THE GARDENERS 1 CHRONICLE 



26 1 



* 



l ft warm nana, » uu r"~ v -"" ;- 



On examining the old nest, you will 



of minute vermin. Subject one of 



m-cgnrr under a pin's head ; the blood emitted 



Y n the veins of your innocent nestlings, who, 



toeir ***y birth tiU this moment » have 8UStained 

 rermin in life ! ! iVittfr neglect this act of duty. You 



thereby save the lives of many a parent and many 



J^og. The old birds will thoroughly understand 



_kd^" *™ * bout » and wil1 show * nemselves wel1 

 2Jied when the change has been effected. I shall 



A k more of these vermin by-and-bye. 

 wr ^' your first brood can well feed themselves, it 



than likely that their Papa and Mamma will be 

 to extend the branches of their family tree. 

 t\um » why I recommended your cage being furnished 

 villi two nest boxes, in two separate divisions. Keep 

 the on therefore, well cleaned, and the bottom well 

 covered with bruised mortar and chalk. 



When the nestlings are about a month old, their 

 pftreotohave an odd way of getting rid of them— viz., 

 bTpecking at them, and hunting them about all over the 

 ca*eT They look at them as if they were interlopers, 

 ajSquite able to get their own living. This is, therefore, 

 the proper time for removing them into separate habita- 

 ti ons place them in mahogany cages, made precisely as 

 I have already recommended (See " British Cage Birds," 

 No. 3), and hang them up in a warm situation. In a 

 few days the males will freely "record" their song, and 

 •ire full evidence of the pleasure they feel in being 

 | " of " a house of their own." As young cana- 



are very imitative, and copy all they hear, let me 

 again advise their being made the associates of none but 

 first-rate songsters, from their very infancy. It is more 

 difficult to unlearn than it is to teach. As for the hen 

 birds, unlets you retain a few of the strongest for the 

 purpose of breeding from them at a future timej they 

 should be got rid of with all convenient haste. 



are perfectly useless. 



With respect to hybrids — I have taken no notice of 

 these, under this head. Goldfinch-mules and linnet- 

 mules, being bred in a different manner, will receive full 

 notice under the respective Treatises on the * Goldfinch " 

 and the " Linnet." These birds may be reared to im- 

 mense advantage ; and if well taught in their infancy, 

 their value can hardly be stated. They will live to a 

 u green old age.'* 



I should here remark, perhaps, that the change of 

 diet, from soft to hard food, should not be too sudden. 

 Place some of each kind in the cages of the young birds, 

 and withdraw the "nursery diet" by degrees. Be sparing 

 with your green meat, and also any little luxuries that 

 may act too violently on the internal machinery of your 

 pets. Avoid both sugar and hemp-seed; giving them 

 occasionally a little maw-seed. German paste. SDonire- 





They 



T. btautou, JC&q., several pousot the common Furze, each 

 of which contained severalspeeimensof Apion (Oxv>t»ma) 

 Ulicis, alive and in the beetle state, remaining within the 

 pod until it should burst and allow them to escape, they 

 appearing to make no attempt to do so by gnawing 

 holes through the skin of the pod. It was thence evi- 

 dent that they had been reared within the pod, the 

 larva? having fed upon the seeds, which were much 

 gnawed. In one of the pods I found a small 

 white footless grub enclosed in a slender cottony 

 cocoon, the front of the body of this grub being much 

 more attenuated, the segments of the body more con- 

 stricted, and the mouth without well developed jaws, 

 under jaws, &c. These characters, together with the 

 circumstance its of being found so late and at a time when 

 the real inhabitants of the pod had assumed the perfect 

 state, is sufficient to prove that the small grub in 

 question is not the larva of Oxystoma Ulicis, but of a 

 hymenopterous parasite, which keeps it in check. The 

 perfect Oxystoma is found almost throughout the year, 

 and is very common where the Ulex europsous abounds. 

