372 



' GARDENING. 



Sept. 



drained places. In fact, aside from this 

 object, these cedars prefer a dryish situa- 

 tion to any other. The shelter of large 

 trees in winter is a help to them. 

 Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



TRUMPET VINES. 



( Tecomas. ) 



At this season of theyearwhen trumpet 

 vines add so much to the beauty of our 

 gardens, a few words in regard to them 

 will not be amiss. About this city there 

 are three sorts flowering now, our native 

 radicans, one called Tlnmbergii and the 

 Chinese species, grandiflora. All are 

 flowering at the same time, and their 

 bright colored flowers are a great attrac- 

 tion. 



In regard to the color of the flowers, 

 radicans, which in general is called scar- 

 let, is hardly of deep enough color for 



all the species are, it is a common vine 

 about many dwellings, one friend digging 

 up a sucker from the root and giving it 

 to another. There seems some uncer- 

 tainty about the origin of the crimson 

 one, Thunbergii. A Philadelphia nursery- 

 man received the original plant from 

 Germany. It is of the radicans type, has 

 the same thick calyx and long tube. The 

 deeper red flowers, and corolla rather 

 more reflexed at the mouth, are the prin- 

 cipal differences. 



All three of these tecomas are among 

 the showiest flowers of summer. Planted 

 as vines they usually grow on without 

 flowering until they reach the top of what 

 thev are planted to. Then the direction 

 is turned towards flowering. 



I have in previous notes spoken of the 

 beautiful ornaments these vines make 

 when planted as shrubs. With a stake 



Wade sends, and which were found prey- 

 ing upon hickory tre.s at Oakmont, Pa., 

 belong to the species known as the hick- 

 ory bark-borer, Scolytus j-spiitosus. 

 Ordinarily this species attacks only dead 

 or unhealthy trees, and it is possible, in 

 the present case, that the trees were 

 dying from some other cause before the 

 beetles appeared. 



"The parent beetles issue from the bark 

 toward the end of June and in the early 

 part of July and again enter a tree through 

 the bark for food and for the purpose of 

 egg laying. By preference they select a 

 tree that is dying or that has just been 

 killed. A large vertical chamber is con- 

 structed within the bark next to the 

 wood, and along the sides of this the 

 female deposits her eggs. The whitish 

 larva; or grubs, hatching from theseeggs, 

 excavate side galleries at right angles to 



RHODODENDRONS AT MR. H. H. HUNNEWELl/S. WELLESLEY. MASS 



that. Red is a better description. Thun- 

 hergii is catalogued as cri nson, but a 

 truer description would be purplish red. 

 C,r audi flora I should describe as orange 

 red, or yellowish orange. All published 

 descriptions of this that I have seen fail 

 to give the color exactly as it should be, 

 (ar from it, in fact. Wood's botany, for 

 instance, says "flowers of a rich scarlet," 

 and Nicholson's Dictionary "scarlet," 

 which it certainly is not. But when both 

 works say of it that the flowers are 

 shorter and broader than radicans, the 

 description is quite correct. There is 

 practically no tube to the flowers, such 

 as exists in both of the others, and the 

 mouth of the flowers is as much as four 

 inches in diameter, while two inches 

 would represent the others. It is the 

 large flowers, lacking a tube,, almost, and 

 the more of yellow and less of scarlet that 

 so readily distinguishes it from the others. 

 In the vicinity of Philadelphia this 

 species is much esteemed, and as it is 

 readily increased from pieces of root, as 



to hold them in position for a year or 

 two, until they become stiff enough to 

 hold themselves up, nice branchy heads 

 are formed, true shrubs or miniature 

 trees, and these make a brilliant appear- 

 ance during July and August, flowering 

 continuously from six to eight weeks. 

 Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



THE HICKORY BARK BORER. 



Mr. W. Wade, Oakmont, Pa., sent us 

 specimens of a borer and wrote "This in- 

 sect, new to me, has attacked my hickory 

 trees, eating into the next year's bud and 

 cutting off the leaf-stalk, my trees being 

 half defoliated. Can you suggest a rem- 

 edy?" The specimens were forwarded to 

 the Government Entomologist at Wash- 

 ington and the following reply was 

 received: 



"I have your letter of August 9, with 

 enclosure from Mr. W. Wade. In the ab- 

 sence of Dr. Howard I have to report 

 that the specimens of insects which Mr. 



the brood chamber. Oviposition takes 

 place usually during August and Septem- 

 ber, and the transformations are effected 

 within a year. Two or more species of 

 parasites and a number of natural ene- 

 mies are useful in reducing the numbers 

 of this insect and prevent serious injury 

 except under exceptional circumstances. 



"For remedies you are referred to the 

 general instructions given in Circular No. 

 2-t of this Division, a marked copy of 

 which is enclosed herewith. 



F. H. Crittende.n, 

 Acting Entomologist. 



We add below extracts from the circu- 

 lar referred to. 



After the borers once obtain possession of a 



u it is next to impossible t<> save it. Some few 



species of trees are a hie In withstand borer at tacks 

 for years, while others Buccumb, unless remedies 

 are applied, in a year or two after the attack be- 

 gins. 



Our chief reliance is in preventives, in the em- 

 ployment of mechanical precautionary measures 

 thai will serve the double purpose of effectually 

 deterring wood and bark-boring insects from bor- 

 ing into or depositing their eggs on the trees ami 

 from effecting their euress through the bark once 



