Febrnaiy 8, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



121 



plant of the yariety to be inarched {Jig. 2). The time of inarch- 

 ing, which will be iu April, having arrived, cut the stock to the 

 height of the new plant, and as low as possible. Cut a longi- 

 tudinal notch in the upper part of the stock, and a correspond- 

 ing cut in the scion of the stock plant, leaving two or three eyes 

 above it. '\^^len the graft is bound and waxed, the shoots of 

 the stock plant are removed and kept in subjection. 



2nd, To lif store the Stem. — The stock (/i//. 3), the stem of which 

 is cankered and furnished with gross shoots at the base, may 

 be repaired by means of these shoots (y), which are buttress- 

 grafted on the same stem above the wound. The course of 

 the sap interrupted by the decay wUl then be re-established. 

 in df fault of branches being found on the diseased tree, a strong 

 i?tock (z), is planted in close proximity to it. After a year of 

 good growth, head-down the stock z, and introduce it above 

 the canker of the stem by means of buttress-inarching [as de- 

 scribed in our last week's number.] When one stock is not 

 ■.sufficient for the regeneration of the tree, several may be 

 planted round the old one and inarched in the same way. 

 Consequent on this operation the diseased stem can be re- 

 ifioved. — Baltet, L'Art de Greffer. 



SOME PEEDATORT INSECTS OF OUR 

 GARDENS.— No. 26. 

 3eing rather at a loss for a commencement, I think I can- 

 not do better than offer a remark, by way of opening, upon 

 some observations made by a contributor to this Journal, who 

 has, what I do not profess to have, that practical knowledge of 

 the habits of bees derived from bee-keeping. He complains 

 that I have calumniated his favourites by very unkindly class- 

 ing them amongst predatory garden insects, though I guarded 

 my statements by admitting that they were only occasionally 

 injurious. Their obvious partiality to sweets would certainly 

 lead one to suppose that they would not hesitate at all to help 

 themselves to any fruit which afforded saccharine matter, pro- 

 Tided the supply from flowers ran short. I have not at hand 

 the volumes of " Science Gossip," but iu its pages a few years 

 since there appeared communications, eridently written bond 

 Jide, wherein it was asserted that in various parts of England 

 and Scotland, during a scarcity of wasps, the bees attacked 

 the fruit; and my friendly critic must remember that, even if 

 Iris statement is correct that bees will not meddle with fruit 

 which is not beginning to decompose, they would still merit 

 the name of predatory insects, for a good deal of fruit which 

 has been injured by the weather and other causes is still avail- 

 able for some purposes. As to the perforations produced by 

 bees in the corollas of some flowers, these are certainly dis- 

 figurements rather than actual injuries. Not very many cases 

 liave been recorded, but I have no doubt at all it is a thing 

 •which bees often do. It is only noticeable by the observant 

 amongst our gardeners, the number of whom, though gradually 

 increasing, is not so large as one could wish. So much for the 

 ■tenants of the hive, which we will now dismiss. I have only 

 to add that I am astonished to hear that the sting of a bee 

 may be, if not agreeable, at least beneficial; so that, reversing 

 the proverb, what is "pjison" to some is "meat" or "health" 

 to others. Possibly ; slill I doubt. 



Many species belonging to the Dipterous order of insects 

 are exceedingly fond of sporting in the sunshine, sometimes 

 singly, sometimes in groups. So is it with those flies especi- 

 ally belonging to the genus Anthomyia, the tints of which are 

 considerably varied, though made up o few colours, chiefly 

 Mack, grey, and a reddish brown. The cause of this is that 

 the wings and even the bodies of these insects show shifting 

 lues, according to the direction in which the rays of light fall 

 upon them. Frequently parties will cluster about the heads 

 <yf composite and umbelliferous plants, at other times they 

 rise high in the air, and the horticulturist, who knows how in- 

 jurious some of the insects are in their preparatory stage of 

 larva life, is tempted to wish they were not quite so Uvely. 

 There are several species of these Anthomj-ias which frequent 

 Cabbages and Cauliflowers. Anthomyia Brassicie also attacks 

 Turnips, but is not so frequently hurtful to them as to the 

 plants from which it takes its name. 



The unpleasant-looking larva; or maggots of A. Brassicse 

 have been detected at almost all seasons, but in the colder 

 weather of winter they become sluggish for a time. During 

 May and June the species may be detected in aU its stages. 