 The various species of Clover and Trefoil are subject 

 to the attacks of several species of Apion. Thus Apion 

 assimile devours the leaves and heads of Trifolium 

 ochroleucum ; Apion meliloti is found on Trifolium 

 melilotum. The larva of Apion flavipes devours the 

 heads of Trifolium repens, and Apion flavi femora turn 

 (alias A. Trifolii and A. africans), does much 

 mischief to corps of Clover, Trifolium pratense. 



auiii ui iu» tiuaU UM4TS strongly m^gutuM ; j^uiu t> f 

 the pupa magnified ; figures 1 and 2, a floret of Clover, 

 pierced by the larva, of the natural size and magnified ; 

 and figure 7, the perfect insect magnified, the natural 

 «i-7#* indicated bv the line below the fisrurc. /. 0. WL 



Home 



The 





Mr. 



Markwick 



the 



first published the history 

 sixth volume of the Linnean 



of thi 8 

 Trans- 

 Clover, 



species in 



actions. On examining the state of a crop of 

 in the month of August, he found in many of the heads 

 several small white grubs, invariably placed on the out- 

 side of the base, beneath the individual calyx of each 

 floret, eating through the bottom, and thereby destroy- 

 ing the germen or rudiment of the future seed. These 

 larvse were like the nut grub in miniature, having a 



biscuit, and stale sweet bun. Thus instructed, you have 



it in your own power to rear some of the finest song w> t w ..*,»„, „._ „ , 



birds that were ever known. You may, moreover, live '^Q body, black head, and three small prominences or 



perfectly independent of the whole tribe of bird-dealers, tubercles on each side of the breast, supplying the place 



with whom, cntre nous, the fewer dealings you have the ... . , » , 



better. William Kidd, New Road, Hammersmith. 



The 



- ENTOMOLOGY. 



Thi Peab-«haped Weevils —No. II. 



Ulex nanus is occasionally attacked in France 

 by one of the small Pear-shaped weevils, which de- 



SKWits its eggs in the thin twigs, thereby causing the 

 ormation of galls, somewhat like beads strung on a 

 string, at greater or less distances apart We are 

 indebted to M. Perris for the discovery of this curious 

 economy in an insect of this group, no other species 



laving been observed to form galls, which do not, how- 

 ever, appear to prevent the growth of the plant. If one 

 be opened soon after it is formed, the interior is found to 

 consist of a green tissue, more succulent towards the 

 centre, where a small yellowish egg is to be seen ; soon 

 afterwards this egg produces a larva or yellowish grub, 

 which by gnawing away the substance of the gall (which 

 serves it for food) forms a more or less spacious cavity, 

 within which it resides. During this period the sub- 

 Stance of the gall becomes more dry and compact, the 

 outer coating forming a crust or shell having nearly the 

 consistence of wood. The caterpillar is of a very long 

 oval form, yellowish in colour, smooth, and destitute of 

 legs ; the head small, of a reddish brown colour ; the 

 jaws strong, horny, and bifid. The body consists of 12 

 segments, each of which, except the 2d, 3d, and 12th, are 

 provided with a pair of breathing pores. The pupa is 

 Baked (that is, not inclosed in a cocoon), of a yellowish 

 tmt, the parts and limbs of the perfect insect being 

 **J»ly perceivable ; the legs folded on the breast and 

 belly, the elytra applied to the sides and striated, with 



extending beyond them. The perfect 



of legs. Having placed a number of the blighted heads 

 of Clover in a box, he found, 10 days afterwards, a 

 number of the Apions running about, as well as many 

 of their * chrysalids sticking to the stem at the base of 

 the individual floret, exactly in the same position as I 

 had found the larvse ; nay, I even saw one or two of 

 these weevils crawl out from their chrysalids. Under 

 these circumstances, there can be no doubt that the 

 before-mentioned larva changes to a small white chry- 

 salis, which differs but little from it, except in being 

 egg-shaped and motionless, and this produces a small 

 blackish weevil with a long beak, whitish belly, and 

 yellow legs." Mr. Markwick adds, that, in 1798, 

 44 acres produced 16 J bushels of Clover seed, worth 

 WL 17*. 6d. ; whereas in 1800, when the field was 

 attacked bv the weevil, the same quantity of ground 



The Chrysanthemum, a spring flowering Plant. 

 following plan of culture was practised by me in *oo» 

 and 1837, and on the 10th of May, 1837, I gained a 

 Banksian Medal at Chiswick for a Chrysanthemum, 

 having 60 blossoms on it, all open at one time. The 

 sort was the Paper-white, and it was perhaps the only 

 Chrysanthemum ever seen in flower at so late a period. 

