March 
m \ J 
JO URN-AL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
255 
the first week in May. The start should be made with the later 
varieties, following these with the second earlies, and finishing up 
with the Ashleafs. Thus treated there is a possibility of all 
escaping spring frosts, and which are so prejudicial to the crops of 
Potatoes. 
Whilst deprecating sowing seed too thinly, as this may end in 
disappointment, I wish especially to condemn the wasteful and 
unwise practice of sowing it very thickly, the only exception being 
in favour of Alustard and Cress. In most cases it is necessary to 
sow rather more thickly than it is advisable that the plants result¬ 
ing should remain, there being so many insect enemies, birds, and 
other contingencies to provide against; but that is no excuse for 
rushing to the other extreme. Crowded rows or beds of plants 
involve much additional labour in thinning, while the plants 
reserved are much weakened by close contact with their neigh¬ 
bours, and badly loosened when the thinning-out takes place. Too 
often the latter process is deferred unduly, or it may be not 
carried out at all, and in any case if more judgment had been 
exercised when the seed was sown the ultimate results would have 
been more satisfactory.—W. Iggulden. 
INSECTS OF THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
{Continued from page 150.') 
Strollers along the paths of a country garden in the dusk of 
a spring evening are frequently saluted by the hum of the common 
dor, or watchman beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius), which has, in 
fact, no particular business to be there, but it is somewhat erratic, 
and appears at times to wander about aimlessly. Another pecu¬ 
liarity of the species is, that although it is an insect of the night, it 
will now and then take excursions during daylight, incurring perils 
from its inability to guide itself about, so often getting knocked 
down, perhaps trampled upon. It is a harmless visitant to gardens, 
the object of its peregrinations is a search for cow droppings, 
amongst which the eggs are deposited, and the larvaj or grubs 
feed. I have mentioned this species, because I find some persons 
fancy the beetles injurious to flowers or buds, as certain beetles are, 
but the dor eats nothing at all. 
The species next to be described is indeed a destructive insect in 
all its stages, though I fancy it is less abundant now than formerly, 
decidedly less common than on the Continent, where beetles and 
grubs are frequently swept up in bushels. This is the cockchafer 
(Melolontha vulgaris), the life of which, as a beetle, does not last 
many weeks, though in that time it makes some havoc amongst trees 
and shrubs by devouring their leaves in those places where it occurs. 
But it is the larva that is responsible for damage done to some of the 
lawns in our gardens, also attacking fields of grass and corn, receiv¬ 
ing in some countries the name of the “ white grub.” It lives deep 
in the soil, feeding upon the roots, and feeds ravenously for three 
years, probably having a short period of repose in the winter. 
This is a remarkably plump grub, when unearthed it appears feeble, 
but is not really so ; the legs are small and not much used, its chief 
implement being the mouth, which has sickle-shaped jaws. One of 
the best means of destroying it in grass plots is the application of 
diluted ammonia, put on when the ground is moist. Birds eat them 
eagerly, but only a few, like the rook, are successful in digging them 
out. On the Continent this larva is reported to attack the roots of 
Vines, also those of many choice plants in nurseries ; no instances 
of this kind, however, are recorded in Britain, so far as I can 
ascertain. 
The garden beetle, or bracken clock (Phyllopertha horticola) is 
quite as much at home in the flower garden as in the orchard, 
though I do not know that it shows partiality for any species of 
Fern, so as to explain the second name. A third name for it is the 
June bug, that being the month when it visits fruit trees, gnawing 
the young fruit, and in gardens bites the petals of the Rose and 
some other flowers. This beetle is about half an inch long, M'ith 
dark green head and thorax, the wing cases are reddish brown. If 
alarmed, they assume a rigid position as if dead, sticking out the 
legs right and left. It is a good plan to look after them with a 
lantern in the evening, where signs of their doings are noticeable. 
The larva) or grubs feed, like those of the cockchafer, at the roots 
of various plants. Apart from the frequent appearance amongst 
our beds and borders of the beetles we now reach, forming the 
group of the click or skipjack species, I should have no doubt that 
their larvse were injurious to our flowers, from the well-known 
voracity of these pests, and their tendency to spread themselves in 
all directions. Then in the flower garden they escape notice for 
several reasons, and when they are perceived they are sometimes 
taken to be false wire worms— i.e., millipedes, of the genus Julus. 
