266 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 7 . 
room be dry, and in the adjoining apartments the tempera¬ 
ture should be 16° or 18°. 
Having taken the Fluff from the cocoons, they must be laid 
upon hurdles, and examined one by one, that all containing 
dead chrysalises may be thrown away, and this may be ascer 
tained by shaking the cocoon close to the ear. It will be well, 
too,to separate those supposed tobe the males from the females. 
Whilst the heat is hastening the development of the 
moth, the cloths or papers on which they are to lay their 
eggs must be arranged. There should be a table in the 
room on which the moths should be carefully placed, 
separating the male from the female. The birth usually 
takes place in the morning, about sunrise, except a few that 
issue forth towards evening. They must be lifted carefully 
by the wings, placed in a little tray, and carried to the table. 
There they eject a bloody fluid from the lower stomach, 
which must be evacuated before the male and female are 
placed together. There must now be little light in the 
apartment, that the males may not flutter their wings. 
When the number of males and females are not equal, 
the weaker ones may be removed ; but if there be a super¬ 
abundance of females, they may be reserved for a time, as 
one male will suffice for two females. When the moths have 
coupled, each pair must be taken gently by the wings and 
placed on a paper or cloth, slightly inclined, and in a cool, 
dark room, where air and light may not disturb them. The 
cloths or papers must be regularly numbered, that the 
insects may be separated at the proper time. They should 
be carefully watched, using a candle in preference to ad¬ 
mitting daylight, and any pair that have separated should be 
placed in another paper, and left in the dark, when they 
will re unite. The union should be permitted for thirty-six 
hours at the longest, and then, placing the cloths on the 
table, and holding tire female with one band, the male must 
be removed with the other. Then place the females on 
cloths fastened to the wall, and so arranged at the bottom 
as to receive those which fall; here the eggs are to be de¬ 
posited, and the males which are not wanted again should 
be thrown away. Some people shape the cloths sq as to 
form a receptacle at the bottom. 
Some think the moths should not be left on the cloths 
m 9 re than six-and-tliirty hours, fancying the eggs laid after 
that time are of an infeiior quality; but those who have j 
most experience say that such precaution is useless, and 
leave the moths till they have finished laying. 
The eggs may prove more or less fruitful, but it most 
likely depends on the temperature of the room. Eight or 
ten days after the eggs are laid they change from a dark to 
a lighter, and in the course of three weeks assume the ashy 
hue. Whether the eggs are good or not, they are all 
roundish at first, and after a little become rather hollow at j 
the sides, which indicate that they are drying; but there is 
no sensible difference even in weight between good and well 
kept ones and others. It will not hurt them to allow the j 
cloths to remain spread out where they are for some days, 
if the room be not warmer than 1 -j° or 1<>°, otherwise they 
must be taken to a cooler place. 
If any should have fallen, they may be put into bags or 
papers by themselves. When the eggs have become of an 
ashy colour, the cloths may be loosely rolled up, and put 
into any dry place where the frost will not touch them ; and 
to protect them from mice and other vermin they should 
be hung from the ceiling. Those who, without examination, i 
hang them from the roof of their cellars, are not wise, as 
damp is very prejudicial to the eggs. In tracing the dis¬ 
eases of whole establishments of worms, it has been found 
that the eggs have been kept in a damp place, the ignorant 
agriculturist never thinking of the loss he may thus incur. 
The hygrometer or salt should be used to test the moisture 
of the apartment. If, in consequence of the heat of the 
season, a few worms should hatch in the course of some 
days, it does not matter; there is, most likely, something 
peculiar in the form of the embryo which hastens the birth 
of the worm. As the eggs are sometimes infested by a 
kind of moth which destroys them by sucking them, it is 
necessary to examine the cloths at least once a-month, to 
clear them, if possible, of these mischievous animals. This 
monthly inspection will be useful in remedying any other 
accident which may happen to them. 
(To be continued.) 
ORCHARDS.—No. 1. 
