October 3, 187?. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



271 



came, seaward. The Italian Fig-eater is known to ornitho- 

 logists as the Sylvia nrevia, but the Fig-eater of Sussex is the 

 White-throat, Sylvia cinerea. 



At Mr. Bushby's, East Nursery, 'Worthing, is another very 

 large Fig tree. He told me that it was planted about eighty 

 years since. It is the Brown Turkey variety. It is 15 feet 

 high ; has no main stem, but twenty-three branches issuing 

 directly from the root at their base, each about 20 inches 

 round, and extending 27 feet in length, the entire circum- 

 ference of the branches is nearly 160 feet. It would have been 

 much more, but the branches have to be shortened to keep 

 them within the limits required. It is very vigorous, and bears 

 well annually, but has never ripened a second crop in the year 

 since Mr. Bushby knew it. 



I have no notes worth publishing relative to the standard 

 Fig trees further eastward ; one or more is to be seen in many 

 gardens about Lancing and Sompting, where there is a very 

 small Fig garden, but all are of smaller growth and age. 



I will conclude by mentioning that the original tree planted 

 by Cardinal Pole in Lambeth Palace garden is no longer in 

 existence ; it was planted against a wall on the Westminster 

 side, of the garden. Five descendants from it are planted be- 

 tween the buttresses of the library, formerly the dining-hall. 

 It bears the date, 1675, and was built in Bishop Juxson's time, 

 but it has been considerably altered since. These trees are 

 rambling far from the wall. The thickest stem is 2 feet 1 inch 

 in circumference at about 2 feet from the ground. They are 

 now bearing very well. — G. 



HOT-AIR HEATING. 



Without approaching controversy, may I tender a hint to 

 " Your Reporter ? " If, following the Gurney principle (which 

 is pushed to its greatest extent in my arrangement) , he will 

 provide a sheet of water, heated by conduction to a high va- 

 porising point short of ebullition, and place it below his heated 

 tubes, he will find that the incoming air meeting with a column 

 of vapour in its course will bear it with it against the warmed 

 pipes, and provide itself with a sufficiency of moisture, at the 

 same time cooling the tubes to a point much below what they 

 show at present, and, consequently, the air which escapes to 

 the chimney also. It may be that the evaporating pans of 

 which "Your Reporter" speaks are heated, and are below 

 the tubes ; but if they are not, I think he will not repent if 

 he takes the advice of his friendly'antagonist. — E. H. 



THE VINE INSECT— PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX. 



The fell pest or Vine insect (Phylloxera vastatrix — Peritym- 

 bia vitisana, Westw.), which has proved so pernicious to the 

 Vine on the Continent, especially in the south of France, has 

 mysteriously made its appearance in the south of Scotland, 

 and that, too, in a very severe manner, as. one house of the 

 most vigorous and promising young Vines we ever recollect 

 seeing has entirely succumbed to its ravages. The house 

 affected has only been three years planted, and the borders 

 were judiciously made anew at that time, the result being an 

 astonishing growth the first and second year, with no in- 

 dication of the insect's presence previous to the Vines being 

 started this spring. Then a stunted tardiness in vegetation, 

 betokening an absence of vitality and imperfect root action, 

 was apparent. This under most skilful management the Vines 

 subsequently overcame, producing and finishing a very good 

 crop of Grapes. The growth which previously distinguished 

 them, especially that of the leading shoot, is this season no 

 thicker than a goose's quill. The foliage is also diminutive, 

 and when exposed to the sun it flags. On the roots, which 

 appear to be their principal place of attack, are hosts of 

 the small insects. The mystery is, How they got there ? If 

 placed there with the Vines when first planted, and so prolific 

 as they are said to be, they would certainly have mustered 

 in sufficient force to have manifested themselves the former 

 season. My opinion is they are capable of attaching them- 

 selves to (probably in the chrysalis state), other plants than 

 the Vine, and being transferred with them. — T. 



