CUR 



[ 272 ] 



cus 



some age, let the primer, as his first 

 act, look carefully over the bush, and 

 see what old shoots may be completely 

 pruned away. All those which possess 

 merely a twig or two of young wood at 

 the extremity may be at once cut out, 

 for they take more from the tree than 

 they repay. As to forming young trees, 

 the directions given for the other cur- 

 rants will apply very well ; only there is 

 no necessity to preserve the interior of 

 the bush open, as in the Bed and White 

 kinds. A young tree, therefore, at three 

 years old, may contain ten or twelve 

 shoots, at equal distances. As soon as 

 such a number can be obtained, short- 

 ening may cease. 



Fruit: how to keep. This fruit is 

 soon over ; for, once ripe enough for the 

 table, it is gone in a few days ; and it 

 is so liable to drop, that this is one of 

 the very few fruits that bid defiance to 

 tbe art of keeping on the bush. Keep- 

 ing on the tree, if attempted, must be 

 on the retarding principle; and canvass 

 or mats must be thrown over the bushes 

 when the fruit is about one-third ripe. 



CUBIIANT SPHINX. (Trochilum tipuli- 

 Jbrme.) Every one acquainted with old 

 gardens must have frequently noticed 

 that one or more of the branches of the 

 currant-trees tenanting them have sud- 

 denly withered and died without any ap- 

 parent cause. In such cases, if the wood 

 of the branch be split down the centre, 

 the pith will be found all consumed, the 

 tube where it had been blackened, and 

 nothing remaining but the excrements of 

 a caterpillar, which may also be caught 

 at his work of destruction if the ex- 

 amination is made so soon as the branch 

 first shows symptoms of withering. 

 This caterpillar fleshy, whitish, with 

 four yellowish-brown spots near its head 

 is the larva of the Currant Sphinx. 

 The parent moth is beautiful, and may 

 be seen at the end of May and early in 

 June during hot sunshine, either settled 

 on the leaves of the currant, or flying 

 around the flowers of the syringa and 

 lilac. It is about three-quarters of an 

 inch across the wings when these are 

 quite opened; the prevailing colour is 

 bluish-black, with various parts yellow; 

 the antennae black; the breast with a 

 yellow line on each side ; the abdomen, 

 or lower part of the body, has three yel- j 

 low rings round it in the females, and four 

 in the males ; the four wings are barred 



and veined with black ; it has a brush of 

 fine scales at the end of its abdomen, 

 which fan it can expand as it pleases. 

 The Ked, White, and Black Currant, and, 

 we think, the Gooseberry, are all liable 

 to its attacks. It lays its eggs at this 

 time in openings of the bark of a young 

 shoot ; and the caterpillar, immediately 

 it is hatched, penetrates to its pith, and 

 eats its way down this until it reaches 

 the pith of the main branch. The only 

 securitive measures are to kill the moth 

 whenever seen, and to split open the 

 withered branches, and serve the cater- 

 pillars similarly. The Cottage Gardener, 

 ii., 115. 



CDRTI'SIA. Hassagay-tree. (In ho- 

 nour of the late William Curtis, who 

 originated the Botanical Magazine. Nat. 

 ord., Cornels [Cornacese]. Linn., B-Tri- 

 andria 1-Jlfonogynia.) 



Cornels are entirely distinct from Caprifoils, 

 with which they have long been associated. The 

 Hottentots and Caffres make from this tree the 

 shafts of their javelins. Greenhouse evergreen 

 tree ; sandy loam and peat ; cuttings in sand, 

 under glass, in heat. 



C. fagi'nea (beech-leaned). 30. Pale. Cape 

 of Good Hope. 1775. 



CU'SCUTA. Dodder. (From kechout, 

 its Arabic name. Nat. ord., Dodders 

 [Cuscutacese]. Linn., 5-Pentandria 2- 

 Digynia.) 



One peculiarity in all the Dodders is that their 

 seeds germinate in the earth ; but, as soon as the 

 roots of the seedlings are grown sufficiently to 

 take hold of a neighbouring plant, or even of 

 each other, they lose their attachment to the soil. 

 Curious parasitical plants, with white flowers ; sow 

 in April. They will live upon almost any plant 

 they can lay hold of, such as the common stinging- 

 nettle, clover, hemp, &c. 



STOVE. 



C. America 'na (American). August. S. Amer. 

 1816. 



Hookr'ri( Hooker's). September. E.Ind. 1823. 



odora'ta (sweet-scented). January. Lima. 



1820. 



verruco'sa (warted). August. Nepaul. 1S21. 



GREENHOUSE. 



C. austra'lis (southern). August. N. Holland. 

 1818. 



Chile' nsis (Chilian). August. Chili. 1*821. 



Chine' nsis (Chinese). August. 



mono'gyna (one-styled). July. Levant. 1818. 



HARDY. 



C. Califo'rnica (Californian). July. California. 

 1847. 



epili'num (flax-frequenter). July. Britain. 



epi'thymum (true dodder)* July. Britain. 



Europce'a (European). July. Britain. 



lupulifo'rmis (hop-like). July. Silesia. 1824, 



macrocn'rpu (large-seeded). July. Siberia, 



1627. 



trifo'lii (clover dodder). July. Britain, 



