October 27, 1687. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
365 
during the coming month, at which Chrysanthemums will be the 
leading feature :—The figures following the names of the place at 
which the shows are to be held indicate the number of days 
devoted to the exhibitions, and it will be seen that a large majority 
are two-day shows. 
November. 
Tuesday, 1st ... 
Thursday, 3rd ... 
Friday, 4th 
Monday, 7th ... 
Tuesday, 8th ... 
Wednesday, 9.h 
Thursday, 10th... 
Friday, 11th ... 
Monday, 14th ... 
Southampton (2) 
Havant (2) 
Henfield (2) 
Leicester (2) 
Crystal Palace (2) 
Surrey (2) 
Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society 
Brighton (2) 
St. Neots 
Lambeth (3) 
Highgate (2) 
Southend (2) 
Kingston (2) 
Bath (2) 
Croydon 
National Soc. (2) 
Ascot (2) 
Cornwall (2) 
Portsmouth (2) 
Brixton (2) 
Walton 
Ipswich (2) 
Weald of Kent(2) 
Dawlish 
Hitchin 
Canterbury (2) 
Huddersfield (2) 
Street (2) 
Lewisham (2) 
Sheffield & Hal- 
lamshire (2) 
Tuesday, 15th ... 
Wednesday, 16th 
Thursday, 17 th 
Friday, 18th 
Saturday, 19th... 
Monday, 21st ... 
Tuesday, 22nd ... 
Wednesday, 23rd 
Friday, 25th ... 
Southgate (2) 
Lincoln (2) 
Watford (2) 
Finchley 
Winchester (2) 
Putney 
York (3) 
Birmingham (2) 
Faversham (2) 
Northampton (2) 
Ealing 
Dartford (2) 
Chelmsford 
Bury St. Ed¬ 
munds (2) 
Chiswick 
Hull (2) 
Barnsley (2) 
Taunton 
Colchester 
Wimbledon 
Bolton (2) 
Sheffield it West 
Riding (2) 
Reading 
Chorley (2) 
Ramsbottom 
Wolverhampton 
( 2 ) 
Liverpool (2) 
Bedford (2) 
Eccles (2) 
December. 
Thursday, 8lh, Alnwick. 
THE INSECT ENEMIES OF OUR GARDEN 
CROPS. 
THE GRAPE. 
(Continued from page 143.) 
Some people have an idea that we are troubled with more insect 
pests about our gardens and houses than were those who lived, say, 
a century ago or more, but such is not the case ; it is rather likely 
we have less, only we read and hear a good deal concerning them 
owing to the free communication of facts in the present day. The 
enormous imports of foreign plants have not made such difference, 
for out of many species of insects that occasionally accompany 
these it is certain that few have established themselves in Britain. 
Now, with regard to the Yine, there is a perceptible improvement. 
Take the instance of the annoying and prolific scale insect; 
scarcely a house would be found now in the condition that slow- 
going folks sometimes allowed them to be formerly, when the in¬ 
sects spread from the Vines to the woodwork, and the simple but 
severe remedy was the destruction of both. I am inclined to think 
the Phylloxera, which is allowed to be a comparative novelty, has, 
though of so evil a repute, done less harm here than the older foes of 
the same tribe of insects, the scale, the bug, and the doubtfully 
placed thrips. From aphis, so often a scourge to fruit-bearing 
trees, the Yine is remarkably free, especially if under glass, but 
this may now and then be discovered at the tips of the shoots or 
clustering on young leaves. Not, apparently, a species peculiar to 
the y ine, it is one or other of those which are erratic in their 
habits ; frequently it is the aphis of the Cherry or the Peach, and is 
easily dealt with. 
The names of blight and bug have been freely applied to two of 
the insects of the Hemipterous order, which contains so many 
notable enemies of the Grape crop ; but without going into the 
science of the matter, there is at once the distinction that one is a 
mealy creature and the other throws forth a profusion of woolly 
substance. This is usually and aptly called the Yine scale, from 
the singular shield into which the body of the female is trans¬ 
formed ; it is also the more troublesome pest, owing to its persistency 
in diffusing itself^ and the difficulty in effecting its extermination. 
Coccus vitis occurs upon Vines in and out of houses, and if the 
scale-like body of the female has been left intact during the winter 
the wool which enwraps the eggs, loosened by the winds of spring, 
is a medium for the conveyance of part of the brood to new locali¬ 
ties, and though the estimate that each female lays from 800 to 
1000 eggs may be in excess, the number is certainly large, for the 
young larvte are very small, yet they soon produce marked results 
by their suction of the sap. They are slender, six-footed, and at 
first brownish white, afterwards they darken to a deep brown, 
the females retaining the larval appearance, but becoming more 
rounded, and as they cling closer to the stem, and the shield or 
scale developes, the legs are absorbed into the body. The males 
emerge as flies during the summer, with the usual opaque wings of 
a coccus, and two filaments at the tail, scarlet in colour, yet being 
diminutive they appear to be seldom observed. Possibly they are 
fewer in number than their female companions. 
