500 



THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE 



[July 28, 1 



sufficient to show wh^Ts the most economical and 

 consequently the most advantageous when work has 



large scale, from which point ot 



thinks it necessary to look at 



is very different from the 



to be done on a 

 vieW alone he 

 the question. This 



small 



^pected. Some have endeavoured to stop its 

 ravages by handpicking ; but that has been found 

 to be ineffectual, as well as costly. Others have 

 tried soot and lime mixed, and soot mixed with 

 ashes ; but soot alone has in most cases been found 



1 



removed after the caterpilta^Tiave eonTT^ 



tterenL irom uie ««~ , w and if carefully and perseveringly 



nation of making an ornamental plan- to be best, ;»£« " \ have the effect of 



la the latter case expense is of little applied t certain y ^PP^rs 10 n • 



1C e ; in the former it is of the first im- keeping the ^^^^^^^^ 



*4 



tation. 



consequence, 



portance. This consideration touches the root of 



the inquiry. Can, he inquires, anybody afford in 



extensive works the care, the cost, and the frequent 



watering which M. Labarre gave his trees ] Are we 



then, he adds, to jump to the conclusion that autumn 



planting is always better than that of spring, or 



that, as M. Labarre contends, it is always best to 



plant in spring. " Both conclusions would be 



equally erroneous ; for unless we take into account 



all the different circumstances which attend such 



an operation, and which may lead to the adoption 



of one season rather than another, we do nothing 



worth doing. To think of submitting all trees, 



however much they may resemble each other, to 



the same kind of cultivation, would be like a 



doctor's giving the same dose and the same drag to 



all his patients, without paying attention to their 



different temperaments." He, however, insists upon 



the general fact that autumn planting, or that tvhich 



tales place at the end of summer is the most 



advisable. 



uie neap* ui weeus ana rubbish collected 

 gardens, and burnt there. Mere removal i^ ? 

 be feared, would be ineffectual, because the J 

 when they emerge from the ground in the btJp 



u In places near the sea, where the sky is often 

 overcast and the air is almost always saturated with 

 humidity, and the earth is consequently always 

 damp, it is easy to understand that there may be 

 some advantage in planting in March or April, or 

 even in May, that i* to say at a time when 

 the air has warmed the soil. The same may be 

 conceded of countries where the winters are long, or 

 where heavy autumnal rains are constant, for in 

 such places the roots may rot before getting hold of 

 the ground, and trees may perish from want of power 

 to vegetate before the arrival of bad weather." 



Such are the opinions of M. Carri^re, who is 

 therefore, like us, a strenuous advocate of autumn 

 planting in England, to which country none of the 

 objections apply which are adverted to in the latter 

 part of the ioregoing extract. Of course it may for 

 many reasons be inconvenient to plant in autumn ; 

 but that is a point not in discussion. It is often 

 inconvenient to do what is right in other operations 

 besides gardening ; but principles must not give way 

 to considerations of convenience. 



the leaves. This is welk exemplified m the grounds 

 of Mr. Dawes, a market gardener on the Brentford 

 Road, about half-way between Turnham Green and 

 Kew Bridge, who applied soot incessantly, and 

 whose plantations are comparatively green and 

 healthy, while Mr. Not and his other neighbours 

 have suffered severely. This remedy is easily pro- 

 cured and inexpensive. It is best applied early in 

 the morning while the dew is on the trees, or 

 perhaps after a shower . The only drawback it has 

 is that it makes the fruit dirty and unsaleable ; that 

 difficulty can, however, be overcome by washing 

 or employing other means for cleaning the fruit. 

 But even if the crop of fruit is spoiled the remedy 

 is valuable, because it will probably ensure the crop 

 of next year by keeping the leaves on the bushes ; 

 without them, it need scarcely be stated, the young 

 wood does not ripen, and not only is the crop of 

 the present season lost, but there can be little, if 

 any, next year. A knowledge -of the latter fact, 

 founded on experience, is what has induced Mr. 

 Manser to grub up his trees at once, and throw them 

 away. The dressing of soot is better. 



But are dressings of any kind the true remedy ? 

 Would it not be better to attack this mischievous 

 enemy in its hiding places before it has time to 

 reach the Gooseberry bushes. The habits of the 

 insect appear to suggest a ready means of destroying 

 it. Our valued correspondent "Ruricola" thus 



spoke of it in 1841. 



