Septemba- 11, 1S73. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



r,i7 



as that of May 12th, 1872, which destroyed Gooseberries even 

 fit to gather ; but a succession of dull uugeuial days with slight 

 frosts in places colniinated in a shai'p frost on the 14th, which 

 woiild have been more serious in its consequences had the 

 morning afterwards not been dull. As it was, doubtless it did 

 a certain amonut of harm, and it is very possible the scarcity 

 of Apples in certain places or on certain trees may be traced 

 to this source ; but ungeuial weather continued throughout 

 the whole of May and up to June 20th, when by degrees it 

 became somewhat warmer. Up to that date, aud even later, 

 everything presented a backward appearance. Wheat did not 

 fairly come into ear until several days beyond the average time, 

 and only two days earlier than in 1860 ; wliile grass and other 

 crops were almost stationary until the middle of June, when 

 rapid growth set in amongst all kinds of hardy vegetation 

 which the dryness of May had kept back, and a tolerably good 

 though late hay crop was the result. Most of the small fruits 

 benefited in a like manner by the change of temperature. 



Strawberries looked well throughout, thus proving that if 

 that fruit can be protected from frost while in bloom it does 

 not require so much sun for its growth as other fruits ; in fact, 

 it would appear that the Strawberry is better suited to a cool 

 moist climate than to a drj" warm one, and possibly will exist 

 farther north than other fruits. This season has been one 

 of the best I have ever known for Strawberries. Gooseberries 

 have also been plentiful and good, but unusually late, some 

 being scarcely ripe in the first week of August, when the birds 

 began to carry them away ; the crop has likewise been good. 

 Bed Currants have also in most places been good, aud the foliage 

 has escaped the attacks of insects, which is a good augury for 

 next year. In some places, however, failures are spoken of. 

 In some cases Black Currants have been bad, the fruit being 

 covered with a sort of brown rust ; it was also small ; but I 

 believe that generally a full average crop may be reported. 

 Easpberries have, I think, been better in some previous seasons, 

 yet the crop cannot be complained of ; only the quantity grown 

 round here is small as compared with that of other fruits, 

 althongh equalhng that of Strawberries, but both these fruits 

 reach the market in better condition when grown near to it, 

 hence their paucity ai-ound Maidstone. 



We now come to the larger fruits ; and omitting Cherries, of 

 which I can only speak from the observations made by others, 

 and which are very conflicting, I need only say that if 1873 

 has not been a Cherry year it has not been without them, the 

 late kinds being tolerably plentiful, and I believe that a fair 

 average crop of Cobs and Filberts may be reported ; not so 

 heavy as in 1870, but on the whole good. As to this, however, 

 I speak with some diffidence, as there is a dilt'erence of opinion 

 about them ; but there is only one opinion about the crop of 

 Pears, and that is, it is all but a total failure, both early and 

 late kinds suffering alike from the severity of the season, so 

 that there are in reality very few Pears, although there was no 

 lack of bloom, and that, too, of a promising kind. Plums are 

 also a thin crop, or rather ii'regular, for in a few orchards we 

 hear of fair and even good crops, and in others there are 

 none at all. In our own case we had too many last year to 

 expect much this season, but we find others who had a failure 

 last season have had one this year as well. The same remark 

 holds good with regard to Damsons, there being a few in some 

 places, a good crop in a few others, while the bulk of the 

 orchards will not be worth looking over. In fact. Damsons 

 seem more scarce than early Plums, both being irregular. 



In addition to the above remarks it is pleasing to have to 

 record the general good appearance of the trees, so that if all 

 go well there may be hopes for another year. Eeferenco to 

 this matter reminds me that last autumn, or rather the latter 

 part of last summer, was a favourable one for ripening the 

 bloom buds, which I cannot but think has helped the Apple 

 and the other fruits which survived the cold uugenial spring 

 we had, for a well-developed flower, perfect and vigorous in all 

 its parts, is not so Ukely to succumb to a moderate frost as a 

 weakly imperfect one would be. 



One more observation may be here made with regard to the 

 fruit crop, and that is the increased breadth of plantations of 

 Apples, Plums, Damsons, and small fruits to be found every- 

 where. Certainly new plantations of these fruits are more 

 plentiful than those of Pears and Filberts. No doubt the 

 planters have duly weighed the chances of a fluctuating market 

 operating in their favour or otherwise. Damsons, especially, 

 have been verj- extensively planted of late years, and would 

 become a drug were it not for the increased demand for fruit. 

