June 23. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
231 
: chimney. It will be prudent to observe whether the tem¬ 
perature of the external air be as high as 10°, for should it 
be below that point it must not be so freely admitted, but 
the ventilators must be opened by degrees, and fires in the 
stove and chimney must warm the air before it enters the 
working room; and thus a gentle ventilation will strengthen 
the worms. The purification, with sulphuric acid and nitre, 
may be resorted to, and the hygrometer watched by those 
who have been wise enough to procure such an instrument, 
and who wish to send their worms to the bush neither sick 
nor weak, as too often happens when this process is trusted 
to persons inveterately bigotted to old ways. 
The bush must now be completed by placing twigs at 
intervals, and uniting them at the top, so as to form a kind 
of roof, and in the spaces between the squares should be 
other little twigs, but always so arranged that the air may 
circulate freely through them. When these are loaded with 
worms, more branches must be placed between the middle 
bunches and those on the edge of the hurdles: thus rows 
of little bushes are formed quite across the hurdle, at a 
distance of eighteen inches apart. 
Then the whole must be carefully looked over, and those 
worms known to have reached maturity must be placed 
near the twigs, and a little food occasionally given to those 
who show an inclination to eat. If, after the lapse of twenty- 
four hours, there should be any worms who neither eat nor 
climb, they must be removed to a dry room, at a temperature 
of 18°, where they will gain strength to enable them to 
ascend into the bush ; or, if any have not reached maturity, 
they must be covered with leaves, on which light twigs may 
be placed: they will crawl upon these, and may be thus 
conveyed to the bush where they are to spin. 
The most perfect cleanliness being observed, every kind 
of impurity and damp scrupulously avoided, and the air 
purified, I will now offer some observations on the rules to 
be observed in the room until the worm has completed his 
fifth stage. 
When the worms begin to ascend, the temperature must 
be maintained at 1G£° or 17° of Reaumur’s thermometer 
(70° F.); and if the external air be colder, it must not be 
admitted directly upon the bush, but must be made to cir¬ 
culate gently, keeping the ventilators open, as circumstances 
require, and refreshing the air in the adjoining apartment. 
Too much wind makes the worm torpid, causes him to fall 
from the bush, and hinders his work ; but great care must, 
also, be taken that the. sun never shines in the bush, and 
thus heat the worms too much, especially at the commence¬ 
ment of their work. 
The room must be kept dry to absorb the damp occasioned 
by the various secretions of the worms, as, if this be neg¬ 
lected, they are liable to diseases, which frequently occur in 
the fifth stage, to the great injury of the silk. If the worm 
has been properly treated, he completes this stage by spin¬ 
ning good silk, and forming an even cocoon there, depositing 
his sheath, or skin, and becoming a chrysalis. I shall con¬ 
clude this section w ; ith some important observations. 
I know it will be difficult to introduce this new method of 
forming the bush without touching the worm, which is 
really injured by such treatment, even though no ill con¬ 
sequence be apparent. As we have said before, the method 
employed by our people of throwing them into the bush is 
very prejudicial. The bush is generally formed in a corner 
of the room, very confined sometimes, even covered over, 
which is a manner of proceeding quite inconsistent with the 
principles already laid down, and with the attention the 
worms require during this epoch. It is, surely, clear to 
every one that the worms must prefer to follow the instincts 
, of nature, by climbing into the bush instead of being thrown 
there by persons who are naturally careless and inveterately 
ignorant and obstinate. I have seen the bush covered with 
sheets, and even an outer covering over that; but I have 
i seen, at the same time, that great numbers of worms have 
been suffocated without beginning their work, or before it is 
properly finished. 
