188 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[Mar. 25, 
all its members, and the consequence is much unpro- 
fitable idleness. 
These examples show that small occupations, 
although they prevent absolute dependence on cha- 
rity, do not ameliorate the condition of the labourers, 
unless they have other means of occupying their time 
usefully. 
The small farms of Western Flanders may be ad- 
duced as a refutation of our conclusion. We are well 
acquainted with the beautiful garden culture of that 
district, especially of the Waes country. Nothing 
can exceed the industry of the inhabitants, their so- 
briety, their assiduity, and their knowledge of what 
their soil will produce. But they are not to be held 
out as patterns for the imitation of the English la- 
bourer. Their habits are so different, their ideas of 
comfort so wide of each other, that we can scarcely 
hope to see the occupier of from six to ten acres of a 
moderate sandy soil in England bestow so much 
labour upon his farm, or reap such a produce. (For 
the particulars, we must refer to the “ Outlines of 
Flemish Husbandry,’ published by the Society for 
the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.) 
The next remedy, and one which has generally 
been attended with good effect, is the allotment sys- 
tem, where labourers have a small portion of land let 
to them, which they cultivate at their leisure hours, 
and where their wives and children find a useful and 
interesting employment, while the labourer is doing 
his usual work for his employer. This excellent plan 
tends much to the individual comfort of the indus- 
trious labourer, and to his moral improvement, and 
that of his family. It induces him to spend his even- 
ings in summer in cultivating his allotment, when he 
might be tempted to join his more idle companions at 
the beer-shop. His children, instead of running about 
in idleness, take a pleasure in working in a garden, the 
fruits of which they know they will partake of ; for 
moderate labour is a pleasure to the youthful frame, 
as much as it is a toil to old sinews or weakened 
nerves. We cannot too much approve of those who, 
without any loss to themselves, give to their labourers 
asmall spot of ground near their cottages to cultivate, 
at a full fair rent, including all other burdens, such as 
rates, tithes, &c., for these small demands annoy the 
Jabourer more than his annual rent. There is no 
fear that the allotment shall not be attended to, if 
proper regulations are made. In all the cases where 
allotments have been let to labourers, we have 
scarcely heard of an instance where the rent was not 
regularly paid ; and we know of many cases, which we 
could quote, where a labourer who had no allotment 
has advanced the rent due by a defaulter as a premium 
to obtain the allotment. But an essential condition 
in the holding of all allotments should be, that in no 
case shall the occupier cease to be a regular farm- 
Jabourer, or leave the farmer’s work, except fora few days 
now and then, and with his master’s especial consent ; 
and that he may not have the temptation of becoming 
an Irish cottar, and living on his allotment, this should 
never exceed half an acre; in general, a quarter of an 
acre is sufficient. With respect to the management 
of the land, we would never fetter the occupier with 
any set mode of cultivation; he will soon find out 
what is most profitable in the end. A pig will be 
essential, and he will soon have one. He will find it 
more profitable to spend the straw in litter to make 
manure, than to sell it; and while many a great 
farmer is doubting whether it may be worth his while 
to make a tank to receive the drainings of his yard and 
of his stables, the labourer, on the slightest hint given 
him, hasan old tub sunk into the ground, to hold all the 
refuse liquid of his cottage and his pig-stye. In this 
respect we have always found intelligent labourers 
much readier to adopt new practices, which accord 
-with their own observations, than their employers. 
This may be accounted for by the simple reflection, 
that they do at once, and without much trouble, what 
the farmer or proprietor must have first planned, and 
then executed at a considerable expense, 
A WEEK or two since, a correspondent sent us some 
inquiries concerning the death of his gold-fish (p. 138). 
As this is a subject in which a great many others are 
interested, we have obtained from a friend thoroughly 
acquainted with the habits of fish the following 
memorandum, which we trust will be found useful to 
many besides Agricola :— 
«The death of the gold-fish referred to at p. 138 
appears to have been occasioned by the hard artificial 
bottom of the pond and the want of sufficient soil 
upon it, in which the fish would have completely 
imbedded themselves, and would then have been 
secured against the usual low temperature of our winter 
he. Water has a higher power of conducting 
Gd, and the more animal heat abstracted 
at such a cold season by a good 
more likely they would be to suffer. 
pd the four or five species of Cary 
the Gold-fish is one, all of them 
alled, or go to mud, if they can, during 
3 
SUINGUY 
the winter months. If the fish are not seen at this 
period, it may be inferred that they have imbedded 
themselves, and are safe; but when one or more are 
seen roving about the water, it may be assumed that 
they have not found mud sufficiently soft and deep in 
which to lay themselves up. To afford them this 
security, in a pond with a paved bottom there should be 
a trench of 3 or 4 feet wide, and 12 or 18 inches deep, 
carried throughout the whole length, or the greater 
part of the length, of the pond, where it is deepest ; 
the sides shelving towards the centre of the pond is 
perhaps the best form that can be adopted. In this 
trench some soft soil should be placed, and more 
allowed to accumulate till it is as high or higher than 
the general level of the bottom along the upper edge 
of the sides of the trench. In this soft soil the roots 
of the water-plants may be placed, and the Carp will 
imbed themselves in this mud during winter. 
