July 14, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



27 



planting some Wistaria sinensis, with which even yon, towns- 

 man as yon are, must be well acquainted. I cannot imagine 

 a more elegant, ornamental design than these festoons of Ivy, 

 graoefully interwoven with the Wistaria's lovely pendulous 

 racemes of flowers lightly tied-in with the Ivy. 



Rusticus. — But are you sure of its being hardy? I have 

 never seen it except when growing on a wall. 



Sylvia. — I am quite sure of its hardiness, for I have known 

 it growing as a standard in most exposed situations with per- 

 fect immunity. Let me remind you that the success of this 

 ornament depends greatly upon its being placed in an appro- 

 priate position. 



Civis.— But is not the flower of the Wistaria very short- 

 lived ? I only remember to have seen it for a very brief time 

 in spring. 



Hoetatoe. — Sylvia's idea is an excellent one, and your objec- 

 tion is plausible ; but the Wistaria does flower to a certain 

 extent a second time in the autumn, and by a judicious thin- 

 ing-out of the flowers in the spring, and especially by their 

 removal when faded, this second flowering season might be 

 considerably increased and lengthened ; but the foliage is in 

 itself very elegant, and its peculiar green would well comport 

 the Ivy. 



Rustictjs. — Permit me to make a suggestion. As the Ivy, 

 even with careful attention, must take some time to run up the 

 poles and cover the chains, might not some of the elegant 

 Clematises, of which there is now such a variety, be used ? 



Hoetatok. — Undoubtedly, and any of the rapid-growing 

 annual climbers might also be employed. One root of Ivy only 

 need be planted, so that the other side of the pole might be 

 used as suggested. 



Richaed. — Will you permit me to say, gentlemen, how we 

 keep the Ivy so well regulated, and the leaves so fresh and 

 green ? 



Cms. — The very inquiry I was about to make. 



Richaed. — Well, then, I simply take a pair of garden shears 

 in March and cut off nearly every leaf, and as that is the sea- 

 son in which it begins to grow, it only remains bare a very 

 short time, and is quickly again covered with new green leaves, 

 and is not permitted to grow too heavy or cumbrous-looking 

 for the chains. 



Sylvia. — But there is a slight shower of rain ; I, at least, 

 must take shelter a moment in this evergreen arbour. 



Civis. — What music there is in the sound of those rain drops 

 falling so gently on these Laurels, suggesting thoughts of in- 

 vigorating freshness ! But see ! what is that thrush about on 

 ihat gravel walk, thumping his beak so violently upon a stone '? 



Sylvia. — As the rain has a little abated, let us approach a 

 little nearer and see. Nay, friend Civis, you will not alarm 

 him, birds are so accustomed to be well treated in our garden, 

 that they are not the same timid, shrinking creatures that they 

 are in many. 



Rusticus. — See, he is breaking the shell of a snail by re- 

 peated thumps on the stone, and is preparing a rich feast for 

 his huDgry nestlings. 



Hoetatoe. — And thus relieving us of one of the worst of the 

 many enemies of which gardeners have to complain. I have 

 had to fight many a hard battle with Richard, until I appeased 

 his wrath by purchasing some netting to protect the Straw- 

 berries ; but even now I believe he would gladly extirpate their 

 nests did he not know that such a robbery would involve his 

 dismissal. 



Civis. — And is the netting expensive ? 



Rusticus. — That is a question which I can answer, having 

 just purchased an ample supply at one penny the square yard, 

 cheap enough you will acknowledge, and readily obtained. 



Crvis. — How beautiful that ray of sun light, now that the 

 shower is over, slants between the branches of that elegant 

 shrub, with its pendulous branches sweeping the lawn with its 

 kirtle of green like a fairy queen on the day of her coronation ! 

 What is its name ? 



Hoetatoe. — That is the Cedrus Deodara, a native of Nepaul, 

 introduced into England in 1822. 



Rusticus. — And which I believe not many years hence is 

 destined to effect a wonderful change in the English landscape, 

 for I am greatly mistaken if it will not supersede the Larch 

 and Fir, being much better suited to England from its freedom 

 from disease and perfect hardihood, except in very draughty 

 situations. 



Sylvia. — And what an elegant contrast it forms to its brother 

 of Lebanon ; the one light, pendulous, and drooping, the other 

 dark, solemn, and majestic. 



Rusticus. — The rays of the setting sun remind me that it is 

 time that Civis and I must say farewell, and thank you for this 

 delicious stroll. — Hoetatok. 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE PEAR TREE. 



