506 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  27,  1902. 
soil  when  it  is  frozen.  A  thorough  soaking  of  water  should  be 
given  to  the  inside  border,  though  this  will  not  be  necessary 
where  the  roof  lights  have  been  off  some  time;  and  if  the  trees 
are  weakly  a  soaking  of  liquid  manure  (not  too  strong)  will  tend 
to  a  more  vigorous  break.  Sprinkle  the  trees  in  the  morning 
and  afternoon  of  bright  days,  but  do  not  keep  them  dripping 
with  moisture,  especially  at  nights,  for  this  has  a  weakening 
tendency,  and  tends  to  encourage  wood  rather  than  blossom 
development. 
Succession  Houses. — All  the  leaves  are  off  the  trees  except 
in  the  latest  house,  where  they  still  hang  somewhat  unduly,  pro¬ 
bably  from  the  dull  and  wet  weather,  also  absence  of  frost,  but 
they  should  not  be  forcibly  removed.  When,  however,  they 
come  easily  by  brushing  with  the  hand  or  a  light  broom  the 
process  may  be  assisted,  and  when  they  are  all  off,  unfasten  the 
trees  from  the  trellis,  prune  them,  cleanse  the  house  thoroughly, 
and,  if  needed,  paint  the  woodwork,  ironwork,  and  the  trellis. 
Wash  the  trees  with  soapy  water,  and  afterwards  dress  them 
with  an  improved  insecticide,  but  do  not  dislocate  the-  buds. 
Tie  the  trees  to  the  trellis,  leaving  room  for  the  branches  to 
swell.  Remove  the  loose  surface  soil  and  supply  fresh,  giving  a 
top-dressing  of  some  approved  fertiliser,  and  supply  water  to 
the  inside  borders,  so  as  to  keep  them  thoroughly  moistened 
down  to  the  drainage.  Keep  the  atmosphere  of  the  houses  as 
cool  as  possible. 
Lifting  and  Root-pruning  Fresh  Trees. — Any  lifting,  root- 
pruning,  cr  other  root  requirements  of  the  trees  should  be 
attended  to  without  delay  ;  but  it  is  not  safe  to  interfere  with 
too  vigorous  trees  until  the  leaves  are  all  down  or  nearly  so,  a 
fewr  soft  growths,  especially  laterals,  being  of  no  consequence,  as 
they  will  have  to  be  removed.  The  introduction  of  fresh  trees 
should  be  performed  at  once,  the  planting  being  proceeded  with 
as  soon  as  the  leaves  are  off.  Trees  for  houses  are  best  if  trained 
for  two  or  three  years  to  walls  or  under  glass,  those  of  five  or 
more  years  moving  safely  if  prepared  for  lifting  by  digging  round 
them,  so  as  to  cause  the  production  of  fibre®,  a  year  previously. 
Such  trees  can  be  lifted  with  abundance  of  roots,  and,  being  care¬ 
fully  planted,  they  force  readily  the  first  season,  and  the  results 
are  satisfactory,  provided  they  are  not  brought  on  too  rapidly, 
and  a  moderate  crop  taken.  It  is  always  preferable  to  select 
trees  coming  into  profit,  as  young  ones  do  not  fruit  much  the 
first  two  or  three  years;  hence  the  advantage  of  planting  trees 
in  a  bearing  condition. — St.  Albans. 
Meteorological  Observations  at  ChiswicL 
Taken  in  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens  at  Chis¬ 
wick,  height  above  sea  level  24  feet. 
Date. 
Temperature  of  the 
Air. 
Temperature  of 
the  Soil. 
At  9  A.M. 
1902. 
II 
o  > 
At  9  A.M. 
Day. 
Night 
.5 
*3 
At 
1-ft. 
deep. 
At 
2- ft. 
deep. 
At 
4-ft. 
deep. 
U  - 
Q  CD 
^  00 
®  g  S 
£  <D  *3 
November. 
u  ^ 
a 
Dry 
Bulb. 