" The flies emerge unheeded from their tombs the 

 beginning of April, and the female soon deposits her 

 eggs close to the sides of the principal nervures on 

 the under side of the leaves (fig. 2), which is very 

 remarkable, for all the females of this extensive 

 family are furnished with an instrument called the 

 saw, for the purpose of cutting into the leaves and 

 stalks, and introducing the eggs between the cuticles, 

 or under the bark. In about a week the larvss hatch, 



would soon discover the proper places^ 'S 

 to lay their eggs, even although they ^ 

 born at a distance. The plan in aLJ^ 

 is mentioned by one of our corres^S 

 as having been successful, as it neoea i 

 must be, and it has the further merit of bei* 

 attended by any expense beyond a littiefcL* 

 Another correspondent speaks of having caa&fcffe 

 flies at their first appearance after being iStjJ? 

 before they had time to lay their eggs, and this ism 

 doubt a method much to be commended ; the c 

 objection to it, indeed, is that the flies are apt to i 

 overlooked and troublesome to catch ; wher 

 moving the earth where they lie perdue, ? 

 destroying them before they can hatch is aiUcij» 

 the evil at its source. * 



As the caterpillars have now gone down into ti* 

 earth, there seems to be no reason why the mj& 

 should not be performed at once, instead of hm 

 delayed till the spring. Immediate action \mi 

 least this merit, that it prevents the operation fe 

 being forgotten or deferred till it is too late. 



■ I 



VEGETABLE PATHOLOGY.-No. 

 This article is unavoidably omitted this week im 

 want of room. 





The ravages committed by the Gooseberry Cater- 

 pillar this year in the neighbourhood of London have 

 been most formidable. Whole acres of bushes in the 





market gardens are at the present time as bare of 

 leaves as if it were the middle of winter, and so 

 rapidly does wholesale destruction take place that a 

 plantation healthy and promising to-day may be 

 leafless a few d^ys hence. Instances have even 

 been noticed of *bushes being divested of their 

 foliage in a single night. 



This scourge made its first appearance this year 

 with the pushing of the leaf in spring ; for some 

 time it caused much damage, but then disappeared ; 

 about three weeks ago, however, it commenced a 

 far more extensive and serious attack, and since 

 then the losses have been enormous. In the Fulham 

 fields the Messrs. Bagley, Matyear, Wilcox, and 

 all the great market gardeners have suffered to a 

 greater or less extent. Some have even commenced 

 pruning and thinning their bushes, but this is done, 

 we believe, more for the purpose of admitting light 

 and air to the surrounding crops than with the view 

 ojf arresting the progress of the caterpillar, which 

 since the heavy rains we have lately experienced 

 has of its own accord disappeared. 



The destruction committed, however, bad as it is 

 in the Fulham fields, is slight compared with that 

 in the market grounds in the neighbourhood of Isle- 

 worth, Brentford, and Ealing. Mr. Manser, an 

 extensive fruit grower close to Kew Bridge, has had 

 6 or 7 acres of bushes entirely stripped of their leaves, 

 and in his case not only Gooseberries, but many of 

 the red Currant bushes have also suffered; the 

 latter, however, to a small extent compared with the 

 former. So complete, indeed, has been the destruc- 

 to^J.here that Mr. Manser has had great quantities 

 of his bushes grubbed up, leaving, however, i 

 places rows standing wide apart to see what they 

 will produce next year. In examining the different 

 plantations it was curious to observe how much 

 tender the caterpillar had evidently been of the 



ih^fJ y ° Un # b f hes than of old ones. Some of 



lVh.}\ qmte f SC? J ped? while y° un S trees close 

 by had been complete y divested" of their more 

 tender, large, and succulent leave* 



Few remedies have been tried ; the caterpillar 

 has gone away of its own accord, and a fourth out 



break (for the last is said to be the third) T s ^t 



and commence feeding on the leaf on which they 

 are stationed, and soon riddle them full of small 

 holes ; thus they go on feeding and changing their 

 successive skins as they increase in size, until they 

 are three-fourths of an inch long, when they are 

 seen scattered round the edges of a partly-demo- 

 lished leaf, holding by their fore legs, with their 

 tails turned up, or lying on one side." 



" There seems to be a succession of broods, from 

 the early spring until October occasionally ; but the 



l.v 



PARISIAN HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITS 



(From our owtf correspondent.) 



The k Imperial and Central Horticultural Society rf 

 Paris," formed in December last by the union of tfo 

 rival societies then existing in the town, determined ot 

 holding an " Universal Horticultural Exhibition* at 

 time of the General Industrial Exhibition of 1355, tote 

 ' established as nearly as possible on a similar pin. 

