June ID, 1878. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOETICUliTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



485 



This grub is frequently very destructive to wall trees. It 

 appears on Pear trees when the fruit are from one-half to two- 

 thirds of their fuU size, and by destrojdug the parenchyma of 

 the leaves it prevents the elaboration of tho sap, brings growth 

 to a standstill, and the Pears, instead of swelling, drop. 



Some authors consider that the slug-worm of Keaumur pro- 

 <Iuces the'Tenthredo Cerasi of Linn;eus ; others consider it 

 to belong to the Tenthredo yEthiops of Fabricius. The in- 

 vestigations of Gorsky, Westwood, and M. Delacour have 

 set the question at 

 rest. They have shown 

 that there are several 

 slug-like grubs, which 

 are developed into in- 

 sects belonging to dis- 

 tinct species, and that 

 the T. Cerasi of Lin- 

 na3Us does not form its 

 cocoon in the ground, 

 but among the leaves 

 of the Cherry. To Dr. 

 Boisduval's description 

 of this pest we may add 

 that the best remedy is 

 to dust the trees with 

 quicklime as soon as the 



slimy grub is perceived, and to repeat the dustiny 

 as may be necessary. — Eds.] 



Fig. 2. — Teutliredn ndumbratft 

 (perfect insect). 



as often 



LETTEES FKOM JAPAN.— No. 2. 



Isurumi, Sept. 7th, 1873. 



Japan is quite an agricultural country, and in the island of 

 Kipon two crops are generally obtained every year. At the 

 cud of the month of November or the beginning of December 

 the farmers sow their Barley and Wheat, and these crops are 

 ready to cut in the months of May and June, when the soO is 

 again turned up, and the land flooded for the Bice crop, or 

 prepared for Turnips, &a. The Barley and Wheat are not set 

 BO closely as we grow ours in England, the rows being about 

 12 to 1.5 inches wide ; after the Wheat and Barley plants are 

 about 8 inches high they are earthed-up on both sides. The 

 plough used by the Japanese is made of wood, pointed at the 

 end with a small piece of iron, and is so light that a boy can 

 carry it. It is guided by a single handle only, and is a very 

 primitive affair. The harrow is a piece of wood 3 feet long, 

 filled with iron spikes, and with a handle to it, so placed that 

 the farmer can press the spikes into the ground. After the 

 Barley and Wheat crops are ripe they are cut with a siclde, the 

 same as the Irish labourers formerly used. The crop being 

 carried home, all tho heads of grain are puDed off from the 

 etraw by passing through a number of iron spikes. The heads 

 are then thrashed with a flail in a similar way to what was 

 formerly the plan in England, after which the corn is separated 

 from the chaff by being exposed to the wind. 



The Eice crop is planted in the following way : — After care- 

 fully preparing a bed, the Rice is set very thick, the same as 

 Celery is in England, and after it has grown to be about 

 6 inches from the ground, it is replanted in bunches of about 

 six heads each in the paddy fields, which have aU been pre- 

 viously turned up, prepared, and manured for the purpose. 

 The distance between each bunch is about 6 inches. The Bice 

 plant having grown to about 1 foot high, the earth is pressed 

 round each bunch by hand, and all weeds carefully removed. 

 At the end of October or the beginning of November the crop 

 is ready to cut, after which it is thrashed, and the Bice put 

 into straw bags. Turnips, which are grown and used along 

 with Bice by the Japanese for their food, are sown in the 

 months of May and June. They are not the same shape or 

 description as the English Turnip, but are about the size and 

 form of a very large Carrot, only white in colour. Carrots, 

 Potatoes, Peas, Sweet Potatoes, Beans, and Mustard are oiflti- 

 vated in much the same way as we raise them in England. 

 The grass here is very coarse, and sheep will not hve on it. 

 The Japanese Government has commenced a large farm in the 

 island of Yesso, which I am informed is very rich soil, but 

 owing to the severe winters in that more northern latitude, 

 only one crop is obtained in the year. 



Poultry is extensively reared. We have turkeys, fowls, 

 geese, ducks, and pigeons. The fowls and ducks are very 

 plentiful, and comparatively cheap. 



Fruit is very fine and plentiful. It consists of Pears, Apples, 



Grapes, Pomegranates, Melons, Peaches, Plums, and Oranges. 

