May 11, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
385 
about bees, and that in the matter of the queens there is, as at 
present ascertained, a very great difference. It is, I presume, an 
established fact that all the workers of the wasp are killed by the 
first frost, whilst the worker bees are uninjured. The fact that the 
early worker wasps are so very small appears to favour this view, 
for I presume that the life of a worker wasp, like that of the worker 
bee, during the period of activity is very brief. The small early 
workers disappear as the season advances, and in their place we 
find workers nearly as large as the smaller queens. This, at any 
rate, seems to be a proof that the generally received notion is cor¬ 
rect, that the queens in April and May are seekers for a spot where 
they may make themselves “ a local habitation and a name.” This 
spot, it is supposed, the queen works into a nest, in all the early 
labour of which both in obtaining the material and in the manu¬ 
facture of the same royalty is unassisted. The queen having not 
only to make the nest, but also to obtain food for the earlier brood, 
it is natural to suppose that these shall be more poorly nourished, 
and, therefore, have smaller grubs, and consequently smaller per¬ 
fect insects. My impression from watching the queens is that 
much of the time the queen wasps are considered to be in search 
of convenient situations for nests, the nest is already in being, and 
the queens are rather in search of food or materials, much of which 
is obtained from the stems of trees, especially the Pear and the 
Hawthorn. Moving up and down on the stems of both these trees 
they may continually be seen. 
I must agree with Mr. Taylor “ that every wasp appearing in 
spring is a fertilised queen,” with this additional proviso, that the 
smaller queens are probably unfertilised, and, like the queen bee 
under similar conditions, drone-breeders solely. In saying this I 
do not advance that as a fact, I only imagine that this is the case, 
as Mons. Perrot, a friend of Huber’s, observed that these smaller 
queens were only layers of drone eggs, and it is an ascertained 
fact in the hive and also the humble bee. If these are facts it 
follows that though we may allow the smaller queens to live, the 
larger should be destroyed, as the parents of future families. 
There are many other conditions beyond our control that in¬ 
terfere with the formation of the colony, and which may make a 
very fruitful year as to queens very deficient in workers. Con¬ 
tinued rain at the early formation of the nest destroys many by 
starvation and not a few by drowning. Cold may possibly assist 
also, as the bee tribe are very easily affected by it; but though 
very susceptible to cold, yet if warmed after apparent death for 
hours, they rally wonderfully, hence I hardly expect the cold to 
be as fatal as the wet. 
Mr. Taylor gives us the statistics of eight years—1871 to 1881 
inclusive ; 1876 and 1881 appear altogether exceptional in the 
two extremes. I recollect nothing of 1876, but last year’s weather 
was very favourable for their destruction in this locality ; besides 
over four thousand additional were destroyed through the agency 
of our Cottage Garden Society. Within a mile or two of War¬ 
minster I heard of only one nest, and that was close to my garden. 
Along the sides of the railway embankments the navvies remarked 
that, where they were generally so plentiful, there was last year 
an almost complete absence. We thought, and I believe, that 
catching four thousand queens had not a little to do with this, 
and until I have some better proof that this is erroneous reason¬ 
ing, in spite of “Duckwing,” I shall still believe it and act 
upon it. 
Will “ Duckwing” kindly give us-his opinion of wasp economy ? 
—Y. B. A. Z. 
DESTROYING CRICKETS. 
With cockroaches I have not been much troubled, but crickets, 
which I take to be of very similar habits and tastes, I have had to 
be at war with for twenty years, owing to a man bringing some 
in a match box and turning them up “for a lark” in an engine 
house where I am in the habit of starting many plants. It is 
especially useful for my Dahlias, which are placed in boxes con¬ 
taining about half a dozen roots each, and when about 3 inches 
high they are taken out to harden off, and then afterwards divided 
into single plants and planted out about the middle of May. 
This hint may be useful to cottagers. 
As we had lived on amicable terms since last spring the crickets 
were allowed to have matters pretty much their own way, until I 
wanted to start the Dahlias a short time ago, when I could see it 
would be utterly useless to attempt it, as the place was swarming 
with them. The question was, What was to be done ? I never use 
poison, or perhaps I might have stamped out the nuisance years 
ago. I took a couple of ordinary galvanised washing bowls and 
filled them about half full of water, to which was added about half 
a pint of cider ; just above the liquid I smeared a ring of honey. 
