25—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
405 
moving the bitterness of this fruit, by washing the pulp 
in water that has been slightly acidulated with sulphuric 
acid. . Although starch itself is perfeetly tasteless and 
scentless, yet it is often difficult to rid it entirely of the 
favour which may have been imparted to it by the 
juices of the plants from which it has been extracted. 
ome of the starch which has been extracted from decay- 
ing Potatoes has been declared to be so tainted that it 
has been impossible by merely washing it to deprive 
it entirely of all taste. A few drops of sulphuric acid 
added to the last washing would probably effect this ; 
for Raspail has stated that the starch obtained from 
the root of the White Briony (Bryonia dioica), can 
never be thoroughly divested of its contamination with 
the poisonous juice of that plant, without having 
been thus treated. I presume that the methods 
adopted for preparing starch from Wheat would 
apply to all other seeds. They should be reduced to 
our or meal, and this must be allowed to soak for some 
daysin a large quantity of water. The gluten and 
other matters mixed with the starch, will ferment and 
become thoroughly decomposed ; whilst the starch being 
paratively ind tible, and wholly insoluble in 
water, may then be purified by successive washings. 
To be continued.) 
ee 
THE AMATEUR GARDENER. 
Ox tan Treatment or WiNDOW PLANTS DURING 
THE Summer Monras.—Although in-door gardening 
loses much of its interest insummer, when Nature is so 
prodigal of her beauties in the open air, still the ama- 
teur will find great interest in adorning his windows 
With his choicest productions. Nothing can have afiner 
effect in a drawing-room or sitting-room than a flower 
bloomed well in a pot, and tastefully trained ; and win- 
dows filled with healthy Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, &c., 
convey a sense of refreshing coolness to the apartment, 
To keep up a succession of flowering-plants requires 
Some forethought, and many are discouraged by appa- 
rent difficulties. I hope, by a few plain rules, to assist 
those who garden on a small seale, and have no green- 
house, in the art of securing a succession of handsome 
flowers,so that the charm which a household Flora con- 
fers may be their own. 
Presuming that you have a frame, and that your 
stock of plants was repotted, according to former direc- 
tions, you will now be in the midst of your prosperity, 
and making a display of your riches. The bulbs are al 
laid to rest for the season ; the early Roses, &e., which 
Sueceeded the bulbs will have done flowering, and should 
be replaced by Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, and other 
Plants, which have been before recommended. Let 
every pot be kept in the frame until the bloom is ready 
to expand, that the full benefit of light and heat may be 
Secured, and then remove it to the window. When 
there it should be moderately watered. It is astonish- 
ing to the inexperienced how small a quantity of water 
will keep a plant in good health. I have some Pelar- 
goniums in 60-sized pots in a window fully exposed to 
the sun, and I find watering once a day quite sufficient, 
and even then I take care that none stands in the 
Saucers, But to do this it is requisite that the pots 
Should be kept as much as possible from the solar rays; 
Whieh may be accomplished by opening the window, so 
that the thick lower frame of the sash shall intercept 
the light, and so keep the pots cool. If pots are placed 
outside the window, which is often done with good 
effect, they may advantageously be put into empty ones 
ofa larger size, by which a current of air will be secured 
all round them, and a lower temperature maintained. 
Any little f this description will be useful, 
for frequent watering has many evils : among others 
the soil is rendered too compact, and the most valuable 
portons are quickly washed from it. 
„The most serupulous cleanliness must be observed 
with window plants, or their health will soon suffer. 
ll decaying leaves should be removed as they appear, 
and no flowers should be allowed to die upon the stalk. 
By removing flowers as soon as their beauty is impaired, 
heatness and beauty are consulted ; but this is not all. 
By stopping the tendency to produce seed, more flowers 
will often be produced. Mignonette in pots soon becomes 
shabby if this rule is neglected ; but by picking off every 
Spike of flowers when it is elongated and bare, laterals 
Will quickly reward your pains, and keep up an air of 
healthfulness, It is scarcely necessary to prescribe an 
abundance of fresh air, as it is presumed few persons 
Would in the summer sit with closed windows, unless 
ae ee of a high road were ‘playing its pranks near 
Having pots in your frame for a succession, remove 
Your plants from the house as soon as the bloom is 
Over, Some sorts may be cut down, and with care will 
Hower again. Perhaps the warmth of the season may 
ring too many forward at once ; in that case, pinch 
Out the bloom of some of them, and you will have the 
benefit later in the year. Scarlet Pelargoniums are 
very valuable in this kind of window gardening. I find 
E A pots do best, producing least foliage and most 
ower, Fuchsias also amply repay the grower for 
Window culture. By a little forethought and daily atten- 
tion, the window, even without a balcony, may be made 
HM attractive until frosts appear again, and our now 
ormant bulbs again demand and repay our care.—H.B. 
