June S, 1871. 3 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



403 



of leaving Dalkeith became known. It could not be otherwise. 

 [Applause.] The testimonial about to be presented is the joict con- 

 tribution of three hundx-ed individuals resident in Scotland, England, 

 and Ireland, and it is but right to say that the value of these con- 

 tributions has been much enhanced by the friendly aud affectionate 

 terms in which, when transmitting them, they have referred to the 

 character and claims of Mr. Thomson. [Applause.] The subscriptions 

 handed to the Treasurers amount to £330 ; and this amount, partly 

 in gold and partly in silver plate — deducting, of course, the necessary 

 expenses and the gifts for the Misses Thomson — it will be my privilege, 

 before sitting down, to present to Mr. Thomson. The inscription on 

 the testimonial bears that it is presented on personal, professional, and 

 public grounds ; and in this combination of claims on the part of our 

 guest consists, undoubtedly, the real significance oi the movement and 

 the real value of the gift. I cannot speak with authority of the stiictly 

 professional claims of Mr. Thomson, nor can that be necessaiy in the 

 presence of so many skilful horticulturists. These will be the readiest 

 to acknowledge that Mr. Thomson stands, and has long stood, at the 

 very head of his profession ; that he has done incomparably more for 

 gardening in this countiy than any other man ; and that, while he 

 has elevated the social and scientific condition of the gardener, he has, 

 at the same time, by his urbanity and helpfulness, by his recognition 

 of practical merit, and his readiness to promote and reward it, won 

 for himself in a remarkable degree the esteem, confidence, and grati- 

 iude of his professional brethren. [Cheers.] An interesting illustra- 

 tion of this occurred a few years ago, when nine of Mr. Thomson's old 

 ■foremen — ^then resident at a great distance from him and from each 

 other — joined in presenting him with a handsome and valuable testi- 

 monial, expressive of the esteem and gratitude which they continued 

 to cherish towards their former chief. That proceeding, we must all 

 ieel, was highly honourable to both parties — to the master, as evincing 

 the genuine kindness of his rule ; and to the foremen, for their grateful 

 xecoUection of his free and improving service. [Applause.] It is 

 gratifying to add that most of the names inscribed on that earlier testi- 

 monial occur again in the list of subscribers to the testimonial of the 

 evening — a circumstance which will no doubt enhance its value in the 

 estimation of Mr. Thomson, showing, as it does, that kindly relations 

 once established in Dalkeith Gardens remain unaffected by change of 

 a:esidence and by lapse of time. [Cheers.] It only remains, in a 

 closing sentence, to refer to those public services of our esteemed guest, 

 of which, no less than of his personal and professional merits, these 

 testimonials must be regarded as the recognition. Tfiere are few de- 

 partments of public usefulness in which, during his sisteen-years resi- 

 dence amongst us, Mr. Thomson has not taken a prominent place. In 

 all movements with a view to social or sanitary improvement, to the 

 spread of scientifi.c education, or to the expression of public sentiment 

 on matters of benevolent, loyal, patriotic, or national interest, Mr. 

 Thomson might always be counted on for warm sympathy and impor- 

 tant practical service. [Applause.] And hence the alaority with which 

 the friends who have been associated with him in public labours have 

 united with those related to him only by personal and professional ties 

 in expressing their high esteem for his character, and their grateful 

 sense of the value of his services. [Applause.] Permit me now, Mr. 

 Thomson, in name of the friends pi'esent and absent who have con- 

 tributed to this testimonial, to ask you to accept of the same, and to 

 receive from me, in their name, the assurance of our cordial esteem, 

 our grateful sense of the services yon have rendered to the community, 

 aud our warm and friendly wishes for your success and happiness in 

 the extensive and important entei-prise in which you are about to 

 engage. [Cheers.] 



The presentation was made amid great cheering. 



Mr. Thomson rose, amid loud cheers, to reply. He said that he 

 had now for a long course of years followed an arduous pursuit — a 

 pursuit requiring great mental and bodily exercise — and he certainly 

 had to-day received an unexpected reward for his labours. He had 

 only had two employers in his lifetime, and he had every reason to 

 believe that he received and retained their confidence. [Applause.] 

 That of itself was sufficient reward for anything he had been able to 

 do. He had received unexampled kindness from gentlemen in various 

 ranks of society ; and to be in contact with many of these and asso- 

 ciate with them, would be a sufficient reward to any man for any extra 

 labour he might take in promoting whatever science he might be con- 

 nected with. [Applause.] That he had been useful in some degree 

 to the inhabitants of Dalkeith he was ready to adoait. He believed that 

 anything he had done in that way had had tbeii- Graces' consent, and 

 that, therefore, any thanks were not so much due to him and to any- 

 thing within himself as to the liberality of those whom it was his 

 honour to serve. [Applause.] As to his connection with horticulture, 

 and especially to the men under him, he believed that they had num- 

 bered between two and three hundred ; and he was happy to say that, 

 outside of his own family, his greatest pleasure had been in his con- 

 tact with his men. [Applause.] Of all that number, as far as he 

 could remember, he had not had occasion to dismiss above three or 

 xour for any misconduct, aud not one of them was ever guilty of a 

 crime that came to his knowledge. Many of them were occupying the 

 ■first positions in the kingdom in the calling they followed. One of 

 them was with the Qaeen at Frogmore, another with the Dnke of 

 Devonshire ; his brother was at Drumlanrig, and Mr. Knight at Floors 

 Castle. He could mention a long list of noblemen to whom he had 

 supplied gardeners ; and he believed that in every case they had gi^eu 



satisfaction. [Applause.] If he had accomplished nothing more in 

 a comparatively long and arduous life than the training and bringing 

 into good social position in the calling they followed of so many ex- 

 cellent men, he would have felt that he had not laboured in vain. 

