JOURNAL OP nOKTICULTUEE AXD COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ January 18, 187'2. 



loaded with berries, which are ornamoutal as affording a con- 

 trast to the red-fruited kinds. A certificate was awarded to 

 the variety at a previous meeting. Cattleya Walienana, in 

 fine bloom and colour, had a commendation. Oncidium cheiro- 

 phorum, with a branching spilie of canary-coloured flowers 

 about 9 inches in length, and Odoutoglossum gloriosum majus, 

 were also shoivn by Mr. Williams. 



Messrs. Staudish & Co., of Ascot, exhibited a collection of 

 plants, such as Geraniums, Cinerarias, Bouvardia jasminoides, 

 Cyclamens, Lily of the VaUey, and Poinsettia pulcherrima. Mr. 

 Wiggins, gardener to W. Beck, Esq., Isleworth, received a 

 commendation for a well-bloomed collection of Cyclamens. Mr. 

 Clarke, market gardener, Twickenham, exhibited a numerous 

 and excellent coUectiou of the same flower, as did Messrs. Veitcb. 

 Messrs. E. G. Henderson hkewise sent a small collection of 

 selected varieties. Mr. Wiggins also sent half a dozen plants of 

 kinds with the foliage more oruamentaUy marked than is 

 usually seen. 



From Mr. Turner, Slough, came fine baskets of Tricolor Pelar- 

 goniums, for which a commendation was given. Mrs. Head- 

 ley, Achievement, and Reynolds Hole were remarkable for their 

 splendid colouring. Mr. Turner likewise exhibited a dozen ber- 

 ried Aucubas of different varieties, grown as standards of from 

 2 to 3J high, with great masses of bright red ben'ies. From Mr. 

 George, gardener to Miss Nicholson, Putney Heath, came a box 

 of cut flowers, including Camellias, Cypripediums, Dielytra, &c. 

 Messrs. Dobson it Sons, Isleworth, sent a coUection of white- 

 flowered Chinese Primulas in good bloom. Messrs. E. G. Hender- 

 son, St. John's Wood, likewise exhibited a number of seedlings 

 with double flowers. Of these the following had first-class 

 certificates :— Princess of Wales, very double, white ; Exquisite, 

 delicate peach; Magenta King, magenta rose; and Emperor, 

 one of the Fern-leaved class, with- fine, very double, mac 

 flowers. 



Messrs. Veitch sent a gi-and collection of white and red 

 Chinese Primulas, as well as the white-flowered Fern-leaved 

 variety ; also forced Persian and Charles X. Lilacs, and a box 

 of Lily of the Valley in fine bloom, Hippeastrum pardinum, 

 Ehododendron Princess Eoyal, a fine specimen of Coelogyne 

 cristata, Barkeria Skinneri, Cypripedium Harrisianum with one 

 very fine bloom, Odontoglossums, fine specimens of Lycaste 

 Skinneri superba, Saccolabium giganteum. Messrs. Veitch 

 likewise exhibited Oncidium cheirophorum from Chiriqiu, 

 ah-eady noticed, and a Dendrobium with white sepals and petals 

 and a purple Up. . , , -u •» 



Mr. Bull sent Dracsena conciima, a plant of graceful habit, 

 with the old leaves of a dark oUve, the yoimg shaded yellow and 

 purplish crimson ; Crimim amabile, a very showy plant, silvery 

 rose streaked with lilac, and brilUant purplish crimson exter- 

 nally; Maorozamia coraUipes and plumosa, and Dasmonorops 

 palembanicus, the last a very handsome Palm ; Cjin-ipedium 

 pardinum, with the slipper much veined with green ; and an 

 Odontoglossum. 



Mr. Lee, Ai-uudel, Sussex, again sent his tree Carnation, Mars. 

 From Mr: Edgerton, gardener to the Countess of Waldegrave, 

 Strawberry HiU, Twickenham, came Cyclamen persicum 

 splendidimi with f oUage of immense size ; one of the four plants 

 had white flowers, the others were not in blossom. Some plants 

 of the Roman Hyacinth were exhibited in excellent bloom, but 

 the name of the sender was not stated. 



Messrs. Backhouse, of York, had a commendation for Lselia 

 autumnalis grandiflora, on a block, with eleven large blooms, 

 lovely in colour. From the Society's garden came a nice panful 

 of Ada aurantiaca; and from Mr. Douglas, gardener to F. 

 Whitbourn, Esq., Loxford Hall, Hford, an Odontoglossum, 

 said to be new, but not so ornamental as many others of the 

 genus. . 



Commendations were awarded to Messrs. Veitch for their 

 collection of Orchids, also for their Lilacs, Primulas, and Cycla- 

 mens ; to Mr. Turner for his Aucubas, also for Tricolor Pelar- 

 goniums ; to Mr. Clarke and Mr. Wiggins for Cyclamens ; to Mr. 

 Demiing for his coUection of Orchids, likewise for Phaltenopsis 

 Porteana ; and to Messrs. Standish for their group of plants. 