 How far the foreign producer can compete with the home 



grower it is difficult to foresee. Certainly in all early fruits he 

 has the advantage, and when there is a failure supplies will 

 doubtless be sent in from abroad whenever the price allows a 

 margin of profit. 



-\nother circumstance affecting fruit culture at the present 

 day is that immense quantities are now boiled down for jam, 

 or undergo some preparation for use. The jam trade has 

 within a few years attained a position never dreamed of years 

 ago, when that article was considered one of the luxuries which 

 only the wealthy could indulge in. Now it is sold at a price 

 less than half that of butter, with which it successfully com- 

 petes, and jam-preserving houses exist in most fruit-growing, 

 districts. Ton after ten of jam is prepared, and a neighbour 

 of mine alone supplied several tons of Strawberries during the 

 past season for this purpose. So great has this trade become, 

 that small fruits. Plums, and Damsons, are not likely hereafter 

 to go to waste for want of buyers. — J. Bobson. 



THE BEAUTIFUL AND USEFUL INSECTS OP 

 OUK GAKDENS.— No. 9. 



M;i-NV insects of the Hymeuopterous order are very puzzling 

 to the naturalist who has not time or taste to dip deeply into 

 entomological lore ; not that it follows, indeed, tliat he would 

 be much the gainer, for our nomenclature at present seems 

 inclined to go, as the printers say, " all to pie ;" but ignorance 

 is generally confident, aud the man who knows nothing about 

 distinctive characters calls an insect a bee, a wasp, or a fly, 

 without being troubled with doubts as to the correctness of 

 the name. Ou the other hand, the naturalist knows that there 

 are, as in the order cited, hosts of species looking exceedingly 

 like each other, yet widely separated in structure aud habit. 

 We have many species of bees aud wasps, and some of these 

 are not at the first or second glance recognised, while other 

 Hymeuoptera, and even some Diptera, resemble these insects 

 superficially. Gardeners are, I find, mostly quite awake to 

 the fact that there are various species of wild bees of different 

 sizes, but some of them have yet to learn that there are nume- 

 rous wasps besides the wasp better known than loved, so fre- 

 quent a visitant in ordinary years, and whose portrait (in print) 

 has certainly been drawn with too deep colours, mischievous 

 though it is. We have bees of diverse habit, popularly called, 

 as the reader is aware. Upholsterer-bees, Carpenter-bees, 

 Tunnel-makers, &c. ; and thus among the wasp tribes are there 

 many species which, so far from being hurtful or annoying to 

 the cultivator of flowers or fruit, are decidedly of service to 

 him. 



It may be noted in passing, that the stinging Hymenoptera 

 wUl very seldom use their weapons from wantonness ; still, in 

 pursuing investigations among those species of insects we are 

 not sure about, it is needful to be a little cautious. "01 here's 

 a curious fly," said a friend of ours, seizing a flower hastily 

 with an insect resting thereon, said insect being no fly, but a 

 bee, and taking its departure abruptly after leaving the handler 

 a token of remembrance. I was reminded of the Irishman 

 who, in some tropical country, caught, with an exclamation of 

 delight, what he took for a humming-bird, in reality, however, 

 a stinging insect, aud his next remark was, " Bless me, how 

 hot his little fut is !" The warmth of skin caused by being 

 stung, however, is often accompanied by a swelling which is 

 not agreeable ; the appUcation of an alkali, or a fomentation, 

 so as to dilute the vu-us, being usually a speedy cure. 



The Mason-wasps visit gardens, not solely for the purpose 

 of obtaining honey, though they have a penchant for that 

 product, especially as yielded by cultivated flowers. They 

 also seek larvic, not for their own benefit, but to supply their 

 young with food, since, from their structure aud the position 

 in which they are placed, it is impossible that they can forage 

 for themselves. The illustrious Bay is believed to have been 

 the first who observed, or, at least, the first who recorded, this 

 peculiarity ; and the worthy naturalist Bennie, whose rather 

 crude and disconnected observations on various departments 

 of insect life have been so freely made use of by his successors 

 in the field, enters at some length into a description of the 

 economy of some Mason-wasps as noticed by him at Lee and 

 in its neighbourhood. Several species of the genus Ammo- 

 phila are common enough in the counties of Kent and Surrey, 

 delighting in the sandy soil, and no doubt frequenting similar 

 ground in other English counties. It is usual to speak of the 

 " nests " made by these insects, though possibly the designa- 

 tion is not quite appropriate, as in each burrow or excavation 

 only one egg is deposited : hence the insect labours on day 



