October  2,  1902. 
321 
JOURNAL  CF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
the  earlier  month.*  of  the  year,  so  that  “Quiz’s”  attempt  at 
cheap  sarcasm  is  utterly  devoid  of  an  atom  of  truth,  and  suggests 
a  form  of  journalism  that  does  not  hear  the  impress  of  manly 
action.  Personally,  if  I  desire  to  ask  a  question,  I  should  do  so 
under  my  owp  name,  certainly  not  under  a  nom  de  plume,  as  the 
latter  course  is  suggestive  of  that  questionable  code  of  honour 
that  prefers  to  stab  your  opponent  in  the  dark  than  meet  him  in 
open  combat. — A.  O’Neill. 
- - 
The  Germination  of  Ferns. 
Recent  investigations  by  some  German  physiologists  show  that 
in  the  germination  of  the  spores  of  Ferns.  Horsetails,  and  Mosses, 
light  is  an  essential  factor.  They  are  thus  in  contrast  with  the 
majority  of  plants,  the  seeds  of  which  do  not  require  light  for  the 
germinating  process,  or  may  even  be  impeded  in  growth  by  its 
effects.  A  few  exceptions,  however,  occur  amongst  Ferns,  'where 
the  absence  of  light  makes  no  difference.  Generally  light  acts  as 
a  stimulus,  also  it  brings  about  certain  chemical  changes  in  the 
embryo.  Within  the  spores  of  most  Ferns  and  Mosses  sufficient 
nutriment  is  lodged  to  enable  them  for  a  while  to  retain  vitality, 
but  the  Horsetails,  not  possessing  it,  must  germinate  speedily  or 
the  spores  die. — J.  R.  S.  C. 
Apple,  Peasgood's  Nonsuch. 
I  am  rather  surprised  to-  find  that  your  esteemed  correspon¬ 
dent  Mr.  W.  J.  Murphy  (page  249),  cannot  succeed  with  the  above- 
named  Apple.  A  tree  which  only  cost  half-a-crown  three  years 
ago  at  the  nursery,  and  which  I  planted  here,  is  now  bearing  a 
crop  of  beautiful  fruits,  as.  it  also1  did  last  year,  and  I  know  an 
old  tree  not  many  miles  from  here  which  bears  some  of  the  best 
specimens  I  have  seen,  and  which  have  helped  to  win  prizes  at 
the  Crystal  Palace  and  at  the  local  shows.  I  should  advise  Mr. 
Murphy  to.  take  the  blossoms  off  the  tree  if  he  has  not  already 
done  so,  as  they  cannot  do  the  tree  any  good,  but  probably  some 
harm. — R.  M.,  Babington,  Bath. 
Red  Spider  on  Yines. 
On  page  292  Mr.  A.  Jefferies,  after  a  long  silence,  again  takes 
up  the  above,  subject,  and — to  use  a  well-known  metaphor  of 
Dickens — he  seems  to  be  “  swelling  wisibly  ”  in  contemplating  his 
recent  achievement  in  not  being  able  to.  kill  red  spider  after 
having  vaporised  with  XL  All  at  twenty-five  times  the  usual 
strength.  Mr.  Jefferies  asks  me  to.  explain  how  I  managed  to 
destroy  similar  insects  so.  easily  by  the  aid  of  XL  All?  Well,  I 
do  not  believe  in  mere  repetition;  all  I  have  to  write  about  the 
matter  I  have  already  written  in  my  previous  communication.  It 
would  be  quite  easy  for  me  to.  forward  to  the  editor  a  few  Vine 
leaves  covered  with  red  spiders,  all  quite  dead,  but  that  would 
prove  nothing,  as  it  seems  that  the  “  hardened  criminals  ”  in 
Essex  are  not  caught — I  mean  killed — so  easily. — H.  I). 