 Unlike our own exhibitions, where the plant?, fffliy 

 remaining exposed a few hours and restored to tfoar 

 homes before night, need no protection beyond move- 

 able tents, they were here to remain for several months, 

 and required more permanent arrangements for their 

 protection and exhibition. For this purpose the 

 obtained a plot of ground amongst the treea of thf 

 Champs Elysees opposite the Palais ^Industrie, of » 

 extent of about 2} acres. It was fenced in and laid a* 

 on the designs of Mr. P. Loyre, landscape gardener, i 

 Paris ; a pair of handsome iron gates were erected * 

 the entrance by Mr. Roy, of Paris ; plant-housa* 

 other structures were built for the reception oim 

 objects exhibited as could not remain in open borden; 

 awnings and tents of various designs were put np» 

 shade such of the flower beds as required them ; m* 

 beries were planted as a screen within the outer lew < 

 creepers trained up the unsightly stems of the old w* 

 lawns laid down, a piece of water, fountains, orn 

 vases and statues, &c, added, and the adnura^ 

 displayed in the grouping of the several P«M*T 

 fine background afforded by the gardeps of to ajj 

 palace, give to the whole a most pleasing em jo- 

 cularly striking as you enter from the Champs uj^ 

 This general effect, together with theta^efuU^g 

 ment of the minor details, are indeed the fciftW *£ 

 most immediately call forth our remar ^ > cJ j£ 

 bation ; for, in the beauty of individual q^SJ ^ 

 the horticultural skill they evince, there >*** 

 can enter into competition with what we see » ^ ^ 

 shows. But this comparison is scarcely >\w- ^ 

 affair of considerable expense to exhibit in w-gg 

 a succession of plants in flower during an} i ^ 

 period of time, and notwithstanding the car ^ 



in some 



greatest numbers are congregated in May and the 

 beginning of June, when, I understand, they have 

 caused 201. to 30/. damage in a market-garden near 

 London, in one season ; but in the neighbourhood 

 of Blandford, last year, the second attack upon the 

 Gooseberry-bushes in July and August was, if 

 possible, more devastating than the first. Having 

 defoliated a bush, leaving nothing of the foliage 

 excepting the footstalk, and sometimes a portion of 

 the main rib, and being arrived at maturity, they 

 cast their skins again, and then lose all their black 

 spots, becoming of a uniform pale green, with two 

 little black dots on the head, the spaces behind it 

 and towards the tail retaining the yellow tint. 

 After resting awhile they descend into the earth and 

 spin a yellow brown cocoon, formed of silk and 

 gluten of so thick a texture, that it is impervious 

 (fig- 4 ) ; from these the summer broods of flies come 

 up in less than three weeks, but the autumnal ones 

 remain in them, curled np in the larva state, until 

 the following spring, when they change to pupa* in 

 time to produce flie?, as the Currant and Gooseberry 

 trees are coming into leaf." 



Hence it is evident that the pup?e into which the 

 caterpillars change when they disappear are to be 

 found in the earth at the foot of the bushes. " Ru- 

 ricola," therefore, recommended that this earth, to 

 the depth of a couple of inches, sh Id be carefully 



on 



ft* 



may receive essential iujuv* T Y\v>* whether 

 their accustomed homes. The doubt J e ^ f 

 losses maybe adequately compensated "J^^t 

 assistance received from the Society, o ^ ^ 

 custom which may accrue, must natura , 

 bitors from sending such costly ^f'^ifi^ 

 exclusively constitute the collections ot sto 



house plants at the Ch is wick shows .^ ^ ^^ 



In order to convey a 



the 



their weekly catalogue. 



th- 



ine Society in uici* ™~» v - -• on w» r 



arranged in rows at regular *™™* and it ^ 



represent the trees of the Cham P s E ^ be rt ** 



small proof of ^^^ 



almost smokeless city, that ▼egetw v d &w 



under their shade, and that the f^/^bfJJ 

 baceous plants and annuals is «W &** 



The plant-houses, of iron and gto*, A ^ 

 ioriferes. The principal hothou^ 



it the 



to V * 



caloriferes. The prmc ipai uu ■» ^ ^pt 

 extremity of the garden (^ 6 J^edin ti*J 

 100 feet loner bv 25 in breadth, enWJ ^ 





100 feet long by 



to about 50 feet by a 



Itischieflj 



**** 



C ycadete, Aroideae, and ower """ c tain s 'fc* 

 only useful for their folt-gf, bj ^ ## 



collections of flowering ^™ e £' tea t «P jfiS 

 most important are *a OrdjJJ l)is 0***, 



UW11 „«. Pescatore 



Celle St. Cloud. He bad a very 



two or three weeks back, ana ^ 



,^ 



, ,. goad flower, 

 of the aze and size, nor showing U» 



^"S* 



are 



w 