These have the same narrow elongated bodies as the larva of the 
skipjack beetles have but they are not quite so wiry, also the legs 
are numerous, while in the true wireworms there are only six, very 
short. The death of many perennials is to be attributed to the 
unseen proceedings of these wireworms, which, commencing by 
an attack on the roots of a plant, afterwards make for the 
crown or stem, and which they penetrate, and the plant soon 
declines. 
Of the various species of Agriotes, such being the scientific 
name for these beetles, I believe the grey and black species, A. 
lineatus, is commonest in our beds. Its larva has been noticed 
swarming in leaf mould, from which, if overlooked, it can easily 
migrate to the plants placed in this substance. Many have been 
the methods suggested for the destruction of wireworms. It is not 
easy to kill such tough insects and yet leave the rootlets of the 
plants unhurt. Gas lime, diluted so as not to injure the plants, 
does not affect the wireworm ; one of the hest remedies is irrigation 
with the compound liquor of petroleum, which has been already 
fully described here. From the wireworm tribe we proceed to a 
small division of soft-bodied beetles with serrated horns, some of 
which are abundant in flower gardens. One of the insects in this 
group that has a familiar history is the glow-worm, sometimes sup¬ 
posed to be the only luminous British insect, but this is not the 
case. Recent observations have proved also that the winged ma,l( s 
possess a light as well as the wingless females and the larvie, which 
light they can conceal at wilb This species is generally found in 
lanes or grassy banks near woods, but I mention it because ento¬ 
mologists have suggested the species should be introduced into 
gardens, and it would be a pleasant sight to see a lawn or flower bed 
lit up by these pretty insects on a summer evening. An instance 
has been given of a glow-worm having been kept alive for months 
in a garden, and probably if secured from some of their natural 
enemies of the bird order they might increase rapidly. Moreover, 
it is certain they would be useful insects, because the principal food 
of the glow-worm is small snails and slugs. 
Allied to the glow-worm are the beetles of the genus Nele- 
phorus, of which Britain has twenty species. They are familiar to 
young and old during the sunny season of the year, when we see 
them crawling upon the heads of umbelliferous plants, or on 
showy flowers like the Dahlia and Sunflower. Although they can 
fly they are best at running, and when in the air they are easily 
caught by the hand. The children have long named the two groups 
of them “ Soldiers ” and “ Sailors,” the former being of red hue, 
the latter blue, or blue with black markings. In habit they are 
alike, being active and carnivorous, killing a variety of small 
flower-haunting insects. It was a favourite trick with boys to 
match a soldier and a sailor, for though relations the beetles are 
quite ready to combat each other, indeed two of the same species 
will fight till one is a slain. However the Telephori rank amongst 
the useful garden insects, both as beetles and as larva), for in the 
larval state they live amongst grass and low herbage through the 
winter and spring, preying upon earth worms and other grubs that 
may fall in their way. I have now and then heard in a garden 
shed or tool house the curious tap of a tiny beetle belonging to this 
family, bearing formerly the ominous name of “ death-watch,” in 
science it is Anobium striatum. The sound is wonderfully loud 
for che size of the insect, and it is supposed to be made by the 
beetle when boring to discover how near it is to the surface of the 
wood, or else as a signal from one to another. Some very pretty 
though not large beetles of the Clerus family illustrate another 
aspect of beetle life. The native insects are fond of displaying them¬ 
selves in gardens, but their larvae live in the resorts of other 
insects. Some of them live in the tunnels made by the grubs of 
other beetles ; one curious species, called C. apiarius, is notable 
because its larva is a foe to the hive bee, creeping from cell to cell 
and devouring the bee grubs. How the parent beetle manages to 
deposit the eggs without the bees interfering is rather mysterious.— 
Entomologist. 
BOUVARDIAS. 
My thanks are due to your correspondent, “ T. S.,” (page loC) for his 
criticism of my article on this subject on page 12. His chief remarks 
are in favour of planting out Bouvardias, and he regrets I did not say 
more about this method of culture. I am glad that I did not, for your 
correspondent has described a method that is excellent in every w.ay, 
and one I could readily follow with certainty of success if I favoured 
planting them out. I have grown them planted out much further north 
than this, and they have flowered profusely enough. I have planted 
them out here in Lancashire, and they have been most satisfactory. In 
wet cold seasons they have been the reverse, and therefore I urged that 
system which had proved most reliable with me, and which I thought 
would be best for general practice. Since growing them in pots I have 
been compelled to remove them from the position in which they have 
been plunged outside to the protection of frames or a cool house. A 
few cold days or nights, especially if the weather is wet, soon starves 
them, the active fibres fail, and the wood of the plants hardens prema¬ 
turely. The point upon which we mainly differ is about checking the 
