THE ECONOMICAL ARRANGEMENT OF FORCING AND PLANT HOUSES. 
calyx," witli very fine delicate webs attached to the stamina and withered calyx, and extending to the 
margin of the spot ; on cutting away the calyx the caterpillar was found, which had been concealed 
under the projecting margin, (as shewn in our figure 5a). Mr. Graham having placed one of the Pears 
in a tumbler glass, covering it with paper, the caterpillar spun up in one of the folds and changed to 
a pupa, from which the moth was hatched on the 7th June. Mr. Curtis added that the injury which 
this caterpillar does to the finest sorts of keeping pears rendered it desu-able to find a remedy, which he 
suggested, was by searching for the ^laggots in the eyes whenever any of the web, which is of the most 
dehcate texture, is discoverable, and picking them out. 
Such was the meagre history of the species pubhshed by Mr. Curtis, who supposed its economy 
to be unknown. No idea was given as to what extent the crop of Pears had been attacked, or, in fact, 
whether any actual injury had taken place; the mention of a "large brown patch," without any 
notion being afforded as to whether it was a bruise or a decaying portion caused by the attack of the 
insect upon the calyx, or actually the appearance produced by the gnawed part of the rind, being all 
that was stated by him. So much, in fact, was the account at variance with the habits of the species 
which I had twelve years ago recorded in the late Mr. Loudon's Gardeners' Magazine (vol. xiv.), that 
I addressed a note to the Gardeners' Clironicle, which had the efiect of calling forth a detailed account 
of the facts from Mr. Graham himself. That Mr. Curtis (Rmicola) had, however, distinctly shown 
the extent to which the caterpillar had preyed on the rind, as Mr. Graham asserts, I must beg to 
deny, Mr. Curtis having merely spoken of a large brown patch roixnd the eye, in the vague manner 
mentioned above. Mr. Graham, however, distinctly adds, that the caterpillar does feed on the rind of 
the Pear surrounding the calyx, into which convenient den he reth-es when his appetite is satisfied. 
He moreover states (in reply to my suggestion that this was merely an accidental adoption 
of winter quarters, which reti-eat, on the arrival of spring, would be quitted by the caterpillar, 
then ready to commence its attacks on the young leaves and buds of the Pear tree), that he had 
found dozens of them in the same caves during the last three years. Mr. Henry Doubleday, however, 
whose knowledge of the habits of our British Lepidoptera perhaps sm-passes that of any hving individual, 
in a subsequent note, published in the Gardeners' ClironicU, quite dissents fi'om Mr. Graham's opinion, 
that the rind of the Pear is the common food of the larva. That it will eat it, he does not doubt ; but 
he believes it to be purely accidental, owing, in fact, to the circumstance of the Pears being kept in a 
room where the temperature is of that height as to induce the caterpUlars, which out of doors would 
be in a torpid state, to continue feeding dm'ing the winter, when, for lack of their proper food, the 
young buds and leaves of the spring, they feed on the rind of the Pear. Such is also my opinion. 
I 
THE ECONOMICAL ARRANGEMENT OF FOECLNG AND PLANT HOUSES, &c. 
]7N these days of rigid economy, when persons of ample means deHght to deal in the cheapest market, 
iV perhaps the following plans and suggestions for the economical arrangement of Plant Houses upon 
a small scale, may not be without interest to some of our amateur patrons ; and even young gardeners 
and nm-serymen may study them possibly with profit to themselves. The plans have been prepared 
not only with strict regard to economy of space — a matter of considerable importance in small gardens 
— but also so as to tm-n the whole of the materials to the greatest advantage, and that at, considermg 
the permanence and durability of the erections, a very moderate cost. In the consti'uction of horticul- 
tural as in all other buildings, there is no economy in " make-shifts ;" the best materials and the best 
workmanship will ultimately be found the most economical, and those who save a few pounds by what 
is technically called " scamping a job," in the first erection, wiU generally find that they have been 
penny wise and pound foolish before the end of the first seven years. A range of houses on this plan 
has lately been erected for a gentleman. The forcing-house has yielded abundance of Roses and other 
forced flowers, with splendid Cucumbers, and at the present time a very fine crop of Melons is coming 
forward. These and the Cucumbers are gi-own in large pots plunged in leaf mould over the tank, and the 
roots are allowed to grow in the plunging materials. Under the Alelons, &c., which are trained within 
afoot of the glass, plants for flower garden pui'poses are propagated, and a few stove plants, as Gloxinias, 
Achimenes, Gardenias, &c., are grown underneath. For the above purposes, or for the cultivation of a 
select collection of stove plants or Orchids, or even for the growth of the Pine apple, perhaps no better 
an-angement could be made, the command of heat, both for the plmiging bed and the atmosphere, 
being of the most efiicient description. 
If the forcing house was devoted to the cultivation of Orchids, for which it is admu-ably adapted, ^ 
wc should bmld the inner walls on each side of the pathway in rock-work, and also place a mass of my, 
^ . ^ ^^"^'^ 
