May a, 1873. ] 



JOUKNAL OF aOETlCULTUEE AND COTTAGE OAEDENEE. 



3,So 



resort to any large aucl overpoweriug stands of flowers, but 

 simply to the, use of low-sized plants, and a few small stands 

 ol flowers ; indeed, the latter did not afford much opportunity 

 for anything very elaborate, being too narrow ; in fact, I 

 i|ue3tioned how far the sitting-room was sufficient, indepen- 

 dently of anything else. The whole effect was attained by the 

 use of simple means and good materials?. There was no 

 iibscuring of the view, nothing that required immense labour 

 or enormous expense. — D., Deal. 



CONOCLINIUM lANTHINUU FOR TABLE 

 DECOEATION. 



Those who know the value of a Hydrangea on a single stem 

 and in a small pot will be able to form an idea of the service 

 that a batch of Conocliniums would render when grown on the 

 same yu-inciijle. They have been very useful here this season 

 f'-ir the dinner-table; and standing in the conservatory amongst 

 Primulas, were admired by all who saw them, the flower be- 

 ing mure than twice the size of any on the old plants. 



Their cultivation was as follows ; — In April I took ofl' some 

 young cuttings from an old plant, and inserted each in a thumb 

 pot in a mixture of peat, loam, and sand; the pots were then 

 placed in a dung-frame and shaded for a few days ; when rooted 

 they were removed into the stove, and as soon as they had filled 

 their pots with roots, were shifted mto -li-inch pots, using two 

 parts peat, one part loam, with a sprinkling of silver sand. 

 No dung of any kind was used, as short stubby plants were the 

 object ; but as soon as the flower began to show itself manure 

 water was given, weak for a few days, afterwards pretty strong, 

 and every time they needed water; the result was, plants 

 about inches high, with large dark green leaves from the very 

 base, crowned witli a flovrer twice the size of the pot. Care 

 must be taken to keep the syringe ott' as soon as the plant is 

 in flower, or they will not last long. — (W. N.,in The Garclener.) 



SOME PBEDATORY INSECTS OF OUR GARDENS. 

 No. 29. 

 A WOKTHY friend of mine, who regards the theory of the evo- 

 lution of life as propounded by modern philosophers with very 

 intense admiration, partly, I think, just because it is novel and 

 daring, and partly because " it explains everything so beauti- 

 fully, you know," employs himself occasionally in speculating 

 with reference to certain species, as to what they were, and 

 what they a^'e likely to become hereafter. So being desirous 

 to perplex him, I jiroposed for his consideration the rather 

 anomalous creatures belonging to the aphis tribe, and asked, 

 " What has an aphis been, and what is it going to be, say in 

 Anno Domini 10,000?" My friend suggests the following as 

 a theory, which if a little extravagant is not much more so 

 than some others set afloat by learned professors with a half 

 alphabet of honorary letters after their names. It occurred 

 to hira, so he says, in connection with two of the familiar 

 names applied to these insects. They are sometimes called 

 plant lice ; well, they probably were in one period of their 

 history actually lice, and they still retain w-ingless generations 

 and great facility of increase under peculiar circumstances. 

 But aphides are by-and-by to be — well ! that's a greater leap 

 by far — cattle, actual quadrupeds. They are now occasionally 

 known as aphis-cows, and serve as mUch cattle to ants. What's 

 to prevent them from going higher up ? Certainly at present 

 in their dimensions aphides and actual cattle diiiter consider- 

 ably, yet what is size after all ? The frog, as we all know, in 

 the old fable tried to swell himself up to the proportions of 

 the ox. He didn't succeed certainly, because it was too great 

 a thing to accomplish in one generation ; had he been more 

 moderate in his attempt, and tried to become the size of a rat, 

 his posterity might have advanced by stages until frogs became 

 oxen ; and why not aphides frogs, en route to something 

 superior ? 



Seriously, however, the aphis tribe is so great an annoyance 

 and positive injurj' to the gardener, that he would not care 

 TDUch what transformation they underwent, nor whether thej- 

 ascended or degraded in the scale of creation, so long as they 

 ceased to trouble him. How deUghti'iil to read that in some 

 regions of South America these species do not occur ! Yet the 

 naturahst tells us that their place is filled up by other insects, 

 which are, presumably, quite as troublesome as oui' " blight ; " 

 more so indeed, their activity being greater through the in- 

 fluence exerted by a liigher tenrperature. 