I  do  not  wish  to  enter  into,  the  discussion  between  “  H.  D.” 
and  Mr.  Jefferies  on  this  all-important  subject  to  gardeners,  but 
I  trust  that  the  latter  will  pardon  me  for  venturing  to  say  that, 
excellent  in  detail  as  the  description  of  the  experiment  made  by 
him  is,  it  lacks  one  most  essential  factor,  viz.,  the  state  of  the 
atmosphere  of  the  pit,  with  respect  to  moisture,  in  which, 
and  at  the  time,  the  experiment  was  made.  When  vapourising 
with  nicotine  compound,  a  comparatively  dry  atmosphere  is 
absolutely  necessary,  and  inattention  to  this  faotor  frequently 
makes  all  the  difference  between  success  and  failure.  In  making 
this  statement  I  do  not  wish  to  infer  that  vapourising  with 
XL  All  nicotine  compound  will  destroy  red  spider  in  all  its 
stages  either  by  one  strong,  or  what  is  far  better  and  safer, 
repeated  minor  doses;  but  I  do  wish  to  emphasise  the  fact, 
that  a  given  dose  administered  in  a  moist  atmosphere  containing 
90  per  cent,  of  moisture  may  prove  ineffectual,  whilst  in  one  con¬ 
taining  only  GO  per  cent,  it  will  prove  destructive  to  insect  life. — 
T.  Challis. 
We  are  still  waiting  in  expectancy  for  that  which  is  destined 
to  be  the  greatest  boon  ever  yet  conferred  on  a  gardener,  a  com¬ 
pound  or  article  which  is  perfectly  reliable  and  certain  in  its 
destructive  powers  against  “  insects,”  while  equally  perfect  in  its 
harmless  to  the  most,  tender  plants.  XL  All,  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Jefferies  on  page  292,  perhaps  does  not  claim  to  be  blameless 
further  than  others  of  the  many  curative  potions  which  exist  for 
the  relief  of  plant  troubles.  It,  nevertheless,  is  among  the  best 
insect  destroyers  we  yet  possess.,  This  we  think  few  people  who 
have  given  it  a  fair  trial  will  feel  prepared  to  dispute.  But  even 
with  the  oft-employed  tobacco,  we  find  red  spider  can  stand  a 
good  deal  of  the  fumes  and  still  keep  a  steady  foot  and  upright 
gait.  To  Adiantums,  XL  All  is  a  disastrous  foe,  browning  the 
young  fronds  in  a  very  short  time.  It  deals  death  readily  and 
speedily  to  the  green  fly,  but  a  few  years  ago  we  failed  to  get  it 
serviceable  in  destroying  fly  in  Chrysanthemum  blooms.  Fumi¬ 
gate  them  as  we  would,  still  they  lived.  We  then  concluded  that 
it  was  possible  there  might  be  bad  XL  All  as  well  as  bad  whisky. 
Red  spider  is  an  extremely  difficult  insect  to  kill  if  once  estab¬ 
lished,  but  is  it  not  quite  possible,  if  careful  watch  for  its  first 
appearance  is  kept,  that  this  destructive  little  creature  may  cause 
little  trouble?  Preventives  are  better  than  remedies. — C. 
Murmurs  from  the  Garden. 
Men,  of  course,  often  say  queer  things,  and  some  of  those  who 
say  very  much  more  than  they  think  have  recently  been  saying 
the  following: — “That,  notwithstanding  the  drain  made  on  our 
young  men  by  circumstances  attaching  to  the  late  war,  the 
gardening  profession  is  still  suffering  from  plethora.  That 
nowadays  there  is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  our  modern  journey¬ 
man  to  shun  the  excellent  training  ground  of  the  nurseries. 
This,  if  true,  is  a  great  mistake,  for  better  time  could  not  be 
spent  than  a  short  period  in  a  first-class  nursery.  Gardeners 
should  be  well  up  in  the  culture  and  nomenclature  of  many  of  the 
ornamental  trees  and  shrubs  which  furnish  our  pleasure  grounds 
but,  alas!  they  are  not.  The  nursery  is  certainly  the  place  for 
this.  That  because  the  summer  and  autumn  were  unkindly  to 
plants  and  men,  the  winter  is  to  follow  suit  by  being  very  severe. 
We  have  personally  not  very  much  faith  in  prophecies,  especially 
when  connected  with  material  so  fickle  as  the  weather.  That  it 
is  quite  possible  the  Chrysanthemum  won’t  make  so  much  noise 
as  usual  this  year,  because,  first,  the  season  was  not  the  best 
possible,  and  again  because  the  fateful  3rd  of  September 
occasioned  a  few  broken  ‘  heads !’  also  the  succeeding  hard  frost 
injured  not  a  few.  That  gardening  is  not  worth  the  candle, 
because  everyone  who  earnestly  desires  to  get  a  ‘  plum  ’  doesn’t 
get  one.  Well,  the  getting,  no  doubt,  is  a  serious  enough  matter, 
but  it  is  keeping  it,  that  troubles  one. — H. 
