of  the  land  and  cropping  it  with  something  else  for  a  year  or  two, 
as  we  consider  the  herbage  would  be  greatly  benefited  by  manuring, 
the  Bent  Grass  being  discouraged,  and  the  better  Grasses  and  Clover 
correspondingly  encouraged. 
Melon  Leaves  (Novice). — The  leaves  are  affected  by  the  Cucumber 
and  Melon  mould  fungus,  Peronospora  cubensis,  although  there  are 
very  few  outgrowths — a  very  delicate  white  mould  here  and  there  on 
the  under  surface,  yet  the  mycelia’s  hypbae  is  rampant  in  the  tissues, 
and  its  advance  marked  by  the  yellowish  discoloration  on  the  line 
separating  the  living  from  the  destroyed  portions  of  the  respective 
leaves.  The  fungus  is  most  abundant  during  damp  weather,  especially 
when  accompanied  by  relative  cold.  In  a  high  temperature  and  not  too 
damp  and  close  atmosphere  the  disease  does  not  appear,  and  even 
under  relatively  dry  conditions  of  atmosphere  and  a  high  temperature 
at  times,  such  as  90°,  95°,  or  100’  from  sun  heat,  the  disease  is  arrested, 
the  destroyed  portions  of  the  leaves  falling  out  after  drying  up  and 
shrivelling,  and  the  plants  swell  off  and  ripen  their  fruits.  The  disease 
is  oonfined  to  the  leaves,  hence  treatment  should  be  restricted  to  them. 
Spraying  with  dilute  Bordeaux  mixture  (1  lb.  copper  sulphate  and  1  lb. 
quicklime  to  12J  gallons  of  water)  is  perhaps  the  best  means  of  keeping 
the  fungus  from  spreading,  taking  care  to  reach  the  under  side  of  the 
leaves,  which  is  not  a  difficult  matter  with  plants  on  a  trellis,  and 
reachable  from  below ;  but  not  an  easy  affair  in  the  case  of  plants  in 
pits  and  frames,  yet  it  must  be  done.  In  most  cases,  however,  fungi¬ 
cides  in  powder  are  easier  applied  under  glass  than  aqueous  ones,  such 
as  Anti-blight,  Fostite,  and  Strawsonite,  they  being  readily  dusted  on, 
under  side  or  over,  by  means  of  the  Malbeo  bellows ;  suffice  to  very 
lightly  coat  the  under  side  of  the  leaves.  We  advise  a  well-ventilated 
atmosphere,  especially  in  the  early  part  of  the  day,  closing  early  in  the 
afternoon,  so  as  to  run  up  to  90°,  95°,  or  even  100,  admitting  a  little  air 
before  nightfall,  so  as  to  allow  the  pent-up  moisture  to  escape,  and 
prevent  the  atmosphere  from  becoming  very  moist  in  the  morning 
before  air  is  admitted,  this  being  attended  to  early,  or  from  75°,  not  ta 
lower,  but  allow  heating  with  the  sun  gradually. 
Crops  Unsatisfactory  on  Newly  Trenched  Ground  (Scottie). — There 
is  no  question  of  the  trenching  being  a  mistake,  the  good  top  spit  soil 
being  placed  at  the  bottom,  and  the  bottom  spit  brought  to  the  top,  thus 
practically  the  nutrient  matter  is  beyond  the  reach  of  seedlings  in  their 
early  stages  of  growth,  and  in  consequence  they  are  doing  indifferently. 
Of  their  future  doing  there  is  no  question,  for  when  the  roots  reach  the 
manure  placed  between  the  top  and  bottom  spits,  and  also  the  good 
mould  of  the  top  spit  turned  to  the  bottom  of  the  trench,  they  will 
receive  the  needful  support,  though  certainly  not  profiling  to  the  extent 
that  would  have  attended  keeping  the  good  soil  on  the  top.  The  proper 
course  to  have  taken  would  have  been  to  bastard  trench  the  land.  The 
width  of  the  trench  being  taken  out,  and  also  the  top  spit  of  the  next 
trench,  then  the  bottc  m  spit  of  the  second  trench  placed  at  the  bottom 
of  the  first  trench,  after  breaking  up  the  bottom  of  this  with  a  fork  or 
pick,  if  very  hard  and  stubborn,  then  applying  the  manure,  and  on  this 
the  top  spit  from  the  third  trench,  thus  keeping  the  good  ameliorated 
soil  on  top.  In  ordinary  bastard  trenching  the  trench  is  only  taken  ont 
one  spit  deep,  and  the  bottom  broken  up;  on  this,  top  of  the  next 
trench  is  pared  off  thinly  in  case  of  grass  or  turf,  and  placed  in,  and 
then  the  top  spit  immediately  beneath  the  paring  off.  Manure  can  be 
placed  on  the  broken  up  bottom.  Either  plan  would  have  been  better 
than  burying  the  good  soil,  and  thus  rendering  the  ground  relatively 
sterile.  Only  a  good  dressing  of  stable  or,  preferably,  farmyard  manure, 
will  restore  the  soil  to  fertility,  20  tons  per  aore  not  being  too  muoh. 
The  dressing  with  slaked  lime,  l£  ton  to  about  2  acres,  would  not 
aocount  for  the  indiffs»ent  doing  of  the  crops,  though  it  certainly  would 
not  improve  matters,  there  not  being  any,  or  very  little,  organic  matter  to 
act  upon.  The  manure,  if  applied  in  autumn,  should  be  about  half 
rotted,  and  if  in  early  spring  thoroughly  rotted.  The  most  likely  article 
to  profit  the  crops  immediately  is  nitrate  of  soda,  Crushing  finely  and 
applying  2£  cwt.  per  aore,  1  lb.  2  ozs.  per  rod,  or  a  little  over  \  oz.  per 
square  yard.  It  should  be  applied  when  the  crop  tops  are  dry,  but  the 
ground  moist,  it  being  advisable  to  keep  it  from  the  hearts  or  centres 
of  the  plants  as  muen  as  possible. 
