Wallflower.—After the summer bedding plants are cleared, Wallflowers may be usefully employed to fill beds with green foliage all the winter. They will flower freely in spring, when their colour and fragrance will be especially welcome, and they can be removed in time to make way for a different display for the summer.

Winter Aconite is not dismayed by frost or snow, but will put forth its golden blossoms in the dreariest days of February, and after the flowers have passed away the foliage will remain as an ornament. To put in single roots is useless; it is far better to plant a few large patches than to fritter away the flower in a number of small and inconspicuous groups.

NOVEMBER

Cyclamen.—Where there is a large demand for this flower, another sowing may be made this month, unless it was done in October. With so important a subject it is not wise to depend on a single venture. The seedlings will afford a valuable succession to those started in August.

Gladiolus.—The soil which answers best for the autumn-flowering section is a medium friable loam, with a cool rich subsoil. A light loam can be made suitable by trenching, and putting a thick layer of cow-manure at the bottom of each trench. And a heavy soil may be reduced to the proper condition by the free admixture of light loam or sand. Autumn is the proper time for doing this work, and the ground should be left rough, so that it may benefit by winter frosts. Wireworms are deadly enemies to the Gladiolus corms, and an effort should be made to clear them out. Happily, they will flock to traps such as Potatoes and Rape cake, and their destruction is a mere question of daily attention. Planting must, of course, be deferred until spring.

Hyacinthus candicans is generally grown in the company of other flowers which attain to something like its own imposing proportions. In good soil the spikes grow three feet high. It may be planted from this time until March.

Lilies are an ornament to the cottage garden, and they grace the grandest conservatory. Many of the most superb varieties, including the king of all the race, L. auratum, can be magnificently flowered in the open border; and we have seen fine specimens of the Lancifolium varieties grown in pots without the aid of pit or frame. It is therefore obvious that there are no difficulties in the culture of Lilies. In borders the best soil for them is a deep, rich, moist loam. Peat and leaf-mould also answer; but a stiff clay will not do unless it has been cultivated and mixed with lighter stuff. Plant the roots at least six inches deep, at any time they are in a dormant state, or can be obtained in pots. Their position in the border should be clearly marked, or the roots may sustain injury when the soil is forked over.

The noble appearance of L. auratum will always command for it a prominent place in the conservatory or greenhouse. It will grow in sandy peat, or in a mixture of loam, leaf-mould, and sand. The bulb should be put into a small pot at first. When this is full of roots, transfer to a larger size, and shift occasionally until the flower-buds appear, when re-potting must cease. A cool house will bring the plant to perfection, although it will bear a high temperature if wanted early. During growth water must be given freely and be gradually reduced when the flowering season is over.

The Lancifolium varieties require the same treatment, but it is usual to put several in one large pot. After the flowering is ended, instead of allowing the bulbs to become quite dry, keep them moist enough to prevent the fibrous roots from perishing, and they will start with all the greater vigour when the time arrives for repotting next season.

Lily of the Valley.—The forcing of this favourite flower generally begins in November, and it is important to secure roots which are thoroughly matured for the purpose. They must be finished in a high temperature, and if managed with judgment there will be plenty of foliage to set off the long spikes of charming white bells. When planted in the open ground a shaded spot should be chosen, which must be freely enriched with leaf-mould, and the plants will not need to be lifted for four or five years.

Ranunculus.—On a light dry soil, where there is no danger of the roots sustaining injury during winter, this is a suitable time for planting all the varieties. To do them justice the land must be liberally dressed with decayed manure, and the longer the bed can be made ready before planting, the better will it answer. Put the roots in drills drawn six inches apart and two inches deep and cover with fine soil. For retentive land it is advisable to defer planting until February.

Tritonia.—Perhaps the best way of treating this flower is to pot the bulbs now or in December, and keep them in frames until April, when they may be transferred to the open ground. A dry soil and a sunny spot should be found for them.

Tulip.—There is no better time for planting Tulips in beds than the first half of this month. The bulbs should be covered with four or five inches of soil according to size, and it is important that each kind should be put in at a uniform depth to insure a simultaneous display. On a heavy soil draw deep drills, and partially fill them with light compost, on which the roots should be planted. The late single varieties are the Tulips which were formerly so highly prized by florists. For these bulbs it was the custom to prepare the soil with extraordinary care when the Tulip craze was at its height. After the amazing folly of paying 300l. for a single bulb, the minor folly of extravagance in preparing the soil may be readily pardoned. Happily that phase of the business has passed away, and handsome Tulips are now grown without such a prodigal expenditure of money and labour. The site for this flower should be sunny, the soil fairly rich, and the drainage good. With these conditions insured, and roots which are sound and dense, it is easy to obtain a magnificent show of Tulips.

Zephyranthes Candida can be grown in any soil, and if possible the bulbs should be planted in some spot where they may remain unmolested through several seasons. The flowers appear about the end of July, resembling a White Crocus in form, and the blooming continues until cold weather sets in. Planting may be done between November and March.

DECEMBER

Only the idle or the half-hearted gardener will complain that he has no work to do in the short dark days of this month. Although there may be little or nothing to plant or sow, and few flowers need repotting, yet there are soils to obtain and store for future use; former heaps to turn over and remake; dead leaves to remove from plants in pits and houses; stakes and neat sticks to prepare for subjects which will need support by-and-by; beds and borders to enrich, and many other duties to perform. In the evenings, too, there are new combinations and fresh harmonies in colour to be designed for beds and groups in borders; the requirements for the coming season to consider while experience gained during the closing year is still fresh in the memory; the position of plants in pits and frames and houses to forecast, so that the plan of the summer campaign may be clearly understood, and all the resources of the garden be under intelligent control. The fluctuations of the thermometer have also to be watched, and means adopted to save plants from injury by a sudden fall of temperature. Altogether, there are abundant sources of profitable employment for those who have a mind to work.

Bulbs, such as Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocuses, &c., which have not been planted, will have commenced growing, notwithstanding the precautions taken to prevent it, thus showing that they ought to be in the ground. The growth has been made at the expense of the bulb itself, for there are no fibrous roots from which to draw support. Therefore it can scarcely be expected that the flowers from very late plantings will be quite so good as the same bulbs would have produced had they been put in at an earlier period. Still there are cases when the delay is unavoidable, and it is reassuring to know that sound bulbs carefully set at the proper depth will produce flowers only in a degree inferior to those from earlier plantings.

Bulbs in store, such as Begonia, Dahlia, Gladiolus, and Gloxinia, should be passed in review. Examination will almost certainly reveal some unsound specimens, and their removal may save valuable companions from their contaminating influence. This practice should be followed up about once a fortnight until all are eventually planted.





THE PESTS OF GARDEN PLANTS

The life-history of plant pests and ground vermin, with the best means of saving various crops from their ravages, are dealt with in a series of valuable leaflets issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. These leaflets embrace a very large number of subjects, several of which belong to the farm and the orchard and are beyond the scope of the present volume. Others are rarely met with, but concerning those which are common to the majority of gardens we offer information which will, we hope, enable readers to safeguard their crops from disaster.

When adverse weather operates injuriously on vegetation the plagues that infest garden plants usually acquire increased power in proportion to the degree of debility to which vegetation is reduced. This circumstance perfectly accords with the general law of Nature, and is full of instruction as to the means of saving plants from serious injury by vermin. The keen, dry east wind that so often jeopardises fruit crops is usually followed by visitations of fly and maggot, and in this case the cause is beyond human power or forethought. But neglect of watering and air-giving to pot plants can be avoided. Good cultivation not only insures fine specimens, but is often the means of preventing the plants from failing under the attacks of Aphis, Mealy Bug, and other enemies against which the gardener has to fight an unceasing battle.

Insects are among the frailest of living creatures and they perish at a touch. As they breathe through the pores of the skin, water alone—the promoter of life and cleanliness—is death to them; and they are still more subject to sure destruction when to the water is added an active poison, such as tobacco, or a substance that adheres to them and stops the process of breathing, such as glue, clay, sulphur, soft soap, and the numerous preparations that are specially made to annihilate insect hosts.

The various stages through which the larger insects pass place them within our power at some period of their existence. The butterfly may float beyond the reach of harm, but in the caterpillar or the chrysalis state it can be dealt with effectually. Again, we may be powerless to destroy the Chafer grubs as they feed or hibernate beneath turf, but in their perfect state as Cockchafers or Rose Chafers many may be beaten down during quiet evenings, and others can be shaken from Roses at dawn or sunset. A knowledge of the life-history of injurious insects will suggest what is to be done and the right time for doing it, so that often by simple treatment they may be destroyed.

The expense of preparing mixtures and washes may be in some degree lessened by economy of application. A drenching-board fitted on a firm frame, should be provided in every place where plant-growing is carried on to any extent. The board should slope from a resting ridge at the base. The plant in its pot may be laid on the board, with the bottom of the pot against the resting ridge, and a pail should be put to catch the liquid used as it drains from the plant after syringing. Every general washing or fumigating should be followed by another at an interval of from a week to a fortnight, because, although the first operation may kill every insect, there will be many living eggs left, and these renew the race, and very soon bring the plants into as bad a state as ever, unless consigned to a happy despatch as their parents were. In some cases it will be more economical to feed than to destroy the vermin; and, as a rule, feeding vermin does not add to their numbers, in the same or any future season, for insect life is so strangely dependent on certain conditions of temperature, &c, that if the season is not favourable to a particular kind it will be scarce, no matter how plentiful it may have been in a previous year. In the case of the Turnip Fly, feeding is frequently the cheapest and surest way of saving the crop. It is customary with Dahlia-growers, and, indeed, with the growers of florists' flowers generally, to sow Lettuces where the flowers are to be planted, for so long as Lettuces are on the spot Slugs and Snails will prefer them to other food. As the Lettuces themselves serve the purpose of traps, the Snails and Slugs congregated about them may, towards evening, be caught and destroyed.

In using a mixture for the first time, it is advisable to try it on one plant only, and that, of course, the worst in the collection affected. If the preparation is too strong, the truth will be declared by the state of the plant within twenty-four hours; thus a little caution may prevent a great loss. Another good rule is to employ the several remedies in a rather weak state until experience has been gained, for not only has the strength of the medicine to be considered, but the management of the patient before and after it is administered. It is above all things important to be thorough in the cleansing of plants, because they succumb rapidly to the attacks of insects, and should be effectually and promptly cleaned or consigned to the fire. If left in a foul state they spread the infection to all around. In the space at our command it is only possible to notice a few of the garden pests, and we begin with one of the most frequent and troublesome of plant foes.

