JOUP.NAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE^GAHDEXEE. 



[ February 29, 1872. 



where, and for general usefulness and cai-pcting to other plants 

 it has no rival ; S. stolonifera, aji easy-grown useful sort ; S. 

 Burghalli; S. eaesia ; S. cuspidata, veiy pretty, forms a bird's 

 nest, fronds branched. — {T}ie Gardener.) 



BLACK HAMBUKGH OR BLACK HAMBEA 

 GEAPE. 



" 'What's in a name ?'' Not much, perhaps, unless it leads 

 to conect apprehension; and the name "Black Hamburgh 

 Grape " dots lead to the erroneous idea that the original 

 Grape was brought to England from the German port of Ham- 

 bui'g, sometimes spelt Hambro', a place where the Vine does 

 not gi'ow except under hothouse culture. 



The Vine in question was introduced into England, I be- 

 lieve, by Mr. 'Wai-uer about 150 years ago, the original Tine 

 being found by him at the Moorish Palace iu Spain called the 

 Palace of Al Hambra, whence he called it the Black Hambra 

 Grape. Now, the Palace in question being Uttle known in 

 comparison with the town of Hamburg, the speUiug was soon 

 by many persons coiTiipted to Black Hambro' , the final letter 

 only being changed. '\\'hen that spelling became general it, 

 no doubt, somewhat obscured the histoiT of the Grape ; but 

 the present spelling, Black Hamburgh, does so effectually, and 

 it seems to me, therefore, desii'able that the original spelling, 

 Black Hambra Grape, should be at once restored. — T. Thomp- 

 son, TVelton, Brotigh, Yorkslnre. 



[The derivation you advocate deserves to be eon-ect. This 

 Grape and the Bed Hambro' were introduced in 1724 by Mr. 

 'Warner, and cultivated by him in his garden at Eotherhithe. 

 It is described in many books as Warner's Grape. Bradley 

 mentions him .as " a gentleman who makes good wine fi'om 

 his own vineyards." The opinion that both the varieties were 

 brought from Spain is in some degree sustained by the fact 

 that the Eed Hamburgh is spoke^i of by £ome writers as the 

 Gibraltar Grape. Such names, however, are not reliable 

 evidence of deiivation, for the Turkey is certainly not a native 

 of that empue. "We know of no positive record that Mr. 

 'Warner obtained the varieties from Spam ; and if he obtained 

 them by the agency of Hamburg merchants that town's name 

 might naturally have been applied. — Eds.] 



LOVE OF EXCESSIVE PRUNING, E'VEN THE 

 STRAWBERRY PLANT. 

 Peusixg is by many considered an absolute necessity. By 

 others, including myself, it is believed to be of Uttle importance ; 

 and certainly there are the laws of Nature to support the latter 

 conclusion. This is pre-eminently an age of pnmiug. "^'hat 

 escapes the knife or sheai-s ? Nothing, not even the Straw- 

 berry plant. I think there ar'e many crops endangered, nay, 

 whoUy destroyed, as lately stated iu these columns, by strictly 

 adheiing to a fashion of pnining. How few of the many ama- 

 teur's' gardens do not bear ghastly marks of the same ! Enter 

 one on a fine dav, and nip ! nip ! nip ! will be the sound that 

 will gi'eet you loug before any person is visible. Tes, here it 

 is. 'Walks strewed with the tops of every possible shrub ; all 

 are subjected to that love of using the knife, or more commonly 

 scissors. Fruit, flowers, and foliage ai'e all cut for the twentieth 

 time the same summer. Of coiu-se, any part of the shrub that 

 is out of arm's.reach is left in all its wild profusion. "What a 

 contrast to that which is under the hand with a pan- of nippers ! 

 It seems almost iucredible, but such is a fact. One instance 

 will suffice. I knew a retired steward, a person we should 

 suppose would have known better. Whenever he was in the 

 garden, a stout pair of pruning scissors were his companions : 

 woe to any shrub that had made a gi-owth of a few inches. A 

 fine lot of Ehododendrons had bloomed well the first season 

 after planting. It was the first and' last, for as soon as the 

 armu.al gi-owth began the nippers had their usual work to do. 

 The same thing is too often seen in a less marked degree with 

 professional gardeners. How can it be said 



*' This is an art which does meud Nature, 



Change it rather, but 



The art itself is Natm*e." 



But to Strawberries again. I am always open to conviction, 

 but I have not yet, after many years' practice, found it neces- 

 sary to pinch off aU the i-unners. Doing so causes an undue 

 exertion of the parent plant to put forth new ones, and so a 

 constant strain is kept on it in that dii-ection; whereas, if left, 



the offspring will soon take root and maintain itself, and then, 

 like a dutiful parent, after her young are estabUshed, she takes 

 care of herself and makes no further exertion for a new brood. 

