12 



OOUBNAL OF HORTIOULTUBB AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



I July 1, 18VB. 



the Aide-de-oamp replied, " Ab, but I can make my bead like 

 your Royal Highuess's in a few minutca with a razor ; but you 

 can never make yours like mine." Cannot we with a pen- 

 knife make any Rose like tbogo which naturally grow with 

 long stalks to each flower ? but we cannot give the abundant 

 bloom to those which flower singly. — An Old Subscribeb. 



OUR FRIEND THE CUCKOO. 



Do cuckoos live exclusively on caterpillars, or do they do 

 any barmy I bad hoped to have seen this subject more ven- 

 tilated, as it was referred to in a recent number. Being in 

 Ireland last month and out for a daj'a fishing (with bad 

 sport), I asked of the keeper what some poles were intended 

 for, and was informed they had hawk traps on the top, and that 

 nearly fifty hawks had been killed this season. This may bo 

 all very well, but in addition over thirty cuckoos had been 

 destroyed. Now if, as a correspondent recently stated, cuckoos 

 do good and no harm, and that they are allowed to be Ecarce 

 this season, I for one should like to plead for the poor cuckoos, 

 and could not do better than through your Journal if you 

 deem it worth notice. I purposely at present suppress the 

 information of the exact locality. I remonstrated with the 

 keeper, who was under the impression they sucked eggs. I 

 told him I did not believe it was so. Unfortunately these traps 

 kill the birds before they are taken. — AVavektbee. 



[MacgiUivray, one of our best ornithologists, says : — " It is a 

 very remarkable circumstance that when the bird arrives at 

 first, its food consisting of coleopterous and other insects, the 

 cuticular lining of its stomach is smooth ; whereas some time 

 after, when the bird lives chiefly on hairy caterpillars, it is 

 often completely covered with theii' hairs, which are thrust in 

 and arranged in a circular manner, so as exactly to resemble 

 the pile of some quadrupeds. This disposition of the hairs 

 shows that the action of the stomach causes the mass of food 

 contained in it to move in a rotatory manner. This down, of 

 course, is nothing else than hairs of caterpillars." We are 

 assured that the popular opinion that the cuckoo sucks eggs 

 is a popular error. — Ers.] 



to recommend the plan suggested in his last report, and since 

 adopted by the German government — viz., that cards giving a 

 coloured figure and a description of the beetle should be 

 posted up in all vessels plying between America and the 

 British Isles, with a request that the passengers and crew will 

 destroy any specimens that may be met with. 



Mr. Riley considers that the Potato beetle, if once introduced , 

 would thrive as well in most parts of England and Europe 

 generally as in America. Extremes of heat and drought, as 

 well as cold and wet, appear to be unfavourable to it. It is, 

 however, reassuring to be informed that the American farmer 

 by means of intelligence and a little Paris green is pretty much 

 master of the Doryphora, and that the ravages of the insect 

 and its poisonous character, though real enough, have been 

 considerably exaggerated ; while no accidents have occurred 

 from the use of Paris green, except from sheer carelessness 

 and exposure to its direct influence, or from applying it too 

 strong, when it is liable to injure the plants. 



The last new food plant which the beetle has attacked is the 

 Mullein. 



An ingenious contrivance for sprinkling two rows of Potatoes 

 at once has been adopted, being a sort of water-barrel slung 

 upon the back like a knapsack, and provided with two india- 

 rubber tubes, one on each side, ending in a rose like a common 

 watering-pot. — {Irisli Farmer's Gazette.) 



PROGRESS OP THE COLORADO POTATO 

 BEETLE IN 1874. 



By W. F. KiREY, Assistant Natuialist in the Royal Dublin Society's Museum. 



FuETnER information regarding the Colorado Potato beetle 

 having been lately published by Mr. Riley in his last report on 

 the insects of Missouri, I hasten to lay his additional remarks 

 before the readers of the FarDier's Gazette. The beetle has 

 now penetrated to the Atlantic seaboard at many points, along 

 the whole coast of the United States, from New England to 

 Virginia and Maryland. The newly invaded districts appear to 

 have suffered most severely, because the farmers in those 

 places which have long been infested have become used to the 

 infliction, and familiar with the best means of dealing with it. 