Aphis in some form or other is the most persistent and perplexing of plant pests. The Green Fly is the enemy of the softer kinds of vegetation, and the Blue and the Black Fly are common plagues of the Peach-house and the orchard. The tender body of the Aphis is instantly affected by conditions unfavourable to its life, and it is therefore easily killed; but its marvellous power of reproduction renders its extinction impossible, for in every instance a few escape, and very soon re-establish their race. Two methods for the destruction of Aphis are in vogue. One is fumigation by tobacco, either pure or in some of the numerous preparations offered, including several popular insecticides which have nicotine as a basis. These are both clean and effective. When a houseful of plants is infested no time should be lost, and the evening is most suitable for dealing with the pests. The plants ought to be quite dry and the house closely shut. A dense cloud of smoke without flame is required. Allow the smoke to do its deadly work during the night. Early next morning syringe the plants freely, and in the course of an hour or so give air. The other remedy is to use one of the many liquids which are inimical to the life of Aphis and other insect pests. To economise the liquid it is advisable to fill a pail or tub and immerse the plants individually. Take one in the right hand and spread the fingers of the left hand over the surface of the soil to prevent an accident; then turn the plant over and plunge the foliage in the liquid, moving it up and down briskly two or three times. If this is not practicable syringe the plants, taking care to wet the leaves on both sides. On the following day syringe with pure soft water.

Rose trees may generally be cleansed of fly by means of the garden engine and pure water only, the essential point being to direct the water on the trees with some amount of force for several evenings in succession whenever the fly threatens to obtain the mastery.

Soft soap dissolved in water makes a cheap and effectual wash for exterminating all kinds of Aphis, and to these ingredients quassia may with advantage be added. One pound of soft soap will suffice for ten gallons of water, into which stir the extract obtained by boiling one pound of quassia chips in water. Pot plants can be dipped in it as already advised, or the solution may be applied by means of the syringe. On the following day the plants should be cleansed with pure soft water.

The Bean Aphis, also known as the Bean Plant Louse, or Black Dolphin (Aphis rumicis). Our illustration shows the wingless female and pupa natural size and magnified. The pupa is black with greyish white mottlings, while the female is deep greenish black in colour. This insect commonly attacks the young shoots and tops of Broad Beans. It is well to cut off the infected tops and burn them. Should the attack be repeated spray the Beans with a solution of soft soap and quassia.



The Pea Siphon-Aphis (Siphonophora pisi, Kalt).—Among the aphides peculiar to vegetables this is one of the most common.



Our illustration shows the natural size and an enlarged figure of the greenish-winged and green-tinted wingless females, as produced, not from eggs, but alive and developed. This insect is occasionally very destructive to Pea crops.



American Blight, or Woolly Aphis, generally appears first on trees grafted on dwarfing stocks, particularly the bad forms of the Paradise Apple. Rapidly the mischief spreads, healthy trees become infested, and unless checked an orchard is speedily ruined. Andrew Murray says that in bad cases of American Blight it is sometimes necessary to root up and burn all the trees, and let the ground remain unplanted for a year or two. Fruit trees should be examined periodically for this pest, and immediately the woolly spots are detected small tainted boughs should be pruned away, and from the mainstems and large branches diseased spots can be pared off. The operation may need a bold and vigorous hand if the trees are to be saved, and it is important that every scrap should be burned. There is almost certain to be a further appearance of the Blight, which should be destroyed by one of the many remedies known to be effectual. Fir Tree Oil Insecticide has proved to be an excellent remedy. Gishurst Compound, in the proportion of eight ounces to a gallon of water, with sufficient clay added to render it adhesive, makes a capital winter paint for Apple trees. But there is no cheap remedy equal to soft soap for smothering American Blight in the crannies of the bark. The soap may be rubbed into the diseased spots, or as a wash it can be brushed into the boughs.

Our illustration shows a piece of Apple twig with the aphides and their woolly material natural size. The enlarged figures represent the winged female and the wingless larva of the Apple Blight Aphis (Schizoneura lanigera). The insect is deep purplish brown in colour, and the well-known bluish white cottony material naturally exudes from it.

The Carrot Fly (Psila rosae, Fab.), with its larva, pupa, and perfect insect, is illustrated natural size and enlarged. The ochreous shining larvae live upon the tap-roots of the Carrot, and by eating into them cause them to rot. In colour the body of the fly is an intensely dark greenish black, with a rusty ochreous head. The presence of the larvae in the root is made known by the change in the colour of the leaves from green to yellow, and the attacked plants should be promptly forked out entire and burned.



It is well to dig the ground in autumn, so that the earth may be exposed to the frosts of winter and the pupae to the attention of birds. After sowing, spray the Carrot bed with paraffin emulsion. Spray again after germination, and a third time when thinning is finished. The emulsion to be made by dissolving half a pound of soft soap in a gallon of boiling water. While still boiling, pour the liquid into two gallons of paraffin and churn thoroughly until a buttery mass results. This will keep for a long time in tins. Before use, dilute with twenty times the quantity of water—soft water if possible. This is an excellent preventive. After the work of thinning, the fly may also be kept off the plants by scattering over them ashes, sand, or earth, impregnated with paraffin. Carbolic powder and soot are both disagreeable to the insect. It has been observed that when singling the disturbance of the soil is favourable to the operations of the Carrot Fly. A copious watering when the task is ended will firm the earth round the remaining roots, and prevent the fly from easily getting down to deposit eggs.

Carrots and Parsnips are often attacked by the larva of a Carrot Moth (Depressaria cicutella), which spins webs for security while feeding, and sometimes works havoc among the foliage. A simple remedy is to shake the caterpillars from the leaves of the plants, when they can be destroyed by the use of lime.

Celery Fly.—The apparent blisters in Celery leaves are spots deficient of leaf-green, which the larva of the Celery Fly has eaten. Dusting newly-planted Celery with lime or soot may do something to prevent the fly from laying its eggs, but the most certain preventive is to boil half a pound of coal tar in one gallon of water for twenty minutes, add fifty gallons of clear water, and syringe the plants about noon once or twice from the middle to the end of June. When once the grub has made a home, it should be crushed by pinching the leaf between the finger and thumb, or the injured portions of the leaves should be cut out and burned. In doing this it must always be remembered that the leaves are as much needed by the plant as the roots, and every leaf removed tends to diminish the vigour of the plant. Our illustration shows the Celery Fly (formerly known as Tephritis onopordinis, but now called Acidia heraclei) natural size and magnified. This fly is also destructive to the leaves of Parsnips, and is named onopordinis from its habit of frequenting the Cotton Thistle (Onopordon Acanthium). The larva is white to very pale green, the fly is shining tawny. An Ichneumon Fly detects the larva of the Celery Fly in the Celery and Parsnip leaves, and lays its eggs in the body of the larva. These parasites, named Alysia apii, assist in reducing the numbers of the Celery Fly.



All Celery refuse should be destroyed by fire. Infested ground may, if suitable, be trenched, bringing the subsoil to the surface and burying the top soil containing the pupae. Frequent rough digging and the exposure of fresh surfaces to be searched by birds will also do something to abate the number of this pest. But in bad cases it will be necessary to resort to gas-lime, which poisons the pupae and eventually benefits the soil, although in the season immediately following its use crops may be less satisfactory than usual.

Onion Fly.—Onions are frequently attacked by the larvae of the Onion Fly, and in some instances the entire crop is destroyed. Our illustration shows the natural size of the fly and maggot, with magnified representations of both. The fly lays six to eight eggs on an Onion plant, generally just above the ground. These eggs hatch in from five to seven days, according to the temperature, and the maggots at once burrow into the Onion. The result is soon visible in the discoloration of the leaves which turn yellow and begin to decay. Several generations of the insect, the scientific name of which is Phorbia cepetorum, appear in the course of a single season. A close ally is the Cabbage Root Fly (P. brassicae), the destroyer of Cabbage roots.



Among the numerous methods of preventing attack and of destroying the grubs the following are worth attention:—

Where this pest proves very troublesome it may be desirable to transfer Onion growing to new ground until the infested land has been purged of the pupae. Instead of throwing useless Onion material on the waste heap to afford the fly a home for its eggs, every scrap should be burned. As the preparation of an Onion bed approaches completion, powdered lime well mixed with soot, in the proportion of two bushels of the former to one of the latter, may be sown evenly over the surface and raked in. Sand impregnated with paraffin sown along the drills has answered as a preventive. Vaporite is a destroyer of the pupae; this preparation has proved deadly to ground vermin generally. Earthing up the Onions was proved by Miss Ormerod's experiment to be effective. The objection to this procedure is the probability of enlarged necks which are not wanted. An emulsion, composed of one pint of paraffin, one pound of soft soap mixed with ten gallons of water, thoroughly churned by a hand syringe and sprayed over the young plants in a fine mist, is a valuable preventive. The dose may be repeated after rainfall, if necessary. The quantities named suffice for a small plot only. Soapsuds are destructive to the maggots, disagreeable to the fly, and beneficial to the young plants. The suds should be sprayed over the bed from a watering can on the first appearance of a yellow colour in the grass. As a final suggestion reference may be made to a singular fact which we do not profess to explain, viz. that transplanted Onions are very seldom touched by grub. The modern practice of raising seedlings under glass in January or February, and planting out in open beds in April, offers the advantage of a long season of growth combined with comparative immunity from attack by the Onion Fly.

Turnip Fly, or Flea, is well known to the gardener, and is the most troublesome of all the aerial pests of the farm, and one with which it is most difficult to cope, not only because of its general diffusion and numbers, but because it produces a succession of broods throughout the summer, and is therefore always in force, ready to devour the crop immediately it appears. The so-called 'Fly' is a small beetle named Haltica (Phyllotreta) nemorum, strongly made, and decidedly voracious. The larvae are not to be feared, except that, of course, they in due time become beetles. In the perfect state this winged jumping insect makes havoc of the rising plant of Turnips, but the crop is only in danger while in the seed-leaf stage. It is in the spring and early summer chiefly that the ravages of these insects occasion perplexity, for they awaken from their winter torpor active and hungry, and have a ready appetite for almost any cruciferous plant. Hence we see the leaves of Radishes pierced by them, and all such weeds as Charlock, Cuckoo Flower, Hedge Garlic, and Water Cress serve them for food until the Turnip crops are on the move, when they will travel miles, even against the wind, to wreck the farmer's hopes. The Cabbage Flea (Haltica oleracea) in some districts is equally troublesome, if not more so. Whole Cabbages may be destroyed by this pest, and even Hops are often ruined by it.



