98 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



its eggs I cannot tell you, for if I see one, or any fly like one, I 

 promptly kill it. I also destroy every chrysalis or larva I come 

 across. When you take up your bulbs you cannot always tell 

 which are infested with the larvae, but if they are allowed to get 

 somewhat dry the infested bulbs are much softer when pinched. 

 If it is a common sort I destroy bulb and insect by first cutting 

 it in half and then burning it, but if it is a valuable bulb I cut 

 open one side of the bulb, pick out the insect, wash the bulb out 

 with a small syringe, using a solution of fir-tree oil or Condy's fluid, 

 and then shake in some dry slaked lime. Even if the insect has 

 eaten out the centre of the bulb, new bulblets will often form 

 between the layers of the bulb and the top of the crown of the 

 root. I have killed as many as fourteen or fifteen larvae in a con- 

 signment of a thousand bulbs, and have found two chrysalids in a 

 bag with only two or three bulbs in, though the bulbs themselves 

 were sound. This shows how careful we should be to burn the 

 packing which plants, &c, come in. The Narcissus mite I believe 

 to be not a cause but the result of a disease. 



As to diseases, rust is the greatest enemy to fear, and what 

 brings rust is a disputed point. I can only speak of my own 

 experience, and I believe that rust is sometimes caused by a 

 superfluous amount of moisture in the bulb, which may come in 

 different ways. In a cold, damp soil where the bulb has laid up 

 a great amount of uncarbonised sap, and has evaporated none 

 while at rest, if prevented from starting into growth, or checked 

 in its growth, or taken up after it has begun to make new roots, 

 it often develops this fungus, and how to cure it I cannot say. 

 I have peeled the diseased layers of the bulb off, and scraped the 

 fungus out of the root-crown ; then put the bulb into dry slaked 

 lime, let it get dry for a day, and then replanted it. In many 

 cases this has been quite successful, e.g., with maximus and with 

 Leedsi amabilis, but, alas ! it was of no use in the case of 

 cernuus, double cemuus, and Colleen Bawn, and I mourn their 

 loss to the present day. 



But I must pass on to my last point. Ought there not to be 

 some law or regulation as to the collection of wild species ? Those 

 who know many beautiful spots in the British Isles which are 

 thrown open to the public, realise year by year what a destruc- 

 tive animal the tourist is. Ferns, Orchids, and bulbs are dug up 

 and carried off, from the desire of acquisition, annexation, or 