The Victoria electric thermometer, an ingenious instrument 

 for indicating and giving notice of changes of temperature in 

 plant houses, was also exhibited. This is the invention of Mr. 

 Eothnie, and has been brought into public notice by Mr. 

 WiUiams, of Holloway. 



SOME PBEDATOBY INSECTS OF OUK 

 GAEDENS.— No. 25. 



The effects, immediate or secondary, which are produced 

 upon the trunks and branches of trees by the insects which 

 penetrate the wood, or reside in or under the bark, are very 

 variable, depending upon such causes (beside the habits of the 

 particular insect) as the characteristics of the tree, the soil 

 and situation, and the treatment which it receives from the 



weather and from man; so that the wood-devourers and 

 wood-borers have furnished a most fruitful theme for many a 

 discussion, and with all our modern researches we are yet in 

 the dark (and likely to be so) on some important points in 

 their economy. The gardener is apprehensive, sometimes too 

 apprehensive, of the injuries he may sustain from species 

 which carry on their work in ambush, and like crafty enemies 

 beleaguering a town, only allow their mining operations to be 

 detected when the victory is already in their hands. The 

 owner of a goodly orchard well stocked with choice trees, may 

 be excused if he heaves a sigh sometimes, when he thinks of 

 the insect enemies which defy fumigations, and syringing, and 

 other expedients he puts in force against the common run of 

 grubs and caterpillars. What can he do to protect himself 

 from the inroads of those larva; which are not satisfied with 

 inflicting a temporary injury to the leaves, hut seek the life- 

 blood of the tree itself ? Woiild it be any good to visit in 

 turn the trees and tap the wood with a hammer, as certain 

 employees are seen on railways operating on the carriage 

 wheels to ascertain if they are " all right?" To carry on a 

 rigid examination frequently, and remove every piece of loose 

 bark, besides absorbing much time, is not a thoroughly efiective 

 remedy, for the troublesome creatures frequently contrive 

 to get" under bark that is not loose. If the gardener now 

 could manage to give fuU credence to the theories of those 

 who assert that the wood-feeders form a branch or division 

 of Nature's host of scavengers, and remove only what is de- 

 caying or becoming useless, what a relief it would be to his 

 mind ! 



It is, however, a fact almost certain, if we are to take the 

 opinion of men capable of pronouncing with some authority, 

 that the number of injurious species amongst the Coleoptera 

 is not so numerous as was formerly supposed. Especially is 

 it so with regard to those in the genus Scolytus ; and of a 

 species very well known to us near Loudon Mr. Newman 

 writes confidently thus, as he alludes to it while giving the 

 history of the really destructive Goat Moth. " This," he says, 

 " has caused the death of many valuable Elms, and a beetle 

 (S. Destructor), breeding abundantly in the bark of the dying 

 trees, the injury has been erroneously attributed to this beetle, 

 and not to the true cause, which, feeding and carrying on its 

 work of devastation out of sight, has escaped the notice of 

 superficial observers." It may be stated, however, in passing, 

 that the ravages of the Goat Moth do make themselves obvious 

 in several ways, after the caterpillars have attained some size. 

 In their mining operations they wUl occasionally come close 

 to the bark and run along their galleries so near it as to render 

 them observable, and, moreover, the odour which the creature 

 exhales is sufficiently perceptible in some conditions of the 

 weather. But the statement for the moment surprises us, if 

 we are at all read in early entomological literature, where such 

 fearful accounts have been given of the injuries done to several 

 species of trees by the Scolyti, and to counteract the ravages 

 of which various expedients in the way of washing, tarring 

 (not feathering), have been proposed. Destructor, as it is 

 called, and rightly enough, though whether it is justified in 

 destroying is a question not finally settled, is one of the largest 

 species in the genus. It does not seem to occur in orchards, 

 but visits trees in pleasure gardens and parks, having a very 

 decided partiality for the Elm, though these httle beetles 

 will also be found busy sometimes on the Ash and Lilac, 

 having been preceded in their labours by the huge Goat larviE 

 already spoken of. Indeed, wherever felled Elms have been 

 left on the gi-ound for some few months, whether sound or 

 imsound previously, they are sure to become the resort of 

 swarms of these beetles, which soon dispose of the bark. The 

 habits of S. Destructor are singular and interesting, and we 

 are indebted to a very accurate entomologist (Dr. Chapman), 

 for some recent valuable information on the subject. The 

 female beetles busy themselves during June and July in pre- 

 paring for the continuance of the species. This is done by the 

 construction of burrows or galleries, which are 3 or 4 inches 

 long, and a job of about three weeks. Along these the eggs 

 are deposited, never less than one hundred in a burrow, and 

 occasionally half as many more. They are covered with what 

 the Germans call ' frass," principally consisting of the particles 

 of gnawed wood. Whether these servo as food for a time for 

 the newly-hatched larvEe, imtU they have gained sufficient 

 power to carry on excavations for themselves, I am not pre- 

 pared to sayj but it is possible. The burrow runs near the 

 wood of the tree, and the female, says Dr. Chapman, begins 

 " by making her way along the bottom of some crack iu the 



