362 
JOURN\L OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 7,1891. 
the Hon. Secretary, and at the Higue he is the President, while 
recently he undertook a journey to this country in company with a 
friend to ascertain how Orchids are cultivated and shown in 
England. _ 
Visitors to the Temple Show will be able to form some idea 
of the way these plants are grown here, and the wealth of British 
collections, for it is confidently expected that the display will even 
excel th<'se of the two previous years, and they were something to 
remember. The only regretable point is that they cannot be 
shown on banks, mounds, or in dells, as they are at Regent’s Park, 
or as they were at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Liverpool 
Exhibition a few years ago. That is the only way Orchids can be 
seen to the best advantage, on formal stages half their beauty is 
lest.— Lewis Castle. 
FURTHER NOTES ON MISS ORMEROD’S 
REPORT. 
A FEW words in the preface to Miss Ormerod’s valuable annual 
report upon destructive insects and fome other pests inform us 
that this lady is now in somewhat improved health. I am sorry 
to find that she has suffered from close application to the many 
interesting subjects to which she has devoted time and anxious 
thought for many years past. All would rejoice, I am sure, that a 
lady who has done so much to distinguish herself amongst practical 
entomologists should still be able to continue her researches, which 
have been aided by a small band of fellow workers, and from which 
both farmers and gardeners have derived great benefits. I natu¬ 
rally turned at once to that important portion of the report which 
deals with the orchard caterpillars, concerning which we have 
heard a great deal during the last four or five years, and particu¬ 
larly about that of the winter moth (Cheimatobia brumata). It is 
in evidence, however, that taking England generally, even where 
no special precautions were taken against these caterpillars, they 
were less abundant in 1890 than they had been the previous 
year. 
Miss Ormerod, and several of her fellow workers, appear now 
to be fully convinced that of all the methods suggested for the 
destruction of these most troublesome pests, nothing equals the 
syringing or spraying with Paris green, suspended in water by 
agitation, for it is not soluble. Professor Riley of America, 
indeed, advi«es the admixture of a small quantity of flour or starch 
with the water ; but no satisfactory trial has been made in England 
of the application thus modified. In this Journal I have already 
expressed an unfavourable opinion with regard to the use of this 
dangerous insect killer, and need not repeat the reasons I then 
gave for objecting to it, except that the strongest one was that it 
is next to impossible to clear the trees thoroughly afterwards of a 
heavy insoluble compound such as this, and which, lodging in 
various nooks or angles, is likely to be a cause of mischief to 
human beings and the lower animals, even though it be used early 
in the season before the foliage is fully out. Much stress is laid 
in this report, I notice, upon the investigations of the Evesham 
Committee, the said Committee trying a variety of washes and 
applications, but finding that none of them approached the Paris 
green in efficacy. Doubtless Paris green may be relied upon to 
kill, and al>o the yet more deadly London purple, another arsenite 
of lime. The question is. Are we forced to adopt these because 
the other killers are unsatisfactory ? Most of the fruit growers I 
have the pleasure to know in my district of Kent own they are 
reluctant to try this preparation, though so greatly extolled, as 
they feel apprehensive the remedy might prove worse than the 
disease. This report shows how the use of it has to be fenced 
round with cautions. We read that “ Workers with the article 
should not allow it to settle in any crack of the hands, nor stir it 
about unnecessarily with the hands, and they should be very care¬ 
ful not to breathe in the nowder through mouth or no:e.” Again, 
“ It should not be used so as to souse the trees and run off the 
leaves in drops, nor should sprayings be given in rapid succession. 
Injury to leafage is likely to occur if the mixture is not kept of 
an even strength, and sediment allowed to form at the bottom.” 
And again, “ Cattle and stock, or other animals, should never be 
allowed to feed under trees that are being or have been recently 
sprayed, for fear of injury from the grass, upon which there may 
have been drip.” 
Then with regard to the frequent failure of the applications 
that have been formerly relied upon, I would remark that one 
reason for thts was the inadequate apparatus employed. We 
have now great improvements in the form of spraying machines, 
and some of them are found to work admirably. Miss Ormerod 
has recently stated that an ordinary small barrel or two-wheel 
garden engine, if fitted with a Stott’s nozzle, will answer very well. 