ENTOMOLOGY. — 
use Hor-rLY, Aphis Humuli.—The bines which have 
mually sprung up, twining their graceful shoots for 
Support round an Apple-tree at the end of my garden, 
RD never been attacked by the “ Fly ” until this year, 
ut for some days the terminal shoots have been 
swarming with them (fig. 1), and to-day (June 6th) I 
see there are myriads of knits on the under sides of the 
leaves. In most instances we generally find the first 
broods of Aphides are apterous, but the Hop-flies 
appear to be all winged from the commencement, and 
consequently they migrate at given periods and under 
certain states of the atmosphere ; and, if I mistake not, 
these easterly winds, accompanied by hazy weather, 
have been so perfectly congenial to their habits this 
year, that there is every prospeet of the Hops suffering 
severely from their attacks, unless some natural check 
be speedily given to their increase. 
They are exceedingly active this hot weather, run- 
ning up and down the bines and flying off when dis- 
turbed. I have been watching some of the females, 
which have thrust their beaks into the stalks and at the 
same time are bringing forth their young (fig. 2). These 
little creatures, called deposit or knits, are scattered 
over the shoots (fig. 3) and beneath the leaves: they 
are nearly of a size, of a semi-pellucid greenish-white 
colour, with moderate horns and six stoutish legs ; there 
are two short tubercles on the rump, and short beak 
under the breast, fig. 4 a, being a magnified figure of 
the knit. As is usual with the Aphides, they are 
ushered into the world backward by the parent fly, 
which is named Aphis Humuli, It is of a very bright 
green ‘colour, and shining; the head is rather broad 
and blackish,with two prominent black eyes, before which 
are placed two horns that are nearly as long as the 
body, and are often thrown backward ; they are black, 
and taper like the finest hair ; the two basal joints are 
stout, and the seta is divided into several joints : the 
thorax is almost globose, being much raised on the 
back, whieh is blaek and divided into a central and two 
lateral lobes by deep sutures ; the scutel is also black ; 
under the base of the anterior wings is an oval black 
spot: the abdomen is broader than the thorax, more 
or less orbicular and inflated ; it is composed of several 
segments, and towards the apex are two slender tubes. 
nearly half the length of the abdomen : upon the lateral 
margin are three blaek spots on each side, with some 
brown spots and transverse streaks beyond the centre 
of the baek: the rostrum or beak projeets from the 
lower part of the face (fig. 6), close to the junetion with 
the collar of the thorax, and when inserted into the 
plant, is at right angles with the body: the wings are 
beautifully transparent and iridescent, they meet over 
the back in repose, like a roof, and extend greatly be- 
yond the tail; the superior are twice as long as the 
whole animal, and as broad again as the body; the 
nervures are dark, the subcostal one terminates in a 
long smoky stigma, from which issues a curved nervure, 
forming a somewhat oval cell at the apex : there are 
three oblique transverse nervures, the one nearest the 
extremity not touching the subcostal nervure, and pro- 
ducing a branch which is forked at the apex ; the in- 
ferior wings are very much smaller, with a subcostal 
nervure and two oblique ones : it has six long legs of 
an ochraceous tint, the hind pair is the longest ; the 
thighs are clavate and black, except at the base ; the 
shanks are very long and slender, black at their tips, 
and the feet are very short, black, biarticulate, with 
two minute claws at the apex (fig. 5) ; (fig. 6) the head, 
thorax, &c., in profile, This deseription of the female 
will, I doubt not, apply to the males also, which pro- 
bably do not make their appearance till the autumn, 
On a shoot infested by about 60 Aphides, I observed 
the swarthy larva of a Lady-bird running up and down 
the stalk, elevating his head and shaking his fore legs 
every few steps, as if he were fighting the air, and 
seeking something he had lost. The foolish Aphides 
walked over him, and when he met one he shrunk back, 
apparently ashamed to attack such a helpless victim ; 
whatever might be the cause, it was not long before I 
observed him sucking another Aphis, and in 24 hours 
there were not more than 15 left on the twig, and only 
six of them alive. It is true thata few of them had 
flown to the window, but supposing they amounted to 
as many more, he would then haye cleared the twig of 
the large Aphides in less than two days, showing what 
an invaluable little animal the Lady-bird is, even in its 
larva state. It is not, however, to the first importation 
of Aphides we have alone to look, for before our little 
alligator-like larva had murdered the inhabitants of the 
colony, they had amply provided for a succession, by a 
prodigious multiplication of the young Aphides, which 
fed so fast that I already see their dry and bleached 
skins sticking to the stalks and upper surface of the 
leaves of the Hop. The little Lady-bird larva has 
grown,so rapidly that I find he likewise has moulted, 
and is now intensely black, with two orange spots near 
the base of the abdomen, and it was possibly to loosen 
his skin that he performed such curious anties yester- 
day. There are various other insects whieh destroy 
the Aphides, and I may observe, that on the un 
side of the Black oieri leaves, a very large dier 
of the apterous Aphides are dead, changed to a tawny 
colour, and are filled with a woolly or pithy substance, 
similar to that which occupies the caterpillars that are 
infected by a Sphæria. 
