432 



JOTTENAL OF HOETICTJLTOEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ November 29, 1864. 



the wall with Tines, and have low fruiting plants of other 

 kinds in your front border. 



Tour White Grape is the Chasselas Mnsque. To prevent 

 cracking the soil should be kept rather dry as the Grapes 

 approach to ripeness.] 



MANAGEMENT OF BEDDING PLANTS. 



Notwithstanding the very dry weather we have had this 

 last summer, my flower garden has been one of the gayest in 

 the neighbourhood ; so much so, that it was the constant 

 remark of my friends, " How gay your garden is ! I have 

 not seen any plants look better than yours this summer." 



Now, how did I gain for my garden this celebrity ? 



Eirst, I took great pains to get my plants into a healthy 

 state before they were bedded out, neither overluzuriant 

 nor stunted by hardening off, as one so often sees bedding 

 stock at the beginning of May. 



Secondly, After the first three weeks I gave no water at 

 all. Thus am I more strongly than ever confirmed in the 

 opinion that, in order to make bedding stuff do well and 

 have a gay appearance to the garden throughout the summer, 

 you should be particularly careful to have it in a good, 

 healthy, stocky-growing state before planting out, and after 

 it has taken good hold of the ground to withhold watering. 



In dry weather watering plants in the ground, unless it 

 is done in the most copious and thorough manner, does 

 more harm than good, as it only draws the roots to the 

 surface. — G. M. 



PLANTS ON TRELLISES IN STOVES. 



There are few persons able to afford a stove, or as some 

 would term it, a tropical greenhouse, who would not like to 

 have some creepers or twining plants in it, these being 

 either trained around pillars, or upon trellises. Without 

 mentioning the more rare and expensive kinds which are 

 only sought after by the few, I wish to make some remarks 

 on the more common and useful. Of this class some 

 grow plants that do not flower freely, or which if thej r 

 bloom do not afford a decided contrast between their foliage 

 and their flowers. Some of the Tacsonias grow very freely, 

 and when allowed to run will flower pretty well; but most 

 of them are not all that is desirable in the colour of the 

 flower, a circumstance which is much against them; but 

 diversity so far from being an. objection, should be sought 

 for where there is room. 



Another point worthy of consideration in connection with 

 such plants, is that they should not be overcrowded. We 

 all feel a certain degree of reluctance to cut away in the 

 early part of the season whatever might add materially to 

 the adornment of our houses. Sometimes this feeling is 

 indulged in too far, and where the space is limited many of 

 these strong-growing plants will exceed their proper limits 

 if not attended' to in time, and judiciously managed. 



At whatever season this class of plants flower, I have 

 found it a good prac'ice when the flowering is nearly over 

 for a time, to give them a good pruning-in, always being 

 careful to remove as much of the old wood as possible, as it 

 offers facilities for the lodgment of insects and their eggs 

 in the fissures of the bark. On such occasions examine 

 the plants well wherever they touch the pillar or trellis, 

 for enemies are often found lurking in such places. When 

 giving the plants their yearly cutting-in, and cleaning, I 

 have found it a good plan to paint the pillars or trellises 

 against which they are trained. When this is done yearly 

 one coating of paint will be quite sufficient at a time. This 

 always gives the house a healthy, orderly, and clean appear- 

 ance. I often wonder that these little details are not more 

 regularly attended to in places which are otherwise highly 

 kept, and I venture to affirm that such details are far more 

 carefully attended to in commercial establishments, where 

 we may suppose that everything is done with a view to the 

 greatest economy, and to secure the largest returns. 



Having made these general observations, I may remark 

 that there are two plants in a stove here which have this 

 season been splendid for months. The house is span-roofed, 

 about 24 feet long and 14 feet wide ; at one end is planted 

 in a prepared bed under the flooring, Passiflora racemosa 



coccinea, and at the other end is a Bignonia, which has run 

 over the whole of the roof. It is tied to wires about 1 foot 

 under the glass, and from its appearance it is well named 

 incarnata. The flowers are produced in good-sized clusters, 

 and the plant has been already two months in flower, and 

 is still very full of bloom. — G. Dawson. 