HemingwTay’s, now advertised, is excellent. It seems to be acknow¬ 
ledged that although a wash made from softsoap and quassia wood is 
fatal to most aphides, it does not kill caterpillars. A petroleum 
wash has been often tried; doubtless it is the means of killing 
some, but fails to clear the trees. Lemon and Fir tree oil have 
been recommended ; their costliness is against their employment 
on any large scale. A fruit grower tells me he has succeeded in 
destroying the caterpillars on his trees by means of a sulphur appli¬ 
cation, made as follows :—He boiled in an iron pan 7 lbs. of black 
sulphur (sulphur vivum) in 3 gallons of water, adding a lump of 
lime about the size of a man’s fist. This was kept well stirred, and 
after fifteen minutes boiling 9 gallons more water added, and the 
boiling kept up for another twenty or twenty-five minutes. ^ The 
clear liquid, after cooling and subsidence, is mixed for syringing in 
the proportion of 1 pint to 2 gallons of water. As to nipping the 
caterpillars in the bud, so to speak, by preventing the deposition of 
eggs. Miss Ormerod has shown that the “ sticky banding,”^ so called,, 
may disappoint, owing to the females being lifted above it by their 
male companions. Also, it is difficult to hit the right time for the 
operation, the moths appearing at variable dates, and sometimes 
trees are hurt by the compound that is laid on. Miss Ormerod 
advises that the grease or smear should be spread over strips of 
common strong grease-proof paper, cut into suitable lengths of 
about 7 inches wide, and fastened round the trunk by string or a 
touch of paste. 
In North Kent we found the lackey (Bombyx neustria) very- 
abundant during the early summer, but no particular damage was 
reported to Miss Ormerod as attributable to this species, which 
generally selects the Apple amongst fruit trees. The “looper” 
caterpillars of the mottled umber moth, and the web weavers of 
the small ermine species were complained of by some, and the 
familiar caterpillar of the vapourer was caught in several places 
while feeding numerously upon the Plum and Pear. This species, 
however, is such a liker of variety in diet that it is seldom noticed 
to greatly infest any particular plant or tree, and it is easy in the 
winter setson to remove the empty cocoons left on the branches 
upon which the parent insects deposit their eggs. 
An interesting portion of this report relates to the “ Apple- 
sucker ” (Psylla Mali), which, though it has figured on the list of 
hurtful insects for many years, has never apparently been a serious 
foe to the Apple till last year, when from three places widely 
separated statements regarding its proceedings were received. 
Were it to become common it would be a troublesome pest, for the 
insects (which resemble the scale or coccus) swarm in the young 
flower buds, and deprive them of their sap. Each larva or grub as 
it advances towards maturity exudes a number of fine hairs, which 
serve to protect it, and while quite small it is hidden within the 
bud. Owing to these facts washes have little effect upon it, nor is 
it much use seeking the eggs, since they are laid in various places 
about the tree. The winged insects appear in August and Septem¬ 
ber, they are more active than the cocci, being able to run briskly, 
also to fly, but they may be caught and killed when depositing eggs^ 
It was observed that this species was most plentiful on Apples 
which had crowded branches. A beetle, the blossom weevil of this 
same tree (Anthonomus pomorum) was unusually troublesome in 
several localities, at Swanley and Sittingbourne in Kent, also near 
Hereford, and it was stated by Mr. Hiam of Astwood Bank, near 
Redditch, that through this he reckoned that he lost 25 per cent, 
of his blooms. John Curtis long ago advised the placing of bands 
round the trees to keep the females from crawling up the trunks in 
March to lay eggs in the buds, one egg upon each, but Mr. Staples 
of Swanley remarks this plan is of no utility, for the weevils can 
fly readily. Miss Ormerod thinks the only effectual remedy where- 
this weevil has appeared is that suggested by Schmidberger, that of 
picking off all buds on small trees which contain the insect, and 
with large trees shaking the boughs over cloths about the time the. 
weevil has become a chrysalis, when they will fall out, and can be 
burnt. The date for this operation would be the end of May. 
For some years past Miss Ormerod has been calling attention to 
the insidious proceedings of a group of minute creatures, the 
eelworms, which are the unsuspected cause of the death of many 
plants. One of these, Aphelenchus Fragariae, the cause of what 
has been styled “ Cauliflower disease ” in the Strawberry, has just 
been described and figured in this Journal; it produces very 
curious and annoying effects, but as yet does not seem to have- 
spread extensively. We are unprepared at present to deal with it, 
unless it be, as Miss Ormerod suggests, by the application of such 
chemicals as the sulphates of ammonia and potash, which have been 
proved of value in other cases of eelworm attack. The species,. 
Tylenchus devastatrix, for a good while noticed upon Clover and 
Oats, has now been proved to affect field Beans, a circumstance- 
that had been suspected. They are not destroyed by the decay of 
the plants on which they feed, so are probably sometimes conveyed 
with manure to new localities. Much injury was caused to- 