 [Applause.] No man could occupy the position he had so long filled 

 — for nearly thirty-four years now as master — without doing something 

 towards the promotion of horticulture. He had done what lay in his 

 power to advance that noble art ; for, after all their flights of fancy 

 and fine philosophies, they must return to the earth for their sus- 

 tenance. He held that horticulture was the pioneer of all successful 

 cultivation ; and the only thing which he regretted in the part of it 

 to which he belonged, was the want of a proper definition as to what a 

 gardener was. Every man who handled a spade or a knife was called 

 a gardener ; it would be as well to call every butcher a doctor. 

 [Laughter.] But a man to be a scientific horticulturist required a 

 course of study not very diff'erent from that required by the medical 

 profession. In fact, as surgeons, the gardeners were before the medical 

 profession. [Laughter and applause.] For instance, if they met 

 with a tree with a bad head, they cut it off at once, and put on a good 

 one. [Laughter and cheers.] The doctors had not arrived at that 

 yet, and when they did, there would be a great demand for good ones. 

 [Renewed laughter and cheers.] Mr. Thomson made some further 

 remarks expressive of his gratitude for the kindness which had been 

 extended to him, and his pleasure at seeing so many present from a 

 distance to testify their respect for himself. He resumed his seat 

 amid loud cheers. 



SOME PREDATORY INSECTS OF OUR 

 GARDENS.— No. 10. 

 In again entering upon the subject o{ predatory insetts I feel 

 constrained to state, regretfully and respectfully, that I must 

 decline to bestow any commendations on the numerous pro- 

 prietary compounds which are advertised as being of value for 

 the destruction of the gardener's foes. Some of these, in the 

 form of powders, liguids, &c., may be very good, for anything I 

 know ; but as their composition is, generally speaking, a matter 

 of doubt, and as a eulogy ol any one of these might look as if 

 I had received " baoksheesh" to put in a puft by the way, I. 

 shall let them all pass. Those which have really good qualities 

 may speak for themselves in the words of one of the Homeric 

 heroes as translated by Pope, and say, 



" Praise from a friend and censure from a foe 

 Are lost on hearers who our merits know." 



One other remark in passing to the insects I wish to com- 

 ment upon in this paper. I was reminded recently by a friend's 

 query that there is a misapprehension prevalent amongst some 

 persons, to the effect that grasshoppers are very injurious to 

 gardens, should they be abundant there. In the first place, 

 let it be noted that they are rarely to be found in gardens in 

 any numbers, being more partial to lanes and grassy places. 

 In the second place, when they do occur in the gardener's 

 domain they eat the leaves of trees, but very unfreqaently at- 

 tack flowers, vegetables, or fruits. In fact, the great green 

 grasshopper (A. viridissima), might be rather encouraged as a 

 girdener's friend, for it is now fully believed that this species 

 preys occasionally on smaller insects. No doubt one cause, 

 perhaps the cause, of this supposition is the similarity in form 

 between the grasshoppers and the locust, as ordinarily seen in 

 figures, though almost unknown in actual existence in these 

 islands. Occasionally, too, accounts have appeared, copied 

 from foreign or colonial newspapers, of the ravages committed 

 by what are called grasshoppers, though really they are insects 

 belonging to other orthopterous species ; so that, when taking 

 a country stroll in the summer, the horticulturist may listen to 

 the rather monotonous "zic-zic" or "zap-zap" of the grass- 

 hopper, a sound which some people rather admire, and not 

 recognise in it the voice of an enemy. 



One thing more, however, by way of addendum. Crickets, 

 as even the unscientific perceive, are nearly allied to grass- 

 hoppers. Of the mole cricket I have spoken. The field cricket, 

 common enough in the localities whence it takes its name, 

 confines itself chiefly to them, and cannot be deemed a destruc- 

 tive insect ; but I have strong suspicions that, at least in the 

 vicinity of London, the house cricket in spring and summer, 

 like its companion the cockroach, takes occasional excursions 

 into gardens. Having, some years ago, to pass on several 

 evenings through maiket gardens, or at least along a lane in- 

 tersecting these, I heard with some surprise the loud-toned 

 chirp of the house cricket. Owing to the dusky light my t-yes 

 could not verify the report of my ears, but as it was not io the 

 least likely that the field cricket occurred there, it ma?t have 

 been the domestic species, and it had probably jnurneyed 

 thither fiom some hoiists wbicli flanked one side of the garden 



