162 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ Augnst 23, 1877. 



as a ' mossie plant . . . with stalks the bigness of a thread, 

 consisting of a thin skin, whitish, as if covered with a hoar 

 frost, having within that a long tough black hair, like a horse- 

 hair . . . very often a yard long, hanging down on both 

 sides from the branches of the trees they adhere to, being 

 curled, or twining and winding within another, and making a 

 show of an old man's beard (whence the name), or as if they 

 were made to climb, which I never saw they did.' Further on 

 Tie says, ' It is used to pack up anything which otherwise may 

 ■easily be broken, as cotton is sometimes made use of with ns; ' 

 and, again, ' the inward black hafrs of this Moss's stalk are 

 made use of by the birds called watchipickets for making their 

 curiously-contrived nests hanging on the twigs of trees.' To 

 this description I have little to add, except that the Spanish 

 Moss is a very, widely distributed plant in the hotter parts of 

 America, from Carolina to South Brazil, and on the Andes, 

 hanging in bunches sometimes many yards long from the 

 branches of trees. It has frequently been sent to England as 

 packing for Orchids, but rarely alive, and it is not till quite 

 lately that it has been successfully cultivated at Kew, from 

 plants imported as packing from Jamaica. It now thrives in a 

 damp Btove, growing on pieces of Tree Fern and other sub- 

 stances, and flowering in spring." — (Ibid., t. 6309.) 



Peak. — The Peach Pear. — " We adopt the above name, 

 given to us by Dr. Hogg, for this useful but not very hand- 

 some summer Pear, with some hesitation, since other pomo- 

 logical authorities inform us it is not that variety. It waB re- 

 ceived under the name of Beurre Giffard, but that is certainly 

 an error, the Beurre Giffard being a more highly-coloured 

 pyriform fruit. The Pear ripens about the middle of August. 

 It varies somewhat in shape, some of the fruit examined being 

 slightly narrowed towards the base ; the largest measured 

 2J inches across near the upper end, and nearly 3 inches in 

 length, both eye and stalk being set in shallow depressions, 

 the eye closed, and the stalk of moderate thickness, and about 

 1A inch long. The colour of the skin is pale green, changing 

 to yellow green, and freckled over with light brown spots, 

 rnssety around the stalk. The fleBh is melting and juicy, with 

 a brisk and sweet pear flavour. Altogether the variety is a 

 summer Pear of considerable merit."— (Florist and Pomologist, 

 3 s., x., 157.) 



PARAFFIN versus ONION MAGGOTS. 

 Last year my Onions were very much affected with the 

 maggot, in consequence of which I lost the crop. This season 

 I have beds in three different places, one lot of which began 

 to show symptoms of the maggot. I thought I would try the 

 new receipt, and I made rather a strong mixture of two pints of 

 paraffin to twelve gallons of water, which I poured on one rod 

 of land in the last week of May. In a few days I had expected 

 to see Onions, maggots, and everything else killed, but to my 

 surprise the maggots were as lively as ever. In a fortnight 

 from the first dose I gave them another of the same strength, 

 but all to no purpose. As a proof I drew some Onions, took 

 out the maggots, and immersed them in paraffin for two or 

 three minutes, took them out laid them down, when they went 

 wriggling off very little if any the worse for it. So I believe 

 the maggot will stand a larger quantity than the crop. — A. Fab, 

 York. 



CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS. 



No. 19. 



Though my recollections do not extend far back towards 

 the opening of the century, I can perceive a notable difference 

 in the attitude of gardeners towards insects. Insect pests 

 used to be to many such a constant worry that the very name 

 of insect was abominable to them. You might exhibit to 

 them some beautiful moth in the Lepidopterous order we are 

 now considering, and even if assured that the specieB injured 

 neither flowers, frnit, nor vegetables, they would yet hardly 

 give it a good word. But though our gardeners destroy by 

 expeditious methods far more insects than did their pre- 

 decessors, with an increase of entomological knowledge there 

 has come about a different feeling, and the majority will admit 

 that the insect tribes by their appearances and motions give a 

 charm to the country scene which one could ill spare, while 

 even in the garden there are some which are positively bene- 

 ficial and a host of others comparatively harmless. 