Preventive and remedial measures that can easily be carried out in a garden may be impracticable on a farm. We propose to enumerate them briefly as they occur to us, leaving the ultimate choice of weapons to those who may unfortunately find occasion to use them.

One precaution is to insure a quick germination of the seed and strong growth of the plant in its seed-leaf stage. The cotyledons are tender and tasty, perhaps sugary from Nature's process of malting; and while the seed-leaf is assailable the Haltica makes the best of the shining hour. The seed sown should be all of one age, and the newest possible, because of the need for a quick and strong growth. When a powerful artificial is sown with the seed, the quantity of seed must be increased, as a proportion may be killed by the manure. It is important always to drill Turnip seed; broadcasting seems to invite the Fly—at all events, a drilled crop is generally safer. Before sowing, the seed may be soaked in paraffin or turpentine. Of the two the latter appears to be the more successful in keeping the insects at bay.

Rolling an infested plant disturbs and weakens the insects and stimulates the young plant.

The sprinkling of slaked lime over the seedlings is at once a safe and an efficient process, and possesses the additional advantage of being beneficial to the plant. We are aware that it does not always succeed, but we are inclined to attribute the failure to a bad quality of the lime, or a careless method of employing it. There should be enough put on to make the plants white, and they will be none the worse for the whitening. Dustings of fine ashes or soot are scarcely less effective, but salt must not be used, for it injures the plants and does not hurt the beetle. All such dustings should be done in the early morning, while the plants are wet with dew. To apply a dusting at midday, when the sun shines gaily, is to waste time, and probably many of the recorded failures might be explained if we knew at what hour and in what sort of weather the work was done. Nets and sticking boards have been tried and found effectual, and yet such things are rarely used. A board thickly covered with white paint, drawn over the plot on a still, sunny day, soon becomes a black board by the myriads of Halticas that jump at and remain attached to it, the victims of their extravagant love of light. Old sacks soaked in paraffin and drawn over the drills impart a disagreeable flavour to the leaves, and a very fine spray of paraffin distributed by a machine specially constructed for the purpose has proved effective.

Finally, this, in common with all other insects in the winged state, needs a dry air and some degree of warmth for its health and happiness. Many kinds of larvae need moisture, but no winged insect can abide moisture long, and herein is a clue to the eradication of Turnip Fly. By the simple process of spraying the plant three or four times a day, until it is out of the seed-leaf, and the danger is over, it is possible in the garden to wash out the Haltica; and any kind of insecticide or flavouring, such as quassia, may be mingled with the water to render the plants distasteful to the insects.

The illustration on page 422 shows the Turnip Fly in its three stages, and in each case of the natural size and magnified seven diameters.



Daddy Longlegs, or Crane Fly, in its perfect form of a fly (Tipula oleracea) does no harm, but the grubs, known by the familiar name of 'leather-jackets' owing to the toughness of their skins, are terribly destructive. During late summer and autumn the female fly deposits its eggs in large numbers in turf, in garden soil and amongst garden refuse. The eggs are hatched in a fortnight or so and the dark grubs lie in the ground through the winter, inflicting their maximum, amount of injury to young crops in spring and early summer. Where song birds are scarce the Tipula is capable of utterly destroying grass and of seriously ravaging the Kitchen Garden; but cultivation, aided by the robins, thrushes, nightingales, and other birds, will keep the insect within bounds, even after a hot summer favourable to its increase. Where this pest is known to exist, an application of Vaporite at the time of preparing ground for sowing or planting will destroy many of the grubs. The regular use of the hoe is also to be recommended, for by the disturbance of the soil the enemy is exposed to the sharp eye of the robin and other feathered gardeners.

Root-knot Eelworm.—One of the worst pests that a Cucumber-grower has to deal with manifests itself by the presence of minute warts or nodosities, chiefly on the rootlets. These warts, which are caused by the action of innumerable small thread-like worms named Heterodera radicicola, range from the size of a pin's head to that of a pea, and when they are present in large numbers the total failure of the Cucumber crop is the invariable result. The eelworms are probably introduced to Cucumber-houses in infected water. Each worm is about one-seventyfifth of an inch in length and is at first coiled up inside a transparent egg. At maturity the eggs crack open, and the worms on emerging bore into the most tender rootlets, and there lay their eggs. These eggs speedily hatch inside the plant and new eelworms are produced, which traverse the rootlets in every direction.



These Heterodera are by no means peculiar to the Cucumber; they attack the roots of Tomatoes and Melons, and the roots, stems, and foliage of many other plants. Our illustration shows some very small Cucumber rootlets, natural size, with the eelworms in the eggs, and also emerging from and free of the empty eggshell (enlarged eighty diameters).

Immediately symptoms of the pest are apparent from the wilting of the foliage and stems, all infected plants should be removed and burned. The soil must also be cleared out and the interior of the house thoroughly washed with a solution of carbolic acid in water:—one part of the former to eight parts of the latter. To purify the infected soil, use a solution of carbolic acid (one part) and water (twenty parts) and saturate three times, at intervals of a fortnight. Another remedy is to mix weathered gas-lime freely with the soil. In either case the soil will be unfit for use for at least six weeks after treatment. When the house has been well cleansed, fresh compost should be used, to which the addition of lime and soot, mixed with the soil, will be beneficial.



Mealy Bug.—This plague is by no means confined to plants under glass. In the case of a lot of stove plants badly affected, the desperate course of committing the whole to the fire, and then repairing and painting the house, is often the cheapest in the end. We have known a Pine-grower compelled to destroy a houseful of plants that have been infested by the introduction of a plant from a buggy collection. Mealy Bug may be known by its mealy, floury, or cottony appearance. It has a great fancy for Grape vines. One of the best remedies is Gishurst Compound, prepared at the rate of eight ounces to a gallon of water, with clay added to give it the consistence of paint. Miscellaneous stove plants may be cleansed by washing with a brush and soft soap. Our illustration shows a group of Mealy Bugs natural size, with one insect magnified.



Red Spider is present in almost every vinery, however well managed. A moist atmosphere is a great, though not a certain preventive; but it is not possible, without injury to the vines, to keep the air of the house always so humid that the Spider is unable to obtain a lodgment. Syringing promotes a moist atmosphere, and is unfavourable to the Red Spider, which thrives best in heat and dryness. But the most decided repellent of Spider is the use of sulphur on the hot-water pipes. This may be managed by sprinkling dry sulphur on the pipes, or by making a thick solution of sulphur, clay, and water, with which the pipes should be painted. Be careful not to raise the heat at the same time, for if the pipes are hotter than the hand can bear fumes destructive to vegetation will be given off. Melons and Cucumbers may generally be kept clear of Spider by means of the syringe only; but when Melons are ripening they must be kept rather dry, and it is very difficult indeed to finish a crop without having the plants attacked by Red Spider. Gishurst Compound answers admirably to remove Spider from house plants. The mixture should consist of one and a half or two ounces to one gallon of water, and should be applied with a sponge. The scientific name of the Red Spider is Tetranychus telarius. Our illustration shows one of these destructive red mites natural size, and two individuals greatly magnified.

Scale.—A very common species, found on many kinds of stove and other plants, is the Lecanium hibernaculorum, here illustrated on a twig, natural size, and magnified. It is brown, tumid, and commonly somewhat more than hemispherical in shape. Besides this species there is the L. filicum of Ferns, the L. hemisphoericum of Dracaenas, the L. rotundum of the Peach, and the common L. hesperidum, or Orange-tree Bug, which is one of the flat species, and it spreads to a great variety of plants. The Scale insect sucks the sap from plants, and in some instances the ground beneath the foliage is wet and soddened by the falling sap. Spirit of turpentine applied with a soft brush is considered to be a good remedy for Scale. It is, however, advisable (as in other remedies) to test this on a small number of plants at first. A near relative, a large brown Coccus, infests pomaceous trees, and is especially partial to the Pyracantha, which it often kills outright. The Scale of the Vine is Pulvinaria or Coccus vitis. Careful washing with soap and water, and the destruction of each separate Scale as soon as seen, can be recommended for the extirpation of this pest.





Thrips may pursue their mischief to a great extent before they are discovered by the novice, for their minute size and their habit render them inconspicuous. But the black deposit they make reveals their existence to the experienced eye, and the debilitated condition of the plants they have attacked would soon compel attention were there no such deposit to tell the tale. The Indian Azaleas are apt to be beset by Thrips, as the Grape-vine is by Scale, the Pineapple by Mealy Bug, and the Rose by Green Aphis. Atmospheric humidity is a powerful preventive, as is also the promotion of vigorous growth by a plentiful supply of water to the roots of the plants; in fact, starvation and a dry, hot air will soon bring an attack of Thrips. Generally speaking, the best remedy is fumigation with tobacco. Or tobacco water and a solution of soft soap, together or separately, if carefully applied, speedily make an end of this troublesome pest. A special preparation may be made as follows: Take six pounds of soft soap, and dissolve in twelve gallons of water, add half a gallon of strong tobacco water, and dip the plants in the mixture. Before they become dry, dip again in pure rainwater to remove the mixture. If too large to dip, apply the mixture with the syringe, and in the course of a quarter of an hour or so syringe with pure rainwater. Our illustration shows the Thrips in the larval and winged state, natural size and greatly magnified.

Ants.—These extremely interesting insects are frequently troublesome in gardens, and in the spring of the year the small red species mars the appearance of lawns by throwing up numerous heaps of fine soil. It is easy to destroy them by dropping a mixture of Paris Green and sugar near their runs. But as Paris Green is a poison, animal life must be considered. We recommend a simple remedy which entails no danger, but it must be followed up persistently. Purchase a few common sponges, as large as a man's fist. Dissolve one pound of Demerara sugar in two quarts of warm water. Immerse the sponges, wring out nearly all the liquid, and place them near the ant runs. Twice daily throw the sponges into hot water, and repeat the process until the ants are cleared. Nests located under walls can be destroyed by boiling water.

