September 28, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
265 
state I am at a loss to know. As these latent elements, according 
to Mr. Bishop’s own explanation, cannot be absorbed by plants, 
therefore the farmer must have always a certain amount of plant 
food in the soil, latent or otherwise. Moreover, in the same 
paragraph he refers to a farm where the land has had no return of 
the constituents carried away from it, yet for the last forty years it 
has produced from 20 to 24 sacks of corn per acre each harvest. 
I should be glad if Mr. Bishop could inform me where these 
inorganic substances had been obtained for the growth of the 
Wheat, seeing that by his theory the continuous heavy cropping of 
the land would have thoroughly exhausted the plant food years 
before some of the later crops were gathered, Wheat being one of 
the most exhaustive of crops to the soil. Upon the strength of 
this experiment he appears to recommend a course of working and 
tillage operations that would serve in the place of adding manures. 
Surely this is not the same writer who in the early part of his paper 
says, 1 Land is exhausted by heavy cropping without returning any 
of the plant constituents.” If so, I will leave the reader to judge 
if it is consistent with his theory of exhaustion of soils. 
I quite agree with Mr. Bishop in his endeavours to call all the 
natural agencies to the cultivator’s aid, and to employ all the waste 
materials, both vegetable and animal, for improving the fertility of 
soils, yet I think his disregard of artificial manures is presumption 
as well as the assumed scientific manner in which he attempts to 
treat the subject. With regard to the letter by Mr. Tonks, p. 174, 
though I agree m most points with his treatment of the scientific 
part of the subject yet I think the idea of his accomplishing such 
striking results from the handful of properly compounded artificial 
manure would be something like populating a large town with a 
few important families, as he would be unable to tenant all the 
houses, so in the same manner would he be unable to get the plant 
food thoroughly distributed in the soil. We must remember that 
one advantage of farmyard manure (though apparently a disad¬ 
vantage) is its bulky nature. In consequence of its bulk the 
fertilising ingredients are able through the medium of the straw, 
&c., to be diffused equally through the soil. Also this manure has 
important physical as well as chemical action in the soil. Artificial 
manures can never stand in the place of good stable and cow 
manure, but their value is abundantly proved when supplementary 
to farmyard manure to show any practised man that its use is 
highly profitable and in some cases almost indispensable. Never¬ 
theless, the subject affords ample scope for practical and scientific 
discussion, and also one that is interesting to all engaged in the 
cultivation or management of land.—W. S., Lancashire. 
INSECTS OF THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
(Continued from page SG.') 
Caterpillars, even if handled so as to annoy them consider¬ 
ably, rarely attempt to defend themselves by biting, but one of the 
few that will try to grip the human skin is that of the buff-tip 
moth (Phalera bucephala) ; it is not, however, able to do this. 
One of these caterpillars is not unfrequently to be seen on a flower 
bed bearing a hungry aspect, and suffers death as an insect pest 
(we cannot say unjustly), for the species does much damage to 
trees, which they sometimes strip till the trees appear as bare in 
August as they might be in October. Often feeding in companies 
upon Limes, Elms, and other trees planted along walks or avenues, 
they are apt to be dislodged by high winds, and then wander off 
over beds and borders, seeking a change of food or a place where 
they can enter the pupal state. The chrysalis, which is dark 
brown and curiously spiked at the tail, may be detected now and 
then amongst the surface earth, and should be destroyed. An 
insect which appears to have been getting common lately, the 
figure-of-8 moth (Diloba caeruleo-cephala) has been occasionally 
taken on garden Roses, but it prefers the Hawthorn or the Apple. 
The mother moth lays its eggs in September at the base of a twig ; 
the caterpillars feed during May and June. They are of a peculiar 
smoky green studded with black warts and having small bluish 
heads. Evidently they are regarded by birds as choice morsels, 
which is fortunate for us. Passing on to the large family of the 
Noctuina we have before us a group of moths notable because of 
their liking for sweets, hence they come eagerly to our flower 
gardens in the dusk of summer and autumn, drawn thither by the 
attractions of fragrant species, in which they seek for honey, not 
always successfully. Certain kinds are specially resorted to, such 
as the Honeysuckle, Petunia, Phlox, Stocks, Peas, and some 
Pelargoniums. That they perceive at a long distance off any odour 
which is appetising is an unquestionable fact, however it may be 
explained. I have seen myself instances where sugar was being 
used to entrap moths, and species turned up which must have 
travelled more than a mile from their known locality. Only a few 
of these moths feed up in gardens while in the caterpillar stage, 
and they may be accounted welcome visitors, because, as I have 
previously shown, their doing3 assist the fertilisation of some 
flowers. 
