260 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



rkeley 



not as yet been found to nm in this country. It was, h< 

 desirable to mate farther experiments in this direction. Mr. IJ( 

 likewise added that Mushrooms are subject to a disease which 

 them in all probability unwholesome, as it preys on the gills, and is 

 similar to the Hyphomycetes which fills the Boletus of the woods with 

 a golden dust. 



The Chairman made a few remarks on the great loss which the 

 Society had sustained in General Grey, who had taken a deep interest 

 in the affairs of the Society and in horticulture, and expressed his 

 confidence that the meeting would agree with him in the expression of 

 this regret. The proceedings then concluded with the announcement 

 that the next meeting and show would be held on the 20th inst. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The second March meeting of this Society wa9 held on the *21st 

 tilt., Mr. H. W. Bates, Vice-President, in the chair. Professor West- 

 wood stated that several specimens of the Locust with the flat pro- 

 thorax, considered by Fischer to be the true L. migratoria, are con- 

 tained in the English* collection at the British Museum, from York- 

 shire and Northumberland, although none are contained in the exotic 

 cabinet, which, on the contrary, possesses a specimen of the crested 

 kind from M. Brisout de Barneville, under the name of L. migratoria. 

 The Chairman stated that a new part of the ll Transactions " was 

 just published, containing several valuable memoirs and plates. Mr. 

 Moore exhibited various specimens of Diantha-cia Barrettii and con- 

 ppersa, from the coast of Devonshire. Mr. F. Bond exhibited a new 

 British Moth of the genus Fumea (F. betulina, Zcller), found at 

 Bishop's Wood, Ilampstead, the caterpillar of which lives in a move- 

 able caBe, resembling that of Psyche fusca. 



Mr. Lettsom sent for exhibition a singular caterpillar covered with 

 long slender hairs, terminating in flat dilatations like a battledore. 

 It is a native of Monte-Video, and iB, probably, referable to a Moth 

 of the family Noctaidre. Mr. Stainton exhibited a British specimen 

 of F. Leinigella, from Wickham Fen, near Cambridge. Mr. Albert 

 Muller read a note from M. Mayer Dur, on the distinctions between 

 Argynnis Niobo and Adippe, the caterpillar of the former having a 

 white dorsal line, and the Butterflies having an Alpine range of flight, 

 the latter not appearing above 3300 feet above the sea level. Mr. 

 Butler maintained the specific identity of the two insects, in further 

 support of which Mr. Stainton alluded to the well-known instance of 

 two kinds of caterpillars of the Death's-head Moth. An interesting 

 discussion on the subject of dimorphism in insects took place, and 

 several instances were mentioned in which local influences resulted 

 in the production of seemingly permanent dimoqihic races. An ex- 

 tended paper was read by Mr. W. F. Kirby, of Dublin, on the species 

 of Butterflies described by Linnaeus. 



add that it possesses that which many yellow Picotees have 

 not — an excellent constitution and vigorous habit. — D., Deal. 



SHRUBS FOR THE SEACOAST. 

 The coaBt of South Devon, though mild and sheltered in 

 some corners, is as much exposed as any other part of our 

 shores to the fierce, hitter, easterly winds, and requires a care- 

 ful selection of hardy shrubs and trees. The Tamarisk stands 

 foremost. It is a most beautiful object in summer ; I have one 

 several yards in circumference, and some 20 feet high, which 

 when covered with bloom is an exquisite bush, and if all the 

 violent winds are over before the foliage bursts, it is perfectly 

 uninjured by their violence. Next come, but a long way off, 

 the Bweet Spanish Chestnut and Laburnum. They are always 

 Stunted, but unless some extraordinary gale arises during the 

 growth of the young shoots, they make a creditable summer ap 

 pearance. The branching Poplar succeeds admirably, also the 

 Stone Pine. I cannot ascertain its proper name. My Pinus 

 Douglasii, insignis, and Scotch Firs, are all browned, and I be- 

 lieve killed, by the late unprecedented weather. My austriacas 

 are too small for the wind to have touched, but I am told there 

 is nothing better for the seaside in this county. I must not 

 omit a dense-growing, whitish, small-leaved shrub, used much 

 for hedges, which is very ornamental, and seems quite at home 

 in a briny atmosphere. — Devon, Dawlish. 



