86 
journal of horticulture and cottage gardener. 
[ An gust 1» 1889 
Pippin, and Kin? of Pippins. The few which hare a full crop are 
Warner’s King, Yorkshire Greening, Ribston Pippin, and Irish Peach ; 
the latter, owing to its earliness, escaped the attacks of caterpillars. 
The ravages of this pest is the main cause of the loss of the Apple crop. 
Pears are even worse than Apples in respect to fruit. All varieties 
as pyramids, including even Louise Bonne de Jersey, are a failure, while 
of wall trees only such as BeunA Diel and Pitmaston Duchess carry 
anything like a crop. The trees look very healthy, the foliage being 
good and clean. Damsons bloomed most profusely, but the trees were 
earlv attacked with green fly ; the result is only a thin crop of fruit. 
Cherries on walls, such as May Duke, White Heart, Governor Wood, 
Bigarreaus, and Morellos have a good crop, while the trees look healthy, 
except Morellos, which in some instances have lost the points of the 
young shoots, these having died ofE quite suddenly. Plums on walls 
flowered abundantly, but have only a moderate crop of fruit, as green 
fly seized the trees early. Some few varieties are good, such as Orleans 
and Cox’s Golden Drop, while Green Gage, Washington and Jefferson, 
have a medium crop. Victoria is this season devoid of fruit; plenty 
6et, but failed to swell. 
Bush fruits promise an unusually heavy crop. Gooseberries are more 
abundant than usual; and the crops are always heavy here. Black, 
Red, and White Currants have a heavy crop, but many berries of the 
former and latter kinds have fallen from the points of the bunches, 
while the red ones are quite perfect. Strawberries have been very 
abundant. 
Potatoes look remarkably well in this neighbourhood, and so do the 
majority of vegetable crops with the exception of Carrots and spring- 
sown Onions. The former are nearly a failure owing to the ravages of 
slugs, which played sad havoc with many crops. The usual remedy of 
dusting the plants was utterly useless, in fact they seemed to thrive and 
grow fat upon soot; lime used in a quick state is by far the more 
-efficacious. Carrots have been sown two and three times in some parts, 
and still there remains but half a crop. Onions did not come up so 
well as in years past, and full crops could only be had in some gardens 
by transplanting. 
I never saw trees, both deciduous and evergreen, grown at such a 
pace nor in such luxuriance as they have done this year ; especially is 
this noticeable in Conifers. Limes, like fruit trees, have been devoured 
by caterpillars.—E. Molyxeux. 
INSECTS OF THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
(Continued from page 405, last vol.') 
Before describing some other insects of the Lepidopterous 
order which, in their caterpillar state, are more or less hurtful to 
the plants that adorn our borders and beds, I must refer to the 
benefits derived from certain butterflies and moths which help on 
the fertilisation of flowers in their researches after honey. The 
insects give assistance not only in those cases where the stamens 
and pistils are in separate flowers, but also in many other cases 
where, although these are located together, there are obstacles 
which interfere with self-fertilisation. It is, of course, unavoidable 
that the insects by their visits and journeys from flower to flower 
should produce changes similar to those the gardener makes by 
design ; and in their transference of pollen these creatures some¬ 
times alter the character of a favourite flower, and we get a new 
strain which is not regarded as an improvement. This is unavoid¬ 
able, but, on the other hand, some capital varieties are due to 
crossing effected by insects. Brightly colmred and showy flowers 
are, as a rule, visited by butterflies and day-flying moths rather 
than those that are small or inconspicuous. 
Now, in the order of the Cruciferce or Crossworts, which contains 
many familiar garden species, as for example the Arabia and the 
Wallflower, though the species are much frequented by the above 
and by other insects, their part in fertilisation is not important 
owing to the structure of the flowers. But it is different when we 
take some species of the Caryophyllaceous tribe, such as the extensive 
group of Pinks. Here we have a flower with a long tube, and it is 
impossible for a bee or fly to reach the honey ; but a butterfly can, 
as its proboscis is adapted to a tube of the kind, and when it is 
withdrawn a portion of the pollen is generally carried away by the 
insect, to be rubbed off usually on the next flower visited, for it 
has been noticed that mo3t insects visit when they can a succession 
of flowers of the same species. A flower with a long or curved 
corolla is likely therefore, if fertilised by insect aid, to be indebted 
to a moth or butterfly, but their diligence in this work is evidently 
less marked than that of the bees and their allies. 