Some of the fairest Cowers of the parterre are among (he 

 greatest sufferers from the attacks of these pertinacious and 

 most prolific insects. The " queen of the garden," the Eose, 

 sacred to scriptural, historic, and poetic memories, is almost 

 invariably frequented by aphides. Several species of aphis in 

 difl'erent seasons resort to Eoses, for there are some that do 

 not seem to be confined to any species or order of plants, 

 but transfer themselves from one to another as the uiscct 

 hkes them. Others there are which select their plant or tree, 

 and adhere to it most faithfuUj'. The Eose has its speciality of 

 this sort, which we name Aphis Eosic, and which in some one 

 of its stages is to be found upon the bushes all the year round. 

 In the winter, certainly, it is not so easily discoverable, for 

 the sjiecies is then in the egg state, and according to the best 

 observers that is the only season when aphis eggs are to be 

 detected. These eggs, which are black, and, of course, dimi- 

 nutive in size, are very firmly attached to the twigs or boughs, 

 and Loudon has remarked that it is a pity gardeners do not 

 attempt to operate upon these, and thus extinguish the germs 

 of the countless broods of spring and summer. He believes 

 that the application of water rather below the boiling point 

 would kill the eggs, and he asserts its use after the leaves 

 have fallen is not injurious to the Eose, or to perennials gene- 

 rally. Many, however, would feel some reluctance in ventur- 

 ing upon what might seem a hazardous experiment ; and in 

 addition to the hot water, it is stated that strong, tepid, 

 tobacco water and a lather of soft soaji are effectual. Cer- 

 tain of the preparations so freely advertised as destructive to • 

 " plant lice " may also be as fatal to them if administered to 

 the eggs which are to give them birth. At all events, if left 

 alone, the young brood of aphides are hastened into life by the 

 first mild weather we have towards the end of the whiter, and 

 appear on the twigs in March, or even in February. It has 

 been asserted that the cold winds of spring have a pernicious 

 influence upon aphides, but as far as my own observations go, 

 I have not perceived that they lessen the number of these 

 insects, unless accompanied or preceded by heavy rains. The 

 first brood, however, do evidently feed-up more slowly than 

 those which follow, and, becoming adult in April, give place to 

 the next generation. It has been stated by some writers on 

 the subject, that there are two broods in May, June, and July, 

 and in August and September three, making-up in all the 

 number of ten ; but it is at least doubtful whether the suc- 

 cession is thus regular in most years, depending as it does 

 upon fluctuations of the weather and upon the supply of nu- 

 triment obtained from the plants. Thus Mr. Walker, an un- 

 questionable authority, writes as fellows (and his remarks are 

 as applicable to Aphis EosaB as to other sjiecies) : — " The 

 change in the atmosphere, of which the gloom called a blight is 

 the result, is the cause dh'ectly, and through its effects on vege- 

 tation hastens the appearance and increases the number of the 

 winged aphides. When the aphides have for food a plentiful 

 supply of sap they generally continue in the wingless state and 

 multiply most rapidly. When the atmosphere checks the 

 supply, the winged state begins to abound." 



Twice in the year, then, at least do aphides occur with wuigs, 

 these mingling in the most amicable manner with the wingless 

 hosts of all sizes, busily engaged in pum])ing up sap with their 

 haustella. These implements, let it be noted, are hollow tubes 

 with pointed tips, so that they servo admirably for piercing 

 the leaves or twigs, and also extracting the sap, which is the 

 sole nutriment of aphides. The very cutertaming author of 

 the " Episodes of Insect Life," gives what may be called a pen- 

 aud-ink portrait of the aphides we see upon the Eose iu May 

 and June. " These winged creatures ai-e the aristocracy of the 

 multitude, and no inelegant specimens of Nature's liliputiau 

 workmanship. Each has a plump shining body of deep bright 

 green spotted at the sides with black, long slender legs in- 

 clining to reddish, and, lilte a bamboo reed, marked at every 

 joint with black or dai'kest brown. The head, shoulders, and 

 long jointed antenna; are also chiefly black, as well as two 

 diverging spikelets proceeding from the back, while a pair of 

 ample wings much longer than the body rise exactly over it." 



But it is not the case with aphides, as with some other in- 

 sects ; the possession of wings is not a distinction of age or sex. 

 There is a spring or early Miiiiim ]■ fli;.;ht of these — an actual 

 flight, for they do migrate mu mihh- days from one place to 

 another, though the jouiiu;. liny i]i;ike are short — yet these 

 are not males and females, but only of the latter sex. The 

 generations which have preceded, and wliich will follow the 

 winged generation, are as truly mature, according to their 

 peculiar nature, and, being of tlic female sex, produce juvenile 



