472 



JOUBNAL OP HOBTIOULTUBB AND COTTAGE GAllDENEB. 



( Jane 11, 1874. 



mental. It will flower against a wall, and is hardy with that 

 protection. 



THE CNETHOCAMPA. ' 



Relative to tha notice of this caterpillar in the .Journal of 

 May 28th, I am not safiiciently an entomologist to be able 

 to enter on the subject scientifically, but I will endeavour to 

 describe, as simply as I can, wLi,t I have recently discovered in 

 my own orchard. For two or three days successively I noticed, 

 on the top of a last year's shoot of a rather lofty Apple tree, 

 what appeared to be a piece of dark woollen cloth connected at 

 the bottom with a small bit of old net lace, such as we use on 

 the premises to protect ripe fruit from birds and wasps. On 

 the third day I told the gardener to bring a ladder and ascend 

 the tree, when the darker portion, about 3 inches wide, proved 

 to be a mass of caterpLllars, clustering, or rather swarming Uke 

 bees, ou the top of a sort of purse or nest of the finest cobweb, 

 through the top of which they had eaten or broken their way. 

 Supposing the representation of them in your Journal to be 

 the size of life, these were precisely the same in size, and had 

 similar marks on the back. The colour of those in the Journal 

 is not mentioned ; those which I discovered were of a dark, 

 dingy, olive green, with a tinge of yellow. On examining 

 other trees we found three other similar nests, all excepting 

 one spread out on the top of a small branch or twig. The ex- 

 ceptional one was formed by the branch on which the creatures 

 ascended being crossed by another branch, which grew nearly 

 parallel with it, like a pair of shears shghtly open ; and in the 

 top or acute angle of the fork was the nest. In all instances, 

 however, there were the remains of a small deserted nest, not 

 more than a square inch in size, several feet below the main 

 nest, which seems to have been the basis of operation. The 

 shoot which bore the first nest discovered was about i feet in 

 length, and at the bottom of it, where it shot forth from the 

 branch, about half an inch in diameter ; and in the little 

 curve formed by it, about an inch in width, was deposited 

 the first little web. This, I apprehend, contained the eggs, 

 which were thus kept snug and warm during the winter ; and 

 tiny specks of excrement about it, hke needle points, indi- 

 cated that the caterpillars had come forth in the embryo state, 

 and grown and increased as they ate their way upward. This 

 shoot had at least a score of good leaf buds on it, but they were 

 all eaten away to the very core. I imagine that the larger 

 insects at top must have made the upper nest, for, when we 

 disturbed them in taking them, we observed that they immedi- 

 ately began to let themselves down by a fine thread, but were 

 captured in a basin before they reached the ground. 



I have not been enabled to discover another nest, though 

 the trees have been daily inspected since the first were noticed, 

 I believe we just made the discovery at the happy moment to 

 prevent these rapacious gentry from migrating to other branches. 

 Two circumstances, however, seem to declare that these cater- 

 pillars cannot after all be of the species described in your 

 Journal. The first is that I saw nothing which might be 

 justly called processional in their movements. They were 

 freely rambling up and down, and of various sizes, on the 

 shoot between the two webs ; moreover, my gardener very un- 

 sparingly squeezed them to death with his hand whilst thus 

 wandering without experiencing any inconvenience either 

 from poison or electricity. The second is that though one 

 side of the orchard is bordered by Fir trees of different sorts, 

 and standard Pear and Plum trees are mingled with the Apple, 

 yet all the four nests we found ou four different Apple trees. 

 I ought to add that my orchard is in the vicinity of Grantham. 



— OCTOGEXAKinS. 



Your correspondent " F. P. G." inquires about the prospect 

 of the Apple crop. Mine is likely to be very abundant ; so is 

 the crop of wasps. They became troublesome in the middle of 

 May. 



MULCHING. 

 At this season of the year, mulching effectually will save much 

 labour in watering, and to a very considerable extent make up 

 for poverty in the soil. Where very prim ideas of tidiness are 

 entertained, mulching is not approved of, as the blackbirds 

 and thrushes pull the material about upon walks and lawns in 

 their energetic search after worms and other moist morsels of 

 food in dry weather. I have often thought that these gentry are 

 worse off for food — at least food of a suitable kind — during dry 

 summers than during severe winters. This was particularly 

 noticeable during the dry summer of 1868 and following years. 



Many thrushes and blackbirds died, and they were so weak 

 that they could be caught with the hand. 



