466 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jane 5, 1830. 
own are at Christmas. Still, he may, perhaps, be inc’ined to answer in 
the trustful or fatalistic lines of Pope :— 
“ In spite of sense, in erring reason’s spite. 
One thing is clear—whatever is, is right.” 
I certainly do not think it right that insect-eating birds should be 
destroyed, but who will say it is wrong to destroy caterpillars where 
there are not sufficient birds able or will¬ 
ing to eat them ? Those who do say so 
must be content to share with the pests 
in the wholesale destruction of human 
food, and, if they can, be thankful. 
Some kind friend has sent me a 
“ cutting ” from a newspaper in which 
Mr. Jabez Hogg, in supporting Mr. Hig¬ 
gins, says, “ Syringing trees with a 
solution of a deadly poisonous nature is 
as unreasonable as it is unscientific,” 
and would “ settle all bird life.” .4t 
Glewston Court Mr. Campbell’s splendid 
bush Apple, Pear, and Plum trees have 
been syringed twice a week for the past 
two months, yet in the plantation 
chickens are kept, and have free range 
through the plantation for eating the 
PIG. 68.—DEVOUEED TEUSS. caterpillars that are shaken from the 
trees, and I do not know that any of 
the birds have been “settled.” Moreover, the practice denounced 
as “ unscientific ” is officially advised by Mr. Charles Whitehead of 
the Intelligence department of the Board of Agriculture, and he 
publishes the following in support of his recommendations :—“ Pro¬ 
fessor Lintner. entomologist of the State of New York, in a recent 
letter says that in his opinion fruit growers who do not use Paris green 
as a remedy against caterpillars infesting fruit trees are guilty of 
•culpable negligence.” 
Mr. Jabez Hogg goes on to intimate that “'fruit growers may save 
themselves all the trouble and expense of syringing by the preservation 
of our feathered friends,” and if they neglect this, “ retribution will 
■surely come, when 
“ Hosts of devouring insects crawled and found 
No foe to check their march, till they had made 
The land a desert, without leaf or shade.” 
These lines admirably represent what has already come in districts 
where birds are cherished and preserved, therefore not as a “ retribu¬ 
tion.” A “ foe ” is obviously needed to, we will say, assist the birds to 
FIG. 70.— CATEKPILLAES AND PAEI3 GREEN. 
“ check the march ” of the devouring pests which crawled and ate till 
not a leaf was left. 
A great lover of fruit and of birds found he could not have both on 
his bushes together, because the birds ate all the buds in spring, and in 
summer devoured his Strawberries. “ Oh I net the beds and bushes,” 
say the bird preservers. But is precluding birds from food “ preserving? ” 
Is it not more like starving them ? The gentleman in question did, 
however, net from birds, and very thoroughly. He had the trees and 
bushes in a large square in his garden, which he enclosed in a huge wire 
cage, with doors for ingress and egress. This fruit cage is tall enough 
for a tall man with a tall hat to promenade amongst the trees and 
bushes, and there is plenty of fruit on them. 
Now, please note, with the object of learning (vhether he could have 
fruit without birds, he determined to exclude them at all times. 
Here is the curious result. Before the enclosure his Gooseberry 
bushes were defoliated with caterpillars, but now they are free from 
the pest. He confesses he cannot account for the change, but has 
been driven to the conclusion that “ there is a good deal of sentiment in 
the feathered friends’ fraternity,” and intends keeping his fruit cage 
closed throughout the year. It is not quite safe to dogmatise on these 
things. 
Mr. Campbell of Glewston and his gardener have done good service 
to fruit growers in the discovery they made of the favourite nesting 
places of the insects, the consequence being the destruction of millions 
of eggs. Mr. Campbell has further added to our obligations by bis 
having sent examples of the working of the caterpillars to Mr. AV. G. 
Smith, who has well depicted them in the illustrations. 
Fig. 68 represents the remains of a cluster of blossom buds. It is a 
sample of others on trees which had been left for the birds to take care 
of, but instead of these eating the caterpillars, it will be seen the cater¬ 
pillars have devoured both the flower buds and the surrounding leaves. 
Buin more complete could not be imagined. It is the result of under¬ 
rating the power of the enemy. Nothing was done to the trees, and thus 
the orchard is a “ desert without leaf or shade.” Had Mr. Campbell’s 
6000 trees been similarly neglected, they must have been in the same 
deplorable condition. But they were saved by a fierce and prolonged 
combat with the foe, and Paris green was the most effective weapon in 
the subjugation. 
Now we pass to fig. 69. The top sketch (No. 1) shows an expanding 
hud just attacked by caterpillars so small as to be scarcely seen, though 