There is a group of moths containing numerous species—a few 
large, but the majority of moderate size—in which are some of 
frequent occurrence in flower gardens. We style them the Geometers 
—i.e., “ ground measurers,” from a peculiaiity of their caterpillars, 
which are also called loopers, because in the act of walking they 
loop the middle of the body, having legs only at the head and the 
tail, and, as a matter of course, they appear to measure the ground, or 
a branch upon which they may be walking, doing it in strides, few or 
many as may happen. Another odd circumstance with some of them 
is that they raise the upper part of the body in the air at various 
angles when they are reposing, and then appear like little bits or 
twig. Undoubtedly one result of this mimicry is that they fre¬ 
quently escape being eaten by birds, but it does not save them from 
their parasitic insect enemies, which are guided to their prey by 
some keen sense, smell or touch, rather than sight probably. Just 
about this time there may be seen in gardens, flying languidly at 
eventide, and conspicuous from its pale hue, the moth called 
the Swallow-tail (Uropteryx sambucata), which by its English 
name indicates the peculiar formation of the wings. The Latin 
name is not so appropriate, for though the caterpillar does occur 
upon the Elder, this is not its only or its chief food. I have taken 
it upon fruit trees now and then. The Honeysuckle is one of its 
favourite plants, and a variety of herbaceous species. Newman 
remarks that he found it very partial to garden Forget-me-nots. 
This is a somewhat large caterpillar, yellowish brown or darker, 
with pale stripes, and seven humps. It begins to feed in the 
autumn, then lays up for the winter, and completes its growth in 
spring or early summer. Its cocoon is curious, being rather in the 
form of a hammock, which is slung from a twig by silken cords ; 
its texture is slight, but bits of leaves are interwoven. 
There is a moth not uncommon in April and May, seldom seen 
in flight, but which rests on palings during the day, its wings 
streaked and lined with grey, brown, and black often resembling 
in colour the weather-stained or moss-grown wood to which it 
clings. This we designate the waved umber (Hemerophila 
abruptaria). It is not abundant enough to cause serious mischief 
as a caterpillar, but in that stage it feeds upon the Lilac, and the 
Rose generally in July. This is a slim brown caterpillar bearing 
behind its head a white ring like a collar, and when full grown it 
spins a cocoon at the foot of some twig. Chiefly in the south of 
England we find feeding on varieties of the Clematis the greenish- 
white caterpillar of the small emerald moth (Jodis vernaria). This 
lovely insect cannot, however, be kept in collections without its 
fading by degrees. The moth emerges about July, and the cater¬ 
pillar feeds in autumn. Next we pass to some moths much 
smaller, but also geometers, belonging to the group of the pugs, 
insects difficult to name, as allied species are wonderfully alike in 
many cases. They are commonly to be seen about gardens through 
the summer sitting on some object with the four wings expanded 
and flattened. Nearly all the caterpillars, which are small, like the 
moths, live concealed in the flowers of herbaceous plants, and as a 
result these are more or less disfigured, while the development of 
fruits and seeds is prevented. Happily, few of the Eupitheciaj or 
pugs are numerous enough to interfere seriously with the floral 
display in our gardens, as there seems to be no remedy except that 
of removing all buds or flowers seen to be infested. A few of 
them make cocoons in the seed pods, but most of them descend to 
the soil and make a little cell of silk mixed with fragments of 
earth. 
The caterpillar of the netted pug (E. venosata) feeds in July 
upon the capsules of the species of Lychnis ; it is greyish, has a 
black head, and is spotted with white. One of the commonest of 
the pugs occurs from May to August, both as caterpillar and moth. 
It is somewhat absurdly called the lime speck, for it has nothing 
to do with the Lime tree ; the Latin name (E. centaureata) brings 
us nearer to the truth, for if it does not feed upon the Centaury 
it infests a variety of plants belonging to Composite tribe, such as 
the garden Scabious and the Golden Rod ; it is also occasionally 
found on Campanulas. This caterpillar is slender, usually yel¬ 
lowish or pale green, with darker spots, which are sometimes 
wanting ; specimens also occur which are pinkish white and spotted 
with red. A pug named after the illustrious naturalist, Haworth, 
is very fond of the buds of the Clematis, going from bud to bud, 
and doing conspicuous damage, as the caterpillar consumes a 
number of these in July and August, each turning black when it 
is quitted by the insect. There is little chance of catching the 
moth, for it flies very rapidly and always in broad daylight. Very 
abundant some years is the pug called E. Absynthiata, but it by no 
means confines itself to Wormwood, for the caterpillar feeds upon 
a great variety of plants, though it may show a preference for 
those of the Umbelliferous order. It attacks the flowers and also 
the fruit, feeding from August to the end of October, and speci¬ 
mens, even of the same brood, are of all shades of colour, hurt 
invariably studded with short white hairs. 
Amongst the moths known as the “ carpets ” are several species 
that haunt the flower garden ; one of these, which is occasional 
only, is the silver ground carpet (Melanippe montanata) a pretty 
insect of creamy white, marked with grey and brown. Towards 
the end of the summer it deposits eggs upon the leaves of the 
Primrose, probably, also, when it has opportunity on allied plants 
in our gardens. The caterpi'lars live from autumn to spring. These 
are brown, and have curious stripes and markings of deeper brown. 
