JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
272 
[ April 7, 1881. 
posed resemblance to a much-disliked four-winged insect, a careful 
glance at it will at once reveal its nature. This insect does harm, 
not to the plants in the garden, but to the garden posts and palings, 
in which the larvae feed by dozens, betraying themselves by the 
few grains of bitten wood that are perceivable in the exterior. 
Probably they seldom attack wood that is quite sound, though 
they hasten its ruin by their proceedings. One of them removed 
from its burrow appears as a whitish flattened grub and looks 
feeble, though the small head is furnished with muscular jaws 
which can pierce wooden fibre readily. The little beetle called 
Gracilia pygmaea is hardly a fourth of the size of the Wasp beetle, 
a slim insect, reddish brown, and also as larva a consumer of 
wood ; but its taste varies, for the larvre have been discovered 
boring their way into dry pieces of leather. One more species 
in this group must be mentioned, the strange insect called the 
Timberman (Astinomus cedilis), which is furnished with antennm 
several times the length of the body, and hence readily broken. It 
is a Scotch species, seeking out Pines and Firs.—J. R. S. C. 
TEA ROSES. 
My remarks on this subject have led to many letters, and in 
your last number to the expression of somewhat contradictory 
opinions. My kind friend “A. C.” welcomes the few remarks 
I made, while “A Committeeman” censures me for alluding to 
anything that took place at a Committee meeting. 
I am in hopes that if this latter considers the subject I was 
writing about he will not consider that I violated any confidence. 
We were discussing the schedule, and the subject of the number 
of Tea Roses required of nurserymen was much canvassed. I have 
always found that anything that has to do with Roses is a subject 
of much interest to your readers, and I have endeavoured by any 
legitimate means to place matter of interest before them ; hence 
it happens that I have always given a short account of what has 
taken place at the meetings of the National Rose Society ; but if 
this is not agreeable to any members of the Committee I will 
discontinue my practice, although I am not aware whether your 
correspondent is a member of this particular Committee. 
With regard to my selection of Tea Roses, I wrote the article in 
question at my club, and I had not a catalogue to refer to, so had 
to trust my memory. 1 am much annoyed that I forgot to men¬ 
tion Marie Yan Houtte, which is in my opinion one of the very 
finest Tea Roses. Madame Caroline Kuster ought certainly to be 
admitted into the list, but Comtesse de Nadaillac is such a poor 
grower that it is not worthy of a place in any but the largest 
collection. I fear the late severe winter and this bitter spring 
weather must have annihilated many tender Teas. We will hope, 
however, for the best; and as rosarians, however hampered by the 
weather, always seem to come to the front at some show or other, 
we may hope to see some grand Teas and Noisettes at the National 
Rose Society’s Shows.— Wyld Savage. 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE SCHOOL OF GARDENING. 
Preparations have been made and rules and regulations pro¬ 
vided for carrying out this project, which was one of the original 
educational purposes of the Crystal Palace. The school is to be 
in two divisions—1, Landscape Gardening : Chief Instructor, Mr. 
Edward Milner. 2, Practical Gardening and Floriculture : Chief 
Instructor, Mr. W. G. Head. 
The project is an excellent one, and the curriculum is compre¬ 
hensive, embracing, in the first division especially, every detail, 
scientific and practical, for the purpose of thorough and effective 
teaching. The Crystal Palace offers admirable facilities for the 
study and practice of landscape gardening in its various aspects, 
and the chief instructor has given abundant evidence of his skill 
as an accomplished landscape gardener. The course is of two 
years, and includes practical gardening and floriculture, and the 
fee is £110. Certificates are granted to competent students, and 
they will be aided to acquire professional work. This, however, 
is not a condition of studentship. 
In the second division, Practical Gardening and Floriculture, 
the fees are less—£30 per annum : and wages are given—10s. per 
week the first year, 15s. the second, and £1 Is. the third year. 
