April9,18C8. 1 



JOURNAIi OP HOKTIOUIiTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



275 



to resemble preen moss, and tho buds, althongh jirotty close loRothcr 

 .are not crowded. I thiuk sutlieifeiit furii is not nsod in conatrnrtiug 

 these bouquets The groups of flowers for table {and sonie of them 

 were very large), wero too hoiivy iind formal. Tho jndi<'ions introdnc- 

 fion of more foliage and ferns would liavo relieved this and improved 

 the arrangement. Head-dmsses of flowers were exhibited, hut were 

 notiiing remarkable The Whitu Persian Lilac and White Deutzia 

 seemed to be valuable fon this purpose. 



Outside the building, scattered about the grounds, and here and 

 there arranged in groups, were quite sutficiout objects of interest to 

 form an exhibition, and of some of these things we will give a brief 

 sketch. 



There were stands of garden implements and tools, containing many 

 things which English amateurs and gardeners would hail with delight 

 — pruning scissors and shears of all forms ; knives, many of which 

 would not delight ns. being too clumsy and curved ; garden chairs of 

 overy description, and so delightfully easy that a cigar and a snooze 

 became first thoughts ; many of these, made of light elastic iron 

 tastefully jnunted, were more fit for a drawing-room ; iron rods, to 

 imitate staJces for Dahlias, standard Roses, l^c. Then there were 

 Buug, inviting la^vu tents, samples of wood latticework, screens for 

 shading houses, or coveiin^ fruit trees ; also boilers, one form of which 

 I may as well say with Mr. Lane is " my idea"' of their idea of a 

 boiler. It is a capital application of a saddle boiler, and in one of 

 your early numbers I will give you a rough sketch of it, and a few 

 remarks. Meantime I would just remark that all the boilers exhi- 

 bited were deficient in water space, most of them not having more 

 than from 1 inch to 1^ inch clear water space, and corrosion would 

 very soon reduce this. All the greenhouses are made of cast iron, and 

 the tirched roof seems to be the most popular. I believe we entertain 

 an unjustifiable prejudice against them, and when speaking about the 

 boiler, I shall worry you with " my idea" of iron houses and garden 

 frames, of which samples were exhibited. 



Standard Bays, Myrtles, Box, Orange tree?, nnd all such things, in 

 tubs, are greatly used in Belgium for terrace ornament. Many won- 

 derful examples of these things were exhibited on this occasion. 

 There was a pair of Sweet Bays on short stems, each 12 feet high 

 and as much througli, and a lot of others varying in smaller sizes. 

 Then there was a pair of magnificent and bushy Orange trees, almost 

 as largo as the two Bays, standard I/aurustiuus, and a pair of Giant 

 Clethra arborea on stems 7 feet high and IT) inches in circumference, 

 each plant IS ft-et high, with handsome heads ; small-leaved Myrtles 

 on stems, with heads (J feet through ; a maguiticent lot of specimen 

 Aloes, A^ariegated and other Yuccas ; berried Ancnbas, three of 

 which were fully 5 feet high and to 7 feet through, all amply 

 testifying that berried Aucubas are gi-and things and mnst be generally 

 planted. 



A collection of standard Bays in pots, showing thii-ty different de- 

 signs of twisted stems, indicated marvellous patience on the part of 

 the grower, and formed a novel exhibition. The first thought which 

 occurred to many was that such a process would so check the ciicnla- 

 tlon of the sap as to iiroduce sickly gi-owth. Not so. These plants 

 were very healthy. Two Cupressus Lawsoniana in tubs, each 20 feet 

 high, and perfect pyramids, stood side by side with tho monster Wel- 

 liugtonias in tubs, quite as high. Samples of garden pots, statuaiy, 

 wirework, and many other appliances for the garden met the eye in 

 eveiy^direction. Xor must we omit to mention Ivies fn pots, and a pair 

 of wonderful plants of Phormium teuax, 5 to (i feet high, and about 

 12 feet through. 



Prizes were offered for fifty Conifers, and some extremely fine speci- 

 mens were showu, many of them from 8 to Hi feet high, and in pots 

 or tubs. M. Gaugard and M. Auguste Van Geert both exhibited in 

 this class. There were also two fine collections of thii'ty specimen 

 Hollies in tubs and baskets. Specimens of various forms of training 

 fruit trees were exhil)ited by M. Gaugard and M. Van Houtte, but 

 why the prize was awarded to the former I am at a loss to tdl. Much 

 more attention is devoted to the training and pruning of fruit trees 

 in Belgium than by ourselves. 



All that we have now to add is. that we all left Ghent delighted 

 with our visit, and especially with the Exhibition, grateful to our 

 friends there for the vrarmth of their reception, and all joining in the 

 with that we may meet there again in lUl'd. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The second March meeting was held on the 10th of tho month at 

 Burlington House, the President, H. W. Bates, Esq., being in tho 

 chair. Amongst the new publications presented to the Society's librarj' 

 since the last meeting were Dr. Schaufuss's Memoir on the Scydmse- 

 nidje of South America ; a new periodical work on the Coleoptera. by 

 Baron Von Harold ; and the Zeituug of the Stettin Entomological 

 Society. 



A curious Lepidopterous caterpillar from Brazil, forwarded by Dr. 

