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518 THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[Jury 29, 
true Coccus. It is nearly allied to the Orange-scale, 
called by Linneus C. hesperidum, but it is longer an 
larger. From the strong resemblance it bears to some of 
the delicate limpets which inhabit our sea-coasts, I have 
distinguished it by the specific name of Patelleeformis. 
The brown limpet-scales, which are the females, are dis- 
tributed along the stems and branches of the twigs, with 
their heads downward, and vary considerably in size and 
form, some being oval (fig. 2), whilst others are more 
elliptical and slightly curved (fig. 3). The outline, how- 
ever, is apparently never symmetrical ; they are very con- 
vex, somewhat semi-cylindrical, shining, and of an 
ochreous colour, variegated with bright and dark brown. 
‘The edge is thin and membranous, and at the hinder 
extremity is a suture, furcate at the base (fig. 4, greatly 
magnified). The under-side is very concave in the adult 
females, the skin lying close to the back of the scale, and 
the portion towards the tailis blackish. They have six 
small legs ; but in the specimens I examined, I observed 
neither eyes, proboscis, nor antenne, but no doubt they 
exist in an earlier stage of their lives. There are two 
white cottony lines on each side of the scale: the first 
pair at the middle, and the other pair towards the ante- 
rior extremity. These lines are common to the scale 
insects, and appear to be the parts of contact which fix 
them securely to the plant (fig. 5). On removing the 
scales, a cottony substance remained on the stalk with 
some young ones, very similar to those of the black scale, 
and not larger, but rather broader in proportion, and less 
active ; there were but few, and no eggs nor exuvise accom- 
panied them. With the large scales were smaller ones 
(fig. 6), which I believe to be of the same species at an 
earlier stage of growth ; indeed, they had every appear- 
ance of the young ones which had settled there imbibing 
the sap and forming a scale over themselves, until the 
males hatched, when they would become fertile, rapidly 
increase in size, lay their eggs, and die without ever 
moving from the spot where they first pierced the bark 
with their fine syphons. They were yellow and oval ; the 
minute black eyes were visible, and the back was rayed 
with bright brown streaks. 
ye \ \ ey 
RA 
I have never seen the brown limpet-scale abound to any 
great extent, as many of the other scale insects do, yet 
they are i very bl and being the 
largest, I believe, of the hothouse scales, they must 
greatly weaken the plants which they attack. 1 regret 
that the males of this species are unknown to me, but 
they are, no doubt, minute animals and winged ; indeed, 
little is known of this very curious tribe of insects, not 
less interesting to the gardener from the injury the various 
species do to his choicest plants, than to the merchant 
to whom many species are of vast importance as articles 
of commerce, as will be readily admitted when we state, 
that the annual value of the Cochineal alone imported tnto 
Great Britain is estimated at not much less than half a 
million sterling ; besides which other species of Coccus 
furnish shell-lac, employed in the making of sealing-wax, 
of varnishes in japanning, &c. It will therefore afford 
me infinite pleasure should these sketches of their 
economy lead those who have constant access to hot- 
houses, and better opportunities than myself, to study their 
histories and give the result of their investigations to the 
public, with accurate figures of the eggs, larvae, pupz, 
and the male and female adult insects. A good example 
has been set by Bouché, who in his ‘‘ Garten-Insecten,”” 
and “ Naturgeschichte der Insecten,’’ has done a good 
deal towards a better knowledge of the Cocci, injurious to 
the gardens at Berlin, by relating their economy and des- 
cribing many new species; but unfortunately these works 
are written in German, which renders them almost 
sealed books to the majority of English readers. I find 
from a passage in the latter volume, that a species of ant 
attends the scale insect, as many others do the Aphides or 
Plant-lice, As it is an interesting fact, I will endeavour to 
translate the paragraph. ‘* The Shield-louse,” he says, 
*‘is very much sought after by ants in hothouses, especially 
by the Formica marginata, on account of the sweetness of 
its excrement ; they are nourished by it, and the ants fre- 
quently squeeze the Shield-lice to obtain their evacuations, 
in such a manner, that they die from it. This fate parti- 
cularly happens to the weak males, which consequently 
seldom arrive at maturity.’ 
To exterminate these insects seems to be very difficult : 
the true Cocei being large and prominent species may be 
Seraped off the bark with a wooden knife, or a stiff brush 
will remove them; but as multitudes of the eggs and young 
© Nes aay escape injury from their minuteness, it will be 
nec ese#y to wash the trunks, &c. immediately with some 
mixtiri" soap, tobacco, and water; whether the addition 
of sujpite be useful, Lam unable to determine: the great 
osject, ho’ wever, in extirpating them, must be to ascertain 
the period when the young issue from the eggs, and then 
apply the remedies proposed, as at that time they are 
undefended, and the slightest application will kill them. 
ing the leaves is impracticable, such plants as 
have the foliage infested to any extent, ought, if possible, to 
be immersed in some medicated liquor, as, for instance, 1b, 
of soap mixed with 4 gallons of soft water, adding half-a- 
pound of tobacco and one pound of flour of sulphur ; 
then boil the whole until it is reduced to 3 gallons ; when 
cool, immerse the plants infested after the roots and leaves 
are trimmed for potting, and they may in a day or two be 
washed clean with pure water: this mixture is said to 
be too strong for delicate exotic plants, and if used for 
watering, it must be diluted by three parts of water.— 
Ruricola. 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE CHERIMOYER. 