The advantages are less too. We do not think that the present 
resources of the Crystal Palace are sufficient for the efficient train¬ 
ing of young men for “ professional gardeners or nurserymen 
and unless the Directors have made extensive additions since we 
inspected the working department of the establishment, or are 
prepared to make them, they will not, we think, succeed in their 
object. Lectures and theoretical instruction may be readily pro¬ 
vided ; but the “ demonstrations on practical operations in hor¬ 
ticulture ” must, it appears to us, be unduly limited. The nursery 
work of the Palace falls far short of that in private trade esta¬ 
blishments. The propagation of a few genera of plants in great 
numbers and the preparing of plants for decorative purposes is 
very elementary practice in the vocation of either nurserymen or 
gardeners. It is not in this work that the latter fail, but in the 
regular supply of vegetables and fruits. This is the most im¬ 
portant branch of gardening ; and unless a young man acquires 
a thorough knowledge of the varieties and their characteristics in 
these sections, and has practical experience in forcing them when 
necessary, so as to ensure a supply of a given crop at a certain 
time—unless he learns by actual experience the time required to 
have each crop ready for use and the mode of producing it in its 
best condition, his knowledge on striking cuttings and potting 
plants will be of little avail. The Crystal Palace, so far as we 
are aware, offers no adequate facilities for this work, and there is 
no intimation in the prospectus that provision is to be made on a 
scale sufficiently large and varied to enable the teaching in this 
section to be of anything like equal value to that obtainable in 
hundreds of private gardens. When the Crystal Palace Company 
commenced growing plants for sale in a small way for visitors we 
thought that certain kinds of fruit, such as Grapes for instance, 
would have been equally acceptable to them and lucrative to the 
vendors. Possibly fruit culture is in anticipation, but we shall 
require to understand the particulars of it, and also those of the 
growing and forcing of vegetables, before we can regard the 
“school” of substantial value for those learning practical gar¬ 
dening. However competent an instructor may be, his teaching 
cannot be efficient without the means of demonstrating by actual 
practice the value of the lessons he must desire to impart; and 
these means, so far as we are acquainted with the establishment, 
the Crystal Palace Company have not yet provided. 
Full particulars may be obtained on application to Mr. F. K. 
Shenton, Superintendent of the Crystal Palace School of Art, 
Science, and Literature. 
NOTES ON PANSIES. 
Pansies are now improving a little in cold frames after the 
winter and previous to being planted out. I sent a few plants 
away the other day, and could not help remarking what a diffe¬ 
rence the state of the cutting makes in the rooting capabilities of 
plants and their general healthiness. I prefer short healtby growths 
a couple of inches in length ; but when our cuttings were taken 
the plants were dying in great numbers, and I could not exercise 
much choice with regard to their quality. The short cuttings 
were lifted with a network of roots and healthy growing tops, 
whilst the long strips were either not rooted at all or had a few 
short roots protruding at the end of the plant, the tops being more 
or less sickly. Last summer was a most unfortunate one in some 
gardens and nurseries. One large firm lost their entire stock of 
Show varieties. The Fancy varieties endure the sun and drought 
incomparably better, and are much superior for ordinary growers 
to the first-named section. The strongest we have were from 
Bath, but the majority of the sorts raised there do not open their 
lower petals here. Possibly the influence of climate may alone 
account for this failing. I ought also to state that this applies 
to Fancy varieties alone. The seifs succeed as well here as those 
raised in the north. 
Doubtless the way to secure the finest blooms is to plant in a 
bed composed of fresh loam and manure ; and it will be found 
that if the loam is somewhat heavy the blooms will be firmer in 
texture, the colours brighter and more clearly defined, than if 
grown in a lighter soil. I much prefer to have them in beds or 
borders in lines, with several flowers on each, than to have them 
in regular exhibition style. There is not much difference between 
the two systems if the soil has been well prepared and a mulching 
of decayed manure laid around the plants after being planted out. 
We set them out in lines a foot apart, and keep flowers picked off 
until the plants are well established, though these early blooms 
are as a rule very fine. In fine ■weather the plants make rapid 
progress, and it is necessary to allow a very restricted number of 
growths to remain if large blooms are desired. On the other hand, 
the larger plants will be much more showy where no prize blooms 
are wanted. 
Pansies are easily raised from seed, which merely requires 
sowing on some light soil on a border. If in the summer time 
cover the bed with a mat until the seedlings appear, and when 
strong enough transplant them. 
When the plants are somewhat exhausted in summer it is a good 
plan to pinch back the flowering growths and allow fresh ones to 
start, at the same time applying another mulch of manure to the 
surface of the soil. Cuttings may be taken at any season when 
growth is active. If kept cool and shaded they strike freely ; in 
