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New York
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Royal Horticultural Society

Orrices: ‘Vincent Savane, S.W.

‘FOUR ESSAYS

“WRITTEN, BY STUDENTS. AT WISLEY, 1913. s.

‘CONTENTS

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EXPLANATORY Nore | Sates Ruasrestovcnpenumaateiinacadgtainten shenegdeeee £
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ESSAYS SUBMITTED BY WISLEY STUDENTS

IN PART QUALIFICATION FOR THE DIPLOMA OF THE SCHOOL.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

SOME few Fellows of the Society, and, I fear, a good many professional
gardeners, are somewhat sceptical of the good work which the Society
is doing at Wisley for the practical education of the Students. It
is almost useless to refer such sceptics to the statistics of our Annual
Examination at Wisley and point out how well the Students acquit
themselves, because the reply is almost universally, ‘‘Oh, I don’t
believe in Examinations.”

Now one item of this Annual Examination is that every Student
has to write an Essay on any subject he likes connected with his
work, and it occurred to me that if one or two of these Essays were
published exactly in the form and word for word as they were sent
in, without any correction whatsoever, it might serve to show the
Fellows something of the result of our Wisley teaching and prove
how useful and practical it is in its application.

I have therefore obtained the consent of the Council to the
publication—not of one, for one might be considered as possibly
quite exceptional, but—of four of these Essays written for this year’s
Examination (1913) ; and I have purposely chosen them on widely
differing subjects, so as to show how wide and practical is the scope
of our Wisley teaching.

T have requested Mr. Chittenden, the Director of the Wisley
School, to be so kind as to put in footnote corrections of any note-
worthy errors, so that these Essays may not mislead our Fellows
in any way, or make them suppose that they are absolute perfection.
The only other corrections area few very slight grammatical emendations
where the English seemed somewhat harsh. They are not perfect, but
we consider them to be very highly creditable both to the Students
themselves and to the whole Teaching Staff of the Society.

The order in which the Essays are printed is not that of merit,
but alphabetical of the names of the Students.

W. WILKs,
Secretary, R.H.S.

ROSES AND THEIR CULTIVATION.
By ALEex. DIcKson.

In this paper I propose to deal with roses and their cultivation, and
as the space at my disposal is limited I can only deal briefly with
the classification of the more important sections.

Within recent years the greatest gain of the rose has been the
improvements effected through the creation of a new class, viz. Hybrid
Tea, which has given us very many lovely roses, of such a free and
continuous flowering character that we now have our gardens gay
from May till November, and in the milder districts of Great Britain
and Ireland it is not unusual to gather blooms of these more modern
roses at Christmas.

BrigEF NOTE ON ORIGIN OF PRESENT-DAY SPECIES OR CLASSES.

Rosa damascena (Damask Rose).—This is a species of great
antiquity. It is generally believed to have been introduced into
England in 1573. For upwards of 200 years the rose underwent
little or no change, but in subsequent years it was improved and varied
to a great degree, the first step being the Damask Perpetual.

The origin of the “ Hybrid Perpetual,” or, as the French growers
term it, “Hybrid Remontant,” is various. The first recognized varieties
were raised from crosses between those of the “ Hybrid Bourbon ”
or “ Hybrid China ” and the ‘‘ Damask Perpetual ” in 1837, while later
others were raised from crosses of varieties of Rosa gallica with the
‘‘Damask Perpetual.” There is also to be found Noisette blood in
some of the varieties described in this class.

The Origin of the Hybrid Bourbon.—This species has in greater
part descended from crosses effected between varieties of the French
or Provence with the Bourbon.

The China or Bengal Rose is closely related to the Rosa indica,
and there can be little doubt but that several of the varieties of recent
introduction are the product of crosses between varieties of the China
and Tea, notably such beautiful and justly esteemed ones as ‘ Comtesse
: i iad ‘Madame Eugéne Resal,’ ‘ Mrs. Edward Clayton,’ and ‘ Queen

ab.’

The Hybrids of the Austrian Briars.—These resulted from a cross
between the Austvian Briar (Rosa lutea) and the Hybrid Perpetual
“Antoine Ducher.’ In this class we now have several very
beautiful varieties Possessing charming colours, shades or tints
hitherto unknown. The most noteworthy are ‘Lyon Rose,’ a
Mocees ae si - oe ss considerably, especially on heavy
nae - oe r, ae ere of absolute distinctness, and

3 ch 1s a mingling of old gold, c
rose shades, a truly fale ae Dave ber cane

3

Rosa multiflora is one of the ancestors of our climbing roses, and
was introduced into England in 1804, from China or Japan. The
‘Crimson Rambler ’ belongs to this group and has probably descended
from the old multiflora rubra,

Rosa Wichuraiana.—This species is a native of Japan and at the
present is being extensively hybridized, with the result that many
beautiful varieties have been created, which are now much in evidence
in all gardens where roses are cultivated, being grown as weeping
standards or for covering pergolas, banks, &c.

Rosa centiflora (Provence Rose).—We have all heard of the “ Old
Provence,” or, as it is more frequently called, the ‘‘ Cabbage Rose.”
The pink variety was introduced in 1596, and the white variety in 1810.
They both possess delightful fragrance and are of easy cultivation,
making good bushes and flowering profusely in June. This class, with
Moss Roses and Striped Provence, is classed under the Gallica section.

Rosa indica.—It is to this section that the Tea-scented Roses
belong. It was in 1810 the Blush Tea-scented was introduced from
China, and fourteen years later the yellow vartety was received from the
same country. From these two varieties have sprung a very large and
popular jfamily, many members of which possess a strong tea scent,
hence their name. Within recent years the great advance that has
been made in this class has been the production of varieties possessing
greater hardiness and vigour, more capable of withstanding our winters.
Some of the best of these are ‘Maman Cochet’ and its white sport,
‘Mrs. Myles Kennedy,’ ‘Mrs. Foley Hobbs,’ ‘Harry Kirk,’ ‘Madame
Jules Gravereaux,’ ‘Alex. Hill Gray,’ and ‘Lady Hillingdon.’

The Hybrid Teas are the outcome of crosses between varieties
of the Tea and Hybrid Perpetual classes, and are largely a creation
of the past three decades. This section at the present time is the
most popular of all, They are much hardier than the Teas, and are
much freer and more continuous in bloom than any other class. It
is exceedingly difficult to say to which group some of these hybrids
properly belong, as in some instances they might easily be classed as
Teas and in others as Hybrid Perpetuals, but in the majority of cases
they are quite distinct from both.

CULTIVATION.

Locality, Soil and its Treatment.—lIf it were within one’s power to
select a site best suited for the cultivation of roses, the choice should
be made a good distance from any large town, so as to have the
advantage of pure air. It should be open, yet sheltered, on ground
slightly sloping to the S.S.E. or S.W., so as to get a maximum amount
of morning sun; it should also be sufficiently far removed from trees
that their roots cannot reach the soil of the rose beds, or the branches
overshadow the beds so as to interfere with free circulation of air and
light. The climate may be somewhat moist.

Occasionally it may occur that roses have to be grown under

4

conditions which are anything but favourable, such, for instance, asa
town garden, where it is either difficult or impossible to improve on
existing conditions; in such an event it will be necessary to select
roses that are adaptable to such conditions. Often the more beauti-
ful roses are those demanding the most favourable conditions for
their proper development, consequently the growing of such under
adverse conditions should not be attempted. Instead, the choice
ought to be confined to the strongest-growing and robust varieties.

Soils.—It is rather a common idea that roses succeed best on a stiff,
heavy clay soil; this is erroneous. If the soil could be chosen, a clayey
loam containing 70 to 80 per cent. of clay is best for most varieties.
A loamy soil containing 50 to 60 per cent. of clay is best for the more
delicate roses which require warmth, such as Teas, Chinas, and some
of the Hybrid Teas, ‘also for such as are grown on their own roots.
The soil can readily be made lighter previous to planting by the
admixture of light turfy loam, leaf mould, or wood ashes.

With an open, airy, yet sheltered situation, and a clayey loam soil,
roses can be grown to the greatest perfection.

Improvement of Soils —When a piece of ground is secured we set about
at once to try to improve it. In the case of roses, as in nearly every-
thing else, the first thing to be seen to is perfect drainage. If drainage
is not perfect it must be made so. Land is not in a fit condition unless
the water can penetrate toa depth below that of the roots of the roses ;
we want the roots to go down, and stagnant water checks this descent,
which means to the plant suffocation and starvation. We drain the
land to save the plants from drowning in wet weather or from parching
in dry weather. Perfect drainage may be secured by digging drains
3 feet 6 inches deep and about 10 yards apart (according to the nature
of the ground), and laying drain tiles at the bottom with 6 inches of
stones or brickbats placed over the tiles, the whole being covered
with turfs laid with the grassy side down, the object being to keep the
drain clear of soil. If drain tiles are not available, bushes, stones,
brickbats, or clinkers, although not nearly so efficient, may be used.
Secure a gentle slope from the higher ground.

When this is finished the ground should be trenched right through
to the depth of about 3 feet, keeping the subsoil below and the good
soil to the top. Leave the surface of the soil as rough as possible, so as
to expose it to the fertilizing influences of the sun and air.

In the process of trenching a liberal supply of farmyard manure
should be mixed with the soil to the depth of 10 to 15 inches. Cow
manure is undoubtedly the best manure for roses, but if this cannot
be obtained pig or horse will be found to be good substitutes.

The land is now ready for planting, but it should be left about one
month longer if possible, to allow it to settle and to allow the sun and
air to do their work. If the process of draining and trenching is done
later than October it may be a good plan to defer planting until
February, or as early in the spring as the soil is workable. In this
case the ground should be forked or dug over again before planting,

5

and, instead of adding the manure at the time of trenching, fork it
in then.

Let us suppose the roses have been planted. I will now deal with
the tilling of the surface. Tilling of the surface is of great importance.
The process of stirring the surface opens the soil and renders it more
capable of admitting air and water. Hoeing is the proper method of
surface tillage after the trees have been planted. A fork should not be
used if it can be helped, as it damages the fibrous roots near the surface
and loosens the soil at the roots, a thing which the rose cannot bear.
The object of hoeing is not so much to keep the weeds down as it is to
stir, loosen, and pulverize the soil, and so check evaporation. Frequent
hoeing is very necessary in summer, and I think I may say that is one
of the reasons roses do so well at Wisley under adverse conditions.
Where roses are planted in long rows the “Planet’’ hoe is very
useful on account of the time saved, and the work is probably better
done.

Roses are very gross feeders, and therefore a top dressing of farm-
yard manure, laid in the late winter or early spring, will be found very
beneficial ; it will also protect the plants from frost. The top dress-
ing may be lightly forked in, in spring. This will apply especially to
light soils.

Wet clay soils may be improved by the addition of either quick
lime, burnt earth, or sharp sand. Lay on a good dressing of any of
these and dig it in, mixing well with the existing soil, to the depth of
about 12 inches. Quick lime will be found most beneficial. It should
be used at the rate of about 12 ounces to the square yard. Burnt
earth should always be at hand and used by everyone who cultivates
roses on a wet adhesive soil.

For the improvement of peat soils a good dressing of lime, strong
loam, or burnt earth may be added as advised before.

The worst soils for rose growing are those of a sandy or gravelly
nature; on such they suffer exceedingly from drought, and con-
sequently from various pests. The only plan in this case is to make
up the beds. Clear out the soil to the depth of 20 inches, and fill up
again with # strong loam and 4 decomposed farmyard manure.

Planting.—Before planting time one wants to think over what
varieties are best suited for him. A good bedding rose should possess
three principal qualities. It should be hardy, dwarf or moderately
so, and free-flowering, giving a succession of flowers from early
summer till late in autumn. Those who have not a good knowledge of
varieties should visit the rose fields of some rose-grower and see them
growing, and take advice from an expert.

On the arrival of plants in a bundle or hamper, they should be taken
to a dry. cool shed, carefully unpacked and sprinkled all over with
water, afterwards covering with a sack or mat. If they are not planted
immediately they should be “ heeled in,” covering them about half-way
up with soil. Roses should never be planted when the ground is in a wet
or sodden condition, as firm planting is impossible. When tlie ground

Az

6

isina good condition the plants should be lifted, covered with a mat and
taken to the bed were they are to be planted. If planted on a dry
windy day it is a good plan to dip the roots ina thick puddle made from
clay and water, which will protect them from the most severe winds.

When it is possible, roses should be given a bed to themselves in an
open spot, and not planted among other flowers. A bed 3 feet wide will
hold two rows of roses, and one 4 feet 6 inches will hold three rows.
The distance between dwarf plants should be from 18 inches (according
to the habit and vigour of the variety), for standards about 3 feet and
for weeping standards a distance of Io feet would be required. The
beds having been made ready and the ‘positions of the roses in them
marked out, the next thing, and probably the most important of all,
is to see that they are properly planted. ;

A hole should be dug about a foot square and of sufficient depth in
the case of the dwarf to allow the junction of the stock and scion to be
about one inch below the surface. In the case of a standard the
hole should be 6 inches deep. A plant should now, and not till now, be
taken from under the mat, sprinkled with water, and have its roots
trimmed. Any damaged roots should be cut past the damaged part,
and some of the longer roots may require to be tipped, cutting from the
bottom upwards, so that the root can, when healed, go on down
instead of growing up and then down.

A little bone meal may be mixed with the soil around the plant with
advantage.

Now place the plant in the hole and spread out the roots horizon-
tally and evenly in it, taking care that the roots do not cross each other.
Some of the finest soil obtainable, mixed with burnt earth if any is at
hand, should be sprinkled over the roots. Over this place 3 inches of
soil and give the plant a slight pull upwards, so as to get the soil well
round the roots; this should be trodden firm and the hole filled in,
treading the soil very firmly round the plani. Firm planting is very
necessary for the well-being of the rose.

The time of planting is worthy of consideration. The time for
transplanting is, of course, in the resting season. The depth of in-
activity in the case of the rose is from November to January. In
selecting the time for planting our aim should be so to time the planting
that the rose has as long a period as possible in which to establish
itself before the growing season commences again.

This being so, the best time is the latter end of October and Nov-
ember, but may be safely continued until March. The condition of the
soil as well as the plant must be considered. The temperature of thé
soilis higher in October and November than in February or March, and
at these times the soil is drier and warmer than in midwinter. It is
evident from this that autumn planting has the advantage. Some
tender varieties of Tea-scented, China, and Noisettes, however, are as
well left till spring before planting. Put such plants as these carefully
away for the winter under a west wall. Roses of this kind often suffer
severely from winter frosts ; plant them in spring about April and they

q .

have the growing season before them ; they then get a firm hold of the
ground by winter, and are better able to stand the severities of that
season.

It cannot be too strongly impressed that planting should not take
place unless the soil is sufficiently dry to be trodden firmly about the
plant without it ‘ caking.”

A few words should have been said about roses planted singly on
lawns. A hole should be dug 18 inches square and 18 inches deep, and
the soil well enriched with farmyard manure; some }-inch bone may
also be added with advantage. The same would apply to rambling or
other very vigorous roses, only the hole should be 2 feet cube. Do not
allow grass to grow within 18 inches of the plant.

Too much care and attention to detail cannot be paid to this part of
the work.

Pruning.—Pruning may be said to be the art of improving the
productive power, the strength, and appearance of the plant. It con-
sists of two operations: (1) The removal of dead, weak, overcrowded
or otherwise useless shoots. Unripe wood (which in the spring will
usually be found to have discoloured pith caused by the winter frosts)

-Should be cut clean away to the base of the shoot. (2) Pruning proper,
the shortening of those shoots which are allowed to remain after the
thinning-out process has been completed.

In thinning out a shoot it should be either cut clean away to the
base of the plant or to its starting point on the older shoot from which
it arises. When pruning a shoot it should be cut to a dormant leaf-bud
or ‘“‘eye”’ (asit is called) pointing outwards. In order to keep a plant
in a healthy and vigorous condition, some of the shoots which are
more than two years old should each year be removed to make room
for the young and more vigorous growths.

Roses need to be somewhat differently pruned according to the
purpose for which they are grown. For instance, shoots must be cut
back severely if the plant is required to produce exhibition blooms, but
if for ordinary garden decoration the shoots must be left longer, if to
form bushes they must be left still longer, and if to clothe pillars, arches,
&c., some of the shoots will scarcely require shortening at all.

As a'large range of varieties are available for different purposes, it
is necessary in pruning to take into account the individual habits
and requirements of each. This may be learned only by close
observation.

It is impossible for me here to give an account of how every variety
should be pruned; so I will just have to state the general rule, if indeed
any rule can be laid down.

All roses, the first time after planting, should be severely pruned ;
they should be cut down to within 3 or 4 inches of the ground. Even
in the case of strong-growing or climbing varieties, only the strongest
shoots should be left more than a foot in length. Roses planted: in
autumn should be pruned the following spring, and if planted in spring
should be pruned at the same time.

A3

8

In pruning roses for ordinary garden decoration, the following rules
may be laid down :—

1. All dead and unripe shoots must be cut clean away at the base
whence they started. =

2. Inthe shortening of shoots always cut to an eye pointing away
from the centre of the plant.

3. Summer-flowering roses (those which bloom only once in the
season) generally need thinning and training rather than hard cutting.
The last year’s shoots should be left fairly long, two-year-old shoots
rather shorter, and three-year-old shoots shorter still.

4. After thinning out is completed, the remaining shoots should be
cut back to 5~7 eyes. For exhibition the pruning should be the same,
only more severe. Thin out more wood and cut back to 2-3 eyes. It
may be necessary, probably about the end of May, as soon as the flower-
buds can be seen, to remove with the fingers some of the surplus shoots,
especially those which are “ blind”’ (¢.e. without flowering buds at the
termination of the shoots), leaving only those which are most promising
and best placed.

I have never had an opportunity of seeing any “cut backs” grown
for exhibition, for roses for show are largely cut from maidens
(t.e. plants which have been budded the previous summer). AS a
rule, larger specimen blooms are obtained from these, but of course
in the case of a good many varieties ‘‘cut backs” produce better-
formed flowers, and amateur exhibitors cannot discard their plants
every year to make room for maidens.

Climbing or Rambling Roses.—These should have some of the older
shoots cut away entirely each year, directly after the plants have
flowered in early autumn, and the young shoots lightly tied in to take
their place. Any shortening of the remaining shoots should be done
in March of the following year. There are exceptions to this rule;
some Multifloras which are crosses with the Teas and Noztsettes flower
best on the short laterals from the old wood, and consequently a good
deal of this must be retained. Examples are found in ‘Tea Rambler ’
and ‘ Aglaia.’

In the case of Wichuraianas, as the trusses of bloom spring from
almost any part of the well-ripened stems of the previous year’s
growth, the pruning must be arranged to save as much as possible of
the young strong growths and to cut out all the old wood which has
not produced strong continuing laterals,

Roses which are weak growers require hard pruning, strong growing
varieties Tequire moderate pruning, and vigorous growers require light
pruning.

Shoots which have a tendency to cross one another should be
cut out, so that the plant may not become overcrowded. The centre
should be kept open, so as to admit air and light.

Time of Pruning—Dwart and Standard Hybrid Perpetuals
and Hybrid Teas should be pruned during the month of March,

2

starting first with the Hybrid Perpetuals, and going on to the
Hybrid Teas.

Dwarf and Standard, Teas, Noisettes, and Chinas should be pruned
during the month of April.

All climbing and rambling varieties should be thinned out as soon
after flowering as possible, so as to allow the wood to ripen well and be
pruned in March.

About the best advice that I can givé for pruning ramblers
and climbers is to follow very much the course which is observed in
the cultivation of Raspberries, viz. to cut away the growths which
have fruited and are exhausted—such would correspond with similar
growths that have flowered for one or two years—and to reserve the
best of the remaining growths.

Propagation.—The rose is capable of being propagated by seed,
cuttings, budding, grafting, layers, and suckers.

The method of raising roses from seed is adopted mainly as a
means of obtaining new varieties and I will therefore not attempt
to deal with it ; also for stocks, e.g. the seedling Briar.

Cuttings.—Cuttings may be made with varied success. The seasons
which offer greatest advantages are late summer and autumn.

It is my opinion that most roses give much better results when
budded on seedling or cutting Briar than when grown on their own
roots. It is disastrous to propagate all roses from cuttings; many
varieties may root, but the plants of the majority will be useless, as
they are not possessed of sufficient vigour to grow on their own roots
and flourish.

It is rather difficult to say which roses do well on their own roots,
as this must be governed to a certain extent by the soil and climatic
conditions. The only roses that I have found to yield good results
from cuttings are the Polyantha, Hybrid Sweet Briars, a few of the
Chinas, and one or two Hybrid Perpetual. A few Wichuraianas
of the ‘Dorothy Perkins’ type, Ayrshire and Boursault, are also
successfully struck from cuttings. Own-root roses, except in the
varieties mentioned, are thoroughly unsatisfactory in this climate,
which is too cold for plants so produced.