The latter may be asserted of the lively moths called the 

 " Foresters " and the " Burnets." Why " Foresters " I scarcely 

 know, since they do not particularly haunt forests, though the 



caterpillars feed often in sheltered spots ; but the " Foresters " 

 themselves love to disport in the sunshine of July. Kensing- 

 ton Gardens had, no doubt, a very different aspect to what it 

 now has when Bennie saw the common Forester (Prccris 

 Statices), flying on the bank of the Serpentine. Even the 

 Sorrel on which the caterpillars formerly fed seems to have 

 now disappeared from the locality. Occasionally, however, this 

 moth has been seen of recent years hovering over railway 

 banks to the north of London, and in some counties it is rather 

 common. We have two other British species of some rarity. 

 All the three as haunters of flowers come now and then into 

 gardens, displaying their wings of greenish gold which only 

 expand about an inch. The caterpillars are peculiar, being 

 short, somewhat woodlouse-shaped, and downy or bristly. 

 Also in those gardens near Clover fields do the conspicuous 

 but small moths of the family of the Zygosnida? show them- 

 selves during the summer, but the caterpillars chiefly feed 

 upon the species of Trefoil and the Vetch called Heppocrepis 

 comosa. TheBe caterpillars are not so stout as are those of 

 the Procridas, and mostly yellow Btudded with black, the silken 

 cocoons which they spin in June being very observable on the 

 etems of plants, or on palings, in places where they occur. 

 Excepting the Irish Burnet (Z. Minos), which has all the wings 

 dull red, the others present a very similar aspect, the blackish 

 green of the wings being adorned with red spots varying in 

 number and also in their arrangement. The commonest of 

 our six species is Z. filipendulse, which shows itself by hundreds 

 on the chalk slopes, as in Kent and Sussex. 



A small family, the Nolid as, contains a little moth frequently 

 seen sitting on the leaves of trees in gardens, the fore wings 

 being raised and set out triangularly, and when startled the 

 insect hops rather than flies to another resting place not far 

 off. This rejoices in th9 name of "The Short-cloak," or in 

 Latin form, N. cucullatella. The oaterpillar, whioh is seldom 

 noticed, is dingy brown and hairy ; but although it occasion- 

 ally feeds on Plum trees I have not found it included in any 

 list of our insect enemies. There are three more British 

 species the caterpillars of which seem to give the preference 

 to Oak as their food plant. In the family of the Lithosidas, 

 which follows, there are eighteen British species probably, the 

 bulk of them having a strong family likeness. Many of them 

 furnish illustrations of what is called mimicry, for when the 

 moths are at rest the wings are wrapped round the body, and 

 from their form and usual colouring the eye at first is apt to 

 take one of them for a curled-up leaf or a bit of a twig. On 

 tapping a hedge with a stick during their season we may often 

 notice them dropping to the ground and lying there as if dead, 

 through which device they possibly delude birds that would 

 otherwise seize them. The familiar appellation, Footmen, 

 given to these did, as I suppose, originate in their habit of so 

 falling at the foot of the by-passer. Some of the caterpillars 

 have yet to be discovered, but it may be assumed that the un- 

 known as well as the known are not obstructive to horticul- 

 tural success, for it seems to be the habit of most to feed on 

 tree lichens, or sometimes on the leaves of the trees on which 

 the lichens are growing. A good representative of the family 

 is L. complanula, with smoke-coloured fore wings and pale 

 yellow hind wings, common near London in many places 

 during the summer. Another species presents to view what 

 the old naturalists would have called a " freak of Nature." In 

 this, the Bed-necked Footman (L. rubricollie) , all the wings 

 are black, but the collar is red, thus contrasting with its 

 brethren, whioh generally exhibit hues of brown, yellow, or 

 grey, sometimes with black markings. The " Footmen " 

 caterpillars are now and then blown off their food plants in 

 high winds during early summer, and they have a dingy ap- 

 pearance, being dotted over with hairs, as if they were trying 

 to cultivate a hairy coating like their relations the " Tigers," 

 but could not quite succeed in so doing. 



The moths last referred to afford an example of what is not 

 uncommon in entomology, the transference of the name which 

 has been given to certain prominent species in a family to the 

 whole of that family. It may, indeed, be argued by some 

 hereafter that the name "Tiger" befits the group from the 

 ravenous disposition of the caterpillar, but it doubtless arose 

 from the tiger-like markings of four of the moths. The Cin- 

 nabar (Euchelia Jacobaea) receives its name from the Bagwort, 

 on which it feeds, seldom flying more than a few paces from 

 the common or chalk-pit where the caterpillars have fed np, 

 and where in August they may be noticed busily stripping that 

 plant, offering, one would think, by their black and yellow 

 v markings a good bait to birds. Mr. Newman prononnoea the 



