214 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March .8, 1886. 
capitals above, and scroll, motto, &c., beneath.” The dies have been 
admirably executed by Mr. John Pinches, Oxenden Street, S.W., and 
are exceedingly tasteful in design. Such medals will indeed be worth 
winning. 
GARDEN ENEMIES. 
Many country gardeners are greatly plagued by the unre¬ 
mitting attention of the various members of the animal world 
which pick up a living in the vicinity of his charge, and which 
endeavour on all occasions to lay the products of his garden 
under contribution for their support. In addition to such 
garden frequenters as rats, mice, sparrows, and blackbirds, the 
gardener whose lot is cast in a strictly rural district may have 
also hares, rabbits, squirrels, pigeons, pheasants, partridges, and 
peacocks, besides a floating population of the smaller birds ready 
to help themselves as occasion may offer to any luxury that may be 
in season. It is just possible that by a little indiscretion in the 
treatment of those animals which are kept for sport, a gardener 
may do himself much harm with his master; for it must be 
remembered that proprietors of estates mostly place a far greater 
value on hares, rabbits, and pheasants than they do on their 
gardens, and if the gardener, judging from his point of view 
that it would be for his master’s interest to be less careful of 
the life of any of these than of the vegetables, flowers, or shrubs 
under his charge, then most likely he would find there were more 
points from which the matter could be viewed than his own. 
Perhaps no one has been more bothered with these “ vermin ”— 
shall they be called P —than I have; but there has always been 
the consoling thought that neither the destroyers nor the de¬ 
stroyed were mine, and if it pleased their owner to allow things to 
remain so, there was no reason for heartbreak on that account. 
However, it has been my endeavour to lessen the mischief as 
much as possible, and hence these notes, which it is hoped may 
be of use to others placed in similar circumstances. 
It is a somewhat curious fact, that either birds or animals 
which are allowed to feed on any given crop —and this applies to 
shrubs and other things—are most difficult to break of their 
habit. We have had certain crops which pheasants never touched 
for years, yet on being driven to these by lack of food they have 
ever since continued to attack them. Again, if blackbirds once 
attack Strawberries or other fruits, no matter how plentiful 
other food may by-and-by become, they pass it, while in seasons 
when their natural food is plentiful they do not attack fruit so 
much. Bearing this fact in mind, it will prove good policy to 
keep all these depredators away as long as possible. I have also 
found that both birds and game can be boycotted so effectually 
as to cause them to leave their old haunts altogether. But in 
order to insure an effectual cure the means taken must be effectual. 
As an instance, say a garden is overrun by pheasants, which 
make it feeding ground, breeding place, and, in fact, their home. 
In order to get rid of the whole tribe it will at once be seen that 
no half measures will do. Of course such pheasants are quite 
tame, and any attempt at frightening them off end in ignominious 
failure, the birds meanwhile showing by their behaviour that they 
are quite incapable of grasping the meaning of such a course of 
procedure towards them. The flowers and vegetables which 
pheasants are particularly fond are, of the former, Ranunculus, 
Crocuses, Anemones, and occasionally Lobelias and Sweet Peas 
in a very young state; of vegetables, Peas, Beans, the Cabbage 
family, and sometimes Lettuces; the young shoots of Asparagus 
and newly planted Artichokes are also laid under contribution 
sometimes. In order to disperse a colony of pheasants it is 
necessary that any of the products above named which they are 
in the habit of attacking should be thoroughly protected. This 
entails the netting of Peas and Beans from the time they are 
sown until they begin to flower, and if any of the others are 
meddled with they must also be netted. Coarse-meshed wire 
netting, rounded, and pegged down over the rows of Peas protect 
them until they are ready for staking, after that herring nets are 
required. Herring nets are also most suitable for other crops, 
only great care is necessary in seeing that the nets are so secured 
as to keep the birds out, as if they get in and get entangled in 
the nets the likelihood is that such netting will be put a stop to. 
A good way to save Ranunculus and Anemones is to grow them 
in beds covered with coarse wire netting. In large kitchen 
gardens it is next to impossible to keep hen pheasants from 
breeding. The only remedy is to send all eggs as found to the 
keeper, and in cases where young birds are brought out to get 
mother and brood removed without delay. Provided the above 
care be taken to net everything that the birds attack, and they 
are not allowed to feed in the garden, then it remains for them 
to move to other quarters. Where pigeons are troublesome the 
only certain remedy is to shoot the first comers, for if they are 
allowed to feed for a time they are not easily kept down. The 
destruction of every nest in the vicinity of the garden is also' 
very necessary. 