In this connexion, when roses are being replanted, if the junction
of the bud and stock is cut deeply through the cambium, sufficient
to create a callus, it will emit its own roots in addition to those of the
stock, which may be a gain.

After the plants have flowered, select well-ripened shoots of
moderate strength. Take the cutting with a heel if possible, being
about 6 inches long, having about four eyes. Insert round the rim of
a 48 pot and treat as hard-wooded cuttings. They should be ready
for planting out the following autumn. Cuttings of those recom-
mended for own-root cultivation may be planted in beds in the open
ground in October, where they will root freely. A few boughs of
some evergreen may be held in readiness to protect them from frost.

Before going on with budding, permit me first to say a few words

10

with regard to the very important point, namely stocks and thetr
propagation. :

The stocks mostly used are the dog rose (Rosa canina, seedling
and cutting) and the Manetti. The former abounds in the hedges
throughout Europe, and is (in this country) undoubtedly the best
stock for almost all roses.

Cuttings of the dog rose may be taken at the end of October and
inserted in beds, where they will root freely and be fit for planting out
the following autumn. Nine months later, in July, the dog rose cuttings
are in-a fit condition for budding. So much for the cutting briar.
The dog rose is also raised from seed, and is thought by some
authorities to be superior to the cutting briar, especially on light soils,
but when put to the test there is very little in it, beyond the fact
that as maidens the seedling briar comes into flower ten days before
the cuttings. The hips should be gathered in autumn, or when ripe,
and mixed with sand and placed in a pit for twelve months. They
must be turned over several times during the year. Sow in autumn
or spring out of doors on a light soil ; transplant into budding quarters
when seedlings are about as thick as a straw. The seedlings are
usually ready for budding six to nine months after sowing.

The Manetti is desirable for winter forcing under glass for such varie-
ties as ‘Richmond’ and ‘ Killarney ;’ ‘ Sunburst’ and other yellows
being best on seedling briar, as the Manetti, being more excitable than
the briar, starts much more quickly into growth. It is recommended by
some authorities for hard varieties and the more vigorous-growing
Hybrid Perpetuals, but I think investigation shows that this is not
quite so, and only in the case of very few varieties would I
recommend ‘this, and then only for Scotland, North of England,
and Ireland. The plants admittedly grow more vigorously the first
year on the Manetti, but their subsequent decline is also more rapid.
Probably the reason some nurserymen use the Manetti so much is
because the buds take more readily and make larger plants the first
year than on the dog rose.

The best stock for standard roses is the dog rose rooted up from
the hedges in autumn. Before planting, the roots should be chopped
off close to the stem with a small axe or some other such instrument
and the tops shortened from 2 to Io feet, according to the straightness
and bulk of the stem. As the standard stocks shoot forth in spring
they will sometimes produce buds right up the stem; all these should
be removed except about three nearest the top ; three placed triangularly
are best. Two or three of these may be budded and cut away as soon
as the eyes develop. Stocks of all kinds for dwarfs may be allowed
to grow as they like till the time for budding arrives, then clean a
ea space on the stem as low down as possible to allow the buds

eing inserted conveniently.

Budding is the chief and best way of propagating the rose, and is
the method practised almost everywhere.

In the nursery fields, where the briars are planted in rows about

II

2 feet apart, the men work in batches of threes. After the fields have
been well cleaned of weeds, the first man goes along the row and places
a long piece of wood on top of the briars, treads on it, and so bends
the briars away from him; he then scrapes the soil from around the
plants till he comes to the roots, with a small three-pronged fork
having the prongs at right angles to the fork.* He then cleans
the “root stem” with a piece of cloth. The next man then starts;
he is the budder proper. He brings his shoots containing the buds
with him in a box of damp moss, taking them out as he needs them.
The buds have been cut for him by some very experienced hand. The
selecting of the buds from the plants is most important. To get the
best results only well-ripened shoots that are carrying a flower bud,
or such as a bloom has been recently cut from, should be selected.
The shoots are cleaned before starting, taking off all the prickles and
leaves, leaving only a small piece to the petiole.

A budding knife is the only tool necessary. Make a longitudinal
cut, about an inch in length, as near the base of the plant as possible.
The nearer you get to the base the less chance there is of suckers
coming up. Some people bud on the young shoots of the briar and
put two or three buds on the same plant ; this of course has to be done
in the case of standards, but is absolutely wrong where dwarfs are
concerned ; you get a better plant by budding low down, and suckers
are reduced toa minimum. At the top of this longitudinal cut make
a cross cut (T), taking care not to cut too deeply; through the bark
is all that is necessary. Open the bark by inserting the handle of
the knife in the cut. The stock is then ready to réceive the bud.
Cut the bud with half an.inch of bark above and below it. Gently
raise the bark on both sides and slip the bud in, pushing it by means
of the petiole to the base of the incision. When this operation is
finished the eye should be about the centre of the cut. If any of the
bark projects at the top it should be cut off. This being finished, the
third man comes along and binds in the bud, using raffia for the purpose.
Commence tying in at the base of the cut, passing upwards until
the whole cut is bound over; the operation is then completed. They
require no further attention now until the end of January or February,
when the wild plant is cut off close to the bud, and a stake put in to
tie the young plant to as it grows. A plant thus treated will grow
into a good plant, and flower in June of the following year.

The best time for budding is towards the end of June (if buds
in good condition can be obtained), July, and August.

The time for the operation necessarily varies to some extent
according to the season. You cannot, of course, bud until the stock
is of sufficient size and the bark running freely ; the wood from which
the bud is taken must have time to ripen.

Grafting —This method ‘of propagation is used principally for
roses under glass, but Austrian Briars, Wichuratanas, and most of the
Multifloras are increased inthis way.

* Fork-handle.—F. J. C.

I2

Of all methods of propagation, grafting is the most expeditious ;
plants grafted under glass in January will be in flower in three or
four months’ time. It is used chiefly by trade growers who desire
to increase their stock of certain new varieties in the least possible
time. The new roses sent out by the raiser in pots are cut into a
number of small scions with one bud on each and grafted on to stocks
in 60’s, and within four months a stock of the plants is obtained.

In selecting stocks for grafting, whether they be Manetti or dog
rose, they should be secured of various sizes ; the majority should be
rather thicker than an ordinary pencil. It is well to pot the stocks
into 60’s a year previous to use. The best time for grafting roses
under glass is from December to March. Nearly all species will
succeed grafted, but the hard-wooded will succeed best. As it is
necessary to have the stocks well in advance of the scion, the stocks
should be placed in a bottom heat for about ten days before using,
which will encourage the sap to run more freely.

The graft mostly used and with the best results is the whip graft.
Cleft and wedge grafting are also employed.

The scions should be cut off from the plant as required, selecting
well-ripened wood, cut into pieces an inch and a half in length; one or
two buds are sufficient to produce a strong plant. The stock should
have the top cut off level about an inch from the base. Stock and
scion should then be cut in an oblique direction, making as smooth
and even a cut as possible and of the same length and slope, so that
the bark of the scion may be on the bark of the stock. The cambiums
(which are just under the bark) must meet on one side at least ; the
more the cambiums come in contact the better the union. When the
scion is placed in the right position it should be securely bound to the
stock with raffia. Replace in bottom heat and keep the atmosphere
somewhat moist.

Watch carefully for suckers which may come on badly prepared
stocks ; they must be kept in check by cutting them out as they appear.

Shading the young and tender shoots and leaves from the sun
will be found necessary. A cold strong current of air will also injure
them greatly.
tis Ounne «Gane Corey Ce
them off. Plants grafted i January will eta rad Sia
aoe y or June of

year.
we ogee fansite stock is most often used for

iss, especially by American growers, who

force and grow roses for cut bloom by the thousand. I do not mea
to el the Manetti is the only stock used for the purpose ; ray
such roses are grown on for a mre
advise Rosa bili as the stock. Sn Ae eet & Should any
a ea is a method of Propagation not often resorted

case of the rose. To do this select some of the strongest
shoots, stripping off the leaves half-way up the stem. Make a cut

13

upwards half-way through the stem for 2 inches in length and peg
it down 2 or 3 inches deep, making the soil firm round it.

July and August are the best months for layering. If layeted
in July the free-rooters will be ready to take off in November. In
spring they may be cut down to three or four eyes, and some may
bloom the first summer or autumn after layering.

Suckers.—The Scotch Rose (R. spinosissima), R. rugosa, R. alpina,
the Provence and Damask hybrids are given to throwing up suckers,
but they are often difficult to separate from the mother plant with
much root. Autumn is the best time to lift and replant suckers.

Enemies.—The chief enemies of the rose to be reckoned with are,
Mildew, Black Spot, Rust, Grubs and Caterpillars, and Greenfly or
Rose Aphis.

It should be borne in mind in all attempts to check diseases caused
by fungi that “‘ Prevention is better than cure.” The reason for this is
the fact that the majority of fungus parasites, immediately after
infection, spread in the living tissues of the plant they have attacked ;
hence it is impossible to kill the fungus without at the same time
killing or at least severely injuring the plant. When a fungus spore
falls on a leaf, germinates, and passes into the interior of the leaf, it
commences to form spawn or mycelium, which grows at the expense of
the material accumulated by the plant for its own use. This process
of growth on the part of the spawn usually lasts for one or two weeks
before the leaf shows any sign of the presence of the parasite. —

When the spawn has accumulated a sufficient amount of reserve
food, its presence is made known by a white or brown patch on the
surface of the leaf, and later the fruit of the fungus bursts through
to the surface, when the spores are quickly conveyed by wind, rain,
insects, birds, &c., to neighbouring plants, and unless drastic measures
are taken an epidemic is the result. ‘From this it will be seen that
infection has taken place before its presence is revealed under the
familiar form of mildew or rust, and it is obvious that prevention is
the point to be aimed at. To effect this two conditions are absolutely
necessary, cleanliness and spraying.

Mildew.—This is undoubtedly the most destructive and at the same
time the most prevalent disease with which the rose-grower has to
contend. Generally speaking, ‘‘soft”’ foliage favours this disease,
whereas hard wood cannot be so readily infected. This is not only
true as regards foliage affected by weather conditions, but also as
to the relative “hard” or “soft’’ foliage and shoots of different
varieties of roses. A damp, warm, “muggy ”’ season causes the foliage
to remain soft and highly susceptible to disease ; too strong doses
of nitrogenous manure have the same effect. An exceptionally rainy
season is unfavourable to the development of mildew and other
fungus diseases, because the rain washes the spores to the ground
almost as fast as they are produced.

Mildew, as a rule, first appears in the spring, soon after the foliage
is full grown, and again, soon after midsummer, it attacks the leaves

A 4

14

and shoots of the new growth. The spring attack is usually mild
and apt to be neglected, which may lead to serious results.

Preventive Measures.—In the case of mildew, infection 1s due to
the winter spores that are produced on the white cottony mildew
growing on the shoots. Cleanliness in this case therefore consists of
carefully removing * every trace of the white felted substance from
the shoots, stem and fruit, and burning it. This should be done
as early in the season as possible, otherwise the winter spores will
fall to the ground, where they will survive the winter and be a source
of trouble next year. :

The spawn of many kinds of parasitic fungi is perennial in the
tissues of the plant attacked ; in other words, when the plant is once
infected the spawn remains in the living condition im the plant from
year to year; this, however, is not so in the case of mildew or rose
rust. During the winter a given rose tree, however seriously it may
have been attacked by either or both of these diseases during the
summer, is perfectly free from disease, and will remain so unless a
new infection takes place.

Spraying. —It is important to note that spraying is purely pre-
ventive in its action. No disease can be killed by spraying. Spray
with a solution of potassium sulphide, popularly known as ‘‘ liver of
sulphur,”’ 1 oz. in 3 gallons of rain water. This is an excellent fungicide
against rose mildew. Later in the season, when the second attack
comes on, a slightly stronger solution may be used to advantage. All
bushes which have been attacked by any fungus should be thoroughly
sprayed with a solution of sulphate of copper, X oz. in 2 gallons of
water; the surrounding soil should be similarly treated. It is im-
portant to remember that this wash should be applied during mid-
winter before the leaf buds begin to swell, otherwise the foliage will
be destroyed.

The washes should be applied with as fine a spray as possible,
and the spraying should commence at the first sign of mildew.

Rose Rust.—This fungus appears on the leaves and wood in the
form of deep orange powdery patches. All leaves bearing winter
spores should be collected and burnt. Winter spores do not form
on the wood, but only on the leaves, which are covered with small
black projecting points. If these are collected and burnt it will lessen
the attack the following year considerably. Spray as advised for.
mildew. Two or three applications will be necessary. Take care
that the solution gets at the inside of the bush. If the rust spores
appear on the wood they may be treated with a solution of methylated
spirit and water.
Black Spot.—This disease is confined to the foliage, and as a rule
is in evidence before midsummer. It appears in the form of black
spots almost circular in outline. This disease often does very con-
siderable damage to rose trees. All diseased leaves should be removed
and burnt. Commence spraying with Bordeaux mixture early in

* That is, by pruning away parts showing the fungus.—F. J.C,

13

spring and continue at intervals. Spraying will not be very effective
if the disease is allowed to gain a foothold.

Insect Pests——The rose beetle, the cockchafer, and the weevils
are complained of as enemies of the rose.

The beetles and cockchafers eat the foliage and buds, and their grubs
devour the roots. The grubs can only be got at by hand-picking.
If grass turfs are placed upside down under the soil the grubs will
collect in them, and they can be picked off and destroyed. Nothing
but hand-picking can be resorted to for the beetles on the foliage
and buds.

Weevils do harm by gnawing buds, foliage, and tender shoots.
They can be caught by placing sacking on the ground; on the
approach of light they fall from the tree and shelter there during the
day, and so can be collected and destroyed. Vaporite will kill the
larve in the soil.

Green Fly or Rose Aphis.—This is one of the very worst of rose
pests. The lady-bird feeds on green fly, but in spite of this natural
check the roses become covered with aphis. Spraying must be done
with care or the tree will be injured. Carbolic soft soap and water
is one of the best sprays, using about 4Ib. to 5 gallons of water. To
this may be added } lb. of quassta chips.

Spray with micotine wash for leaf-rolling Sawfly. The Rose Slug-
worm maybe destroyed with mtcotine or hellebore wash.*

A large number of caterpillars and moths feed on the foliage of
the rose. The best remedy is to spray with avseniate of lead early
in the year.

VARIETIES.
Good roses for general garden cultivation.
. Dorothy Page Roberts (H.T.) Coppery pink.

I

2. General McArthur (H.T.) Scarlet-crimson.

3. Betty (H.T.) Coppery rose, shaded yellow.

4. Gustav Griinerwald (H.T.) Carmine pink.

5. Lady Ashtown (H.T.) Deep pink.

6. Lady Pirrie (H.T.) Coppery salmon, shaded
apricot.

@

Bright silvery rose.

Pale orange-yellow, deep
centre.

) Satin rose.

) Flesh tinged pink.

Salmon-pink.

.) Canary-yellow.

47. Mme. Jules Grolez
8. Mme. Ravary

g. Caroline Testout

ro. Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt
rz. Mme. Abel Chatenay

12. Mabel Drew

mim wt
HHH HH AH

ae
~~

RRaa
eel

* To be successful with nicotine wash against these larve the spraying
must be done while the pests are very young; otherwise lead arseniate should
be used.—F. J. C.

; a5

16

Goop BEDDING VARIETIES. Hs

Dwarf :—Mme. Ravary, Mme. Jules Grolez, Comtesse du Cayla
(H. China), G. C. Waud (orange-vermilion), Jessie (Poly. pom., bright
rose crimson), and Liberty (crimson). ;

" Medium :—Lady Ashtown, Mme. Abel Chatenay, Carine (orange-
carmine to buff creamy salmon), Joseph Hill (coppery yellow-shaded
salmon), Pharisder (rosy white shaded salmon), Duchess of Wellington
(orange-yellow).

Tall :—Frau Karl Druschki (H.P.), white; Irish Elegance, orange
shaded apricot (H.T.); Hugh Dickson (H.P.), rich crimson; and
La Tosca (H.T.), pink.

WEEPING STANDARDS (Wichuraiana).

1. Alberic Barbier Creamy white, shaded yellow.
2. Dorothy Perkins Soft light pink.

3. Dorothy Dennison Shell pink.

4. Excelsa Bright scarlet.

5. Hiawatha Bright scarlet, light centre.

4, Troubadour Crimson.

4. Frangois Juranville Deep salmon-pink.

8. Frangois Guillot White tinged pink and cream.

Pillays—American Pillar (H. Poly.}, deep pink, white eye;
Gruss an Teplitz, Mme. Alfred Carrier, pure white, Ards Rover
(H.P.), Lady Waterlow, Climbing Caroline Testout, Climbing
Richmond or Liberty, and Conrad F. Meyer.

Exhibition Bessie Brown, Edward Mawley, Dean Hole, Lady
Ashtown, Mildred Grant, Lyon Rose, Gloire de Chedane Guinoisseau,
Hugh Dickson, Frau Karl Druschki, William Shean, George Dickson,
Horace Vernet, Mrs. John Laing, Caroline Testout, Mme. Mélanie
Soupert.

Pot Culture—Melody, Mme. Abel Chatenay, Richmond, Sunburst,
Mrs. Aaron Ward, Mrs. Geo. Sawyer, Molly Sharman Crawford,
Killarney, Mrs. John Laing, Joseph Lowe, Alexander Hill Gray, Lady
Hillingdon, Frau Karl Druschki and Ulrich Brunner.

Town Gardens.—Caroline Testout, Dr. O’Donel Brown, Gustav G.
Grtinerwald, La Tosca, Margaret Dickson, Mrs. John Laing.

Fragrant.—Horace Vernet, George Dickson, La France, Common
Provence, Ulrich Brunner.

17

FERTILIZERS AND MANURES.
By D. E. NIcHOoLson.

THOUGH aware that this subject is unlimited, and a large one to
compress into a short essay, I thought, however, that it had an
advantage, in affecting all branches of gardening. I propose to give a
short description of the different values and advantages of the common
fertilizers in use, both artificial and natural. Now it is only during
the last century that the real use and value of manures have been
found out. The original phrase ‘‘to manure’”’ meant to cultivate
the soil, thereby increasing its fertility, and this, of course, is the
present object of using manures. The meaning then narrowed down
to the application of lime, marl, or clay, and is now confined to the
adding of substances which contain plant-food, such as farmyard
manure and the ordinary chemical fertilizers. I should like to mention
here that I have not dealt with any of the compounded horticultural
manures, a good many of which are sold at excessive prices.

Fertility of the Soil—Nearly all soils contain sufficient stores of
plant-food to last several crops, but the fertility cannot be estimated by
the amount of plant-food present alone, but also, and principally, by the
amount in an available condition. Moreover, of the elements necessary
to plant life, all except three are available in sufficient quantities for
healthy growth, in most soils at least. These three are nitrogen,
phosphates, and potash, the latter, however, being less often required
than the other two. Thus, in order to get profitable returns, some
fertilizer is very often required, which provides to the crop these
three elements in an available form. Moreover, it is of little use to
provide two out of the three, and leave out the third, if it is lacking.

Besides the improvement of the chemical composition of the soil,
the mechanical condition must receive attention, and if the soil is
very sandy or clayey it will probably require some form of humus
to be added, in the former case to increase the water-content of the
soil and hold it together, in the latter case to render it more porous
and workable. Some form of lime is also necessary on some soils
to help render the plant-food available, and on clayey soils to render
them less sticky.

Absorption of Nutrviment.—On analysing the component parts of
a plant it is found that water constitutes most of the plant, the per-
centage, of course, varying greatly, the rest being made up of com-
pounds of carbon with oxygen and hydrogen. Carbon constitutes
about half the dry matter, and oxygen and hydrogen most of the
remainder, together with a few other elements in small quantities.

18

The carbon is obtained from the air by the process of aes
From water-culture experiments (that is, by growing young Pe
with their roots in jars containing water with various known ns
in known quantities), it has been found that nitrogen in compounds,

r, magnesium, calcium, and iron—all necessary

phosphorus, sulphu
constituents of a plant—must be taken in through the roots only.
licon, and chlorine are

hough always present in the ash, sodium, si
wt nantes The experiments also show that no particles of food
in a solid state can enter the plant's roots, but must first be dissolved
either before application or in the soil water. Hence, the importance
of having plenty of humus in the soil to retain the water. The salts
in solution enter through the root-hairs, passing through the cell-wall
into the cell-sap. If, however, the salt is in a stronger solution than
the cell-sap, the reverse occurs, and the plant loses water and flags.
Thus great care.must be taken not to apply too strong a solution of
any liquid manure to the active roots of plants. A similar result
is seen in the scorching or burning of leaves, with which some too
- strong liquid manure has been in contact. ;

Nitrogenous Manures.—These are generally considered the most
important, seeming to have a more distinct influence on an ordinary
soil than any other fertilizer. Nearly all plants have to obtain their
supply of nitrates from the soil, although there is such a large pro-
portion of nitrogen in the air. Moreover, water-culture experiments
show that exactly the same amount of nitrogen is removed by the
plant when fully grown as was supplied to the water, Leguminous
plants, however, such as beans, clover, and furze, are exceptions, and
have the power of fixing the free nitrogen of the air. This they are
enabled to perform by means of the nodules on their roots, the nodules

being colonies of a certain bacterium, which provides the plant with :

nitrogenous matter from the air, and obtains from the plant in return

the carbohydrates necessary for the fixation of nitrogen. The only

limit to the quantity of nitrogen that can thus be supplied to the
soil is the difficulty of cropping the ground with leguminous crops
in frequent succession.

