January 26, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



67 



" Cabbage," may not this oircnmstance have giTen rise to the 

 accusation of "cabbaging," when cloth entrnsted to them was 

 appropriated to their own use? It is recorded that Cabbage 

 was first introduced into the North of Scotland by the soldiers 

 of Cromwell. Scotland is more peculiarly the " land of Kale." 

 Old Scotch Bongs point to the fact. The poet says : — 



" There's canld Kale in Aberdeen, 

 An' castock's in Stra' bogie." 



These castooks are the Cabbage stems, having the fibrous 

 parte peeled off, and the remainder softened by boiling. Sauer 

 kraut, that excellent preparation of the Germans, is merely 

 fermented Cabbage. — {American Gardener's Monthly.) 



[The tradition can be traced far back towards the time in 

 which Sir A. Ashley lived. There is a globular reticulated 

 figure on his monument in the church of Wimborne St. Giles, 

 which the tradition says was intended to represent a Cabbage, 

 and it certainly is more like the globular heart of a Savoy than 

 a " cannon ball," for no artist would represent this even for 

 effect with a netted surface. A correspondent who wrote about 

 the monument in Notes and Queries says: — "Evelyn, in his 

 "Acetaria," calls Sir Anthony 'Sir Arth. Ashley, of Wiburg 

 St. Giles.' He says : — ' Tis scarce an hundred years since 

 we_ first had Cabbages out of Holland ; Sir Arth. Ashley, of 

 Wibnrg St. Giles, in Dorchester, being, as I am told, the first 

 who planted them in England.' ' Acetaria ' was published in 

 1699; so that, according to Evelyn, Cabbeges were first brought 

 to this country about 1599, between which date and 1627 (when 

 Sir A. Ashley died) they had been introduced by him into 

 England."— Eds.] 



CUTTINGS OF EVERGREENS FOR BEDS IN 

 WINTER. 



I woNDEK if any of your readers have adopted a plan of 

 making bare beds cheerful in the winter by filling them with 

 evergreen cuttings ? The effect in comparatively small beds is 

 admirable, and I am sure anyone who tries this plan would be 

 astonished to find how long they keep fresh and bright in the 

 ■winter. I would strongly recommend a trial where evergreens 

 are available. Auoubas, Liurustinus, Hollies, Ivies, common 

 and Portugal Laurels, variegated Holly, Carnation cuttings, 

 and innumeraljle other plants which will suggest themselves 

 to the horticulturist, will be found most effective for such winter 

 decoration. The snow on my beds has now entirely thawed, 

 and I was greatly astonished to find how the cuttings had with- 

 stood the hard frost to which they had been subjected ; in fact, 

 they look as fresh now (January 17th) as though they had just 

 been inserted. 



I first saw the plan adopted upon an extensive scale in a 

 friend's garden, and his gardener informed me that the cuttings 

 are placed in the beds immediately after the bedding plants 

 have been removed and the bulbs planted, an-d that they re- 

 snain quite fresh until the spring bulbs appear. — Hobtatoe. 



TREATMENT OF CAMELLIAS. 



Bbpeekino to the latter part of the communication by " Bush," 

 (see vol. six., page 469), respecting Camellias, I wonder at any 

 one turning Camellias into hot pits when making their young 

 growth. I have just had brought under my notice the case of a 

 batch of young Camellias which were put in the Orchid house 

 for the last two years when they ceased flowering, and the 

 consequence is that one-half of them have no flowers now, and 

 they are but a trifle larger as plants than they were two years 

 since. I do not wonder at this, as let a plant remain in a tem- 

 perate greenhouse or conservatory, when It is ready it will grow 

 — that is, of course, everything else being suitable. And in addi- 

 tion to objecting to turning Camellias into heat I object to the 

 use of peat. The best Camellias I ever saw were those for 

 which no peat was used. 



With regard to turning Camellias out of doors, 1 believe in 

 most cases it is done as a matter of convenience, for in the case 

 of large plants in tubs, &c., there is seldom a house suitable 

 for their reception with the exception of the conservatory, and 

 where the family remains at home in the summer they are 

 placed out of doors on the plea of not being gay. I turn the 

 large plants from the conservatory out of doors, because my 

 vineries are not large enough to hold them. This is done 

 simply as a matter of convenience, knowing that they would 

 be better under cover. I u»n fully endorse the statement of 

 ''-EtjsH " as to the buds being more liable to fall from plants 

 which have been out of doors, especially it not housed before 



the heavy drenching rains. This is a subject on which too 

 much cannot be said. — Stephen Castle, Bent Hill Gardens, 

 Prestwich. 



ECONOMY OF FUEL. 



