Felitaary S, 18?7. 1 



JOORNAL OF aOBTICOLTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



loa 



are to be had ; but of this I have not time to notice further 

 than saying that everything, both grounds and gardens, are in 

 the best state of keeping. — James Dickson, Arkleton, 



THE HEEB GARDEN. 



Herbs are often neglected unless a special place is set apart 

 for them. They are indispensable to every garden and house- 

 hold, and perhaps a few lines in reference to them will not be 

 out of season. I find any time during the winter suitable for 

 dividing and planting most herbs, such as Golden, Common, 

 and Lemon Thyme, Balm, &a. Beds should be retained for 

 growing the annual herbs, as Sweet Basil, Marjoram, Chervil, 

 Marigold, Borage, etc., for without a plentiful supply of these 

 a gardener cannot keep on good terms with the cook. A few 

 of the most useful of the herbs are — 



Balm (Melissa officinalis). — An aromatic herb which used to 

 be a great favourite, but is less in request now than formerly. 

 I find it very useful for bees ; it is propagated easily by 

 division of the roots in late autumn or early spring. All the 

 attention it needs is to cut the stems down and fork round 

 the roots in late autumn. 



Sweet Basil (Ocymnm basilicum) is a herb which no garden 

 should be without. It and the Knotted Marjoram are impor- 

 tant in making mock turtle soup. A few seedlings should be 

 raised in heat for early use. 



Fennel (Anethum fccaiculum) is one of those herbs which 

 must have a place in every herb garden however limited. It is 

 chiefly used for sauce and for garnishing pickled salmon and 

 mackerel. It is a perennial, and will live many years if the 

 stalks are cut down so as to prevent it going to seed. It is 

 readily raised from seed, and increased by division. 



Sweet Marjoram (Origanum marjorana) is a herb which 

 should be allowed its necessary space in every garden, for it is 

 at all times useful for giving flavour. There are two other 

 sorts, the pot and winter Marjoram, both of which are hardy 

 perennials, and are valuable and easily-grown herbs. 



Mint (Mentha viridis) is a herb of such daily utility as to 

 demand a place in all herb gardens. It is easily propagated 

 by planting pieces of the root, which spread along under and 

 over the ground. It requires a moist soil and a shady border, 

 and is all the better for a little rich mulching once or twice 

 a year. 



Parsley (Apium petroselinum). — Of all the herbs in the 

 garden there is not one which is wanted in the kitchen so often 

 as this. It is a long time coming up after the seed is sown, 

 often two months, and when it is up it is not of very rapid 

 growth. Being a biennial the seed must be sown every year, 

 and I find the plants are strengthened by cutting some of them 

 down in the early autumn, so that they will live through the 

 winter and give a good supply in the spring. 



Rue (Raca graveolens) is a bitter plant. The leaves have a 

 very powerful scent ; some persons like the flavour it imparts 

 to tea. It is generally grown from cuttings, also from seed 

 sown in the spring. 



Sage (Salvia officinalis) is also one of the most useful of 

 herbs, which must be grown in every garden. It likes a dry 

 sheltered border. It is propagated from cuttings, also from 

 seed sown in the spring. It is all the better for a little rich 

 mnlobing as the plants grow old. 



Winter Savory (Satureia montana) is a herb of such great 

 utility that it can ill be spared from the smallest herb garden. 

 It is an excellent flavourer for many different dishes. It is 

 easily grown from seed sown in April, or from cuttings planted 

 in a shady border. 



Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is also one of those herbs which 

 must have a corner in every garden. Common Thyme grows 

 readily from seed sown in April, and is also increased by 

 division of the roots. Lemon Thyme (Thymus oitriodoius) is 

 far superior to the other, and it may be increased readily by 

 layering its procumbent branches. — H. S. J. 



CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS. 



No. 15. 

 The somewhat singular name of "larva," which modern 

 naturalists adopt as a general appellation for the second stage 

 of insect life, took its rise from tlie fanciful notion that at this 

 period of its history the proper insect moved about as if 

 masked or concealed ; this name, we remark, is much more 

 applicable in some orders than in others. No one would 

 Buspeot a butterfly was hidden under the cylindrical crawling 



creature which is seen intently engaged in stripping the leaves 

 from a plant or tree ; but the larva of many beetles are cer- 

 tainly beetle-like, and the larva of a grasshopper, size excepted , 

 to an ordinary eye is little different from the perfect insect. 