As regards the effect on a plant, nitrogenous manures serve to
promote vegetative growth ; in fact, the growth of a plant is almost
proportionate to the amount supplied. Plants provided with an
excess of nitrogen, however, mature late and show but little tendency
to produce flowers or seed, and are moreover more susceptible of
disease than normally manured ones.

Nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia are the two principal
nitrogenous manures. The main sources of the former are the large
deposits in Chile, and of the latter coal. As nitrate of soda is soluble
in water, and easily washed down into the subsoil, it should be applied
only as a top dressing during active growth, care being taken, of
course, not to let it fall on the leaves, as it forms a strong solution
with water and is liable to scorch them. This remark also applies
to sulphate of ammonia. Nitrate of soda can be safely mixed with

19

any other fertilizer except sulphate of ammonia, superphosphate,
and dissolved bones, the acid of these latter setting free the nitric
acid in nitrate of soda, loss in value resulting. The bad effect of
nitrate of soda on heavy clay soils is important. When applied to
such soils it is found to increase their stickiness and destroy the
tilth, The reason for this is a complicated one, and only the remedy
can be mentioned here, this being to apply a mixture of nitrate of
soda and sulphate of ammonia. This mixture must be put on at
once, and not allowed to stand long, or the value will be impaired.
The great advantage of nitrate of soda is its immediate availability
when in the soil, and it is this that makes it so useful in early spring
for stimulating a young crop when the weather is unfavourable.
When purchasing, a guarantee of 95 per cent. purity should be obtained,
this being the usual guarantee of the producer. It is sold in bags
and should be carefully stored in a dry place, as it readily absorbs
water. It usually contains 154 per cent. nitrogen, and is sold at
about £12 a ton. A good top dressing for a young crop in active
growth is r cwt. per acre, or 1 Ib. to 40 square yards. Cabbages,
celery, rhubarb, and others not grown for fruit or seed benefit by a
dressing of 3-5 Ib. to 40 square yards, provided that phosphates and
potash are already present.

Sulphate is also soluble in water, and is grey in colour as a rule ;
on being applied to the soil it is quickly absorbed. It should never
be mixed with lime or basic slag, as a loss of free ammonia ensues
if this is done. The continued use of sulphate of ammonia causes
loss of lime to the soil, so a dressing of some form of lime should be
given to soils deficient in it. As regards the respective merits of
nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia, it is seen that the former
has an advantage in inducing deep-rooting, so that plants suffer
less in time of drought. Moreover, it suffers less from the inroads
of bacterial pests, which cannot use it for food so easily as they can
sulphate of ammonia.*

It is usually thought that the latter is better retained by the soil
than nitrate of soda, and so is better in wet seasons, but before it
can become available it has to be nitrified, and when in that condition
is just as liable to be washed down as the other. However, on light
soils, provided there is sufficient lime in the soil, sulphate of ammonia
is to be preferred to nitrate of soda.

The price is from {15 to {16 a ton, and it contains about 20 per
cent. nitrogen.

Two manures of recent introduction should be noted here, calcium
cyanamide or nitrolim, and nitrate of lime. The first is obtained by
combining calcium carbide with nitrogen. It is similar in its action
to sulphate of ammonia, and is nearly as effective. As it is very
light, and hangs in the air when sown, it is best to mix it with super-
phosphate, in the proportion of one of cyanamide to 5 to ro of super-
phosphate, this making it quite easy to handle. As it is said to injure

* (2)—-F. J.C.

20

germinating seeds owing to the ammonia jt gives off, it should be mixed
with the bare soil two or three weeks before the seed is sown. As a top
dressing also it should be avoided. In one respect it is superior te
sulphate of ammonia, which tends to render a soil acid if continually
used, the lime in nitrolim preventing this. The lime in it also hasa good
effect on clayey soils, and thus has an advantage over nitrate of soda
in this respect. It is sold as a fine dry black powder, containing from
17 to 20 per cent. nitrogen. As it absorbs water slowly, it can be stored
easily if kept in a dry place. The price is about {20 to {24 a ton.
Nitrate of lime is made by a process involving the combination of
oxygen with nitrogen. It can be compared with nitrate of soda, and
is of about the same value, having, moreover, the same advantages as
nitrolim in containing lime which were mentioned above. Unlike the
latter, it absorbs water readily, and is quick in its action, but is often
difficult to spread, as when stored it soon cakes into lumps. It is said
that this difficulty is overcome by mixing it with ashes. Superphos-
phate can also be used to mix it with, but in this case the mixture must
be applied at once, owing to their bad effect on one another. Nitrate
of lime is sold as a pale brown powder, containing on the average
about 13 per cent. nitrogen. The price is about {25 a ton.*

Soot is another substance valuable as a nitrogenous manure, and
has several good points. Being of a dark colour, it absorbs the sun’s
rays, and so raises the temperature of the soil. It also helps to lighten
heavy soils, and so is much valued in clayey districts, besides keeping
off slugs and snails, which dislike it very much. Soot is usually sold
by the bushel of 28 Ib. When applying, the soil should be dusted |
with it until quite black.

Shoddy and greaves consist of waste fragments of wool, silk, hair,
skins, &c., from factories, and are valuable for the nitrogen they con-
tain. Most animal products, such as hair, skin, fur, blood, &c., from
slaughter-houses contain nitrogen and can be used as manure. All
these, shoddy, animal products, &c., are insoluble in ordinary water,
and very slow in their action, and so should be used for perennial
occupants of the soil, such as vines, peaches, and other fruits, forming
a source of slowly available nitrogen. They should be spread or dug ,
in in early winter. The price of such manures varies according to
their nitrogen content ; zo cwt. to 2 tons an acre, or 4 oz. to x Ib.
a square yard, should be applied, according to circumstances. Sea-
weed and waste fish, mussels, &c., are often used as manure near the
coast, and are about as valuable as farmyard manure.

Phosphatic Manures.—Phosphates have a very different effect
from nitrates on the plant. Whereas nitrogen promotes vegetative
growth and retards fruiting, Phosphates act as a stimulant for the
production and early ripening of fruit and seed. The natural
phosphates in the soil are insoluble in ordinary. water, slow-acting
and difficult of access to the plant, so where quick returns are required
some form of soluble Phosphates should be used. Nearly all the

* This price is far above its actual value.—F, J.C.

2iI

phosphatic manures are compounds of phosphoric acid with lime.
Only one, superphosphate, is freely soluble in water, and the value
and price of phosphatic manures depend on the amount of soluble
phosphates they contain.

Superphosphate was the first to be discovered. It is usually
guaranteed to contain 26 per cent. soluble phosphate, and is sold at
about {5 to £6 a ton. It is best to apply it early in the spring, and
a dressing of 8 cwt. an acre, or 8 Ib. to forty square yards is
quite enough. Care must be taken in spreading it, as it burns the
leaves if a large deposit falls on them. Superphosphate is especially
valuable not only in helping the fruit to mature, but also in stimu-
lating the root-action of young plants. It is the most effective of
the phosphatic manures on most soils, except very sandy soils deficient
in lime, and all acid soils. The presence of plenty of lime to ensure
the precipitation of the soluble phosphoric acid should determine its
choice. On most heavy clays basic slag is better, at about half the
price of superphosphate, and is nearly as effective, when it is applied
in early winter and has had time to saturate the soil water. Thus the
choice between the two should be determined by the amount of lime
in the soil, superphosphate being suitable for chalky and loamy soils,
and basic slag for heavy soil, and soils deficient in lime, as it provides
lime. For very light sandy soils a good mixture may be made as
follows :—Two parts of superphosphate, with one of steamed bone
flour or bone meal. Leave the heap for a time and break up thoroughly
when caked. For sandy soils use “‘ Super,” as basic slag is not much
use on them.

Phosphate of potash is very soluble in water, and a valuable though
costly fertilizer, the price being {40 a ton. A very effective liquid
manure for such greenhouse plants as tomatos is made by dissolving
¢ to 4 oz. of it to a gallon of water.

Phosphate of ammonia is also dear, but makes a good stimulant,
$ to I oz. of it to one gallon of water being a satisfactory liquid manure
for greenhouse purposes. The price is about {50 a ton.

Insoluble phosphates are very slow in action, as mentioned before,
and should only be used when a reserve is needed for plants to
draw upon gradually. Steamed bone flour is the best form, costing
{10 to {12 a ton, and is very useful to mix in a fruit border under

lass. :
s Bones and phosphatic guanos should be avoided, unless obtainable
at very low prices.

Potassic Manures.—These are chiefly valuable on light sandy
soils, especially for starch and sugar-producing crops, such as roots
and fruits, and also for leguminous crops, peas, beans, &c. Moreover,
fungoid diseases are less deadly to plants well supplied with potash
than to those that are not. Plants benefit most in dry seasons from
potassic manures, as they tend to delay maturity of the fruit until
growth is completed. Wet clay soils do not seem to benefit by it
much, as it increases their stickiness. In fact potassic fertilizers need

a6

22

only be applied to light soils, to potash-loving plants, such es a
potato and vine, as in most cases the action of nitrate of soda* sets
free a sufficient quantity in the clayey soils.

Wood ashes were once the only source of potas
deposits in Germany are the chief. of

Kainit is the chief potassic fertilizer used in this country, containing
about 12 per cent. potash. It should be applied in winter before
growth starts, for the impurities in it to be washed away by rain ; it
may be mixed with basic slag. These remarks apply to all potassic
fertilizers, as well as the fact that some form of lime is necessary to
help the soil hold them, or they will be washed away; most soils,
however, contain enough lime to effect this. Kainit is a crude product,
i.e. unpurified; sylvanit is another form, cheaper and about as
effective. The price of kainit is about £6 a ton. Of the manu-
factured products sulphate of potash and muriate of potash are the
chief. The latter is very injurious to active rootlets, and, as its price
is high, sulphate should be preferred for ordinary purposes, although
sometimes inferior in effect. The choice of crude or of manufactured
potash salts depends on the soil and the time of application. If
winter is the time, when rains can cleanse them, kainit or crude salts —
should be used. If, on the other hand, potash is needed on a heavy »
soil, especially near the time of the seed-sowing, manufactured or
purified salts are preferable, producing, moreover, better quality crops, _
the price being about {16 a ton. As regards wood ashes, they can be
applied with advantage, unless the potash has been washed out by
rain. Coal ashes, on the other hand, should be avoided, except for
heavy clay soils, which they help to lighten. They contain practically
no plant-food.

Farmyard and Stable Manuve.—This is very variable in quality.
Horse andsheep manure are considered richer than cow and pig manure.
On an average, in a ton of well-rotted farmyard manure there are about
to Ib. of nitrogen, 4 lb. of phosphates, and ro lb. of potash. Perhaps
its chief value is in improving the soil physically and in setting free
plant-food already present, but unavailable. Soils rich in humus, |
which is provided by farmyard or stable manure, can better withstand —
drought than light soils, the former retaining water better than the
latter. It also helps to make a clay soil more porous and workable.
Many chemical changes take place, when once the heap is made up
and left, involving loss both. in weight and value. The nitrogenous
materials are attacked by a certain bacterium, and part escapes
into the air in the form of ammonia and carbonic acid gas. Other
bacteria cause denitrification, entailing loss of nitrogen gas. After a_
time the strawy part of the manure is converted into humus, involving
the loss of about a quarter of the original dry matter. The first two
processes go on most rapidly in the earliest stages, gradually becoming
slower and slower as time goes on, and it is then that the straw begins
to change to humus. It will thus be seen that manure laid loosely

* Or lime.—F, J.C.

h ; now the saline:

23

about on the ground would be subject to greater loss through
evaporation than a firm, compact heap. Also, if in a loose condition, it
will soon become dry, and assume a white, dusty appearance, due to
the presence of the mycelium of fungi, and it may be taken for granted
that the heap has lost in value considerably. Several preservatives
have been tried to lower the loss of nitrogen from the heap, but all have
been found too expensive, considering the small amount of nitrogen
preserved. A good plan is to place a layer of old, well-rotted manure
under the new heap. It must not be forgotten that there are one or
two disadvantages in using farmyard manure, when choosing between
this and artificial fertilizers. Besides the much larger bulk required
for farmyard or stable manure, the elements composing it are but
slowly available to the crop, especially the nitrogenous element, and
a quick-acting fertilizer must be used if immediate effect is desired.
On the other hand farmyard manure is a lasting manure, and is a
continual source of gradually available plant-food. Weeds are
frequently spread in farmyard manure, when seeds, and plants likely
to root easily, such as couch grass, are thrown on the heap, and this
practice is to be avoided.

As regards the application, if it is to be applied to bare ground, no
time should be lost in transferring it from the heap to the soil, so that
its loss in weight and value is as small as possible. If, however,
it is to be applied to growing crops, especially plants with delicate
roots, and germinating seeds, sufficient time must be allowed to let
it rot, the fresh manure being injurious to such plants. Similarly
the liquid manure, which is the most valuable part of the manure, is
very apt to damage young rootlets, unless used judiciously. Foliage
is also liable to be injured if the liquid manure is allowed to fall on
it when watering.

As a rule, farmyard or stable manure should be applied in late
autumn, to allow some time for it to decay and improve the texture
of the soil. A mulch of manure is often very beneficial to both newly-
planted and established plants, serving to prevent the roots drying
up in hot, dry weather, and to keep out frost from the roots of such
plants as Roses in winter. Care must be taken not to make the mulch
too thick and wet, so as to keep the air from the roots, or they will
be greatly injured.

The price of stable manure is about six or seven shillings a ton,
and when not obtainable at that price some artificial fertilizers should
be preferred.

For a light soil, cow manure is preferable, horse manure suiting
a clay soil.

Guanos.—These resemble farmyard manure in the respect that
they are complete fertilizers, but on the other hand they contribute
_ only a small amount of humus to the soil. They contain, or should
” contain, large percentages of nitrogen and phosphates, together with
a small amount of potash. The source of these guanos is the excreta
from sea-birds, accumulated on a few groups of islands off the

A”

24

coast of Peru. The best is obtained from the island of Chinchas, and
contains about 16 per cent. nitrogen and g per cent. phosphoric acid,
being light grey in colour when fresh. The guano sold in this country,
however, contains about 5-8 per cent. nitrogen. Some kinds are much
more phosphatic than others, and are browner in colour as a result.
The large amount of phosphoric acid is due to the fish diet of the
birds. The price is about £16 a ton. : :

The cheaper grades should be avoided, as uneconomic, being very
slowly soluble, and therefore slowly available to the crop.

Besides the excreta of the birds, the guano contains also decayed
remains of fish, birds, seaweeds, &c., together with a little sand.

Ichaboe guano is the only other commercial guano of any value.
This comes from Ichaboe island, off the S.W. coast of Africa. It is
generally inferior to that from Peru, and, though richer in nitrogen,
contains proportionately less phosphoric acid and more sand. From
these remarks it will be seen that a good guano possesses very great
value as a fertilizer, affording a long and continual supply of food-
material to the plant, but the heavy price £10 to £12 a ton, prohibits
its extensive use where gardening is carried on for commercial purposes,
it being economical to have slightly inferior crops with the use of far
cheaper manures. However, where ordinary farmyard or stable manure
is not to be obtained, Peruvian guano may be used with advantage,
being in fact far cheaper than various compound chemical manures
sold at excessive prices. Humus can be supplied by digging-in green
crops and vegetable refuse. Care must be taken in applying it to
the growing plant, or injury will result to the roots, and if mixed with
potting soil the mixture must be left for a week before use.

Besides these true guanos, various materials obtained from fish
refuse and meat )refuse are used as manures. Fish guano is dried
powdered fish refuse, most of the oil being first extracted. Meat
guano is a similar product from meat refuse. These are also injurious
to delicate rootlets, and should be applied in winter to the bare soil,
at the rate of 2 to 10 cwt. an acre, or rz to 4 oz. a square yard. Fish
guano contains about 7 per cent. nitrogen, 14 per cent. phosphates,
and 2 or 3 per cent. potash. Meat guano varies considerably in
composition, averaging about 7 per cent. nitrogen and 35 to 4o per cent.
phosphate of lime. .

Poultry Manuve.—This forms a valuable fertilizer, if to be had in
sufficient quantities, being about four times as valuable as farmyard
manure. It should be kept in a dry place. A good dressing is
1 or 2 lb. a square yard.

Pigeon Manure.—Although large quantities of this are difficult to
obtain, it is well worth using as manure, being about eight times as
valuable as farmyard manure. Apply at the rate of 3 tor} Ib. a
square yard. :

Green M. anures.—Mustard and vetches are the two commonest crops
grown for this purpose. These are sown broadcast in late summer
or autumn on ground just cleared of a crop, and are valuable in saving

25

the nitrates formed in the soil lying fallow. Weeds are smothered
out by a thick crop like this, and humus is added to the soil when the
crop is dug in and has rotted. Vetches, being a leguminous crop,
add to the nitrogen in the soil, but unfortunately they have a drying
effect on the soil, as they are not dug in till the following spring. On
the other hand, mustard can be dug in in about eight weeks after
sowing, and so takes much less water out of the soil, which is also open
to winter rains. On the whole, for a light sandy soil mustard is the
better crop, vetches being more suitable for a heavy soil.

Leaf-mould.—This, when thoroughly decayed, forms a valuable
ingredient in potting soil. Good newly-fallen leaves from hardwood
trees contain in one ton about 10-15 lb. nitrogen, 3 lb. phosphoric
acid, and 6 Ib. potash. Thus its chief value lies in contributing
humus to the soil, and generally improving it mechanically, rather
than in supplying much plant-food. Oak leaves make the best leaf-
mould, beech leaves coming next. A stiff clay soil may be much
improved by the addition of leaf-mould.

Peat.—There are two kinds of this material which are called peat.
One, consisting of the decayed rhizomes and roots of bracken, is much
used in the cultivation of orchids and ferns, and the more fibrous it
is the better. The other kind, the real peat, consisting of decomposed
plants, which are submerged for part of the year, and sand, is an acid
soil, but is used as an ingredient in potting Azaleas, Heaths,
Rhododendrons, &c.

Lime.—No proper manuring can be practised with good results
unless a sufficient quantity of carbonate of lime is present in the soil.
If less than *5-1 per cent. is found, an application is needed. A rough
test for lime in the soil is to take a sample of soil and pour on it some
hydrochloric acid. If the soil effervesces freely it may be con-
sidered to contain about r per cent. ; if not, then lime is required.
Both physical and chemical improvement in the soil is brought about
by the addition of lime. On clay soils the former effect is most
marked. The clay particles, which are very small, and stick together
very fast when moistened, are cemented together into larger particles
by the action of lime ; thus the water is allowed to drain away, the soil
becomes airier and drier, and consequently warms earlier in the
spring, and less sticky, and so easier to work. Also it will not crack
in dry weather, as the soil-water will be able to rise to the surface
better.

Sandy soils are also benefited physically, the smaller particles
being cemented together in a similar manner.

As regards the chemical action, lime prevents the soil from becoming
acid, Acidity in the soil is brought about by the decay of vegetable
matter, and when the soil is acid fungi flourish, and bacteria are
hindered from carrying out the process of nitrification. Nitrogenous
manures are not the only ones rendered more easily available by lime,
both phosphatic and potassic manures requiring it. The action of
lime on phosphatic manures is to increase their solubility, by forming

26

that sort of phosphate which is most quickly available. The ee
on potassic manures is to bring the potash salts into ee re
if no

otherwise would be precipitated and remain unavailable,
were present.

Many fungoid and insect pests in the soil are destroyed by some
forms of lime.

It should be mentioned here that the lime found in bones, super-
phosphate, gypsum, gas lime, &c., is not in a proper state to do away
with liming the soil, as it is combined with acids in these manures.

