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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[December 1, 1888. 



Mr. Wilson then proceeded to deliver his lecture, 

 which was listened to by the audience with the 

 closest attention, and drew forth their applause on 

 several occasions. After indicating the various 

 heads of study which it was intended to follow in the 

 present course, he briefly alluded to the practice of 

 gardening in ancient and mediaeval times, aad passing 

 on to the consideration of the art as it now existed, 

 he held that it might be fairly assumed that it was 

 in as active a state of progress as ever it had been, 

 and that there was a growing desire to help it still 

 further on. The formation of the class, he said, was 

 an indication of the progressive tendencies of the 

 time. Depression of trade undoubtedly had done 

 much to affect pure gardening, but not to such an 

 extent as to justify the phrase, too often heard from 

 faint-hearted men, that " gardening is done." Gar- 

 dening must be subject to modification through the 

 inevitable alteration of social conditions. It was for 

 them to accept the inevitable, and to be fully 

 equipped to make the most they could of the altered 

 circumstances. The lecturer then narrated the sub- 

 jects of study, making a few cogent remarks on each 

 section, and bringing out the special points for 

 the observation of the students with force and 

 clearness. 



In concluding, he alluded to several recent move- 

 ments connected with horticultural education, 

 specially referring to the scheme proposed by Pro- 

 fessor Bayley-Balfour of instituting a course of 

 lectures for gardeners at the Royal Botanic Garden, 

 to which he wished every success, and the excellent 

 practical work done by the Scottish Horticultural 

 Association since it was established ten years ago. 



Mr. Dunn, Dalkeith Palace, in moving a vote of 

 thanks to Bailie Walcot for presiding, said that for 

 some time it had been the aim of several of them, 

 who were directly interested in the advancement of 

 gardening, to establish a course of study, or horti- 

 cultural class, such as had just been opened. Re- 

 cently, Mr. D. P. Laird took the matter up, and, 

 with the ready aid of the Principal of the College, 

 matters were soon brought to a successful issue; and 

 to Mr. Lindsay, Royal Botanic Garden, was due the 

 credit of discovering the able lecturer to whom they 

 had just been listening with so much pleasure and 

 advantage. He thought all interested in the matter 

 had good reason to congratulate themselves on the 

 successful inauguration of the class. Mr. Laird and 

 the Chairman having acknowledged Mr. Dunn's 

 remarks, the proceedings closed. 



An Autdmn Visit to a Scotch Seed Parm. 



The trip from Glasgow to Rothesay via Wemyss 

 Bay occupies about two-and-a-half or three hours, 

 and carries the visitor through some of the most 

 beautiful scenery in the West of Scotland. The 

 natural attractions of the burgh itself, and the lovely 

 crescent-shaped Bay of Rothesay, with its back- 

 ground of wooded slopes merging into the picturesque 

 environment of the rugged hills of Arran beyond, 

 tempt me to dwell a little on their charms, but the 

 more practical object of my visit must be first 

 attended to. 



The offices and glass structures of Messrs. Dobbie 

 & Co. are situated in the High Street, at no great 

 distance from the boat-pier. 



The premises consist of a number of detached 

 gardens and fields, most of them walled-in, and 

 extending to from 1 to 3 or 4 acres each, several of 

 them being a mile or more distant from the others. 

 The costs of management and working are of course 

 increased by such an arrangement, but the power to 

 isolate particular sorts one from the other is increased 

 also, and the choice of soil and situation is all that 

 could be desired. 