Societies. 
R.H.S.,  Scientific  Committee,  September  23rd. 
Present:  Dr.  M.  O.  C'ooke  (in  the  chair);  Rev.  W.  Wilks-, 
Messrs.  G.  Massee,  Saunders,  Holmes,  Douglas,  Dr.  Rendle,  and 
Dr.  Masters. 
Diseased  Helianthus. — Stems  of  Helianthus  exhibited  were 
rotting  at  the  base,  and  dying  off  in  great  numbers.  Externally 
there  were,  here  and  there,  traces  of  white  mould,  but  when  cut 
down  longitudinally  the  pith  was  found  to  be  occupied  by 
numerous  sclerotia  similar  and  perhaps  identical  with  those  found 
in  Potato  haulms  and  Tomato  stems,  and  appear  to  be  quite 
sufficient  to  account  for  the  dying  off.  This  Potato  disease  is 
fully  described  in  Worthington  Smith’s  “  Diseases  of  Field  Crops,” 
p.  15,  and  the  life-history  of  the  sclerotium  given,  in  which  it  is 
shown  that  the  ultimate  development  is  a  small  Peziza,  there 
called  Peziza  postuma,  but  undoubtedly  the  same  as  had  pre¬ 
viously  been  described  as  Peziza  Libertiana,  and  more  recently 
called  Sclerotinia  Libertiana,  and  by  Massee  as  Sclerotinia 
sclerotiorum  (ee  Massee’s  “  Plant  Diseases,”  p.  150,  fig.  32).  It 
seems  to  be  found  indiscriminately  upon  plants  of  various  kinds, 
but  commonly  on  Potato  and  Tomato,  Chrysanthemum, 
Cucumber,  Turnips,  and  Sunflowers. — M.  C.  C. 
Pear  disease. — The  Pears  sent  to  the  last  meeting,  cracked, 
shrivelled,  and  blackened  by  the  attacks  of  Fusicladium  pyrinum. 
In  no  case  could  I  find  any  evidence  of  the  presence  of  the 
Entomosporium,  which  produces  similar  results.  It  is  noteworthy 
that,  intermixed  with  the  Fusicladium,  were  found  profusely  the 
hyaline,,  curved,  and  septate  conidia  of  some  species  of  Fusarium, 
which  certainly  bears  no  relationship  to  the  Fusicladium,  and 
would  be  a  distinct  parasite.  This  requires  further  investigation, 
since  many  of  the  species  of  Fusarium  are  destructive  parasites, 
and  this  has  every  appearance  of  being  a  new  and  undescribed 
species. — M.  C.  C. 
Leaf -snot  of  Celery. — The  leaves  of  Celery  exhibited  were 
spotted  with  somewhat  orbicular  bleached  spots,  at  first  brownish, 
and  then  whitened  towards  the  centre.  Scattered  over  these  spots 
are  the  minute  black  dots  which  represent  the  penthecia,  en¬ 
closing  the  sporules.  These  are  not  so  numerous  as  in  most  other 
species,  and  the  sporules  are  long  and  thread-like,  oozing  out  in  a 
tendril  in  damp  weather  (35 — 40x1 — 2y-).  It  is  the  same  species 
which  occurs  on  the  leaves  of  Parsley,  and  is  known  as  Septona 
petroselini  (Desm.).  It  occurs  also  in  France,  Belgium,  Germany, 
Italy,  and  South  America, — M.  C.  C.  . 
A  vote  of  thanks  was  voted  to  Dr.  Cooke  by  acclamation. 
Abnormal  Pear.— Rev.  W.  Wilks  showed  an  instance  of  a 
fleshy  fruit-like  growth  resulting  from  a  double  flower.  I  he  end 
of  the  flower-stalk  in  these  cases  becomes  fleshy  internally,  but 
externally  bears  leaves  in  successive  whorls  one  above  another, 
like  so  many  calyces.  No  true  fruit  or  seed  is  formed.  Ihe  con¬ 
dition  is  not  uncommon.  .  ,  ,  ,  +w  ti1Pl 
Clubbing  in  Cabbages.- Mr.  Massee  pointed  out  that  d  the 
seed  bed  were  free  from  the  pest,  the  soil  dressed  vi ith i  gas  I h  . 
and  if  the  seedling  plants  can  be  got  over  the  first  three  weeks  o 