 Rapidity of growth in the larva or caterpillar stage is alfo a 

 circumstance more frequent than in several orders, and herein 

 the butterflies have mostly the advantage of their companions 

 the moths of the same order. It is particularly noticeable, 

 this difference between them, in the matter of what is called 

 " ecdysis ;" the process of casting the skin, which has to be- 

 fall all caterpillars a varying number of times. (One has not 

 opportunities for verifying the fact in the case of internal 

 feeders upon the pith of shrubs and trees, but it may be pre- 

 sumed these follow the general law.) A moth caterpillar seems 

 frequently to make a great fuss in going through one of these 

 moults ; it selects carefully a place to rest upon, ceases to eat 

 several days before, and when the change is over, does not eat 

 for a day. But a butterfly caterpillar accelerates the business, 

 I have noticed the common Nettle-eaters (Vanessa lo and 

 XJrticie) feeding on until the old skin was wellnigh ready to 

 burst, and a day might sufHce for the whole affair. Nor do I 

 find on record proofs that the number of these changes with 

 butterfly caterpillars reaches that attained to by some of the 

 moths, where eight or even ten changes have beun observed, 

 these occurring in caterpillars which live from six to nine 

 months. The pugnacity or cannibalism, again, which is a 

 peculiar feature in the history of some moth caterpillars, has 

 not a parallel amongst British butterflies, which, as cater- 

 pillars, are the pink of amiability to each other, despite their 

 spiny armour, which in some species might seem suggestive of 

 the well-known motto attached to the Scottish Thistle, and 

 which, in all probability, gives some hungry birds a colic ! 



A lady, more amusing than veracious, who wrote a oneo 

 famous book on butterflies, tries to philosophise by telling us 

 that " Nature keeps her butterflies and caterpillars locked up 

 during the winter in their egg state," and she follows this up 

 by the theory that the spring and summer is the great season 

 for caterpillars, the autumn for butterflies. Now it is true 

 that in early autumn, at a date varying with the season, there 

 are large numbers of butterflies abroad, and there is also a 

 spring flight of these insects, made up of hybernated individuals, 

 or of others that have passed the winter in the chrysalis state; 

 but it is also true that on fine days from April to October 

 there will always be butterflies abroad, nor can we fix any 

 particular season for the feeding of the majority of caterpillars. 

 And as to the idea about the egg state, that is easily disproved, 

 for, save in the small group of the Hairstreaks, it does not 

 appear that any butterflies lay eggs in the autumn to hatch 

 out in spring. Many butterflies' eggs, notably those laid on 

 Brassicaceous plants, hatch in about a fortnight, so that the 

 horticulturist who has seen any " children of the sun " hover- 

 ing over his Cabbages and Cauliflowers had better look on the 

 leaves without much delay for the ninepin-shaped ribbed eggs 

 they have left behind, if he wishes to anticipate the ravages of 

 the future, and make their possible birthplace their tomb. 



Eggs, we take for granted, cannot feel ; it is doubtful whether 

 during the winter season the pupa or chrysalis feels; hence, 

 without hesitation, we may destroy those of the Large and 

 Small Whites (P. Brassicffi and Bapi) to be found here and 

 there at this time on walls, palings, and trunks of trees. Yet 

 so strong is their vitality that during severe weather these 

 have been found frozen hard and quite brittle, but this has 

 not prevented the due emergence of the butterfly. And the 

 position of the pupa marks off as distinct from the other 

 British butterflies the few species belonging to the family of 

 the Skippers, for only amongst these is the pupa hidden in a 

 silken cococn. The large group of the Exposers is capable of 

 being subdivided very distinctly ; and the first section con- 

 sists of those species in which the pupa is simply suspended 

 by the tail, and we have a butterfly with the first pair of legs 

 unfitted for walking. Within this section are two families — 

 that of the "Spine- bearers," where the caterpillars have spines, 

 usually branched, and that with " Slug-shaped " caterpillars, 

 where these are plump, sometimes a little elongated, bare or 

 slightly downy, and with two small points projecting from the 

 tail. The Fritillaries, most freijuently seen in or near woods, 

 head the first family ; some of these in the butterfly state 

 display beautiful silvery spots, the markings in the bulk of 

 the species resembling the old-fashioned Lily so called with 

 chequered flowers. Their period of flight seldom exceeds two 

 or three weeks. No less than six of the caterpillars of our 

 iVitUlaries feed on Violets, though not on cultivated species, 



