582 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 25,1884. 
flowers with their coloured petals are parts of the plant specially set aside to 
attract insects, but also that certain colours attract certain insects. Thus 
Dandelions, May Weeds, and other white or yellow flowers are found to be 
most freely visited by two-winged flies, while bees and butterflies are most 
freely attracted to more highly coloured ones. Think over the most im¬ 
portant bee plants, and see how many of them are pink, purple, blue, or 
lilac in colour. True, there are some conspicuous exceptions, as Sweet 
Clover (but it will generally be found in such cases that nectar is unusually 
abundant), attracting the bees without high colours. Nature is very econo¬ 
mical with her forces, and places none of them where they are not needed. 
Besides this evidence of the ability of insects to distinguish colours, we 
have the conclusive experiments of Sir John Lubbock regarding the colour 
sense of bees. In these experiments honey was placed on glass, beneath 
which were slips of pink and blue paper, and it was found that the bees 
first selected that over the blue paper, thus proving not only their ability to 
distinguish colours, but their preference of lolue. 
But someone will ask, “ How and why did the primitive yellow flowers 
commence to vary ?” It is well known to gardeners that when the condi¬ 
tions of a plant are changed, it is likely to vary, or sport as it is called. This 
is especially true of the highly organised petals, where variation is more 
likely to occur than on the rest of the plant. Chemistry also teaches that 
the composition of pink and yellow petals differs but little, and that a very 
slight change in the composition may produce marked differences in colour. 
Hence variation is very likely to be produced if a seed is carried by the 
wind, or otherwise, to a new locality. 
To illustrate the theory now held by eminent botanists regarding the 
development of colours in petals, let us suppose a case of a flower of the 
primitive yellow varying slightly to a white or pink colour. Obviously, it 
will be more conspicuous than its surrounding non-sportive brethren, and 
hence will receive more visits from bees and other nectar-loving insects. 
Hence, as has been so often shown by Darwin and others, the seeds will be 
more perfectly fertilised, and will produce stronger and more thrifty plants. 
These resulting plants will be likely to have flow'ers with the original variation 
more strongly marked, which, in turn, being more conspicuous, will be more 
freely visited, produce thriftier plants, and so on until the progeny of 
the original sport will become a well-established species.— (American Bee 
Journal,) 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
E. Webb & Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge.— Spring Catalogue for 1885 
(illustrated). 
N. Davis, Lilford Hoad, Camberwell, London, S.B.— Catalogue of New 
and Old Chrysanthemums. 
Waite, Nash, Huggins & Co, 79, Southwark Street, London, S.B.— Whole¬ 
sale Price Current of Seeds. 
James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea.— Catalogue of Garden and Flower Seeds 
(illustrated). 
Chr. Lorenz, Erfurt, Germany.— Illustrated Catalogue for Owners of 
Gardens and Amateurs. 
B. S. Williams, Upper Holloway, N.— Catalogue of Flo 2 oer and Vege¬ 
table Seeds. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS 
*All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor” 
or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. AVe 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in- 
ended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
In consequence of having to prepare our pages for the press sonae days 
earlier than usual, the publication of several interesting communications 
and replies to correspondents must be deferred to a future issue. 
Erratum.—In the remarks upon “ The Insect Foes of the Rose,” page 
556, last issue, the Word “ not ” was omitted in the first line, giving an 
opposite meaning to the sentence to that intended by the writer. 
Books (T. C., Newport). —You will find Dr. Masters’ edition of Henfrey’s 
“Course of Botany” a thoroughly useful book. It is published by Van 
Voorst, London, price 15s. We are unacquainted with any book of the 
precise form meutiened by you. Forms used by our home farmer will be 
given in articles on dairy farming early in the new year, and these will 
probably afford you the information you require. “ Dairy, Pigs, and 
Poultry,” 2s., by R. Scott Burns (published by Crosby Lockwood & Co., 
7, Stationers’ Hall Court, London, E.C.), may be useful to you. Messrs. 
Letts & Co., King William Street, London, publish a work entitled “ The 
Farm Expenses Book,” which may probably suit you. 
