f 8 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r July 18?g_ 
the process much easier and safer to the plants. The position for 
the plants the first year may either be on an east or west border, or 
any open space may be selected, planting either in nursery beds or 
in rows 9 inches apart, adding to each a portion of leaf soil if the 
natural soil be of a heavy nature, otherwise the addition of leaf 
soil will not be necessary. Should the summer be hot a mulching 
of partly decayed leaves between the rows will be of great ad¬ 
vantage in keeping the roots cool and moist. I purpose naming 
those kinds which root the most readily and need to be planted the 
first June after the cuttings were taken, as such sorts may go in at 
one time, thus simplifying the matter of planting and frame room 
later on. The others, which require more time to make roots, 
should remain in the cutting bed for a year, when they could safely 
be planted out the following April. During the summer and 
autumn take the lights off when it is seen that all that are going to 
thrive have formed roots, as some varieties after taking six months 
to callus require a still longer period after that to make roots 
freely. The advantage of using two frames instead of one is now 
obvious. 
First list for early planting.—Retinospora plumosa, Cryptomeria 
elegans, Thuiop-is borealis, Thuia Lobbi, Cupressus erecta viridis, 
Golden Yews, Thuia occidentalis, Escallonias macrantha and a 
s nail flowered pale pink variety with small leaves flowering in 
July, Veronica Andersoni, Laurustinus, Fabiana imbricata, Garrya 
elliptica, Buddlea globosa, Cotoneaster Simmonsi, Kerria japonica, 
Lonicera reticulata aurea, Ampelopsis Veitchi, A. hederacea. 
Those which require a longer time to form roots.—Welling- 
tonia gigantea, Cupressus macrocarpa, C. gracilis, C. Lawsoniana, 
Thuia Wareana, Retinospora plumosa aurea, Euonymus japonica 
aurea variegata, Lonicera fragrantissima, Ceanothus azureus, 
Jasminum nudiflorum, Pyracantha, and Myrtles. 
Aucuba japonica is one of the most useful evergreen shrubs we 
have. It is best propagated in this manner. At the end of Sep- 
1 ember take the cuttings, 4 inches long ; moderately strong side 
shoots are best, retaining a small heel. Insert them firmly in 
sandy soil about eight or ten in a 7-inch pot. Water gently to 
settle the soil firm about the cuttings. Plunge the pots in ashes 
in a cold frame. Little air will be required in the w'inter during 
the time they are callusing. About the middle of March plunge 
the pots in a gentle bottom heat, where roots w r ill quickly form, 
w r hen the plants should be hardened and planted out the following 
early pait of June along with the rest, where they should stay the 
first year, and will then be ready for their permanent quarters. 
The best of Laurels are the Caucasian, rotundifolius. common, 
colchicus, and the Portugal Laurel. The second named is the 
best for banks where a dense low growth is required or for forming 
hedges, being short-jointed and of a free habit of growth. If 
manure be added to the soil at planting time the colour of the 
leaves is much improved, as in poor soils they have a tendency to 
remain pale green, which deteriorates somewhat from its appearance, 
i i the winter especially. Behind a north wall is the best position 
to root Laurels. Early in October the cuttings about 6 inches 
long should be slipped off, preferring medium sized shoots to large 
sappy growths. Chop out a trench with a spade about 3 inches 
deep, placing a layer of sand at the bottom, the cuttings being in¬ 
serted about 4 inches apart. Fill in the soil, treading it firmly 
about the cuttings, digging the ground as the work proceeds, when 
the next row should be 10 inches from the first. The chief point 
is to thoroughly secure the cuttings in the soil, as if they are 
left loose roots cannot form. Previous to sharp frosts being 
expected it is wise to mulch between the rows with partly decayed 
leaves, as this prevents the ground becoming frozen hard, which 
when a thaw sets in renders the cuttings quite loose in the ground. 
After frost tread the soil about the cuttings firmly. For one season 
let the plants remain in their present position, when they may be 
transplanted, allowing more space to each. Irish Ivy, the best of 
all tbe Ivies for general use, may be propagated precisely in the 
same manner as Laurels, with the single exception that the cuttings 
may be cut into lengths of 8 inches, selecting the current year’s 
growth and without the heel as advised for the Laurels.—S. 
SOME CONSPICUOUS CATERPILLARS OF 1888 . 
As, from various causes, the present summer has been some¬ 
what scant of Court and political news, the advent of a “ plague of 
caterpillars ” has been quite a godsend to sundry periodicals of the 
day, enabling them to anticipate the “ big Gooseberry ” season. 