At all events, let the bush stand in the middle of the room, 
and not be confined in the branches. One would think that 
even the most stupid and ignorant attendants might see that 
such an arrangement is necessary; but “ It always was so,” 
is answer sufficient, even though aware that their ob¬ 
stinacy injures themselves. The sheets of paper on the 
hurdles, and under the bush, contribute much to the clean¬ 
liness of the beds; nevertheless, our people will not use 
them. The hurdles must not be touched, but the attendants 
should have ladders to mount to them. This is quite in¬ 
dispensable if the bush be formed in the hurdles which are 
raised above each other in tiers, and which must be more 
firmly made than those in common use. 
(To be continued.) 
CLIANTHUS PUNICEUS. 
I hasten to send you an account of a rich floral treat I 
have partaken of to-day, in the shape of the above-men¬ 
tioned plant, now in bloom at Thos. Thornhill’s, Esq., 
Woodleys, near Woodstock, Oxon. The plant measures four 
yards in extent of surface upon a wall; it is two yards high, 
and the flowering branches, which number 75, protrude 
horizontally (many of them requiring support from their 
weight of bloom) a yard from the wall. The average num¬ 
ber of clusters on each branch is 35, and the average number 
of flowers on each cluster averages nine; thus giving 2500 
racemes, and 23,310 single blooms. The gardener, Mr. 
Bishop, informs me, that he raised the plant from a cutting; 
and it has been planted out in the open border three years, 
in an aspect much inclining to the east. I saw it in the 
winter, when it was protected with a sort of framework con¬ 
sisting of old window-sashes and matting. Mr. B. is proud 
of his protege, and, indeed, he has reason, for, as its syste¬ 
matic name implies, it is glorious. This is a plant well 
worthy of recommendation, and more general cultivation ; 
it is half-hardy, grows rapidly, and when placed in a posi¬ 
tion similar to the one I am describing, so as to command 
the windows of the mansion, and full view from the lawn, 
the effect of such a mass of crimson, Oriental-looking 
bloom, is exceedingly bright and beautiful. 
Black Beetles. —If E. B. will write to Messrs. Gill and 
Ward, Ironmongers, Oxford, they will, in all probability, be 
enabled to forward a trap, which I can say, from experience, 
will, in course of time, eradicate every black, or any other 
beetle whatsoever, from off the premises, doing destruction 
also to the poor “ cricket of the hearth.” When we came to 
this house we brought our female servants with us. Two or 
three days afterwards, a long walk detained them from home 
until after dark, and very soon after they did return an 
awful screeching issued from the kitchen, which might have 
served one to suppose that murder, at least, was in com¬ 
mittal. The fact was, upon lighting a candle they became 
aware that the floor of the apartment was literally covered 
with black beetles; and never having seen any before, their 
first impulse was to mount upon the tables and sound their 
bugles. All manner of means and recipes were resorted to, 
to rid us of the vermin, but of no avail, until I happened 
to spy out the trap in Messrs. Gill and Ward’s shop-window. 
It is a box made after the fashion of an inclined plane, up 
which the beetles walk, and slip down a moveable glass well 
into the trap, from which there is no escape. The trap is 
baited with Hour, and the vermin emptied as required (first 
removing the glass) into boiling water, and there is an end 
of them. Persevere after this fashion, and they will soon 
cease to annoy; to see a beetle here now is a rarity. 
UPWARDS AND ONWARDS. 
NOTES OF A GARDENER. 
Forced Geraniums. —I have found out that forced Gera¬ 
niums have a great tendency to seed. This is the second 
year that I have observed it, and an intelligent nurseryman 
told me yesterday that he had made the same observation 
when reminded of it by me. There is also another great 
advantage attending this circumstance, namely, that the 
first few blooms are usually pollenless, and we are thus 
pretty sure of our cross. 
Ammocharis coranica. —The Botanical Magazine figures 
one Ammocliaris coranica, pale rosy; and describes another 
less handsome, which was the last I flowered, and which I 
think the true one. Mine was dirty dark purple, very 
revolute, in fact, quite a Nerine in appearance ; very distinct 
from falcata, which I often flower, and is larger in all parts 