 In the month of April I took as many suckers as were 

 wanted, and planted them out in well prepared ground, 

 about 2 feet apart. As soon as they began to grow I 

 topped them, and continued doing so with each suc- 

 ceeding growth, until the plants began to get shrubby, 

 in which condition they needed no stakes. If a suc- 

 cession of plants was wanted to blossom late, or in tha 

 commencement of the next year, I kept topping a few 

 for the purpose ; and in dry weather I watered them 

 with weak manure water, I jetted my plants on 

 the 1st of September in 8 ana 10-inch pots, and 

 started them by putting them into a close house, 

 or pit, for seven or eight days, until they had 

 made young roots, excluding all direct sunshine, and 

 syringing them twice a day. My Chrysanthemums that 

 season were very fine ; plants in front of a conservatory 

 had scarcely lost a leaf on the 5th of December, and 

 about 40 of them had not opened all their flowers ; 

 several of those which did not show bloom were put 

 into the stove, and one of them gained the Bauksiaa 

 Medal in question. Now what was done then can be 

 effected now, and during the season of growth the stem 

 can be made to grow either long or short at the will of 

 the cultivator. I see no reason why a Chrysanthemum 

 should be trained up a stick, with half the stem naked, 

 detracting from the beauty of the plant. Great im- 

 provement has been made in the blooms, but none in 

 training, while by proper management a long succession 

 of those beautiful winter flowers may be obtained. 

 James Cuthlll Camberwcll, London. 



Management of Timber Trees.— Having lately made a 

 tour through some parts of Essex, Herts, and Cam- 

 bridgeshire, I had an opportunity of observing the way 

 in which forest timber is managed in these districts, but 

 in no instance could I see the smallest approach to 

 scientific culture, so as to produce useful timber. It may 

 truly be said that in England there is no science less 

 practically understood, or one that meets with less 

 encouragement, than the management of forest timber. 

 At the formation of the Royal Agricultural Society o£ 

 England, it was stated that one of the objects that 

 Society had in view was to encourage a better method 

 of cultivating timber plantations ; but where is there an 

 instance of any improvement having taken place t In 

 19 out of every 20 cases the whole management of 

 forest timber is left to persons who never received any 

 instructions in the art. Under such circumstances no 



improvement can possibly be expected. In walking 

 through a young plantation of 10 or 12 years' growth, 

 that had just undergone a course of thinning and 

 pruning, the axe had been used very lavishly, and 

 without any regard to the future growth of the per- 

 manent trees, or the value of the nurse plants, two- 

 thirds more of the latter being removed than ought to 

 have been cut out at any one thinning. In the pruning, 

 every branch and twig from the ground t3 three pat ts 

 up the trunk, had been hacked off, some of them close 

 to the stem, others 3 or 4 inches from it, and in some 

 cases the pruner, by his awkwardness in missing his 

 aim, had cut the tree half asunder, leaving the greater 

 number of the deciduous trees like a mop stuck on the 



By 



produced only 71 bushels, worth 18J. 15a., the deficiency - 



of H bushels, worth 23/. 2*. 6d., being attributable to top of a pole, with six or more competing shoots, 



the devastations of the Apion flavi femoratum. such injudicious management, if the trees are left in then? 



