October 26, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
383 
and Sheffield hold their meetings on November 17th, and liberal prizes 
are offered. Dundee and Ayr are set down for November 22nd. At the 
latter place a silver cup, value £20, is offered in addition to the money 
prize for eighteen Japanese blooms.—E. Molyneux. 
NEW SELF CARNATIONS. 
{Continued, from page 362.') 
This section, although recognised by florists as exhibition flowers, 
having all the good qualities of the “ Show ” Carnation in exquisite 
form, size, breadth, and smoothness of petal and evenness of the edge, 
and are quite unlike to ordinary serrated-edged kinds one so often 
meets with, is always very much admired, for we have now many 
charming shades of colour, from pure white to the deepest crimson 
maroon, almost black. The exquisite shades of rosy pink and salmon, 
light carmine, rosy purple and deeper purple, and numerous other 
charming blending of shades, makes this a most interesting class, and 
many of them are as richly perfumed as the old Clove Carnation. Rich 
as we had become in varieties, the season of 1893 added several more 
gems, and the following are amongst them. 
Amur (Denary).—Bright rosy carmine, slightly flaked, a brilliant 
handsome flower of fine quality. 
Attraction (Chaundy).—Delicate soft pink, a large, bold flower, 
valuable for its exquisite colour ; but it often comes with a split pod. 
Albino (Chaundy).—A large white self with broad petals, and the 
next best to Mrs. Fred, the latter being the finest white self Carnation 
in cultivation. 
Countess of Salisbury (Simonite).—An orange tinted yellow. This 
flower was reported to beat Germania, but as seen about Birmingham 
is very inferior to it. 
Charmisso (Denary).—A distinct and very fine sort; bright pink, 
tinted maroon, with fine broad petal, and of fine form. 
Circe (Dodwell).—Blush white, of fine form and quality. 
Eunice (Chaundy).—Rosy pink of good form and substance. 
Gustave Ereitag (Denary).—Much brighter in colour than Mrs. 
Reynolds Hole, and with a broad petal, good form and excellent pod. 
Gillert (Denary).—This is oHen called Gilbert. Bright carmine 
pink colour of large size and fine form. 
Ilebe (Chaundy).—Blush, tinted with salmon and of excellent form 
and substance. 
John Benary. —Blush pink ground colour striped with carmine and 
purple. A very distinct fine flower. 
Julia Basserman (Benary).—This is of the colour of Souvenir de la 
Malmaison, but brighter; it is of fine form, with large broad petal and 
good pod which does not split. A variety which will be very popular 
for decorative work. 
Korner (Benary).—A distinct and novel colour, a pale pink shaded 
with a brighter tint of colour at the base of each petal and of fine form. 
A great acquisition. 
Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain (Thomsons).— A charming shade of 
salmon pink, good form, stout pod, erect habit, and a most desirable 
variety. 
Negress (Thomsons).—Very rich shaded dark crimson maroon, 
possessing a satiny surface, large smooth petal. A fine flower. 
Queen of Crimsons (Dodwell).—An excellent variety. The name 
indicates the colour. 
Santuzza (Benary).—Bright salmon-tinted rose, a grand flower with 
large petal of great substance and quite distinct. 
Topsy (Herbert).—A Negress style of flower, but with a brighter 
shade of crimson in it. Extra fine in every way, and with a strong 
Clove perfume. 
Uncle Tom (Dodwell).—This is an almost black, and extra fine 
variety. 
Vivid (Herbert).—Brilliant deep scarlet. A grand flower with 
broad smooth petals and of great substance. 
Wicland (Benary).—A distinct and very fine self, bright pink-tinted 
mauve, broad petal and of the finest form.—W. D. 
(To be continued.) 
NATURE’S HELPS TO GARDENERS. 
We often hear persons talking about “the balance of power ’’ among 
nations, and I do not doubt that most nations are anxious that their 
side of the scales should be the weightiest. Well, we gardening folk in 
our battles against insect enemies would like to have the balance on our 
side. Unfortunately, through ignorance, we often throw our weight 
against ourselves. Once, at a local show, I afterwards took the judges 
into my garden, and they were by no means ordinary men in their 
stations, and picking out the larva of one of the Syrphidse, or smaller 
balance flies, I asked them what they would do with it if they met with 
it. The verdict was death. They were much surprised when I told them 
that I had often paid my children so much a dozen for finding them. 