 The pupa; are not to be found in the roots, when they are 

 mature the maggots withdraw from their food and enter the 

 earth. The maggots, it may be observed, though less in size, 



have some resemblance to those of the ordinary meat fly 

 (M. vomitoria). The colour is yellowish white, there are no 

 legs, but the head is furnished with two black hooks. The 

 tail is blunt, and has two brown spiracles and some minute 

 spines. The effects of the jaws of these little creatures is 

 soon manifest, even by the external appearance of the roots ; 

 they become enlarged, and of an unhealthy colour. On pres- 

 sure, or cutting them open, the interior is discovered to be full 

 of cavities, within which the larvfe feed ; and, iu fact, the mis- 

 chief is rarely discovered until the evO has gone too far for 

 there to be any chance of saving the particular plants. Active 

 as the flies are also at the time they take their excursions in 

 the air, the females act very differently when engaged iu their 

 maternal emploj-ment, and go very stealthily to the work of 

 oviposition. However, if we cannot find the eggs we can boil 

 them or the newly-hatched maggots, and no doubt hot water 

 poured close to the stem would be as efficacious here as it is 

 iu checking the ravages of the occasionally troublesome grub 

 of Tipula oleraeea, alias gaffer or daddy-longlegs. 



To Cauhflowers the above species of Anthomyia is very 

 hurtful in some seasons. The eggs have been detected attached 

 to the stalk just below the ground ; and burrowing in the 

 fashion already described, the maggots soon bring the plant 

 into a miserable condition. The very closely-aUied species, 

 A. radicum, makes Turnips and Radishes its speciality, its 

 habits being similar, but its times of appearance different. 

 The flies in this case appear in April, and the evil effects of 

 the jaws of the larva are most noticeable in the autumn, 

 whereas A. Brassica shows itself to be more hurtful in the 

 spring or early summer. The larvse of radicum are not so 

 unicolorous as those of the other species, having a greenish 

 stripe along the back. The imago, or perfect fly, resembles 

 Brassioae, especially in the female. Both species are remark- 

 able as having long, black, and bristly legs ; in fact, as a friend 

 of mine observed, " They look like pests, and so they are," 

 black-legs, in fact, amongst the flies ; but length of leg, takeu 

 by itself, cannot certainly be said to be a proof of evxl quali- 

 ties inherent in the individual, for I have seen some " pre- 

 datory " bipeds with particularly short legs I 



Other Anthomyias have been noticed to affect Cabbage 

 plants, as, for instance, the species called trimaeulata, but I 

 have not heard of any instances where this has been so abun- 

 dant as to be particularly hurtful. The habits of the maggots 

 of the species vary somewhat, yet they are all careful to keep 

 themselves out of \iew as much as possible. Curtis, as far 

 back as 1841, had called at- 

 tention to the proceedings of 

 A. Lactucaa, which had for 

 some years previous destroyed 

 much of the Lettuce seed in 

 the eastern counties. The 

 maggots of this species Hve 

 in the flower-heads, and 

 devour the receptacle and 

 immature seeds. 



The name of Coccus is al- 

 most, though not quite, as 

 tmpleasing in the ears of the 

 gardener as that of Aphis 

 and though mankind ig 

 greatly indebted to another 

 species of the first genus for 

 one of the most brUliaut of colours, stiU this is scarcely an 

 equivalent for the injuries done by Cocci to the Ohve, the Vine, 

 and various fruit trees. The Cabbage tribe have a tormentor 

 of this sort, an account of which first appeared in the old 

 series of the Transactions of the Entomological Society. 

 Kirby, in speaking of it, remarks that " In 1836 much injury 

 was done in the market gardens to the west of London to the 

 Cauhflowers and other plants of the Cabbage tribe by a species 

 of Aphis covered with a purple powder, which had not been 

 before observed by the gardeners." This might suggest to 

 some the idea that it had been introduced from a foreign 

 country, like the so-called American bUght. It is more pro- 

 bable, however, that it had previously been overlooked. By 

 writers who subsequently studied its habits it received the 

 name of Aleyrodes proleteUa, or, stUl more unsuitable, the 

 Cabbage powder-winged moth, it having no claim at aU to the 

 latter name, as it plainly belongs to the Hemipterous order, 

 and is, properly speaking, a Coccus. The females of this 

 species settle down in a very insidious way upon the Cabbage 

 leaves during June and July. " When about to lay their eggs," 



Anthomyia Lactucfe. 