Caterpillars cannot often be treated in a wholesale way without injury to the plant. Hence it is usual to rely on hand-picking, and, tedious as this may be, a little perseverance will accomplish wonders. We have seen a fruit garden, literally hideous with clusters of Caterpillars in spring, completely cleared by a few days' steady work, costing but a trifle, and only needing to be conducted so that in removing the vermin there should be no harm done to the crops. In the same way the Gooseberry grub should be disposed of. Precautions cannot be taken against Caterpillars, but the careful cultivator will in good time look for patches of eggs and clusters of young Caterpillars on the under sides of leaves, and will carefully nip off the leaves on which the colonies are feeding, and make an end of them. This enemy cannot be raked in rank and file, but must be taken in detail, as in guerilla warfare.

Earwigs are the dread of the florist, for they spoil his best Dahlias and Hollyhocks, and are too partial to Chrysanthemums. They are readily trapped, as they like to go up to a high, dry, dark retreat; hence a bit of dry moss in a small flower-pot, inverted on a stake, will entice them into your hands; and if you are determined to keep down Earwigs, this way is sure, though, perhaps, not easy, because it must be followed up morning and evening from the beginning of June onwards. The hollow stems of the Bean make good traps, as indeed do hollow stems of any kind, for Earwigs love to creep into close, dark shelters after their nocturnal meal; and the cultivator who has resolved that he will not be eaten up by them needs only to persevere, and he may depend on trapping every Earwig within the boundaries. Unfortunately, they use their wings freely, and so travel from the sluggard's garden to find 'fresh woods and pastures new.'



Slugs are serious plagues to the gardener, and they sometimes appear in large numbers so suddenly as to suggest the idea that the little Slugs have come down in showers. Young crops are especially liable to injury from these vermin, and it is not easy, even in well-kept gardens, to keep them down. Constant attention is necessary, particularly in wet seasons. But here, as in the case of many other kinds of vermin, means may be adopted that will accomplish the double purpose of destroying the plague and benefiting the land; for lime, salt, soot, and nitrate of soda are certain Slug-killers, and will usually pay for their employment by their enrichment of the ground. The nice point always is to employ them advantageously. It should further be borne in mind that a Slug slightly touched by lime or salt has the power of throwing it off by means of the slimy exudation with which the creature is endowed. But if again quickly assailed in a similar manner death is certain to follow. Land made ready for sowing may be pretty well cleared of Slugs by broadcasting it with salt. Unfortunately, these destroyers are only effective in fine weather. In rainy seasons, or when a crop is rising, it is necessary to resort to trapping, and many kinds of vegetable refuse make tempting baits for Slugs. Pieces of Orange peel, suitably placed, are soon covered with the vermin, especially in the winter during intervals of frost. Cabbage leaves, sliced Turnips and Potatoes, or almost any waste vegetable may be used. The traps should be scattered about at dusk, and be gathered up in the morning, and buried in pits, or destroyed by fire.

Gas-lime is highly destructive to Slugs, but when first applied it is poisonous to plant life. An excellent method of using it is to dress the surface in autumn at the rate of from four to six cwt. per acre, and to dig the ground deeply four weeks later.

Rows of Peas are easily protected by a covering of barley sweepings, or by charcoal broken very small and flavoured with paraffin. Slaked lime, carefully used, is also employed with satisfactory results.

Snails.—In their methods of attacking garden vegetation, and in the extent of damage they cause, Snails may be placed in the same category as Slugs. During the day the Snail usually remains in hiding, emerging from rockeries and creeper-covered walls in the evening or after a shower of rain. They may be trapped by one of the methods suggested for Slugs, and preference should be given to the use of Cabbage leaves. It will, however, be safer to protect young plants by giving heavy dressings of lime or soot. Hand picking is the surest means of dealing with them, and in the winter months large numbers may be collected from among box edgings, the base of ivy-covered walls and similar shelters. Birds, especially thrushes, show a marked partiality for Snails.

Wasps are a terrible scourge in some gardens. They spoil a large quantity of fruit, and jeopardise the remainder by forcing the harvest before the crops are ready for gathering. When the localities of the Wasps' nests are known, it is a simple task to dispose of them. Turpentine and gunpowder were formerly in vogue, especially among the younger members of the community, to whom a spice of danger is always an attractive element in the fun. But these are clumsy methods of destruction and will not compare with the far easier remedy of poisoning the colonies by means of cyanide of potassium. Dissolve one ounce of the drug in a quarter of a pint of water. This will be sufficient to destroy several nests, but it is a deadly poison, and must be kept in a place of safety. Soak a piece of rag in the fluid, and lay it over the entrance to the nest. There is no occasion to run away; not a Wasp will venture out, and those which return from foraging will not lose their tempers and find yours, but at each successive attempt to enter their home they will become feebler, until they fall near or beneath the drugged rag. After an hour or two the nest may be dug out, when every insect, including queen and pupae, will be found dead.

If the colonies lie beyond your frontier, or their positions cannot be ascertained, the enemy must be disposed of by stratagem and in detail. One of the best modes of trapping them is to put some injured fruit beneath one of the trees, and over it a hand-light raised about three inches above the ground by stones or pieces of wood placed at the four corners. This light must have a rather large hole at the top. Upon it should rest another light from which egress is prevented, except through the apex of the lower light. After the Wasps have visited the fruit, they will rise into the first light, and gradually find their way through the opening into the one above, from which not one insect in a hundred will escape. In a trap of this kind we have seen an enormous number of Wasps and Hornets which had been lured to death within a few hours.

Another simple and effective method of destroying these pests is to pour a small quantity of ale mixed with sugar into glass jars and suspend them from branches of Pear or Plum trees. The vessels must be emptied every few days and the liquid renewed.



Wireworm is the most persistent and destructive of all the ground vermin. There are fully a dozen species of beetles the larvae of which are known as 'Wireworms,' and of these the 'Spring-Jacks,' 'Click-Beetles,' and 'Blacksmiths'—Elater obscurus, E. lineatus, and E. ruficaudis—are the most prevalent. The female beetle deposits her eggs in the earth in the height of the summer, and in due time the worms emerge and commence their depredations. These worms have a tenure of three to five years in their subterranean homes, during which time they feed voraciously, and are not very particular as to what they eat. Their muscular power renders them expert in burrowing, and they are well protected by their horny jackets. When their term of feeding is completed, they descend to a considerable depth and change into the chrysalis state, from which they come forth as jumping beetles in the course of July and August, a certain proportion remaining in the ground to complete their final change in spring. Their power of destruction is then at an end. They resort to flowers, lead a merry life for a short time, and when they pass away leave plenty of eggs to continue the race of Wireworms.

For practical purposes the Wireworm may be regarded as inhabiting every kind of soil and consuming every kind of crop. The crops it is most partial to are Grass, Potatoes, Turnips, and the juicy stems of all kinds of cereals. The larvae may be trapped by burying in the ground pieces of Potato, or better still thick slices of Beet root; the spots to be marked, and the traps examined every few days, when the Wireworms can be destroyed. Superphosphate sown along the drills with seed has saved spring-sown crops from destruction; and Vaporite, a proprietary article, has also been used with marked success. The latter gives off a gas smelling of naphthalene which kills the Wireworms. Soot is a well-known remedy, and by its use the crops are also benefited.

Woodlice are very destructive but easily caught, and they may be completely eradicated by perseverance. When a frame or pit is infested, they can be destroyed wholesale by pouring boiling water down next the brickwork or the woodwork in the middle of the day. If this procedure does not make a clearance, recourse must be had to trapping. In common with Earwigs, they love dryness, darkness, and a snug retreat; but while a mere home suffices for Earwigs, a home with food is demanded by Woodlice. Take a thumb pot, quite dry and clean. In it place a fresh-cut slice of Potato or Apple, fill up with dry moss, and turn the whole thing over on a bed in a frame or pit. Thus you have devised a Woodlouse trap, and next morning you may knock the vermin out of it into a vessel full of hot water, or adopt any other mode of killing that may be convenient. Fifty traps may be prepared in a hundred minutes; and those who are determined to get rid of Woodlice may soon make an end of them.

Rats and Mice.—Traps are efficient while they are new, and almost any reasonably good contrivance will answer for a time, but will fail at last, or at least for a season. To keep down Rats and Mice effectually there must be invented a succession of new modes of action, for these creatures—Rats especially—are so clever that they soon see through our devices, which then fail of effect. Generally speaking, two rules may be prescribed. In the first place it is imprudent to fill up their holes or stop their runs; let them have their way. If you stop them, they will make new thoroughfares, to the further injury of the foundation; and, besides, when you are acquainted with their runs, you know where to put traps and poison for the vermin. As to the best poison, there is nothing so effectual as arsenic; but it should be employed with great care, and before it is brought on the premises the question of safe storage must be considered. A fat bloater split down and well rubbed with common white arsenic will kill a score of Rats, provided only that they will eat it. Cut it into four parts, and place these in or near their runs, and cover with tiles or boards to prevent dogs and cats obtaining them. If this fails, try bread and butter dressed with oil of rhodium and phosphorus. The oil of rhodium seems to possess an irresistible attraction for these vermin. When dry food is preferred, there is nothing so good as oatmeal; and it is a golden rule to feed the Rats for a few days with pure oatmeal, and then to mix about a fourth part of arsenic with it. Several proprietary articles are offered for the destruction of Rats. Before resorting to these means of annihilating vermin it is necessary to take steps to prevent the bodies from proving a nuisance after death. A good fox-terrier will keep a large garden free from Rats and Mice.





THE FUNGUS PESTS OF CERTAIN GARDEN PLANTS

Many of our garden plants are liable to the attacks of fungi. Cures are in most instances unknown, but in some cases preventives—which are better—have been adopted with partial or entire success. Plants raised from robust stocks, grown in suitable soil and under favourable conditions, are known to be less liable to disease than seedlings from feeble parents, or those which have been rendered weakly by deficiencies in the soil or faulty cultivation. Whether weakness is hereditary, or is attributable to a bad system, the fact remains that disease generally begins with unhealthy specimens, and these form centres of contamination from which the mischief spreads. It is, therefore, important that seed from healthy stocks should be sown, and that a vigorous constitution should be developed by good cultivation.

