October 8, 1S?4. j 



JOTJBNAL OF HORTICDLfUBB ASD COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



321 



on ths honey afforded by the greenish blossoms of that late- 

 flowering plant. These insects, popnlarly designated the 

 "Sword-grasses," come eagerly also to the sngar spread as a 

 trap for moths by the entomologist. The beanty of both is 

 more conspicuons in the larval than in the moth state ; still 

 some persons much admire the rich tints of brown displayed 

 on the wings of the Bed Sword-grass (C. vetnsta) ; the dark 

 and crested thorax is also handsome. C. exolita has a cer- 

 tain similarity to its relative, thongh lighter in colonr, and 

 a trifle larger." Both have long and narrow wings, curionsly 

 pnckered np when the moths are at rest, and giving them 

 rather the aspect of withered leaves. An entomologist of eorne 

 repute in onr day, slightly given to exuberance of language in 

 his earlier writings, tells ns that when he first saw the cater- 

 pillar of C. exolita he " nearly screamed with delight." It was 

 a pity he did not quite scream ; and as he has given me an op- 

 portunity of outdoing him, I intend to scream when I see one, 

 which is a pleasure yet in store, as circumstances have pre- 

 vented me as yet from looking after these caterpillars at the 

 right time and in the likely localities. This wonderful cater- 

 pillar is usually bright green, with two yellow stripes running 

 from head to tail, and besides thesse a scarlet stripe edged 

 above and lelow with white; there are also white spots on 

 most of the segments, some of them surrounded with black. 

 It has been observed feeding on the Creeping Plume Thistle 

 fCarduus ai-vensis), and manages somehow to escape all injury 

 from the sharp prickles of the plant. Other food plants are 

 the Rest-harrow and the Bladder Campion, also the species of 

 Scabious. If disturbed, these caterpillars fall from the plants 

 on which they are feeding, bent in a loose ring. The cater- 

 pillars of C. vetusta are darker in colour, striped with yellow 

 and black, and particularly distinguished from the preceding 

 by the absence of tho scarlet streak, and the presence of a 

 much larger number of black and white dots. This species 

 has been taken on the Docks, on Sedges, and other marsh 

 plants. The chrysalis state lasts but a short time, as the 

 oaterpillirs of these moths are full-grown in July. Where the 

 ground is moist below they are said to avoid entering it, and 

 undergo their change on the surface. Lastly, it should be 

 added that the moths of both species hybernate, sheltering 

 themselves from the cold and damp of winter in outhouses, 

 bams, lie. They are seldom seen in the spring, when they 

 reappear. — J. R. S. C. 



GABDENING AT HOXTON IN OLDEN TIMES. 



HoXTOK was a favoured home of some of the most noted 

 gardeners in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. One 

 of the earliest of these was Gourle, who flourished in the reigu 

 of Charles II., and whose name has come down to us in an 

 anagrammatic form attached to the Xectariue he successfully 

 raised — viz., the E'.ruge. George Eicketts, Pearson, and 

 WiUiam Darby are all three mentioned in Gibson's curious 

 account of gardens near London, in December, 1691. Eicketts 

 cultivated more than 190 kinds of TuUps. and he possessed 

 the richest and most complete collection of flowering trees and 

 shrubs in the kingdom ; Pearson had the best assortment of 

 Anemones about London, and sold " them only to gentlemen ; " 

 and Darby was known as one of the first in England to culti- 

 vate exotic plants. He was succeeded by John Cowell, in 

 whose garden flourished the Cereus and the Glastonbury Thorn. 

 A great American Aloe was bought by D.irby when it was 

 twenty years old, and it remained in his garden for forty years, 

 after which it came into Cowell's possession. When it was 

 seventy-two years old it began to open its crown for flowering, 

 and in June, 1729, it flowered magnificently. Large numbers 

 of visitors were drawn to the gardens to see this curiosity. 



Another noted Hoxton gardener was Benedict Whitmell ; 

 but the most distinguished of the fraternity was Thomas Fair- 

 child, who, by the judicious bequest of the small sum of £2.5, 

 has succeeded in preventing his name from ever being forgotten. 

 Fairchild united a love of science with the practice of his ait, 

 and contributed a paper on the motion of sap in plants to 

 the Royal Society, which was printed in the " Philosophical 

 Transactions." His grounds were afterwards known as 

 Selby's Gardens, and extended from the west end of Ivy Lane 

 to the New North Eoad. Here he cultivated a vineyard as late 

 as 1722, which is said to have been one of the last in England. 