No. 4. 



Zeuzeka 2ESCULI, Wood Leopakd Moth. It has been called 

 by entomologists Phal^na noctua ^sculi, P. noctua pyeina, 



BoHBYX .ESCULUS, B. PYBINUS, PHAL.ENA COSSUS, P. BOMBYX 



a;scuLi, and Cossus .esculi. 

 We have just received the following communication :— 

 " I am sorry to say we are much infested here (Ilford, Essex) 

 with a tree-boring grub. I have just cut out six of these grubs 

 from as many Pear trees in Mr. Thompson's young orchard 

 plantation of pyramids. They also attack the Apple and 

 Quince trees as well as the Pear. In the course of last year 



1 cut out as many as twelve or fourteen from the three sorts of 

 trees mentioned. They usually attack the main stem of the 

 tree, and are, as you are doubtless aware, very destructive, fre- 

 quently eating away almost the entire substance of the wood, 

 so that a high wind breaks it completely off, perhaps not more 

 than 9 inches or 1 foot from the ground, and sometimes 3 or 

 4 feet from the bottom. 



" Mr. Thompson wrote me in 1868 saying that you had pro- 

 mised to pay a visit here to view the young orchard. I trust 

 such visit has not been abandoned, as I think you would be 

 pleased with the trees, of which we have now about 2050, all 

 pyramids, and of which this is the fifth summer. The Apples 

 have hitherto borne but little, but the Pears have done so for 

 several years, and we have this year a very fair crop of Louise 

 Bonne of Jersey and Beurre d'Amanlis Pears." 



Tue grub enclosed was the caterpillar of the Wood Leopard 

 moth, Zeuzera aesculi. 



From the end of June to the commencement of August, 

 according to the temperature of the season, this moth may be 

 found clinging to trees, especially the Lime. Its specific name, 

 from jEsculus, a Horse-chettnut, is singularly inapplicable, as 

 it frequents that tree less than any other. It is white, covered 

 with bluish-black spots, as represented in our drawing; the 

 antennas short, tapering to a fine point. The female is fully 

 twice as large as the male, often measuring nearly 3 inches 

 across the expanded fore-wings. She is also easily distinguished 

 from the male by having her antennae only woolly at their base, 

 but at the upper part simple ; whereas the antennae of the 

 male are feathered at the base on each side. The thorax is 

 white and woolly, marked by six blue-black spots. She is 

 furnished with a long ovipositor, or egg-depositor, admirably 

 adapted for inserting her eggs in the cracks of the bark of trees, 

 on the wood of which the caterpillar feeds. To the Pear, 

 Apple, Hazel, Walnut, Elm, Lime, and other trees, even the 

 Holly, it is most destructive, burrowing holes into them, 

 destroying their sap vessels, and forming reservoirs for wet to 

 lodge in and promote decay. 



The caterpillar is white, tinged with yellow, and spotted with 

 black ; its head being horny, with black patches upon it, and 

 on the segment of the body next to it. Its length is about 



2 inches when full grown. It is hatched in August, and attains 

 its full size in the June following. It then enters the pupa 

 state, becoming a reddish-brown chrysalis, in a cocoon formed 

 of the dust of the wood which, as a caterpillar, it gnawed down 

 in working its passage. From this cocoon, as already stated, 

 the moth comes forth, either at the end of June or some time 

 between that and the beginning of August. 



The chrysalis is of a reddish-brown colour, and has a cylin- 

 drical longish body, the abdominal segments with transverse 

 rows of small points directed backwards, by which it is enabled 

 to push itself forward to the outlet when ready to assume its 

 imago or moth form. The head of the chrysalis is armed also 

 with a short hard point, by which it opens a way to escape from 

 the cocoon. Oar fig. 3, for which, as well as for the other cuts, 

 we are indebted to Professor Westwood's drawing in the " Gar- 

 deners' Magazine of Botany," represents a chrysalis case from 

 which the moth has escaped by a slit down the front part of 

 the upper side, and by the head-piece becoming detached. 



In making its attacks, the caterpillar generally perforates a 

 hole in the side of a branch, and eats its way upwards in a 

 perpendicular direction, following the course of the pith ; but 

 in a case we have seen exhibited by F. J. Graham, Esq., of 

 Cranford, the insect, instead of taking at once a perpendicular 

 course, ate its way all round a branch, keeping just under the 



