78 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 10, 1859. 
All washes in summer are impracticable ; and dry sulphur pro¬ 
duces no effect. I have written for some of Price & Co.’s soap ; 
but fear it cannot be applied on a large scale—a winter dressing 
might be practicable. 
The Pomological people imply a desire to classify climates. 
Might not a table be made applicable to the level of rails at every 
railway station in the kingdom ? At first this would be neces¬ 
sarily imperfect, as local disturbing causes would he overlooked. 
The latitude of each station could be obtained from a good 
map, and the height of rails above the sea either from published 
works or from the resident engineers of each line. The equivalent 
of height (that is, of altitude above the sea) and latitude being 
ascertained by our best meteorologists, the result might bo given 
as feet of altitude above some standard spot; say the most 
southerly spot iu England—the Lizard Point. 
Feet. 
Lizard Point at sea level . 0 
London 1J° north at 360 feet = 54°. Thames meadows, 
say, 20 feet above sea = 20°. 560 
Cheltenham 2° = 73°. Altitude 200 feet = 200°. 920 
Chester 3J° = 1200. Altitude say 50° .. 1250 
Thus you would have a list of altitudes at which each climate 
would be reached in the latitude of the Lizard. I have assumed 
360 feet to be the .equivalent of one degree of latitude. If more 
convenient, London might form the standard. If Government 
were memorialised they would probably order the railway depart¬ 
ment of the Board of Trade to prepare the list of latitudes and 
altitudes of the stations, and the Greenwich people (perhaps Mr. 
Glashier) to ascertain jmd calculate the equivalents.—R. Y. 
[The winter moth referred to by our correspondent is the 
Cheimatobia brumata. It is the cause of more destruction to our 
fruit and other trees than almost 
any other insect; for no weather 
is sufficiently severe to injure 
either them or their eggs ; and the 
caterpillars, in the early spring, 
will feed upon the opening buds 
and leaves of almost every kind 
of tree. The females, being with¬ 
out wings, may be prevented as¬ 
cending our standard fruit trees, 
by smearing round their trunks 
a band of tar ; but this must be 
renewed, as it dries every two or 
three days. The male moths 
begin to fly about just after sun¬ 
set, during-November and until Die end of January. Their upper 
wings, when opened, measure across about II inch; but during 
the day they look much smaller, for they fold them up so as to 
forma triangle, and have their feelers, or horns (antennte) turned 
back over them. Those wings are pale grey, marked with various 
darker waved lines. The under wings are greyish-white, often 
having a notched line crossing their cdVitre. The body, delicate 
and.tapering, is yellowish-grey. The female crawls to the top of 
a tree and deposits her very small oval eggs upon the blossom 
and leaf-buds, as well as upon the shoots. She will lay from 200 
to 300 eggs. The caterpillars and the buds come to life together ; 
at first they are grey, and scarcely thicker than a horsehair, but 
they cast their skins, and finally become of a yellowish-green 
colour, shining, and with a blue line down the back. On their 
sides are two yellowish-white lines. The Apple buds are their 
favourite food ; but they destroy without difficulty the leaves of 
the Hawthorn, Lime, Hazel, R 030 , Elm, Willow, and Hornbeam,] 
NOVEL METHOD OE GROWING- 
ANTIRRHINUMS. 
I HATE a garden, the upper part of which is higher than the 
other; and the former is divided and supported by a wall about 
fifty yards in length and five feet high. Against this I planted, 
about four years ago, a choice collection of Roses ; but, being a 
due south aspect, notwithstanding every care in mulching, water¬ 
ing, &c., I could not keep down the aphides, and I was obliged 
to remove the Roses. The builders of the wall had occasionally 
omitted a brick for the purpose, I suppose, of draining the soil 
which it supported. In these holes, last year, I planted An¬ 
tirrhinums, which grew vigorously and flowered beautifully. 