The following are the commonest forms of lime :— ;

Quicklime, obtained by the burning of calcium carbonate, is the
commonest kind. On combination with water it becomes slaked
lime. If possible, always apply in the form of slaked lime ; if, how-
ever, quicklime has to be used, leave it in heaps, and when slaked
by the rain it can be spread over the surface, as evenly as possible.
It should not be allowed to become too wet and sticky, or it will be very
difficult to handle. When it is in a suitable condition it falls into a
fine powder. Applications are best made to the bare soil in autumn
or winter, as, unless chalk is used, growing roots are greatly injured by
lime. It should be applied at the rate of from 8 cwt. to 1 ton an acre,
or 3-8 oz. a square yard. Chalk can be applied at the rate of 2-5
tons an acre, or 1-3 lb. a square yard, and should be hoed or forked
in, being first broken up well.

It is better to apply oftener and in smaller quantities than seldom
and in large quantities, as in the latter case a bad effect is produced by
the delay of nitrification. The price of lime is about gs. a ton.

Ground lime is quicklime ground up finely, but is less pure than
the latter and costs about 18s. a ton.

Lime ashes are the waste product of the burning process, and are
valuable if fairly clean, and free from clinkers.

Gas lime is obtained during the purification of coal gas over freshly
slaked lime. It contains several impurities, including sulphur, and
makes a very good insecticide if applied in late autumn to the bare
soil, at the rate‘of about 1-2 tons an acre, or 8 oz.—zlb. a square yard,
However, any following crop for the next year would probably be a
failure. The usual application is 5-10 cwt. an acre, OF 2-4 OZ. a
square yard in winter. When old, it can be applied with safety to
a growing crop. As mentioned before, this material has not an equal
effect to that of quicklime, though clay soils are considerably improved
by a dressing of it.*

Gypsum is crystallized sulphate of lime, and is chiefly valuable in
setting free potash and stimulating leguminous crops. It has a
preservative effect on ammonia, and is a cheap material to use, It
should be applied in winter or early spring,
square yard, or 8-10 cwt. per acre.

Salt is frequently used, but the value lies in liberating potash, not

* Owing to improvements in methods of
frequently little insecticidal or fungicidal prop

at the rate of 3~4 oz, per

purifying coal gas, gas lime has
erties at the present day.—F, jJ.c.

27

in supplying any plant-food. It is best to apply it with other manures,
and is valuable for root-crops, and may even sometimes be used instead
of potash manures. Like the latter, it has a bad effect on clay soils.

Eight-plot Test—In order to ascertain accurately the effect of
different manures on a particular soil, experiments with plots should
be carried out, although the manures required can be roughly estimated
by an analysis of the soil. As great accuracy as possible must be
aimed at, as errors always creep in, however carefully the experiment
is conducted, and unless the results show a difference of 10 per cent. in
the yield of crop no accurate conclusions can be drawn. In choosing
sites for the plots, uniformity in the nature and aspect of the soil
must be strictly maintained, also in the size and shape of the plots,
and the questions of previous manuring and cropping must be con-
sidered. A convenient size for the plots is about s'y of an acre or more,
and small plots of a few square yards are of little use in obtaining
accurate conclusions, as the great care needed for the experiments on
small plots counterbalances the effect of the manures on insect pests
and fungi. The land must be measured out, and the manures weighed,
and properly mixed and applied, about a week before sowing the seed.
If possible, the plots should be laid out side by side, the number
being eight in all. The choice among the fertilizers to be used should
lie between (a) ) nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia, (5) super-
phosphate and basic slag, and (c) kainit and sulphate of potash, one
of each being used, and the crop, of course, being the same on all the
plots. On No.1 plot apply nothing, on No. 2 nitrate of soda, on No. 3
superphosphate, on No. 4 kainit, on No. 5 both nitrate and super-
phosphate, on No. 6 both nitrate and kainit, on No. 7 both super-
phosphate and kainit, and on No. 8 all three. When the crop has
been ascertained by weighing, comparisons can be made for the
effects of using the different fertilizers singly and with other manures.
Supplementary plots will show the best sort and best amount of any
kind of fertilizer to be applied.

Purchase of Manures—When buying artificial manures it is
important to obtain from the seller a guaranteed analysis, showing
the actual percentages of nitrogen, soluble phosphates, insoluble
phosphates, and potash. The real worth of a manure may be
determined by means of the unit system, and comparison may be
made between the real value and the actual price. The unit value
is the price of each 1 per cent. a ton of nitrogen, insoluble phosphates,
soluble phosphates, and potash, as the case may be.

Taking sulphate of ammonia as a standard, the unit value of
nitrogen is calculated at ros. to 12s., varying with the price. Taking
the price at {11 15s., and the percentage of nitrogen at 20 per cent.,
the unit value = {11 15s. divided by twenty, which is nearly 12s.

Thus, with 12s. as unit value of nitrogen, of soluble phosphates
4s., of insoluble phosphates z2s., and potash 4s., the real value of any
manure offered can be calculated. Thus, supposing that a fertilizer
was offered guaranteed to contain g per cent. nitrogen, 5 per cent.

28

soluble phosphate, x per cent. insoluble phosphates, and 2 per cent.

potash, the real value would be ro8s. for the nitrogen, 20s. for the
soluble phosphates, 2s. for the insoluble phosphates, and 8s. for the
potash, the total being £6 18s. a ton.

P.S.—The prices of the manures are very variable, and the figures _.
given would probably have to be raised considerably as time goes on.

P.P.S.—As regards purchasing proprietary manures, it is often mote
economical to buy the separate ingredients, and mix them together, ,
than to buy the advertised mixture; in this way also substances of
no manurial value, such as sand, do not have to be paid for.

29

THE HARDY HERBACEOUS BORDER: ITS CONSTRUCTION
AND THE CULTIVATION OF A FEW HARDY HER-
BACEOUS PERENNIALS.

By J. O. PRITCHARD.

In the flower garden proper the hardy herbaceous border is usually,
and undoubtedly should be, an important feature, and, being such,
should therefore be apportioned a prominent position in it.

Some few years ago this important branch of horticulture suffered
comparative neglect in consequence of a sudden popularity for orna-
mental carpet bedding, in which the chief aim seemed to be extreme
formality, which point was always strictly observed. This popularity,
however, proved to be to a great extent merely temporary, and as
the result a reaction in favour of hardy herbaceous gardening may be
said to have set in.

Notwithstanding the temporary set-back it received, at least as
far as the commercial side of the question is concerned, there is scarcely
any branch of gardening in which more progress has been made during
the last twenty years or so than in the cultivation of hardy herbaceous
perennials. In fact it may be said that the almost unlimited number
of herbaceous perennials now available for hardy border cultivating
renders the selection of desirable and suitable plants for almost any
position a comparatively easy matter.

Whether the soil be heavy or light, chalky or peaty, swamp-
like or elevated and fairly dry, plants in number and variety may be
found which will, with ordinary care and attention, and the application
of a little knowledge in selection and skill in planting, grow and flourish
there.

Some borders thus considered always seem able to present a
harmonious spectacle of tastefully arranged plants, in which the various
colours, heights, and periods of flowering naturally appear to blend
together.

In the construction of the border itself there are many necessary
points to consider before satisfactory results can be gained. Of
these, I think the first is to choose a desirable and suitable site.

To do this with any degree of satisfaction it is always advisable to
consider the nature of the immediate locality, for there are some
plants which do well and present a glorious picture of colour in one
place, whilst in a situation may be only a few miles distant they
prove to be utter failures, which no amount of care in cultivation
seems able to remedy.

In all things there is an “ ideal,” and, in the case of a site for a
border of this kind, one in full sun for as long as possible during the

a8

ilable.

would be as good
t always aval

1,

t in the open grass or

ast from cold winds by trees or

ilding or wal

shrubs, and failing these a distant buil

30

day and sheltered on the north and e

SS ore

a

as it is possible to get, but unfortunately it is no

Borders on the west side of a wall, or even cu

wok

‘yos f

pea?

2 7°P

s afforded from a
collection of plants
grown, the most suitable.

y point in the com
, aS mentioned befo

n a border where a large and varied”
rts of the globe is intended to be

I

from all pa

lawn, can be very effective if just a little shelter i
distance.

and general site is one facing an
and west, and sheltered

i
i
i
1

y.

Pass between east
he site, the next question :

re, from bleak northerl

and easterly winds. Having decided upon t

3r

to consider is “‘ How to prepare the soil?” This is most important,
and on whether it is done properly or not very often depends the
the success or failure of the border. To merely clear the ground of
any refuse or vegetation which happens to be present, and which has
probably already impoverished the soil, is to court failure or even
disaster. Under such conditions, it is true, plants may “exist” for
some time, but it is a certain fact that they will never be enabled to
attain a flourishing condition.

For general purposes a loamy, well-drained soil will be found to
produce the most satisfactory results. Where this condition is not
already at hand steps must be taken to leaven the soil by the addition
of long or short manure, leaf soil, peat or sand, as the nature of the soil
demands, and in such quantities as seem desirable. If it is a very
heavy soil or a clayey ground that has to be dealt with it should be set
about in the autumn for preference, thoroughly drained, and trenched
to a depth of at least 2 feet, and plenty of ‘‘ long ” stable manure and
leaf-soil added and well worked in. Failing a supply of long manure,
as is sometimes the case, long green vegetation, the tops of plants, will
make an efficient substitute. After allowing the frost, &c., to help to
break up the clayey lumps during winter, a good forking back in early
spring will go a long way to finish making the ground in a good con-
dition for planting. A light sandy soil, which, however, would probably
not need such precautions as regards drainage, should also be thoroughly
trenched and plenty of good ‘‘short ” stable manure, leaf soil, and cow
manure worked in, all these being beneficial in improving a light soil.
Any soil, also, which is lacking in or deficient in lime should have a
sufficient supply of this necessary factor added. This is usually
necessary in a clay soil. In conclusion, on the point of ground pre-
paration, it is essential to recognize that, in addition to providing a
storehouse of food upon which the roots will draw, the necessity of
furnishing adequate moisture is scarcely of less moment, and may even,
under certain circumstances, become the primary factor upon which
success or failure ultimately turns. Hence it follows that only
deep digging, t.e. trenching, will attain this dual result, as the
process of moving the soil not only aerates it, but tends also to
liberate and produce elements readily available for the roots, while
such a soil is more conservative of its moisture than one which is
but shallowly dug.

Background and its Construction.—There are various ways in which
a suitable background, as well as being effective, can be constructed
for the border. Where the latter is made at the base of a wall or
against a building, great care should be taken to avoid having the
back portion of the border choked up with tall-growing vegetation
with the idea of screening the bareness of the wall behind.

This desirable object can be obtained just as easily and with far
greater effect by training over the face of the wall such plants as
Choisya, Clematis, Jasmine, or Forsythia suspensa. If, however, a
background of ornamental shrubs is to be constructed, it should be

a9

32

done with an eye to after-effects, bearing in mind that variation In
height is desirable, so as to avoid the necessity of having the same
height of background behind a tall vigorously-growing plant, which
in itself needs little or no background, as behind a much smaller and
more slender-growing specimen. ;

There are many ornamental shrubs which will serve this purpose
with excellent effect, but in the case of some of them which root rather
too vigorously it will be found necessary to keep the border itself free
from the encroachments of their roots, which would otherwise deprive
other plants of the goodness of the soil, by periodically cutting them
back. These roots are the great drawback to what is perhaps the best
and most effective means of forming a background, i.e. one of hardy
ornamental shrubs. Such subjects as Buddleias, Skimmias, and
Berberis are all suitable, whilst the tallest Rambler Roses, or Forsythia
suspensa, trained upon larch supports, are also plants which would aid
in forming an attractive backing to a border.

Next comes the very important question of planting and all its
details. In the case of hardy herbaceous perennials this operation
may be carried out, I believe, any time during autumn, winter, or
early spring, always provided, of course, that the ground is not in
a frozen condition, nor the soil sticky from recent rain, as plants
take more freely to the ground if the soil works freely at the time
when they are putin. Another point worth consideration is to spread
out the roots well when planting. This applies more especially to such
subjects as the Hellebores, the young and brittle roots of. which would
be badly damaged if rammed in anyhow when planting.

Some authorities recommend that, when planting a border, it
should be done with the idea of avoiding the necessity of digging over,
or renovating the plants, for many years. :

In general practice, however, it will undoubtedly be found better
to lift the majority if not the whole of the plants at the end of three ©
years at the latest, and re-dig and manure the ground thoroughly.
Unless this is done, the stronger-growing plants encroach on their
weaker and less vigorously growing neighbours, and may ultimately
even kill them outright. To avoid this by cutting round the clumps
with a spade is detrimental to the plants themselves, as it destroys
all the younger and more healthy parts of the plant in favour of the
older and more weakened.

Such plants, indeed, as Lychnis, Monardas, and Achilleas are the
better for being treated as annuals ; by this I mean, it is better to
lift the clumps every year and divide them, replanting only the youngest
parts, which are in reality new plants. On the other hand again, °
there are those which are best left undisturbed, as they are impatient 4
of root disturbance and receive a severe check if interfered with .
Some such as this are Pzeonies, Phloxes, Hellebores, and Dictamnus.
Another point to be avoided is having all the tallest plants at the
back and the remainder sloping down to a foreground of the dwarfest
This tends to give a rather painful air of symmetrical arrangement

33

to the border. It is of course very much a matter of personal taste
how the planting should be carried out, but by arranging some of
the tall plants at or near the front, or in the centre, and placing behind
and beside these some of the dwarfer ones, according to whether they
need plenty of sunshine or shade, a much more natural and better
effect is gained. In fact, one of the objects in planting should be
to make the plants themselves assist one another as much as possible.
By this I mean, a tall plant can be readily utilized to shade a smaller
one during the hottest part of the day, and in like manner a tender
specimen can be protected from cold winds to a considerable extent
if arranged next to one of a hardier and more robust constitution.

Staking—In many cases this point is not attended to as
it undoubtedly should be, for on the neatness and appropriateness
with which the staking of the plants is carried out very often depend
the satisfactory finishing touches which help to make the border
complete. Nothing so much offends the eye as an unwieldy stake
obtruding itself to one’s notice in a position where a smaller and more
slender one would be more suitable. The young shoots of some erect-
growing plants must be necessarily provided with some support
during their earlier period of growth, so as to prevent the stems
becoming deformed or broken by the wind. This partial dislocation,
occasioned by their being blown about by the wind, is sure to be
completed or made worse if staking is left to a later date when the
growths are well advanced and more set.

The massing and grouping of many of the plants are also to be con-
sidered. It is a common occurrence to find that one plant of a certain
variety or species fails to excite any comment whatsoever. The indivi-
dual appears commonplace. It may be because it is spare and straggling
in growth or small and inconspicuous of flower. But it frequently
happens, also, that what is ineffective as a single specimen becomes
a beautiful and desirable subject for the border when grown as groups
or in masses together. Primroses, Phloxes, and Asters when grown
as single plants appear only very ordinary, but group a dozen or so
of the same together and a much better effect is immediately gained.

Colour and Time of Flowering—These points play a prominent
part in the successful planting of a border, and, if studied
properly in conjunction with each other, ensure the picturesque
finish that is so desirable. The plants should be arranged so
that the colours blend rather than clash with one another, and
that the border may maintain its interest from one year’s end
to another. Harmony rather than contrast should be the rule in
colour arrangement ; and the breadth of any one colour in a mass
or group should be large enough to have a certain charm without
the danger of being wearisome. Where a definite plan of colouring
is decided upon, it saves time and trouble if the plants, of which
the flowers are approximately the same colour, but a little later than
each other in appearance, are planted or grouped near together so
as to keep the various parts of the border in continuous flower. For

34

example, Oriental poppies might well find a place next to some of the
Tritomas (Kniphofias) of similar colour. : ;

A progression of colour in a mixed border, for example, might begin
with strong blues, light and dark, grouped with white and pale yellow,
passing on to pink; then to rose colour, crimson, and the strongest
scarlet, leading to orange and bright yellow. A paler yellow followed
by white would distantly connect the warm colours with the lilacs
and purples, and a colder white would combine them pleasantly
with low-growing and cool-coloured leaves.

Warm colours are not difficult to place; scarlet, crimson, pink,
orange, and yellow are easily arranged so as to pass agreeably from
one to the other. Purple and lilac group well together, but are best
kept well away from red and pink; they do well with the colder
whites, but are seen at their best when surrounded or carpeted with
grey-white foliage ; but if it be desired to pass from a group of warm
colour to purple and lilac, a good breadth of pale yellow or warm
white may be interposed.

White is a colour needing consideration. Frequent repetition
of white patches is not pleasant. It is generally found that one
or two masses or groups of white-flowered plants are sufficient from
one point of view in a border.

Blue is best approached by delicate contrasts of warm whites
and pale yellows, such as Oenothera Lamarckiana, but rather avoiding
the direct opposition of a strong blue and full yellow. In the sunniest
places of the border warm colours are best prominent, as sunlight
appears to aid in blending them together. The shady corners, on
the other hand, seem best suited for the cooler and more delicate
shades.

ARRANGEMENT (SEE PLAN, P. 30) AND CULTURAL NoTES
ON A FEW Harpy HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS.

In the following, when rows are mentioned, it is only meaning
roughly, so as to distinguish the positions of the various clumps or
plants as relative to one another.

No border, of course, could look either natural or beautiful if the
plants were arranged in set rows. The proposed border is 18 feet
wide (and length of course as desired), thus allowing for at least six
fairly large clumps, if desired, from back to front or vice versa.

The majority, if not all, of the plants are examples selected from
Wisley Gardens.

As examples for the back row of the border the following would be
suitable:

Aster var. ‘Climax.’—A fine variety, not long j i
almost exceptionally large blossoms, ie in een eae
from September onwards, attaining a height of 6 feat, pees =
usually propagated in spring by means of the growths that spring u
round the old plant. These are inserted in a sandy compost 4 a i
frame, and soon root if kept shaded and sprinkled overhead. —

35

Delphinium var. ‘Imperial Mantle.°—With flowers dark blue in
colour this variety often reaches a height of 7 feet. A succession
of bloom in Delphiniums is obtained during June, July. and August,
by continually cutting off the flowering spikes as soon as they are
finished, and so preventing seed development. Every three or four
years or so they should be divided and replanted, the best time to
do it being in spring, just as growth commences, or in summer. If
at the latter period, cut down the plants a week or ten days before
division, till growth re-starts. Then carefully divide and replant,
taking care to shade and water efficiently till they are established.

Verbaseum olympicum.—One of the grandest of the Verbascums,
6 feet or more high, of sturdy growth, and having rich yellow flowers,
which appear from May to August. The usual methods adopted for
increasing this Verbascum, as well as others, are by seeds, sown about
May, or by division of the rootstock.

Galega officinalis Hartlandi.—This is a native of Southern Europe
and exhibits its pretty mauve and white flowers throughout the
greater part of the summer. Reaching a height of 5 feet, it is most
easily propagated by root division. If all dead flowers are kept
pinched off, so that seed development is prevented, plants of this
Galega frequently bloom again during autumn.

Aster ‘Lil Fardell.’—A variety with rose-pink flowers, appearing at
their best in late summer. The plant itself reaches a height of 5 or
6 feet, and is propagated as mentioned before for Asters.

Rudbeckia laciniata.—This is the tallest of the Rudbeckias, reaching
anything from 7 to Io feet in height and sometimes more. The leaves,
as the name implies, are unevenly divided into narrow ribbons, or
cut into larger lobes, different individuals varying much in leafage.
Appearing early in August, the flower is large, 3 to 4 inches across,
clear yellow in colour, having the rays curved downwards and a
greenish conical disc. Plants live many years without spreading
much, but are easily divided. Should the seed escape the attentions
of the chaffinches and green linnets, self-sown seedlings come up
round the plants quite easily.

Helianthus moliis—Like the Michaelmas Daisies, the perennial
Helianthus could ill be spared from the autumn garden. This par-
ticular one is no exception, and, growing up to 6 feet in height,
exhibits its golden-yellow flowers from July to October. The usual
method of propagating H. mollts is by division in autumn or spring.

Lupinus arboreus.—A valuable plant for dry soils and rocky
banks, but also worth its place on the border. Its purplish variety
is good, and there are some inferior “ yellowish’’ varieties, but the
best of all is the real yellow one, because whilst there are good
blue perennial lupines there is no other good yellow. It forms a
roundish bush 2 to 4 feet high, and is easily raised from'seeds ; handsome
forms are usually increased by cuttings. It may be killed in severe
winters, but is worth raising from time to time if this happens, where
the soil suits it.

36

Eremurus robustus.—One of the best-known Eremuri in gardens,
with a huge flower stem 6 to ro feet high and crowned with a dense
raceme of peach-coloured flowers nearly 2 inches across. A native of
Turkestan, it is often seen forcing its shoots through frozen ground.
Flowering in June, and given a suitable season in which to ripen its
seeds, it can be propagated from seeds fairly easily.

Delphinium ‘ King of the Delphiniums.’—This is the last, but not
the least important, example for the back row. One of the choicest
of the numerous varieties now obtainable, it has large flower spikes
of an intense indigo blue, the plant altogether reaching a height
of 5 feet.