“The young fish are injured hefore the older ones, 
because, possessing less vital power, they are less able 
to resist the depressing effect}of low temperature. The 
green moss-like substance that appeared on the back of 
the diseased fish proves the death of the part beneath. 
til d position animal iE 
affords no support to vegetable growth.” 
—No. XIII. 
The Fall of the Leaf. No. 2,—There are those who 
doubt whether the cause of the fall of the leaf can really 
be that which was formerly (p. 724, 1842) assigned to it, 
namely, because its texture becomes ‘‘furred’’ with a 
sediment deposited within its organic cavities. The ob- 
servations upon hardening, at p. 100, were intended as a 
reply to these objections, but as they have not proved sa- 
tisfactory to some minds, a few additional statements seem 
desirable, 
That the interior of plants is hardened by the slow de- 
posit in their interstices of sedimentary matter, partly 
organic and partly derived from mineral substances, is too 
well known to admit of any argument. It is therefore 
to be presumed that the objections taken to the fall of the 
leaf being caused by the same circumstance, are made 
upon the supposition that that organ forms an exception 
tothe rule. It is, however, somewhat singular that a dif. 
ficulty should be found in admitting the existence of sedi- 
ment introduced into the leaves from foreign substances, 
when it is considered that they are the great seat of 
change in the nature of the fluids which plants absorb, 
Leaves are to the economy of the vegetable what the 
saucepans and kettles are to that of a kitchen, the places 
where evaporation, and combination, and all the other 
processes of change, from one substance into another, go 
on. What wonder, then, that the result of such processes 
should be so similar in both cases, and that the little 
cells of aleaf should be furred over, even as the larger 
cells of a kitchen ? 
However, the fact of a large sediment taking place in 
leaves, independently of the charcoal that is formed there, 
and which helps the fixation of foreign matters, is a mat- 
ter of evidence, not of theory, and capable of demonstra- 
tion by other means than the microscope. Now, too, is a 
good time to examine it. Let any one take the old yel- 
lowish leaves of the common Laurel and burn them, he 
will find a large quantity of ashes, which are the sediment 
in question. Then burn in like manner the leaves, still 
green and healthy, which were formed late last year ; the 
quantity of ashes will be found much smaller, the sedi- 
ment is less. Then burn the young and tender leaves as 
soon as they can be unrolled, and they will hardly present 
a trace of ashes or sediment ; nothing is there to obstruct 
the free action of their internal organs. 
This kind of evidence seems conclusive ; and is uni- 
versal in all leaves, The leaves of the Oak contain from 
3 to 54 per cent. of ashes, the Sweet Bay 2 per cent., 
the Beech 3 per cent., the Birch 5 per cent., the Elm 
nearly 12 per cent., and the Parsnep nearly 16 per cent., 
according to the testimony of chemists who haye analysed 
them.—R. E. 
THE DIGCIOUS CHARACTER OF THE STRAW- 
BERRY. 
Srverat of the late Numbers of ‘‘ Hovey’s Magazine 
of Horticulture,”’ an American monthly publication, con- 
tain interesting statements relative to the dioecious cha- 
racter of many kinds of Strawberries. That some plants 
of the Hautbois Strawberry abound in male flowers, while 
other plants of the same kind produce blossoms contain- 
ing the female organs only, has long been ascertained in 
this country, and means have been taken to render them 
productive by planting runners of the different sexes 
together. We are not aware, however, that the fact of 
the American species frequently producing imperfect 
flowers has yet engaged the attention of English cul- 
tivators. 
To such an extent has this defect been observed in 
America, that one writer states his plants of Keen’s Seed- 
ling to be so destitute of male flowers, that an acre of 
them, unless mixed with runners bearing male blossoms, 
would not produce a perfect fruit. The same has been 
observed, but to a less extent, on Wilmot’s Superb, and 
on Downton Strawberries, The same writer adds, 
“There is no Strawberry which produces abundantl 
organs sometimes bear a fair crop, and where a few fruit 
only are perfected, they are often of a large size. In 
raising plants from seed, both kinds are produced, but if 
suffered to run together, as the male runner is more vigor- 
ous, it will make 10 plants where the female forms one, 
and will soon root out all the bearing runners.” 
Another singular circumstance connected with the 
above is, that the wild Strawberry of America which 
usually abounds in male flowers, has not, when planted 
in parallel beds with the cultivated kinds, been found 
efficient in fertilising the female blossoms of the latter. 
Is this to be attributed to any effect produced by cultiva- 
tion upon the organs of the garden varieties, or to the 
flowers of the wild Strawberry not expanding until the 
others are too far gone to be influenced by them? The 
latter seems to be the most probable inference. 
