174 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 21, 1884. 
A. montana .—A 8ub-alpine plant, nat’ve of central Europe on the 
lower mountains, and but rarely extending into tbe true alpine region. 
Stem about 12 to 15 inches in height, bearing deeji violet flowers in May. 
The leaves are very finely cut, and are tripinnatifid. This species does 
well, and blooms freely in a sheltered part of the rockwork facing north, 
on the limestone in a mixture of equal parts of loam and leaf soil; but I 
am not prepared to say that it would not thrive equally weU under other 
treatment. 
A. patens. —This and its variety ochroleuca are both natives of 
Siberia, and are very easy to cultivate either in the rockwork or border, 
both, however, preferring a moderate quantity of peat in the soil. They 
both grow from 12 to 18 inches high, producing them blooms freely in 
June and July. The flowers are in the species straw colour, and in the 
variety of a rich cream. 
A. pratemis. —This species, which is a native of central Europe, 
very closely resembles A. Pulsatilla, differing chiefly in the colour 
of the flowers, which are of a deep reddish-purple, produced early in 
April and May. Its culture is, in all respects, the same as that of A. 
Pulsatilla, 
A. vernalis .—Decidedly one of the best of the genus, and also one of 
the most desirable of rock plants. The whole plant is of a dwarf habit, 
usually fro m 4 to 6 inches in height, the leaves not nearly so finely 
divided as in the preceding species, and generally lying almost flat upon 
the soil. The flowers are produced in March and April, and occasionally 
again in September or October, though sometimes even appearing in Feb¬ 
ruary, and are of a brownish green externally, thiekly covered with fine 
silky hairs. Within they are of the purest white, and taken with the 
golden anthers form one of the prettiest of alpine flowers. It may be suc¬ 
cessfully grown on rockwork fully exposed to the east or west in a soil 
composed of equal parts of loam and leaf mould, with a liberal mixture of 
granite chippings. It will also do well on the sandstone, but dislikes chalk 
or limestone. It has four distinct and beautiful varieties, which are well 
worth growing, although somewhat difficult to procure at present. As 
their culture is precisely that of the species, I shall merely mention their 
names and colours. A. vernalis var. discolor, curiously striped and shaded 
with rose and lilac on the white ground ; var. lactiflora, white with a de¬ 
cided tinge of golden yellow, very beautiful and rare; var. lilacina, pale 
lilac, rather the poorest of the four ; var. rosea, a rich rosy red, very line 
and distinct, commoner than the others. 
A. alpina. —This and the two following, which are very closely allied 
to it, are distinct and striking plants, and are very valuable in a border 
even when out of flower, as their bold and deeply cut foliage is in itself 
very ornamental, especially when surmounted by the heads of seeds with 
their long and feathery tails. This species attains a height of 2 to 2^ feet, 
in a deep rich border when left undisturbed, and is then indeed a grand 
plant. The flowers are white, slightly tinged with blue on the exterior, 
and are when well grown are large as those of A. japonica alba. They 
appear in May or June, and last for about a month. I need not say more 
as to its cultivation than I have already done, except to impress the neces¬ 
sity of the let-alone system of culture, as the finest plants I have ever seen 
only received a mulching of leaves in the autumn, not that that was neces¬ 
sary, as the plant is perfectly hardy, being a native of most parts of tbe 
alpine region of central Europe. I have also been told that this plant 
prefers a slight quantity of chalk in the soil, wffiile its neighbours, A. sul- 
phurea and Burseriana, both dislike it exceedingly, but cannot vouch for 
this from personal experience. 
A. sulphurca. —Similar to the preceding in most respects, except tha^ 
its flowers are lemon or sulphur-coloured, and slightly larger than those of 
A. alpina, of which it is probably only a variety. This plant is commonly 
considered very difficult to cultivate successfully, and in nurseries where 
the plants have to be grown in pots or frequently removed this is really 
the case, but in any private garden where they can remain undisturbed 
under the treatment previously given for A. alpina, there is no reason why 
it should not be seen in the best condition. 
A. Buvserimia. —A native of the Tyrolese and Bavarian Highlands, 
very similar to A. alpina, but with considerably smaller petals of a 
bluish-green tinge. A rare plant, but by no means so desirable as many 
other much commoner species.—G. Gutheie. 
PRUNING SHRUBS. 