Examples for the second row, and starting to plant at the same
end as before, as follows, firstly :

Thalictrum glaueum.—A native of the South of Europe, growing
from 5 to 6 feet high, with grey-green finely cut leaves and feathery
heads of pale yellow flowers, in June and July. The usual method
of propagation is by division in autumn and spring.

Senecio Clivorum is a fairly new border plant from China, with
large heart-shaped leaves a foot or more across, and of a shiny green
colour. The tall, much-branched heads of orange and yellow flowers,

ut

with a brown centre 2 or 3 inches across, appear in July and August.

Easy of culture, and raised from seed, it is not particular as to the
soil in which it finds itself.

Campanula lactiflora coerulea——A vigorous Caucasian species,
2 to 6 feet high. Flowering from July to September, it bears its blue
flowers in loose panicles, and can be raised from seed in a cold frame
in autumn or spring.

Delphinium ‘Lizzie Van Veen.’—A splendid variety with azure-
blue flowers, with a small white eye. It grows toa height of at least
5 feet ana is propagated as mentioned before.

Verbascum ‘Miss Willmott.’-—Appearing from June onwards the
flowers of this Verbascum are white in colour, the plant attaining
a height of 6 feet. Propagated by seeds, and division if the plant
should prove perennial.

Helenium grandicephalum striatum or as it is also called H. nudi-
florum, a fine Texan perennial, 4 to 5 feet high, with lance-shaped
leaves and heads of deep orange flowers about 2 inches across, having
the ray florets striped and blotched with crimson. Heleniums grow
in any garden soil and are somewhat coarse of growth. They may
be increased by seeds sown in spring in cold frames, or more easily
still by dividing the roots, preferably in spring.

Poterium canadense, which, although it attains a height of 6 feet,
would not crowd out the plants behind it. It has deeply cut grey-
green foliage, and long spikes of creamy white flowers from the tip
of every shoot during late summer and early autumn. Where the
room can be afforded several plants should be grouped together to gain
the best effect. Propagation is by dividing the root stock in autumn.

37

Solidago Shortii, probably the best of the so-called Golden Rods,
with spreading, finely arched heads of yellow blossoms appearing
from August and onwards.

As they are coarse feeders and soon impoverish a rich soil, a top
dressing of good manure every autumn and winter will enable the
plants to be grown longer than usual without removal to renew
the soil. They are best increased by division in early autumn or
spring.

Veratrum nigrum.—An ormamental native of Central Europe, with
erect stems 2 to 4 feet high, slightly bulbous at the base. The blackish-
purple flowers, with oblong blunt segments, are borne in June in dense
racemes I to 3 feet long. Veratrums prefer a rich, loamy soil, with
a little peat and leaf mould present; the plants may be increased
by separating the tufts about September or October, and this method
is preferable to seed raising, as they germinate very irregularly and
slowly, and very often not until the second year.

Aster ruber.—A variety growing about 6 feet high, and bearing
masses of bright pink flowers in August and September. The last
example for this row is

Rudbeckia angustifolia.—A native of wet places from New Jersey
and Kentucky to Florida and Texas, 2 to 5 feet high, with slender stems
and narrow glossy leaves. The flowers, during September and October,
are of an orange-yellow colour, with a blackish-purple centre. As the
seed rarely ripens, division during autumn or spring is resorted to
for increasing stock, and the plants prefer plenty of space in which
to develop to the best advantage.

Now comes the third row from the back, and with the next forms
the centre of the border. As examples, the following :-—

Asphodelus luteus.—Synonymous with Asphodeline lutea. It is
a native of Southern Europe, 3 to 4 feet high, its erect-growing stems
being covered with deep green, awl-shaped three-sided furrowed leaves,
with distinct paler leaves. The pretty sweet-scented yellow flowers
are borne in summer in a long dense raceme, each blossom springing
from the axil of a buff-coloured bract. They flourish in ordinary
garden soil, and are increased by root division in early Spring.

Sidaleea spicata rosea.—This plant has flowers of a rosy-pink
colour and reaches a height of about 5 feet. Where the plants are not
killed by winter frosts, division in early autumn or spring is the usual
method of propagation, but seedling plants are usually more satis-
factory.

Rudbeckia laciniata flore pleno.—The double-flowered form of
the R. laciniat2 mentioned previously, but does not grow quite so tall.
It is treated and propagated in a similar fashion.

Senecio Veitchianus, which is 5 feet in height, bears its yellow
flowers during August and September. It is easily and generally
increased by division, but this one also comes true when raised from
seed.

38

Thalictrum dipterocarpum.—One of the prettiest of the Thalictrums,
3 feet in height, with rosy-pink flowers appearing in June and onwar ds,
the petals offering a charming contrast to its citron-yellow anthers.
It is readily propagated in early spring either by seeds or root
division. . .

Delphinium Belladonna superba.—Truly a superb variety, with
flowers of a beautiful blue. Propagated as before, by cuttings and
division. .

Aster ‘Moonlight.’—This is probably still a little-known variety,
being one of the latest and at the same time easily one of the best.
If anything, finer than ‘Climax,’ it has flowers blue in colour, and
to be seen at their best during the latter part of summer.

Doronicum ‘Harpur Crewe,’ also called Doronicum plantagineum
var. excelsum, generally acknowledged to be easily the best of its
kind. It grows about 5 feet high, with broadly heart-shaped, coarsely
toothed leaves, and yellow daisy-like flowers 3 to 4 inches across, and
blooms in spring and early summer. They are easily increased by
division in early autumn, or immediately after flowering is over.

Aconitum Wilsonii.—This variety has rapidly attained a foremost
position among the late-flowering perennials. A recent introduction
from China, it is a strong erect grower, attaining a height of 5 or 6
feet, whilst its flower spikes, of massive build, are crowded with
large hooded flowers of a rich medium blue. The centre spike, as with
Delphiniums, opens first, during September, and the succession is
maintained as the laterals flower during October. It is increased by
division.

Anchusa italica, Dropmore variety—About the same height’ as
the last-mentioned plant, it also has blue flowers, which are borne
on panicled racemes during summer. It is one of the best of the
Anchusas and can be increased both by seeds and by division in
early autumn or spring.

Rudbeckia ‘Autumn Glow.’—A large golden-yellow flowered
variety, reaching a height of as much as 6 or 7 feet, and flowering
from August onwards. The plants last many years, but are better
for an annual division of the rootstock.

Galega carnea plena.—This plant grows about 4 feet in height
and bears deep pink flowers. It is advisable to divide this, as well
as other Galegas, every third or fourth year in the border and give
them fresh soil, although, given a rich loamy soil, they will bloom year
after year. They are propagated by dividing the rootstock in early
pe Se the latter season being perhaps better on the whole.
oe a the non-flowering shoots may be inserted in cold frames

g the summer months and kept close for a time.
= Guna vigorous Italian perennial, 3 to 4 feet high,
Shaped, lobed and toothed leaves.
appearing about June, Jul
colour, in the axils of deeply-toothed bracts and b i
18 inches long, thrown well above the foliage. cle

The flowers, is oe
y, and August, are white, rose, or lilac in

30

They may be increased by dividing the roots in autumn or spring,
and also by seeds sown in gentle heat about March. Cuttings of
the roots are also resorted to for the purpose of increasing the
stock.

Then comes the next or fourth row from the back, composed of
such plants as below :—

Eryngium Wrightii—One of the finest of the sea-hollies, attaining a
height of 5 to 6 feet, and bearing its dark blue flowers from July onwards.
They thrive in a light, well-drained sandy soil, and may be increased
by very careful division early in autumn or spring. The better way
of propagation, however, is to raise them from seed, sown as soon as
ripe and kept in a cold frame till spring, when they will germinate
successfully.

Artemisia gnaphaloides.—Although attaining a height of 33 feet,
the chief beauty of this plant lies not in the white flowers but in the
silvery-white foliage which it bears. This is the case with practically
all Artemisias, and the plants thrive in the driest of soils, once they
are established. <A. gnaphaloides is readily increased either by division
or cuttings.

Phiox ‘Evelyn.’—A truly beautiful variety, 4 feet in height, with
salmon-pink flowers.

Herbaceous Phloxes are now so popular and widely grown that
it is scarccly necessary to say anything further about these deservedly
popular plants. All Phloxes dislike a wet subsoil, and flourish best
in a rich, well-manured loam. The cuttings of the stem and roots
and division of the rootstock are the methods used for propagation.
Unfortunately, varieties do not come true to seed, so that this method
is resorted to only when new seedling varieties are desired. The
first way is probably the best, as it is possible to strike them
at practically all seasons.

Eupatorium ageratoides.—Although perhaps considered by many
more suited to a wild garden than here, it nevertheless is desirable
on a border if only on account of the profusion of bloom it bears.

From 3 to5 feet high, it bears its white flowers in dense flat heads
during August and September.

Growing in practically any soil, it is increased by dividing the
rootstock in spring or early autumn, or by seeds sown in gentle
bottom heat about March.

Monarda didyma.—A robust-growing plant, about 3 feet high,
with head-like whorls of bright scarlet flowers, borne from July to
September. It is increased by dividing the tufts or roots in autumn
if growing in a light, rich soil, and in spring if on a heavy and somewhat
moist soil. All Monardas will flourish in ordinary garden soil, in any
position except that of deep shade.

Veronica orchidea.—This is a rather uncommon Speedwell but
quite worth a place on the border. Growing to about 3 feet in height,
it bears pretty blue flowers, which appear during August. The

40

easiest and most usual method of increasing this plant is by division
of the rootstock soon after flowering. :
Lupinus polyphyllus roseus is one of the handsomest of hardy 4
herbaceous perennials. In height it varies from 3 to 6 feet, bearing tall
flower spikes crowded with rosy-pink blossoms. Thriving in open »
positions in any kind of garden soil, it is also a fine subject for
naturalizing, as it is able to hold its own against the stoutest weeds.
It is mostly propagated by root division. ;
Kniphofia aloides.—This is probably the oldest of the Kniphofias, /
and certainly one of the very best of its family. It is the Flame Flower
of the cottager’s garden, and one of the most brilliant of the Lilyworts ;
an excellent border plant, it issuitable for all soils. Beginning to flower
in late summer, it continues many weeks in perfection, whilst nearly
70 per cent. of the garden varieties are traceable to it. Propagation by
division, and by offshoots obtained by cutting off the flowering stems.
Bocconia cordata, or Plume Poppy.—It is a handsome and vigorous _
perennial of the Poppy order, growing in erect tufts from 5 to 8 feet °
high, with numerous flowers in very large fawn-coloured panicles,
appearing from June onwards. It should be grown in a deep rich
loam, and long after the flowers have passed, the flat, pale brown
seed pods look handsome. It may be increased by dividing the
thickish roots in autumn or spring, or by cuttings in the form of
suckers which spring up round the base. .
Lyehnis chaleedonica.—An old border plant, 14 to 4 feet in height, :
with large dense heads of brilliant scarlet flowers, and of easy culture
in any good ordinary soil. (There is also a handsome double scarlet
variety.) The single variety can be increased by seeds and also by
division of the rootstock, in early autumn before the end of September,
or in mild weather in spring.

' Coreopsis grandiflora.—This fully deserves its second name, as its
flowers are much larger than any other garden-grown Coreopsis. Its
handsome flowers are borne on strong stems 12 to 18 inches long, brilliant
and long lasting. Easy of cultivation, the seeds may be sown any time .
in spring and strong plants obtained ready to put into their flowering
quarters by the following autumn. It can also be propagated by root
division.

Incarvillea Olgae.—A handsome perennial, hardy in all but cold
districts. Its pretty cut leaves are borne upon long straggling stems,
which rather spoil its beauty. The tubular flowers, about 1 inch long
and wide, are of a pretty pale pink, borne in loose clusters upon very
short stalks during summer. The plant itself attains a height of about *
3 feet. Large plants can be readily divided during early autumn, if
care is taken to avoid injuring the fleshy roots it bears. Seeds sown
in September will produce, by the following spring, plants to flower
in the summer following sowing.

eet

Next comes the second row from the front, and there is such
a varied collection to select from, and all of suitable height, that it
1s no easy matter to decide which to take as examples.

41

Centranthus Sibthorpii.—A pretty Valerian, 3 feet in height, and
bearing pink flowers during June and July. The perennial kinds of
Centranthus may be increased by dividing the roots in early autumn
or in spring; by cuttings of the young growths or side-shoots in spring
or autumn under handlights; and some also from seeds best sown
in autumn.

Gypsophila paniculata plena.—A beautiful perennial forming
a dense, compact bush 2 to 3 feet high, which becomes covered with
small white blossoms during summer. Although this species can be
increased by dividing the thickish roots in spring, it is as a rule better
to raise the plants from seeds, sown thinly out of doors during April
and May, in a warm and not too sunny border in finely prepared soil.
By the end of September, after having been thinned out beforehand, the
young plants can be moved to their flowering quarters in the border.

Erigeron speciosus superbus.—A showy North American perennial
about 2 feet high, and will grow in practically any soil. It has a
large and fine flower, of a violet purple colour with an orange-coloured
centre, which appears during June and July, and often later. It is
easily raised by division in spring or early autumn, and, to obtain the
best effect, should be planted in bold masses where possible.

Astilbe Davidii.—A recently introduced and handsome addition to
our hardy perennials, about 4 or 5 feet high, with crimson-purple flowers
borne about July. Division of the roots is the best way of propagation.

Campanula lactiflora.—The white form would suit here. It is
a vigorous Caucasian species, 2 to 6 feet high, flowering from July to
September and bearing its flowers in a loose panicle. Either seed or
division is had recourse to for propagation, and an occasional division
is necessary, as it quickly spreads.

Gypsophila Rokejeka.—Growing from anything up to 5 feet this
bears freely of white flowers from September to the end of October.
Propagation as mentioned before for Gypsophilas.

Senecio pulcher.—One of the handsomest of perennial Senecios,
2 to 3 feet high, bearing in late autumn rosy-purple flowers 2 to 3 inches
across. It is hardy, but its beauty is often marred by frost and bad
weather. It rarely ripens seeds, but it is easily increased in spring
by cuttings of the roots, I inch long, pricked into pans of light sandy
soil and placed on a greenhouse shelf.

The plants in the border should be afforded a little protection, if
possible, from frost, on account of their late flowering period.

Betonica grandiflora.—A downy perennial, 1 to 2 feet high, native
of Caucasus and Siberia, with beautiful reddish-purple flowers borne in
many-flowered whorls in June and July, produced well above the
foliage. It is useful in sunny situations and easily increased and
renovated by dividing the crowns every second or third year in autumn
or spring. ' j

Aquilegia chrysantha.—This tall and beautiful species endures
as a perennial where the other species perish, even on the stiff clays
of North London. It comes true from seed, which is most safely

42

raised under glass, and the plant reaches a height of from 2 to

4 feet. ; ;

Eryngium Spinalba, which has prominent silvery-blue flower-

heads, usually at their best during July. Growing toa height of about

5 feet, it is easily propagated by seeds and root-cuttings.
Delphinium Brunonianum.—A fairly rare species. native of Tibet.

It is from 1 to 1} foot high, and has light blue flowers with purple -

margins and black centres, in June and July. Itis easily increased
by seeds, division, or cuttings.

Veronica virginica alba.—A North American species, 3 or 4 feet high,
bearing white flowers during July in spikes 6 to 10 inches long, usually
with several shorter ones from the axils. This species likes a rather
rich, light soil, and is increased fairly easily by division or seeds.

The question, now, of selecting examples of plants for the front
row probably needs most consideration, but the following are fairly
typical :—

Statice latifolia.—Usually considered the finest of all the Statices,
it has wide-spreading flowering stems, bearing small purplish-
blue flowers, appearing about June. This species is best increased
by means of root cuttings. The plants should be lifted, certainly
not later than the end of October and sooner if possible, and the
healthy-looking roots cut into pieces about 2 inches long, with an
oblique cut at the lower and a straight one at the upper end. Insert the
cuttings perpendicularly in a cold frame, and quite go per cent. may
be relied upon to produce plants by spring. Although also increased
from seed, the seedlings are prone to vary and deteriorate.

Lychnis visearia splendens plena.—This grows about 14 foot high,
with double rosy-red flowers, appearing about June, and is usually
propagated by seed and division.

Veronica spicata alba.—A desirable native species, 6 to 18 inches
high, with white spikes of flowers in June, July, and August. It is
increased by division (and seeds ?).

Nepeta Mussini.—This is an old border plant and considered by
many as not now worth a place in any border. It has, however, pretty
pale blue flowers in May, and continuing till September in blossom.
Its height is 14 foot, and it is usually increased by division of the
root-stock.

Geum coccineum ‘Mrs. Bradshaw. ’—A really beautiful and recent
addition to this class of Geums, growing up to 3 feet in height, with

conspicuous scarlet flowers. The majority, if not all Geums, come prac-.

tically true from seed, and the variety ‘Mrs. Bradshaw’ is no exception.
They are also readily increased by dividing the crowns at planting
time either in autumn or spring. The seed is best sown in nursery
beds in April or May, or earlier under glass ; and if transplanted as
soon as large enough to handle, will make strong plants by the autumn.

Lobelia syphilitica—A variable species, of robust and hardy
constitution if grown on a free moist soil. It has blue flowers, and

43

attains a height of 3 feet. The most easy way of propagation is by
division in spring.

Astrantia major—A very distinct and pretty European species,
now naturalized in the woods around Ludlow and Malvern. The
flowers appear in June and July, white or pink, with bracts which
are white beneath and green above. The plants are best increased
by division in early autumn or spring. If by seeds, they are best
sown as soon as ripe in cool frames, transplanting the seedlings the
following spring. :

Inula Royleana.—This is undoubtedly the finest of its species *; it
has yellow flowers, blossoming about July, and grows about 18 inches
high. To increase the plants, pieces of the roots 2 inches long, as
in Statice latifolia, can be taken and inserted. Also by dividing
the crowns of the plants.

Veronica spicata, from which the V. spicata alba mentioned before is
derived. It is similar in appearance, except that the spikes of flowers
are blue instead of white.

Hieracium villosum.—A handsome hairy perennial, 1 foot high, with
silvery foliage and yellow flowers, appearing in July. These plants
can be increased by dividing up the tufts in early autumn or spring,
or by sowing seed in an open border, as soon as ripe.

All the attention needed by this Hieracium is the dividing of
the clumps every two years, as it grows very rapidly and is at its best
in the second year after division.

Stokesia cyanea is the last plant of all I have as an example.
It is an invaluable plant for a hot and dry situation, and grows 18
inches in height. In September it bears large, showy, blue flowers,
somewhat similar in appearance to a China Aster. It is increased
by division in spring and flourishes best in a good warm soil, but, owing
to its naturally late season, unfortunately does not always bloom
as well as it otherwise might.

In all probability more than one plant would not suit the idea of
everyone as a true subject for a hardy herbaceous border. That is
as it may be. What is and is not an herbaceous plant, and whether
a certain plant is or is not a suitable subject for this kind of border,
has long been a subject of controversy, and it should be left as much
as possible to the taste of the person to whom the said border belongs
to settle the question.

* Genus.

44

INSECTS ATTACKING APPLE, PEAR, PILUM, AND
CHERRY TREES.

By G. Fox WILson.

It is essential, in dealing with and destroying pests of any kind, to
have a thorough knowledge of their life histories, so as to know the
exact time to apply the preventive, as there is often only one period
in the life of an insect when it is vulnerable.

Let us now see what the word ‘insect’ implies. It literally
means any animal which has the body so divided as to seem cut into
successive parts, usually resembling rings of hard substance connected
by soft skin. ,

In old entomological books it will be seen that “insects’’ was the
name given to all animals with bodies resembling a row of joints;
even worms and slugs were at that time included.

Now the name is confined to a considerably smaller group of
animals, the true insects, or the class Insecta of the type Arthropcda.

In this diminished sense, insects are now classed as animals that
have a jointed body made up of a number of rings of horny substance
called chitine, connected by skin, so united as to form three great
divisions in the body, viz. the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.

The head of an insect consists of four segments, which are so fused
together as to be undistinguishable in the adult form. :

The head always bears one pair of organs, called antenne, near
the eyes. Their function is not clearly understood, but they act,
possibly, as organs of hearing, smelling, or feeling, or perhaps of another
sense, of which the human being does not know.

The length of them varies greatly, as does also the number of joints
in them, and insects can often be readily recognized by the shape or
number of joints in the antennz.

The eyes of insects are of two kinds, simple and compound. The
former consists of a single eye, and is situated, in the mature insect,
on the upper part of the head. There may be from one to three of
them, the latter number being the most met with.

The compound eyes are made up of the union of a large number of
hexagonal simple eyes, as many as thirty thousand. They are often
so large as to occupy the greater part of the head.