I LiQHT my fire, putting on a little coal so as to make a nice 

 fire, having all the dampers out. When the water is hot, I put 

 on fuel which I have previously prepared, and which consists 

 of the dust and chips of the coals used in the household. I take 

 the dust mixed with cinders and damped a little. I fill my stove 

 up to the top, close the slide that goes over the ash-pan hole all 

 but an inch, also pushing in another damper, which goes in at 

 the elbow of the flue-pipe, allowing about an inch for the smoke, 

 but, of course, this requires attention to keep the flue-pipe 

 free from soot. I also clear out the clinkers. I always make 

 it a rule the last thing at night — say, at 10 o'clock, to stir up the 

 fire and clear out the clinkers. With this management the fire 

 lasts eight hours, burning regularly, and leaving nothing but 

 clinkers in the fireplace ia the morning, whilst the tempera- 

 ture of the house in the morning is 40°. Should it be a severe 

 frost, I rise about 7 a.m., go down to the stove, clean it out, 

 stir up the fire, and add a little wood and a little small coal. 

 My management of the stove is on the eight-hour system, 

 and I consider my heating costs only my own trouble, for the 

 ashes used to be taken away. Now that I have the boiler I 

 have them sifted, and I no longer see wasted, as with my neigh- 

 bourj, lumps of nice coal not burnt out which by a little ma- 

 nagement can be used. — A. B. 



[A small house like yours requires, no doubt, personal at- 

 tendance to heat it economically with a boiler. In many such 

 cases a pipe from a kitchen boiler would be sufficient. We are 

 glad you have succeeded so well. We have no doubt the water- 

 barrel so frequently running over the roots of the Vine causes 

 the berries to crack. Why not move the barrel, or take a large- 

 enough pipe from it into a drain, or away from the border? — Eds,] 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The first meeting of the new year was held at Burlington Honee on 

 the 2nd inst., the President, Mr. A. R. Wallace, being in the chair. 

 Amongst tlie donations to the Society's library received since the last 

 meeting were the continuation of Sepp's beautiful worlr on the trans- 

 formations of Lepidopterous insects by M. Snellen van VoUenhoven, 

 the twelfth volume of Mr. Stainton's work on British Tineina, and the 

 " Entomologists' Annual " for 1870, edited by the same author. 



Mr. Butler exhibited a series of Lepidopterous insects recently 

 received from Fantoe, in tropical "Western Africa, hy Mr. Swansy, 

 including apparently new species of Godaria, Eurynome, Mylothris, 

 and Belenois, species of which two last-named genera of " Whites " 

 appeared to Mr. Butler to mimic each other. Mr. Bates, however, 

 considered the apparent mimicry to he simply the result of the close 

 affinity of the species. A beautiful new Moth of large size, allied to 

 the Saturnia lucina of Drnry, was ajso contained in the collection, 

 which Mr. Butler proposed to name Brahmcea Swanzyi. Mr. Boyd 

 exhibited a variety of Colias Edusa in which the black spot of the fore 

 wings was obliterated. 



Professor Westwood described a Geometrideous larva, of which he 

 could find no published description, which he had observed boring a 

 cylindrical hole into Rose buds in the summer. He also noticed that , 

 Sepp had illustrated the parasitism of a two-winged fly of the genua 

 Anthrax upon a Moth belonging to the genns Agrotis (A. poi-phyrea). 

 Hitherto the genus had been supposed to he parasitic only upon bees. 



A paper containing descriptions of five new species of Diurnal Le- 

 pidoptera by Mr. Hewitson was read. 



A specimen of Plusia interrogationig, taken by Mr. Jenner, was 

 exhibited by Mr. VerraU. 



ANOMALOUS PLANTS. 

 Nearly thirty years have passed since I was walking, during 

 the cool of the evening, in the Botanic Garden of Calcutta, 

 with its genial curator, Dr. Wallich. We had rested ilttder 

 that tree — a grovs of itself — the Banian, and talked of " Giant 

 Plants ;" we had gazed on the Amherstia, admired its pale 

 green foliage, pendulous clusters of pink flowers, and long, 

 slender, weeping branches waving before the gentle breeze, 

 and we agreed that it is the worthiest representative of " Grace- 

 ful Plants." It was our humour then to note suoh representa- 

 tives, and we visited the Plantain and Cotton shrubs as worthy 

 members of the " Useful Plants," and the Upas, of fabled 

 power, yet worthy by its vir':i!enee to represent " Poisonous 

 Plants." At length we returned to the house, and as we passed 

 the trelliage arched over the steps by which the Ganges is 

 reached, I made some observation on the beauty of the flowers 



