Januaiy SO, 1800. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
95 
I'he same remarks hold good of fruit growing, with the exception 
in one sense of Grapes, which so long as they are ripe can be used 
when wanted. Even with Vines records ought to be kept of the time, 
under different temperatures, the different stages of growth occupy 
from “ breaking ” to flowering, flowering to stoning, and from stoning 
to ripening. It is, however, more with such crops as forced Strawberries 
and Peaches, fruit that will not keep any length of time, that requires 
the closest attention, as the different varieties are subject to a wide 
margin in “ turning in,” and it is only by noting these differences in 
varieties under diverse conditions and treatment that any true criterion 
■can be formed. When once grasped the grower is master of the situ¬ 
ation, and he goes on with his undertaking with the full knowledge 
that he is adopting the proper method to ensure certain results, and 
seldom are such men wide of the mark, and their study of “ timing” 
forms no mean part of their cultural skill. 
It is not so with the cultivator who has never thought this worth 
looking after, and merely trust to his experience, which in some cases 
is not very large. When called upon to meet certain requirements 
at certain dates he finds then the want of a record to work on. Work 
under such conditions becomes a great anxiety to him, with the result 
that he worries himself and those about him, first from the fear of being 
too early, the next day, perhaps, from fear of being too late, and 
regulates the temperature accordingly, thereby trusting chiefly to good 
fortune to fulfil what he laeks in knowledge. 
I know no occupation more interesting than noting different subjects 
under different treatments and eonditions, such for instance as in Pine 
growing, how these one season vary or correspond to another in the time 
of “ showing,” flowering, and ripening. Melons, too, are worthy of 
notice, and it is surprising to find how these vary, according to the 
■season, in the time from setting to the ripening period. 
My remarks have been chiefly with plants forced under glass, but the 
same interest should be shown in kitchen garden crops generally, in 
fact more, as season and situation affect these more than the others. 
Many crops fail through the seed being sown at the wrong date, such as 
Celery “ bolting ” through being sown too early in one district though 
the same date might suit another. Spring Cabbages not standing the 
winter or not turning in as early as wished, generally proceeds from the 
■seed being sown at the wrong time. It is the same with many other 
crops, which if their failures or the opposite were carefully noted would 
save many disappointments, while it would make work more pleasant 
and do away with many of a gardener’s anxieties. I have practised it 
and proved its value.—E. Paekee, Impney. 
CATERPILLARS AND FRUIT TREES. 
In a somewhat elaborate article on “ Enemies of the Apple and Pear,” 
published in the Fruit Conference issue of the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Journal, several insects and their work are illustrated ; but 
singularly, what is probably the most destructive pest of all, is not 
mentioned either by the author or in the discussion that followed the 
reading of the paper at Chiswick last October. 
We allude to what is popularly known as the winter moth, or, scien¬ 
tifically, Cheimatobia brumata (Stephens). 
On page 39 Mr. S. T. Wright of Glewston Court referred to this scourge 
FIG. Ifi.—THE WINTEE MOTH. 
Winged male, wingless female, and caterpillar. 
of the garden and orchard as follows :—“ Probably the greatest draw¬ 
back in fruit culture is the caterpillar plague. Last year the damage 
done was immense, and this year I fully expect an even worse attack 
unless something unforeseen occurs. Fruit trees, forest trees, and hedge¬ 
rows are thickly studded with the eggs of the winter moth ; and though 
we had a splendid autumn for fruit trees, ripening their wood and per¬ 
fecting the fruit buds, the outlook is decidedly gloomy. The person 
A, Elioot natural size, with eggs on bud; B, stem natural .size, with eggs in the end; 
C, the stem Increased 5 diam.; D, egg maguilled 311 diam. 
who can invent a certain remedy for this pest will deserve a country’s 
gratitude and a well filled pocket.” 
The winter moth (fig. 16) is so named because of emerging from pupte in 
the ground in October or November ; at least the male insects are usually 
seen flitting about in the twilight then, for their habits are nocturnal. 
Only the male, which has a yellowish grey body and ashy grey wings, 
can fly, the female having only rudimentary wings, useless for purposes 
of flight. The egg-laying insects crawl up the stems of trees, and 
thou sands have been caught by bands smeared with adhesive mixtures, 
but these have not always been effective. Whether through being applied 
too late, or whether there is some other method of ascent, is not known, 
but it is certain trees that have been bandaged had every blossom and 
leaf stripped oS them in May and June. 
Authorities, who copy one another with more or less fidelity, tell us 
the eggs are deposited on twigs, buds, and in crevices of the bark. That 
is so, no doubt, but, as Mr. S. T. Wright pointed out last year, infinitely 
more are packed away where they have been little suspected—namely, in 
the ends of the shoots or cuts left in pruning. A slight shrinkage 
occurs there, and interstices are thus formed between both the outer 
and inner layers of the bark. These our correspondent, we think has 
proved, are the favourite resting places. 
He recently sent us a number of twigs and snags cut from the trees 
under his charge, and in every sample there were a hundred times more 
eggs in the cut ends than on the buds or the bark. Two of these 
portions, one (A) with eggs on the bud, the other (b) with eggs in the 
end of the stem, also under a spur—the arrows pointing to them in each 
case—were sent to Mr. W. G. Smith for engraving, natural size, with an 
enlargement of the stem (c) for showing the eggs more clearly ; some of 
them (d) he has also enlarged considerably. There is no mistake about 
them, nor of the place of concealment that is depicted with exactitude 
in the figure. 
The discovery of our correspondent—for such, we think, it may be 
fairly regarded, and now for the first time made visible to the world—is 
a step in advance in knowledge on a subject of very great importance. 
He now wishes to know how to destroy the myriads of eggs, and intends 
making experiments to that end. We can, however, tell him how to 
destroy the bulk of them, and we hope he will try the simple method 