Immediately in rear of the well-appointed offices 

 is a walled-in garden of considerable extent, on one 

 side of which is a range of glasshouses of about 

 400 feet in length, and a range of pits runs 

 parallel with the former to the same length. The 

 pits were filled entirely with young stock of selected 

 fancy Pansies and Violas. The houses are used 

 principally in spring for propagating and growing 



young stock of named and selected florists' flowers, 

 and Phloxes, Pentstemons, Pansies, Violas, &c. The 

 testing of Tomatos, Cucumbers, and Melons, is also 

 carried out during summer in them. I was fortunate 

 in seeing the crop of Tomatos, consisting of some 

 seven varieties, which were growing in one compart- 

 ment of the range under the same conditions, so as 

 to test their relative merits. The following varie- 

 ties struck me as being very good : — Earley's De- 

 fiance, said to be the earliest in cultivation ; Canadian 

 Victor, productive and excellent ; and Dobbie's 

 Prolific, which excelled the others in productive- 

 ness, in the size of its clusters of fruits, and in 

 the size and fine colour of the fruits ; some 

 weighed in my presence turned the scale at from 

 8 to 12 oz. 



The chief purposes to which the various divisions 

 of this range are put in autumn is the drying of 

 flower and vegetable seeds — a big task here, espe- 

 cially in a moist cold season. The whole space from 

 roof to floor, except the pathway, is occupied with 

 the flower-heads of Prench and African Marigolds, 

 globe, quilled, and Victoria Asters, &c. The florets 

 of all such are first trimmed closely with scissors, 

 and two, three, or four heads are then tied together 

 and attached to strands of stout twine strained from 

 the dividing walls of each compartment, stakes being 

 employed for intermediate support. The bunches 

 are placed sufficiently far apart to prevent their 

 touching each other. On the stages in other com- 

 partments were trays filled with seed-pods of Pansy 

 Mignonette, Antirrhinum, Pentstemon, and other 

 plants which do not lend themselves to the bunching 

 method of drying; but Leek, Parsley, and other 

 vegetable seeds were being dried in a large shed, the 

 internal arrangements of which were well devised 

 for the purpose, notably the drying by means of 

 flues. Skeleton shelves surrounded the sides and 

 ends of the building, supporting trays for such things 

 as may not be bunched and hung up, while on the 

 roof and upper part of the sides, supports for strands 

 of twine or wire in many tiers, were arranged for 

 bunches of Leeks and such like. I cannot dwell on 

 the details of cleaning and preparing the seeds for 

 sale, whch found employment for many workpeople 

 at the time of my visit ; it must suffice to say, that 

 everything I saw of the harvesting of seeds, im- 

 pressed me with the conviction that choice seed 

 saving taxes the ingenuity, the attention, and re- 

 resources of all who are engaged on it largely, and 

 with a determination to excel. 



In a run round the several gardens I found it was 

 too late to see many of the flowers in good form ; 

 but the remains of African and Prench Marigolds, 

 Antirrhinums, Mignonette — the latter Dobbie's Giant, 

 bearing spikes, upright and sturdy, a foot long — 

 satisfied me that the samples seen at the flower-shows 

 during the season had not exhausted supplies of good 

 things at home. So also with various specialties in 

 vegetables with which the name of the firm is asso- 

 ciated. 



Peach Growing at Duniepace, Stirlingshire. 

 While I have travelled long distances this season 

 to see hardy fruits in their best dress, and taken part 

 in discussion as to the best methods of cultivating 

 Peaches, I was unaware that objects of great interest 

 and of high cultural order were within a few miles of 

 me. At Duniepace House, near Larbert, there have 

 been Peaches grown for several years which have 

 created considerable wonderment and given tangible 

 proof that cultivation, when rightly mastered, can 

 achieve results which are not generally supposed attain- 

 able, in Scotland at least, under any system of manage- 

 ment. The kinds of Peaches referred to are Royal 

 George and Noblesse ; and when these are at their 

 best they are second to none. Take three fine trees on 

 a wall, 17 feet high, a Royal George 17 feet wide, bore 

 350 fruit of good size and perfect in colour ; another of 

 the same kind, 14 feet wide, had 300 equally good ; 

 and a Noblesse about the same size as the last-named 

 (perhaps less), matured 190 really good-sized fruit. 