NoNA CHERIMOLIA.) 
Ir is a matter of surprise to me that so few tropical 
fruits should be cultivated in England, almost the onl: 
one being the Pine-apple, which, if it is to be estimated by 
the value set upon it where it has to withstand a com- 
parison with other natives of hot climates, is a very poor 
fruit indeed. Itis perfectly well known that the Pine is 
thought one of the poorest of fruits in those countries 
where it grows in the open air, There are many tropical 
fruits which might be cultivated without much difficulty in 
England, if proper means were employed ; but if people 
expect to get fruit from any stove plant without bestowing 
at least as much pains and money on its cultivation as is 
bestowed on that of the Pine, they will most assuredly be 
disappointed. 
The tropical fruit which I think would be cultivated 
most easily in England is the Cherimoyer (Anona Cheri- 
molia) ; it is often mentioned as one of the finest fruits in 
the world, and is the only one which I have tasted that I 
think worthy of comparison with a first-rate Peach, pro- 
perly ripened. The Cherimoyer is a fruit of considerable 
size, fine specimens often weighing four pounds, or even 
more; it is of an irregular heart-shape, and pale greenisb- 
yellow colour; the skin is very thin, and covered with 
obsolete impressions of scales, which I have observed are 
less apparent in the finer varieties of the fruit than in the 
common ones. The eatable part is a white pulpy matter 
about the consistence of custard, which forms nearly the 
entire mass of the fruit, The seeds are contained in the 
cells of the pulp ; they are quite smooth, few in number, 
and are separated without difficulty; so that, although of 
considerable size, their presence is no drawback to the 
pleasure of eating. 
I have no doubt that the Cherimoyer might be culti- 
vated with as great success, and with as small an outlay, 
as the Peach (I am not talking of out-door Peaches), 
because I have grown it to perfection in a climate where 
the Peach thrives perfectly well. The course of treatment 
I would advise would be, to build a house like a Peach- 
house, and in it to plant the Cherimoyer. The only dif- 
ference between the requirements of the two plants would 
be in the duration of heat necessary for ripening, The 
heat of the Peach-house would be quite sufficient, but it 
must be kept up at least two months longer than is 
required to ripen Peaches. The winter-heat should be 
only just enough to keep the plant from being frozen ;_ it 
will then lose its leaves almost entirely, and when the 
spring comes, and heat is applied, the flowers will appear 
abundantly on the old wood. They will require artificial 
impregnation, or the fruit will be few, ill-shaped, and 
small ; indeed it is more than probable that without great 
attention to this part of the cultivation no fruit would ever 
be set in this country; although, if pains were taken, the 
crop would, I believe, be abundant. 
The Cherimoyer is a large, straggling bush ; one of 10 
feet high would spread 20 feet, if left to itself, which I 
have found to be the best way of getting fruit. A plant 
five feet high will bear fruit. if it be not a seedling, and will 
bear a succession of its curious, half open, sweet-scented 
flowers for about three months; so that by a little 
management ripe fruit may be obtained during an equal 
period of time, or even longer, for I have seen Jate fruit 
hang on the tree during a whole winter, and ripen in the 
spring. The Cherimoyer is a native of avery dry climate, 
but it likes a good supply of water during the flowering 
season, or it will not set fruit. It seems to thrive best 
in sandy soil, which need not be rich; it is altogether a 
very hardy plant, not easily injured by heat or drought, 
and I hope it may some time procure from English Horti- 
culturists the attention which its merits deserve.—J. O. B. 
AMATEUR’S GARDEN.—No. XXX. 
Hap I not recently become acquainted with Mr. 
Beaton, I should almost feel disposed to pick a quarrel 
with him for forestalling me with his article on the im- 
provement of Rose garlands, in the introductory remarks 
to the Calendar of last week; but on a second thought I 
think I ought rather to congratulate myself that so inter- 
esting a subject has met with such anable advocate. The 
introduction of a number of kinds on one plant on pillars, 
garlands, or walls, or even single standards, has long been 
a favourite idea of mine; and I have long thought that if 
ever I should have the charge of a tolerably good surface of 
Rose wall, 1 would try whether an unique and rather novel 
feature in flower-garden scenery could not be produced, 
by grouping the kinds in masses, according to their com- 
plementary colours (as far as these could be obtained), or 
at any rate, so that no dark group should be so placed as 
not to have a light colour close by, to enhance, by com- 
parison, its brilliancy ; but as I shall not have an oppor- 
tunity of carrying this idea into execution fora year or 
two, I throw it out with the hope that some amateur reader 
may be induced to carry it into practice. 