 Peckholt, was exhibited by Mr. F. Smith. It lives in communities of 

 considerable extent, and has the habit of forming nests as large as a 

 man's head, of a strong -woolly texture, in which it resides, upon trees. 

 It has the body covered with long haii-y bristles. It was not stated by 

 Dr. Peckholt in what situation the chrysalis state is passed, or whether 

 the caterpillar formed a cocoon within the nest, so that it was not 



possible to determine whether it belonged to a diurnal species (butter- 

 fiy), or to a nocturnal one (moth). 



Mr. Stainton directed attention to ft memoir by Dr. Hartmann, in 

 which the natural history of three different spocicH of Moths was re- 

 corded, belonging to tlui families Trochiliidaj (Trochilium cepbif<»rmi«}, 

 Tortricidrt' ((.iraphnlitha intcrruptana, H. ScbalT. duplieana, Zett.), 

 uTul Tineidio (tJeleebia sp.). Tbeso insects had all been reared from 

 knots or galls on the Htems of tho common Juniper (Juniiterus com- 

 munis) ; and Mr. Stainton suggested tbut by a careful examination of 

 tho bushes of that tree in tins country it might possibly be dis- 

 covered that these insects were indigenous. 



The President called attention to a general catalogno of Coleopterous 

 insects classified according to Lacordaire's great work, by tho Baron 

 Von Harold, the publication of tho commencement of which was 

 announced. 



Mr. Smith read an article from the "Guardian," a periodical of 

 the last century, edited by Addisou, giving an account, extracted from 

 the " Proceedings ' of the French Academy of 171 1-i, of the economy 

 of the common garden Ant, which the writer aihrmed had tbe instinct 

 to collect and store up grain for future supplies of food. A mar- 

 vellous amount of detail was added of the proceedings of a colony 

 introduced into a chamber, not only with reference to the fact of col- 

 lecting and storing the food, but also of previously preparing it, and 

 regularly airing it fi"om time to time, all which statements Mr. Smith 

 believed to he purely fictitious. Professor "Westwood, however, con- 

 sidered that certain well-known facts in the economy of the Ant had 

 been simply mistmderstood and misrepresented by the writer. Thus, 

 he believed tbat tho grain stated to ha7e been stored np was the 

 cocoons of the pupa* whieli the Ants often brought to the surface of 

 the nests, and that this biting off the cap of the cocoon by the Ants for 

 the escape of the enclosed insect on its arrival at tbe imago state had 

 been mistaken for picking out tho buds of the gi*ains of Wheat to pre- 

 vent them sprouting. Mr. Smith fui-ther remarked on the want of 

 precision ohsci-vable in the statements of facts of natural history by 

 various French writers at tbe present day. Tims, M. Fabre's curious 

 account of the economy of the Bee parasites, Sitaris and Meloe, could 

 not he relied upon, as he stated that the yonng larvte when hatched 

 swam about in the tiuid honey stored np in the wild bees' nests ; whereas 

 it was well known tbat these particular kinds of Beea only collect the 

 pollen of flowers for the support of their own progeny. 



PLANTS INHALING NOXIOUS GASES. 



The Editors' note at the foot of my article in page 231 re- 

 minded me very forcibly of an episode of my school days. A 

 valued monitor, with a view of maldng a deserved castigation 

 more effective, brought me to the front and administered it as 

 publicly as possible. Still further, that the object of the cor- 

 rection should be lasting, he at the same time surprised me 

 with what was then to me a valuable present. I have ofttimes 

 thought since that this mode of assisting the memory was 

 sound in principle. I am afraid that the castigation and ths 

 object of it would have been forgotten long ago but for the 

 present. It is this which brings the whole scene vividly before 

 me. I hope tho slight rap on the knuckles'which the Editore 

 have been Uind enough to bring me to the front to receive, will 

 he supplemented with a present in the shape of the reasons 

 why they " totally dissent " from the theory propounded of 

 plants inhaling noxious gases. This information I shall hail 

 with pleasure, and I believe it would also be acceptable to many 

 others, who, like myself, are unable to lay hands on books 

 which give the true theory of this and kindred subjects apper- 

 taining to the work in which we are engaged as the means of a 

 livelihood. I make no pretensions to a knowledge of vegetable 

 chemistry, or vegetable physiology. I rejoice in being a work- 

 ing gardener, rolling np my sleeves on a Monday morning, 

 where they remain until my wife rolls them down again in the 

 washtub ; but while I work I think, often to no purpose I 

 grant, and I hope still less to mislead. I am ambitious to the 

 extent of being dissatisfied with an effect unless I can trace 

 the cause. Nothing is to me such hard work as " guess work." 

 To be able to give a reason for every thing I do is the goal at 

 which I aim. I have been led into many difficulties, but never 

 conquered one without finding the next more easy ; and so I 

 wade on, sometimes getting out of my depth, but hitherto I 

 have safely reached the shore. 



But why dabble in theory ? it may be asked. Why not be 

 satisfied with practice? I yield to no one in the estimation 

 in which I hold practice, since it gives me good results ; but 

 much so-called practice is after oil only false theory. I think 

 there is much force in Home Tooke's observation, " That he 

 became all the better acquainted with the country through 

 having the good luck sometimes to lose his way." I appear 

 to have lost my way in my article above referred to ; but I am 

 in the country yet, and hope to know it the better of my pere- 



