252 THE FLORIST. 



general stop them for that season ; at least it is not often requisite to go 

 over the bushes twice during one season. Wlien this simple plan is 

 annually persevered in, little injury need be apprehended from the 

 Gooseberry caterpillar. 



I am perfectly aware there is nothing very new or original in the 

 application of white hellebore ; I am also fully persuaded many persons 

 cannot- know how efficacious it is in the destruction of the Gooseberry 

 caterpillar ; otherwise we should not hear so many inquiries as to the 

 best means of getting rid of them. It is as cheap a remedy as any 

 that can be adopted. White hellebore can be purchased at any 

 druggist's for about two shillings per lb., and half a pound is sufficient 

 to dust all the trees in any garden ; indeed, a quarter of a pound will 

 be sufficient, if the trees be done as soon as the caterpillars are first 

 observed. 



M. Saul. 



SKETCHES OF NATURE IN THE ALPS. 

 Friedrich von Tschudi, the author of these, draws a broad panoramic 

 view of the Alpine range — the forelands and the ridges — the lower 

 regions full of scenic effects — forests and meadows, springs, streams, 

 cascades, villages nursed in the lap of valleys, roads that rise upon the 

 mountains, and lakes that lie in the hollows, with a faint, changing 

 glow on tlie surface of the water. Even to these seclusions, he says, 

 the Fon of Africa penetrates like a warm breath, colouring the clouds 

 with purple, the outline of tbe moon with red, the background of tlie 

 hills with violet. Here the Vine flourishes, the Chesnut, the Mul- 

 berry, with corn and vegetables — but above this line are only woods 

 and flowery pastures. In the second zone — between the forests and 

 the beds and masses of eternal snow — are the high vales, at intervals 

 bright with fields, and alive with the hamlets of the peasantry, but in 

 general dreary and monotonous. 



" The Alpine flowers,'' Tschudi remarks, " have a remarkably deep 

 and vivid colouring. The most brilliant blues and reds, with a rich 

 brown shading to black, are observable amidst the white and yellow 

 fliowers of the low countries, and these tints likewise seem to assume a 

 purer and more dazzling hue in these high regions. A similar richness 

 of colouring is met with in the vegetation of Polar districts, where the 

 hues not only become more fiery, but ■ undergo a complete alteration 

 under the influence of the constant summer light and the rays of the 

 midnight sun, white and violet being often deepened into a glowing 

 purple. The Alpine plants often grow in dense masses, and their 

 extraordinary splendour of colouring lends consequently that magic 

 charm to the fresh green turf which renders the pasture lands of the 

 High Alps so famous. Their balsamic fragrance is no less remarkable 

 and characteristic ; from the brilliant Auricula down to the Violet- 

 scented Moss (Byssus colithes) this strong aromatic property is widely 

 prevalent, and far more so than in the lowlands. As further charac- 



