Noyembet 30, 1871. ] 



JOTJBNAL OF HORTXCOLTDEE AND COXfAGE GARDE bJEE. 



419 



honey not only from flowers, but from bee hives. The faot, 

 long qnestioned by some, ia undoubtedly well authentieated, 

 that the Death's Head Moth, drawn to the hive as we may sap- 

 pose by its sense of smell, does attempt to gain admission. If 

 bees had the ability, they might inscribe upon their portals the 

 motto, " All hope abandon, Death's Head Moths who enter 

 here," for should one sucoeed in penetrating to the interior of 

 the hive, it ia dispatched by the stings of the revengeful Hyme- 

 nopteron and embalmed, since it ia too bulky to be removed. 

 An instance was noted only laat year where one was discovered 

 in a hive. A correspondent of a scientiSo journal writes as 

 follows: — " I waa preparing to drive some bees located in a 

 common straw hive, and on raising it from the floor-board just 

 by the entrance, I found a very fine specimen of the Death's 

 Head ; the insect was quite fresh, and looked as though it had 

 been killed in the most careful manner possible." Why this 

 moth should thus visit bee hives, when many other species 

 whose passion for sweets ia as strong or stronger never ap- 

 proach hives at all, ia not eaay of explanation. Some aasert 

 that it does this, because it can intimidate the bees by means 

 of the singular and plaintive cry which it has the power of 

 uttering. 



If you should happen to pass during the month of June some 

 freshly-t.^rred paling, it is very probable you will find that it is 

 studded over with specimens of the moth known as the com- 

 mon Swift (Hepialua Liipulinus), for it has a decided propen- 

 sity for thus immolating itself. The flight of the species, 

 as of its brethren, is wild and peculiar. Stainton observes that 

 the caterpillar feeds on the roots of herbaceous plants generally ; 

 and Newman, in hia recent work on moths, mentions the Dead 

 Kettles (BiUota, Limiam) as its favourite pabulum; but it 

 is also a feeder upon the roots of the Potato. I had myself 

 often noted the occurrence of the moth on palings near Potato 

 fields at Battersea, and wondered as to the reason of this, feeling 

 assured that it could be accidental merely. The moths deposit 

 eggs daring the summer, and the larvjB, hatching shortly after, 

 feed on until April, and might thus do a good deal of mischief 

 were the species more abundant ; at present, however, it is 

 scarcely common enough to excite alarm. The larvte, being 

 subterranean, could not very well ba sought out, but the moths 

 might be easily destroyed by putting into efiect against them 

 some device suggested by their habit already noticed, of darting 

 against a tarred paling, which is odorous and sticky. 



It will be worth the while of anyone who should turn up a 

 caterpillar of the S^iftwhen he is digging Potatoes, to ex- 

 amine it, and notice how exactly its form is suited for the life 

 it leads. The body is strong yet pliant, nearly colourless ; the 

 head provided with powerful muscles and glabrous ; the seg- 

 ments which immediately follow the head are protected by horny 

 plates. The legs are sixteen in number, as in the rest of the 

 diviaion of the Lepidoptera to which it belongs. — J. E. S. C. 



ing. If you have summer bulbs, forget to remove them to the 

 cellar until the ground is frozen up. 



When you find farmers can raise Potatoes by plaating a 

 bushel in a hill, or excellent Corn without hoeing or cultivat- 

 ing, you will probably produce nice flowers from this sort of 

 cultivation. I have been an eye-witness to several cases of this 

 sort of floriculture. — Lobetia E. Knapp {Rural New-Yorlcer). 



HOW NOT TO HAVE NICE FLOWERS. 



To begin with, beg seeds of all your friends who cultivate 

 flowers ; never mind what kind they are ; it is not worth the 

 troubls to remember ; then when you put them in the ground, 

 of course you cannot arrange them with any regard to height, 

 colour, season of blooming, Sea., but must sow them aa yoa 

 have gathered, promiscuously. Liy out your beds in the grass 

 and dig them all of 2 inches deep, but certainly not over a foot. 

 If this is done some wet day th« sod will cut easier, and the soil 

 will be in nice large lumps. Dig a hole about 6 inches deep 

 and 2 in diameter among these lumps, pour in half an ounce 

 of your most delicate flower seeds, and if they don't grow blame 

 the one you got them of. If you happen to send to a seedsman 

 for a few kinds, hia reputation will be much enhanced by it. 



Don't pay any more attention to them until you see other 

 people's flowers ia bloom, then pull out some of the largest 

 weeds and wonder why you don't have any luck raising .Ijwers. 

