708 
THE GARDENERS' 
CHRONICLE. 
[Ocr. 24, 
these objections of principle, comes the weighty one of | Death’s-head Moth were very numerous and full-grown. | young plants are set pretty closely in the first instance ; 
expense, the enormous and probably daily increasing | 
eost of metal pipes, the deposition that takes place 
within them and the boiler, the occasional explosion, 
the extent of space occupied in the © building, and, 
lastly, the enormous waste that takes place at the 
source of heat, namely the boiler chamber. Why 
should money be wasted on a plan, which even admit- 
ting it distributes heat tolerably well, is extravagant in 
first cost, extravagant in its use, unsound in principle, 
and unnecessary in practice ? i 
The last method of diffusing heat, greatly superior to 
the first, and more economical in its first cost than the 
second, is by passing the external air over the heated 
surface of a stove, and pouring it into the space to be 
warmed ; to accomplish this, provision must be made to 
allow of the escape of air from the place to be heated, 
for as air is material, and therefore occupies space, it is 
absurd to suppose that a building. will contain more 
than fills it. This mode avoids the absurdity of attempt- 
ing to break laws | and 2, for the effect of the radi- 
ation of the stove is got rid of, by usually placing it out 
of the building, while it is subject to the operation of 
law 3; but let your readers reflect for a moment on 
the fact, that if 1000 cubic feet of warm air are to enter, 
1000 must leave the building ; therefore the greater | i 
the cold the greater the ventilation, the more warm air 
required the more must be suffered to escape; stop the 
exit and you check the flow. Again, look at the re- 
sult of this mode, in which ventilation and heating are 
so inseparably connected; in the case of a church built 
to contain 4000 people, 1000 only are present, they re- 
quire a greater amount of heating power than the 4000, 
but only one quarter the ventilation ; and yet on this 
system, “ in which ventilation is the basis of heating,” 
ou must heat fresh air enough for the 4000, or you 
will not get sufficient warmth into your building. Again, 
look at the practical waste involved ! a church 120 feet 
long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet high, contains 216,000 
cubic feet of air — here is oxygen sufficient for the 
respiration of 10,000 men for nearly two hours (ac- 
cording to the experiment of Allen and Pepys, who 
state that a healthy man withdraws about 26 inches of 
oxygen from the atmosphere per minute), even if the 
church were hermetically sealed. This air is already 
say 10° or 15° warmer than the external air. Is it 
not the more economic course to take this air first? 
which probably only requires 20? of heat to make it 
pleasant, instead of allowing it to eseape, and at once 
resorting to the external air, that probably requires 
109. To make the temperature agreeable, it must of 
necessity consume double the fuel. I do not propose 
h i gregations in churches, but 
I do oppose the absurdity of combining heat and venti- 
lation in such a manner that while the requirements for 
the two are constantl: varying, and bear no necessary 
proportion to each other, they can only be supplied in 
equal quantities—nimch air ean only be given with 
much heat,and much heat with much air, while pro- 
bably the wants are just. the reverse., Another prac- 
tical objection to this mode of hot-air heating in public 
buildings is, that as the flow of the hot air in is deter- 
mined by the flow of the colder air out, and as this 
takes place from the upper portion of the building, the 
flow of the hot air as it enters is at once determined to 
e roof, exactly where it is not wanted, and this in 
particular channels or drafts. 
these plans is in their several opinions perfect ; but I 
fearlessly assert, that in the opinion of the public, we 
have hitherto been without a system by which heat 
ean be equally diffused. The second consideration— 
namely, “can heat be equally diffused, and by what 
means?” I must reserve for another paper.— D. B. 
Meck. 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
Senixx OR AcnEnoNTIA ATROPOS,—The Death's-head 
Moth (called also * Téte de mort” by the French) is 
considered, in many parts of the Continent, the messen- 
ger of pestilence, famine, and of the * Grim Monarch,” 
whose emblem is impressed upon its back ; and, from 
its being associated with the failing Potato crops, and 
more abundant this year in England than it was, per- 
haps, ever known before, it is not likely to lose its inaus- 
picious character. However this may be, the unusual 
numbers, both of the caterpillars and moths, which 
have made their appearance this summer and autumn 
are indicative of a peculiar season and high temperature. 
It becomes an interesting question to ascertain where 
the females have laid their eggs: certainly not upon 
the haulm of the Potato, as that withered weeks before 
the moths hatched ; but although the Potato-leaf is the 
favourite food of the larvae, they will live upon the 
Bitter-sweet, Tomatoes, Thorn Apples, Jasmine, Spin- 
dle-tree, Elder, Damson, and even upon Hemp ; and it 
is upon these, probably, that the eggs are deposited 
when the Potato is gone by. 
