492 



JOITENAL OF HOKTICULTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ December 22, 1863. 



the huge limbs and branches fi'om the large Elms that over- 

 shade it, the Ivy succeeds very well. About four years ago 

 it was determined that nothing more in the way of large 

 plants should be placed in this border, to be subjected to 

 the shade and drij) that the other evergreens had previously 

 suffered from. The border was cleared of all its half-perished 

 plants. It then received a liberal supply of manure, which 

 was trenched-in to the depth of 2 I'eet, and during the 

 process of trenching care was taken that eveiy root from 

 the old plants was extracted. A portion of the border was 

 then planted very thickly with common Laui'els, from 

 IS inches to 2 feet in height, the largest plants being placed 

 at the back, while the smallest came to the front. Thus a 

 gradual slope from tlie back to the front is maintained. 

 They have been cut back each year to the desired height, 

 which is 2 feet at the back, and 18 inches in front. By so 

 doing they have broken very thickly and regularly, nearly 

 every particle of groiind being covered The beautiful ap- 

 peaxanee they j^resent is so much admired by every one that 

 has seen them, that we have been induced to plant more 

 extensively this autumn. 



I have seen the Periwinkle and Ivy succeed very well as 

 a more prostr.ate growth, but the Laiirels are by far the 

 neatest when attended to, and in every way superior to the 

 abovenamed. — J. B. C. P. 



CELERY IN COCOA-NUT FIBEE EEFUSE. 



To blanch Celery in cocoa-nut fibre place a straight row 

 of laths, barrel-staves, or old pea-sticks on end in the earth 

 on each side of the Celery. Allowing 4 inches fi'om the 

 Celery these two fences wlU be about 1 foot from each other, 

 and they should be as high as the Celeiy is requu-ed to be 

 blanched. Then with the refuse fill up on each side of the 

 Celery, and be cai'eful of the centre leaves. Slope the 

 materials outwards from the plants, so that heavy rains may 

 pass by the outside of the row into the trench. The fibre 

 teeps the Celery in good condition longer than anything I 

 know, either dui'ing a mild or severe winter. No worm of 

 any kind touches it. The flavour is very much improved, 

 and the plants are dug up with ease. 



If the fibre is considered too expensive, keep it in a shed 

 from year to year, or in a dry corner — not over the roots of 

 trees, because roots revel in it, and in a short time they 

 would convert it to their own nourishment. If there is no 

 other convenient keeping-place, use four sheep-hurdles on 

 edge in a square to keep it together, or dig a pit in the 

 eai'th. But to keep it long it must be dry. Ten shillings 

 worth in Kingston would blanch three hundred heads of 

 Celery annuaUy for five years. One trial of this will remove 

 every doubt and objection. 



I have tried moss, sawdust, straw, fern, ashes, and sand, 

 yet am convinced that no person will use for Celery-blanch- 

 ing anything we know of at present, after trying the fibre 

 refuse. I wUl add that cocoa-nut fibre refuse in preparing 

 large trees for transplanting is invaluable. Every species 

 of tree roots rapidly in it, and it adheres to the roots, render- 

 ing the balls of earth one-third less in weight, and the trees 

 recover more speedily from the check arising from removal. — 

 John Bass, Surhiton. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The November meeting of the Entomological Society was 

 presided over by F. Smith, Esq., the President ; and amongst 

 the donations to the hbrai-y received since the last meeting 

 was Ml-. Thomson's work on the Scandinavian Coleoptera; 

 Colonel Motchiilsky's "Etudes Entomologiques ;" and some 

 Numbers of Mr. AVUsou's " Farm and Garden," published at 

 Adelaide in South Australia. Mr. Bates, the distinguished 

 traveller in the Amazon district of South America, and author 

 of some of the most remarkable entomological memoirs which 

 have recently appeared, having been proposed as a member of 

 the Society, the ordinary rules relative to the election of 

 members were dispensed with, and he was at once unani- 

 mously elected a member by acclamation. 



The Secretary read a requisition which had been sub- 

 mitted to the Council to be taken into consideration at the 



Janur.ry meeting, with the view to alter several of the bye- 

 laws of the Society relative to the working of the Publi- 

 cation and Library Committees, honorary members, &o. 



