JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
188 
[ March 10, 1881. 
some readers, as I remember reading many years ago, in one of 
the numbers of the Cottage Gardener , an article from the pen of 
the late Mr. Donald Beaton, complaining of the fact that gar¬ 
deners were in the habit of throwing away the offsets of their 
Tuberoses, under the impression that they could only be grown 
under the sunny skies of Italy. I fancy it was before we found 
that American Tuberoses even surpass the Italian. 
List of Multiple-flowering Hyacinths. — L’Ornement de la 
Nature, four central spikes, three of them large ; Garrick, one 
very large central spike, and one good offset; Argus, two large 
central spikes, and one good offset; Frederick the Great, three 
large central spikes, and one small side spike ; Grande Vedette, 
one very large and two small central spikes, also two small side 
spikes ; Lord Wellington, one grand central spike, and one 
smaller central spike ; Victoria Alexandrina, one large and five 
small, all central spikes.—C. M. Major. 
THE GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR. 
I wish to know something definite about the Gooseberry cater¬ 
pillar. I am always being told that it is reared from the egg of a 
moth, but I find by putting tan round Gooseberry bushes that the 
caterpillars are kept at bay, so that the young or eggs must be in 
the ground below the bush. But supposing there are caterpillars 
on the bushes, will they breed themselves ? I will not assert that 
the first lot is not produced from the butterfly, but I have had 
proof that afterwards they produce themselves. Tan has no effect 
on wall trees, so the caterpillars must be in the wall. An ex¬ 
planation of this will much oblige.— Comber. 
[“ Comber’s” letter was submitted to an entomologist, and the 
following is his reply :— 
“ The principal Gooseberry caterpillar is that of the moth named 
Abraxas grossulariata, the economy of which may be thus briefly 
described. The eggs, which produce the only annual brood of 
caterpillars, are deposited by the parent moths during June or 
July, the time varying with the season, but they are usually on 
the wing for several weeks. Occasionally the eggs are discovered 
in patches. The moth in the usual way, however, only places one 
egg on a leaf, hence not much can be done towards checking its 
increase by the removal of eggs. Emerging in August, or earlier, 
the caterpillars feed for some time, but grow slowly in some 
seasons. On the approach of autumn they prepare for a winter 
sleep. Some rest on the bushes almost unprotected ; some draw 
together a withered leaf with a few threads, ensconced in which 
they descend to the ground ; and some lay up in odd corners, such 
as nooks on palings, empty flower pots, and so on ; hence there is 
no doubt that tan placed round the bushes might do something to 
prevent the return of wanderers in the spring, and also kill any 
that may be upon the earth. With this insect, as with others, it 
now and then happens that what we suppose is due to some pre¬ 
caution on our part arises from a natural cause, which has stopped 
the development of an insect enemy. As a rule these caterpillars 
thrive better in a dry cold winter than in a moist one ; some die, 
and some are eaten. The remainder reappear about the end of 
April or May, when many persons suppose that they have just 
hatched, not connecting them with the caterpillars that were seen 
upon the bushes in the autumn. When full fed the caterpillar 
turns to a chrysalis upon the food plant, forming a very slight 
cocoon, within which the yellow and black chrysalis is very con¬ 
spicuous, and should be removed wherever seen. It is not in the 
power of these caterpillars to produce either eggs or young cater¬ 
pillars, therefore anything alive that may be detected in the 
interior of one of them is the larva of a parasite, usually that of 
some tiny fly. Though commonly associated with the Gooseberry, 
the caterpillar of A. grossulariata feeds also upon the Currant, 
preferring the black variety. The caterpillar of a lesser species 
of moth, Halia Wavaria, occurs on the Gooseberry. This is at 
once distinguishable by the black warts which stud the pale 
green body. Every gardener has seen another species doing mis¬ 
chief—the pseudo-caterpillar of the Sawfly, Nematus Bibesii, which 
infests Gooseberries, feeding in companies with tails raised in the 
air, and upon which some interesting observations appear in the 
volume for 1880, page 431.”] 
MARECHAL NIEL ROSE ON ITS OWN ROOTS. 
I wish to say a few words in support of Mr. Bardney’s remarks 
(page 146) regarding Mar6chal Niel Roses on their own roots. Last 
year we purchased Erom a nurseryman two Marechals in pots 
which had been worked the same year on the Manetti or Briar— 
I cannot positively say which—for planting in a warm greenhouse. 
