86 WOOD AND GARDEN 



garden plant. It does well in any waste spaces of poor 

 soil, where, by having plants of all ages, there will be 

 some to flower every year. The Mullein moth is sure 

 to find them out, and it behoves the careful gardener 

 to look for and destroy the caterpillars, or he may 

 some day find, instead of his stately Mulleins, tall 

 stems only clothed with unsightly grey rags. The 

 caterpillars are easily caught when quite small or 

 when rather large ; but midway in their growth, when 

 three-quarters of an inch long, they are wary, and at 

 the approach of the avenging gardener they will give 

 a sudden wriggling jump, and roll down into the lower 

 depths of the large foliage, where they are difficult to 

 find. But by going round the plants twice a day for 

 about a week they can all be discovered. 



The white variety of the French Willow (Epilobium 

 angtistifolium) is a pretty plant in the edges of the 

 copse, good both in sun and shade, and flourishing in 

 any poor soil. In better ground it grows too rank, 

 running quickly at the root and invading all its neigh- 

 bours, so that it should be planted with great caution ; 

 but when grown on poor ground it flowers at from two 

 feet to four feet high, and its whole aspect is improved 

 by the proportional amount of flower becoming much 

 larger. 



Towards the end of June the bracken that covers 

 the greater part of the ground of the copse is in full 

 beauty. No other manner of undergrowth gives to 

 woodland in so great a degree the true forest-like 