Wet 
Bulb.1 
GQ 
<D 
A 
to 
a 
CD 
© 
s: 
o 
a 
a  a  g 
®  ° 
B 
Sunday  ...16 
S.E. 
i 
deg. 
42-2 
deg. 
38'6 
deer. 
44-9 
deg. 
41-6 
Ins. 
deg. 
46  2 
deg. 
48  7 
deg. 
511 
deg. 
39-2 
Monday  ...17 
S.E. 
39-7 
37-3 
43-9 
357 
— 
44  6 
48-3 
51  0 
231 
Tuesday  ...18 
E.N.E, 
34-8 
32-9 
40  4 
339 
— 
42  4 
47-8 
50  8 
24  6 
Wed'sday  19 
E.N.E. 
33-8 
32-9 
37  0 
33-2 
_ 
40'9 
46-6 
50  5 
23-5 
Thursday  20 
E.N.E. 
340 
328 
35  0 
325 
_ 
401 
45-8 
80  2 
30  8 
Friday  ...21 
N.E. 
335 
32-5 
39T 
290 
_ 
39-4 
45-3 
500 
25  6 
Saturday  22 
S.E. 
34-7 
32-6 
43-6 
32-2 
0-03 
39'2 
44-7 
49  5 
25  0 
Means  ... 
36T 
34-2 
40'6 
34 '0 
Total. 
0  03 
41-8 
46  7 
50-4 
281 
A  very  dull  dark  week,  with  cold  east  wind. 
Trade  Catalogues  Received. 
Clibrans,  Altrincham. — 1,  Select  List  of  Chrysanthemums ;  2,  Trees 
and  Shmbs,  Roses  and  Fruits. 
M.  Herb  (Herb  and  Wulle),  Seed  and  Bulb  Grower,  Naples,  Italy.— 
General  Catalogue  of  Seeds. 
Hogg  and  Wood,  Nurserymen  and  Seedsmen,  Coldstream  and  Duns, 
N.B.— Nursery  Stock. 
A.  C.  Rogers,  F.R.H.S.,  Camp  Yale,  Sheakespeare  Avenue,  Portswood 
Road,  Southampton. —  Trees  and  Shrubs.  Roses,  dc. 
**  *  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. 
Plan  of  a  Bothy  Competition. 
“  Well-wisher  ”  promises  a  first  prize  of  £3,  and  the  Editor 
supplies  a  second  prize  of  £1. 
The  rules  of  the  competition  are  as  follows: — The  plan,  drawn 
to  scale,  must  not-  exceed  7in  broad  by  Tin  deep,  and  must  be 
clearly  defined  on  stout  paper.  The  plan  must  provide  suitable 
accommodation  for  six  men,  and  the  cost-  of  the  building  ought 
not  to  exceed  £200  to  £220.  A  statement  of  the  general  items 
of  cost  should  accompany  the  plans,  together  with  any  written 
comments  thereon.  The  competition  is  open  until  Christmas, 
1902,  by  which  date  all  plans  must  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Editor. 
The  .sender’s  name  and  full  address  should  be  enclosed  when  send¬ 
ing  the  plan,  and  the  sender  will  alone  be  held  responsible  for  it. 
MILK  P  BUTTER?  CHEESE? — In  the  article  under  this 
heading  on  page  486,  line  24,  sec.  col.,  last  week,  the  sentence 
beginning:  “The  milkman  is  always  in  trouble,”  should  be  “in 
touch.” 
CERATONIA  SILIQUA  (D.  W.).— Gerarde  says:— “I  have 
sown  the  seeds  in  my  garden,  where  they  have  prospered 
exceedingly  well.  It  has  often  been  grown  in  South  England 
on  south  walls,  and  you  might  try  it,  but  there  is  not  much 
prospect  of  its  surviving  severe  winters.” 