 Don't dig around them for feir of disturbing the roots ; don't 

 thin out the plants, for you want to get the worth ot your 

 money ; don't prune ofi any of the branches, for there won't 

 be room for so many flowers. Don't pick any of the blossoms, 

 but let them all go to seed, then sit down and say that a seeds"'' 

 man who sends seeds that won't grow ought to be compelled to 

 Bend enough more to make it up. 



Go right back to the friends you begged seeds of last year, 

 and call th^m mean and stingy if they don't give you as many 

 more. Of course, they can pay a good price for rare varieties, 

 and then distribute them gratuitously with the greatest pleasure 

 imaginable; in faot, you are rather favouring them^ by acoept- 



GORHAMBURY.— No. 2. 



Leaving the flower garden, and directing our steps westward, 

 we come to the conservatory. This used to have a dark roof, 

 but it is now chiefly covered with glass. The tall upright 

 windows and lofty parapet remain as before, the latter hiding 

 the glasa roof from view in the grounds. The plants usually 

 met with in September were therein at the time of my visit, 

 but the one which particularly struck my attention — although 

 possibly aa old as the building itself — is so far from being 

 common that I am not aware of having seen it before. It is 

 the Ciasaa antarotioa, an evergreen climber, covering the back 

 wall with a verdure equal to that of the Ivy, and like it, too, 

 clinging to the walls by the same means. I do not know 

 whether this Cissus flowers or not, but its lovely green foliage, 

 a great deal smaller than that of the Ivy, seems to be well 

 adapted for covering a dark wall, where Ficus repena will hardly 

 endure the cold. Will any reader state his experience of the 

 Cissus, which at Gorhambury covered a wall at least 60 feet 

 long by 16 feet high ? Near to this are several fine Cedars of 

 Lebanon, some with fine clear stems, others branched to the 

 ground. Amongst the former were several particularly fine- 

 looking ones, said to be just sixty-two years old, and presenting 

 a fine, clean, uniform-shaped bole. One, on measurement, 

 was found to be upwards of 11 feet in circumference at 5 feet 

 from the ground, where the hole was as smooth as a ship's 

 mast and tall, with a leader still going upwards. 



Following the easy curves of a walk in a south-westerly direc- 

 tion, and passing through a great extent of shrubbery, inter- 

 spersed with some fine Oaks, we again emerge into the park 

 for a short distance between the dressed grounds and the 

 kitchen garden. Here a fine Oak attracts attention by its 

 healthy appearance, length, and straightnesa of bole, which, 

 at 5 f set from the ground, ia upwards of 16 feet in circumference. 

 Although wo are now in the open park, and within leas than 

 200 yards of the garden wall, we cannot see a vestige of it. A 

 belt of trees and shrubbery surrounds it on all sides, serving 

 to afford the shelter so much needed to all within. Externally 

 this belt ot trees and shrubbery presents the form of an irre- 

 gular oval, with its longest diameter north and south, the 

 kitchen garden proper, or that part of it enclosed within the 

 walls, being almost a square, and with a central wall dividing 

 it east and west into two compartments. From this latter a 

 very large slip stretches away some distance to the south, and 

 contains some cold pits as well as heated ones, and the usual 

 appendages of what is called the framing ground. There are 

 Melons and Cacumbers in abundance at the time I was there, 

 as well as good stocks of fine healthy Chinese Primula, Cine- 

 raria, and herbaceous Calceolaria, for the whole of which Mr. 

 Bogne, the gardener, is remarkable for having the best strains 

 in the best form. We retrace our steps, and on entering the 

 kitchen garden are attracted by a large breadth of ornamental 

 Beet. This Beet Mr. Bogue has had for upwards of twenty 

 years, having commenced to improve the old kind some years 

 before that time, and he thinks it was as good both in colour 

 of root and leaf twenty years ago as it is now ; he therefore, 

 with some justice, claims to be one of the originators of this 

 ornament to the flower garden, though for many years it was 

 simply called an improved Beet, or some such name, in the 

 catalogue of Messrs. Osborn, of Fulham. Grown in a mass, 

 as it waa at Gorhambury, nothing could look more uniform, 

 each individual plant being a counterpart of its fellow. Mr. 

 Bogue, I may observe, also grows it in the flower garden, and 

 in many other places, in all of which it looks well. 



The forcing houses are against the north wall, with the sheds 

 and other appurtenances behind them. An excellent crop ot 

 Black Hamburgh Grapes occupied one of these houses, the 

 bunches of which, though not very large, had good- sized berries 

 upon them, and by their firmness ot touch, as well as by the 

 healthy appearance of their foliage, gave token of keeping the 

 usual time. Each bunch was firm and compact, well coloured, 

 and just the size to show well on the dessert dish. Amongst 

 them was a seedling black Grape, somewhat of the Lady Downe's 

 shape, but of exquisite flavour, having a decidedly Muscat taste, 