Anbury, Club, or Finger-and-toe.—The disease known by these various names is common in the roots of cultivated cruciferous plants such as Cabbages, Kohl Rabi, Radishes, Swedes, Turnips, &c., and also in many cruciferous weeds, including Charlock and Shepherd's Purse. The cause of this disease is an extremely minute fungus, which may lie dormant in the soil for several years for want of a comfortable home, and when a cruciferous plant becomes available the fungus fastens on the fine roots, multiplies rapidly in the tissues, and produces malformation and decay. After the disease has made some progress insect agency frequently augments the mischief, so that on cutting open a large decaying root it is not unusual to find the interior packed with millipedes, weevils, wireworms, and other ground vermin.

Unlike the Potato disease, which spreads from plant to plant through the atmosphere, the fungus of Finger-and-toe infects the ground, and from the first spot attacked the disease spreads rapidly in all directions and in various ways. It may be carried by the soil adhering to implements or the boots of labourers. And each patch becomes a new centre of infection which is spread by digging or raking. Every scrap of infected soil, or of diseased fibre which may be added to the manure-heap, distributes the virus over a wider area, so that Finger-and-toe may suddenly appear in parts of the garden which have hitherto been free from this troublesome pest. A very simple experiment will prove the certainty and ease with which the spores may be introduced to fresh land. Macerate the tissue of old Finger-and-toe in water; use this on young isolated plants of Cabbage or Turnip and in a short time the plants will be infected.

The fungus which produces Finger-and-toe is known as Plasmodiophora brassicae, and it belongs to the Myxomycetes, or slime-fungi,' which, as a rule, live upon decaying vegetable material. The protoplasm of the fungus ramifies among and within the tissues of the roots of attacked plants, and eventually produces an amazing number of spores so small that more than thirty millions would be required to cover a superficial inch. A microscope of great power is necessary to reveal them to human vision.



The spores are capable of resting in a state of vitality for a long time, and can easily withstand the frosts of winter. The illustration shows at A the fungus in its protoplasmic condition, and at B its ultimate sporiferous or 'seed'-producing stage, after the protoplasm has changed to a mass of minute spores (enlarged five hundred and twenty diameters). When a spore in due course germinates, its protoplasmic contents escape through a small aperture in its wall and begin moving about of their own accord in a slow writhing manner. The movement is so much like that of the microscopic animal organism found in ponds, and called Amoeba, that this tiny mass of moving protoplasm is called Myxamoeba, to denote that it is an amoeba-like form produced by one of the Myxomycetes. Each myxamoeba is drawn out at one spot into a fine delicate tail or cilium, as at C, D, E, and is capable of a creeping motion in moisture. When quite free from the spores, transparent expansions or limbs extend from the bodies of the myxamoebae, as at F, G, and when these organisms, after existing in the soil for a longer or shorter time, reach the roots of cruciferous plants, which they apparently enter through the root-hairs, they again assume the protoplasmic condition shown at A, and live within the cells, at the expense of the nurse-plant. Other cruciferous plants are less seriously damaged by the pest than are Turnips and Cabbages; but it is evident that if diseased Charlock is near Turnips, the latter are very likely to fall a prey to the disease. We advise the sowing of the best seeds, the eradication of cruciferous weeds, and the destruction by fire of all decaying Finger-and-toe material, for it is in this material that the spores of the disease rest ready for continuing the disease in the following season. It is also desirable that cruciferous plants should not be continuously grown in the same quarter—in other words, it would be prudent after an attack of Anbury not to repeat a cruciferous crop on the same ground, but to follow on with a crop of some other class.

Numerous experiments have shown that slaked lime can be relied on to destroy the spores of Finger-and-toe in infested land. An application of from fourteen to twenty-eight pounds per pole may suffice in the case of light soils, but fifty-six pounds per pole will not be too much on heavy land, and the dressing should be given either six or eighteen months before a Cabbage or Turnip crop is sown; the longer period is the more certain in its effect. Preference should be given to stone or rock lime over chalk lime. The former is much more powerful and efficient. It may be necessary to repeat the dressing twelve months after the first application. As regards the occurrence of Anbury in seed-beds, frequent transplantation is a very effectual mode of stopping its progress, for the little galls can be pinched off by the workman, and burned as he proceeds; and the plant, being invigorated by change of soil, will soon grow away from the affection. In transplanting Cabbages it is a good plan to discard and burn such plants as are obviously affected with Anbury. It is worthy of remark that in market-gardens this disease is by no means so prevalent as to interfere with the routine of cultivation, although the Cabbages, Broccoli, and Cauliflowers grown in these grounds are, under other circumstances, especially liable to attack. By 'other circumstances' we mean that market-gardens are generally kept under high cultivation, the land being perpetually turned and heavily manured; and these measures appear to be a preventive of Anbury, while they result in heavy crops. But on land less energetically tilled Anbury may prevail to such an extent as to interfere seriously with the order of cropping. Another very important mode of keeping down the pest consists in burning instead of burying the stumps and all other refuse of the crop that cannot be turned to account.

Confusion may be prevented if we point out that Club-root, Anbury, or Finger-and-toe—whichever name may be used—is quite distinct from an apparently similar malformation of the root which is sometimes induced by certain characteristics of soil, seed, or manure, and is in fact a case of reversion to the original wild type. Instead of a shapely, solid Turnip, the bulb is divided into a number of coarse, worthless tap-roots, caused by either poverty of the soil, careless cultivation, or a degenerated stock of seed. Those who save their own seed continuously for years are almost certain to become well acquainted with this malady. They will find a change of seed necessary, and at the same time an alteration in the routine of culture. A healthy, vigorous plant, derived from a pure seed-stock, does not easily make Finger-and-toe, but a sound root that stands for food and money.

'Grub.'—The wart-like growths formed upon the roots of Turnip and Cabbage by the little hard beetle known as the Turnip-gall Weevil, Ceutorhynchus pleurostigma, are also quite distinct from Finger-and-toe. By cutting across a malformed root of Turnip or Cabbage it is usually not difficult to determine the cause of the mischief. If it is Finger-and-toe the root will be found filled with decaying matter; in the case of Weevil attack the small legless maggots, commonly called 'Grub,' will be brought into view; and if it is merely an instance of reversion the cut root will appear to be healthy.

Potato Disease.—The fungus which causes the Potato Disease, or 'Blight' as it is sometimes called, was formerly known as Peronospora infestans; now it is recognised by scientific authorities as Phytophthora infestans. The mark of its pestilent touch on the foliage, and its destructive effect on the tubers, are unfortunately too familiar in gardens and on farms. In dry seasons its energies are restricted, but the scourge is never absent, and during wet summers the parasite may do its deadly work on such a vast scale as to cause a Potato famine. Moisture is a necessity of its existence, and in rotting haulm, decayed tubers, and damp soil the spores remain in a resting condition until they are afforded an opportunity of multiplying with the marvellous rapidity that invests the disease with its terrible power. A series of six illustrations, five of which are highly magnified, will enable the reader to follow the development of Phytophthora infestans.[1]



The illustration No. 1 shows a Potato leaf on a reduced scale disfigured by the attack of the fungus. The Phytophthora is sending mycelial threads (called hyphae) in all directions through the substance of the leaf, feeding on the protoplasm of the cells and destroying the chlorophyll, or leaf-green, in those cells.





No. 2 shows the fungal threads at work. In a diseased Potato plant these threads, or mycelial hyphae, make their way through the substance of the leaves, and down the haulm into the tubers, from which they consume the food stored there.

No. 3 exhibits the various stages of germination of one of the conidia of Phytophthora infestans: (a) the ripe conidium in water; (b) protoplasmic contents breaking up into blocks, which separate and escape (c and d) as minute kidney-shaped zoospores (e) each with two cilia; (f and g) the zoospore coming to rest and losing its cilia; (h, i, j, and k) successive stages of germination of the zoospore.



No. 4 represents a longitudinal section of Potato-stalk with germinating zoospore, the germ-tube of which has pierced the cell-wall, and is growing inside the cell, as shown at +.





No. 5 affords a view of another piece of tissue of the stem of a Potato plant, and shows the hyphae of Phytophthora infestans running in the cell-walls; (a) nucleus of a cell; the other contents shown are crystals and chlorophyll corpuscles.

No. 6 is a section of a Potato tuber: A, the cell-walls; B, the starch grains; C, the mycelial hyphae.

Spraying Potato plants twice or thrice with Bordeaux mixture has proved effective in warding off the attack of Phytophthora infestans, and the practice is now freely adopted, especially in humid districts. The first application should be given towards the end of June or early in July, immediately the haulm is sufficiently developed. The Bordeaux mixture is made in the proportion of four pounds of pure copper sulphate and two pounds of quicklime to forty gallons of water. The foregoing quantities will give what is known as the one per cent. mixture. For the two per cent. mixture the quantities of copper sulphate and quicklime must be doubled, but the amount of water should remain at forty gallons. In its effect on the fungus, however, little difference is to be found between the two solutions. The copper sulphate is stirred into a few gallons of hot water placed in a wooden tub or earthenware vessel. When quite dissolved, add twenty or thirty gallons of cold water. The lime, which must be freshly burnt quicklime, is then slaked in another vessel and thoroughly stirred with two or three gallons of water until it is of the consistency of thin cream. As soon as the liquid is quite cold, filter it through coarse sacking into the copper sulphate solution and add water to make a total of forty gallons. To be effective, Bordeaux mixture must be applied in the form of a fine spray, and not with a coarse-holed syringe.

The Burgundy mixture, the use of which is preferred by some, acts in a very similar manner to the Bordeaux mixture, and is made in the same way as the latter, except that washing soda (five pounds) is substituted for quicklime.

Those who leave Potatoes to rot in the ground because the crop is not worth digging, or who bury diseased haulm and tubers in a shallow trench, under the impression that it is a safe way of getting rid of worthless vegetation, are simply storing Phytophthora for another attack in the event of Potatoes being planted in the same land again. If buried at all, it must be at a considerable depth, but the effectual method is to destroy all Potato refuse by fire.