 The latter are of a very rich sweet flavour though small, and do 

 not generally contain many pippins. Your English gardeners 

 would be surprised to see a Japanese orchard, as all the trees 

 are grafted dwarfs, and appear to be heavily laden with fruit — 

 so much so that the branches are supported by bamboo props. 

 I must not forget to mention that the Japanese have one great 

 fault in the gathering of their fruit, and that is they nearly 

 always puU it before it is ripe, and then leave it to ripen after- 

 wards in the house. We consequently do not get the full 

 flavour of their fine Peaches and Plums. — J. Taskf.k Fostek. — 

 {ISij favour of the writer's father. Editor of the Yorkshire 

 Gazette.) 



INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE OVEB THE STATUEE 

 OF PLANTS. 



At a meeting of the Acad«my of Natural Sciences at Phila- 

 delphia, Mr. Thomas Meehan remarked that, as botanists well 

 knew, Quercus prinoides seldom grew more than 2 feet in 

 height. It was one of the smallest of shrubs. lu his collec- 

 tions in Kansas he found Oaks in the vicinity of Leavenworth, 

 which made small trees from 10 to 15 feet high, and with 

 stems from 1 to 2 feet in circumference. He was entirely 

 satisfied that it is identical in every respect but size with the 

 Q. prinoides of the eastern States. 



Among trees there are few which produce forms as low 

 shrubs ; but the Pinus Banksiana, in the east but a bush of 

 5 or 10 feet, grew often 40 feet along the shores of Lake 

 Superior ; the Castauea pumila. Chinquapin Chestnut, when 

 it gets out of the sands of New Jersey into the clayey soils 

 west of the Delaware, often grew as large as many fuU-growu 

 Apple trees ; while the Celtis occidentalis, which in the east is 

 generally but a straggling bush along fence corners, is in Ohio 

 a large spreading tree with an enormous trunk, and in Indiana 

 is as lofty and as graceful as an Elm. 



He also exhibited a section of a stem of Wistaria sinensis, 

 and called the attention of members to a curious arrangement 

 of the wood and bark. The vertical section showed by the 

 annual rings of wood that it was about twelve years old. After 

 the eighth year's circle there was a layer of bark, and over this 

 layer two more circles of wood. On a portion of the section 

 another layer of bark had formed between the tenth and 

 eleventh years' circles of wood. The bark seemed to be wholly 

 of liber, the oeDular matter and external cortical layer of the 

 regular bark appeared to be wanting. A longitudinal section 

 showed where these internal layers of bark extended no further 

 upwards, and at this point there was an evident flow of 

 wood from the interior over and down this layer of enclosed 

 bark. 



He remarked that this section of wood was taken from a stem 

 which had been led to support itself in an upright position. 

 When the Wistaria is permitted to trail along the ground nu- 

 merous rootlets are formed along its length. He thought 

 from the appearance of the wood, in the specimen presented, 

 that rootlets had partially formed in these erect stems, push- 

 ing through the Uber, and then, instead of penetrating entirely 

 through the bark and forming perfect rootlets, they remained 

 within the ceUular matter, and descending joined with the re- 

 gular woody layer in forming an annular course of wood. 

 ■This explanation was the more plausible, he thought, from the 

 fact that woody stems formed on the ground. Where the 

 rootlets went quite through into the earth the stems were 

 nearly regularly cyhndrical ; but these upright stems on which 

 rootlets were never seen had an irregular fluted appearance. 

 Of course, this explanation does not accord with the formation 

 of wood in hgneous structures as generally understood ; but 

 he could not understand how the appearance presented could 

 have occurred in any other way than as he had supposed. 



NEW BOOK. 



Yan Houtte's Pomona. A Descriptive List of Fruit.-:, with 

 numerous Plates ; published in English and French. Part 1. 

 Pears. London, 171, Fleet Street, E.C. 

 The name of Mr. Van Houtte is already well known as a 

 botanical and horticultural author, and now after a long life 

 honourably spent in the service of Flora he has divided his 

 heart with her sister Pomona, and given to the world of horti- 

 culture a work which is at once creditable and useful. The 

 Pomona, which is gracefully dedicated to Dr. Eobert Hogg, is 

 published in an oblong form, and consists of short descriptions 