“ A Northern Gardener ” has in last week’s Journal 
touched on a subject that very much needs attention. Examples 
of thick planting and neglect of timely thinning are to be met 
with everywhere. This has brought to my mind a case in point. 
It IS that of a beautifully laid out park surrounding a princelv 
mansion. In the neighbourhood of the latter there are clumps 
of choice Conifers, which had been planted about as thick as 
nuiseiymen generally plant in what may be called their “show 
ground, where they arrange some of their best young plants for 
customers to choose from. Nursery stock when tastefully ar¬ 
ranged in this manner looks very well; and no doubt the beds 
referred to would be very good two or three years after planting, 
but what are they like left unthinned for ten or a dozen years ? 
Simply a tangled mass, the smaller Conifers overgrown by their 
stronger-growing neighbours, and all more or less injured; and 
this state of affairs is not confined to a few shrubs, but is very 
much the same over a very large park, and I may safely say that 
had thinning been duly attended to a dozen such parks might 
have been well furnished out of this one. 
Now is a very good time to see that shrubs that have a fair 
amount of room to grow do not get out of bounds. There is no 
reason at all why every shrub in a bed or clump should not be a 
well-shaped specimen, and if attended to once a year from the 
time they are planted and thinned out, or cut-in with the knife, 
shrubberies would be much more interesting objects than they 
generally are. Laurels, common and Portugal, and Tews, per¬ 
haps, require more of the knife than most other things, and to 
these my present note now particularly refers. By the middle of 
August most shrubs have completed their annual growth. Some¬ 
times a second growth takes place, as is often the case with 
strong shoots of the common Laurel. These are now pushing 
high above the more matured shoots, and this should be tbe 
signal to begin pruning. In the first place, these long-growing 
shoots should be cut back to where they spring from the hard 
wood. If the shrub has to be restricted to a certain size, every 
shoot that is going beyond the limit should be taken hold of with 
the left hand, pulled tight, and cut as far back as can be without 
making a hole, thus having the shorter growths well thinned out 
to form your tree. Shrubs cai’efully pruned in this way will ripen 
their wood better, and be con.sequently better fitted to stand a 
severe frost; and it is surprising how long they can be kept of a 
moderate size where the room is limited, and yet not have that 
stumpy stunted look so undesirable. The majority of shrubs 
with plenty of room, in well-sheltered places, of course, will form 
fine specimens without any pruning. I think, however, in most 
cases a judicious use of the knife is desirable. A pruned Laurel 
or Tew will stand the wind better and carry a greater weight of 
snow without breaking down than those that are let grow as 
they please. Never cut Laurels with shears, not even when 
planted as a hedge, if time can be spared to prune with the knife. 
—A Working Gardener. 
THE INSECT ENEMIES OP OUR GARDEN CROPS. 
THE ONION. 
The Onion does not happen to be a vegetable that is plagued 
with a great variety of insect enemies ; but it has one which, though 
small in size, by its numbers and its insidious mode of attack, does 
every year some amount of injury to the crop, while occasional years 
stand out where the damage is still more serious. We have not yet 
full reports of the insects that have been observed by Miss Ormerod 
and her coadjutors during the season of 1883 ; but the particular 
insect that does mischief to our Onions was greatly complained of, 
both in England and Scotland, during 1880 and 1881. Reports 
were more favourable in 1883, to be attributed, as is supposed, to the 
weather being propitious to the growth of the plant, and also lacking 
that dryness which is presumed to encourage the development of 
the fly. 
Since this vegetable is one of considerable importance, we may 
Fig. 32.—Antliomyia ceparum. 
be allowed to describe, with some attention to details, the life history 
of the Onion fly, so far as this has been ascertained, which may help 
us towards an answer to the question, flow can its ravages be pre¬ 
vented, or a stop put to its destructiveness where the insect has 
appeared in a garden ? And here we meet at the outset with a 
notable circumstance. The Onion fly has, until recently, been 
referred to as of one species, the An thorny ia ceparum of Curtis, 
which, however, by modern entomologists is more commonly called 
A. antiqua, after Meigen, though I know not why it deserves this 
specific name, denoting venerableness. But in the course of 1882 an 
entomologist who had received specimens of Onion flies from different 
parts of this island was led to scrutinise them, and he pronounced 
some of them to be a species familiar on the Continent, and called 
the Leek or Shallot fly, A. plutura, w'hich had, indeed, been pre¬ 
viously noticed on Leeks in England, but hardly regarded as a foe of 
any consequence. 
