Octo’  er  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
339 
Wanted— Inventors. 
It  may  be  of  interest  to  your  correspondents  and  others  to 
know  that  “  the  instrument  of  torture  ”  of  which  complaint  is 
made,  viz.,  the  ordinary  garden  barrow,  is  being  abolished  in 
some  places,  and  superseded  by  an  instrument,  if  not  of  pleasure, 
at  least  one  of  ease.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  see  with  what  small 
effort  a  boy  can  ply  to  and  fro  with  heavy  loads  of  plants  by 
the  use  of  the  Improved  Plant  Barrow  (particulars  of  which  I 
enclose  on  a  printed  slip),  whereas  with  “  the  instrument  of 
torture  ”  complained  of,  two  men  would  have  to  work  hard  with 
less  results. — R.  E.  Sanders. 
Exactly  so  !  More  power  to  you,  Mr.  H.  Muncey,  for  your 
sort  of  a  set-on-a-thinking  article  with  which  you  led  off  our  weekly 
feed  of  good  things  on  September  11  (page  235).  It  was  a  palate 
tickler.  We  gardeners  do  want  a  lot,  no  doubt.  “  Man  never  is, 
but  always  to  be  blest.”  No  man  knows  what  a  gardener  wants 
so  well  as  the  gardener  himself.  He  is,  too,  as  “  chokeful  of  science 
as  old  Sol  Gills.”  Does  any  critic  doubt  it?  Know,  then,  oh  ye 
of  little  faith,  that  it  is  so,  and  that  it  only  wants  the  Muncey 
method  to  set  it  leaking  for  the  benefit  of  gardeners  now  and 
generations  vet  unborn.  Still  doubting?  Then  I’d  have  you  to 
know  that  the  article  swallowed  last  night  is  so  sudorific  in  its 
action  that,  this  morning,  it’s  oozing  out  of  me  at  every  pore ; 
6  a.m.,  waiting  for  the  laggards;  why  tarries  the  crinch-crunch  of 
their  big  brogues?  Ah!  The  back  tyre — my  beloved  free  wheel 
— no  sooner  catches  the  eye  than  my  hand  catches  the  pump 
(inflator),  one  of  those  celluloid  affairs.  Wish-shoot,  wish-shoot, 
wish-shoot,  just  three  strokes ;  grand.  A  cyclist’s  blessing  on  thee, 
O  celluloid  man,  whoever  thou  art;  but,  and  to  the  point,  thrice 
blessed  be  he  by  all  gardeners  who  will  give  us  a  celluloid  syringe. 
Oh !  do,  somebody  who  knows  somebody  else- — some  benevolent 
body  in  the  celluloid  trade — do  tell  him  and  let  us  have  one,  and 
if  it  is  the  success  I  guess  it  would  be,  then  call  it  the  Muncey. — Q. 
I  read  with  much  interest  Mr.  Muncey’s  article,  and,  like  him, 
I  think  it  is  high!  time  we  had  some  improvement  in  our  every¬ 
day  tools.  Take,  for  instance,  the  lawn  mowers;  what  a  drag 
even  the  best  of  them  are!  Now,  this  does  not  come  from  the 
mere  cutting  of  the  grass,  for  with  well  ground  knives  and  a  keen 
sole  plate,  little  weight  is  required  for  that.  The  dead  drag 
comes  from  the  sole  bar  trailing  on  the  thick  turf.  To  prove  this, 
one  has  only  to  turn  up  a  machine  and  see  it  polished  like  the  fire- 
irons.  If  makers  of  mowers  would  keep  their  sole  bar  farther 
back,  and  higher  up  in  the  heel,  so  as  to  entirely  clear  the  turf, 
they  would  save  gallons  ( !)  of  sweat,  both  to  man  and  beast. 
Only  the  edge  of  the  sole  plate,  or  bedknife  should  come  in 
contact  with  the  turf. — J.  Lornie,  South  Park,  Rothesay. 
Where  is  the  Todea  ? 
Not  so  many  years  ago  the  Todea  formed  an  important 
addition  to  the  fernery  of  almost  every  well  constituted  garden. 
To-day  scarce  any  of  the  varieties  then  in  repute  are  to  be  met 
with  in  gardens.  Assuming  that  every  effect  has  a  cause,  it 
would  be  interesting  to  discover  the  reason  for  this  falling  off 
in  repute  of  such  a  graceful  and  unquestionable  requisition  in 
the  complete  decoration  of  the  fernery.  Its  culture  is  by  no 
means  difficult — that  is,  unless  it  is  cultured  too  much,  and  that 
may  be  possible  in  some  cases,  and  ought  not-  to  be  a  cause  for  the 
complained  non-representation  in  ordinary  collections.  There 
may  be  a  more  palpable  cause  in  the  vagaries  of  fashion,  and 
perhaps  it  is  to  her  door  the  reason  must  be  traced.  Fashion 
truly  is  a  capricious  dame,  responsible  for  perhaps  more  evil 
than  good  to  gardening. 