Wart Disease (Black Scab) of Potatoes (Synchytrium endobioticum, Percival).—This extremely infectious and destructive disease of the Potato has been given a variety of names in different parts of the country, but it is now generally known as the Wart or Cauliflower Disease, the latter term being attributable to the Cauliflower-like appearance of the outgrowth of the fungus. This outgrowth first shows in the eyes of the young Potato in the form of small wrinkled warts. These multiply and combine, thus creating a dark spongy scab which eventually decomposes. Where the disease is very rife it attacks haulm as well as tubers, and a yellowish-green mass may sometimes be found just above or just below the surface of the soil. As a rule, however, no outward indication of its existence is to be seen in the crop during the early stages of growth, but towards the end of the season the haulm of badly diseased plants often retains a fresh green appearance when the foliage of others, which are healthy or only slightly attacked, is dying off.

Infection is perhaps most commonly spread by the planting of diseased tubers. Another frequent means of dissemination is caused by consigning infected haulm to the waste heap instead of to the fire. The spores may also be introduced in manure from animals fed on diseased Potatoes in a raw state, and they may even be carried from one plot to another on garden implements or the boots of those who walk across infected ground. Immediately any sign of the disease is observed it should be dealt with promptly and in no uncertain manner. Every particle of the infected material must be carefully collected and burned. Dig out the soil around all diseased plants and burn this also. On infected land it is important that some crop other than Potatoes be taken in the season following the outbreak, and, if possible, such land should not be used for Potatoes for at least five or six years. But where garden space is limited, a contaminated plot may have to be requisitioned for Potatoes within two or three years. In such cases it is an excellent plan to dust the sets freely with sulphur at the time of planting and to repeat the application before earthing up.

Although for some years the unremitting labour of experts has been devoted to the investigation of Wart Disease, and innumerable experiments have been undertaken, no effectual remedy has yet been discovered. It has been found, however, that certain Potatoes are resistant to the disease, and by order of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries none but 'immune' varieties may be planted in districts scheduled as infected areas. A notification of the existence of Wart Disease must be made to the Ministry immediately it is observed.

Leaf Spot of Celery.—This disease, which is caused by a minute fungus (Septoria apii, Chester), is capable of inflicting serious damage to the Celery crop unless prompt measures are taken to exterminate it. The first sign of its appearance is to be found in the leaves in the form of small brown patches. These are, however, quite distinct from the spots deficient of leaf-green due to the attack of the Celery Fly larvae, and on close examination may be recognised by the presence of a number of very small black points. From the leaves the fungus quickly spreads over the leaf-stalks and finally to the heart of the plant, ending in its total collapse. So rapid is the multiplication of the spores, especially in moist weather, that a few diseased plants are capable of infecting a large plot within two or three weeks. Immediately discoloration of a leaf is noticed the affected portion of the plant should be picked off. If the stage of the disease is so far advanced that the outer leaf-stalks have become decayed, the entire plant should be removed and destroyed. It is of the utmost importance that every particle of diseased material be consigned to the fire and not to the waste heap. Spraying three or four times with Bordeaux mixture at intervals of two or three weeks may be helpful in the case of a light attack, but the safest course always is to remove and destroy any plant on which the fungus is found. One of the most frequent means of introducing Leaf Spot of Celery is through the use of infected seed, and therefore only seed which has been treated for the destruction of the fungus should be sown.

Lettuce Mildew.—This fungus is named Bremia lactucae, formerly known as Peronospora ganglioniformis, and is sometimes of the most destructive character. It covers Lettuce leaves with a fine white bloom, which decomposes the leaves, and makes them adhere together in one putrescent mass. It should be looked for in its earliest stages, and be hand-picked and burned. Old Lettuce stumps should likewise be pulled and burned, otherwise they may harbour the disease.

Onion Mildew is caused by the fungus Peronospora Schleideni, which is occasionally disastrous in its effects, more especially in cold, wet seasons. It occurs at uncertain intervals of time with extraordinary virulence, and then utterly destroys the crops. Autumn sowing is considered a good preventive by many growers, as the disease is frequently fatal to spring seedlings. In its early stages the mildew may be successfully dealt with by freely dusting the plants with flowers of sulphur when wet with dew, or by the application of sulphide of potassium in the proportion of one ounce to a gallon of water. Otherwise all diseased material should be removed and burned.

Pea Disease.—Although garden Peas often suffer badly from the attacks of Peronospora viciae, which is the cause of Pea Mould, yet the most deadly foe to Peas, especially late Peas, is a fungus of a totally different character. To such an extent does the Pea Blight sometimes devastate the later Peas, particularly in dry summers, that the whole crop is in some gardens completely annihilated. The name of the fungus of the Pea Blight or Mildew is Erysiphe Martii. Its attack is often made suddenly; the leaves then lose their natural green colour, and become yellowish and densely coated with a fine white bloom; this bloom becomes at length dusted over with innumerable minute black bodies, which look, under a lens, like tiny spiders'-eggs in the web. These little black bodies are filled with extremely small transparent vessels, and each vessel contains from four to eight spores or seeds. Our illustration shows this Erysiphe enlarged one hundred diameters, with two of the vessels containing the spores removed from the globular spots and further enlarged. The only safe way of dealing with infested Pea plants is to burn them. Many other species of fungi belonging to the same genus attack fruit trees, vegetables, and garden flowers. It is, however, unnecessary to illustrate them, as they more or less resemble the fungus of Pea Blight. They all arise from an Oidium condition, similar to the Oidium or Mildew of the Vine, and it is in this condition alone, as in the case of the Vine, that they can be reached by any fungicide.



Tomato Diseases.—The Tomato, like its near relative, the Potato, is subject to a number of destructive diseases which spread rapidly if allowed to become established. The most serious of these epidemics are found among crops cultivated under glass, where the forcing treatment which they often receive, and the soil and atmospheric conditions, render the plants abnormally susceptible to the attacks of fungi and insect pests. Perhaps the most virulent forms of disease with which the Tomato-grower is troubled arise from the attacks of parasitic fungi and bacteria, among which the following are most frequently met with:—

SLEEPY DISEASE, or TOMATO WILT.—In its outward symptoms and effects this disease somewhat resembles an attack of Root-knot Eelworm, but the swellings are absent from the root. The plants for a time appear quite vigorous and healthy, but when full-grown they suddenly wilt and die within a few days. The malady is caused by the fungus Fusarium lycopersici, which first invades the roots and ultimately eats its way through the substance of the collar or stem near the surface of the soil, in consequence of which the supply of water taken up by the roots is cut off from the leaves above ground and the plant collapses. There is no remedy for the Sleepy Disease of Tomato, and plants which bear evidence of infection should be carefully dug up and burned.

TOMATO 'STRIPE.'—This disease of the Tomato is comparatively common, and although the attacks are sometimes slight its ravages may be disastrous when conditions are favourable for its development. The presence of Tomato Stripe is usually first noticed about the time fruit is forming. The stems of the diseased plants then exhibit dark spots and elongated sunken stripes of a brown tint, and yellow patches, which turn brown later, appear on the leaves. Brown pits or depressions develop on the fruits and spoil their appearance. The disease has been traced to the action of a bacterium which closely resembles, or is identical with, that causing Stripe among Sweet Peas. This organism probably resides in the soil, and the signs of its attack are often visible in young plants. In severe cases the soil of the house should be removed and replaced with fresh loam. But when only slight traces of the disease are apparent, partial sterilisation of the soil by means of carbolic acid, as recommended for Root-knot Eelworm on page 425, may be adopted. One of the surest means of guarding against losses by Stripe disease, is to promote robust healthy growth, and to avoid extreme forcing conditions, particularly by the excessive use of nitrogenous manures. Where, however, forcing manures may have been employed in too large a quantity, an application of potash (in the form of kainit or sulphate of potash) and phosphatic fertilisers should be given to counteract the effect of the nitrogen. Immediately any trace of the disease is found, remove the affected part of the plant, if it is possible to do so without serious injury, but otherwise the entire plant should be uprooted and destroyed by fire. It should be remembered that the organism can be carried on the fingers and on tools, and therefore knives with which affected plants have been trimmed should be sterilised with lysol or some other antiseptic solution before being used on healthy plants.

TOMATO-LEAF RUST.—The leaves of the plant attacked by this disease rapidly become covered with a dull brownish velvety mould, or fungus, known as Cladosporium fulvum. From the mouldy spots and patches thousands of spores are readily carried by a slight current of air to the surrounding healthy crop, and unless prompt measures are taken to check the pest the whole house is rapidly involved. Excessive atmospheric moisture encourages the mould, and it is spread extensively if diseased plants are sprayed with water in the presence of healthy ones. Judicious management in air-giving, which is one of the fundamental principles of successful Tomato culture, will do much to prevent the attack of Cladosporium fulvum. Under regular examination the presence of the disease will be revealed before considerable damage can be inflicted, and when only a few leaves are affected, carefully remove and consign them to the fire. Spraying with the Bordeaux mixture at half the usual strength is recommended when the disease is first noticed. When the plants are bearing flowers or fruit, fungicides containing copper must not be used, but a solution of liver of sulphur, one ounce dissolved in six gallons of water, employed instead.

ROOT-KNOT EELWORM.—A dangerous insect pest which frequently attacks the Tomato, in common with the Cucumber and Melon, is the Root-knot Eelworm (Heterodera radicicola). The root on which the swollen pea-like knots develop do not carry on their ordinary functions, and the leaves droop, the stem becomes limp, and the whole plant soon collapses and dies if the trouble is severe. The treatment suggested on page 425 should be adopted.

Sometimes the outdoor Tomato crop is attacked by Phytophthora infestans, the fungus responsible for the Potato Disease: Bordeaux mixture should be used to check it.

Directions for preparing the Bordeaux mixture are given on page 440.

Another useful preparation which checks many fungus diseases may be made by dissolving one ounce of potassium sulphide (liver of sulphur) in three or four gallons of water, to which should be added an ounce or two of soft soap. The last named greatly assists in the complete and uniform wetting of all parts of the foliage.