[In order that our readers may be able to distinguish the 

 pest which is rapidly spreading, we republish the following 

 illustrated description which first appeared in " The Gardener," 

 as an extract from the " Revue Horticole," of an article by 

 M. Planchon : — 



Its best-known form is that in which no trace of wings can be 

 discovered. When the insect is about to lay its eggs (that is, in 



its adult female state), it forms a small ovoid mass, having its 

 inferior surface' flattened, its dorsal surface convex, being sur- 

 rounded by a kind of fillet, which is very narrow when it 

 touches the thoracic part of its body, which, formed by five 

 rather indistinct rings, is hardly separated from its abdominal 

 part of seven rings. 



Six rows of small blunt tubercles form a slight protuberance 

 on the thoracic segments, and are found very faintly marked on 

 the abdominal segments. The head is always concealed by the 

 anterior protuberance of the buckler; the antennas are almost 

 always inactive. The abdomen, often short and contracted, be- 

 comes elongated towards laying-time,' and there can be easily 

 seen one, two, or sometimes three eggs, in a more or less mature 

 state. 



The egg sometimes retains its yellow colour for one, two, or 

 three days after it has been laid ; more often, however, it 

 changes to a dull-grey hue. From five to eight days generally 

 elapse before it is hatched. The duration of this period depends 

 a good deal on the temperature. The quantity cf eggs, and the 

 rapidity with which they are produced, are probably determined 



ifc' <y 



• < .?< 





Phylloxera vastatrix (J. E. Planchon). — Female specimens and their eggs. 

 a, Antenna?; b, horns or suckers; c, egg plainly visible in the body of the 

 insect ; /, winged form of the insect. All magnified. 



by a variety of circumstances — the health of the insect, the 

 quantity of nourishment it is able to obtain, the weather, and 

 perhaps other causes. A female which had produced six eggs 

 at eight o'clock a.m. on the 20th of August, had fifteen on the 

 21st at 4 p.m. — that is, she laid nine in thirty-two hours. Other 

 females lay one, two, or three egg^s in twenty-four hours. The 

 maximum quantity is thirty in hve days. The eggs are gene- 

 rally piled up near the mother without any apparent order, but 

 she sometimes changes her position so as to scatter them all 

 around her. They have a smooth surface, and adhere lightly to 

 each other by means of a slimy matter which attaches to them. 



Hatching takes place through an irregular and often lateral 

 rent in the egg, the ernpty and crumpled membrane being found 

 among eggs in different stages of hatching.] 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 Earlt Winter. — Not only have the Fells near Howgill, 

 in Westmoreland, and the Carnarvonshire mountains, been 

 covered with snow a week since — in some places it was 4 inches 

 deep — but in the neighbourhood of Blandford, in Dorsetshire, 

 we know that the frosts have been sufficiently severe to form 

 ice; At Luton Hoo 5° below freezing has been registered, and 

 even near London Coleuses and some of the more tender flower- 

 garden plants have had their beauty destroyed. 



At the Lyons Horticultural Exhibition, which was 



opened on the 1st of August of this year, there were shown 

 two Robinias, one by the firm of MM. Durousset, and the 

 other by that of M. Morel. They are both said to be evergreen, 

 and if this be true, will prove valuable acquisitions for pur- 

 poses of ornamentation. 



Potatoes in Holland. — The increase of the Potato 



crop in the province of Griiningen (North Holland) has become 

 exceptionally important the last few years, in consequence 

 of the number of Potato flour mills established there, and 

 the increase of the mills influences the more extensive cul- 

 tivation of Potatoes. The opportunities there are more favour- 

 able than elsewhere, owing to the nature of the ground, the 

 Potatoes being planted in old turf-ground which is intersected 

 by small canals, by means of which their transport is con- 

 siderably facilitated. In the villages of Wildervank, Veendam, 

 Muntendam, and Hoogezand there are thirteen mills, which 

 crush daily more than 750 lasts, producing 225,000 kilo- 

 grammes of flour every day, the greater part of which is ex- 

 pected to be sold in the English markets, as very little is used 

 for glucose (syrup) and home consumption. A great activity 

 prevails in the mills at the present time, owing to the extensive 

 disease among the Potatoes ; nevertheless the crop is large. 



The Royal Society of Agriculture and Botany of Ghent 