Raw  and  loose  jointed,  a  few  years  ago  it  was  our  destiny,  like 
most  gardeners,  to  find  our  way  to  the  Scottish  metropolis,  and 
we  lost  little  time  in  wending  our  way  to  the  then  celebrated 
Lawson  nurseries.  While  most  of  all  we  saw  was  new  and  full 
of  interest  to  a  country  boy,  nothing  took  us  with  such  force  as 
the  long  span-roofed  Todea  pit.  The  sight  was  truly  magnificent 
to  us  then,  still  is,  and  possibly  ever  shall  be,  for  we  do  not  think 
it  easily  could  be  rivalled.  The  plants  were  ranged  along  either 
side  of  the  footpath  which  went  up  the  middle  of  the  house, 
the  long  graceful  pendant  fronds  fell  down  the  walled  sides  of 
the  path,  almost  touching  the  ground.  Not  the  less  beautiful 
were  those  former  denizens  of  the  Antipodes,  when  often  m 
winter  their  delicate  fronds  could  be  seen  encased  in  ice,  and 
hanging  therefrom  countless  icicles.  Todea  superba  comprised 
the  greater  number,  and  perhaps  the  most  imposing,  though 
there  were  one  or  two  other  varieties  represented.  The  Todea 
being  a  Filmy  Fern,  it  requires  perfect  shade  and  ample  overhead 
moisture.  This  necessitates  a  small  corner,  specially  for  itself 
in  the  fernery,  hence  probably  another  serious  obstacle  to  its 
■general  distribution  in  gardens.  Still,  this  latter  reason  is  not 
sufficient,  for  in  most  places  such  a  trivial  obstacle  could  easily 
be  removed.  It  is  to  ne  hoped  that  the  Todea  will  yet  retuin 
and  become  a  universal  favourite  among  the  beautiful  though 
flowerless  class  of  which  it  is  a  subject. — D.  C. 
The  Fern  iite, 
In  reply  to  “Trem,”  page  307,  I  can  truly  sympathise  with 
him  in  having  charge  of  thousands  of  Ferns  infested  with  the 
mite,  more  particularly  as  he  is  growing  them  for  the  market. 
It  is  quite  bad  enough  to  have  a  few  solitary  plants  so  infested,, 
but  when  it  amounts  to  thousands,  and  relying  on  them  for  a 
living,  it  becomes  a  most  serious  matter,  and  from  what  I  saw 
of  Mr.  Nash’s  Ferns  already  referred  to,  I  felt  certain  that 
what  his  were  troubled  with  was  not  a  solitary  case,  as  what 
had  affected  him  would  make  its  appearance  elsewhere,  and  that 
is  why  I  sent  my  paper  for  publication  in  these  columns.  At 
the  present  time  I  cannot  say  if  the  mite  that  “  Trem  ”  has 
been  fighting  is  the  same  variety  as  the  one  that  Mr.  Nash  has 
been  troubled  with,  and  I  would  be  glad  if  “  Trem  ”  will  oblige 
by  sending  me  a  plant  or  two  in  pots,  as  grown — the  worst 
infested  plants  he  has  got — carefully  packed,  to  21,  Church  Road, 
Wimbledon,  so  that  I  may  ascertain  if  it  is  the  same  insect. 
The  plants  should  have  some  young  fronds  just  bursting  up  from 
the  crowns,  as  it  is  on  these  that  the  insects  are  found,  and 
to  which  the  mischief  is  done,  as  immediately  the  fronds  get 
slightly  hardened  the  insects  return  to  the  crown  of  the  plants 
to  infest  the  next  fronds  that  appear.  These,  in  turn,  are 
crippled  before  being  developed. 
As  I  have  already  stated,  these  insect  pests  are  new  to  me. 