This insect brings to my recollection the great dif- 
ference in the state of the Potato during the last two 
years and in 1832, which was the year of the cholera. 
I was at Ramsgate in October, when that vegetable had 
I was so anxious to rear them, that I took every means 
in my power to keep them in health, and used daily to visit 
the fields on the cliff, where I found Potato leaves during 
the first fortnight, green and fit for their food apparently. 
It is, however, ver: ‘kabl at pill 
died : they seemed to thrive upon the leaves and rested 
upon the stalks; but they successively died in a very 
singular way, in a few hours; for I observed them at 
night plump and apparently healthy, and in the morn- 
ing searcely any more than the skin was left, adhering 
firmly by their abdominal and anal feet, whilst the head 
and fore part of the animal hung down like an empty 
sack. I suspected they were affected by dysentery, and 
I believe it is not unusual for the autumnal broods of 
larvee to die, at any rate the moths are seldom. reared 
from them, and consequently, an excess of caterpillars 
at that season is no proof that the moths will be abun- 
dant the following year. During the past season the 
larvee were so numerous in parts of Kent, that the 
cottagers fed their fowls with them, and in July I 
received several full grown, two of which buried them- 
selves, and the moths hatched the first week in this 
month ; but those caterpillars which enter the earth in 
the autumn produce moths in May. It seems not 
probabl itl di e dinary broods 
of this insect which have been distributed over this 
eountry, that there may be very few moths next 
year, for I am informed by a zealous naturalist that 
most, if not all, of the females that have been dissected 
are barren, and he is disposed to attribute the rarity of 
moths in a year immediately succeeding one of abund- 
ance to this circumstance. I am not, however, satisfied 
that these late hatched females may not hibernate and 
become fertile in the spring, although no appearance of 
eggs can be discovered in the autumn, and the fat they 
coutain may sustain them in their repose. 
The universal distribution of this animal will have 
given every good collector of Lepidoptera an oppor- 
tunity of adding this beautiful moth, and largest of all 
British insects, to his cabinet; and as the economy of 
so noble and remarkable a creature cannot be uninte- 
resting to the public, I will proceed with its history. 
The eggs I have never seen, aad owing to the cater- 
pillar coming forth only at night to feed, it is seldom 
or ever observed until it is full-grown, when it rambles 
about in search of a convenient spot to bury itself and 
form its tomb in the earth, by uniting the particles and 
smoothing an oval cell with a liquor from its mouth. 
In this it becomes a chrysalis, protected from cold and 
wet, until the moth is formed ard bursts from its con- 
finement to fulfil its destiny. At this period of its 
existence, it is not only wonderfully beautiful when 
perfect, as well as curious in itsmarkings, but it is re- 
markable for a power it possesses of emitting a plaintive 
squeaking cry, which has been compared to the voice 
of a mouse or the creaking of 4 cork. When excited 
by being handled it is distinstly heard; and from 
ihe peculiar formation of the palpi, or feelers, it 
bas been attributed to their friction ; others have 
stated that, air escaping from two spiracles at the 
base of the abdomen, or air confined under scales 
on each side of the thorax, is the cause ; and lastly, 
Passerini asserts that the sound issues from the head, 
and passes through the short trunk. 
I must not omit to observe that Sphinx Atropos is 
accused of robbing bee-hives of honey, whence it is 
denominated the bee tiger-moth, In our cut, fig. 1, is 
the caterpillar reduced one-third, and the moth is 
drawn to the same scale, which in some specimens 
measures five inches, when the wings are expanded. 
As the caterpillar and moth are so well known, it is not 
essential to describe them, and coloured figures with 
ample dissections and descriptions will be found in 
Curtis’s Brit, Ent., fol. and pl, 147. The pupa is of a 
shining rust colour.—Ruricola, 
ITHE AMATEUR GARDENER. 
