November 24, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



413 



instead of with dry earth, and the result was all that I had 

 anticipated. The crops were finer than I ever had them before, 

 and no maggots, wireworms, nor sings attacked them. I have 

 employed night soil treated with charcoal the summer of this 

 and of last year with perfect success, but with this difference, 

 that the crops of the last summer, in spite of the dry season, 

 were far more abundant than those of the preceding year. — 

 Ckohpton. 



THE STRAWBERRY ACTINIA. 



The "Natural History of Redcar" is an interesting little 

 book, and certainly shows that that place abounds in every sort 

 of marine life. It is a droll thing that our commonest Anemone 

 {the Strawberry) is not to be found there. Mr. Ferguson men- 

 tions an attempt to acclimatise it, made by placing a couple of 

 hundred Fragarias about among the rocks, but it did not seem 

 to answer, for they all disappeared in a short time. I have 

 noticed that this variety thrives best in rather fresher water 

 than other kinds like, but that theory is at once knocked on 

 the head when we look at a map and find Redcar close to the 

 mouth of a river. — Kenneth M'Kean. 



[The mouth of the river is two miles away from the Soars on 

 which the Actinia? are found. — Eds.] 



PORTRAIT OF MR. RIVERS. 

 We have received the following testimony from a foreign 

 admirer of Mr. Rivers : — " My gardening pursuits in fruit and 

 orohard-house culture have always been guided by Mr. Rivers's 

 instructions in his handbooks and periodical writings ; so I 

 have to thank him alone for success and the manifold pleasures 

 derived from such gardening for many years. Perhaps these 

 lew lines from abroad will show that Mr. Rivers's great merits 

 about popular fruit culture principally are appreciated not in 

 his own country only." 



The following additional subscriptions have been received : — 



£ s. a. 

 Bass, A., Esq., Moat Bank, Barton-on-Trent ..110 



Bromfield, Rev. R. 0., Sprouston, Kelso 1 1 



Burnell, Mr. E., Chappel, near Halstead 10 



Moody, Mr. H., Bury, Lancashire 10 6 



Saltmarsh & Son, Messrs., Chelmsford 1 1 



Tweedale, Mr. W., Bury, Lancashire 10 6 



Wesselhaeft, Mr. John, Hamburg 2 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The first meeting of this Society for the present season wag held at 

 Burlington House on the 7th inst., the cliair being occupied by Mr. 

 H. W. Bates in the absence of the President. A very extensive series 

 of donations to the Society's library from many American, continental, 

 and English Societies of Natural History, and private donors, was 

 announced, and thanks ordered to be given for them. Amongst these 

 works were especially to be noticed a new general work upon the dif- 

 ferent orders of insects, beautifully illustrated by Mr. Packard, a rising 

 American naturalist ; a life of the late Thaddeus W. Harris, an Ame- 

 rican entomologist of great merit ; and a memoir by Mr. Home on the 

 habits of a number of Indian Hymenopterous insects, illustrated with 

 figures of their nests and transformations, with notes by Mr. F. Smith. 

 A new part of the Society's Transactions was announced as ready for 

 ■distribution. 



Mr. MacLachlan exhibited a series of coloured drawings, repre- 

 senting the caterpillars of Sphinx Galli and livorniea in all their 

 states, executed by Mr. Buckler. Mr. F. Bond exhibited specimens 

 of Nonagria brevilinea ; also a male Caradrina cubicularis, taken in 

 company with a female Senta Ulvse ; also the small fly Chlorops lineata, 

 found in the autumn in vast swarms on the ceilings of chambers at 

 Cambridge, in which situation it is often elsewhere noticed, although 

 no observation has hitherto been made as to the cause of its appear- 

 ance there. Mr. Edward Saunders exhibited a gigantic Longicorn 

 Beetle, Xixuthrus Heros, from the Feejee islands. Mr. F, Smith ex- 

 hibited specimens of the rare Meloe rugosus, found by him in some 

 numbers at Prettlewell, near Southend, in the autumn, at the roots of 

 grass. The males fight furiously even when at large, and two females 

 which he had confined buried themselves in the earth of a dower pot, 

 probably in order to deposit their eggs. 



Mr. E. H. Vaughan exhibited various new or rare British Moths, 

 including three new Phycidaa — Trachonitis Pryerella, Homososoma 

 Senecionis, and H. saxicola. Mr. A. Miiller exhibited some reniform 

 gall spangles on the under side of Oak leaves, caused by Cynips renum, 

 and some Pea-like galls in the same situation on Oak leaves, formed 

 by Cynips agama. 



