iSi 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEft. 



f .Tiino 10, 1875. 



caterpillars, especially those of the tiger moth (Arctia caja), 

 the stomach of the bird being lined with the hairs of the cater- 

 pillars ; it has also a particular liking for the caterpillar of the 

 magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata), common to and com- 

 mitting great hayoc in Gooseberry and Currant plantations. 

 When caterpillars fail, the cuckoo has its food from the ground, 

 frequenting newly-turned-up grass land or leys sown with a 

 cereal crop, only too often seen looking yellow and patchy from 

 the attack of wireworm and larvie of the daddy-longlegs. 

 Gilbert White mentions the cuckoo as seen by him catching 

 the dragon flies disporting by a large pond, some of which it 

 took whilst resting on the water plants, and others it caught 

 on the wing. 



For the past six seasons, without omitting any, I have seen 

 the cuckoos take and clear the Gooseberry and Currant 

 quarters of caterpillars. Shy the birds are not, for they 

 occasionally come and remain when we are at work in adjoin- 

 ing quarters of the garden, but usually scrutinising their feed- 

 ing-ground and adjuncts for foes before alighting from a 

 neighbouring tree, and upon the approach of anyone flying 

 away uttering their peculiar hawk-like cry of alarm, which is 

 very different to their joy note. 



For the last six seasons the Gooseberry and Currant bushes 

 have been freed of caterpillars by the' cuckoos. I hear of 

 others having to water their trees overhead with a solution of 

 white hellebore powder, 1 oz. to a gallon of water, which may 

 bo applied with a rose watering pot or by a whitewash brush 

 sprinkled over the parts infested by caterpillars ; this is rendered 

 quite unnecessary here by the aid of the cuckoo. The Apple 

 and Pear trees have the leaves eaten through and through by 

 caterpillars, and the destructive "worm i' the bud" spoils 

 the hopes of the rosarian. It ia a gratifying and instructive 

 sight to see the sparrow — house sparrow (Passer domestious) 

 passing from tree to tree, and from those to its nest, carrying 

 in its beak the food which its young receive with joyous 

 clamour. In this garden is a Scotch Fir prized for its nge, 

 hence it is privileged to appear so prominently within walls, 

 and this tree is a favourite nesting place of the sparrow, and 

 is at all seasons a favourite resort of these and other birds. 

 It is to them no doubt a halting place, one that commands the 

 surrounding ground, and is therefore advantageous as a " look- 

 out." Chaffinches watch us from it sowing seeds ; it is no use, 

 the seeds are never sown without iirst being coated with red 

 lead. Linnets use it, the blackbird and thrush giving their 

 clarion notes perched on the pollard arms, which ring out 

 sweetly on the still clear air. Hedged-in shrubberies, into 

 which at dusk may be seen flocks of linnets, chaffinches, and 

 sparrows descending, backed by plantations all around, and 

 abutting a wood which extends east to west six miles in a 

 valley with a rivulet meandering through mud or running 

 through over rock ; the whole spot is an aviary of native and 

 migratory birds. A dabchick or little grebe (Podiceps minor) 

 was caught last November in one of our stokeholes, which 

 along with the preceding are given in evidence of the verdict 

 not being arrived at through a paucity of material. 



Of cuckoos I have seen six together. This year they seem 

 scarce ; I have not seen more than one, and only heard two. 

 pjing no harm the cuckoo has no foe in man, but its approach 

 is marked by some of like feather with marks of great disap- 

 probation. If, as alleged, the cuckoo be a sucker of birds' eggs, 

 there can be some excuse for the great clamour raised by the 

 smaller birds upon the intrusion of one in, over, or near the 

 nesting domain. This is not, however, any proof that the birds 

 have instinctive knowledge of the cuckoo as a destroyer of their 

 eggs, for th<*y are equally ready with a cry and chase after the 

 night-jar (which does not suck goats any more than hedgehogs 

 do cows), or any bird in the shape of a hawk, driving the birds 

 80 tormented to seek refuge in flight. The missel thrush and 

 blackbird are notoriously clamorous over the intrusion of a 

 cuckoo to the nesting places. Equally uncertain is the finding 

 of empty shells in bird-nests of the cuckoo being the content- 

 takers. The jay and magpie are well known destroyers of eggs, 

 but proof is wanting of the cuckoo being at all connected there- 

 with. — G. Abbey. 



