JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
3i0 
[ October 13, 1881. 
acre elegans was freely used, as well as succulents, small Dracaenas, 
and others. Some of the plants employed for the liues in these 
heds were allowed to rise a liltle higher than others, which added 
considerably to the beauty of the beds. This style breaks the flat¬ 
ness, and is a great improvement upon the even system that pre¬ 
vailed so long. 
The Pelargoniums were much dashed with the previous wet 
weather, hut from all appearance had been very brilliant. Henry 
Jacoby, dark scarlet; Mrs. Holden, pink; and the old Man- 
glesii were still flowering with much freedom. In another portion 
of the park Dahlias were floweiing freely in the borders. Prench 
Marigolds and mixed Zinnias were in full bloom and very attrac¬ 
tive. Seedling Verbenas and Mignonette planted together con¬ 
stituted a beautiful border, with a few Anemones at the hack row. 
My hurried run through this beautiful park prevented me from 
taking notes of many features of interest, hut I saw enough to con¬ 
vince me that Mr. Roger deserves to he congratulated on the 
admirable general condition of the park.—A Countryman. 
(To be continued.) 
ECONOMICAL FLOWER GARDENING. 
To those who have to produce a display of border flowers at 
a little cost and with few appliances, it may be of interest if 
I narrate my experience and success this year. My object was 
to raise a number of plants that would give me a good supply of 
cut flowers for various decorative purposes. In April I formed a 
good steady hotbed, and after covering it with a layer of soil 
3 inches deep I placed over it a large two-light frame. When 
the temperature was at about 80° and falling, I sowed seeds of 
African and French Marigolds, Zinnia elegans, German Stocks, 
and Pieony Perfection Asters. As the time for sowing was care¬ 
fully chosen the plants came up very well, and as soon as they 
could be handled they were pricked out in boxes and encouraged 
to grow in a little heat. 
By the end of May the plants were all established in the borders, 
having been put out about the 20th. Since then they have needed 
little or no attention, and have flourished and produced basketfuls 
of flowers most useful for all kinds of decorative purposes. The 
African Marigolds were planted well back in the borders three 
in a clump. They are now 3 feet high, and are covered with their 
large orange-coloured flowers, and have been flowering for several 
weeks. They certainly rival the yellow Dahlias, for they are in 
flower for a much longer period and are very showy. The French 
Marigolds are not so tall, but produce a much greater variety of 
flowers, some of the light tinted buffs being very beautiful, while 
some are flaked after the manner of a Carnation. Zinnias are 
now produced much more double than they once were, and are 
valuable because of their unusual colours. The Stocks have pro¬ 
duced a fine display, most of the flowers being double, and have 
proved most useful for cutting. There are better kinds of Asters 
for borders than the Pmony Perfection, but I grow that variety 
because the flowers are produced on good stalks, and are most 
useful in that form for my purposes. The frame in which the 
plants were sown was 8 feet long and 8 feet broad, and I suppose 
that 3.?. or 4s. at the most would buy seed of the finest strains 
sufficient for a frame of that size. From such a frame I had 
hundreds of plants, and many were thrown away as I had not 
room for them in the borders. 
Next season I intend to raise, in addition to the above, a number 
of Phlox Drummond i. The varieties are now so chaste and unique 
that they have become indispensable. In the same frame also 
I shall raise Helichrysums, for I see my friends have most beautiful 
displays, and were cutting quantities of flowers during a very 
wet cold August. I should also mention here that I have had 
a row of Sweet Peas staked and grown as ordinary Peas, and have 
had large quantities of their many-coloured fragrant flowers to 
help in vase and table decoration. If any of your readers wish 
to have an abundance of flowers for cutting at the lowest cost, 
from practical experience I can recommend the varieties men¬ 
tioned above.— Vindex. 
CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS.—No. 30. 
NEW SERIES. 
A familiar nursery rhyme acquaints us with the retributive fate 
that befel “ daddy longlegs ” in consequence of his undevotional 
habits, and this name has been loosely applied by individuals, 
juvenile and adult, to various long-legged insects. It is frequently 
given to the craneflies (Tipulte), still more often perhaps it is 
bestowed upon the spiders of the family Pholcidse that are seen 
perambulating walls or ceilings, and also at times lurking upon 
the shrubs of our gardens. I apprehend they feed more by night 
than by day, as I have seldom seen one in the act of devouring 
anything ; but, their bodies being slender, probably they require 
less food than some of their kin. Resting on the trunks of trees 
and upon palings they may resemble in colour with outstretched 
limbs, and the body kept flat, they are evidently in ambush for 
insects that may approach. These spiders do, however, construct 
slight webs, though they seem to be seldom “ at home.” Pholcus 
phalangoides is a common species with a light body darkly 
streaked. 