They made such rapid growth that there was a great danger of 
their being twisted off by the wind, which I prevented by nailing 
long pieces of cloth selvage over them. So successful was the 
experiment, and so much were they admired, that during the 
past winter I have had a great many additional holes made in the 
wall (without really injuring it), and filled them all with strong 
plants of the same flower, struck from choice varieties, in the 
autumn, and I anticipate a blaze of flowers. Does any other 
flower strike you as suitable for the purpose ? Of course I am 
aware that the common Wallflower would do well, but it is soon 
out of bloom.—A n Amateue. 
[The Valerians, red and white, do well on a wall.—E ds.] 
GLASS EOR SHADING. 
Yotje correspondent, “ Caeceoeus,” in speaking of the culture 
of Calceolaria, saya :—“ I proceed to prick them out in the usual 
manner, and shade them by whitening the inside of the glass.” 
Now, I almost doubt whether whitening the glass would subdue 
the light at all, for anything glazed or whitened has a tendency 
to make the light stronger and brighter. So that the intention 
of protecting the cuttings from light is entirely frustrated. For 
a trifling expense an extra light for the top of the forcing-frame, 
glazed with neutral tint or London smoke (coloured) glass, to be 
bought at any respectable glass-house for a few shillings, would 
be found, in hot weather, an invaluable protection both-to cutting 
and tender plants.— Stephen B -Y. 
[Whitening the inside of the glass does subdue the light, and 
intercepts the heating rays of the sun.— Eds.] 
DOUBLING THE POLYANTHUS. 
I have read with much interest Mr. Beaton’s remarks on this 
subject; and must attribute his total want of success either to his 
Polyanthus-bed being not suitable—the seed being all from one 
plant had no disposition to produce extra petals ; or, lastly, his 
inspection of each pip has not been minute enough. I certainly 
find some varieties more inclined to develope their stamens into 
petals than others ; and, I believe, seedlings from the large yellow 
Polyanthus (which twelve years ago was called Buchanan’s Seed¬ 
ling ) have the greatest predisposition to convert their stamens into 
petals. Primroses, according to my experience, will do this more 
readily than Polyanthuses. Mr. Porter, of Brixton Hill Nursery, 
some ten years ago raised a good semi-double yellow Polyanthus, 
but I have never seen it since ; and Mr. Ivery sent out about the 
same time a new, good double Polyanthus, of a brickish-red 
colour, which I grew for some yejirs, and always deduced, from 
the effect produced upon seedlings raised from seeds I crossed 
with Buchanan Seedling , that it must have had some of this 
strain. Mr. Ivery, about the time referred to, informed me that 
this double Polyanthus came accidentally in a lady’s garden. 
Could the circumstances be accurately ascertained of situation, 
soil, if manured (and with what) prior to the doubling being 
produced, if much shaded, and how and what amount of moisture 
was supplied, the special requisites for effecting the doubling of 
this plant, might, in some degree, be deduced. 
Last year I obtained a 2s. 6 d. packet of florist-flowering Poly¬ 
anthus seed from Norfolk ; had it sown in pans, and the seedlings 
pricked out in a bed made in the kitchen garden, a stiff clayey soil, 
which had been heavily manured with ashes, night soil, the clean¬ 
ings from the poultry-house, &c., the result of which is, they are 
strong plants, and I have one of them with an offset which has 
produced flowers with fix, seven, eight, and nine petals ; but all 
these are after the Primrose type, whilst the remaining part of 
the plant has grown Polyanthus flowers, and are only five-lobcd, 
as is usual. Besides, I have found two pips on separate plants 
with one of their stamens developed into a petiolet; and these I 
mark with a small piece of bass, and remove all the other pips. 
Many of these seedlings have seven and eight petals ; but I am 
inclined to estimate at much greater value, for the object under 
consideration, the transposition of stamens into a small petal, 
than the mere addition of one or two more lobes to extend the 
circle of the pips ; and for this reason, in dissecting a double Poly¬ 
anthus or Primrose, although six lobes both in the sepals and 
petals are not rare, yet the normal five are chiefly the number. 
That which is deserving primary consideration is, it will be dis¬ 
covered that the method upon which the doubling is accomplished 
is by the outer circle of petals, or corolla, having one, often two, and. 
MALE. 
FEMALE. 