 Deprive her of them, and she instantly begins again. I believe 

 there is little or no strain on the parent when the young plant 

 takes root; sever it when slightly rooted, and it will maintain 

 itself. The extra labour- required in going over the plants five 

 or six times I say nothing about. " They want plenty of 

 muck under theru if you keep pinching off the runners " said 

 a brother gardener when I was speaking to him on this subject. 

 I do not vindicate the practice of leaving ground a mass of 

 Strawbenies for months, for this would be impoverishing the 

 ground, wh.'ch would be equal to impoverishrng the parent 

 plant by continually nipping off the runners. Does it not 

 endanger the plant, too, to keep up this activity too late ui 

 the autumn, so that before growth is thoroughly matured, 

 winter is on it, and leaves its marks by destroying the major- 

 part of them, especially those of a tender constitution? 



There is yet another practice ; happUy I believe it is not 

 carried on to any great extent, nor yet so much as formerly. 

 If we were to reflect for one moment, and consider the im- 

 portance of the leaf, surely no one would venture to take a 

 scythe and cut off the leaves long before they assume the 

 appearance of having perfoi-med the functions allotted to them. 

 Many years ago my father was persuaded to do it, under the 

 idea, as his informant assured him, of doubling his crop the 

 following year. Foi-thwith, upwards of an acre of beautiful 

 luxuriant foliage was destroyed. But was the crop doubled next 

 summer? No, nor was there half the crop usually obtained; 

 and as market gardening is a matter of pounds, shillings, and 

 pence, it was the first and last time the leaves of Strawbenies 

 were molested by him. Leave them ; they help to protect the 

 plant through the winter. — J. T., ilaes'iicynne. South Wales. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The annual meeting for the election of Council aud officers, 

 and other routine business, was held on the 22nd of January at 

 Bur'hugton House, the President, A. E. 'Wallace, Esq., being in 

 the chair, by whom an address was delivered on the progress of 

 the science, dwelling especially on the views recently advanced 

 as to the gi'adual evolution of insect life by tracing it back to- 

 some primary germ or element, views subversive of inteUigent 

 design and creation in the animal world. The following gentle- 

 men were elected as officers for the ensuing year : — President, 

 Professor Westwood; Treasur'er, Mr. S. Stevens; Secretaries, 

 Messrs. Grut and McLachlan ; and Curator, Mr. lanson. 



The first ordinai-y meeting in Febniai-y was held on the 

 5th iust., the newly-elected President in the chair, who retru-ned 

 thanks for his election, and expressed a hope that bis efforts for 

 making the meetirigs of the Society srrccessf ul woirld be seconded 

 by the member's keeping the benefit of the science and of the 

 Society in view rather than indulging in personal discussions ; 

 the President then nominated Messrs. F. Smith, H. T. Staintou, 

 and Edward Saunders to act as Vice-Presidents. A large and im- 

 portant list of accessions to the Society's library was announced, 

 and certificates read in favoiu' of five new members. Mr. F. 

 Smith read a note fi-om Mr. Moggridge, at Meutone, relative to 

 the publicarion of his notes on the habits of Ants. Mr. McLach- 

 "lan exhibited part of a branch of a Poplar tree growing at Kent- 

 ish Town covered with the desiccated skins of Aphides, which 

 had been destroyed by some parasite, resembUng clusters of the 

 eggs of some large species of insect. 



Major Parry read a paper containing descriptions of a number 

 of new and very fine exotic Stag Beetles, including a very re- 

 markable species just brought from Ecuador by Mr. Buckley. 

 Mr. Bates, in reference to this insect and the geographical range 

 of the farnily, stated that during the whole of his residence on 

 the banks of the river Amazon, for eleven years, he had never 

 once captm-ed a Lucanus. Mr. Dnice exhibited a number of 

 cases containing portions of a very extensive series of Butterfhes 

 recently received fi'om Costa Rica, collected by M. Van Patten, 

 amongst which were at least fifty species new to science ; thr-ee 

 of these belonged to the genus PapOio, thi'ee to Morpho, tlu-ee 

 or fom' to LeptaKs, and a new genus allied to Pronophrla. Some 

 of these new species had been ah'eady described by Mr. Butler 

 in the " Cistula Entomologica." 



Professor 'Westwood exhibited several new Ai-achnida belong- 

 ing to families and species not previously recorded as British, 

 including a species of the genus Trogtdus, taken by Eev. P. 

 Cambridge in Dorsetshire ; the singular Argas refiexus, of which 

 a colony had been found under a stone in the crypt of Canter- 

 bury Cathedral ; a new species of the same genus taken in the 

 church of 'Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire, apparently parasitic 

 on the Noctule bat ; also a specimen of the poisonous Ar-gas 

 persicus fi-om Persia ; and a new genus from Sumatra, allied to 



