524) Queries and Ansiaers. 



From this you will see, that the anecdote you have taken from the Se7iti- 

 ment of Flowers is an ingenious invention to account for the custom of orna- 

 menting the head of the bride on the day of her marriage. But much earlier 

 than 1689 (the period of the introduction of the mugherino di Goa), the 

 people in the south of Italy had a custom of ornamenting the head of the 

 affianced bride, when she approached the altar to have the marriage ceremony 

 performed, with the jasmin, to show her husband that she was as pure and 

 fragrant as this flower. I suspect that this custom has been transmitted from 

 the East ; and Moore, whom you quote, I see is of my opinion. 



Catalpa syringae/o/Zr/. — Speaking of this tree, you have not mentioned, 

 among its uses, that the Japanese, according to Kaempfer and Thunberg, give 

 a decoction of the pods to asthmatic persons, and apply the leaves to allay 

 pains in the limbs. With us, particularly among female doctors, a decoction 

 of the pods is ordered as the only remedy for curing the humid asthma (asma 

 umida), and also for catarrhal coughs. 



As I wish to try the cultivation of Conium Arracdcha, I shall feel much 

 obliged if you will have the goodness (if it is not very inconvenient to you) 

 to try to get me ten or twelve of the seeds. — G. Manetti. Monza, Sejjt., 1837. 



[We are not aware of there being any seeds of this plant in Britain j though 

 we understand there are living plants in the Glasgow Botanic Garden. If we 

 had either seeds or plants, there is no correspondent that we would be more 

 happy to send some to than our friend Signor Manetti. — Cond.] 



Art. V. Queries and Ansivers. 



Insects iiijurioits to Pear Trees. — Many of the pear and apple trees here 

 yearly sustain great injury from a cause which, until lately, I was unable to 

 penetrate ; but, on looking over a lately published part of the Horticultural 

 Transactions ([)art ii. vol.ii.), I found the injury and its cause accurately de- 

 scribed by Mr. Knight, who also states what he found to be an effectual remedy. 

 I refer you to that work for an account of the insect, and the manner in which 

 it damages the leaves ; and, in case it is not known in your vicinity, I have en- 

 closed in the box a few of the damaged leaves for your inspection ; but I be- 

 lieve all the larvae have escaped. 



I found the moth upon the trees exactly as described by Mr. Knight; and, 

 by way of experiment, I procured an engineful of soapsuds from tlie wash- 

 house, with which I well sprinkled one pear tree (a York bergamot) ; and I 

 now find that tree very nearly free from the disease, while its neighbours on 

 both sides (of different sorts) have more than half the surface of many of their 

 leaves totally destroyed. Whether my application drove away the insects, or 

 whether they prefer other sorts of pears to the York bergamot, I am unable 

 to determine; but I believe the former to be the case, soapsuds being de- 

 structive to some other kinds of insects. I have cleared badly infested plum 

 trees from aphides by two washings with that liquid. — J. B. Whiting. Kiplin, 

 Catterick, Aug. 13. 1837. 



It does not appear quite clear, from the above communication, at what 

 period the application of the soapsuds was made. I sliould think, as the larvse 

 are within the leaf, no application whilst in that state could affect them. The 

 perfect moths may, perhaps, be deterred from laying their eggs upon trees 

 having had such an application ; but I should think tobacco-water, or gas-tar- 

 water would be more disagreeable to tiie moth than soapsuds. — J. O. \V. 



" The moth, whicii is the Tinea Clerckelhi of Linnaeus, appears in the end 

 of May and the beginning of June ; and it is readily distinguished by the sil- 

 very whiteness of its wings, which are tipt lightly with brown, and by its small 

 size, its length scarcely exceeding a single line. It is an extremely pretty 

 little insect, and possesses so much activity, that it is difficult to obtain a living 

 specimen of it. It probably deposits its eggs, or, perhaps more properly, its 

 spawn, upon the under surfaces of the leaves; and the larvae, having there 

 penetrated through the epidermis, feed upon the internal parenchymatous 