The authors of “ An Introduction to Entomology ”* 
think if the Aphides were destroyed on their first ap- 
pearance by merely crushing the females upon the 
plant, the Hop growers might in a'great measure'secure 
themselves from the heavy losses they sustain. Next to 
the Barley crop, the produce of the Hop is to the 
brewer, as well as to the consumer} of our national 
beverage (malt liquor), of no trifling importance, and 
the amount of speculation which this minute insect in- 
fluences, is scarcely conceivable. It is sufficient to state 
that it causes a difference in the revenue, which has 
approached in one year no less a sum than half a mil- 
lion sterling.}— Ruricola. s 
Home Correspondence. 
Disease in Cucumbers—Sawdust as Soil for them.— 
I am of opinion that the disease complained of at 
p. 357 is caused by over watering and too low a tem- 
perature; and I also think that imperfect drainage 
has something to do with it, the bottoms of many pits 
being 2 and 3 feet below the ground level, and with no 
drains leading from them. Into these some will bundle 
a quantity of fermenting material, not thinking that all 
the water which the bed receives after the plants have 
been ridged out has no means of escape, and therefore 
must soak into the ground bentath, where no air can 
reach, and where it must become sour and stagnant, 
and of course will cause the interior of the pit to be- 
come unhealthy. The only remedy, now, is to have a 
small elbow pipe, an inch in diameter, inserted into the 
front wall of the pit, to admit fresh air, and one at the 
top of one of the lights, to give off the foul air. By 
this means may be obtained 
a constant current of fresh 
air, and the elbow in the pipe 
will prevent thecold draught 
from blowing directly on the 
plants before it has become 
warmed. Iam going to in- 
sert two pipes of this kind 
into each of the Pineries ; also into other houses, as I 
find a eonstant supply of fresh air, in moderation, to be 
beneficial for all plants. I was told when I entered my 
present situation, that the Cueumbers had been affected 
by the same sort of disease complained of, but I have 
not seen the least appearance of it, I have Cucumbers 
rowing in a hot-water pit, and others in dung beds. 
lof whi 
: Y i 
and about 30 pots in one of the Pinerie’ ch 
have borne abundance of fine fruit. Ihave sometimes 
cut a dozen brace in a day, and could have cut more. 
nt 
The plan I have always pursued has been to pr 
the water which passes through the bed from soaking 
into the ground beneath, by raising the bottom about a 
foot above the surrounding level, and sloping it from 
the middle to either side, so as to assume the form of a 
segment of a circle ; on the top Ee 
I place faggots or brush wood, Bur: 
and commence making my bed, 
laying, as I proceed, some faggots or brashwood all along 
the middle of the bed to within about 9 ins. of the top ; I 
then layasmany wooden trunksacross the bed as there are 
tobelights, so that, should the bed become at any time too 
hot, I have only to open the ends of the trunks, which soon 
moderates the heat; they also serve to conduct heat 
from the linings. The trunks are easily made by vail- 
ing four pieces of board together. After I have put on 
the other 9 inches of fermenting material I place my 
frame, and as soon as my bed has settled and the heat 
sufficiently subsided, I commence earthing it all over 
about 4 inches thick, leaving enough under each light 
for a hill, and placing under each hill a large turf 
2 feet square, which prevents burning. The soil I use 
for all my Cucumbers is nothing more or less than de- 
cayed sawdust, in which they seem to luxuriate. Ob- 
serving last winter a large heap of soil in the wood yard, 
which had for years been carried from the saw pit, I 
had some of it carted to the Melon ground ; I then 
formed my hills entirely of it, and when it was warm 
turned my plants into it; in a few days the hills were 
one complete mass of roots; I then, by degrees, 
earthed my bed with the same, in which the plants 
made shoots as thick as the finger, and by judicious 
stopping and thinning bore abundantly. Many good 
gardeners who have seen them, have said that if they 
had not had ocular demonstration of the fact they could 
not have believed it possible for Cucumbers to “flourish 
in rotten sawdust. ou surely must give them an 
abundant supply of manure water, said they ; but I can 
assure you that I never gave them anything but clear 
tepid water until they had borne a crop, and until I had 
cut them back and laid them for a second, which they 
are now bearing. My plants in the Pinery are in Sea- 
kale pots in the same material ; their fruit and foliage 
End View. 
have been, and still are, the admiration of everybody 
who has seen them; some of the leaves measured 
22 inches across, and of a dark green colour, approach- 
ing to black. It may be as well to mention that as there 
is a great difficulty in this part of the county, in pro- 
curing peat, I have tried many plants in sawdust, 
such as Kennedyas, &c. &c., and they seem to like it. I 
planted a small plant in spring of Kennedya inophylla 
floribunda in a large pot, filled three parts with rotten 
* Vol p. 149, 
+ Entom. Mag., vol. i., p. 22, 426,0007. is the eum stated, 