ARTIFICIAL  MANURE  FOR  LAND  CONTAINING  MUCH 
CHALK  OR  LIME  (A.  Weekly  Reader). — Nitrate  of  soda, 
2  parts;  dried  blood,  2  parts;  dried  fish,  2  parts  ;  steamed  bone- 
meal,  4  parts  ;  superphosphate,  4  parts  ;  nitrate  of  potash,  2  parts  ; 
and  wood  ashes,  4  parts,  mixed.  This’  mixture  contains  3),  per 
cent,  of  nitrogen,  7\  per  cent,  phosphoric  acid,  and  64  per  cent,  of 
potash.  It  may  be  used  at  the  rate  of  5  to  10  cwt.  per  acre, 
3|  to  71b  per  rod,  for  gardens,  or  2J  to  5  cwt.  per  acre  for  field 
crops.  The  blood  and  fish  should  be  ground  and  the  nitrate 
crushed,  the  wood  ashes  facilitating  the  mixing  and  distribution 
of  the  fertiliser,  as  well  as  supplying  sound  potash  and  phosphoric 
acid. 
SPORTING  OF  CHRYSANTHEMUMS  (J.  H.  S.).— No  one 
has  yet  given  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  sports,  and  certainly 
that  of  its  being  due  to  fertilisation  of  the  flower  is  remarkable, 
and  our  experience  negatives  the  dictum,  as  we  have  had  many 
sports  from  plants  the  parents  of  which  had  not  their  flowers 
fertilised  artificially ;  and  if  so,  naturally  the  flowered  stems  were 
cut  off  as  soon  as  the  flowers  faded,  thus  giving  little  opportunity  of 
the  sap  descending  to  the  rootstocks  and  changing  the  nature  of 
the  sap  and  characteristics  of  the  suckers.  No  doubt  fertilisation 
results  in  sports,  but  it  is  often  embryonic  plant  in  the' seed,  and 
the  plant  from  it  may  vary  from  one  or  both  parents,  and  even 
afterwards  give  rise  to  other  variations,  termed  sports,  common 
not  only  to  plants  resulting  from  cross-fertilisation  and  in  varieties 
most  advanced  in  the  florist’s  estimation,  but  also  in  species, 
hence  certain  parts  of  an  Oak  producing  green  leaves  may  and 
do  produce  silver  or  golden  variegated  leaves,  even  the  common 
Holly  producing  variegated  parts  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  no  one 
knows  or  has  explained  why. 
CARNATION  LEAVES  DISEASED  (C.  C.).— The  leaves  are 
infested  with  the  black  mould  known  scientifically  as 
Macrosporium  nobile,  and  commonly  as  “  spit  ”  fungus.  It  has 
been  very  common  this  season,  both  outdoors  and  under  glass, 
and  this  probably  from  the  dull  and  cold  and  wet  nature  of  the 
summer.  The  spots  are  irregularly  scattered,  and  the  mycelium 
of  the  fungus  is  widely  diffused  in  the  tissues  before  the 
discoloured  spots  appear  on  one  or  both  surfaces  of  the  leaf  or 
even  stem,  and  on  these  are  produced  still  darker  minute  specks, 
which  represent  clusters  of  conidia,  or  spores,  by  which  the  disease 
is  spread  in  summer,  or  even  in  winter  under  glass.  Later  in  the 
season  numerous  minute  black  selerotia  are  embedded  in  the 
diseased  parts  of  the  plant,  and  these  carry  over  the  disease  so 
that  it  starts  anew  the  following  summer.  Spraying  the  plants 
with  a  solution  of  ammoniacal  carbonate  of  copper,  or  of  potassium 
sulphide,  arrests  the  spread  of  the  disease.  Potassium  sulphide 
should  first  be  dissolved  in  hot  water,  say  ^oz  in  a  pint  of  hot 
water,  and  when  dissolved  dilute  with  cold  soft  water  to  ligal. 
All  diseased  parts  or  leaves  should  be  picked  or  cut  off  and 
burned,  thus  preventing  the  formation  of  selerotia. 