TREE ITCOTEE PRINCE OF ORANGE. 



In the very brief notes I made of the Show at Kensington on 

 the 16th ult. I quite forgot to mention the very beautiful stand 

 of this Picotee exhibited by Mr. Perkins, of Leamington. When 

 it was first exhibited last year at the Crystal Palace, doubts 

 were expressed as to whether it was really a perpetual-flower- 

 ing variety or not. Bets were offered by some very persistent 

 deniers of its being of this character. I have always believed 

 in it, and therefore I was very glad to see so beautiful a Btand 

 of it exhibited on the 16th of March. Mr. Perkins has had 

 blooms of it all through the winter, and there can be no doubt 

 of its being a most valuable winter-flowering variety. I may 



ORCHARD-HOUSE TREES. 



In No. 468 of the Journal Mr. Douglas treats on orchard- 

 house trees, and his remarks are, no doubt, very good so far as 

 culture goes, but in my opinion such trees are toys. It is 

 now fifteen years since I firBt nailed a Peach tree, and I have 

 had the charge of three orchard houses ; the third I last year 

 planted with fine young Peach and Nectarine trees, but not in 

 pots — they are not put in the stocks for a misdemeanour, but are 

 enjoying a good loamy border, and their heads are not tortured 

 like that of a man sent to gaol, and who has his hair cut off. 

 They enjoy a wall and a wire trellis, which appear to me to suit 

 their habits. We too often read in the papers of people pinching 

 their children for clothes, scarcely giving them enough food to 

 keep them alive, and in some cases starving them to death, and 

 it is the same with orchard-honse trees ; first they are crammed 

 into small pots, and then any attempt at progress is pinched or 

 cut-in with a knife. Not long ago there was a fever about pot 

 Vines ; now extension. Let us down with such torture and 

 cruelty, and study the nature and habits of the plants we try to 

 cultivate ; then we shall be on our way to the highest standard 

 of perfection. 



Many a clever gardener has lost his situation through an 

 orchard house, because he was not able to satisfy the ex- 

 pectations of his employer. In my opinion orchard houses 

 have done more harm than good to the progress of horticul- 

 ture.— T. F. 



fin reference to your remarks, and especially the growing of 

 trees in pots, see what is stated at page 239. As a matter of 

 increased trouble there can be no question that trees in pots 

 require more attention than trees planted out in a border. 

 The want of that attention, the old " Can'na be fashed," or 

 troubled principle, are in most cases the causes of failure. 

 Your illustrations are very amusing, but not quite appoBite. 

 We presume that hair-cropping in gaol is neither very pleaBani 

 nor very salutary ; but there is a medium in all things, and we 

 have long thought that many of our youths who rival the 

 ladies in the length of their locks, would neither like Samson 

 lessen their strength, nor abridge their sense, if by a moderate 

 cutting of their hair they let a little more light reach their 

 brains. It was quite an easy matter to let a fruit tree have 

 too much wood in its head. 



We cannot join with you in saying, " Let us down with such 

 torture and cruelty," because we do not see the cruelty, and 

 for these other reasons — First, the orchard house furnishes — at 

 least to amateurs and the possessors of small places — the means 

 not only of much pleasure, but of securing a great variety of 

 fruit in little space. Secondly, the plan has been very suc- 

 cessful on the whole. On many wall trees we have seen such 

 crops of Cherries and Plums as would almost outweigh the 

 soil in which the roots grew, and these fruits of the highest 

 flavour. Thirdly, because the system is based on that lor 