Moss on Tennis Lawn (J. W. II.). —If the water cannot drain freely 
from the soil, but becomes stagnant, moss will take possession of the 
lawn whatever you may apply to the surface. Lack of drainage is possibly 
the cause of the evil in your case, and it will probably be advisable to make 
drains 4 or 5 yards apart and 18 inches deep, falling into a cross drain at the 
lower level for conducting the water away. Two-inch pipes will do for the 
drains, covered with rubble, but in the catchwater drain the pipes should be 
larger. If you cannot drain the land we should spread 
a layer of ashes 2 or 3 inches thick, covered with an 
inch or two of soil, on which to lay the turves. 
AVhether the present turf will do to lay down again 
we have no means of knowing ; but you may judge 
by the following test:—If when pared off about an 
inch thick it will roll as represented in the engraving 
(fig. 97) you may venture to use it again; but if it is 
full of moss as to break in pieces when you attempt to 
roll it, it will not be likely to prove satisfactory. 
Before removing it comb out all the moss you possibly 
can with a small and sharp-toothed rake, and when it 
is laid down again give a light sprinkling of fine soil 
containing a sixth part of its bulk of lime, and scatter 
on some fine grass seeds, and roll the surface when it 
is dry enough not to adhere to the roller. Under 
any circumstances we should not purchase fresh 
turves, but if the present turf cannot be used should 
prefer a lawn formed entirely by sowing seeds. We 
have seen close lawns in six weeks from the date of 
sowing, and in two months tennis was played in the 
most satisfactory manner. Sheep must be kept off 
newly formed lawns, and from old lawns too in wet weather, as, unless the 
ground is very firm and well drained, they will inevitably make indenta¬ 
tions in the surface that will not be agreeable. On some tennis lawns 
they do no appreciable injury. The seasons recently having been un¬ 
usually wet caused the moss to spread in the manner you describe. 
Judging Tomatoes (J. B. T.). —The note referred to was withdrawn 
after the indexing had been completed, to afford space for another item of a 
more urgent nature, and it was by accident that the line was left in the 
index. Your note appears this week. 
_ Pruning Vines (G. S.). —The rods are too numerous by half, and you 
will never have good Grapes so long as you encourage such a thicket of 
foliage that few or any of the leaves can develope. At once cut out a 
number of the rods, retaining the younger and promising, and train them 
3 feet apart. The spurs on these should not be less than 1 foot asunder ; if 
they are closer than that cut some of them off, and one lateral will be 
sufficient from each spur in the summer, stopping a leaf or two beyond the 
bunch as soon as it shows, according as there is space for the expansion of 
the foliage. If no bunches show nip off the end of the shoot at about the 
sixth leaf. The pruning should be done at once, then with the thinner 
disposition of the growths in summer and adequate support at the roots 
your Vines will soon grow more strongly and bear better fruit. 
Ground Nuts (F. Mason ).—The Ground Nut, or Earth Nut, which is 
met with in the fruiterers’ shops in this country, is the fruit of Arachis 
hypogfea, a native of South America, but cultivated in all the Southern 
States of North America, in the south ot Europe, in Africa, and in Asia. 
It is an annual plant, growing to the height of 2 feet, with a trailing 
straggling habit. In South Carolina this is cultivated to a great extent, 
and there the inhabitants roast the “ nuts,” as they are called, and make use 
of them as chocolate. When fresh, the seeds, or “ nuts,” have a sweet 
taste, not unlike that of nuts or Almonds. The natives make them their 
principal food, and they form an article of great consumption among the 
negroes. An extremely sweet fixed oil is extracted from these seeds, 
which, according to some, is qui .e equal to olive oil, and does not become 
rancid, but, on the contrary, improves with age. There is something 
remarkably interesting in the economy of this plant. After the flowers faU 
off, the young pods are forced into the ground by a natural motion of the 
stalks ; and there they are buried, and are only to be obtained by digging 
3 or 4 inches under the soil, and hence their name. 
Peach Buds Falling (Inquirer). —The most fertile cause is a deficiency 
of water at the roots, and the evil is aggravated by overcrowding the 
growths in summer and permitting the foliage to be infested with red 
spider. As you send no particulars relative to the condition of the trees 
nor the treatment to which they have been subjected, you must decide for 
yourself which has been the most active cause of the evil in your case, and 
act accordingly to prevent a recurrence of it another year. 
Raising Cyclamens (E. D.). —As you have a heated pit we should 
certainly sow the seed now in preference to waiting until spring. We 
suspect that those persons who are the most successful in growing these 