\\ hen they came to band I turned them out of their pots to see 
in what condition the plants were, and found they had made a 
number of roots, but were all then apparently dead, at least all 
the young fibrous roots. The plants had most likely been grown 
in a rather high temperature, probably plunged in bottom heat 
to force a certain amount of growth, and afterwards placed in a 
much lower temperature, and in consequence they would be 
severely checked. After seeing the state the roots were in I 
deemed it advisable to defer planting that season and to grow 
them in pots until the following year. I therefore waited until 
they started, then reduced the soil a little from the roots, and 
repotted them in the same size pots. One of the plants grew 
as well as could be expected, the other kept alive and that was all. 
As before stated, I intended planting them out this year, which I 
did about a month since. Last week 1 noticed the large plant 
drooping its leaves, while the small one that had scarcely made 
any growth the previous year was doing well. How to account 
for it I did not know, so I determined to lift and carefully 
examine both, when to my surprise the small plant was rooting 
well and the large plant that had grown so freely the previous 
year had not a live root. The stock proved to be dead, also the 
stock of the other, but having been worked lower it had emitted 
roots from the union to support itself. I know several plants of 
the Marechal doing well on their own roots, and have grown them 
successfully so, but not otherwise.—J. Richardson, Calverton 
Ilall , Notts. _ _ 
On page 147 I referred to the Marechal Niel Rose under the 
charge of Mr. Hanagan, Hooton Hall, and wish to correct the 
statement in relation to the number of blooms cut from his tree 
last year. I wrote entirely from memory, and find from a letter 
now before me that three thousand blooms were cut instead of 
four hundred, as stated. An account of the number of blooms 
produced by the tree was not kept previous to 1880, but in that 
year it was estimated that fully one thousand more expanded 
than in 1879. The tree in question was planted in August, 1874, 
and was then about twelve months old, though very small. It 
had not been pushed forward in its early stages, as it was thought 
it would not be required for planting that season. However, two 
large plants on the Briar died, and the small one upon its own 
roots was then planted out. It continued growing until late in 
the season, and the following spring a strong shoot was noticed 
coming from the bottom ; this was allowed to grow a few feet in 
length, when the whole of the previous-made wood was cut away. 
The shoot grew rapidly and strongly until it reached the top of 
the greenhouse wall, 10 feet in height, which is the length of the 
clean stem alluded to. The point was then taken out, and the 
plant allowed to branch to cover the roof. A few good blooms 
were cut from the plant in 1876 ; the number yearly increased, 
and Mr. Hanagan says seven thousand blooms is under the total 
number cut from this fine tree. There is, he informs me, every 
prospect of it producing three thousand again this year. Two 
shoots are now observed starting from the clean stem half way up ; 
and Mr. Hanagan thinks, after blooming is over and these shoots 
are a few feet in length, of cutting the whole of the old wood 
away, and allowing these shoots again to occupy the roof. He 
contends this adds fresh life and vigour to the plants, as he has 
done the same with other plants of this fine Rose under his charge 
from time to time, and always with success. This I consider is a 
wise course to pursue. What says “Oxonian?” The strain of 
producing thousands of blooms annually must in time exhaust the 
vigour and energies of any Marechal Niel, or any other variety of 
Rose. By cutting it back growth will be vigorous and the pro¬ 
duction of flowers smaller for a year or two, thus allowing the 
tree to recruit itself to again produce in due time thousands of 
blooms. With judicious care in this respect, which Mr. Hanagan 
knows well how to exercise, the tree in question may be kept in 
good health for many years. 
If young plants of Marechal Niel, say twelve months old, were 
allowed to carry all the blooms they would produce, it must con¬ 
siderably arrest their vigour and impede growth the following 
year ; therefore the majority of the blooms should be picked off and 
the strength of the plant devoted to the production of wood until 
thoroughly established. The vigorous habit of young plants on 
their own roots and their freedom to bloom is, I fear, too frequently 
the cause of insignificant growth the following year. Then the 
Marechal is condemned as unsatisfactory, and will not do on its 
own roots, while the fault is entirely due to the cultivator, who 
is desirous of having all the blooms the plant will produce, and in 
consequence exhausts its energies and cripples the plant in its 
early stages. It is a well-known fact in growing specimen plants, 
say of Heaths, that if allowed to bloom from their earliest stages 
a much longer time would be required to produce a specimen than 
if the flowers were picked off or never allowed to form. What 
cripples young Vines or Peach trees sooner than heavy cropping 