Having occasion lately to visit a district celebrated for 
the extent and quality of its fruit plantations, I need hardly 
explain the beautiful appearance the landscape had with 
the large breadths of fruit-tree blossom displaying their 
charms too often to the inclement atmosphere that recals 
the general character of March to our memory, instead of 
the middle of May; however, much as I grieved, in common 
with others more interested in the welfare of such products, 
I could not but admire the general state of cultivation by 
which each individual fruit was brought into a profitable 
condition, while, in many instances, individual species were 
treated with a regard which showed that more than a “cur¬ 
sory look-on” actuated the doings of those more especially 
interested in their culture. Now, when we reflect that there 
are some districts or parishes wherein the proportion planted 
with fruit-trees amounts to something like one-tenth of the 
whole, we may readily suppose that their various habits and 
“ points " would attract the attention of those whose welfare 
is so intimately mixed-up with their well-being, that I was 
not disappointed to find the peculiarities of individual 
fruits had attracted that notice, even from the ordinary day- 
labourers, which a more learned critic would have been at 
a loss to find out; not but that some of the ideas of the 
former had now and then a little snatch of prejudice in it, 
or, probably, an occasional antiquated notion derived from 
a “ bygone time still, there was much to learn from, and 
much that might be copied with effect in other places. 
Before proceeding farther, I may inform the reader that 
the district I allude to is one of those undulated spots 
situated in the county of Kent. The elevations were seldom 
so precipitous as to prevent the use of the plough (had that 
been wanted), yet, on the whole, it might, in common 
phrase, be called a hilly country. The soil (for the orchards 
which I allude to were all tilled) would not tempt a Mid¬ 
land Counties’ farmer by its appearance ; in fact, much of it 
would excite an impression that it could not be otherwise 
than “barren,”—a sort of yellow, friable loam, mixed with 
more or less of stone of the same dirty colour, and often 
resting on a subsoil that would seem not likely to add to its 
fertility; that the first general impression a stranger has of 
it is certainly not favourable, and until he be otherwise in¬ 
formed, he is apt to infer that the healthy trees and hedges 
he sees around him are due to some artificial manure libe¬ 
rally applied, or that the climate is peculiarly congenial to 
such productions. Without doubting for a moment but 
that the latter has much to do with the success obtained, I 
think it right to say, that but little arises from artificial 
applications, not but that the best cultivators manure to 
the full extent of their means, yet that alone would not 
produce those splendid crops which are the admiration of 
those who have not seen similar crops before, did not the 
soil “naturally” possess the qualification for producing and 
maintaining the same. Now, though it would be difficult 
for me to convey to the general reader an idea of what this 
soil is, I may tell him that much of it is found forming the 
crust over an extensive bed of limestone. Certain fruits 
like to grow over “chalk,” but these I now mention have 
either a limestone substratum, or otherwise a soft, porous 
stone, called, in common phrase, “ hassock,” near the sur¬ 
face, while, lower down, limestone is usually to be had in 
more or less abundance; at all events, the most of the 
orchard-grounds are dry, so that “ draining ” a fruit-planta¬ 
tion is of rare occurrence, and unless in the case of Black 
Currants, and, it may be occasionally, Cherries , both of which 
like a moister soil than most other fruits, it is seldom we 
see an extensive plantation of fruits on land that has ever 
wanted artificial draining; therefore it will be fully under¬ 
stood that the orchards of which we speak are usually dry. 
An ordinary observer would, in many cases, bo equally 
surprised to see the crowded condition of some of our 
orchards when different fruits are gathered together, which 
is very often the case. Six feet standard Apples are planted 
over the ground with mathematical precision, as to dis¬ 
tances, &c., which is from twelve to thirty feet, according to 
circumstances. Midway between these Filberts are often 
planted; these are trained with a severity of which I will 
speak hereafter; and the intervening spaces are filled-up 
with Gooseberry or Currant-bushes, so that the whole plot 
