422 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I May 28, 1874. 



Planting standard Roses on grass, or in little beds on the 

 margin of the grass, is usaaUv the tirst step to failure in 

 Rose-growing, for the English Briar is a hungry plant, and 

 requires more food than it is possible for it to obtain when so 

 situated." 



These remarks we thoroughly endorse, and also add that 

 whereas in five gardens out of six the soil is not suitable for 

 the English Dog Eose, which requires either a strong moist 

 loam or a good clay well manured and well worked ; bo, on the 

 other hand, nearly all strong-growing Roses would thrive in 

 ordinary garden soil if only established on their own roots, 

 which may be done in the course of two years by using the 

 Manetti as the medium, with this manifest advantage, that no 

 frost can entirely destroy your plants so long as the roots are 

 uninjured; and though every shoot above ground may be 

 destroyed, the plant will grow again from below ground, and 

 make a good plant in one season. 



is about C) feet, and the gracefully pendulous branches are 

 laden with flowers similar in colour to Eutaxia myrtifolia. 



KOTAL GARDENS KEW. 



At Kew, in the succulent house, a large plant of Dasylirion 

 acrotrichum is throwing-up its flower stem, growing at the 

 rate of 1 foot in twenty-four hours. Although it has flowered 

 before, this, 1 believe, is the first occasion of its being re- 

 corded in a horticultural paper. The flower stem of D. glau- 

 cum is just visible. I may remark that Beaucarnea Hookeri 

 is the correct name of the plant universally known as Dasy- 

 lirion Hartwegianum ; it flowered at Kew last summer. The 

 latter name belongs to a plant not in cultivation. Few Dra- 

 casnas are ornamental in flower. In this house D. latifolia, 

 often erroneously known as D. fragrans, bears a handsome 

 panicle, the stout white filaments contrasting well with the 

 otherwise green flowers ; it is also sweetly scented. 



In the Cape house is the rare and extremely curious Pelar- 

 gonium Bowkeri. The three lower petals are a dull pink, almost 

 entirely cut into a fringe of filaments ; the two upper pale 

 yeUow, but not so deeply or finely divided ; also the new 

 yellow-flowered P. oblougatum. Here also is Gladiolus Col- 

 villei alba. Its chaste pure white flowers show it to be a plant 

 ■worthy of extensive cultivation. In this instance there are six 

 spikes from bulbs in a 6-inch pot. 



In the Orchid collection in bloom,chiefly worthy of attention 

 are Cattleya labiata ; several plants of Cattleya Mossise, in- 

 cluding two or three very fine varieties ; the very rare Anguloa 

 Ruckeri sanguinea; Anguloa Clowesii, which in more than one 

 work is said to have a pure white lip, here does not differ in 

 colour from the rest of the flower ; Ca?logyne ochraoea ; Me- 

 sospinidium sanguineum ; Dendrobium McCarthia; ; Acrides 

 Fieldingii ; Odontoglossum Pescatorei ; 0. l.tive, and 0. scep- 

 trum ; a brilliantly-coloured variety of Maxillaria tenuifolia, 

 not often worth cultivation ; Lycaste aromatica, eighteen 

 flowers from a small basket; Phalfcnopsis Liiddemanniana, 

 with the never-out-of-flower P. rosea, and the very curious 

 Gongora portentosa. 



Passing to the rockwork is the first Lily in flower, Lilium 

 tenuifolium ; the brilliant scarlet flowers, slender stem, and 

 peculiarly narrow loaves, render it very desirable as a distinct 

 and beautiful species. It is easily grown and quickly flowered 

 from seed. Near at hand are the charming Anthemis Aizoon, 

 from Macedonia, quite a gem ; the white capitula are the size 

 of a shilling, and rise comparatively high above the dense 

 tuft of narrow silvery foliage — it is found in very few col- 

 lections ; — Eremurus spectabilis, a not-common bulb, bear- 

 ing a raceme of flimsy pale yellow flowers, having orange- 

 coloured anthers much exserted ; Dianthus glaciaUs, not 

 2 inches high, and thickly set with pink flowers ; Iris setosa, 

 Ramondia pyrenaica, and the bright Lychnis Lagasca^. A ftw 

 bits of lonopsidium acaule dotted about have a pretty appear- 

 ance. Fabiana imbricata, which forms a fine shrub in the 

 west of England, is flowering profusely on a wall of the new 

 range. It should have a similar position in every garden, and 

 be protected in winter. 



In flower in the herbaceous ground is the Iris tingitana, 

 brought from Morocco by Dr. Hooker. Its rich gold and purple 

 form a beautiful contrast. It is a fine addition to the Xiphion 

 group, but yet very rare. On the New Zealand shelf in the 

 temperate house are a few plants of Veronica Hulkeana, bearing 

 a profusion of delicate lavender flowers on slender stems well 

 above the foliage. It is extremely pretty, and although little 

 known is well worth cultivation. It withstood the past winter 

 out of doors in the herbaceous ground. In the south octagon 

 is a fine plant of EosBiasa linophyUa, rarely grown. Its height 



THE PEOCESSIONART CATERPILLAR OF 

 THE FIR. 



CoNsrDEiiArLE excitement has been occasioned in entomo- 

 logical circles by the appearance of this insect in two different 

 localities in Kent, approximating to each other, however. 

 Though reputed as British in some old books on insects, this 

 species (Cnethocampa pityocampa), like its near relative 

 C. processionea, has only been seen on the Continent by 

 modem observers until the past year. Recent communica- 

 tions to entomological periodicals have shown how difficult it 

 is to be sure that many of the captures of rarities are bond- 

 fide, since there are some dealers in natural-history specimens 

 who hold to the maxim that business is one thing and honour 

 another, and their anxiety to do business leads them to import 

 foreigners occasionally and vouch for them as natives of our 

 British shores. Hence the first announcement of the take by Mr. 

 Batchelor of a number of nests of this Processionary met with 

 a sniff of incredulity from most entomologists ; but the most 

 acute and able of our modern students in this direction — 

 namely, Mr. Doubleday, has identified the species, and inclines 

 to believe that the caterpillars were really taken as described. 



The immortal Reaumur has well portrayed the allied species 

 C. processionea, which is an Oak-feeder, and swarms near 



Cnethocampa processionea.* 



Paris in some years, as in 1865. Both have the same habit of 

 moving in regular processions from the nest in order to feed, 

 and Reaumur goes so far as to assert that having left the nest 

 by a small opening, which only allows the caterpillars to pass, 

 in single file, they make a halt and reform, the procession 

 being led by a dozen or so in single file, and then by a number 

 of pairs, followed by rows of three, four, five, or six abreast. 

 This peculiar arrangement has not frequently been noticed by 

 entomologists in more recent times, though the main accuracy 

 of the account given by Reaumur must be admitted. It is 

 confirmed, indeed, in the case of G. pityocampa by Mr. Wittich, 

 who, in a communication to the " Entomologist," states that at 

 Nice, in the spring of the present year, he observed processions, 

 varying in number from twenty to one hundred, walking some- 

 times three or four abreast, more usually by ones and twos. 



Broods of C. pityocampa were first noticed last autumn near 

 Southborough, in Kent, at which time they would be preparing 

 to hybernate, for the species passes the winter in the larval 

 stage. They were seen again in the spring, then feeding-up 

 and devouring eagerly the Pine and Scotch Fir. In March 



* From Messrs. Caesell's edition of Fi^uier'a " Insect World." 