THE FUNGUS PESTS OF CERTAIN FLOWERS

Cineraria and Senecio Disease.—Senecio pulcher, soon after its introduction into England, was attacked, and in some gardens completely destroyed, by a fungus named Puccinia glomerata, or rather the Uredo stage of this fungus with simple, not compound, spores. The fungus is well known, being closely allied to that which causes the rust or mildew of corn crops. It is very common on the wild species of Groundsel in England, being especially frequent and virulent on the Ragwort Groundsel, Senecio Jacobea, from August to October. The leaves of infected plants are covered with rust-coloured dusty pustules, the Uredo condition of the fungus, and known in this stage as Uredo senecionis, sometimes termed Trichobasis senecionis. The fungus has a Puccinia stage of growth very similar to that of the Hollyhock fungus, Puccinia malvacearum.



At A is illustrated a fragment of a leaf of Senecio pulcher, natural size, and covered with the orange-coloured fungus; at B a small part of a Uredo pustule as seen bursting through the cuticle of the Senecio leaf.

No remedial measures for the extirpation of this fungus are known, but as garden Senecios and Cinerarias are infected by diseased plants of Wild Groundsel, it is desirable that plants of the latter (especially when diseased) should be destroyed. Weeds in and about gardens are a common cause of disease in cultivated plants. It often happens that a weed, being sturdy, is only slightly inconvenienced when attacked, whilst a cultivated plant will speedily succumb if attacked by the same fungus. This is the case in the Sempervivum disease. In this country the common House Leek is the nurse-plant, and is seldom much injured; but if the disease Endophyllum sempervivi gets among greenhouse species, every plant may be utterly destroyed.





Gladiolus, Crocus, Narcissus, and Lily Diseases.—In certain soils and situations where the ground is heavy and the atmosphere inclined to be humid the Gladiolus is very subject to a destructive fungoid disease. This is especially the case during unusually wet summers. The disease attacks the corm, and corrodes and decomposes the tissues, so that on cutting open a corm the whole interior, or such parts as are diseased, will be found permeated with a deep, foxy colour. It is believed by some persons that one stage of this disease is identical with the disease named 'Tacon' by the French, and in this country known as 'Copper Web,' Rhizoctonia crocorum. This Rhizoctonia is a mere spawn or mycelium, a mass of rusty-brown material like a thick coating of spider's web of a red tint. This parasite attacks the Crocus (especially C. sativus), the Narcissus, Asparagus, Potato, and other plants. Immersed in the softer and damper portions of the red substance of the corm may frequently be found great numbers of large compound spores, as illustrated at A (enlarged two hundred and fifty diameters). These bodies belong to the fungus named Urocystis gladioli; but whether they really belong to the spawn named Rhizoctonia there is no conclusive evidence, as the spores have never been seen on the threads or upon any spawn. The spores are very ornamental objects, consisting of from three to six compacted inner brown bodies, surrounded by an indefinite number of transparent cells. At maturity these spores break up as at B, and are the means of reproducing the fungus.

The Colchicum is attacked by a closely allied but different species of Urocystis—viz. U. colchici. The Ranunculaceae are attacked by another ally in U. pompholygodes and Rye is attacked by a third in U. occulta. No method of cure has yet been published for this pest; it is, however, desirable that only sound and good corms should be planted, for if infected corms are placed in the ground it is one certain means of propagating the disease. The bars shown across the illustration of this disease are magnificent crystals, very common in Gladiolus corms.

Lilies are very subject to a disease in early summer: the leaves get spotted and damp, and rot off; the flower buds speedily follow, and leave the bare stalk. The disease of Lilies is caused by a fungus closely allied to the fungus of the Potato disease, and named Ovularia elliptica, known also as Botrytis elliptica (see illustration C). The spores are large, and produce zoospores, or spores with hair-like tails (cilia), capable of swimming about in water or upon moist places. This pest attacks a large number of species of Lilium, both before and after flowering. Hyacinthus candicans and some Tulips suffer from a very similar, if not the same, organism. This fungus has been described as a true Peronospora. Bulbs are subject to many fungus growths as Volutella hyacinthorum, Didymium Sowerbei, &c.; many fungi follow the decay of the bulb, others undoubtedly produce or greatly accelerate decay. No remedy is known, but we advise the purchase of the soundest and best bulbs. Good drainage and sufficient air are indispensable. All infected foliage and stems should be burned.

Disease of Hollyhocks and Malvaceous Plants.—In some parts of England the cultivation of the Hollyhock had at one time quite ceased owing to the attacks of a microscopic fungus named Puccinia malvacearum. In gardens and nurseries, where years ago Hollyhocks were one of the chief ornaments of the place, it became impossible to grow a single plant. The disease is not confined to the Hollyhock, for it attacks many malvaceous plants, notably the Mallows of our hedgesides. We have seen plants of the white variety of the Musk Mallow (Malva moschata) totally destroyed by this parasite. The home of the Hollyhock fungus is Chili, whence the Potato fungus reached us. The Hollyhock fungus first attacked the malvaceous plants of Australia, and then reached England in 1873 by the continent of Europe. The best and cleanest seeds of the Hollyhock should be purchased.



A fragment of a Hollyhock leaf is illustrated at A, dotted with the characteristic brown pustules; these pustules cover the stems as well as the leaves. At B is shown the edge of a pustule enlarged one hundred diameters and seen in section; to show the whole of a pustule in section from six inches to a foot of space would be required. Bursting through the skin of the plant may be seen a dense forest of threads, each thread bearing a spore with a joint across the middle. One pustule alone will produce thousands of these double spores. At C some of the threads and spores are still further enlarged to two hundred diameters, and at D one ripe spore is shown falling from the thread and breaking asunder—each piece is a reproductive body or spore. When mature, these minute spores or 'seeds' are carried in the air by millions. At E one of the compound spores is enlarged to four hundred diameters. As this disease is seated within the tissues of the plant, remedies are difficult of application, and in many cases attempts at cure have failed. No doubt the fungus is nursed by malvaceous weeds. Infected Hollyhock plants and allied weeds should be destroyed by fire or by deep burying.

Poppy Disease.—Garden Poppies are often attacked by a fungus pest closely allied to the fungus of the Potato disease, and named Peronospora arborescens. It grows sometimes in abundance on the common Red Poppy of cornfields (Papaver Rhoeas), and it badly attacks P. somniferum and all its garden varieties. The fungus grows within the leaves, and emerges with a tree-like growth through the organs of transpiration (the stomates) on the under side of the leaves. Like the fungus of the Potato disease, it speedily sets up decomposition, and destroys the host-plant.



At A is illustrated one of the stems of the Poppy Peronospora emerging from the leaf, enlarged seventy-five diameters. The fungus of the Poppy is very much more branched than that of the Potato, and every minute branchlet carries a spore. To save confusion, a large number of spores are omitted from the branchlets in the illustration, and the branches growing from the stem both before and behind are for the same reason left out. At B a tip of a single branch is shown further enlarged to four hundred diameters. The spores in the Poppy fungus are unusually large and numerous: an infected plant will throw off many millions of such spores. All the putrefactive spawn of this fungus is inside the host-plant; cure, therefore, is difficult. This disease, like every other plant disease, is always at its worst in ill-kept places where red field Poppies are abundant. Field Poppies are often sown with unclean corn. As prevention is better than cure, all we can advise is, buy the best and cleanest garden and field seeds, cultivate in the best way, and look out for and burn, or deeply bury as soon as detected, all disease-stricken plants, whether wild or cultivated. When diseased plants of any sort are left to decay on the refuse-heap, it is the most certain way of propagating a plant disease for the next year.

Diseases of Violets.—Violets are subject to fungoid diseases, both in spring and autumn. The disease of autumn is caused by the brown Puccinia violae, allied to the P. graminis of Corn and to the P. malvacearum of Hollyhocks and various malvaceous plants. The Puccinia of Violets has its yellowish or orange-coloured stage; it is then known as Trichobasis, or Uredo violarum. In spring and early summer Violets are often badly affected by a fungus named AEcidium violae, which is apparently identical, however, with Puccinia violae. This disease attacks leaves, stems, and sepals, and it is best examined on the leaves. In this position it is seen to consist of a considerable number of minute yellow pustules, each pustule less in size than a pin's head, and all congregated into one flat circular mass of about a quarter of an inch in diameter. This pest is very frequent on the Dog Violet, but it is perhaps equally common on the Sweet Violets of our gardens in early spring, and it not infrequently spreads to other species of Viola. One of the most destructive pests of Violas is found in AEcidium depauperans, so called because its effect is first to starve and attenuate, and then to totally destroy, plants of Viola cornuta. It is a close ally of Ae. violae, but it differs in having its minute cups or pustules irregularly distributed all over the green parts of the host-plant instead of being congregated in circular patches, as in Ae. violae. Our illustration shows, at A, a small portion of the stem of Viola cornuta attacked by AEcidium depauperans. The minute pustules are seen (natural size) distributed all over the stem, leaf-stalks, and ruined leaves; the effect of the fungus growth is to decompose the tissues of the plant. At B, a transverse section through the stem is illustrated and magnified twenty diameters. The section cuts through several of the abscess-like pustules, and it is seen how completely embedded they are in the flesh of the plant. At C, a pustule is seen in section, enlarged sixty diameters to show more clearly the innumerable spores, or 'seeds,' disposed in necklace-like fashion, which are destined to reproduce the pest in future seasons. Another disease of Violets in autumn is caused by a fungus named Urocystis violae. This fungus causes gouty swellings to form on the stalks and principal veins. These swellings at length burst, exhibit black patches, and discharge sooty spores. The fungoid disease named Phyllosticta violae is frequently common on Violet leaves in June. In this the spots are whitish. No cure is known, and it is always well to burn or deeply bury all infected leaves or plants.







