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JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTDRE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ May SI, 1877. 



linnet it will take extraordinary liberties with seed beds of 

 all the varieties of the Braesioa tribe of plants, and will also 

 pull np young Lettnoes, &c. ; bat if the seeds a few honra 

 before being sown have been slightly wetted and dasted with 

 red lead neither finch nor linnet will interfere with them. 

 They are also very troublesome where seeds of any plants of 

 the Brassica family are becoming ripe, when they can hardly 

 be kept away from them ; even nets will frequently fail to pro- 

 tect Buoh seed from their ravages. Altogether the greenfinch 

 can hardly be considered as a garden friend. 



There is a finch, however, which deserves to come under the 

 denomination of a garden friend, and certainly the most beauti- 

 ful of all English songbirds — viz., the goldfinch. He does not, 

 however, greatly frequent the garden, unless it be in cases 

 where weeds of various kinds are allowed to run to seed, which 

 it is needless to say is not in accordance with good gardening ; 

 but whenever this ia allowed to take place the goldfinch is 

 almost sure to put in an appearance, yet he seldom or never 

 interferes with seed beds of any kind, nor has he ever been 

 known to pick buds from fruit trees. The hawfinch is a very 

 handsome and somewhat rare and remarkably shy bird. He 

 is fond of Green Peas, and he will also occasionally extract the 

 Btonea from ripe Cherries, which he readily cracks with his 

 powerful bill for the sake of the kernel. Being far from 

 numerous, however, they seldom do much harm in the garden. 



The fruit-eating propensities of the blackbird and the thrush 

 are unfortunately too well known, but they are at the same 

 time great consumers of insects of various kinds, and must 

 consequently be of considerable service in gardens, which they | 

 generally very much frequent. Their song ia admitted to be 

 delightful, and ought to be allowed to atone for many of their 

 oSences. In woodland districts, however, they are found to 

 increase so rapidly that, as in the case of the house sparrow, 

 it is found to be quite necessary to reduce to some extent their 

 numbers ; but it would hardly be fair to class them as garden 

 enemies. 



The starling may, I think, be justly regarded as a garden 

 friend. He consumes large quantities of various kinds of 

 caterpillars and other insects. He will sometimes, it ia true, 

 during very dry seasons help himself to a few ripe Strawberries 

 or Cherries, but I have never even in this respect known him 

 to do much harm. 



The blackcap, and the whitethroat or wallbird, live chiefly on 

 insect food, but they are nevertheless very troublesome during 

 the fruit season, particularly as regards the Easpberry crop, 

 picking at the ripe or ripening fruit, generally spoiling more 

 than they eat, and they almost refuse to be driven away. It is 

 possible, however, that the good they do in the destruction of 

 insects may more than cover the evil resulting from their 

 depredations. 



The robin is a privileged bird, and the rudest bird-nesting 

 boy would hardly think of injuring him. He feeds mostly on 

 insects, but when the Bed and White Currants are ripe he helps 

 himself to a few with the air of one who considers himself 

 perfectly welcome to do so. Daring winterly weather he does 

 not object to shelter himself in a house of ripe Grapes, the 

 quality of which he will speedily endeavour to ascertain. In 

 this way he inflicts considerable ii-jury, as the berries so 

 picked at once commence to mould and decay, and this decay 

 spreads rapidly and soon affects the entire bunch, so that it is 

 quite necessary to drive him from the structure, which he 

 will leave with evident reluctance. 



The hedge sparrow, wagtail, nightingale, wryneck, and the 

 wren are all frequenters of the garden, and are all strictly 

 insectivorous, perfectly harmless, and effecting much benefit 

 by their consumption of various injurious insects. They 

 should all be strictly preserved and encouraged as much as 

 pofsible. 



The rodenta likely to frequent, or rather infest a walled-in 

 garden, are few in number, consisting of the rat, the mouse, 

 the mole, and the squirrel. The hedgehog is considered to be 

 neeful in gardens, and he is certainly quite harmless; but if 

 he is desired to be there he must be introduced, as he is unable 

 to either scale or undermine a garden wall. His food princi- 

 pally consists of beetles of varione kinds, molluscs, &c., and 

 he ia strongly suspected, perhaps not unjustly, of eating the 

 eggs of the Pheasant and the Partridge when they come in his 

 way, which I believe to be the utmost extent of bis offendings, 

 and on this account he is mercilessly destroyed by game pre- 

 servera wherever he ia found, 



Aa regarda the rat nothing can certainly be said in his 

 favour. He is troublesome, mischievous, and wantonly de- 



structive. He appears to be perfectly aware that the hand of 

 everyone is against him, and he retaliates as best he can. The 

 mouse is only in degree less objectionable, and both may, in 

 the full sense of the word, be considered as garden enemies. 



