May 6. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
09 
vourably known in Scotland as a successful and entertaining 
writer on gardening and rural affairs. He was the youngest 
son of Mr. Archibald Gorrie, of Annat, near Errol, Perth¬ 
shire, who himself has, for nearly half-a-century, been a 
valuable contributor to the current literature of the period; 
a sound practical man in all matters relating to gardening 
and agriculture, a close observer of nature, and now one of 
the few connecting links which are left between the former 
age and the present. 
Mr. David Gorrie was born at Annat Cottage, in 1822; 
and, from the seventh year of his age, it was discovered that 
he was afflicted with an enlargement of the heart—a disease 
which medical men informed him might produce sudden 
death, and which, during his life, prevented him from en- 
i tering on any active pursuit. For the last three or four 
years of his life he had been engaged at Borthwick Hall, 
the residence of Charles Lawson, Esq., in laying out the 
grounds, and superintending the planting and landscape 
decorations ; and there he died suddenly on the 12th of 
March last. 
AVe extract from the Perthshire Courier the following 
excellent tribute to Mr. Gorrie’s memory :— 
“ Mr. Gorrie fell a prey to a hopeless malady, under which 
he had laboured, we believe, almost from infancy. A valu¬ 
able life has thus been early cut off; and a career, as hope¬ 
ful as under such affliction any career could be, has been 
early stopped short. Of the most retiring habits and unob¬ 
trusive manners, Mr. Gorrie was, personally, we daresay, 
little known in the world; but he has left behind him many 
memorials, which will make him be remembered, after not 
a few, who have been more prominent, shall have long been 
forgotten. Unable to enter very actively into business, he 
gave himself early up to a life of literature ; and amidst the 
depressing influences of his bodily ailment, prosecuted his 
, congenial labours with surprising energy and devotion. 
Deeply imbued, we believe, with the spirit, and much sus- 
i tained in his afflictions by the power of our holy religion, 
j he has at the age of 34 been cut down, young in years, but 
1 abundant in works of enduring value, and full of promise. 
“ Mr. Gorrie’s favourite study was agriculture and cognate 
subjects. Early associations and training probably com- 
; mended the whole circle of rural economy to his partiality, 
and subsequent study seems only to have deepened and 
developed the preference. But, as will appear, he by no 
j means confined his attention to these subjects. Religious 
and historical topics each occupied his thoughts, and formed 
the subjects of some of his most successful writing. 
“ For the able articles which have from week to week 
appeared at the head of this department of our Journal, 
during now very nearly the past three years, we have been 
indebted to Mr. Gorrie. Of the interest with which he 
uniformly invested every branch of the comprehensive sub¬ 
jects he discussed and illustrated—whether Agricultural, 
Arboricultural, or Meteorological—we have the best reason 
to believe there has been but one opinion among our readers ; 
while to the extent and accuracy of his acquaintance, with 
these topics, and the soundness of his judgment regarding 
them, we have had the repeated testimony of the most 
competent authorities. Seldom, we are assured, have so 
strictly professional subjects been more accurately, and at 
the same time more popularly and engagingly discussed, 
than have those rural topics been by Mr. Gorrie in 
these columns. But Mr. Gorrie's contributions to the 
Perthshire Courier were not confined to the articles of the 
‘ Farmers’ Journal.’ We have frequently been indebted to 
him, besides other contributions, for literary notices and 
reviews of new books. One in particular we may be allowed 
to adduce, as manifesting his varied information and the 
uniform ability he brought to bear upon the discussion of 
the most opposite subjects. The review we refer to was of 
the later volumes of Miss Strickland’s ‘ Lives of the Queens 
of Scotland,’ which appeared in the Courier of February 21. 
Although we had previously reviewed the same volumes, 
and had taken a different view of the subject of it (the life 
i of Queen Mary) from Mr. Gorrie, yet such was its manifest 
ability and independence of thought, that we felt con¬ 
strained, under reservation of our own opinions, to give it 
a place. And this review, we may add, received the dis- 
I tiuguished compliment of a graceful acknowledgment by 
j the gifted lady whose views it adopted and advocated. 