Mr.  Nash  is  a  nurseryman,  and  the  loss  of  a  quantity  of  Ferns 
just  at  a  time  he  expected  to-  turn  them  into  money  was  a 
serious  matter,  and  in  looking  through  his  houses  I  noticed  a 
batch  of  them  looking  very  stubby,  the  upper  portions  of  the 
fronds  having  been  cut  off  and  the  lower  ends  left.  In  the 
majority  of  them  more  than  half  the  fronds  were  gone,  and 
what  remained  had  just  the  appearance  as  described  by  “  Trem  ” 
on  page  307.  I  at  once  inquired  what  was  the  cause  of  it,  to 
which  Mr.  Nash  replied,  “We  are  puzzled  to  know.  We  believe 
it  is  an  insect.  We  have  fumigated  and  used  all  kinds  of  liquid 
insecticides,  but  nothing  seems  to  stop  them,  and  now  we  are 
applying  a  liberal  use  of  the  syringe  to  see  what  effect  that  will 
have,”  &o. 
I  brought  away  a  plant,  and  after  examining  the  soil  and 
roots  I  found  the  insects  seated  in  the  crown  of  the  plant  and 
on  the  tenderest  fronds,  and  under  an  objective  of  high  power 
could  fully  define  the  insects,  also  their  eggs  in  various  stages, 
and  by  referring  to  my  books  I  was  able  to  identify  them  as 
the  Macrobiotus  Hufelandi.  Having  found  out  what  it  was, 
the  next  thing  was  to  know  its  natural  habitat,  i.e.,  under  what 
conditions  it  lived  and  thrived.  It  is  figured  in  the  Micrographic 
Dictionary,  and  described  “  as  being  found  upon  mosses  growing 
on  walls,  stones,  at  the  foot  of  trees,  &c.”  It  is  also  described 
in  the  “  Manual  of  Zoology,”  by  Nicholson ;  but  more  fully  so  in 
volume  6  of  Messrs.  Cassell’s  “Natural  History,”  where  it  is 
described  in  the  order  of  Tardigrada  commonly  known  as  bear  or 
sloth  animalcules,  found  in  moss  and  in  wet  places. 
The  mouth  is  suctorial,  and  they  are  distinguished  from  all 
other  Arachnidse  by  being  absolutely  hermaphrodite.  The  single 
ovary  containing  its  eggs  is  always  visible  in  the  hinder  part  of 
the  body,  and  at  the  posterior  end  of  it  are  placed  the  male 
organs,  both  sets  opening  into-  a  dilatation  of  the  intestinal 
canal,  &c.  They  live  sometimes  in  water,  but  more  frequently 
in  moss,  in  damp  places,  and  some  of  them  are  found  especially 
in  a  rather  curious  locality,  viz.,  in  the  gutters  of  the  roofs 
of  houses,  and  have  the  power  of  resisting  desiccation.  They 
may  be  found  apparently  quite  dry  among  the  sandy  dust  of  a 
gutter,  and  will  revive  at  once  on  being  duly  moistened. 
Having  found  out  the  natural  habitat  of  the  insects,  the 
next  question  is,  What  will  destroy  them?  and,  seeing  that 
they  thrive  in  moist  places,  points  at  once  that  insecticides  in  a 
fluid  state  are  practically  useless.  Also,  as  they  infest  the  crowns 
of  the  plants  and  the  tenderest  grovyth  of  the  fronds,  fumigation 
is  hopeless.  I  therefore  advised  giving  the  plants  a  thorough 
good  watering  and  then  dust  the  crowns  completely  with  tobacco 
powder,  or  any  other  strong  insecticide  in  a  powdered  state, 
and  repeat  the  dusting  after  the  next  waterings. 
The  plants  began  to  thrive,  and  were  soon  in  saleable  condi¬ 
tion.  I  will  here  say  the  insect,  being  hermaphrodite,  i.e.,  the 
male  and  female  organs  existing  in  the  same  individual  insect, 
it  therefore  has  the  power  of  reproducing  itself  as  long  as  it 
lives  or  one  is  left;  and  although  the  cultivator  may  burn  all 
his  plants,  a  legion  of  the  vermin  may  be  left  lodged  under  the- 
wall  plates,  in  the  walls,  under  the  stages,  or  in  the  gutters  of 
his  houses,  to  sally  forth  and  infest  batch  after  batch  of  Ins 
plants;  hence  the  necessity  of  not  only  cleaning  the  plants, 
but  every  particle  of  the  house  in  which  the  infested  plants  aro 
grown  in.  .  , 
The  eggs  of  the  insects  are  situated  in  them  as  described, 
and  are  discharged  three  at  a  time  in  a  very  thin  coating  or 
sack.  They  are  of  a  beautiful  pale  green  colour,  and  it  is  most 
interesting  to  watch  the  young  insects  relieve  themselves  from 
the  egg  itself,  after  which  the  coating,  or  sack,  that  contained 
