270 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Mm-c1i 28, 1873. 



places where a mass or lineis of a dark purple coloui- are requu-ed 

 with the least amount of labour and expense." 



Now, would not anyone fancy from readmg the above, that 

 it emanated from the pen of an enthusiastic fnend ? Could a 

 greater conglomeration of perfections be arranged by anyone ? 

 Strange to s'ay, Mr. Abbey condemns Beet m his next para- 

 graph, simply because it is only Beet. How much more sensible 

 is Mr. Peach's remark-that it in no way spoils, m his eye, the 

 beauty of a leaf to know that the root is useful. If a Dracffiua 

 were found to be hardy enough for the summer garden, and 

 were it discoTered at the same time to be more dehcious-eatmg 

 than Asparagus, would Mr. Abbey reject it? 



But Mr. Luckhurst's objection, he tells us, is not becaiise 

 Beet is a culinary vegetable, but because Coleus Verschaffelti is 

 superior to it. Surely this is just no reason at aU ; for if Beet 

 is a lovely object (and it is so in my eyes), why should we 

 reject it simply because there are other plants superior ? We 

 might as well refuse to grow any but one Rose. Beet and 

 Coleus are so entirely different, that they do not in any way 

 clash We do not want monotony in the flower garden, but 

 variety. Mr. Luckhm-st calls the foliage of Beet " vulgar 

 glossy metalhc." I enth-ely deny its vulgarity. It is one of 

 the most gi-aceful and tropical-looMng plants m cultivation, 

 and has many merits which Coleus does not possess. Fu-st, as 

 Mr. Abbey fairly allows, it will do in hundi-eds of places where 

 Coleus will not even exist. Coleus is killed by the first frost, 

 while Beet continues beautiful to the very end of the season. 

 Lastly, not to occupy too much of your space. Beet, hke 

 a faithful friend m adversity, outhves the frost and snow, 

 and makes exquisite borders in the spring garden. It is at 

 present very beautiful with me, and will shortly be even 

 loveUer by contrast, when fringing beds of white TuUps, yellow 

 Alyssum, and blue Myosotis. I should like to know what other 

 leaf plant have we so useful, with the single exception of Golden 

 Pyrethrum. — Q. Q. 



in the position represented in fiij- 2, leaving no space wide 

 enough for the mouse to escape. The next thing to b« ob- 



served is that the wire with the pea be placed m a sufliciently 

 slanting dii-ection for the sUghtest touch to move it, and then- 

 down comes the brick, crashing the victim. The brick when 

 set up rests on the bottom edge of its narrowest side, and care 

 should be taken that the wu-e may not have all the weight ot, 

 the brick, otherwise it wiU press so tightly to the other brick, 

 that it will not fall with the touch of a mouse or the gentle 

 peck of a sparrow. I have used many kinds of traps, but 

 have never been so successful as with this ; it is just as useful 

 in fruit-rooms or hothouses as in the shrubberies and other 

 places which mice frequent. A score of such traps may be set. 

 up in five minutes. I had this trap in use when Uvmg at 

 Hawkhurst ; it was brought first to my notice by the foreman. 

 in the Idtchen garden at LUlesden, and, doubtless, he has it 

 in use now. 1 think he said they had been employed m a 

 nei=-hbouruig garden for twenty years.— Thomas Eecoed. 



MOUSE TBAPS. 



DotJBTLESS the mouse trap advocated at page 232 by your 

 correspondent, " Broad Bean," possesses the merit of being 

 effectual in the destruction of mice, but I difier from hun 

 when he says that it is the sunplest and easiest-made trap, lo 

 me its construction appears too compUcated to meet with 

 general favour, and, like the old figure-4 trap, it takes a 

 long time to make and set up, so that where there are many 

 to construct and fix, more time is occupied than can weU be 



^^I'seiid an illustration of a trap, of which I should like 

 "Bkoad Bean " and others troubled with mice to make a trial ; 

 it is also a capital sparrow trap. I think they will pronounce 

 in its favour-. Fig. 1 shows the position of the trap when set 



Kg. 1. 



up. Fig. 2 is its exact position when down. Fig. 3 is a piece 

 of wire not more than 2 inches long run through a pea or a 

 bean ; its position when used in the trap is shown m fig. 1 

 We have simply to take two bricks, place one on its narrow 



w/mmff'M 



Kg. 2. 



side or on edge, and the other on its broad side, as shown in 

 fi.g. 2. It is important to first place the bricks in this way, as 

 you thus find the exact distance at which one brick should be 

 from the other when set up, and when the brick falls it will be 



SOME PREDATOEY INSECTS OF OUE 

 GARDENS.- No. 28. 

 OuE English landscape in many parts of the country owes 

 much of its beauty to Coniferous trees, though, as eompared. 

 with more northern climes, we have but a poor display of them. 

 How many different kinds crowd upon the memory!— Pmes 

 Firs, Larches, Deodars, Cypresses, Cedars, ^ews ; but most ot 

 them iutroductionsfromabroad.though now parity naturahsed; 

 for our native Flora can only boast of two or three Pmes two 

 Junipers, and a Yew, and even these species not aU of them 

 certainly indigenous. Numerous are the insect pests which 

 either occasionally attack the trees, or else make then- homes 

 within them from year to year. Neai'ly every order is repre- 

 sented— moths, beetles, flies, sawflies, bugs, each take then 

 turn, and then- ravages sometimes cause a serious money loss 

 to the nurseryman, and considerable loss of temper to tJie 

 private gentleman who has adorned his park, or, it may be, ins • 

 mochcum of garden, with some choice specunens of Coiuiers, 

 which have to me a pleasant aspect-the majority of them at 

 least-at aU seasons of the year, though most attractive m 



'"^'' Ah irnot gold that gUtters," says a rather musty proverb ;. 

 and extenduig it in another direction we might say, fcyery- 

 thhig is not a wasp or hornet that looks hke one. let it is 

 not wonderful that some species of the genus Su-ex should 

 have caused alarm in their wmged state, seemg that m size 

 and contour they resemble then- reaUy dangerous Hymeno- 

 pterous relatives; also the taU appendages have ^lef delly the 

 appearance of a stmging apparatus ; and to complete it, t^ese 

 Sirices dart about makmg a loud hummmg or booming noise., 

 which seems as good as a caution to keep out of_ then way- 

 Whatever injury they do to mankmd, however, is not done 

 immecUately, biit in an mdhect way. They are workers m 

 wood, not in flesh, and theh diUgence deserves some com- 

 mendation, for as they dart hither and thither, and examine a 

 succession of trees, they are busy-at east, the female mo ety 

 of the race-m preparmg a home and food for then: offsprmg. 

 Our admh-ation cools down when we remember how much 

 harm these msects have done to many forests while in theu 

 larval condition ; nor have our own trees gone scatheless,, 

 though in cold and mountamous districts m other lands their 

 ravages are more conspicuous. In the Pme forests of the north 

 of Em-ope at then- particular season of flight the Smces some- 

 times come forth by thousands, to the astonishment of the 

 inhabitants in the vicmity, and such a ehcumstance is recorded 

 bv Mr Ingpen to have once occurred at Henlow in Bedford- 

 shu-e ■ and at an early period m the history of the Entomo- 

 logical Society Mr. Raddon exhibited a portion of a Fu- tree 

 from Bewdley Forest, which, though of lai-ge dimensions, had 

 been riddled in aU chrections by the larvffl of Spex JuTCnras 



Our commonest species, however, I beUeve, is that called by 

 entomologists S. gigas, and it is decidedly a handsome msect. 