The conspicuous caterpillar of the grey dagger moth I have 
taken off Roses, and it will now and then turn up in gardens, feed¬ 
ing upon various shrubs. It grows during August and September ; 
the moth (Acronycta Psi), which is notable for markings, which are 
supposed to resemble in shape either a letter of the Greek alphabet 
or a dagger, emerges in the following spring. Like others in the 
genus the caterpillar is slightly hairy, some of the hairs being long, 
others short, striped from head to tail with black and yellow, 
having also some red and white spots, but specially distinguish¬ 
able by its two humps, one near the head, which is long and slender, 
the other at the short and flattened. This is one of those cater¬ 
pillars best dealt with by handpicking ; it appears to escape birds, 
nor is it much troubled by the attacks of parasitic insects. The 
caterpillar of a moth in this division, possessing the odd name of 
the brown-line bright eye (Leucania conigera) from its singular 
markings, is of some service to the gardener. Though it can eat 
several grasses its preference is for the couch grass, a too well- 
known nuisance, upon which it feeds freely at night in the spring, 
hiding itself during daylight. 
We come next to a species, the caterpillar of which I have 
several times had brought to me by gardeners, who appeared to re¬ 
gard it as somewhat of a curiosity, and different to the common 
herd of these devourers. The dot moth (Mamestra Persicarim) is 
an insect allied to the too abundant Cabbage moth (M. Brassicse), 
but though its caterpillar may occasionally be noticed in the kitchen 
garden and orchard too its favourite haunt is the flower garden. If 
the moth be noticed on palings or hovering at flowers in the 
summer it should be captured ; it is conspicuous for the spot of 
pure white with a central cloud, which shows up on the wings of 
dark brown. The caterpillar is nearly 2 inches long when fully 
grown ; the colour varies from green to brown, the head being pale 
and shining, from head to tail there extends a series of Y-shaped 
markings, the points of these are directed backwards, the last ends 
in a roundish hump. If alarmed it immediately quits the food 
plant aud rolls into a ring. In habit it is solitary, feeding on many 
species of plants. I have seen it devouring Stocks eagerly, and 
from finding it on Pelargoniums in houses as well as in beds I infer 
it is partial to those plants. The allied species referred to above and 
named from the Brassicas it so persistently infests is not, however, 
limited to these vegetables. Its dingy but very variable caterpillar 
also occurs amongst our flowers, mounting sometimes to the lofty 
Dahlia, and at other times condescending to the humble Marigold. 
In turning over the soil at the end of the season the brown 
chrysalis is frequently unearthed ; it is one of the objects for 
which poultry scratch eagerly. 
The Turnip moth (Agrotis Segetum) bears a popular name that 
indicates certainly one vegetable the caterpillar frequently attacks, 
but it fails to give an idea of the general destructiveness of the 
species ; in fact, the late Edward Newman believed it to be a 
caterpillar which would eat any plant were it but tolerably succu¬ 
lent. In June the greyish brown moths are on the wing, in 
appearance bearing much resemblance to others of the same group ; 
but their habit of settling upon the ground to deposit their eggs 
serves to draw our attention to them, and this they will do on the 
flower beds as well as elsewhere soon after dark. About their pro¬ 
ceedings this entomologist remarks :—“ Yery often in a bed of 
China Asters the leaves of a plant here and there will be found 
withering, and you become aware it is dying, but cannot tell why. 
Just examine the stem where it enters the earth and you will find it 
completely decorticated ; the circulation of the sap has been pre¬ 
vented, hence life is destroyed. This is the work of Agrotis 
Segetum ; you pull up the Aster to find the enemy, but fail ; his 
depredations were committed in the night, and before daybreak he 
has wandered away several inches or even feet.” This propensity 
it has for attacking plants at the foot of the stem makes it a most 
injurious caterpillar, and so, too, its habit of committing devastation 
amongst seedlings. For the protection of these the usual applica¬ 
tions, such as lime, soot, and ammoniacal liquor diluted, which check 
the progress of surface feeders generally, may be tried when the 
caterpillars are hiding in the soil. They are difficult to kill, and 
what makes matters worse they continue to gnaw the roots of 
herbaceous plants throughout the winter. This caterpillar is plump 
and glossy with a small flattened head, behind which is a horny 
plate ; the body is brown dotted over with darker points and faintly 
striped. Its digging operations are aided by powerful muscles in 
the legs. In the genus Agrotis there are several other moths, the 
caterpillars of which feed upon garden weeds, and to some degree 
they may be deemed useful, for few gardens can be kept quite 
weedless. 
The caterpillar of the great yellow underwing (Tryphsena 