INDEX

Abronia, 373

Abutilon, 228, 365, 373

Achimenes, 228, 320, 360

Acidia heraclei, 420

Aconite, Winter, 353, 410

Acroclinium, 373

AEcidium depauperans, 452 —— violae, 451

Agapanthus, 320, 400

Agaricus campestris, 84

Allium, 321 —— ascalonicum, 129 —— Cepa, 92 —— Porrum, 73 —— sativum, 63 —— Schoenoprasum, 66

Alonsoa, 229, 398

Alpine Strawberry, 137, 159, 170

Alstroemeria, 321, 400

Althaea rosea, 271

Alyssum, 373, 397

Amaryllis, 229, 340, 360, 401

American Blight, 418 —— Cress, 54

Anbury, 146, 434

Anchusa, 386

Anemone, 229, 321, 365, 390, 401, 407

Angelica, 65 —— Archangelica, 65

Annuals, 220, 385 —— classified according to colour, 222 —— Half-hardy, 226 —— Hardy, 226, 364, 372, 380, 396, 407 —— Tender, 227 —— under glass, 225, 397

Annual Chrysanthemum, 250, 373, 397, 398

Anthriscus Cerefolium, 66

Antirrhinum, 230, 360, 386, 395, 397

Ants, 428

Aphis, 416 —— Bean, 417 —— Pea, 417 —— rumicis, 417

Apium graveolens, 47

April work among Flowers, 380 —— —— in the Vegetable Garden, 172

Aquilegia, 231, 365, 390

Artemisia Absinthium, 71 —— Dracunculus, 71

Artichoke, Chinese, 132 —— Globe, 4, 153, 160, 165, 172, 188, 194 —— Jerusalem, 6, 161, 165, 194

Artificial Manures, and their application to Garden Crops, 210

Asparagus, 7, 154, 166, 172, 177, 182, 194 —— Greenhouse Foliage varieties, 232, 366 —— officinalis, 7

Asperula, 373, 397

Aster, 232, 373, 380, 398 —— sub-caeruleus, 386

Aubergine, 61

Aubrietia, 235, 386

August work among Flowers, 396 —— —— in the Vegetable Garden, 188

Auricula, 236, 366, 374

Australian Oak, 271

Autumn Broccoli, 31

Babiana, 323, 401

Balm, 66

Balsam, 237, 374, 381, 386, 390 —— Sultan's, 273

Barbarea praecox, 54

Barbe de Capucin, 122

Barberton or Transvaal Daisy, 266

Bartonia, 373

Basil, Bush, 66

—— Sweet, 66

Bastard Trenching, 112

Bean Aphis, 417

—— Broad, 16, 154, 161, 166, 172, 195, 196

—— Butter, 24

—— Climbing French, 21, 161, 173, 178, 183, 186

—— Dwarf French 17, 161, 173, 177, 183, 185, 186

—— Flageolets, 20, 178

—— Haricot, 22, 178

—— Runner, 22, 178, 183

—— Waxpod, 24

Beet, Garden 24, 122, 161, 156, 173, 178, 185, 193

—— Silver, or Sea Kale, 27

—— Spinach, 132, 170, 176

Begonia, Fibrous-rooted, 240, 361

—— Tuberous-rooted 238, 323, 360, 366, 391, 401

Bell Flower, 244

Bellis perennis, 260

Belvidere, 274

Bermuda Lily, 341

Beta Cicla, 132

—— vulgaris, 24

Biennials, Hardy, 227, 364, 386, 396

Bird Pepper, 40

Black Bot, 131

—— Fly, 416

—— Scab of Potatoes, 440

Blacksmiths, 431

Blight, American. . .418

Blue Fly, 416

—— Squill, 348

Borage, 66

Borago officinalis, 66

Bordeaux mixture, 440

Border, Warm, 196

Borecole, 27, 176

Brassica oleracea acephala, 27

—— —— botrytis asparagoides, 29 —— —— —— caulifiora, 44 —— —— bullata, 38 —— —— ——- gemmifera, 33 —— —— capitata, 35 —— —— Caulo-rapa, 72 —— —— costata, 53 —— Rapa, 144

Bremia lactucae, 442

Broad Bean, 16, 154, 161, 166, 172, 195, 196

Broccoli, 29, 161, 166, 173,178, 183, 186, 188, 195

Brompton Stock, 301, 394

Brussels Sprouts, 33, 161, 166, 173, 178

Bug, Mealy, 425

Bulbs, Flowering, Culture of, 317

—— growing in Moss-fibre, 319, 335, 345, 352

—— in Store, 413

Burgundy mixture, 440

Bush Basil, 66

Butter Bean, 24

Butterfly Flower, 296

Cabbage, 35, 154, 161, 166, 173, 178, 183, 185, 186, 188, 191, 193

—— Flea, 422

—— Lettuce, 75, 169, 180

—— Portugal, 53, 162

—— Red, 38, 166, 174, 188

—— Root Fly, 421

—— Savoy, 38, 163, 181

Cacalia, 373

Calandrinia, 373, 397

Calceolaria, Herbaceous, 240, 374, 391, 395, 401

—— Shrubby, 243, 366

Calendula, 373

—— officinalis, 67, 278, 397

Callistephus sinensis, 232

Campanula, 243, 366, 386, 396

—— Rapunculus, 70

Canary Creeper, 308, 383

Candytuft, 373, 386, 397

Canna, 246, 361, 392

Canterbury Bell, 245, 381

Cape Primrose, 302

Capsicum, 39, 161, 178, 183

——annuum, 39

——baccatum, 39

Cardoon, 40, 174, 186, 188, 193

Carnation, 247, 362, 381, 398

Carrot, 41, 166, 174, 178, 185,186, 193, 195

—— Fly, 419

—— Moth, 419

Carum Petroselinum, 68

Castor-oil Plant, 293, 371

Catchfly, 298, 400

Caterpillars, 428

Cauliflower 44, 154, 161, 166, 174, 178, 183, 185, 188, 191, 193, 195

Cayenne Pepper, 40

Celeriac, 51, 122, 166, 193

Celery 47, 122, 166, 174, 179, 183, 186, 189, 191, 193, 195, 196 —— Fly, 51, 419 —— Leaf Spot of, 442

Celosia cristata, 254 —— plumosa, 248, 367

Centranthus, 373

Ceutorhynchus pleurostigma, 437

Chards, 5, 124, 186, 191

Cheiranthus Allionii, 386, 397 —— Cheiri, 310

Chemistry of Garden Crops, 202

Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus, 84

Chervil, 122, 174 —— Curled, 66, 122

Chicory, 52, 122, 183, 193

Chili, 39, 161

Chimney Campanula, 244

Chinese Artichoke, 132 —— Primrose, 291 —— Sacred Lily, 346

Chionodoxa, 325, 398

Chives, 66, 122, 167

Chrysanthemum, 249, 362, 373, 381, 386, 397, 398

Cichorium Endivia, 61 —— Intybus, 52

Cineraria, 250, 362, 387, 392, 398 —— Disease, 447 —— Intermediate, 252 —— stellata, 252

Cladosporium fulvum, 445

Clarkia, 253, 373, 397, 398

Cleaning Old Pots, 357

Clerodendron fallax, 254, 375

Click-Beetle, 431

Climbing French Bean, 21, 161, 173, 178, 183, 186

Club, 434

Cochlearia Armoracia, 72

Cockscomb, 254, 367 —— Plumed, 248

Coleus, 255, 375, 387

Coleworts, 36, 178, 183

Collinsia, 373, 397

Collomia, 373

Columbine, 231

Common Thyme, 71

Convallaria majalis, 342

Convolvulus minor, 373

Coreopsis, 373, 386, 397

Corn Flag, 267 —— Salad, 53, 122, 161, 185, 189

Cornflower, 373, 397

Cos Lettuce, 75, 169, 184

Cosmea, 256, 367

Cosmos, 256

Couve Tronchuda, 53, 162

Crambe maritima, 125

Crane Fly, 424

Cress, 54, 123, 154, 185 —— American, 54 —— Indian, 308 —— Land, 54 —— Water, 54, 123, 171

Crocus, 325, 401, 407 —— Disease, 448

Crops, Garden, Chemistry of, 202 —— Rotation of, 198

Crown Imperial, 326, 402

Cucumber, 55, 123, 154, 167, 179, 183, 187, 189, 191 —— Pickling, 183 —— Ridge, 60, 179, 187 —— Root-knot Eelworm, 424 —— Winter, 58

Cucumis Melo, 80 —— sativus, 55

Cucurbita, 63 —— Pepo ovifera, 147

Culture of Flowering Bulbs, 317 —— of Flowers from Seeds, 216 —— of Vegetables, 1

Curled Chervil, 66, 122

Cutting Flowers, 260

Cyclamen, 256, 326, 362, 382, 387, 396, 398, 402, 407, 410

Cynara Cardunculus, 40 —— Scolymus, 4

Cynoglossum, 386

Dactylopius odonidum, 425

Daddy Longlegs, 424

Daffodils, 344, 405

Dahlia, 258, 367, 382, 387

Daisy, Barberton or Transvaal, 266 —— Double, 260, 392 —— Orange, 263 —— Ox-eye, 250, 381

Dandelion, 60, 123, 180

Daucus Carota, 41

Day Lily, Japanese, 343

December work among Flowers, 412

—— —— in the Vegetable Garden, 196

Delphinium, 261, 387

Depressaria cicutella, 419

Dianthus, 262, 367, 375, 393, 398

—— barbatus, 307

—— Caryophyllus fl. pl., 247, 287

—— plumarius, 288

Digitalis, 262, 386

Dimorphotheca, 263, 373, 375, 398

Disease, Cineraria, 447

—— Crocus, 448

—— Gladiolus, 448

—— Hollyhock, 449

—— Lily, 448

—— Narcissus, 448

—— Pea, 443

—— Poppy, 450

—— Potato, 117, 437

—— Senecio, 447

—— Tomato, 443

—— Violet, 451

—— Wart, of Potatoes, 44

Dog's-tooth Violet, 327, 402

Double Daisy, 260, 392

Drainage of Pots, 358

Dwarf French Bean, 17, 161, 173, 177, 183, 185, 186

Earwigs, 428

Easter Lily, 341

Eelworm, Root-knot, 424, 445

Egg Plant, 61, 162

Elater lineatus, 431

—— obscurus, 431

—— ruficaudis, 431

Endive, 61, 123, 174, 183, 185, 187, 189, 191, 193, 197

Erysimum, 373, 397

Erysiphe Martii, 443

Eschscholtzia, 264, 373, 397

Eutoca, 373

Faba vulgaris, 16

Feather Hyacinth, 336, 408

February work among Flowers, 364

—— —— in the Vegetable Garden, 160

Fennel, 66, 174

Ferraria, 350, 379

Fibrous-rooted Begonia, 240, 361

Finger-and-toe, 434

Finocchio, 67

Flageolets, 20, 178

Flea, Cabbage, 422

Florence Fennel, 67

Flower of the West Wind, 354

Flowering Bulbs, Culture of, 317

Flowers all the Year Round, 355

—— from Seeds, Culture of, 216

Fly, Black, 416

—— Blue, 416