336 



JOUEXAL OF HOPiTiCULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDE^■ER. 



[ Jnne 1, 1S72. 



thanks ; though it does not retard the growth of the caterpillar 

 to maturity, it never permits the emergence of the butterfly. 

 The silken cocoons are to be seen often enough on palings, 

 ' attached to the writhing caterpillar. I believe, also, that a 

 Dipterous insect of larger proportions has helped to thin out 

 the caterpillars of P. Brassicie, which, unlike those of some 

 others of the Lepidoptera, seems devoid of all power of de- 

 fending itself from insect foes. Sparrows, also, if tolerated in 

 gardens, will do a good work, picking up caterpillars of all ages, 

 and even the eggs, according to one authority. They have also 

 been seen to take, off palings and walls, the soft chrysalis just 

 transformed. The removal of the lower leaves on the infested 

 plants does something towards diminishing the number of 

 caterpillars, these being their favourite resorts at first. A re- 

 markable device has been suggested, to the following efieet — " If 

 in a patch of ground where Cabbages are to be planted, some 

 Hemp seed be sown all around the edge in the spring, the strong 

 smell which the plant gives off will prevent the butterflies from 

 settling on the plants. The Russian peasantry in those pro- 

 vinces where Hemp is grown, place their Cabbages within 

 those flelds, by which means they are free from caterpillars." 

 There may be something in this, perhaps, but what may be 

 called the maternal instinct is strong in all species, and will 

 overcome various obstacles. It is, no doubt, true that butter- 

 flies are affected by odours. 



All the white butterflies we see are not, however, injatioua 

 to our gardens. That pretty species, the Green-veined White 

 (P. Napi), so similar to the more common P. Kapis, is stated 



by Newman, whose authority in such a matter is unquestion- 

 able, not to attack cultivated plants, with the sole exception of 

 the Watercress, which is a food very congenial to the palate of 

 the caterpillar. The Black-veined White (P. CratiEgi), which, 

 abroad, is stated to do much damage to fruit trees, is too scarce 

 and local a species in England to be deemed at all dangerous, 

 and of late years it has disappeared from various places wher& 

 it used to occur. Entomologists of the olden time reported it 

 as occurring abundantly in Little Chelsea (or Brompton), feed- 

 ing there while a caterpillar on the Hawthorn hedges, and, no 

 doubt, proceeding from these to the trees in the orchards there 

 enclosed, and which still remain, though the insect has dis- 

 appeared. So also in the warmer temperatures of some parts 

 of the Continent of Europe, the fine species known as the Elm 

 Butterfly, or Large Tortoiseshell (Vanessa polychioros), is suffi- 

 ciently abundant to be enumerated amongst the enemies of the- 

 fruit trees. In France the caterpillars are most frequently 

 found on the wild and cultivated Cherry, clearing of their 

 leaves whole rows of the latter in some summers. One cause of 

 its plentifulness is the number of eggs laid by the mother 

 butterfly, averaging four hundred or more. In Britain, the 

 caterpillars are usually seen on the Elm or the Willow, and it 

 would appear as if our climate were less favourable to their 

 growth, for it is reckoned one of our scarce insects, and though 

 the caterpillars are gregarious, the butterflies are frequently 

 seen singly. Herein it differs remarkably ircm its pretty and 

 common relative, the Nettle feeder (V. TJiticje), so often seen- 

 disporting in parties on banks of wild flowers. — J. K. S. C. 



GROUND LEVELLING AND PRACTICAL GARDEN PLOTTING.— No. 17. 



DEAWIKG PLANS. 



To draw and transfer to the ground /(;. 40. Draw the inside 

 circle, divide it into five equal parts, a3 described in fig. 12 

 (see vol. six., page 361). With point /" as cen're draw circles k 

 and i, as shown by the thick and dotted lines ; draw cor- 

 responding circles from 

 points a, h, c, and e. Again 

 from point / draw arcs li 

 and g, also draw corre- 

 sponding arcs from points 

 a, b, c, and e. Where the 

 lines cut each other are the 

 corners of the beds. From 

 centre r draw circle s 



To transfer fig. 10 to the 

 ground. Find the centre of 

 the piece of ground upon 

 which it is intended to 

 trace the design, and insert 

 a peg, as at point r. Liy 

 the diameter line a d, 

 making ;■ the centre. The 

 diameter line a d is 40 feet 

 long. From the peg at 

 centre r, with a line 20 feet 

 long, trace circle a b c de f; 

 divide the circle into five 

 equal parts, to get the 

 centres from which the 

 design is traced. The best 

 and surest way to do so is 

 to form a pentagon inside 

 the circle in the same man- 

 ner as described in fig. 12. 

 It is done thus on the 

 ground : — From the peg at 

 point a, with a string equal 

 in length to the diameter — 

 that is, 40 feet long, trace 

 an arc from the peg at point d to point ( 



k 

 Fig. -10. Scale 24 feet to the inch. 



then from the 

 peg at point d, with the same radius, trace an are from peg a 

 to t. Where the two arcs cut each other at point t insert a 

 peg, then divide the diameter line into five equal parts, as 



1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ; as the line is 40 feet in length, each division will 

 be 8 feet — that is, from the peg at point a measure 8 feet^ 

 and iLsert a peg as at point 1 ; from the peg at point 1 mea- 

 sure 8 feet, and insert a peg as at point 2, &c. From the 



peg at point t— that is, 

 where the two arcs traced, 

 from pegs a and d cut each 

 other — lay a line passing, 

 through the second point 

 or division and cutting the 

 circle at point /; then lay 

 a line from peg / to peg a, 

 which will be one side of 

 the polygon. Apply the 

 line five times to the 

 circle, and insert a peg at 

 each point, as at points 

 a, b, c, f, and/. From the 

 peg at centre r, with a 

 string 39 feet long, trace 

 circle s ; from the peg at 

 point/, with a string 19 feet 



3 inches long, trace circle 

 A', as shown by the thici 

 and dotted line ; reduce the- 

 string 4 feet and trace 

 circle ;', also shown by the 

 thick and dotted line> 

 From the pegs at points 

 a, b, c, and e, with the same 

 lengths of string, trace cor- 

 responding circles to k and 

 i. From the peg at point/, 

 with a string 8 feet long,, 

 trace arc h ; reduce the string. 



4 feet and trace arc g ■ trace- 

 corresponding arcs from the 

 pegs at points a, b, c, e. 



From centre peg r, with a string 2 feet t3 inches long, trace the 

 circle in the centre. Where the lines cut each other are the 

 corners of the beds, marked b ; w being walks. — M. O'Donsell, 

 Gardener to E. Leeming, Esq., Spring Grove, Eichmond. 



NOTES AND 



In the Eoyai. Hoeticultceal Society's Garden at Chis- 



wiOK, which Mr. Barron is laying out in an admirable manner 



for its purpose as an experimental garden, he has formed near 



the Council Eoom a series of oblong beds on grass for the trial 



GLEANINGS 



of BEDDiNS PLANTS. They are of sufficient size to allow of s 

 fair estimate being formed of the comparative merits of the 

 plants when seen in a mass, and being now completed it is 

 much to be desired that the present season should be taken ad- 



I 



