Seasonal Notes. July 



SEASONAL NOTES. JULY. 



The aphis of the pineapple cones on the spruce-fir will now 

 be ready to escape, and should be looked for. The perfected 

 insects will creep out from the opened valves, which they 

 entered as larvae six weeks ago. In the meantime their 

 presence has stimulated the growth of these beautiful false 

 cones. On escaping the insects will glue their feet firmly to 

 the adjacent needles, and will then split open their skins on 

 the upper or back surface, and emerge with wings and fly 

 away. Their skins will be left like so many pale ghosts 

 attached to the leaves. 



July is a good month in which to watch, in many plants, the 

 formation of seed vessels and seeds, and to note the rapidity 

 with which the process proceeds. All housekeepers are 

 familiar with this uncompromising rapidity in the case of 

 the pea, and know how almost impossible it is to induce the 

 gardener to keep pace with nature and gather his successive 

 crops early enough. A few days makes all the difference 

 between marrowfats which are delicious and those not worth 

 eating. 



The dropping of flowers before the seeds have set is an 

 occurrence well worthy of attention. It occurs under various 

 influences in a variety of plants. In the potato — on which 

 it may now be most advantageously observed — it is caused 

 by the competition of the underground tubers. In the lupin 

 and foxglove it is often brought about by poverty of soil, 

 want of rain, and by a tendency to produce flowers too 

 abundantly. 



Galls of all kinds should now be watched in their processes 

 of growth. Those on ground ivy, enormous in proportion to 

 the size of the plant and now looking like green marbles, will 

 soon take on beautiful tints of colour. It is indeed a remark- 

 able feature in many gall-formations that they originate a 

 tendency to coloration which is not displayed by any other 