Owing to the double protection the young brood get from the 
parent’s shield, and the woolly matter secreted, fumigation is not to 
be relied upon, nor syringing or wetting, which only moistens the 
insect without actually removing it from the rods and branches. 
Besmearing the Vines with clayey or sticky compounds in which 
are contained tar or other insect killers is not a practice to be ad¬ 
vised. Applications made from Gishurst compound or nicotine 
soap are useful, and the wash of softsoap and petroleum, often re¬ 
commended as a dressing for various fruit trees, which may safely 
be applied even to the young shoots of Vines, say at a temperature 
of 120°; or softsoap liquor alone will often avail with diligent 
rubbing, and this may be some degrees hotter ; it is safe to 160° 
for the resting rods I am told. One article that is specially 
poisonous to this scale is nux vomica, the powder being added to 
hot water, but this is expensive and dangerous. 
The mealy bug or Coccus adonidum is no doubt a naturalised 
foreigner, though no one can say when and from whence it arrived 
in our island. With us it is confined to houses, but in warmer 
climates the species thrives out of doors and attacks a great variety 
of softwooded plants. This has no coat of scale, but it throws out 
a whitish meal, reminding us of the American blight of the Apple, 
on removing which we see the scarlet body of the bug. As in the 
preceding species, the male is slender and winged. The female re¬ 
sembles the house bug, though it i3 larger, and if not so prolific as 
the scale insect it breeds more frequently, the spring brood being 
succeeded by others, which pass rapidly through their changes in 
the warmth of the houses unless they are interfered with. Tobacco 
does not have that effect on mealy bug that it has upon the aphides or 
thrips ; sulphur is fatal to them, but then ruinous to Vines, but there 
is no reason why this pest should be suffered to increase so as to 
render a sulphur fumigation requisite. A sulphur wash, prepared 
from sulphur vivum (or black sulphur), with a little quicklime 
added to the water in which the sulphur is boiled, while well 
stirred for three-quarters of an hour, answers as a winter dressing 
for Vines and other trees infested. The proportion is half a pound 
of sulphur to each gallon, the liquid being cooled and poured off the 
dregs ; but plain water cold, even, and still more effectually at 120° 
applied forcibly and persistently clears off this insect by dislodging 
it or removing its mealy coating. Some persons put much faith 
in spirits or oils used diligently with a soft brush ; these certainly 
kill the insect, if not always the eggs, but the oils, such as rape oil 
and turpentine,'may have, under some circumstances, a hurtful in¬ 
fluence upon the Vine. There is less objection to the employment 
of proof spirits of wine or whisky, and these are much favoured 
across the Atlantic, where the mealy bug is too well known. There 
are occasional instances where the mussel scale of the Apple, 
Aspidiotus conchiformis, shows itself upon Vines out of doors ; in 
this case the attack is sometimes thought of no moment from the 
minuteness of the foe, but it is desirable to remove it by a soap 
wash or other dressing during the spring, as the young brood creep 
from under the parent’s shells in April and May. 
The dry summer of 1887 was favourable to the species of 
thrips, and the Vine did not escape their active hosts, which are 
best dealt with, if observed, while in their larval condition and only 
able to crawl. There are several broods in succession, and if the 
first of these is allowed to develope the greater part of the thrips in 
their winged state it is sure to be troublesome the rest of the 
season. While the Vines are fruiting it is impossible to adopt 
strong measures in houses, and the only plan is to sponge the leaves 
carefully with tobacco water or softsoap liquor. Early in the year 
there is no better remedy for thrips than tobacco fumigation, but 
when the leaves have expanded and it suddenly appears it may, like 
the red spider, require sulphur treatment.—J. It. S. C. 
THE STRUCTURE OF FLOWERS WITH REFERENCE 
TO INSECT AID IN THEIR FERTILISATION. 
Proterandrous plants, or those in which the anthers mature 
before the stigmas, are much more numerous. As examples amongst the 
wild flowers which are to be found in this locality (Bath) I, must mention 
Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum), Rose Bay, Willow Herb (Epilobium 
angustifolium), Blue Meadow Crane’s Bill (Geranium pratense), Mountain 
Crane’s Bill (G. pyrenaicum), with many of the Umbelliferse and most 
of the Composite. Sir John Lubbock states that most of the British 
wild flowers which contain both stamens and pistils are more or less 
proterandrous. These are almost dependent upon the visits of insects 