 Now, when we consider that there are no advantages 

 in climate, altitude, or shelter which can be taken 



into account, cultivation must claim much credit. 

 The position is low, and it is very subject to spring 

 frosts. Nets are used for protection till after the 

 fruit is set, The trees are kept thin, the roots near 

 the surface, and a fair extent of run for the roots, 

 over which light crops only are grown. The fruit 

 was a month later in ripening this year than usual. 

 Mr. Menzies, Mr. Harvey Brown's gardener, is not 

 willing to take all the credit of growing such fine 

 fruit in a season so adverse as the past has been ; as 

 he says, " Man, we have real guid loam," and the 

 roots are well looked after and kept near the surface. 

 I thoroughly believe that root management has a 

 deal to do with success in the cultivation of every 

 plant. Climatic influence cannot be ignored, but 

 healthy food, with all the functions in order to 

 assimilate it, has a given result, which any cultivator 

 may be proud of. M, Temple. 



Entomology, 



CALLIDIUM (GRA.CILIA) PYGMiEA. 



Doring the years 1868 — 1874 there was published 

 at Munich an elaborate catalogue of all the then 

 described species of beetles (Coleoptera), in twelve 

 volumes, by the Baron von Harold and H. Gemminger, 

 amounting to 77,001 species, to which numbers at 

 least 20,000 more must now be added of species 

 either omitted by the authors of the Catalogue or 

 subsequently described, raising the total list to about 

 100,000 species. Of this vast number as many as 

 from 28,000 to 30,000 agree in a peculiarity in the 

 formation of the last part of each foot (called the 

 tarsus), which, instead of being formed of five free 

 slender joints, consists of three dilated basal joints, 

 of which the third is bilobed, forming a pair of pads 

 having the real fourth joint very minute and united 

 to the base of the slender fifth or claw-bearing joint. 

 This peculiar structure prevails in the three great 

 families of which the Linnean genera, Curculio (or 

 weevils), Chrysomela (orplant beetles), and Cerambyx 

 (or long-horned beetles), are the representatives ; all 

 of which are plant feeders, the dilated pads of the 

 tarsi enabling them to keep a firm footing on the 

 stems or leaves of the plants on which they subsist 

 in the larva state. This remarkable generalisation 

 is well represented in the numerous illustrations 

 which have been published in our articles on the 

 different species of beetles belonging to these three 

 groups which infest plants or trees in one or other 

 of their states. 



We here give a further illustration of one of the 

 long-horned species, Gracilia pygmoea, which, as the 

 specific name implies, is comparatively of small size, 

 being only a quarter of an inch long, of which 

 several individuals were forwarded to us in the 

 early summer of this year, which had occurred in 

 considerable numbers in a newly-built house, where 

 they were very destructive, as may be seen by the 

 piece of wood figured on the left-hand side of our 

 woodcut (fig. 92), which shows, in the shaded por- 

 tions, the burrows formed by the larva; (of which 

 the head with its two small but powerful pointed 

 terminal jaws is shown, greatly magnified, in the 

 lower part of the cut (after Schiodte). 



The larva is about a quarter of an inch long, 

 slender in form, but with a much widened head ; it 

 is white, like the larvae of the Buprestidae, with a few 

 whitish hairs on the sides of the segments of the 

 body; it is furnished with three pairs of small, 

 slender four-jointed feet, attached to the three seg- 

 ments following the head ; the antennae are very 

 small, the fourth or terminal joint resembling a 

 small tubercle. 



The beetle is narrow in form, rather flattened on 

 the back, of a dark uniform reddish-brown colour, 

 covered with a fine slight greyish pubescence ; the 

 antenna? are equal in length to the i=nt ; i-e I ody, 

 and are nearly cylindrical or filiform, slightly more 

 slender at the tips. 



The lignivorous larvre of this beetle, according to 

 Mons, E, Perris (Larv, Qoleopt,, p, 4(36) is very 