Fairchild, by his will, dated February 21st, 1728, " gave and 

 bequeathed to the trustees of the charity children of Hoxton, 

 and their successors, and the churchwardens of the parish of 

 St. Leonai'd, Shareditch, and their successors, the sum of £25, 



to be by them placed out at an interest for the payment of 20?. 

 annually, for ever, for the preaching of a sermon in the said 

 chtirch of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, by the lecturer of the said 

 parish, or such other person as the said trustees and church- 

 wardens and their successors should think proper, in the after- 

 noon of the Tuesday in every Whitsnn week in each year, on 

 some subject relating to natural history." Among the noted 

 men who have delivered the lecture may be mentioned Dr. 

 Stukely ; the Kev. William Jones, of Nayland ; the Eev. Samuel 

 Avfcotigh ; and Dr. Wilberforce, when Bishop of Oxford. In 

 1750 Stakeley made a note in his journal of a visit to hear the 

 lecture ; and as the passage gives us a picture of the state of 

 the neighbourhood of Hoxton at that date, we will quote it 

 here : — " I went with Dr. Folkes and other fellows to Shore- 

 ditch, to hear Dr. Denne preach Fairchild'a sermon on the 

 Beantys of the Vegetable World. We were entertained by 

 Mr. Whetman, a merchant, at his elegant house by Moorfields, 

 a pleasant place, encompass'd with gardens, stored with all 

 sorts of curious flowers and shrubs, where we spent the day 

 very agreeably, enjoying all the pleasures of the country in 

 town." 



Hoxton was once noted for balsamic wells, and a book was 

 written upon them. Sir Philip Skippon, writing to Bay 

 Pecember ISth, 1667), refers to " the sweet-smelling earth 

 found in Captain Massey"s garden, at Hogsden;" and eighteen 

 years afterwards Sir Hans Sloane, in a letter to Ray (Novem- 

 ber 10th, 1685), gives a fuU account of the earth, and an 

 analysis of the water found " near the new square at Hokes- 

 don." Whatever charms Hoxton may once have possessed, 

 they are all gone now, and yet not many mouths ago. a London 

 merchant purchased ground there, and built himself a house, 

 which was finished, and fitted up with an elegant conservatory. 

 —{Builder.) 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 We are gratified to find that Mr. James Smith, who has 

 been so long at Exton Park, Rutlandshire, has been appointed 

 to the gardens of the Earl of Dartmouth at Patshull, near 

 Wolverhampton ; and in making this announcement we can 

 but say that a better appointment could not have been made. 

 He is succeeded by Mr. Aheme, from Arundel Castle Gardens. 



Tnis season the mintage ok California will, it is 



estunated, amount to 10,000,000 galilons, against 4,000,000 in 

 1873, and 2,500,000 in 1872. 



In St. Joseph County, Michigan, the tield of Peppee- 



MiNT is not more than half a crop. It is estimated this year 

 at 8000 lbs. Diy weather is the cause. 



STE.\"WBEEEY CULTURE. 

 I HAVE read a discussion between Dr. Eoden and Mr. Douglas ; 

 and though on the whole I agree with the former, the latter, I 

 believe, is quite right in saying a number of his plants die-out 

 yearly ; and Dr. Eoden says what is likely to be true, that the 

 soil with Mr. Douglas is not congenial for these plants, and 

 such I have seen more than once. This district is famous for 

 growing Strawberries, Easpberries, and Gooseberries. Fordell 

 Dea, a place celebrated in Scotland for growing Strawberries, 

 is within three miles of this; and the late Mr. Moffat, whose 

 name is celebrated in Edinburgh for FordeUDea Strawberries, 

 told me he grew them for fourteen years without renewing 

 them, and then he rested the laud one year, manured it, and 

 planted on the same land. But it is a deep heavy soU, and 

 such the Strawberry deUghts in, while on land the reverse the 

 plants will die-out yearly. I have been acquainted with Straw- 

 berries for forty-seven years, and the best I ever saw was at 

 Glamis Castle, "Forfar, "this year. The sorts were Eclipse 

 and Elton. Keens' Seedling was about past. At Yeeter, 

 Haddingtonshire, the seat of the Marquis of Tweedale, they 

 were equallv good. The soil in both places is very strong 

 and deep, and a Uttle cold, .\bout 1} lb. would be gathered 

 off one plant, but the plants were nearly '-' feet between each 

 other, and nearly 3 feet between the rows. It was a treat to 

 see the berries hanging round the plants. Within four miles 

 of this there are two hundred acres of Strawberries grown, but 

 at Ormiston three to four crops only are got, when the plants 

 must be cleared off. The soU is lightish, with a gravelly sub- 

 soil. The fruit is sent to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and 

 Aberdeen, often in barrels, but for the Edinburgh market it 

 is sent in small round baskets which hold IJ-lb., and sell 

 from 6(f. to l,^■. each. At 6rf. they give a good return if the 