LECTURE ON "ALLANTHI CTXTTEE." 

 This was delivered by Dr. Wallace, on the 10th ult., at 

 the Literary Institution, Colchester. The interest which 

 the subject possesses, and the probability that at no distant 

 day Ailanthi culture may become one of the staple trades of 

 the country, justify us in giving a more extended report of 

 the lecture. 



The Lecturer commenced his remarks by congratulating 

 himself, that in the subject which he had selected for his 

 lecture he had the peculiar privilege of unfolding a new 

 page of natural history, and of introducing to their notice a 

 tree both beautiful and valuable, and an insect recently ac- 

 climatised in Europe, elegant, graceful, and larger than any 

 of our English species, easily reared and domesticated, the 

 instrument of a pleasant pastime to the youth of both sexes, 

 yet capable of contributing to our industry and wealth by a 

 system of cultivation, to which was given the name of 

 Ailanthi culture. This system, as yet in its infancy in 

 Europe (the so-called centre of civilisation and commerce), 

 had been practised for many years in China, Japan, and the 

 Eastern Archipelago ; and as the subject of Ailanthi cul- 

 ture, or the production of silk from the cocoons spun by 

 caterpillars feeding on the leaves of the Ailanthus glandulosa, 

 had up to this time attracted no marked attention in Eng- 

 land, and as he had for many years devoted his spare time 

 to the study of insects, and more particularly of butterflies 

 and moths, he determined when he settled in Colchester, to 

 embrace the first opportunity of investigating this new in- 

 dustry, and great was his astonishment when the oppor- 

 tunity he had so long coveted lay at his feet, for in his own 

 garden he found a fine and beautiful tree, some 50 feet high, 

 as well as a number of others in the town and neighbour- 

 hood. Dr. Wallace then went on to describe the tree, which 

 was first introduced into England in 1751 (the seeds of it 

 being sent to the Soyal Society of London, by a missionary 

 in China), but although its cultivation extended veiy rapidly, 

 it was only used for ornamental purposes. The tree, he said, 

 was of a remarkably hardy nature, quick of growth (as he 

 showed by some beautiful specimens of this year's shoots), 

 throve admirably upon almost any soil and in any atmo- 

 sphere, produced a remarkable foliage both for its size and 

 the peculiarity of the odour which it sent forth, and was 

 more easily propagated than any other plant. H no further 

 use could be assigned to the tree, its culture was well worthy 

 attention for crnamentations.'and purposes such, as that to 

 which other wood was applied, but it was an especial object 

 of interest as possessing another property of untold value — 

 viz., the juices of the tree were converted by the natural 

 chemistry of a caterpillar which fed upon the leaves into a 

 silken or gummy thread, which, unravelled from the cocoon, 

 and twisted, spun, and woven by the hand of man, became 

 a fabric capable of clothing the human race. Having briefly 

 noticed the history of the Bombyx mori, or the Mulberry 

 silkworm, and especially demonstrated its unsuitability to 

 the climate of England, he proceeded to lay before his 

 audience the claims of the Bombyx cynthia, or the Ailan- 

 thus silkworm, a few living cocoons of which were sent to 

 Turin by the Abbe Fantoni, a Piedmontese missionary in 

 the north of China, and from thence found their way to 

 Paris, where in June, 1857, the first living specimen of the 

 butterfly saw its light in Europe. Since that time, it having 

 been discovered that the leaves of the Ailanthus tree were 

 its natural food, the Bombyx cynthia had spread over Europe 

 and its colonies, and made its first appearance alive in Eng- 

 land in 1S61 or 1S62. Dr. Wallace, aided by specimens which 

 he hid at hand, then gave an interesting description of this 

 wonderful insect, commencing with it in its first stage, the 

 egg, and tracing it through its several changes till it spun 

 it3 cocoon, and finally emerged a beautiful insect, some ex- 

 traordinary specimens of which he exhibited. Several in- 

 teresting peculiarities of the insect were related, and par- 