Materials for mulching are generally plentiful in most gar- 

 dens ; decayed hotbed manure is one of the best, and when 

 this cannot be had, short grass is generally plentiful. Most 

 fruit and vegetable crops are benefited by mulching, but some 

 more so than others. The Raspberry, for instance, which 

 delights in a somewhat moist soil, and is a shallow rooter, 

 should always be mulched in dry situations. Our soil here 

 is dry and thin, and not well adapted to the Raspberry, 

 but by mulching thickly we always secure great crops of fine 

 fruit — in fact, I reckon that the weight of the fruit is nearly 

 doubled in consequence. Celery, too, is mulched thickly with 

 short grass as soon as planted, and it seldom requires more 

 than one or two good waterings. Let the weather be ever so 

 dry, the surface under the grass is always sweet and moist. 

 The mildew which affects the Pea in dry summers is greatly 

 checked, or altogether prevented, by good mulchings along the 

 rows, and extending outwards from tlae sides about 18 inches. 

 Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Cauliflower, &c., which often hang 

 fire after planting in a dry June, make marvellous progress 

 with their roots under a good layer of f-hort i;rass. Potatoes, 

 though they, too, are much benefited by the same means in 

 dry seasons, are better without it, as a rule, in case of wet 

 setting-in in autumn, and thereby aggravating the disease ; 

 but this, I think, is the only exception. The health of Goose- 

 berry and Currant bushes is greatly promoted by mulching, 

 and indeed all kinds of fruit trees, especially stone fruits; and 

 newly-planted trees of all descriptions are often saved from 

 perishing by a good top-dressing of rotten litter, and such- 

 like, during summer and winter. In the flower garden mulch- 

 ing is not so admissible, but we generally practise it with 

 Calceolarias, and the disease is unknown with us, though we 

 have to contend with a dry cakey soil. The Iresine, too, should 

 be mulched ; it is a moisture-loving plant, and will thrive if 

 mulched where it will sometimes not do any good otherwise 



In Vine and Peach borders, whether inside or outside, I con- 

 sider mulching almost indispensable. In some places where 

 they are raked painfully smooth and neat, I have seen them 

 so rent with the drought during summer, that a man had to 

 go over them every week to fill-up the cracks. Good Grapes 

 are seldom to be found under such circumstances. A mulch- 

 ing 4 or 5 inches thick of rotten litter and leaves is best for 

 Vines, and a border so dressed need never offend an eye not 

 painfully sensitive on the score of neatness. Large plants in 

 pots, such as Figs, pot Vines, Pines, orchard-house trees, itc, 

 should also be mulched when practicable, as roots are often 

 ■ near the surface, and are apt to suffer from irregular attention 

 in watering. 



Apart from the advantages of mulching in a labour-saving 

 respect, and as a conservative agent as regards moisture, it 

 keeps the soil about the roots at an equable temperature by 

 preventing radiation in cold weather, and the bare soil from 

 the roasting effects of the sun in warm weather — a condition 

 of things very unfavourable to vegetable life generally.^ J. S.W. 

 (in The Gardener). 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Dr. Voelckek has been examining the soil of one of the 

 London Squaees, with the view of discovering why Plane 

 trees had twice refused to live in it. The soil was treated 

 with distilled water and filtered, when the solution was found 

 to contain 0.1 per cent, of common salt, and 0.2 per cent, of 

 nitrates, a proportion sufiieiently excessive to account for the 

 failure of the trees. 



There are a very few plants which are uni-local, and 



prominent among these is the Keeguelen Cabbage. One of 

 the officers on board " The Challenger," writing to The Hour, 

 says, " The Kergueleu Cabbage (Pringlea antiscorbutica) grew 

 in considerable quantities in crevices and ravines leading down 

 to the watercourses- — in fact, in all sheltered situations. When 

 cooked, although not unpalatable, it has a pecuharly bitter 

 after-taste, which made me dislike it, but some of my mess- 

 mates relished it highly. I afterwards tasted it mixed with 

 Potatoes and fried with meat, when I thought it good. The 

 ship's company had quantities cooked, and most of them 

 relished it very much." Mr. A. Smith, in " The Treasury of 

 Botany," says, " The sole representative of this genus of Cruci- 

 f erre is Pringlea antiscorbutica, a remarkable Cabbage-like plant 

 confined to insular Kerguelen's Land, and hence often called 

 the Kerguelen's-Land Cabbage. The genus is characterised by 