CULTURE or SrRAWBERRIES.—Few gardens, however 
small, are without a spot devoted to the growth of this 
favourite fruit, although very many persons fail of 
securing an adequate produce. This disappointment is 
attributed to many eauses but the right one, which is, 
in general, an ignorance of. the habits and wants of the 
lant. In most instances we find a bed appropriated 
to the Strawberry, as ancient as that given to Asparagus, 
the treatment of which has been annually the same for 
probably 15 or 20 years. The following is the routine 
generally practised by those who prefer '*the wisdom 
not entirely lost its foliage, and the caterpillars of the 
of our ancestors” to abundant crops of fruit :—The 
the runners go where they please, and by the following 
autumn have formed a network all over the bed. The 
whole of the foliage is then mowed or cut down, and a 
layer of dung thrown over the denuded plants prepares 
them for the coming spring. As there is no rule with- 
out exceptions, and nature will often be prolific, in 
spite of untoward circumstances, it happens that the 
owners of such beds sometimes tell you they have 
abundance of fruit. The rule, however, is, that under 
such discipline the Strawberries grow “small by de- 
grees and beautifully less," until the gardener is com- 
pelled to have recourse to a remedy, and begins this 
10 or 20 years’ course over again, 
Now the fact is that the Strawberry, although capable 
of an indefinitely prolonged existence, by the pro- 
duction of offsets from the old stools, will bear well for 
only a very limited period, and the renewal of the. beds 
every third or fourth year is the practice of all ex- 
perienced gardeners, It is strongly recommended to 
amateurs to make a new plantation every year, and to 
dig up the beds every fourth season. Thus, if at the 
present time your garden has been arranged on this 
four-year principle, the following will be the state of 
your Strawberry beds :—One is about to be dug up 
and planted with something else, or, what is far better, 
has been dug up since July, and is now covered with 
some growing crop; the second is just planted ; the 
third 1s two years, and the fourth three years old. 
By this method a supply is secured without the loss of 
a year, as is the case when the whole stock is destroyed 
at once, and as by proper management those just 
planted will bear next season, abundance of good fruit 
may be reckoned upon. 
As this is a good time for making new beds, the first 
thing to be done is to fix upon the sorts you intend to 
patronize. The varieties are very numerous, and fresh 
competitors for publie favour are constantly appearing, 
so that there is room for caprice or experiment, or love 
of novelty. If neither of these impulses is very strong 
within you, and you feel that you can be satisfied with 
good tried sorts, take these three—Keens’ Seedling, the 
British Queen, ,and the Elton Pine. These are de- 
servedly favourites, as having fine flavour and being 
plentiful bearers; they also come in in succession, 
which is a great advantage. If you have no old beds, 
you must procure runners elsewhere, with all the delay 
consequent upon having young plants with the roots 
exposed and somewhat dry. But if you have old beds, 
and have neglected to plant out the runners into a 
nursery bed in the summer, you cannot do better than 
adopt the following rules, which for several years have 
been found effective for securing good crops of this 
delicious fruit. 
Let the ground be well dug, and incorporated with 
good rotten dung from an old Cucumber or Melon-pit. 
I prefer growing Strawberries in double rows, at the 
edges of the beds in the kitchen-garden, and I think 
the plan has many advantag ut, whick ode 
you prefer, do not allow'the plants to be more than two 
rows in depth, but interpose a path half a yard in width 
between every phalanx of two rows. The object is to 
have every plaut. distinct in the rows, so that air and 
light may be «fully enjoyed, and runners may be easily 
cut off as they appear ; and also that a space may be 
allowed wide enough to walk down the beds, to get at 
the fruit. Having your ground marked out with a 
line, proceed to the old bed, and take up the young 
plants which have rooted in it with a trowel. Choose 
those which appear to be most strong and established. 
Then dig holes with the trowel along your line, and 
earefully deposit the plants in them, about a foot apart 
every way. As the Strawberry has, even in its young 
State, a vast quantity of root-fibres, the process of taking 
up with a trowel preserves these, and prevents the 
plants being much checked by removal. By this pro- 
cess some fruit may be expected next year, although 
not so much as a more scientific plan would have se- 
cured, These plants, removed from an old bed, have 
been denied many advantages which a little forethought 
would have given them ; they have been crowded toge- 
ther and shaded by the old leaves, so that they are not 
so fully developed as they might have been if the run- 
ners had been planted in a nursery bed in the summer 
as soon as they were old enough to be removed. 
As the treatment needed afterwards can be dwelt 
upon more usefully at the proper season for applying it, 
more need not now be said on the subject. If not done 
before, your old bearing beds should now be looked 
over. Remove all runners and dead leaves, but do not 
interfere with those which are healthy, as they have 
even now more work to do in maturing the fature buds. 
A little dung may be laid on the surface, and worked 
in with a fork, but do not let the prengs go too deep to 
interfere with the roots. I have sometimes thought 
Strawberry-beds are manured too highly, inducing too 
large a growth of leaf, to the injury of the fruis One 
thing is certain with regard to vegetation generally, 
that, in proportion as you manure highly, you must 
allow more room. Turnips will bulb well when left 
thickly together on a poor soil; but, if it is rich, they 
must be hoed out to greater distances, or there will be 
nothing but leaf, — H. B. 
THE FRENCH BEAN A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE 
POTATO 
Supposing the Potato disease to continue, it will be 
some years before the cultivation of the root will cease 
to be essayed, and many before it will cease to be re- 
gretted. Every proposed substitute will be received at 