The spiders of the family Theridridae are of moderate size, some 
rather small; they are web-weavers, their webs being irregular 
in shape and composed of fine threads. They are not unusually 
found near each other, upon bushes or low plants ; now and then 
they are spun in conservatories. The dark-bodied T. tepidiarum 
occurs only under glass, its partiality to warmth being supposed 
to indicate that it is an imported species. A notable peculiarity 
in the spiders of this family lies in the thorax, which is rather 
humped and projects over the thorax. Several of these species 
not only construct a web as a snare, but also make a nest of a 
tent-like form, and slightly thicker than the web, the outside of 
which the spiders stud over with small pebbles, bits of twig, or dry 
leaves. The eggs deposited in this nest are usually enclosed in 
one or more silken cocoons. The reddish brown black-spotted 
Theridion riparium has been seen feeding its young with ants 
some time after they had emerged from the egg, others in the 
group show a similar attention to their progeny. Many persons 
will have observed in gardens towards the end of the summer 
tiny pear-shaped objects of a greyish white dotted with a few 
points, occurring commonly in leaves partly folded. Some might 
fancy them of a vegetable nature, or large eggs of an insect; 
these are really the cocoons of T. pallens, a small light-coloured 
spider of this family, which seems to leave its eggs generally. 
Another small species allied to the preceding, Lycosia montana, 
abundant about hedges and masses of herbage, makes a web that 
is out of proportion to its own size, and crossed above by many 
silken cords which help to capture flying insects that may come 
near. The garden spiders of the family Epeiridas have been 
conspicuous by their webs for several weeks past, nor do they 
withdraw from our view in autumn until the last of the moths, 
flies, and other insects that visit the Ivy bloom have died or 
become torpid. Those spiders that have in August spread their 
webs close to or on the graund (as some Epeirae will) destroy a 
quantity of the injurious Tipula oleracea, and just now the webs 
placed in higher positions are covered with winged aphides. 
Undoubtedly helpful to horticulture as are these spiders, their 
webs, unless in nooks and corners, are seldom left undisturbed, 
but they show astonishing diligence both in repairing and re¬ 
constructing. It has been asserted that they go over the web at 
least once a day, even if it has not been injured, touching it up 
and strengthening. The E peine commonly plant themselves 
boldly in the centre of this, but sometimes they prefer to secrete 
themselves under a leaf below their snare and close at hand. 
It is not necessary to describe these well-known insects, but a 
few words must be devoted to their remarkable spinnerets. There 
are three pairs. The four larger ones are placed at angles to each 
other, as if to guard the third pair surrounded by them. Each 
pair has a number of spinning tubes, varying in their size and 
arrangement. From these spinnerets there is produced not only 
silk but a gummy secretion ; the latter is believed to be developed 
specially by the inner and lesser pair. It had long been observed 
that the threads of the webs of the garden spider were more or 
less sticky, excepting the ends of those which met in the centre, 
and the old naturalists believed that the insects, having completed 
the geometric circle, went again over the threads to varnish them 
with this secretion. But Mr. Underhill gives it as the result of 
his observations, that the lines of an Epeira’s web are made 
sticky while they are being drawn out by the action of the dif¬ 
ferent pairs of spinnerets. Owing to this peculiarity in the web, 
the maker thereof cannot traverse it without breaking most of the 
threads, but a spider’s strength of limb enables it to do so and 
avoid being entangled. It is noticeable, however, that one of the 
geometric spiders cannot traverse the web of a neighbour as easily 
as it can the web which has been constructed by itself ; therefore, 
should a spider get into a strange web it is in some peril of being 
overtaken and seized by the rightful occupant, t If closely pressed 
it will cut the threads at its rear and thus baffle pursuit. These 
spiders have an odd way of suddenly vibrating in the middle of 
their webs if alarmed, and not only then ; hence some people have 
supposed they oscillate their webs in this way to free them from 
dust, or to test the strength of their threads. It has been stated 
that the Epeiras and some other species occasionally make a tick¬ 
ing or snapping sound, but I have not been able to perceive this. 
Best known of all in this group is the common diadem spider, 
