July 13, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



31 



this rapidly withers away, turns brown, and at last drops." 

 By hymenopterons Insects of the Cynips family are also pro- 

 duced galls of various forms upon the leaves, occurring some- 

 times in close clusters. 



Other beetles, too, besides those already mentioned, are 

 found infesting the Willow. The large grub of the Musk 

 Beetle (Aromia moschata) bores into the wood, not going very 

 far in. The scent of this species is perceptible a long way ofi. 



Some are external feeders, as is the larva of Cryptorhynehua 

 Lapathi. Very common in some places on the S. babylonica 

 and other Willows is the pretty Chrysomela, called vulgatis- 

 sima. The eggs are deposited in order by the parent beetles, 

 and the larva? feed together in little parties, going methodi- 

 cally from leaf to leaf. By means of a net the bluish green 

 beetles may be swept off the foliage by hundreds in the early 

 summer. — J. R. S. C. 



EARLY RIVERS CHERRY. 



It is now many years since the Early Purple Guigne Cherry 

 •was distributed by the Horticultural Society among its Fellows. 

 I have had it more than twenty years, and always noticed with 

 interest its earliness and excellence ; but its delicate habit, it 

 being liable to canker and gum, prevented its extensive cultiva- 

 tion. It is but a few years since it occurred to me to improve 

 it by raising seedlings from it, and then again I found difficulty 

 in procuring fruit thoroughly ripe, for the stones from unripe 

 fruit would not vegetate. This is a common thing with early 

 fruits ; the pulpy covering ripens, but not the seeds. At last the 



orchard house came to my aid, and in the hot summer of 1860 

 some stones from very fine ripe fruit were sown. In 1866 they 

 made plants from 1 to 2 feet high. In that summer their tops 

 were cut off, and their buds placed in some Mahaleb stocks. In 

 1867 they made a fine growth of some 4 to 5 feet. In the 

 autumn of the same year they were potted ; in 1868, in the or- 

 chard house, they formed blossom buds; in 1869 Early Rivers 

 bore its first crop; in 1870 and 1871 the tree bore abundantly, 

 and its fruit were as large as those of its parent, a trifle laterj 

 but very rich and good, and the tree luxuriant and healthy. 



Early Rivers Cherry. 



There are other seedling trees of the same race ; all have given 

 fine fruit, and one of them is remarkable for its earliness. 

 Early Rivers in 1870 ripened with its parent; in 1871 it was 

 three or four days later. — Thos. Rivers. 



[This very excellent Cherry, which we figure to day from a 

 cluster sent us by Mr. Rivers, has been very appropriately 

 named. It possesses merits of a high order, and, we feel satis- 

 fied, will become one of our most popular varieties. The fruit 



is produced in large clusters of ten to twelve, two to four on & 

 very short common peduncle. Fruit 9-lOths of an inch in 

 diameter, roundish heart-shaped, and somewhat uneven and 

 " hammered " on the surface, slightly pitted on the apex, and 

 with a distinct style point ; suture not well defined. Skin black. 

 Stalk IJ inch long, rather slender, green, with a small, rather- 

 deeply-embedded £sk. Flesh very tender, sweet, and agreeably 

 flavoured. Stone extremely small, perhaps the smallest in any 

 Cherry.] 



NOTES AND 



The Rtjling Passion.— During his stirring recital of the 

 suffering and destruction endured at Chatillon by the useless 

 cross-lire of the insurgents (eg., 2400 shells putting only six 

 men hors de combat) and Versaillais, M. Amedea Latour thus 

 deplores one of his grievances : — " What a suffering for a lover 

 of the garden like I am ! Here I have under my eyes my 

 magnificent Pear tree covered with blossom and devoured hy 

 caterpillars. I can count sixteen frightful clusters of them. 



GLEANINGS. 



To destroy them the tree must be climbed, and that is an 

 impossibility ; for being in sight of the forts at Issy and 

 Vauves, the instant the artillerymen perceive any object in the 

 garden or at the windows, they throw a shell. Woe to anyone 

 who ventures to light a candle in any of the upper rooms." — 

 {Times.) 



A GENTLEMiN near Enstone, Oxfordshire, had a Mush- 

 room (Agarious oampestris) brought to him this week which 



