Culture of Petunia nyctaginiflbra. 297 



insinuate herself from the surface for the purpose of deposit- 

 ing her eggs beneath. It should also be nearly a span deep ; . 

 by which means those few which might partially succeed in 

 burrowing below the surface, might either be deterred from 

 continuing the labour, or deposit their eggs above the true 

 soil. This dressing should be left until no more of the beetles 

 are seen : it then might be removed, and all apprehension for 

 the succeeding year dispelled. 



I should strongly recommend a perseverance in these two 

 methods to the proprietors of those nurseries where this pest 

 of Flora has unfortunately made its appearance. In con- 

 clusion, I trust that the pages of your interesting Magazine 

 will contribute to supply what appears to me the greatest de- 

 ficiency in the modern science of gardening, namely, a right 

 knowledge of those species of insects which are so perpetually 

 destroying the hopes of the horticulturist. 



I am, Sir* &c. 



William Swainson. 

 Tittenhanger Green, near St. Albans, 

 November 19. 1827. 



Art. XIX. On the Culture of Petunia, nyctaginiflbra. By 

 Robert Sweet, F. L. S., Author of Flora Australasica, 

 Sweet's Hortus Britannicus, &c. &c. 



Dear Sir, 

 Thinking it might be interesting to some of your readers 

 to know to what perfection the Petum'« nyctaginiflora might 

 be brought in a sheltered border of the flower-garden, I am 

 induced to send you the following particulars of one cul- 

 tivated in my garden. In October, 1826, I turned out of a 

 pot a seedling plant about six inches high, with two or three 

 shoots to it, into a border by the side of a wall, facing the 

 south, where it continued to grow rapidly all last winter, and 

 never had a leaf injured. In very severe frosty weather, I 

 covered it with a mat, but left it exposed whenever the weather 

 was milder. By the middle of March, it was above eighteen 

 inches high, with numerous branches, above half of which I 

 was obliged to cut away in the beginning of April, when I first 

 tied it up to a stick. After this it grew very fast, and, by the 

 end of May, began to be covered with flowers. By the middle 

 of July it was above six feet high, with many hundreds of its 

 fine large white flowers open every day, each flower con- 