The failure of Strawberries when forced early is a com- 
plaint of frequent occurrence, technically called by 
gardeners ‘‘running blind,” and usually ascribed to want 
of sun and air. Is it not probable that this failure may 
be occasioned by the partial absence of one or other of 
the sexual organs, and by there being no bees to fertilize 
the flowers, as occurs when they expand in the open air ? 
Now that the season is arrived, however, when this im- 
portant point may be ascertained, itis as well to call 
the attention of gardeners to the subject ; so that it may 
be determined whether their want of success proceeds 
from the imperfect character of the flowers, or from the 
weakness of the plants themselves. 
We have, in the open air also, occasionally observed 
whole beds of apparently healthy Strawberries, which 
have been anything but productive, and want of moisture 
or poverty of soil have each been assigned as the cause of 
their unfruitfulness. It might, perhaps, be found, upon 
examination, that beds of this description were composed 
of plants in which the flowers of one sex greatly prepon- 
derated. In this case, advantage would be cerived by 
planting beds .of various kinds in proximity with each 
other; leaving sufficient space between each to prevent 
the runners from becoming mixed. Some sorts might 
abound in male, others in female flowers; and they 
would thus be rendered beneficial to each other.—R. A. 
ENTOMOLOGY.—No., XLII. 
Bruchus granarius, the Grain Bruchus of Linneus.— 
These Beetles were so intimately connected with the 
Moths alluded to in our last communication, in the de- 
struction of the Beans, and they so frequently injure the 
Pea and Bean crops in our fields, and destroy them after 
being housed, that their history is well deserving the atten- 
tion of the cultivator. On examining a sample of Beans 
which was sent from Essex, after having remained in 
the sacks for twelve months, I found holes in most of 
them ; some were small (fig. 1), and on removing the horny 
husk or skin, a dead Bruchus was invariably lying in the 
cavity, which was only just large enough to contain it ; 
other Beans had much larger hoies in them (fig. 5); from 
these protruded a sort of web, covered with little feculent 
pellets, and inside was an excavation sufficiently large to 
contain the cocoon and pupa of * the white-shouldered 
woollen Moth.” 
About 160 species have been described by the family 
Bruchidee, from various parts of the world, and many which 
have been discovered in tropical climates are handsomely 
marked, and inhabit a variety of leguminous seeds, some of 
which have shells as smooth and hard as marbles. Our 
B. granarius is often found in gardens in various flowers, 
especially in the Rhubarb and Spiraea ; in March, April, 
and May, these Beetles are alive, but do not always come 
forth so soon as they are hatched, and during the winter 
they probably lie dormant in the seeds in the pupa state. 
As early as February I have found them abundant in the 
flowers of the Furze, and again in May in the Whitethorn 
blossoms, and they are not uncommon in waste fields as 
late as August ; so that there are either two broods, or 
a succession of them is produced throughout the spring 
and summer months. The female seems to select the 
finest seeds for the deposition of her eggs, and the 
maggot when hatched feeds concealed within them, and 
there changes to a pupa; when it is perfected to a Beetle, 
it either eats its way out, or a lid formed in the outer hard 
skin is forced out, and the prisoner is at once liberated. I 
cannot clearly understand why such vast numbers of the 
Beetles are found dead in their cells, unless, as De Geer 
suspects, they return to the seeds to feed after having left 
the: n seeds imported from warmer climates than ours 
they may be killed by a lower temperature, but this would 
scarcely account for the multitudes that have been found 
dead in the various samples of Beans that I have examined 
in England. 
I have understood that the Bean and Pea-fields in Kent 
suffer very severely sometimes from the attacks of the 
Bruchus granarius, which appears to have been confounded 
in this country with the B. Pisi; the former is thickly 
punctured and black, the underside and legs grey, with fine 
silky pubescence ; the head is rather small and drooping, 
the mouth forming a short wedged-shaped beak ; the eyes 
are prominent, with a deep notch, at the entrance of which 
the antenne are placed; they are not longer than the 
thorax, a little thickened towards the apex, 11-jointed, the 
4 basal joints bright ochreous; the thorax is semiovate, 
and much broader than the head, especially at the base, 
which is sinuated, and forms two acute angles, and on 
each side is a little tooth; it is variegated with ash- 
and large fruit when the male and female organs are 
perfect and in the same blossom. In some varieties only, 
it amounts to a complete separation of the sexes; in 
others, those abounding in the female organs never pro- 
duce perfect fruit. Those which abound in the male 
coloured p having a whitish patch before the 
scutel, which is also whitish; elytra much broader, 
somewhat quadrate, the apex rounded, leaving the ex~ 
tremity of the body exposed; this is grey, with two, and 
sometimes with four, black dots; the elytra have 10 
punctured strie on each ; they are variegated and spotted 