With regard to hares and rabbits, it may be pointed out that 
much of the wire netting that is put up to keep these from 
shrubs, or out of gardens, &c., is of very little use for that pur¬ 
pose. It fails in three respects—in the mesh being too large, in 
the wire being too weak, and in the width being often too narrow. 
The size of mesh ought to be not more than II inch, seventeen 
gauge being not a whit too strong, and where hares abound they 
cannot be kept off shrubs during hard weather if a less width 
than 30 inches is employed. This gives quite 24 inches above 
round after a portion of the netting has been turned in and 
uried to keep rabbits from burrowing underneath. 
There are numbers of dressing materials employed for keeping 
hares and rabbits from barking the stems of trees, but it is 
doubtful if a more efficient or a more lasting dressing is to be 
had than clay worked up with cowdung to the consistency of 
paint, and put on with a brush. We have found this a most 
excellent dressing. Tar is sometimes added, but we have not 
found it necessary to do so, the clay itself being sufficient to 
keep the animals from biting, while the dung makes it adhere for 
a long period. Squirrels require to be handled in exactly the 
same way as pigeons. Kill the first comers, for if allowed to 
feed unmolested for a while every squirrel in the district will 
come to learn of the boundless supply, and arrive for his share 
in company with wife and family. Squirrels are not easy to keep 
off wall trees; the only practical plan, if herring nets are used, 
is to keep them well out from the walls by means of forked 
sticks, using the nets doubled, and pegging the nets down on the 
fruit borders Hexagon netting is of much greater value than 
herring nets, and with a little attention to watching squirrels 
can be kept from the more select fruits by means of this 
material. 
1 might add something about my experience with the smaller 
birds, which are here as sacred as game, something about rats, 
mice, wasps, &c., but would only add that the same remark 
applies to these as to the subjects proper of these, notes—viz., 
that prompt measures, or even in some cases defensive measures 
taken before attack, is the only road to victory.—A Country 
Gardener. 
ARALIA CHABRIERI. 
Many Aralias are now becoming favourites for decorative purposes, 
especially for tables, as the best of them are light elegant plants admirably 
adapted for this purpose. Aralia Chabiieri is gradually making progress 
amongst the favourites of this class, one great recommendation being its 
free growth. It is easily cultivated in pots of moderate size, and a com¬ 
post of peat and light loam, the temperature of a stove being most suitable 
during the growth of the plan's, but afterwards they will endure a much 
lower temperature for some time without injury. 
In the woodcut (fig. 40), kindly lent by Mr. B. S. Williams, who grows 
the plant remarkably well, the chief characters are well shown, he also 
refers to it as follows :—“ A charming plant, with graceful pinnate 
spreading leaves, admirably adapted for table decoration. It is of medium 
growth, leaves alternate, in well-developed specimens about a foot in 
length ; leaflets opposite, from 6 to 9 inches in length, linear lanceolate, 
deep green with a heavy crimson midrib, which gives the plant a Termi- 
nalia-like aspect.” It has been awarded certificates at all the principal 
horticultural exhibitions in Great Britain during the past two or three 
years. 
HINTS ON ORCniD CULTURE. 
(Continued from page 189.) 
CULTURAL OPERATIONS. 
Potting and Basketing. —In a 1 ! operations connected with 
Orchids it must be remembered that the roots cannot be safely treated 
like those of many plants in general cultivation ; they are much more 
delicate and readily injured, consequently in potting or basketing 
much care is needed. If the old roots are adhering to the sides of 
the pots or the drainage, the pots must be broken, and these, or the 
pieces of crocks, placed in the new pots, disturbing the roots as little 
as possible. All dead roots must, however, be cut away, and if any 
of the others appear unhealthy, or if the compost was old or much 
decayed, they should be washed in tepid water. When it is desired 
to transfer a plant from a small basket to a larger one, and the roots 
are much interlaced amongst and adhering to the bars, as is often the 
case with epiphytal species, it is usually a safer plan to employ a 
basket of sufficient size to allow the old one being placed in it, tilling 
