Queries and Atiswers to Queries. 4-45 



Art. IX. Queries and Ansivers to Queries. 



Scions of the Forbidden Fruit, Sjc. — Sir, Permit me, through the medium 

 of your instructive and entertaining Gardener's Magazine, to return my 

 sincere thanks to your correspondent " An Amateur," for his very friendly 

 and kind offer (contained in your last Number) of giving me scions of the 

 Forbidden Fruit, the Pompoleon, Sweet Lemon, Sweet Lime, and Kitley 

 Shaddock, which I most readily accept, and shall feel greatly obliged to him 

 for them ; and I also thank him very much for his obliging answer to my 

 queries respecting this interesting tribe of plants. The scions " An Ama- 

 teur" is so kind and liberal as to offer me, I shall receive safely, if sent, by 

 a Liverpool coach, directed for P. D., to the care of Robert Sherbourne, 

 Esq., Post-office, Prescot, Lancashire. My reason for not sending any of 

 my four shaddocks to the exhibitions of the Horticultural Society was, that 

 I really thought it would be improper to offer any fruit that was not perfect 

 of its kind ; but I shall have very great pleasure in sendingyour correspondent 

 " An Amateur " a couple of the fruit, as a specimen of what the plant pro- 

 duces, if he thinks them worth his acceptance, and will please to inform me 

 how to forward them to him, and I will, with pleasure, pay the carriage of 

 them. The fruit is yet in a green state, there are 24 fruit on the plant, this 

 being the third year it has fruited, and it has produced about the same number 

 of fruit each year. Many thanks to " An Amateur," for mentioning M. A. 

 Risso's work on the oi'ange tribe, which I have not yet met with, but will 

 endeavour to see it. I am. Sir, &c. — P. D. Liverpool, Aug. 20. 1828. 



Natural History of the Lady-Bird ; in answer to R. B., p. 159. — 1 beg 

 to assure your correspondent that these little insects do not visit him with 

 threats of plague, but, on the contrary, rather as mediators to stay it. The 

 lady-bird is one, amongst other insect destroyers, ordained to keep the 

 aphides under subjection, and it proves far more destructive to them in the 

 larva than in the perfect state. The larva of the most common species of 

 lady-bird, when full grown, are of a bluish black, about half an inch long, 

 obtuse-headed, and tapering to the lower extremity ; it has six legs, and 

 ten annular joints round the body ; and each division has six tubercles, fur- 

 nished with a few short hairs. The eggs are buff-coloured, and cylindrical, 

 deposited in groups of about fifty, close together on their ends, on the 

 under sides of leaves and plants infested by the aphides ; from which eggs 

 the young soon issue. The first brood are produced about the end of May, 

 and in a few weeks are transformed to the perfect state. The perfect insect 

 pursues its prey through most part of spring, summer, and autumn. The 

 latter brood retire in chinks, &c., in winter, and those that survive to the 

 following spring produce the brood for the succeeding year. I am, Sir, &c. 



— Jos. Major, Landscape-Gardener. Knowstrop, near Leeds, June 14. 1828. 

 Brown Grubs. — Mr. Lee, of Bristol, (Vol. III. p. 453.) should send two 



or three of the " brown grubs " he writes about, to some entomologist, who 

 will ascertain the species of insect to which they belong. Until this is done, 

 there is as little chance of a proper remedy being advised, as there is of a 

 physician in England, prescribing successfully for a sick mandarin in China. 



— M. P. March 16. 



The Spot in Cucumbers and Melons (in answer to F. of Yarmouth, p. 189.) 

 is caused by want of warmth, and stagnation of moisture beneath. — Robert 

 Errington. Oidton Park, Cheshire. 



Mignonette; in answer to F. of Yarmouth, (p. 189.) — To flower the 

 plants before Christmas, sow about August 10th ; to flower them at the end 

 of January and beginning of February, sow about August 25th ; to flower 

 them in March and April, sow about September 5th. The plants must be 

 transplanted into 48-sized pots, with the bottoms well drained, in a compost 