The Secretary exhibited drawings and read notes on various insects 

 — namely, Anobium paniceum, both larvce and beetles, found feeding 



on cayenne pepper — this insect had been confounded with Lasioderma 

 testaceum, which had been found eating Capsicum — notes by Mr. 

 Shoolbred on the silk cocoons of Bombyx Pernyi ; notes and drawings 

 by Mr. Holdsworth, of Shanghai, on various Lepidoptera and their 

 transformations observed in China ; and a note by the Rev. Mr. Worne 

 on the black slimy larvee of Blennocampa Cerasi. The following 

 memoirs were also read : — On Butterflies from Basuto Land, by Mr. 

 R. Trimen ; conclusion of a memoir on the Longicorn Coleoptera of 

 the Amazon Valley by Mr. Bates ; on new Australian Curculionids, by 

 Mr. Pascoe ; and Notes on the Eurytominaj, by Mr. F. Walker. 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE PEAR TREE. 



No. 6. 

 Anthonouus pomoetjm. 

 This little weevil has also been named by entomologists 

 Curculio pomorum and Balaninus pomorum. At this season of 

 the year, and especially during frosty weather, the rough bark of 

 Apple and Pear tree stems should be scraped off, for the purpose 

 of destroying this insect. It shelters itself beneath the scurfy 

 bark during the winter, awaiting the return of spring to renew 

 its attacks upon the blossom-buds. " This insect " says Mr. Curtis, 

 " commits great devastation in Apple and Pear orchards, by de- 

 stroying the stamens, pistil, and receptacle of the flower. As 

 soon as the blossom-buds swell the female beetle begins to de- 

 posit her eggs. In calm weather she selects a good bud, and 

 makes a hole in it with her rostrum (long beak) ; she fixes her- 

 self at the hole, lays one egg, and goes on till she has deposited 

 a considerable number of eggs in separate buds. The bud con- 

 tinues to swell, and the petals (flower leaves) nearly expand, 

 when suddenly the growth ceases, and the petals wither and 

 assume a shrivelled appearance. If one of these flower buds 

 be examined when nearly expanded, a small white grub, with a 

 black head, will be found in the centre, which begins to assume 

 a yellowish colour; a few days later, the grub will be found 

 either wholly or partially changed to a beetle — and should there 

 be a small hole on the side of the receptacle, the beetle will have 

 escaped ; the transformation from the egg to the perfect state not 

 having occupied more than a month. When this beetle or 

 weevil leaves the receptacle, it feeds during the summer on 

 the leaves of the trees, and is seldom to be seen. In the autumn 

 the weevils leave the trees, and search for convenient hiding- 

 places under stones about the trees or under the rough bark, in 

 which they pass the winter. Consequently, as they commence 

 their operations early in the spring, care should be taken to 

 remove all stones, dead leaves, and other litter, from under the 

 trees, as well as to scrape off the rough dead bark from them in 

 the winter season." This beetle, or weevil, is scarcely one line 

 and a half long ; its wing-cases are dark brown, with whitish- 

 grey stripes, its antennse (horns or feeders) spring from the 

 middle of its beak, and all these parts, as well as its eyes and the 

 under part of the body, are black. 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Wheeling out manures, composts, earth, mud, &c, and 

 trenching, draining, making new walks and repairing old ones, 

 are amongst the principal operations at the present season in 

 this department. Always make choice of suitable weather for 

 them, with a view to cleanliness and good order. Take care to 

 pot or lay in a sheltered situation Cape Broccoli and Grange's 

 White Broccoli. Celery mast be carefully earthed-up in suit- 

 able weather, and a supply of Endive must be blanched. Jeru- 

 salem Artichokes keep well and in good condition for use in the 

 soil, and can be taken up as required ; to keep the frost from 

 injuring them, the stalks may be out off within 5 or 6 inches of 

 the sunace of the soil and laid between the rows, or a quantity 

 of leaves, mulching, or vegetable refuse may be wheeled amongst 

 them to cover the surface of the ground. The best plan with 

 Parsnips is to let them remain in the ground and trench them 

 out fresh as required for use. At this season of the year, it is 

 advisable to have wheeled on and spread over them a good 

 coating of manure or mulching material, so that if frost set in 

 it may always be easy to get at them. Clear away dead leaves 

 from all growing crops, and fill up blanks as they occur. 



PKUIT GARDEN. 



Continue to prepare for fruit-tree planting by draining, 

 trenching, and pulverising the soil ; and after planting, stake, 

 tie, and mulch them securely in good time. Clear away all 

 dead leaves lion the wall trees, and remove the green fruit 

 from the Figs. The established strong-growiDg fruit trees that 