Where they are often found I will tell later on. 
I will allow that to any casual observer this larva, or grub, does not 
at first sight appear to be different from the many mischievous grubs 
and small caterpillars that find food and shelter in the leaves, and, alas ! 
often among the blooms of our pets, but a little ordinary care, especially 
if aided by a pocket lens, ought to save the life of one of the most hard¬ 
working helpers that a gardener possesses. 
All the ordinary grubs have a perceptible head, generally rounded, 
and that looks smoother than the rest of the creature. These larvm of 
several kinds of Syrphidfe or balance flies has apparently a pointed head, 
but if examined by a lens is seen to be made up of three points ; still, 
as it moves, the distinguishing mark is the pointed head ; its colour is 
generally green with some white markings on the back ; but if living on 
the black aphis the green portion is much darker. If at rest it re¬ 
sembles the dogs, whose heads and tails are alike, but if made to move 
then the pointed head shows itself. They vary in size from the eighth 
of an inch to perhaps an inch in very fine specimens. In walking there 
is a much deeper wave of the body than in a caterpillar of the same 
size. Its legs are rudimentary. It is blind, but when in search of food 
the pointed half of the body searches all round, and if meeting with an 
aphis it is seized, held up in the air, speedily sucked, and thrown aside. 
Their appetite is enormous, and the way in which one of these larvae 
will clean a shoot that was covered with aphides is simply incredible to 
those who have not watched the process. When full grown it fastens 
itself firmly to a leaf, and, the body contracting, it changes into a smooth 
body, pointed at one end, rounded at the other, and often looks like a 
drop of frozen greenish water. In due course it changes into one of the 
balancing flies with wasp-like markings, the abdomen of which is flat¬ 
tened, not round as the wasp. They are beautiful as well as useful, and 
ou the move. 0, One at rest. D, One holding aloft an aphis, whilst sucking the 
body. E, The pupa or chrysalis, fl.xed ou the leaf; the head of the fly is now at the 
thicker end. 
could we increase them at will aphides would cease to be the pests they 
now are to gardeners. 
Every observant gardener knows, when the leaves at the tops of his 
Red Currant shoots are curled and apparently blistered, that the under 
surface of these leaves is covered with aphides, and that this unhealthy 
change in the leaves is the handiwork of the aphis. But the instinct of 
the fly also teaches it that here she may safely deposit one or more eggs. 
Here my children have, in days gone by, secured dozens for me, which 
transferred to my Morello trees have helped to save my crop from 
destruction by the black aphis, or they have been placed on Rose trees or 
Chrysanthemums. 
This year, being very occupied, I did not notice the beginning of 
mischief on my Morello Cherries, and I was reduced to removing the 
affected leaves, something like half a bucketful, intending to cover 
these with boiling water and so rid myself of the pest. But on looking 
at some of the leaves, literally black with aphides, I noticed some red 
lines. On taking out my pocket lens, I found these to be very small 
larvm of some of the Syrphidm. I had never seen them so small be‘'ore, 
and never almost blood red ; these were carefully removed with a 
camel’s-hair brush and placed elsewhere, before the blacks were 
destroyed. Our “ helps ’’ are represented on the Chrysanthemum leaf 
(fig. 57).—T. B. A. Z. 
FLORAL NOMENCLATURE. 
While I thoroughly sympathise with " Old Subscriber’’(page 356) 
in his plaint regarding the eccentricity and variability of pronunciation 
displayed when using the scientific names of plants, I must nevertheless 
twit him with inconsistency. It is strange that a gentleman who would, 
if he could, convert every Philistine to the use of the academic and 
undoubtedly correct “Gladiolus,” should contend so strongly for recog¬ 
nition of the Anglicised plurals of Greek and Latin botanical names. 
I should have thought that, on such liberal principles, he would have 
been content with the vulgarly erroneous “ Gladiolus” or Gladiolus. 
The disorder of pronunciation in floral nomenclature is not an easy 
* Several varieties of the Syrphiil® prey on the aphis tribe; most of them belong to 
the balance fly tribe, that hover over a flower, and often appear almost stationary in 
the air. 
