A.agnst U, 1873. ] 



JOUBNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



119 



the wood, being also heavy, olose-graiueJ, aud very durable, is 

 most valuable to the ship-builder for kuees and timbers o£ all 

 shapes and sizes." 



I have just come to a passage in his work which I can hardly 

 reconcile with what I have just quoted above about the flowers 

 of the Rata, in his description of it. He says — " Flora and 

 Pomona have dealt most niggardly with New Zealand. There 

 is no indigenous flower equal to England's Dog Bose — not in 

 combined beauty and fragrance ; no indigenous fruit equal to 

 Scotland's Cranberry." I presume we must pardon him. We 

 have now growing in the vicinity of CUristchurch thirty-seven 

 varieties of New Zealand Veronicas out of the forty described by 

 Hooker in his " New Zealand Flora." A more beautiful genua 

 than this cannot well belong to any country, both for its diver- 

 sity in colour of flowers and perpetual evergreen foliage, and 

 I may add to this, almost in flower all the year round. 



Ward, in his " Information relative to New Zealand," 1839, 

 writes about the Kata— viz., " This i.'^ a fine and useful tree, 

 producing a heavy, close-grained, durable red wood, capable 

 of being turned to almost any purpose of household work, and 

 valuable to the ship-builder, who may find its branches curved 

 to his hand, and requiring but Uttle of the labour of the axe 

 to form it to his purpose. It is found in perfection of aU sizes 

 and heights, from 20 to 70 feet high, and from 18 inches to 

 7 feet in diameter. It prefers a dry stony soil, and varies the 

 pleasantness of its appeai-anco according to the regular or 

 irregular shape of its trunk. Its branches generally shoot 

 from the top of the main stem, aud put forth to some height 

 before a leaf appears. The leaves are small, in the shape of 

 the Box, tufted at the top of the tree, forming a crown, and 

 in the distance appear like a cluster of Palms growing out of 

 one large stem, rising far above the parent stock by which they 

 are supported." 



Tour readers and myself may now form our own conclusions 

 on the various opinions expressed by writers about the Bata 

 of New Zealand. 



The Myrtle tribe, most gardeners are well aware, abounds 

 in beautiful plants ; and the New Zealand Metrosideros robusta 

 is one of these, with its tassels of silken crimson stamens, so 

 remarkable for having no petals, and for the calyx falling off 

 like a lid or extinguisher. This curious calyx is pushed off, 

 not being capable of separating in the usual way ; it having all 

 its parts soldered together, as it were, into a hard fleshy lid. 

 When it is time for the stamens to unfold, they push the calyx 

 30 forcibly that it breaks away by its base and drops off, leaving 

 the stamens at liberty to expand as fully as may be necessary. 

 The volatile oil contained in the little reserroirs of the bark, 

 the leaves, and the floral envelopes, gives these plants the 

 fragrance which has caused them to be celebrated by poets of 

 ill ages. 



Enclosed I send you a wild sprig of Eata, I think it is 

 M. lucida. Branches of it (in flower) generally arrive in 

 Ghristchurch about midsummer from the west coast of Canter- 

 bury. Passengers by mail coach bring branches with them on 

 account of its beauty when in flower. — Wiu.um Swale, Avon- 

 tide Botanic Garden, Canterbury, New Zealand. 



looking them over to see if any of them are diseased. — W. McP. , 

 The Gardens, Snehton Hall, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire. 



EABLY KIDNEY POTATOES. 



i(rc'.« Hammersmith Early Kidney. — This new valuable 

 Potato is a great improvement on the old Ashleaf variety, pro- 

 ducing more than double the number of tubers at a root, aud 

 very large, floury, and white when cooked, and fine in flavour. 

 It has a much better constitution than its parent, as it with- 

 stands the disease. 



Sandringham Karly Kidney is also a very productive variety, 

 coming in about the same time as the above, and yielding 

 about the same quantity at a root, excellent in flavour and 

 floury. It also forces well, being stout in the haulm, and well 

 adapted for that purpose. 



I grow the old Ashleaf, Mona's Pride, Lemon Kidney, iUbion 

 Kidney, and Badford Kidney, but none of them comes up to the 

 above two new varieties either in quantity or quality ; the 

 latter is valuable for forcing. I have just discovered one tuber 

 diseased (August .5th) among some Albion Kidneys, but I have 

 seen none of the other sorts affected as yet. I grow a border 

 planted late of what remains over of the smallest tubers of 

 each variety for seed, as I find it is a good plan to get them up 

 before they are quite ripe. I mean taking them up immediately, 

 and intend to store them away on shelves lathed and reared 

 upright, so that the air may get under them. There is nothing 

 more dene to them nntil plantiug-time comes round, merely 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The last meeting of this Society for the season was held at 

 B\irliugton House in July, the chair being occupied by H. T. 