“ But Mr. Gorrie’s services were not confined to this 
Journal. He was a large contributor to the periodical press 
of the day. One of his earliest productions—‘ The Plough 
Boy ’—a series of six papers, if we remember correctly, in 
which he graphically and faithfully pourtrayed the early 
scenes and training of rural life, appeared many years ago 
in the Perthshire Advertiser. Belt's Weekly Messenger, the 
Witness, the Northern Warder, the Dundee Advertiser, and 
the North British Agriculturist, have all more or less shared 
the productions of his pen. He contributed, besides, ex¬ 
cellent articles on religious topics to the English Presby¬ 
terian Messenger; and also able and valuable papers upon 
professional subjects to the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 
The work, however, upon which he placed greatest value 
himself, and the only regular book, so far as we know of 
which he was the author, was his 1 Illustrations of Scripture, 
in Connection with Botanical Science;’ a book, the merits 
of which not only secured commendatory notices in all the 
papers, but commanded a somewhat handsome price for 
the copyright. We very cordially pay this meagre tribute to 
the memory and merits of a gentleman of excellent talonts, 
whose writings we have much admired, and whose valuable 
assistance we have so long enjoyed." 
THE GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR. 
In looking over the back volumes of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener, I find that great damage had been done last season, 
in the market-gardens round London, by the Gooseberry 
Caterpillar; that one market-gardener had employed a 
hundred women to pick them from the bushes, while others 
were dusting with soot, or washing with soap suds, as a pre¬ 
ventive. After reading all this, and sympathising with the 
sufferers, I feel it my duty to describe a more certain remedy 
for overcoming such a formidable and destructive pest. It 
is the plan of that old and very justly-esteemed and cele¬ 
brated gardener, Mr. John Nicol, of Raith, in Fifeshire, 
father of Mr. Walter Nicol, the author of several works on 
Gardening and Forestery. Mr. Nicol was a man of superior 
talents and genius, a close observer, and, in his day, the 
best practical gardener in Scotland. It was in the year 
1794, when I was at Raith, that I saw Mr. Nicol's usual 
mode of dealing with the Gooseberry Caterpillar. It was 
his general practice, about the month of April, to select two 
of his men, to whom he gave directions to examine the 
under side of the leaves of the Gooseberries for the. eggs of 
the Tcnthredo grossularire, or Gooseberry Saw-fly. This fly 
deposits its eggs along the veins on the under side of the 
Gooseberry leaf, and, by looking over the bushes once or 
twice a week, there may be one or two leaves on one bush 
on which the eggs may be found; and going from bush to 
bush, with a flower-pot in hand, in which to put the leaves, 
the work is soon done; indeed, a woman would go over five 
hundred bushes in a day. This was Mr. Nicol’s practice 
every season, and he was never troubled with the Caterpillar. 
It may be of advantage to some of your readers to say, 
that in 1844 I took possession of au old walled-in garden, 
which had been allowed to get into great disorder; indeed, 
it was more like a fox cover than a garden. I ordered all 
the trees and bushes to be taken up, and the whole of the 
ground trenched over. I then planted one of the quarters 
with strong Gooseberry-bushes. I did not reside at the 
place till August, after they were planted, and by that time 
ray fine bushes were completely stripped by the Caterpillar. 
Shortly afterwards, being in Edinburgh, and seeing a large 
quantity of tan at a tan-yard, I gave instructions for some 
sacks to be filled with tan and sent to my place. I had 
some of it put round every Gooseberry-bush, and the follow¬ 
ing season there was no Caterpillar. Thinking this might 
prove an effectual remedy, I made enquiry, and found there 
was a tan-yard about four miles distant from me, and by 
ordering three cart loads I completely covered the ground 
where the Gooseberries were planted. The bushes that 
season made very strong growths, and from that time till 
now I have seen no Caterpillar. It would appear, that while 
the bark is injurious to the insect it acts as a manure to the 
Gooseberry, for ever since I have had large crops, and the 
berries of good size.— Robert Hogg, Bogan Green, N.B. 