 It is worth remarking, that while the insect has been exceed- 

 ingly destructive in its original haunts in the mountain ranges 

 up to about 8000 feet, yet it cannot live above that altitude, 

 which Mr. Riley attributes to the very dry atmosphere and 

 the cool nights. 



Mr. Riley remarks on the steps which have been taken in 

 Europe to prevent its introduction, and although he thinks 

 that Sh- M. H. Beach has rather underrated the danger, yet he 

 considers that the only risk lies in the introduction of the 

 insect in the perfect state. The larva feeds exclusively on 

 fresh Potato tops, and will not touch the tubers ; and though 

 the eggs may be introduced with Potato haulm, yet it is un- 

 likely, as it rots too easily to be often used in packing. Be- 

 sides, Potatoes are mostly exported during that part of the 

 year when there are neither eggs, larva, nor Potato vines in 

 existence in the United States. There is only one other 

 possible way of transmission, and that is in sufiiciently large 

 lumps of earth, either as larva, pupa, or beetle. Now, if the 

 American dealers be required to carefully avoid the use of the 

 haulm or straw, and to ship none but clean Potatoes, as free as 

 possible from earth, the insect's transmission among the tubers 

 will be rendered impossible ; and when such precautions are 

 80 easily taken, there can be no advantage in the absolute pro- 

 hibition of the traflio in American I'otatoes. As well prohibit 

 treftic in a dozen other commodities, in many of which the 

 insect is as likely to be taken over as in Potatoes, and in some 

 of which it is oven more likely to be transported. He proceeds 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



At a meeting of the CouncU of the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety on the 25th of June Dr. Hocui was unanimously elected 

 its Secretary. At the same meeting Dr. Denny was elected 

 a member of the Council. 



We have seen a PAiirnLET purporting to be a report of 



the Royal Horticultural Society's meeting of June 4th. That 

 pamphlet is not a faithful report, and although it has the 

 Society's monogram on its title page, that monogram ought 

 not to have been placed there. 



On the 4th of May I found Adiantum CAriLLUs-VENEBis 



growing in moderate abundance on the west coast of the Isle 

 of Man, near the village of Glenmayo. Tbe young fronds 

 were just peeping from the opening in the rocks, some 10 to 

 15 feet above high-water mark. I have noticed that several 

 writers, in alluding to this Fern, have confined its occurrence 

 to the more southern parts of England and Ireland. — (H. J. 

 MiRSDEN, in Science Goss'qi.) 



We have received a report of the Hokititi Acan- 



CULTURAL AND HoETicULTUBAL SOCIETY'S Siioiv. Many of our 

 readers will be obliged by our adding that that rarely-heard 

 name is of a New Zealand town. It is comparatively a modem 

 township, but rapidly increasing. Two or more newspapers 

 are published there, and among the awards for plants, fruits, 

 flowers, and vegetables are chiefly those known in England ; 

 in fact, we notice only one exception — namely, a prize for 

 Cape Gooseberries. 



The flowees in bloom at Messrs. Suttons' Seed Farm, 



about one mile from Reading, are presenting a most beauti- 

 ful sight, and well worth more than a passing glance by pas- 

 sengers to and from Reading by the Great Western, South 

 Western, and South Eastern railways. 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBURBAN GARDENING. 



Watekixg and Mulching. — Time is bringing us into the 

 usually hot month of July, when early crops of vegetables will 

 be fast ripening off, and other successional crops in the absence 

 of rain must be supported and kept growing by the application 

 of water and surface-mulching. Water being such a necessary 

 element in vegetable culture, it is important for an amateur not 

 to underrate its value in sustaining the necessary vigour, so that 

 different crops may come to perfection under tbe burning in- 

 fluence of the summer's sun. For instance, what may be ex- 

 pected from a plantation of CauUflowers, Kidney Beans, Scarlet 

 Runners, or Peas and Turnips, if a plentiful supply of water is 

 not given them occasionally ? The former would soon assume 

 a blue tinge in the leaf as if the plant was struggling for exist- 

 ence, the heads would be small and tough, and in most cases 

 would not be worth eating ; the two next would shed their 

 blossom without setting their pods, or would produce very small 

 pods, with, perhaps, but little in them ; and the latter would 

 produce a small hard bulb devoid of that tender flesh which 

 makes the Turnip in summer so delicious. 



It is easy, therefore, to perceive what a wonderful difference 

 against the cultivator there would be in the produce of these 