This was my bait. The bowls were placed near their haunts and 
j banked up to the rim with earth. I counted the contents of a 
bowl on three occasions, and found they contained 106, 65, and 
41 dead crickets, the result of one night’s taking, besides hundreds 
of ants, &c. I also took a light at night, killing the crickets I 
found out on their foraging expeditions, and with this result— 
that it is now a rarity to see one, although I am aware there are 
a few left; but so far my plants are untouched. This, I think, is 
a simple, safe, and effective remedy, and costs little.—J. Hiam. 
APPLE TREES FOR ORNAMENT. 
Looking over a quarter of pyramidal Apples on the Paradise 
stocks I was particularly struck with the great beauty and wealth 
of blossom they presented. A few of them would be no mean 
addition to the shrubbery border, and would be well worth the 
trouble of an annual lifting to keep them compact and full of 
blooming spurs. The following were the most noticeable at this 
season :—Worcester Pearmain, delicate silvery white, with faint 
pink veins ; Scarlet Nonpareil, blush veined with pink, shaded to 
white ; Reinette de Caux, silvery white, reverse rose pink ; Lady 
Henniker, flowers li inch over, petals broad, rosy white veined 
with rose, buds rich rose pink, very effective ; Cox’s Pomona, 
white and pale pink, large flower; Lord Derby, rich colour, bright 
China-Rose pink, buds of a deeper shade, very elegant; Calville 
Malingre, very loose, narruw, star-like petal, flowers very pro¬ 
fusely. The great beauty of Apple blossom appears to lie in the 
lovely and perfect manner in which the unopened buds (which 
are generally darker in shade than expanded flowers) harmonise 
and blend, also to the way in which the clusters are set on the 
branches. This is seen in perfection on pyramidal trees, as in 
standards we cannot command a view of the upper surface. 
From present appearance I am inclined to think that the fruit 
trees will recover from the dreadful gale very shortly, as the mild 
moist weather is favourable to leafage, and the fruit does not 
appear to be battered or exhibit any tendency to fall off.— 
George Bun yard, Maidstone . 
CARBOLIC ACID AND WEEDS. 
Observing on page 348 a request for information upon the 
subject of destroying weeds with acids, I may state that I used 
carbolic acid about six weeks ago for the purpose of killing weeds 
on walks and it answered the purpose well. It was employed at 
the rate of a quarter of a pint to a gallon of water, using for the 
purpose an old water-can with a fine brass rose, mixing a canful 
at a time, taking care to wet every portion of the walk, but being 
careful to avoid injuring Box edgings or grass, as the acid will 
kill every plant it touches. Two gallons of carbolic acid sprinkled 
over 1000 yards of gravel walk killed all moss and weeds, render¬ 
ing the walk as fresh as ever. I know nothing cheaper or more 
effectual.—H. T. J.j _ 
In answer to your correspondent respecting the use of carbolic 
acid for destroying weeds on gravel walks, I may say in my 
present situation I have used it for the above purpose, but did not 
find it so destructive as I should wish, and in its place have sub¬ 
stituted salt, which we find both effectual and cheaper. We 
obtain it for 15.?. per ton ; doubtless some may be able to obtain it 
even cheaper than that. In using it we always scatter the salt 
in the evening during dry weather, after which we sprinkle it 
with water to merely damp it, then run a stiff brush lightly over 
it to mix the salt more evenly. Using it in this way our paths have 
few weeds.—T. H. 
ORCHIDS AT BROOMFIELD. 
Thirty or forty years since Orchid-growers were considerably 
less numerous than they are at the present time, for then not only 
were there fewer species introduced, but those that were in the 
country realised prices which placed them beyond the means of 
all but the wealthy. In consequence collections were not then to 
be found as they are now in scores of villa gardens around the 
metropolis and large towns of the kingdom, though probably a 
greater proportion of really extensive collections were formed, 
and these gained no mean degree of fame in the horticultural 
world. Orchid culture was in its early days invested with a kind 
of mysterieus importance, which was considered beyond an 
ordinary gardener’s knowledge, and it was thought the secret of 
success was possessed only by a favoured few who had made them 
a life-long study. Though much has been done to remove this 
erroneous impression, it is regretable to observe that some ex¬ 
perienced orchidists are endeavouring to perpetuate it by envelop¬ 
ing their culture in a multiplicity of intricate details that are 
quite formidable to beginners. It was this supposed extreme 