On pasture land, and on the farm generally, the mole is 

 considered by some to be rather beneficial than otherwise ; but 

 his presence under any circumstances cannot be tolerated in 

 the garden. 



With regard to the cquirrel, " Wiltshiee Eector" says he 

 lives on Beech mast. I only wish he did. He may do so some- 

 times when be cannot find what he likes much better — viz., 

 Filberts, Cob Nuts, Walnuts, etc., and daring the season an 

 occasional Peach, Apricot, or Plum. He eats the fruit with 

 great apparent relish, and then he cracks the stone and eats 

 the kernel. I do not blame him for the latter part of the 

 process, as in seasons when fruit is scarce nothing should be 

 wasted. But he also bites the leading shoots from the finest 

 and most rare Conifers, and does great mischief among plant- 

 ations of young trees of all sorts. He is altogether a very sad 

 rogue, and it ia diflicult to find a word to say in his favour. 



A custom prevails at funerals among the Dutch settlers in 

 Natal for some one of the deceased's friends to make a short 

 oration at his open grave, recording his virtues and the good 

 deeds, it any, performed by him during hie earthly sojourn. 

 It happened, however, that an individual died who was not 

 considered to have been possessed of any virtues whatever, 

 and had never performed any good deeds. Consequently in 

 his case the melancholy obsequiea were nearly being completed 

 in silence, when one of his countrymen raising his voice aaid 

 in solemn tones, " H'm was a berry good smoker." And aa 

 regards the squirrel it may be said he is a merry, active, little 

 fellow with a beautiful tail, and he is without doubt a splendid 

 jumper. 



I will close with a word or two regarding a true garden 

 friend, which, notwithstanding, not unfrequently meets with 

 cruel treatment — for no other reason that I am aware of than 

 because his exterior (notwithstanding the charm of a pair of 

 brilliant eyes), is not considered ornamental. I allude to the 

 toad, the good services of which in Melon and Cucumber pits, 

 Orchid houses, &c., cultivators are, generally speaking, well 

 aware, one or two toads being generally fouud to speedily free 

 such structures from woodlice, ants, earwigs, spiders, &e. — P. G. 



Vabious opinions have been expressed in the Journal of late 

 with regard to the damage done in gardens by bullfinches and 

 tomtits, but no notice aeema to have been taken of another 

 bird, the bluecap or willow-biter, which in thia district is much 

 more numerous than either of the other birds, and is thought 

 to do an immense amount of damage amongst the fruit buds, 

 more especially the buds of the Gooseberry. I should be glad 

 to learn whether the same ia the case elsewhere.— E. C, 

 Oakham. 



i;This ia the blnetit, which in aome districts is called the 

 willow-biter, and in others " billy-biter." It is essentially an 

 insectivorous bird, although it occasionally commits injury to 

 fruit buds. llr. Weir has observed that a pair of these birds 

 fed their youug 475 times in seventeen hours, working inoea- 

 aantly from half-past 3 a m. to half-past S p.m. They appeared 

 to feed them solely with caterpillars. — Eds.] 



JOTTINGS ON KOSES IN POTS. 

 While "Wtld Savage" is bemoaning the scarceness of 

 Rose controversy in the Journal, we in the neighbourhood of 

 London have been feasting ourselves on the most glorious 

 eights of Eoees imaginable. If "Wtld Savage" could have 

 been present, or was present, he would have exclaimed, instead 

 of " love is growing cold," that it waxeth stronger than ever. 

 The eighteen Eoses staged at the Crystal Palace by the 

 champion growers — Messrs. Turner of Slough and Paul and 

 Son of Cheshunt — were indeed a feast in themselves, while at 

 the Royal Botanic Show, only just four days afterwards, the 

 same exhibitors brought thirty of these tremendoua bushes in 

 greater perfection than ever. The Paul Perraa and Edward 

 Morren of Mr. Turner were perfection. Edward Morren haa 

 never before been shown by any grower in tuch a high state 

 of excellence. No savage ever trained such a plant. Every 

 one of the hundred or more perfectly expanded flowers on this 

 bush would have done credit to any si and of twenty-four out 

 blooms. Mr. Paul's Madame de St. Joseph at the Crystal 

 Palace was indeed grand, as also were his bushes of the slower- 

 growing dark Eoses Alfred Colomb, Marie Baumann, Horace 