TuE Preservation' of Flou'ers. — A vessel with a moveable 

 cover is provided, and having removed the cover from it a 

 piece of metallic gauze of moderate fineness is fixed over it 

 and the cover replaced. A quantity of sand is then taken, 

 sufficient to fill the vessel, and passed through a sieve into an 

 iron pot, where it is heated, with the addition of a small 

 quantity of etearine, carefully stirred, so as to thoroughly mix 



the ingredients. The quantity of steatine to be added is at 

 the rate of half a pound to 100 lbs. of sand. Care should be 

 taken not to add too much, as it would sink to the bottom and 

 injure the flowers. The vessel, with its cover on and the gauze 

 beneath it, is then turned upside down, and the bottom being 

 removed, the flowers to be operated upon are carefully placed 

 on the gauze and the sand gently poured in so as to cover the 

 flowers entirely, the leaves being thus prevented from touching 

 each other. The vessel, is then put in a hot place — such, for 

 instance, as the top of a baker's oven — where it is left for forty- 

 eight hours. The flowers thus become dried, and they retain 

 their natural colours. The vessel still remaining bottom up- 

 wards, the lid is taken off, and the sand runs away through 

 the gauze, leaving the flowers uninjured. — {Pharmaceutical 

 Journal.) 



THE ARRANGEMENTS OF COLOURS 



IX THE BEDS OF THE LONDON PARK3 AND GARDENS. --Ko. 1. 

 LIST OF PERENNIAL rT.ANIS EMPLOYED, 



Altoinanthera spathiilala 



paronychyoides 

 major 



amo'Da 

 spectabilis 



magnitica 



versicolor 



amabilid latifulia 

 Aihyrocline Saundersi 

 A^'atbea coilestis 

 Ajuga reptang rubra 

 .\t,'eratum Imperial Dwarl 

 Acbillea umbcllata 

 Cineraria acanthiefolia 



maritima uompacta 



aspleoifolia 

 Convolvalns mauritaiiicu.s 



minor 

 Centaurcft gymnocarpa 



ragusina compacta 

 Campanula turbinata hybrida 

 Cbami-Epeuce diacaotha 

 Cerastium tomentoaum 

 Coleus Verscbatfelti 

 spleDdeng 

 Uactylis glomerata elegantissima 

 Eebeveria secunda glauoa 



metaliica 



glauca metallica 

 FuL-bsia Golden Fleece 

 Fnnkia undulata 

 Gazania Bplendens 

 Guapbalium lanatum 



tomentof5um 



Geraoinm Robert Fish 



Daybreak 



Master Chrigtino 



Elegantis^ima 



Rose Bradwardine 



Little Golden CbrietiDe 

 Golden Pyretbrum 

 Helicbrysam maritimam 

 Iresine Lindeni 



Herbatii 

 Kleinia repens 

 Leucopbyton Browni 

 Lobelia epeciosa 



Blae King 

 Stonei 

 Bonnet 



Omen 



White Perfection 



Porcelain Brilliant 



Mazarine Gem 



pumila graudillora 

 Oxalis corniculata rubra 

 Pacbypbyton bracteosum 

 Stellaria yraminea aurea 

 Sempervivum montanum 



arachnoideum 

 Senecio argenteus 



incanus 

 Tencrium Folium 

 Tagetes signata pumilii 

 Mola lutea major 



Purple Queen 

 Verbena Purple King 

 Sportsman 



LIST OF ANNUALS EMPLOYED. 



Amaranthus melancbolicus rubor 



Atriplex borteuais 



Aspenila aaurea setosti 



Alousoa Warscewiczii compact a 



Alyssum maritimum 



Bartoiiia aurea 



Clarkia alba 



Cliutoni^ pulchella 



Celosia Iluttoni 



EscliBcboltzia crocea 



Godetia 



Lupinus nanus 



Marigold (French nuniatursl 



^lalope grandiflora 



Nasturtium 



Ncmesia compacta 



Nemophila compacta 



Petunia 



Phlox Drummondii 



Saponaria calabrica 



Senecio 



Viscaria 



VARIATIONS AND NAMES OF COLOURS. 



The various colours which now distinguish the foliage of 

 different plants constitute some of the most striking phenomena 

 of the vegetable world. Great is the variety of tints, which 

 are peculiarly interesting, and are worthy the attention of 

 every observer of nature. There is a wide field for investiga- 

 tion. Some think it a disease, but I think those bright and 

 beautiful colours blended together as some are cannot be dis- 

 ease. The different colours of leaves and flowers, and the 

 names to which those differences have given rise, are so many 

 that the subject is one that deserves to be treated as a separate 

 branch of science. This variety of colouring appears to me 

 jointly to depend on the various structures of the leaf and on 

 the different chemical actions to which those leaves are subject, 

 some of them evidently depending on soil and situation, or 

 from excess of heat or cold and causes hitherto unascertained. 



Although this change in the colour of the leaves cannot as 

 yet be explained, yet we know some of the laws that influence 

 the colour of flowers. Blue flowers will turn to white or red, 

 but never to yellow. A bright yellow flower will sometimes 

 become white, but is never known to become blue. From 

 whatever circumstances a leaf is subjected to change in colour 

 there is one fact certain — it in most cases adds greatly to their 

 beauty, and desirable acquisition for ornamental purposes. 

 The different hues assumed in course of development, the bright 