 Staiuton, Esq., F.R.S., Vice-President. Mr. McLachlan ex- 

 hibited a remarkable monstrous individual of a species of bee- 

 like flies (Syrphidai), possessing portions of the characters of 

 both sexes, taken at Black Park. Mr. Weir exhibited specimens 

 of the rare moth Agi-otera nemoralis, taken at Abbot's Wood, 

 near Lewes. Mr. T. Blackmore exhibited an interesting instance 

 of iusect-instinct, being specimens of a gall found on Oaks, near 

 Tangier, which had been taken possession of for habitations by 

 a species of ant, Ciematogaster scutellaris, Olivier. 



Sir Sidney Saunders communicated a memoir on the habits 

 and economy of certain Hymenopterous insects which nidificate 

 in Briars in Corfu, with notices of the parasitic insects by which 

 they are attacked. The insects themselves were exhibited at the 

 last meeting, aud belonged to numerous genera and species of 

 burrowing aculeate Hymenoptera. He also exhibited a specimen 

 of a curious Wasp forming the genus Raphiglossa, which he had 

 suffocated with cyanide of potassium whilst asleep, showing the 

 remarkable position of the insect during repose, as described in 

 the paper, the insect aflixing itself by its paws to a twig, and ex- 

 tending its body, back downwards, in a horizontal direction. 

 Mr. Butler read a hst of the species of Galeodides, insects allied 

 to the Scorpions, with descriptions of new species in the British 

 Museum. 



STONE FRUITS AND HARD SOIL. 

 It has often occurred to me, while observing the fruit trees 

 growing on the walls of houses in many of the villages thi'ough- 

 out England, especially in the southern districts, that the 

 firmness of the soil has much to do with the longevity, hardi- 

 ness, aud fruitfulness of these trees, which are generally loaded 

 with fruit of very fair quality. There is Uttle attention given 

 in the way of cultivation ; all the training they get is a cut 

 here and there to prevent the young branches from pulling 

 the old ones from their fastening. They must have grown 

 apace at some period, as large breadths of mason-work are 

 covered with single trees, such as are not met with in many 

 gardens. In this locality (Oxford), Apricots have been famous 

 for many years, and great crops have been gathered ; and the 

 industrious villagers have often been able to pay their rents 

 from the old trees on the ends of their houses. It has ap- 

 peared to me in most cases that these veterans have been 

 planted with very httle care — probably a hole has been made, 

 enough to twist the roots into, aud the soil replaced over them, 

 and rammed down as if to form part of a floor. The hard- 

 trodden gravel (in many cases causeway aud pavement), would 

 lead one to suppose that moisture could never reach the fibres, 

 but I suppose the fibres must travel to the moisture ; a wide 

 street is generally the space where the border should be. Other 

 trees have the usual outhouses standing over the space where 

 the roots are supposed to find their food. It is evident there 

 must be food, or where is such fine foliage and luscious fruit 

 manufactured ? Vines are met with often growing under the 

 same circumstances : one on a tradesman's house in a town 

 not far from here is something wonderful in its way — the kind 

 is the black Esperione. I am told that it has produced heavy 

 crops for many years past, aud this year the bunches almost 

 touch one another. There are only a few inches of open space 

 between the pavement and base of the house front wall. The 

 pafvement and causeway together, between the Vine and the 

 street, may be 12 feet wide, yet this Vine luxuriates, and sup- 

 plies its owner with plenty of fruit, which is used generally for 

 wine-making. Without discussing the matter further, is there 

 anything we can learn from these trees, which are more pro- 

 ductive, of stronger constitution, and less liable to disease 

 than the finest-trained trees under the care of some of our 

 most distinguished gardeners? From experience, I believe 

 that the firmness of the soil prevents over-luxuriant growth, 

 inducing the roots to become a mass of healthy fibre, instead of 

 their sending out large soft feeders, drawiug-up large quantities 

 of water, which remains in the branches till the short dark 

 days of winter. No fruit-buds are malm-ed; the buds start 

 early into growth long before they are sate from frost ; the 

 sap, which has been flowing freely, receives a check; nothing 

 is Been at the time, but before summer has advanced very far, 

 a large limb (perhaps the healthiest-looking in the tree), dies- 

 off suddenly ; it is cut out, other branches die-off in the same 