Climbing Roses, though very beautiful when viewed 
en masse, are in a floristical sense but poor things, as 
many of them are little more than semidouble, with thin, 
flimsy petals, and therefore but ill suited for that close 
examination which is the prevailing fashion of the present 
day. It is ly worth ideration whether 
their cultivation ought not to be, to some extent, discon- — 
tinued, and their places filled up by better things. This — 
may be readily eflected by budding the choice sorts at 
various heights on the climbing kinds at the present time, _ 
taking care to give the delicate-growing varieties the most — 
elevated position on the branch, and placing the strong- — 
growing ones towards the bottom. This method I have 
practised for some years past, and I can only say, that a — 
pillar covered with six or eight kinds of the best of the — 
French and Hybrid China Roses, has a far more imposing — 
appearance than when covered with a few flimsy flowers 
of the climbing kinds. In the coming season I am about — 
to plant a number of arches of 30 feet square with Roses, 
and I there intend to introduce none but the most rampant 
growing Ayrshire kinds, and then bud them as they ad- 
vance with a general collection of the more choice varie- 
ties. It is surprising with what vigour the French and 
Hybrid China varieties grow when budded on the climbing 
kinds. The French Aglaia Adanson, Boula de Nanteuil, 
Nelly, Franklin, Pharericus, Rouge ¢blouissante, an 
several others I have had make wood from 4 to 8 feet 
long the season after budding, when worked on the old 
wood of a Banksian Rose, and I have no doubt but that 
the Bourbon, China, Tea-scented, and other perpetual 
Roses, if worked in the same way, would grow with cot 
responding vigour ; and if so, we have reason to expect 
that many of the delicate-growing kinds would bloom 
much stronger in consequence. The experiment, howevels 
is worth trying, and I earnestly recommend it to the con 
sideration of the Amateur. 
As the busy season of propagation preparatory t? 
another year is at hand, the Amateur, if he has still to get 
his heat by the antiquated and uncertain plan of fermen’ 
ing material, must lose no time in forming a slight hot 
bed for cuttings of Pelargoniums, Verbenas, and othet 
grouping plants. As only a very slight degree of heat 
will be required, an old lining from the Melon and 
Cucumber frames will be the best material to use; © 
which, to excite fermentation afresh, a small quantity of 
short grass may be added, the whole to be sprinkled as the 
bed is formed with ammoniacal liquor, diluted with ted 
times its quantity of water. The bed will not be fit for} 
the cuttings for a fortnight to come, and by that time” 
shall offer some remarks on the plants to which attentio? 
is first required.— W.. P. “Ayres. 
HOME CORRESPONDENCE, Al 
Bees.—At p.445, I perceive that ‘* Apis’” has observ 
the controversy between ‘‘ A. Pettigrew” and mysel “4 
relating to Bees, and that he has left little for me oD 
notice. However, as “ P.’’ says that I do not argue fairly, 
I shall offer a few remarks on my own behalf. He spealit 
of ‘* my disciples ;’’ I know of none; but supposing thal 
I have any, if his charge be true I should soon lose them 
“P” founds it on what I called his own words, vi2# 
putting a queenless swarm into an empty hive to male 
them produce a queen.” To clear this up I shall ee | 
his own version of it at p. 209 more fully.” When Le | 
one of the first two swarms we take away the queen ee | 
day after they are put into empty hives we find that ‘ 
queenless swarm, after searching one, two, or three aes 
begins to make royal cells, by adding wax to Coe 
cells.” The term empty hives renders this sentet 
rather obscure. I said that ‘the cell in which it (he 
queen) was reared differed a little from the usual oak s ' 
0 ae 
«“p.”’ denies this, without seeing the cell in question. al 
says I ‘‘ erred in saying that they are not so deep 4% eo, 
cells generally are.”’ Does this show that ‘ P. 
kened by 
” uf 
ial swarms, It 
don this subjects 
jn a great measure, to 
hive. This being an important 
remarks upon it, Why do 
before the first swarm Guts 
makes them turn outside of 1% Oke ot 
case, idleness prevails in & great degree inside. The ba | 
is, that Bees are more be 
nt upon leaving the hive than t || 
dthem off. She will not leave Le 
her successors are in some degre’ 
mature : a 
gained by premature separation > If done in bad west 
there is none—perhaps an injury; for at use wonet 
Bees be in an empty hive at such a time? If the w! 
vood, a few days might sometimes be gained; © 
ee ee ce disturbance of the hive by ae 
and the uncertainty of su into uP. 
sideration, I think the scheme is best let iste takel 
may urge that success is sure, but why does.he 
the precaution to remove the treasureles 
tance and confine them, say 24 hours; ‘ 
might return to their old home? — Pa cnpamerelter a 
this, but my experience accords with t oe 
think Riems) who says—“ Bees Gea at 
ought to be confined 24 hours, with @ 
CE ea geo 
their queen, and infallibly fine 0 haces 
ailewed! that this is hardly applicable to Gere eit 
tion, for the queen is with them in the empty dition 28 
those in the full angy are i Rie 
Bees usually are after the a g 
is, a few ae without a ee ead es Bees 
mention a more 
related by sit 
early in the same con 
swarm is gon! 
I ma 
simple plan than that just noticed, 