The President exhibited the nest of Trigona carbonaria, 

 the small stingless Honey Bee of Australia, and which ap- 

 peared to consist of a lai'ge mass of waxen materials formed 

 into branches and stems, resembling corallines ; amongst 

 which, on the outer branches, were attached a number of 

 oval cells, filled with honey, resembling the honej'-pots of 

 the humble bees. The nest, however, was fixed ^vithin a 

 box, so that the interior could not be examined. It had 

 been received from Queensland, by Mr. Woodbm-y, so weU 

 known to the readers of this Joiu-nal for his excellent 

 observations and experiments on the honey bee of this 

 counti-y, and by whom it had been transferred to the British 

 Museum. The President also exhibited the mass of hex- 

 agonal cocoons formed by Tenthredo (DeUocerus) Ellisii, a 

 South American kind of Sawfly, which had been described 

 and figured by the late Mr. Carter in the Transactions of 

 the Linnoean Society. It was remarkable as showing that in 

 a family so far removed from the Bees as the Tenthredinidas, 

 a similar kind of cell was formed by the larvae when working 

 in society. 



Professor Westwood alluded to nearly similar details in the 

 cocoons of the social Microgaster alvearius and the masses 

 of cocoons of Ilythia socieUa. The hexagonal form of the 

 cells in these nests led to considerable discussion, as to whether 

 it was an instinct inseparably associated with the construc- 

 tion and existence of the insects by which these nests were 

 formed, or merely the result of the juxtaposition of the 

 cocoons or cells. 



The President also exhibited some specimens of the small 

 Ermine Moth, Hypouomeuta padella, stated to h.ave been 

 reared from larvje found on unripe ears of corn in Suffolk, 

 evei-y grain having been attacked by the catei-pillars, and 

 the Moths having been produced in the box io which the 

 catei-xjUlars were placed. It was, however, the general opinion 

 of the members present, that there must have been some 

 mistake in the eii'cumstances connected with the develop- 

 metit of these Moths, the caterpUlars of which aj:e generally 

 found on trees. 



Ml-. P. Bond exliibited a drawing of the caterpillar of the 

 Sphinx ConvolvnU, found on the small Bindweed, on the 17th 

 of September, at St. Leonard's ; also a beautifully preserved 

 specimen of a remarkable dai-k-coloured variety of the cater- 

 pillar of the Death's-head Moth, taken on the Ash, prepared 

 by Mr. Baker, of Cambridge, who has acquired the art of 

 preserving caterpillars with great success. 



Mr. F. Moore exhibited some impressions of the wings 

 of Indian Lepidoptera taken upon waxed paper; and Mr. 

 Francis specimens of the rare Anthribus albinus, taken at 

 Folkestone, in September. 



Mr. MacLaohlan exhibited an interesting series of the 

 cases formed by the aquatic caterpiUai-s of the different 

 genera of British Trichoptera or Caddice Flies. In some 

 cases the small tube of sUk was coated with particles of 

 stone, in others with shells, in otljers with small twigs, and 

 in some with these materials combined; each species having 

 a special method of its own for the formation of its case, 

 the species of the genus Setodes enclosing only silk in their 

 cases. 



Professor 'Westwood exhibited a large sheet of a white 

 silken tissue found at the bottom of a biscuit-chest, the eon- 

 tents of which had been attacked by larva% which had been 

 supposed to be those of some Dipterous insect. It was, how- 

 ever, considered by the members present, that the tissue 

 was spim by the larvas of some Lepidopterous insect, pro- 

 bably Tinea granella, not as a cocoon, but as a carpet to 

 enable it to creep along with gi-eater facility. The specimen 

 had been communicated by Dr. Cuthbert Collingwood. 



Mr. G. R. Waterhouse exhibited specimens of a small 

 Beetle from the Kirbian collection, labelled as Scymnus 

 bis-bipustulatus, of Marsham, which Mr. Waterhouse re- 

 garded as identical with the Scymnus quadrilunulatus, of 

 Mulsant. 



Mr. H. T. Stainton made some observations on the six 

 European species of the genus Cosmopteryx, comprising 

 some of the most beautiful species of Microlepidoptera, tl e; 

 of which are natives of this country, including Tinea eximia 

 and T. Drm-iella. 