The mouth parts consist of the upper lip or labrum, two pairs of
jaws or mandibles, maxille, and the under lip or labium.

The labrum is narrow and of a chitinous nature, closing the mouth
from above.

The mandibles or upper jaws are fixed on either side of the opening
of the mouth and move horizontally.

45

The maxille or under jaws are fixed immediately behind the
mouth, and they bear inner and outer palpi resembling lobes.

The labium is fixed on the under side of the head, and also bears
palpi, which are known as labial palpi.

The mouth parts of different insects vary considerably, according
to whether they are carnivorous or herbivorous; in different cases
certain parts are more in evidence than others.

The thorax consists of three segments, to each of which a pair of
legs is fixed.

To the second and third segments, in winged insects, a pair of
wings are attached, except in the order Diptera, where the hind wings
are very rudimentary.

Often the hind wings are coupled to those in front by means of
hooked hairs, and the wings of many insects, including the order
Lepidoptera, are covered with scales.

The legs of insects help very much in their classification, and
consist of five parts, which are :—

The coxa, or joint by which the leg is attached to the thorax.

The trochanter, the next joint and usually very small.

The femur, the stoutest joint of the leg, and longer than the
first two.

The tibia, the longest joint and usually very hairy.

The tarsus or foot, consisting of from one to five segments, the
last joint being furnished with claws or cushions.

The parts of the leg are often different, according to whether the
insect digs, springs, &c., being various parts modified according to
function.

The abdomen may consist of as many as ten segments, which
may be movable or fixed.

This region rarely bears any appendages, and ovipositors, forceps,
and bristle-like structures are the only ones borne on this part.

The description here given is of a mature insect, as larve and
pupz bear more legs, and some are borne on the abdominal segments,
such as the prolegs, &c.

Metamorphoses of Insects.—The insect always begins life as an egg,
except in rare cases where “ budding ” is resorted to in the Aphides,
and is not, as at one time was thought, produced by spontaneous
generation from dead and decaying substances.

The eggs vary in size and shape, according to the insect, and the
shell may be smooth or sculptured.

They are deposited singly or in groups, in contact with or very
near a sufficient supply of food for the nourishment of the young larvee,
and thus many insects deposit their eggs on leaves, others in stems
or under the bark, as will be seen.

The number of eggs deposited by a single insect varies from twelve,
or even less, to fifty thousand, most insects laying from fifty to one

hundred and twenty.
After a time, a tiny creature comes forth known as the larva,

46

caterpillar, grub or maggot, The general rule is to confine i dee :
“ caterpillar ” to the larva of butterflies, moths, and sawflies, gru
to the larve of beetles, and “‘ maggot ” to the larve of flies.

The three segments behind the head correspond to the thorax
of the perfect insect or imago, and, if any legs are present, a pair is
borne on each of these segments.

Legs are also often present on the posterior segments; these are
known as prolegs; they are not jointed, and have fringes of bristles
instead of claws.

There are mainly five pairs of these prolegs on the larve of
butterflies and moths, and eight pairs on sawflies’ larve.

The head and fourth body segment never bear any kind of legs.

A larva, such as a caterpillar, possesses a head and twelve other
segments. It is difficult sometimes even for experts to know to
what insect the larva belongs on account of the moultings, as it
usually moults five times in its existence as a larva.

It is at this stage when the pest is worst, as the larva eats
enormously and is therefore most destructive.

Food assimilates quickly to be stored away for the pupal stage ; the
caterpillar or larva also quickly grows, and, as the chitinous covering
will not stretch much, the larva bursts it and so moults. The next
stage is the pupal or chrysalis stage, where the insect takes* in no food,
but lives entirely on a store of fat accumulated during the larval
stage.

In due time the membrane or case containing the pupa cracks,
and the imago or perfect insect creeps out to lay its eggs and reproduce ~
its species like its predecessor.

When insects undergo the above changes, they are known to be
metamorphic, and insects belonging to the Coleoptera, Diptera,
Hymenoptera, Neuroptera, and Lepidoptera undergo these changes.

Where, however, it is difficult or impossible to see these changes,
the insects are known to be ametamorphic, and this is the case in
the Hemiptera and Orthoptera.

The fact that insects are produced from parents renders it of the
utmost importance, when dealing with injurious species, to become
acquainted with the habits of the females as well as of the larve,
which latter are the destructive agents, and are the more generally
observed by gardeners, who can, by watching the life histories of these
insects, destroy them in greater proportion.

The larve, during their rapid growth, are more destructive to
us ae aa aa pertect insects, but among the groups provided
a oe : a le for chewing, as the Orthoptera, or for puncturing

plants and sucking their juices, as the Rhynchota,

particularly the Aphides, the perfect insects may be also as destructive
as the larve.

The insects provided with “ biting ”
and invulnerable, and are not injured by
* Except in the case of those insects which ha

mouths are generally hardy
a wash quite strong enough
ve active “ pupe.”—F. J. C.

47

ne injure the ee they are feeding on, and so must be dealt with as
rmin, viz. lacing a small porti i
ee afected plant, g portion of a very powerful poison

There are only three good poisons for this purpose, which are
Paris green, London purple, and lead arseniate.

The sucking insect is the more vulnerable, and can generally be
killed by spraying with a wash, which will close up the breathing
places or spiracles on the sides of their bodies, and, as they suck the
juices from within the plant, this is the only way of killing them.

Spraying.—It is often seen recommended that spraying should
be done not only as a cure but as a preventive, but this is only in
the case of fungi, as it is quite useless and a waste of time and money
to spray when the insects are not there.

Not only should the orchard be sprayed, but also the surrounding
hedgerows, palings, and forest plantations, that help enormously in
acting as breeding-grounds-for insects such as the winter moth,
lackey and little ermine moths, and scale insects, besides many
others. Knapsack sprayers are best for small orchards even up to
two or three acres, and not garden syringes, as these do not distribute
the insecticide evenly on to the tree, and have also to be filled
continually, but not so with the knapsack sprayer.

For large orchards and fruit farms, a large machine must be used
that runs on wheels and has a pump handle that one man alone must
work.

The wheels should be large, so that a greater amount of ground
can be gone over than in a small-circumferenced wheel.

The tyres should be wide, so that the wheels would not sink into
the ground, especially on clayey or porous ground.

The size of the machine will vary with the size of the plantation.
The best machines of this size are those made by the “ Four Oaks”
Company. Machines should be made of brass, copper, or wood,
and if of wood, water should be kept in them to prevent warping.

When buying a sprayer, whether large or small, always see that
the pumps are well packed, and that there is a sufficiently large air-
chamber to cause a good pressure, and see that there is an agitator
in order to stir up the sediment in some of the washes. The chief
thing to be studied in spraying is the nozzle, and it should be
made so that the water, on passing through, is broken up into the
finest spray possible, and as much resembling a Scotch mist as
possible. :

A fruit farmer, who is a sprayer, of course, holds the following
proverb: “ The finer the spray, the better the results.”’

Besides spraying for pests, many other means are used, such as
picking the larve off the leaves and putting them in hot water.
Chopped “lights” of sheep are deposited on the ground to catch
carnivorous insects such as weevils.*

* “Ground beetles” is meant, one or two species of which attack ripe
strawberries.—F. J. C

48

A lamp is often taken into a fruit plantation at night, when the
codling * and male winter and many other moths will fly to the light,
and may so be caught and destroyed.

The trees are often shaken over a sheet placed under them, when
insects and larve will fall into it, and be so destroyed.

Grease banding is also a trap for the female winter moths, who
cannot fly, but walk or crawl.

Spraying, however, is now the common and the best remedy for
insect and fungus pests.

Clean cultivation, such as keeping the plantation free from weeds
and rubbish, does away a great deal with insect pests, although, not
wholly.

Birds such as the lapwing or peewit, gulls, rooks, butcher-birds,
robins, thrushes, hedge sparrows, missel-thrushes, flycatchers, house
martins, swifts, tits, sand martins and kestrels are all birds that
live mainly or partly on insects. The peewit is the most useful, but
is gradually decreasing.

All these birds should be encouraged—but not in too great numbers,
as they will, perhaps, then do damage—by the fruit farmer, as they
will do a great deal in keeping down insect pests. Also such insects
as lady-birds, carnivorous beetles, wasps, ants, earwigs, and the larve
of the lacewing and hover flies, are all very useful, the first insect
especially, as it eats aphis on fruit trees.

It is waste of time and money if the spraying is not thoroughly
done and every part of the tree wetted.

After a heavy rain, the tree will probably have to be sprayed again,
but the rain is often beneficial, as it distributes the insecticide over
parts which otherwise might not have been wetted.

Fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas is getting more common,
especially for cleaning young nursery stock before it is being sent
out. It is certain death to the insects, and it is mainly used for red
spider, scale, American blight, and mealy bug.

For fumigating pot trees in houses, it is comparatively easy,
provided you have the machine for dropping the sodium cyanide
into the sulphuric acid and water, with which machine you do not
have to go into the house, but by pulling a string passed through the
keyhole the apparatus can be used, all ventilators and doors shut
meantime.

Fumigating trees in a plantation is more difficult, as you have to
move a tent about.

The trees can be fumigated individually or a few together, according *
to the size of the tree and tent, and the distance the trees are planted
apart.

The chemicals used are sodium cyanide, sulphuric acid, and
water.
The proportions cannot be given, as they differ according to the
temperature, atmospheric moisture, nature and condition of the
* Codling moths do not go to light.—F. J. C.

49

Plant and the pests to be destroyed, as also does the time of exposure
change according to these conditions.

Washes.—Winter washing is very essential every three or four
years, as in that time the tree becomes alive with mosses and lichens,
which are excellent shelters for the woolly aphis, the apple blossom
weevil, the earwig, the larva of the codling moth and its cocoon,
besides many other insects.

Insects’ eggs, which are about at the time you winter wash, are
impossible to kill or injure by these washes, but their hiding and
resting places can be destroyed.

The alkali wash, often used, is of the following constituents :—

Caustic soda, 98 per cent. . : . 2 |b.
Commonest treacle. ‘ : . $b.
Water . ‘ : : : - Io gallons.

This is a good wash, and should be used about the end of February,
and it will often kill also mussel scale.

A wash known as the lime-sulphur spray can be used as a winter
wash with good effect.

The constituents are :—zo Ib. of quick lime.

36 lb. of flowers of sulphur.
80 gall. of water.

The lime is slaked in a little water and whilst still hot the sulphur
is added, and the whole covered with canvas in a wooden vessel.
Allow to boil for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally, and then the
rest of the water is added. It is further diluted before spraying, and
using as a winter wash, one gallon of the wash to 12 gallons of water.
This wash kills both insects and fungi.

The recipes given for the insecticides are not always very poisonous
to the insects, but more practice is needed and many more experiments
will have to be made before the “last word” in spraying is given.

A fruit farmer, or any gardener who takes an interest in horti-
culture and the well-being of his trees and plants, will keep them
free from disease and other ravages. .

It is an interesting and helpful plan to study the plants you
are growing, and to study the pests attacking them individually.
By studying their life histories, whether insects or fungi, you can
generally find a way to destroy the pests.

Also experimental work will be well repaid, besides being very
interesting, as by this means you might get a wash or spray that
is more detrimental to the pest or pests than the wash already being
ete gardener should be a botanist and entomologist, and so

should the fruit farmer, especially the latter.

I will now take the individual insects and describe them, giving
their life histories wherever possible, and the best and most general
insecticide used, giving only one remedy for each insect.

50

In the case where the one insect attacks both trees, I will only
mention it once, as the remedy would apply to either of the trees.
I will divide the insects into two sections :—
1. Sucking Insects.
2. Biting Insects.
I will take the former first, which need “‘ contact washes.”

INSECTS ATTACKING THE APPLE TREE.
“ SucKING INSECTS.”

1. Wootty ApuHis, Schzioneura lanigera. ORDER RHYNCHOTA.

This insect is also known as American Blight and the Apple Root
Louse. It is called the former name wrongly, as the insect is of
European origin.

It is mostly seen in old and neglected orchards, ‘but unfortunately
it is often seen in newly-planted orchards on account of its being sent
out with nursery stock.

Its dispersal is by the wind, but it has now become a cosmopolitan
pest on account of dirty stock being sent out by nurseries.

The pear tree is also attacked, the young material being generally
the most infected.

It is easily recognized by white cottony threads fastened to the
limbs of the trees, this substance being excreted from glands by the
old and young females.

Trees with a soft rind are most affected, and apples on the crab
stock resist this pest more than on the paradise stock, Northern Spy
and Winter Majetin being very resistant to its attacks. These aphides
pierce the bark with their rostra and suck the juices from the tissues
below, finally making the bark to split, this often being the fore-
runner of the canker fungus, Nectria ditissima.

They are seen on the main trunk, the branches and the roots, and
only in an overwhelming attack are they seen on the leaves.

The genus Schizoneura, to which this aphis belongs, is distinguished
by the nerves or veins on the wings. In this aphis, the chief vein of
the fore wing gives off three branches, and the branch furthest away
from the insertion of the wing forks into two. Also this aphis is
devoid of cornicles situated on the abdomen, as in certain other
aphides.

There are to be seen four forms in a year :—

x. Wingless females which produce young by a process of “ budding.”
z. Winged females doing the same.

3. Males without wings which pair with

4. Wingless egg-laying females.

‘The wingless, viviparous females are oval in shape and purplish-
brown in colour, having reddish-brown or black antenne and legs,
both of which are very short. These females can be seen almost all

51

the year round, giving rise to large numbers of young, and it -is these
that give rise to the woolly festoons often seen on apple trees,

The winged females are seen from July to September, being
chocolate-brown in colour, but they are not to be seen in all places.
The wingless males and egg-laying females are to be seen towards
the end of the year, and have no piercing proboscis. The female is
of a reddish-yellow colour, hardly ever longer than ‘003 of an inch,
laying one egg and then dying.

The larve from these eggs develop into wingless, viviparous females.
Certain authorities believe that there is active migration from roots
to trunk and from trunk to roots.

Enemies.—The lady-birds and their larve eat great quantities
of them, as does the blue tit, a very useful bird. The small dip-
terous larve of the genus Pipfiza feed on the aphides that attack
the roots.

If the pest is very bad a summer wash can be applied, using :-—

Paraffin . i : : . 2 gallons.
Soft soap Ff ; : . ib.
Water. ‘i : ' . I gallon.

Boil the water and soap together well, and while still hot pour
in the paraffin and churn as thoroughly as possible until a creamy
butter-like mass results, and dilute with ten gallons of water for use.

It can be sprayed on in the summer, or a strong paint-brush can
be used and work thoroughly with the bristles into the cracks containing
the aphis. ,

For the root louse, inject carbon bisulphide into the soil from
October to March, preferably the former month.

A moderate-sized tree needs about one fluid ounce, half of which
should be placed about 6 inches in the soil on either side of the trunk
and about 2 feet away from it.

Do not make the hole too near a root, as the liquid is detrimental
to roots though the fumes do no harm to them. Close the hole
made tightly with clay to prevent any fumes escaping, and these
fumes will penetrate the soil, killing all the aphides they get near.

2. APHIDES. ORDER RHYNCHOTA.

There are three distinct kinds attacking the apple tree :—

(a) The apple-leaf aphis, Aphis fitchit.

(b) The permanent apple aphis, Aphis pom, and

(c) The rosy apple aphis, Aphis sorbt.

(a) Aphis fitchit does not cause the leaves to curl,

The eggs hatch out about the middle of April, and commence
attacking both leaf and blossom buds, the latter becoming brown
and finally dying. . ;

In about a fortnight the young reach maturity, and early in June
they commence to migrate to various grasses, returning about the
middle of September to the apple, on which they deposit their eggs in
the axils of the buds.

52

(b) Aphis pomi is a leaf-curling aphis and is common on apple
trees. The black, shiny, elongated eggs hatch out in April, and the
greeny-yellow larvee soon commence to attack the newly-opened leaves.
After casting their skins three times they develop into viviparous
females, which at once produce living young, by a process of ‘‘ budding,”
and these soon grow.

The leaves now curl up, on account of their punctures caused by
the piercing proboscis of the aphis.

About the middle of July the pupal stage is reached, and soon
afterwards winged viviparous females appear, which give rise in the
autumn to wingless males and females, the latter depositing their eggs
in November on the young shoots and in the axils of the twigs.

c. Aphis sorbi is only very little understood at present. It migrates
from the apple in June or July, returning to it in the autumn.

The leaves curl up, on account of the punctures made, or blister,
and have a reddish colour.

The lady-birds and their larvee eat enormous quantities of all
these aphides.

Insecticides—Winter washing is only partly good in destroying
these pests. Also, if you have let the leaf curl up, it is useless and
waste of time and labour to spray, as the liquid cannot possibly get
to the insects.

Before the leaf curls up, spray with tobacco water made by
steeping 2 lb. of tobacco in g gallons of water for several hours.
Dilute this when using, adding 1 gallon of the preparation to 3
gallons of water. :

Be sure to spray before the leaves curl.

Also keep the plantation clear of weeds and clovers, as these are
plants the aphides migrate to.

3. THE APPLE SuCKER, Psylla mali. ORDER RHYNCHOTA.

The larva of this insect is very small, being closely concealed in
the buds, on account of which its presence is not easily observed. The
damage done to the leaf and flower buds is often put down to the
work of the aphis, which is about at this time and is much more
easily seen than the Psylla.

This pest has been known in Britain for several years, but it is
only just lately it has been recognized as a serious pest. There is
an allied species in America called Psylla pyricola, which does
a great amount of damage to the pear trees. The perfect
insect is seen from the middle of May until the end of June.
It is of a green colour with shades of yellow, but the colour varies
according to the sex and the time of year. At breeding time the
female is distinguished by being more brightly coloured than the male.
The wings are transparent, and the legs and antennz are yellow, the
latter having two or four dark-coloured joints at the end. The
female is about one fifth of an inch long, the male being slightly smaller.
The larve are very small at first, having flat yellow bodies with brown

53

spots on them. The eyes are red, the feet being brown. The eggs
are white or pale yellow and rather spindle-shaped, with a thread-
like arrangement at the pointed end, by which the eggs are placed on
the tree. They become red before the larve emerge.

Pairing takes place in September, and egg-laying is continued until
November. The eggs are generally laid singly, being embedded in
the fine hairs upon the epidermis of the shoots, and placed usually
on the lower shoots. When the weather becomes warm in April,
the tiny flat larvae emerge from the eggs and move to the nearest
buds, and the leaf and flower buds are attacked, the latter being
the most attacked, and they do not expand and the fruit fails. The
larve soon make their first moult, and there is seen protruding from
them a small white globule, which remains attached by a white
thread to its body, and if it is removed another one speedily forms.

The larve, in a few days, emerge from a second moult as
light green with numerous white threads with which the larve
cover themselves. After a lapse of a week another moult is per-
formed, when the rudimentary wings are formed, and their eyes
and antennz’s tips become dark, and this is known as the nymph
stage. This stage usually lasts about one month, in which time they
undergo several changes.

After this the nymph moults and the imago appears in May and
June, and is said not to pair until the following September.

Insecticides—Spray in April and when the larve are about
with 1} oz. of nicotine to ro gallons of water.

The poison does not injure the blossoms, and is not injurious to bees.
Also a great many eggs can be destroyed by cutting out pieces of
wood, when pruning, that have a good many eggs on.

This, however, can only be, performed on young stock, as it would
be almost impossible in the case of large orchard trees.

4. MussEL Scare, Mytilaspis pomorum. ORDER RHYNCHOTA.

This insect also attacks the pear, currant, and plum.

It is found in all our Colonies, where it has been taken by nursery
stock. It is found abundantly in old and neglected orchards, and is
very injurious to young stock.

The insect damages the tree by sucking out the sap by means of
a long flexible proboscis, which it inserts into the tissues of the plant.

It occurs on all parts, trunk, limbs, leaves and fruit.

The ‘‘scale”’ is often mistaken for growths on the bark, but it
is a product, as in all Coccide, formed by the insect that lives beneath
it, partly by excretions from the body and partly by the cast skins
of the insect.

The female scale insect is about one eighth of an inch long, conical
shaped, being either straight or curved. It is of a dark-brown colour,
fleshy, legless, and provided with a long flexible proboscis. The
male scale insect is much smaller, and is provided with two large

54

wings. The larva is about one hundredth of an inch long, minute,
active, with six legs.

The eggs resemble white dust, and are almost microscopical.
Numbering up to eighty, they are laid under the female scale.

In early summer, the six-legged larve appear and, crawling from
beneath the scale, may be carried from tree to tree by wind, birds,
or certain insects, such as the lady-birds.

In a few days they fix themselves to the plant by means of their
short proboscis, and suck away the juices. The scale soon forms from
a few waxy threads being excreted, and during this time the larva
becomes legless and fleshy.

At the end of summer the female lays her eggs and dies, leaving
her shrivelled skin beneath the scale.