According to the usual course of things some nonsense has been 
written on the subject by journalists deeply ignorant of ento¬ 
mology, and with no great knowledge of horticulture. We have 
not yet had reports sufficiently full and exact from the different 
counties to enable us to ascertain all the facts, but it would appear 
that rumour has exaggerated the mischief done as yet. Some of 
the caterpillars referred to are evidently species that are usually 
common, but in the general way their proceedings are not re¬ 
marked upon by the Press. Other species have, no doubt, been 
exceptionally abundant, perhaps more in south Britain than in the 
north. One circumstance is notable, that our entomological 
magazines during the winter published statements concerning the 
scarcity of Lepidoptera— i.e., of butterflies and moths, in 1887, pre¬ 
sumably through the dry season. As the hosts of caterpillars 
observed in many places this spring and summer must have had 
parents w r e must assume that moths at least must have been more 
plentiful (if unnoticed) than was thought ; and we also infer that 
the cold of last winter and spring was not, on the whole, pre¬ 
judicial to such Lepidoptera as pass through those seasons in the 
egg state or as bybernating larvae ; the latter are often destroyed! 
by a continuance of rain. Another fact is to be borne in mind,, 
that the considerable amount of rain which has fallen in many 
English counties during June and July (in some cases during May 
also) must have helped to reduce materially the number of cater¬ 
pillars. 
The caterpillars now to be mentioned have been nearly all under 
my own observation in districts of Kent and Surrey within about 
thirty miles of the metropolis ; other places may probably have 
suffered more from these insects, and some less. To begin with, a 
woodland moth, the little green species called Tortrix viridana, has. 
been particularly abundant in woods, copses, and shrubberies.. 
Wherever Oak was to be found it has been infested by the 
caterpillar, a small creature, but able to do much damage ; like the 
moth it is bright green. Occasionally we find it driven by short¬ 
ness of food to eat Hazel or Hornbeam, but its preference is for 
Oak. Showers of the moths flit amongst the boughs in June and. 
July, succeeding to the caterpillar brood of May. These moths, it 
is noticeable, are hunted and eaten by several small birds, and they 
fall a prey also to a fierce ichneumon fly of the genus Empes, to. 
which they can make no resistance. Every year we scarcely ever 
fail to see, in variable numbers, the small ermine moth (Yponomeuta 
padella) disfiguring our Hawthorn hedges. Occasionally, as in 1888,. 
the species makes an attack upon fruit trees. It would appear 
that it is this insect which, in its larval stage, has been chiefly the 
cause of the damage sustained by the Apple in our Kentish orchards,, 
the too sociable black-spotted caterpillars spreading their webs over 
twigs and branches, whence they came forth in their companies of 
hundreds and thousands, and in many cases the trees were nearly 
denuded before any steps were taken to clear webs and caterpillars. 
It is not at all difficult to shake off the caterpillars and destroy 
them, specially when they are young. Afterwards the best thing 
to be done is to remove, and then burn, all the webs, in which the 
cocoons are generally hidden. | 
Perhaps of the caterpillars that are common this season the 
public have seen most of the species oddly known as the lackey, or 
Bombyx neustria. It is a frequent thing for them to descend 
from trees and shrubs upon by-passers, and many are to be seen 
racing along paths, for they are easily dislodged from their resting 
places as they get larger ; while young they hold on firmly, because, 
they run united by lines of silk along the boughs where they are 
feeding. The caterpillars have fed this summer upon an extensive 
variety of trees and plants, sometimes abounding in orchards. 
They are easily recognisable by the two black spots on the grey 
head, which look like eyes, but are not eyes, though these organs, 
exist as in other caterpillars ; the body is striped with white, blue, 
orange, and black. Each mother insect places her eggs in a com¬ 
pact ring round some twig, where they are left to hatch in spring, 
but they should be sought out and removed. Another caterpillar 
which has been specially numerous is that of the mottled umber 
(Hybernia defoliaria), appearing in orchards, gardens, and the open 
country. This is a beautiful caterpillar of the geometer or looper 
kind, not naturally gregarious, though they often seem to be feed¬ 
ing in companies, as they seek out the young and juicy leaves,, 
travelling over many shrubs and trees, but being partial to those of 
the Rosaceous or Prunaceous orders. Each travels about provided 
with a coil of silk, by which it can drop a long or short distance 
and again ascend to its food. It is a caterpillar of conspicuous 
colouring, and it may possibly escape bird foes bj' this contrivance. 
The moth is one of those that emerge during the dull or stormy 
weeks at the end of autumn. The females are wingless ; hence, 
as after pupation they emerge from the earth, it has been advised to 
smear some sticky composition round the stems or trunks, over 
which the insects cannot crawl to deposit eggs. This plan has 
been very successful in checking the increase of the winter moth 
(Cheimatobia brumata), the whitish green caterpillar of which is 
so mischievous to Plums, Pears, to our mixed hedges in some 
years, and to other fruit trees occasionally, each individual hiding 
in a web. This species, however, has not, so far as I know, been 
particularly complained of in 1888, having been eclipsed by the 
little ermine already noticed. 
