February 12, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
137 
their doings the more unpleasant, and each caterpillar will consume or 
damage many leaves. It is, in this instance, better to prevent the 
emergence of the caterpillars, which are not easy to get rid of, by 
killing the insect in the chrysalis and moth state, or by clearing off 
the patches of eggs. The brownish freckled caterpillar of the 
mottled umber (Hybernia difoliaria) shows itself some seasons on the 
Hazels, seldom numerously, but they also are ravenous feeders for 
their size. Where a Filbert plantation is not far from Hop grounds 
the yellow and green hairy caterpillar of the “ hop-dog (Orgyia 
pudibunda) may turn up with other occasional or rarer feeders upon 
this species ; and it is now and then discovered that the caterpillar 
of the leopard moth has bored into the Hazel wood, leading to its 
gradual decay. 
Evelyn, two hundred years ago, told the readers of one of his 
books that the Walnut was so esteemed in Germany that iu some 
places a young farmer could not marry till he had planted a specified 
number of these trees. This, doubtless, was an anecdote told with a 
purpose. The good old naturalist was anxious to extend the culture of 
the Walnut in his native land. We should not probably find such 
interest taken in the tree now were we to visit Germany, and one 
reason for the value set upon it then was that a variety of uses were 
Fig .25.—Echeveria retusa. 
found for several parts of it, besides the wood and the fruit. There 
was a time, moreover, when the Walnut was planted more freely in 
England than at present, with the view to profit. One advantage the 
grower can reckon upon, that the tree has few insect enemies ; from 
some cause the leaves of the Walnut are distasteful to most cater¬ 
pillars, though we have noticed as occurring upon it the moderately 
common looper caterpillars of the peppered moth, also that very 
general feeder, the striped and shaggy caterpillar of the buff-tip 
moth, will vary its diet by a visit to this tree, and if it should be 
found upon it there will probably be a colony of a hundred or two. 
Occasionally a Walnut trunk furnishes an abode to some caterpillars 
of the wood leopard, already referred to Both in this island and on 
the Continent the Chestnut suffers very little from insect attacks, the 
only species that is worth noting is a small beetle, Pyrale phlugione, 
the grub of which pursues the habit of B. nucum, and wherever it is 
observed is discovered to be preying upon the interior of Chestnuts, 
which it enters when they are at an early stage, but, unlike the Nut 
species, it kills the Chestnut fruit ere ripe, and brings it to the ground. 
—Entomologist. 
ECHEVERIA RETUSA. 
Though scarcely so well known as it deserves, this plant is very 
useful for winter flowering and can be employed in a conservatory or 
greenhouse with great advantage at a season when the chief difficulty is 
to obtain a diversity of flowers. In the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
Gardens at Chiswick there is now a pretty display of these Echeverias, 
which flower abundantly and continuously from Christmas onwards into the 
early spring months. The flowers, too, are of an extremely bright and 
pleasing colour, quite a refreshing tint amongst the prevailing softer 
shades of most forced plants. In its general habit the E. retusa agrees 
with the other members of the genus, but the radical leaves are neither 
so regular in form nor arranged in so perfectly rosette-like a manner as 
in secunda and some others. When young they are acute, but become 
ultimately blunt and irregularly scolloped or crenate, and bordered with 
brownish purple. 
The flower stem, which is also stained with purple, but of a brighter 
tint, grows from 1 foot to 18 inches high, the blossoms being produced at 
its summit in a dense, drooping, branched panicle, which becomes gradu¬ 
ally more erect as the flowers develope themselves. These are externally 
of a rich crimson-scarlet colour, covered with a delicate bloom, and 
internally of an orange-yellow ; they continue expanded some days before 
fading, and a3 strong plants will produce several flowering stems a suc¬ 
cession of blossoms is maintained for two or three months in winter, a 
season when flowers of much inferior interest to the E. retusa are gene¬ 
rally highly valued. 
Its cultivation is of the simplest character ; sandy loam enriched with 
a little leaf mould, or even sandy loam by itself, if not of too sterile a 
nature, will be found sufficient for its requirements. It is hardly neces¬ 
sary to state that the pots should be well drained to one-third of their 
depth at least, for this is an indispensable condition to success in the 
treatment of succulents. 
It may be more important to observe that the flowers of the Echeveria 
retusa being produced in winter/it will require more water at that period 
than those species which flower in summer and autumn. During its 
period of growth, which succeeds that of blossoming, it may also be kept 
in a moderately moist condition ; but after this is completed, which will 
occur about-the end of July, water should be withheld, and to facilitate 
the ripening process the plant may then be stationed out of doors in a 
sunny corner for a month or six weeks at least, but must be protected 
from rain, though slight showers will do no harm. This exposition will 
be but a poor imitation of the dry season of the tropics, but will at any 
rate be more conducive to the production of flowers than a permanent 
occupation of the window. If the plant be then removed about the 
middle of September to the sitting-room, and cautiously watered, it will 
hardly fail, after the lapse of a few weeks, to throw up its flower stems. 
Increase is easily effected either by the offsets, which may be severed 
and treated as cuttings, or by the stem leaves, which are readily detached, 
and will root freely if, after being dried for a day or two, they are pressed 
into a pot of sandy soil. The leaves of some of the species will throw 
out fibres from the back if simply laid on the soil, as in the case of the 
Gloxinia and other plants ; and it is to be presumed that those of retusa 
will root in a similar manner. Flowering plants are, however, produced 
more speedily from offsets, and as these are formed in some abundance, 
the leaves need only be employed when a considerable number of young 
plants is required. In either case they are best taken in spring or early 
summer, so that the whole of the warmest months in the year may be 
available for the rooting process. 
As an element in the formation of the geometrical beds that are still 
popular in certain quarters, or for other outdoor uses, the E. retusa is 
less desirable than some other species, such as secunda and secunda 
glauca, metallica, and its hybrids, but as a winter bloomer either in the 
greenhouse or the window garden it deserves to be kept in view. 
With one or two exceptions all Echeverias are natives of Mexico, from 
which country the E. retusa was introduced about thirty years since by 
the collector Hartweg, who transmitted seeds to the London Horticultural 
Society. The cauline leaves of all the species deserve a passing notice 
for the curious manner in which they are attached to the stem, the leaf 
adhering by its surface near the base, but so slightly as to be easily de¬ 
tached without any apparent injury to the cuticle if care be taken.—W. T. 
MS' WOKK/o^WEEK. vl 
CJ -Niri 
HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 
Soft swelling buds attract the bullfinches, tomtits, and other small 
birds, and they are now in full activity upon the buds of Gooseberries, 
Pears, Apples and Cherries. Prompt measures must therefore be taken to 
ward off attacks which, if persisted in, may lead to the destruction of the 
fruit crop. The best remedy is to dissolve 2 ozs. of softsoap in a gallon of 
warm water, and add equal parts of clay and soot to impart to it the 
consistency of thin paint. Syringe the branches with this, and imme¬ 
diately afterward give them a thorough dusting with lime so as to quite 
cover every branch, and the buds are thus rendered unpalatable and 
tolerably safe from harm. Early Pears and May Duke Cherries are 
especial favourites of the bullfinches. Once let them attack the buds, and 
they persistently return till all of them are destroyed. If lime-dusting 
is objectionable, as it sometimes is upon trees in conspicuous positions, 
recourse must be had to shooting the pests. We saw three bullfinches 
upon our best May Duke tree last week. We shot two, and the other flew 
off, but it soon returned, and was shot. Since then the tree has appa¬ 
rently been untouched, presumably because other bullfinches have not 