If the larva is to become a male insect, which is very rare, a
different scale is produced and a different mature insect appears.

The larva of a male undergoes a kind of pupal stage, after which
the winged form appears.

Insecticides.—Spray with the caustic winter wash, before given
as a good wash. Also steep 2 Ib. of tobacco for several hours in
9 gallons of water, and dilute this according to the quantity of scale
you have, and spray with this in June.

If, however, the pest is very bad, fumigate the trees with hydro-
cyanic acid gas, using a tent over the tree, as before explained.

5. THE OYSTER-SHELL Bark LousE, Aspidiotus ostreaeformis.
ORDER RuHYNCHOTA,

This insect also attacks the pear, plum, cherry, and currant. It
resembles very much the former insect as to the formation of the
“scale.” The female scale attains a diameter of one twelfth of
an inch, being round, smooth, and rather flat. The central part
of the scale is dark, the rest being of a yellowy-brown colour. If
overcrowding occurs, the scales are much smaller.

The adult female is flat, round, and yellow, and is devoid of eyes,
legs, and wings, with only rudimentary antenne.

The male scale is much smaller, being about one twenty-fifth of
an inch in diameter. The adult male is orange-yellow in colour, with
a dark band across the thorax. It has antenne, legs, and two
wings, but is devoid of a functional mouth. The male pupa has
no mouth organs, but has antenna, legs, and signs of wings; it is
yellow, with black eyes and ocelli,

In the second stage of the male and female, the insects are without
wings or legs, and remain attached to the bark by their rostra,

The larva from the egg is quite minute, but active, with one pair
of jointed antennz of six joints, six legs, and a sucking mouth.

The winged males appear in May, and by that time the females
are adult.

The eggs are laid, and very soon the larve hatch out and wander

55

over the bark, finally attaching themselves to it with their rostra.
The larva secretes a substance which covers it, and soon it moults.
The moulted skins go to form the scale over the insect’s back.
Hibernation takes place in the second immature stage. The April
following, the second stage males pass into the pupal stage, which
lasts three weeks, and then the adult males emerge. At the same
time, the second stage females go through their last moult and
emerge, when they pair with the adult males.

Insecticides.—Fumigate the trees with hydrocyanic acid gas.

Winter washing with the caustic preparation, before mentioned,
will cause many scales to wither and get stuck to the bark, in which
case they cannot breathe and so die.

For summer spraying a paraffin emulsion is best, using :—

Soft soap ‘ , : : . 24 Ib.
Paraffin . F ‘ : , . 20 ounces.
Water . ‘ ‘ ‘ ; - 9# gallons.

Churn the paraffin thoroughly with the water and use as soon as
possible, for if kept the paraffin will separate out.

“Bitine INsEctTs.”

1. CoDLING Motu, Carpocapsa pomonella. ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.

This insect also attacks the pear and plum.

It is not, as its name suggests, confined to codlin apples.

Great care should be taken in storing apples to see that they are
not infected at all, for if they are the larve will crawl out of the
fruit, pupate in the cracks of the fruit room, and the moths will fly
out and attack the apple trees the following year.

The moth is small, being about three-quarters of an inch across
the spread wings, and one-third of an inch in length. The fore wings
are deep grey, with several wavy brown lines, and at their extremities
are oval patches of a deep golden colour, this marking identifying
this moth. The hinder wings are darker, having a golden tinge and
a lustrous shimmer. When the moth is at rest, during the day-
time, on the trunks and branches of the apple, &c., it folds its wings
in the form of a roof over its body.

The larva is at first white in colour, with a shiny black head, three
pairs of claw feet, with four pairs of sucker feet in the middle of the
body and a pair at the end. When full grown it is three-quarters
of an inch long, the head then being brown and the body fiesh-
coloured. : :

The pupa is yellowy-brown, with spines on the abdominal segments,
which are used for pushing the pupa out of its cocoon.

The egg is flat and oval and as large as a pin’s head, white when
laid and having a reddish ring on it later.

The moths appear at the end of May, flying about in early evening.

56

The females, at this time, lay their eggs on the apples, when they
are about half an inch in diameter.

The larve hatch out and make their way to the “‘ eyes,” and three
weeks cover the larval stage.

After the larva has eaten the seeds, &c., it bores a hole to the rind,
through which it escapes ; then, if the apple is hanging, the larva makes
its way to the ground, where it hides, or perhaps it will hide in the
bark. It will hibernate, in the soil or on the stem, by constructing
cocoons with little pieces of bark knit together with silk, or they
may even get into a crevice in the bark and surround themselves
with a silk case covered over with a sticky fluid. The larva does
not usually pupate until the spring, and there is normally only one
brood in a year, but sometimes two.

They bore into the fruit, causing it to drop before ripening, and
the fruits are often described as ‘‘ worm-eaten.’’ Upon examining an
infected fruit, there will be seen a dark spot at the blossom end of
the apple; a small hole can be seen here, around which there is a
collection of excreta and minute portions of apple. On cutting the
apples in half, a passage will be seen leading to the core, and it will
also be seen that the seeds or part of them have been eaten, generally
by the larve.

Varieties of apples having deep, open “‘ eyes,” and large dried tufts
of calyces surrounding them, are more liable to the attacks of this
insect.

Insecticides.—All fallen apples should be picked up and burnt,
and all ‘‘ maggoty ” apples should be separated from the sound ones
on gathering, and also burnt. All rough bark should be scraped off
preliminary to putting haybands round the stem in July, about one
foot from the ground, leaving them on until the winter, burning the
bands then, as they will contain many cocoons and larve.

Spray the trees three weeks after the petals have fallen, in order
to get poison into the eye of the apple to poison the larva’s food, with
Paris green, made by mixing 1 oz. of Blundell’s Paris green paste to
12 gallons of water. Keep it well agitated while using.*

2. WINTER Motu, Cheimatobia brumata. ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.

This attacks also the peach, pear, cherry, damson, gooseberry,
apricot, and nut.

About the second week in October the two winter moths come from
chrysalids in the ground, under or near the trees that were infected
with larve the preceding summer.

The male moth measures from one to one-and-a-half inch across
the spread fore wings, which are grey-brown in colour, with darker
wavy lines, the hind wings being pale grey, but devoid of markings.

The female moth has such small wings that flight is impossible;
so that it crawls up the stem to lay its eggs. It hasa large abdomen,
with conspicuous long legs.

* Lead arseniate is a safer material to use.—F. jJ.c.

37

The great winter moth or the mottled umber moth, Hibernia
defoliaria, is about twice the size of the winter moth.

The male has pale brown fore wings, each with two dark bands,
the hind wings being paler, with a brown spot near the middle.
The wings of the female are abortive, the brown body having two
dark spots on each segment ; whilst the male’s antenne are combed,
the female’s are simple.

The eggs of the winter moth are very small, cylindrical, of a light
green colour, changing to red. They are placed in small groups
usually at the bases of buds or on pruned surfaces, and fastened
thereto with a glutinous substance. From one hundred and fifty to
two hundred are laid by one female. The great winter moth lays
larger, light brown, long eggs and as many as four hundred, being
placed in lines or small groups.

The larve hatch out about the middle of March and just before
the buds burst.

The winter moth larve are at first grey, with dark heads. Later
they become greenish, with white stripes and brown heads, being
when adult three-quarters of an inch long. They have six legs and
two pairs of prolegs, one pair of these being at the hind part of the
body. The larve eat_ buds, leaves, blossoms, and fruit. When they
are fully fed in June, they let themselves down to the ground by
means of silken threads, and bury themselves.

The moths are seen from early in October until January.

The larva of the great winter moth is brown, with a wavy dark
stripe on each side of the body, and being one and a quarter inch
in length. They both feed on the same trees.

Insecticides—Grease banding is resorted to, as the female
cannot fly.

Use grease-proof paper and smear it well with cart grease, tie these,
six to eight inches wide, eighteen inches up the trunk, and first tie
at the bottom so that you can double the bands round, forming an
impassable road up the stem.

Put these bands round the first week in October, and renew the
grease as it gets washed off, and in February take the bands off and
burn them as they will contain numerous females.

This, however, is insufficient, so spray between the middle of March
and the middle of April. with 1 Ib. of Paris green paste to 200 gallons
of water.*

3. Lackey MorTH, Bombyx oR Clisiocampa neustria.
ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
This insect also attacks the pear and cherry, and such forest trees

as the oak and elm. ;

The moths vary very much in colour ; the upper wings are usually

brown, tinged with red or yellow, crossed by a darker band with pale

bars ; the fringes along the hind margin are alternately pale and dark.
* Use lead arseniate.—.F J. C.

58

The lower wings are usually reddish-brown, with an indistinct paler
crossbar. They are seen in July and August.

The female lays her eggs arranged spirally on twigs, and by this
position of the eggs the pest can always be noticed. They are laid
early in August, one female laying from three hundred to four
hundred eggs.

The larve hatch out the following April, and are then black.
For a long time they live in companies, from thirty to one hundred
in.a company, spinning a web over themselves, going out to feed on
the foliage, but returning to the webs at night or when it rains. When
nearly adult, they wander apart by themselves, being then one and
a half inch long and gaudily covered with long hairs, having a bluish
grey head with two black spots on it resembling eyes.

The next segment is grey-blue in colour, with four black spots onit,
and the other segments are like this one, striped with white down the
middle of the back and with scarlet, blue, and black on the sides.
When adult, they get in crevices in the bark or in other cracks on the
tree, on adjacent hedges, or under any rubbish that may be about.
The pupa is smooth and brown, enclosed in an oblong yellow cocoon,
with which a sulphury powder is mixed.

The eggs are greyish brown, arranged in bands about one and
a half inch along the young twigs, and can be seen throughout the
winter. This pest is easily recognized on account of the position of
the eggs and the gaudily coloured larvee.

Insecticides.—Caustic winter washes do not destroy the eggs, so
that twigs seen to have them on must be pruned off and burnt.

Shake the trees, when the larve are in their clusters, and destroy
all those that fall into a sheet spread under to catch them.

Keep the ground all round quite free from weeds, so as to take
away a place in or on which the pupal stage can be passed. In May
or June go round all the trees with a bucket containing some strong
insecticide, and when the webs and clusters of larve are seen cut
the affected shoot off and dip it straightway into the bucket.

4. THE PitH Motu, Blastodacna heilerella. ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.

The larva of this moth causes considerable damage in apple
orchards, and is distributed from Lancashire southwards.

It is often confused with the bud moth, but the larve of the
bud moth spin the leaves together, making leaf-nests, whereas the
larve of the pith moth do not.

The moths belong to the group Tineinz, having narrow wings
bordered with long fringes, and the fringes most marked on the lower
wings. The moth varies in size, with a leaf expanse of two to three
fifths of an inch. The front wings are nearly black, with white
streaks and scales, the hind wings being grey, with long delicate
fringes.

The larva is red, having the head and the first and last segments deep
brown, the next two segments are pale brown, whilst the abdomina

39

segments have six brown bristle-bearing spots. When adult, it is
one-third of an inch long.

The pupa is red in colour; the head and the front of the thorax
and the tip of the body are mahogany red. It is cylindrical in shape
about one-quarter of an inch long, having black eyes, long and pointed
wing cases, and long legs.

The moths are seen in July, when the eggs are laid on the leaves.
Before winter the larve bore into the shoots and hibernate just
below the outer bark, the position being marked by the presence
of a small blister and a clear round hole opening into or near the
blister mark.

Early in the next year the larve tunnel up the pith of the shoots
and the fruit spurs.

They are mature by the end of June, when pupation takes place
in the tunnelled shoots, after which there can be often seen the empty
pupa-case projecting from the dead shoots.

Insecticides—By winter-pruning the wood thus infested can be
cut away, the hole in the stem or shoots being a guide where to cut.
Or get a piece of thin and fairly pliable wire with a pointed end,
and thrust it into the holes, and when the larve are brought out on
the end of the wire put them into boiling water or a strong insecticide.
Also inject into the holes, in April to June, a paraffin emulsion
made with

24 lb. of soft soap.
2 oz. of paraffin.
‘Io gall. of water.

Keep the liquid in constant agitation in order that the paraffin
may not separate out. By injecting this, it will poison the larva’s
food.

5. THE VaPpourRER Motu, Orgyia antiqua. ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.

This pest also attacks the pear, plum, apricot, strawberry, and a
host of other plants, including nearly all the forest trees.

It is seen in towns nearly as much as in the country, its distribution
extending over Europe, Northern Africa, and Western Asia.

The male and female moths differ considerably. The male measures
from one to one-and-a-quarter inch in expanse of the wings; the
body is brown, as are also the wings, the fore wings having dark
markings on them, and near the hind angle of these wings is a crescent-
shaped white spot ; the antennz are double-combed. The female is
yellow-grey in colour, hairy, and cannot fly, as the wings are reduced
to mere stumps; the antennz are single-combed. i

The eggs are whitish-grey in colour, almost round, with a flattened
upper side, and are laid in great numbers.

The sixteen-footed larva is very hairy, its colour being light ;
also tufts of yellow or brownish hairs are very conspicuous on the
back about in the middle, two tufts being on each segment.

Also there are two dark-coloured tufts springing from behind the

60

head and pointing over it, and also a similar long tuft at the tail.
When adult it is two inches long, and is seen from May to September.
The chrysalis is ‘yellow, and lies under an oval-shaped yellow-grey
web, in which are to be seen the hairs of the larva.

The males are easily observed on account of their active flight.

When the female emerges from the cocoon, it settles on the outside,
and lays three hundred or more eggs on and around the cocoon. Most
of the eggs hatch out in two or three weeks, but many do not hatch
out until late spring the following year.

When the larve are adult they spin their cocoons, which are
attached to leaves or twigs, or even crevices in the bark.

Two broods in the same year are quite common, and all stages of
the insect from egg to adult can be seen at the same time.

Insecticides.—Remove and destroy all cocoons when found,
especially those with eggs on them, or those found in winter.

Also spray when the larve are seen with 5 lb. of lead arseniate to
too gall. of water, this spray poisoning the larva’s food.

6. THE Goat Motu, Cossus ligniperda. ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.

The moth is mottled grey and brown, with a wing expanse of three
to four inches.

The eggs are laid on the trunk, from the base of the tree to a
height of seven feet, in the middle of summer.

The larve are mahogany-red on the back and dirty yellow on
the sides.

They are three inches long when adult, and live for three years.

They bore their way into the stem of the tree, and feed on the
tissues.

Their presence may generally be observed by a heap of reddish
excreta on the ground near the stem, the large holes in the bark, and
the fearful odour they emit.

Insecticides.—Smear the base of the stems with clay and cow-dung
to prevent the moth laying its eggs there.

Push a piece of pointed, pliable wire up the passages and tunnels
in the tree, and you can thus get the larve.

Place a piece of potassium cyanide in the openings of the holes,
and close these with clay, and so the fumes will kill the larve.

7. THE SMALL APPLE Ermine Motu, HAyponomeuta malinella.
ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
The moth has a wing expanse of one inch.
This pest resembles the lackey moth insomuch that the larve
live in colonies in web-nests.
The eggs are laid in roundish yellow or brown patches on the
twigs, and are protected with a covering of gum.

The larvae emerge in October, being minute, having yellow bodies
with black heads.

61

They hibernate under the covering which protected the eggs, and
emerge when the leaves expand.

They burrow into the leaves, living concealed until late spring
or early summer, when they eat their way out, and begin to feed on
the surface of the leaf; they then collect together and build their
web-nests.

Insecticides.—The same as for the lackey moth, that is :—

To prune off twigs having the eggs on.

To take the web-nests and put them into some strong insecticide.

To keep the ground round about free from weeds and rubbish.

8. THE APPLE Brossom WEEVIL, Anthonomus pomorum. ORDER
COLEOPTERA.

This insect also attacks the pear tree.

This pest gives a result that used to cause many fruit-growers
to put the attack down to white frosts, but on examining an infected
blossom the little white larve are to be seen in the centre of the
flowers destroying their power of fructification, the flowers easily
dropping when the tree is shaken.

The weevil is about one quarter by one eighth of an inch in length
and breadth, being of a black colour.

The wing-cases or elytra have alternate bare and pubescent grey
lines, and when closed a characteristic V-shaped mark is to be seen.

The legs are almost black; the thighs of the first pair are large
and each is furnished with a tooth, and the middle and hind pair also
have a tooth but smaller, the feet being of a very dark red colour.

The rostrum is half as long as its body, slightly curved, and
bearing the antennz, which end in oval four-jointed clubs.

The eggs are yellowish and oval.

The larva is about one third of an inch long and legless, having
a brown head with two little brown spots on the first segment.

When adult it is wrinkled and creamy white.

The pupa is nearly one quarter of an inch long, of a pale yellow
colour, with a long rostrum, and the legs folded on the under side of
the body.

The female bores a hole in the flower in the spring, puts one egg
within each blossom bud, and closes up the hole.

The female lays from fifteen to fifty eggs, putting only one in each
blossom, always depositing her eggs in the ower buds and never in an
open flower.

The larvee emerge in about ten days, and eat the carpels and the
stamens, causing the flower buds to die and drop off.

The larve turn into pupe in eight to twenty days, in which state
they last from seven to ten days, when the weevil appears and escapes
by a hole made in the petals.

The weevils are said not to eat, but live upon a store of fat stored
up in their bodies during the larval stage.

62

They hibernate in September, going into some hole in or near the
tree.

Insecticides. Winter washing with caustic washes destroys
harbouring places for the weevils on the trees.

Shake the trees on a calm summer day, placing tarred paper around
the trees to catch the weevils, and then burn them.

Keep the surface of the ground free from weeds and rubbish.

g. THE APPLE SAWFLY, Hoplocampa oR Tenthredo testudinea.
ORDER HYMENOPTERA.

This insect is a very bad pest of the apple, the damage it does
often being put down to the codling moth.

The larvee, in feeding, hollow out the young apples or make irregular
tunnels in them.

Brown crumbly excrement pours from the hole in the side of the
apple, thus causing the fruit to drop when as large as a walnut, but by
this time the larva has left the fruit.

The presence of fallen apples is a sign of the pest being present.

It is found throughout the apple orchards of Europe.

The sawfly is reddish-yellow in colour, with the top of the head, the
body between the wings, and the upper surface of the abdomen black.

The antennz are yellowish, having the middle joint’s upper surface
darker.

The wings are clear, with the basal veins dark, while a spot about the
middle part of the edge of each fore wing is also dark.

It is one quarter of an inch long, with a wing expanse of five-eighths
of an inch.

The larva is cream-coloured, and when quite young has a black head
and a black plate at the tail end, but later the head becomes reddish-
brown, and the tail plate greyish.

When adult, it is half an inch long with twenty legs, whereas the
larva of the codling moth has sixteen legs.

The pupa is covered with a yellowish cocoon with adhering soil
grains.

The sawflies emerge from the cocoons in May and June, and may
be found in great numbers amongst the blossoms.

; ae eggs are laid near the ovary, and in the young apple the larve
eed.

The larve may leave the fruit before it falls, or may fall with the
fruit ; however, the larvee bury themselves some inches in the soil and
spin their cocoons, and in this way they hibernate.

Insecticides.—Pick up and burn all fallen apples, as they might
contain the larve.

Fork “‘ Vaporite”’ into the soil in spring just before the sawflies
emerge in order to kill them.

Spray, as soon as the blossoms are over, with 5 Ib. of lead arseniate
to roo gall. of water.

63

The pests given are the most important ones attacking the apple,
but some others are given below.

I. Wood Leopard Moth, Zeuzera aesculi . Order Lepidoptera
Goat Moth, Cossiss ligniperda i . * »
‘Gold Tail Moth, Porthesia similis i A }
Lappet Moth, Lasiocampa quercifolia
Pale Brindled Moth, Phigalia pilosaria
March Moth, Anisopteryx aescularia .

. Green Pug Moth, Chloroclystis rectangulata .
Figure of Eight Moth, Diloba caeruleocephala

. Common Tortrix Moth, Tortrix ribeana and

T. viridana . . ‘ 3

Apple Leaf Miner, Lyonetia clerckella mn is
. Cherry-tree Stem Borer, Semasia woeberiana a
. Rose Chafer, Cetonia aurata

. Cockchafer, Melolontha vulgaris :
. Garden Chafer, Phyllopertha horticola . : 45
. Green Leaf Weevil, Phyllobius maculicornis a
. Brown Leaf Weevil, Phyllobius oblongus . b os
. Cuckoo-spit insect, Aphrophora spumaria . » Rhynchota
. Plum Bark Beetle, Scolytus rugulosus : » Coleoptera

© BI DAARYWD

HH eH WH WH ARR
CON ANH WH HO

These pests are minor and can be easily dealt with.

When the larvee are seen, spray with 4-6 lb. of lead arseniate to
too gall. of water. This is generally sufficient to stop their ravages.