Mr. Mark wick's account of the pupa state of this present condition, as in all probability they will be 



insect is not very clear, since he speaks of it as an egg- there being no person on the estate that can point out 



shaped chrysalis, very like the larva ; and adds that he the proper method of repairing the injury, such trees 



saw the Apion creep out of the chrysalis- .♦.♦—«.♦- I will, when rut un into clanks, exhibit the ettects of the 



the 



cases 



grey 



Pile; the snout is glossy, the thorax roughish, and the 



e] vtra striated. 



• This insect passes the winter state in the form of a 



Jarva, which changes to a mina in thft Rnrimr. the final 



transformation to the perfect state taking place 

 and June. The larva of this beetle is occasion 



tacked 



ally 



°y a beautiful little hymenopterous parasite 

 <Js.ulophus Ulicis, Perris), which deposits sometimes as 

 Jnany as five or six eggs in the gall when the larva has 

 Attained a considerable size, thus dooming the unlucky 

 inhabitant to the cannibal attacks of such a number 

 *f these voracious parasites. (Aunales Soc. Ent. de 

 *l*nce, 1840, p. 90, PL 6', I.) 



M the beginning of last February I received from H. 



r ^ 9 inclosed in 



an egg-shaped covering or cocoon, which is, in fact, the 

 character given by Mr. Kirby in his subsequently pub- 

 lished monograph on the genus. M. Perris, however, 

 expressly says that the pupa is naked, and such was the 

 state of the pupa which I found in the pods of Lathy rus 

 arvensis, described in my former paper. Mr. Lehmann 

 also, in his additional observations on the Clover Apion, 

 says, u that having consumed three or four of the seeds, 

 it remains in the place of the last, where it is sufficiently 

 sheltered, and changes like other weevils into the pupa or 

 chrysalis state, through the transparent skin of which an 

 experienced eye may trace the different limbs of the future 

 animal ; " thus fully proving that the chrysalis of Mr. 

 Markwick, and the pupa folliculata of Mr. Kirby, is a 

 naked pupa, not enclosed in a cocoon. 



A still more precise account of the transformations 

 of this insect has been published by M. Gue'rin Men©- 

 ville in the Aunales of the French Entomological 

 Society (1843, p. 65). Our figures 1 to 6 are copied 

 from M. Gucrin's illustrations ; those given by Mr. 

 Markwick being so small as to be quite unintelligible. 

 M. Guerin adds the interesting fact that the larva of this 

 Apion is kept in check by two small hymenoptertus 

 parasites, namely, the Calyptus macrocephalus of Nees, 

 and the Pteromalus Pione of Walker. Our figures 

 3 and 4 represent the larva of the Apion Trifolii or apri- 



canus of the natural size and magnified ; figure 5, the 





treatment they received in their youth. /. D. 



Memoranda from Java. — This is one of the finest 

 and most fruitful of the Sunda Islands. Its form is 

 nearly that of an oblong square, which is traversed 

 from east to west by a chain of large mountains ; these 

 exhibit the remains of ancient volcanos, which are now 

 clothed with the vegetation of many ages. The fine 

 new species of Rhododendron lately introduced into 

 England are inhabitants of such situations. The 

 mountains, in most instances, are covered with almost 

 impenetrable forests, and with a few exceptions, the soil 

 on them is fertile. Between those of the first or grand, 

 and those of the second series, are immense plains, some 

 of which are much elevated above the level of the sea, 

 and on these the cold is sensibly felt. They are the 

 most densely inhabited and best cultivated portions 

 of the island. In some parts the heat is oppres- 

 sive, rising occasionally above 107 a Falir., with 

 from 20° to 25* variation in 24 hours. Notwith- 

 standing this, however, taking it altogether, the climata 

 away from the swamps is healthful and pleasant, we 

 perpendicular sun-beams being considerably cooled by 

 the sea and land breezes. On the tops of some ot trie 

 n ountains it is not uncommon to find the iem ^™"£! 

 in the months of May, June, and July below «» , auu 

 occasionally even lower, and ice } inch thick ^J °«JJ 

 be discovered on the ponds. The two W"^ ™ 

 j_ —a u^ «.♦ «™ utterly not at all regular, Ine 



