258 THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [November, 



BLUE HYDRANGEAS. 



' OME attention is just now being turned to Blue Hydrangeas, and the cause 

 of the flowers assuming this tint. I have recently returned from a tour 

 in Ireland, and in the course of visiting some of the gardens that came in 

 my way, I found many examples of blue-flowered Hydrangeas, especially 

 in the southern districts of that country. At one place in particular, in county 

 Waterford, namely, Messrs. Grant's, Kilmurrey, near Cappoquin, there were to be 

 seen some magnificent bushes of Hydrangeas, planted — so Mr. Grant informed 

 me — more than forty years since. There were masses of bloom to be seen on the 

 occasion of my visit, but a large proportion of the flowers were beautifully tinted 

 with blue. Oxide of iron largely prevails in the soil in this part of Ireland, and 

 to the presence of that salt, no doubt, may be traced the blue tint in the flowers. 

 This, at any rate, was the opinion of the leading horticulturists of the district. 

 Cuttings taken from branches wholly bearing blue flowers produced only pink 

 blossoms when blooming in pots ; but when planted out in the open ground, in 

 the course of two or three years, when the roots began to penetrate the soil, they 

 yielded the blue tint, as in the case of the older plants. 



At Muckross, the residence of Captain the Hon. A. Herbert, M.P., on the 

 banks of the Muckross Lake, Killarney, the Blue Hydrangeas were quite 

 a feature in the fine grounds surrounding the house. This was about a 

 hundred miles west of Cappoquin, and yet the same cause was assigned. If the 

 blue could only be retained under any circumstances of cultivation, it would be a 

 real acquisition. At present, it appears to be beyond the range of practical 

 horticulture to obtain this fixity of character. Quo. 



THE CURRANT-BUD DISEASE. 



JTTENTION has during the last few years been directed to a disease to 



which the buds of Black Currant trees are subject in spring. This 



disease has been traced to the presence, between the scales of which the 



bud consists, of large numbers of a minute insect, which lives by sucking 



out the fluid matter of the tissues, thus causing the bud-scales to shrivel, and 



in this way preventing the development of the embryo bunch of flowers which 



they enclose. We condense the following notice of this microscopic pest from 



Professor Westwood's communication to the Gardeners' Chronicle, (1868, 641) : — 



The Currant-bud insect is of a very unusual form, being long, convex, and tapering to the 

 extremity of the body, whilst the anterior portion is of a more conical form when the head is 

 protruded in walking. The head is distinct and oval. Neither eyes nor antennae have been 

 observed ; and locomotion is effected by means of two pair3 only of articulated legs, the 

 penultimate joint of which is furnished with a long bristle on its outer edge. The body is 

 white and fleshy, and is covered with minute points, closely arranged in very numerous 

 transverse rows, forming striae of granular lines ; and it is terminated on either side by a long 

 bristle. In the annexed woodcut, fig. a represents a bud highly magnified, with the outer 

 scales partially opened, showing a few of the parasites, which, on an average, are individually 

 not more than l-200th of an inch in length, and l-500th of an inch in width ; fig. b represents 