There are several more insects attacking the apple, but the ones
given are the most important.

INSECTS ATTACKING THE PEAR TREE.
“* SuckKING INSEcTs.”’

I. *THE Pear ‘Lear BLisTER Mite. Eviophyes pyri. ORDER
PHYTOPTIDAE.

This pest is found all over England now, and is on the increase.

It has also been found out that trees near badly infested trees need
not be, and are not, themselves attacked. It is said to attack the apple
and several other rosaceous plants. It is easily recognized, as the
mite-infested pear leaves show raised patches or blisters with a minute
opening on the under side. These blisters are red or green, later
becoming brown. The mite is very minute, being about one hundred
and thirtieth of an inch long, having a rounded body and elongated
form. The anterior end of the thorax has a semicircular shield on
its upper surface. There are two pairs of five-jointed legs, each ending
in a claw with a four-plumed bristle. The abdomen is transversely
ringed. On the upper surface of the mite and springing from the hind
edge of the shield are two bristles. The abdomen bears two bristles
towards its front end, about the middle are two fairly long bristles,

* This is not a true insect.

64

near the hind end are two very short bristles, and also there are two
long bristles at the tail. The mite is whitish in colour. The larva
resembles the mite, the only differences being the smaller size and the
weaker bristling. ;

The mites hibernate in numbers under cover of the outer bud-scales
of the buds on the shoots of the year.

In spring the mites gall the young leaves, and the adult females
lay their eggs in these galls. New broods of mites come from these
galls and spread to other leaves. Before leaf-fall, the mites hibernate
in the outer bud-scales.

Insecticides.—Spray in January with lime-sulphur wash, made with
20 Ib. of quicklime, 36 Ib. of flowers of sulphur, 80 gall. of water.

The lime is slaked, and whilst still hot the sulphur is added, and the
whole covered with canvas in a wooden vessel and allowed to boil for
twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. Then the rest of the water is
added, and the mixture is diluted, using one gallon of the mixture to
twelve gallons of water.

This winter wash also kills furlgi.

“ Bitinc Insects.”
1. THE Pear Saw Ly, Eviocampa limacina. ORDER HYMENOPTERA.

This pest also attacks the cherry, plum, damson, peach, and
sometimes the apple, also several forest trees, and species of thorn.

The sawfly is harmless, but the larve, known as “ slugworms,” eat
away the upper epidermis of the leaf and the soft parenchyma between
the veins, It is also on the increase, and decidedly checks the crop
to be produced.

The sawfly is one quarter of an inch long. with a wing expanse of
one half of aninch. Its body is blackish, with dusky wings that have
traces of a dark band across them, being paler at the tips, and has dark
legs.

The larva, on emerging, is white, but becomes green in a day or
two, and soon a dark green slime exudes, and covers the body, pro-
tecting it from the attacks of parasites, and from atmospheric
conditions. Its head is much broader than the lower part, causing
a tapering appearance, and making it look very much like a tadpole.
It has seven pairs of sucker-like feet on its abdomen, three pairs of
feet upon its thorax, and a pair of sucker-like feet on the end of its
body, but with all these feet it moves very slowly. The mature larva
is half an inch long, and after five moultings it has an orange-yellow
colour, nothing like its sluggy appearance.

The sawflies are seen at the beginning of June, and then the female
makes an irregular slit in the leaf by means of its saw-like apparatus,
and deposits in this abrasion an egg.

The egg is always laid on the under surface of the leaf, and about
twenty eggs are laid on one leaf.

The larva hatches in about ten days, emerging from the upper

65

surface of the leaf. It eats tremendously, and when mature crawls
down the tree, and develops into a pupa in a small cocoon made of
silk and soil.

The pupal stage lasts two weeks in the summer, and there are two
broods in a year, and the larvee can be seen on the leaves until October.

Insectictdes.—Spray the trees to poison the larva’s food with
t Ib. of Paris green to 200 gall. of water.*

Spray also with: 1 oz. of fresh hellebore, 2 oz. of flour, to 3 gall. of
water.

This wash must be constantly stirred and the ingredients must
not be allowed to settle.

The fruit must not be picked for four weeks after spraying with the
above washes, as they are poisonous.

Or inject carbon bisulphide into the soil just before the sawfly is
emerging from the pupa.

2. THE Pear MipcE, Diplosis pyrivora. ORDER CECIDOMYIDAE.

Pear-growers a few years ago used to think that the cause of little
pears falling was the unhealthy condition of the tree, or adverse
atmospheric conditions, but now they know it is often the work of
the pear midge.

This insect has been known in this country for twenty-five years,
and has perhaps been longer, but there were not many good observers
at that time, and the result of the attack was easily explained by
atmospheric conditions.

Early-flowering pears are much more liable to its attacks than late-
flowering ones, and Williams’ Bon Chrétien, with its allied form the
Bartlett Pear of America, are the ones most attacked.

It is on the increase, and should be remedied as soon as it is seen.

The fly is about one-tenth of an inch long, with a wing expanse of
one-fifth of an inch.

Its body is blackish-grey or black in colour, and covered with pale
yellowish and white hairs. The male has very long, dark brown
antenne, with twenty-six joints. Its legs are very long and yellowish-
brown, and its wings are grey, with dusky hairs. The female is
slightly longer than the male, having an exceedingly large ovipositor
for the purpose of depositing her eggs in the blossom’s calyces. It
has a fourteen-jointed antenna, it is of a dusky grey colour, and is
always paler than the male.

The larve are yellowish-white in colour, footless, and are composed
of fourteen segments, with a brown head bearing two two-jointed
antennz. On the underside, near the head end, is a brown anchor-
shaped piece, or the breast-bone. The mature larva is about one-
sixth of an inch long.

The pupa is black above and yellowish-brown beneath, and one-
tenth of an inch long.

* Use lead arseniate.

66

The midge appears in April, and is seen until the middle of May.
The female lays its eggs, which are long and transparent white, both in
the unopened and expanded flowers, by means of its ovipositor. When
the blossom is unopened, it pierces the petals and deposits the eggs in
little heaps on the anthers, but when the blossom is expanded it
pushes its ovipositor deep into the pistil or ovary. In about six days
the eggs hatch and the young larve make their way into the develop-
ing fruit.

The larve are mature in early June, and have left the fruit (this,
however, depends on the weather), by means of a cleft in the fruit or
by some decayed patch. The larve generally escape from the fruit
when it is still hanging, but not always. The larve can skip,
characteristic of the Diplosis, by bending their bodies forward, fifteen
to twenty generally being seen on a fruit. Springing from the fruit
to the ground, they bury themselves two inches below the surface.
By the end of two weeks they have made little papery cocoons of a
dirty creamy silk, being one-tenth of aninchlong. They pupate either
a few weeks after entering the soil or in the early spring.

About a fortnight after the attack has started the fruitlets begin to
swell abnormally, growing much more rapidly than the sound, on
account of the irritation set up by the female’s ovipositor.

The fruits, in time, become distorted and contain the larve: a
fruit thus seen to be distorted should always be cut open to see if there
are any larve present, because the fruits can become distorted without
having been attacked by this pest.

Insecticides.—All infected fruits should be collected and burnt, as
they contain the larve.

Top dress in late summer with kainit, half a ton to the acre, to
prevent the larve pupating in the soil.

Inject carbon bisulphide into the soil at the end of March to kill the
insects just coming from the pupal stage.

The other insects that attack the pear tree have been mentioned
under the heading of “‘ Insects attacking the Apple Tree.”
Some of the other insects are :—
Large Tortoiseshell Butterfly, Vanessa poly-

chloros ‘ Order Lepidoptera
. Mottled Umber Moth, Hybernta defoliaria
. Common Tortrix Moth, Tortrix ribeana
Wood Leopard Moth, Zeuzera aesculi
. Goat Moth, Cossus ligniperda .
. Gold Tail Moth, Porthesia similis
. Lappet Moth, Lasiocampa quercifolia :
Scalloped Hazel Moth, Odontopera bidentata
March Moth, Anisopteryx aescularia
. Green Pug Moth, Chloroclystis rectangulata .
Pear Thrips, Euthrips pyri

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67

12. Plum Bark Beetle, Scolytus rugulosus . Order Coleoptera

13. Green Leaf Weevil, Phyllobtus maculicornis 2 i

14. Brown Leaf Weevil, Phyllobtus oblongus . 5 es

15. Red-legged Weevil, Otiorhynchus tenebricosus ,, 5

16. Oblong Leaf Weevil, Phyllobius oblongus. ive i
These insects can generally be easily dealt with by spraying the tree

when the larve are seen with 4-6 Ib. of lead arseniate to roo gallons

of water, or shaking the trees over tarred paper in the cases of the

Coleoptera.

INSECTS ATTACKING THE PLUM TREE.
“* SUCKING INSECTS.”

I. THE Pum Apuis, Aphis prunt. ORDER RHYNCHOTA.

This is a leaf-curling aphis, and attacks all kinds of plums, and is
known as a bad pest all over England.

The eggs are laid on the trees in winter, and the larve emerge from
them in early spring, being then of a dark-green colour.

They grow rapidly, and the majority develop into apterous,
viviparous females, being of a deep green or brown colour.

They have light-brown antennz, dark-brown cornicles, and three
faint green stripes on the abdomen.

These females produce young, which develop into viviparous
females. About June, rudimentary wings are formed, and the pupal
stage commences. The pupe are shiny green in colour, with brown-
edged wing cases, and very dark cornicles. About the middle of
June the pupal stage is almost over, and from these pup you get
winged viviparous females, which leave the plum, returning to it in
the autumn, when they produce young which in time give rise to
winged males and wingless oviparous females, and many more females
are produced than males.

In October there can be seen numerous bright, shiny, blackish eggs.

In spring the leaves become quite covered with the aphides and
their excreta, and by their puncturing apparatus the leaves curl up,
making it very hard for spraying.

Insecticides—Spraying in spring before the leaves curl up with
paraffin emulsion : soft soap 3 lb., paraffin 22 oz., water g gallons.

The soap is dissolved in the water, and the paraffin is churned
gradually and thoroughly with it, and spray with this only before the
leaves have curled, as it would not get to the aphides once they have
succeeded in curling the leaf.

2. THE MEALY PLum Apuis, Hyalopterus pruni.
ORDER RHYNCHOTA.
This aphis is different from the last, as it does not curl the leaves,
but collects beneath them in dense, mealy masses.
The insect is of a pale-green colour, with a covering of mealy
secretion.

68

The honeydew given off by the insects does the most damage, as it
falls from off the leaves on to the fruit, turning it into a sticky, black
mass and closing the stomata.

Their life history is verysimperfectly understood.

They make their appearance on plum trees in June or July,
going away again in early autumn.

Insecticides—Spray in June or July with soft soap 24 Ib., paraffin
18 oz., water 9} gall., and add to every roo gall. of this above wash
1 Ib. of potassium sulphide.

“ Bitinc INSECTS.”

i. THE PLum Bark BEETLE, Scolytus rugulosus.
ORDER COLEOPTERA.

This pest is supposed only to attack old, diseased and neglected
trees.

It also attacks the apple, pear, cherry, and peach.

The beetles are seen in April and May, and the female commences
to bore holes in the bark of the tree, and form “ mother galleries,”
and upon these sides she deposits her eggs.

The larve emerge in a few days, and are whitish in colour, legless,
and one-tenth of an inch long, and lie in a curved position. Their
heads are yellowish or cream-coloured, and soon commence to feed on
the inner bark of the tree, forming “larval galleries” at right angles
to the ‘‘ mother galleries.”’

At the end of these secondary galleries small cavities are made, in
which pupation takes place.

The larve often eat their way into the solid wood.

Early in July the beetles hatch out and bore their way through the
bark and escape ; and this generation reproduces itself, and the larve
hibernate in the tree.

The male seems to be quite rare and is seldom found.

Remedies.—Cut off all old and infested branches and burn them in
June.

Old, worthless trees, and badly infested trees, should be cut down
and burnt in June.

Their natural enemies are the woodpeckers, that will strip the bark
off trees to get to the pupz.

2. THE RED-LEGGED WEEVIL, Otiorhynchus tenebricosus.
ORDER COLEOPTERA.

This pest is very destructive, and also attacks the apricot, cherry,
nectarine, peach, raspberry, loganberry, and strawberry.

The weevil varies in size from two-fifths of an inch to one half an
inch long.

It is black in colour and shiny, with dull red legs, and the wing-cases
bear lines of punctures, and in fresh specimens some ashy-grey scales.

The new-laid eggs are white, but in a few days become quite black.

69

The larve are legless and hairy, and of a creamish colour.

The pupa is pale and brownish white.

The female deposits her eggs just beneath the soil in August.

The larvz hatch out in seven to ten days, and at once enter the soil
and feed upon various roots, and preferably strawberry roots.

Pupation takes place in the spring, the pupa being found in an
earthen cell about two inches below the soil level, where it remains
from fourteen to twenty days. .

There are two broods in one year.

Remedtes.—Pour boiling water all round the tree in September and
onwards to kill the larve ; or inject naphthalene into the soil for the
same purpose.

3. THE RED PLum MAGGOT, Opadia funebrana. ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.

This is a very common pest of plums, and, as the larve live within
the fruits which do not fall off the trees, they are often seen in bottled
fruits.

The moths are seen in June and July, when the female deposits
her eggs on the developing fruit at the stalk base.

The larvze emerge in ten days, and at once eat their way into the
fruit. They are reddish-brown in colour, with yellow sides, and the
eighth, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth segments have each two dark
lateral spots. Each segment has three pairs of lateral hairs, except
the last, which has a number of small hairs. The adult larva is half
an inch long.

On entering the fruit, they eat a tunnel through the fleshy portion
until they come to the stone, when they gradually form a larger cavity.

When full fed they leave the fruit, and spin silky white cocoons
under the bark or under rubbish on the ground, in which they hibernate,
and pupate in the spring.

Insecticides —All fallen, grub-eaten fruits should be burnt ; shake
the trees to make all infested fruit drop, and then collect it and burn it.

Winter wash with caustic washes to remove all hiding-places for
the larve.

4. THE PLUM-LEAF SAWFLY, Cladius padt. ORDER HYMENOPTERA.

Tt is a very common pest in plum orchards, but does not do much
damage.

It also attacks the cherry, bullace, pear, bramble, rose, &c.

At first sight the attack resembles that of the pear and cherry
sawfly, but these larve eat the lower epidermis and mesophyll, and
leave the upper epidermis alone.

Later on the larve eat out large holes in the leaves, which shrivel
up.
The flies appear in May and June, when the female deposits her eggs
on the underside of the leaves.

The larve emerge in ten days, and at once commence to feed upon
the epidermis of the underside of the leaf. The young larve are of a

7°

light, dirty green colour, with white sides. The larve are adult ina
month, when they fall to the ground, then they make their way into
the soil and form cocoons, within which they remain for another ten
days. Then they pupate, and in a few days a second brood appears.

From these latter a third brood may appear, and the larve of the
last brood remain within their silken cocoons until the following May.

Insecticides.—Spray when the larve are seen with. 4 lb. of lead
arseniate to Ioo gall. of water.

Spread tarred paper beneath the trees, and shake them, and burn
all the insects that fall on to the paper, they being the larve.

5. THE Plum SAwrty, Hoblocampa fulvicornis.
ORDER HYMENOPTERA.

The pest attacks all varieties of plums.

The fly appears in April or May, when the female punctures the
blossom, and deposits in it a single egg.

This hatches in about a fortnight, and the young larva at once
commences to make its way into the developing fruit. After feeding
for a time on one fruit, the larva passes to another. The inside of the
fruitlets becomes quite destroyed, but in the larger fruit only a space
is eaten round the kernel. The larve are full fed in early July, when
they leave the fruit and form in the soil brownish oval cocoons, in
which they remain until the following February, when they pupate.
There is only a single brood in a year.

Pick and burn all infested fruit.

On a large area, treat the soil beneath the trees with ground
unslaked lime, and then turn the soil over.

These are the more important pests attacking the plum tree, others
being :—

x. Gold Tail Moth, Porthesia similis . .' Order Lepidoptera
2. Common Vapourer Moth, Orgyia antiqua . a =

3. Lappet Moth, Lasiocampa quercifolia ‘ 3 93

4. Scalloped Hazel Moth, Odontopera bidentata 3 i

5. Mottled Umber Moth, Hybernia defoliaria . ‘3 A

6. March Moth, Antsopteryx aescularia . 5 - i

7. Figure of Eight Moth, Diloba coeruleocephala x fe

8. Dot Moth, Mamestra persicariae < ‘i +f i

g. Cherry-tree Stem Borer, Semasia woeberiana a a
ro. Brown Soft Scale, Lecanium capraea . *% Rhynchota
11. Brown Currant Scale, Lecanium persicae es

12. Oyster-shell Bark Louse, Aspidiotus ostreae-

formis . . . ”» ”
13. Pear Thrips, Euthrips pyri : ‘ » Thysanoptera
All these can be remedied by spraying with 4-6 Ib. of lead arseniate

to 100 gall. of water, and by shaking the trees over tarred paper for the
beetles.

71
INSECTS ATTACKING THE CHERRY TREE.
“ SuckinG INSEcTS.”

1. THE CHERRY Biack Fiy, Myzus cerasi. ORDER RHYNCHOTA.

It is a very bad pest of the cherry and all the varieties, and is
especially bad on wall fruit.

It destroys the leaves, and sometimes kills the young shoots.

In early spring, wingless viviparous females appear on the lower
leaves, having hatched from eggs laid the previous autumn.

They soon produce live young, which develop into wingless, vivi-
parous females, which soon spread over the tree, feeding on the leaves
from their undersides.

The infested leaves, through their punctures, curl up, and many
die in the hot, dry weather.

In July most of the aphides develop into olive-green pup with
yellowish wing-cases.

Later these develop into winged, viviparous females, and for a little
time they remain on the tree, and then suddenly leave it.

Where they emigrate to is uncertain, but when they return they
give rise to the oviparous forms, the female of which is wingless, and
deposits from one to four eggs on the lower branches, trunk, or
suckers.

Insecticides—Spray in spring and autumn with 4 Ib. of strong,
denatured tobacco to Io gall. of water.

Spray with caustic winter wash to keep the tree clean, and to
prevent any shelters for the eggs.

Remove and burn all suckers that come up.

“ Brtine INsEctTs.”

I. THE CHERRY-TREE STEM BorER, Semasia woeberiana.
ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.

This pest is destructive and is increasing, and it also attacks the
apple, plum, peach, nectarine, and almond.

It bores through the bark into the sapwood. These borings may
be very small, but large cavities are formed in badly attacked trees,
being two to four inches deep and the same width, extending about
one to three feet in length.

Trees thus infested are often attacked by fungi, the lower part of
the stem quickly rotting and dying.

The first brood moths appear in May and June, when the female
deposits her eggs in crevices in the bark, usually near the ground.

The larvee emerge in a week, and at once commence to feed on
the bark, boring beneath it and forming irregular cavities by eating the
inner bark and sapwood, and often penetrating four inches. Their
presence can be easily recognized by the sawdust around the hole they
have excavated. Exudations of gum are also seen on the tree, and
fungi often attack the exposed parts of the stem and roots. The larve

72

are full fed about the end of August, and pupate in the walls of the
cavities. The adult larva is half an inch long and of a flesh-
coloured appearance.

The moths emerge in a fortnight after pupation, and just when the
moth is ready to pupate, the pupa pushes its way through the bark.

The pupa, enclosed in a cocoon, is dark brown in colour.

The eggs from this brood are laid in September, and the larve live
beneath the bark until the following spring.

They continue to eat until late October, and commence again in
March or April.

Insecticides.—Smear the trunks in June and November to a height
of three feet with one part of powdered naphthalene to three parts of
clay with enough water to make a paste; this smothers and kills the
larve in their tunnels.

These, with the pear and cherry sawfly, which has been explained
under “Insects attacking the Pear Tree,’ are the most important
pests, others being :—

OIA AARRWDYD H

Wood Leopard Moth, Zeuzera pyrina . . Order Lepidoptera
Gold Tail Moth, Porthesia similis . os ir
Scalloped Hazel Moth, Odontopera iioniale. 7 a
Mottled Umber Moth, Hybernia defolianna . is =
. Green Pug Moth, Chloroclystis rectangulata . 55 3
. Cherry Fruit Moth, Argyresthia nitidella : - 7
. Plum-leaf Sawfly, Cladius padi . ‘i », Hymenoptera
. Red-legged Garden Weevil, Otiorhynchus ene:
bricosus - Ps Coleoptera
g. Plum Bark Beetle, Scolytus fupilias : : 5 6

All these can be remedied by spraying when the larve are seen with
4-6 lb. of lead arseniate to 100 gall. of water, and in the case of the
beetles shake the trees over tarred paper to catch them.

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Comell University Library
SB 453.R88
ys written by students at Wisle

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3 1924 002 831 7