23 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 13, 1858. 
they were first-rate nuts. I took a dish of them to our Show, 
and had a second prize. Now, I should like to know 
whether you call that a good crop ?— Montgomery. 
[We need scarcely say that we consider 46 lbs. a good crop 
for one Filbert-tree ; but is not this an exception, not the 
usual produce ? We never knew Filbert-/rees uniformly good 
bearers. The most regular and certain croppers are Filbert 
bushes. —Ed.] 
DESTROYING GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLARS 
AND RED SPIDER. 
As the time is fast approaching when the Gooseberry cater¬ 
pillar will attack the bushes, I beg to make known, through 
the medium of The Cottage Gardener, a method of de¬ 
stroying them, which I have practised for upwards of twenty 
years, and for efficacy and cheapness quite supersedes any 
other agent, both for the destruction of the caterpillar and 
red spicier on the Gooseberry bush, without injuring the 
blossoms or the leaves, if not made over-strong. 
Get a tub that will hold 25 or 30 gallons ; put into it 
2 quarts of tar, and 7 lbs. of common washing soda ; pour a 
few gallons of boiling water on it: stir it until the soda is 
dissolved, when the tar will mix with and be held in solution 
by the water; then fill the tub full of cold water, and it is fit 
for use. 
When the caterpillars are only a few days old, the solution 
will do much weaker; but when nearly full grown, make it a 
little stronger. I use a syringe perforated at the side instead 
of at the end, in order the more effectually to wash the under¬ 
sides of the leaves. Bushes that are infested with red spider 
are best washed with a watering-pot and rose, about the 
middle of a fine day, when the insects are on the tops of the 
leaves. 
Farmers, I think, might catch a useful hint here. Would 
not the above liquid, if used for bathing sheep, be equally as 
good, and much cheaper than the various preparations used 
for that purpose ?—J. S. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OE EDINBURGH. 
Under this title a new Society for the promotion of gar¬ 
dening has been organised at Edinburgh. Besides honorary 
and corresponding members, it has four classes of subscribers, 
paying annually, 21s., 10s. 6d., 7s. 6d., and 2s. 6d. The 
last is confined to “ garden assistants of all ranks, mechanics, 
and cottagers.” 
We wish it every success, and hope that it will stimulate 
the Caledonian Society to an exertion, which may rescue it 
from that deatli to which it seems gradually declining. We 
are told, at all events, by a correspondent, that “ the new 
Society is intended to supplement the efforts making by the 
Caledonian Society. From some cause or other the Caledo¬ 
nian has been retrograding, and it purposes to have a Show 
only in May and June. By this purposing, if no other agency 
was at work, there would be in the Scotch metropolis no Show 
of autumn flowers nor fruits, which certainly ought not to be 
neglected. The nurserymen and all the head gardeners round 
Edinburgh are friendly to the movement, and the new Society 
has got the Earl of Rosslyn as President, and a general Com¬ 
mittee of fifty dealers, practical gardeners, and amateurs, 
beside a working Committee of thirteen. Hr. Geo. Lawson 
is Secretary.” 
This is a good example, and we should not wonder if some 
member of the Pomological Society were to propose an en¬ 
largement of its basis, <c to supplement ” the Horticultural 
Society of London. 
FERNS AND FLOWERS AT BALLYMAHON. 
I had intended sending you a frond of what appears to me 
a gigantic specimen of Ceterach officinarum , but finding that 
the very few I had have all been distributed among friends, I 
must confine myself to a description of it, trusting it may be 
intelligible. First, let me tell you, that in this immediate 
neig hbourhood the Scaly Ceterach is extremely rare; and, 
where it has been found, always extremely small and stunted, 
though about twenty miles off, on the other side of the Shannon’ 
it grows in great luxuriance at Mote Park, the seat of Lord 
Crofton. The largest frond, however, that was ever found at 
Mote Park is not one-fourth the size of the one I am alluding 
to, and of which I send you a slight sketch. It was found by 
my daughter in an old-ruined tunnel, not half a mile from our 
cottage, and in a spot singularly devoid of Ferns. Though 
not eleven years old, she detected at once that it was to her 
“ new,” and carefully brought me home the entire plant, which 
unfortunately is but small. If you can make anything out of 
my sketch, you will see that the edges of the leaflets are wavy, 
very scaly at the back, and in every way resembling a Ceterach. 
Pray tell me if you know it. 
I do not know whether the Bladder Fern is common in 
England; here it is very rare indeed, but my friend Mr. S. 
Edgeworth (after whom Hhodoclendron JSdgeworthi was called) 
told me the other day, that he had just met with it growing 
abundantly in the chinks of the stone steps at Sonna Half, 
about ten miles from me! How it got there is to me a mystery. 
As to our doings here I cannot tell you much as yet, for it 
is not more than a week since the ground was covered a foot 
deep with snow. Since then, however, a summer-like weather 
has set in quite on a sudden; the sun shining so brightly, and 
with such force, that I seldom found it hotter in August than 
it was to-day, when I went over to my friend the Doctor, to 
see if I could pick up any news for our friends in England. 
I found the little man in great good humour; he said it was 
just the right weather for his Orchids, which are in full growth 
now, and require plenty of heat and moisture. The sun sup¬ 
plies the one much better than Jive (not to speak of economy), 
and the syringe does the other, whilst a few yards of calico 
keep off the glare. 
The only new beds he had were two, one made with common 
pink Hepatica, surrounded with a band of a peculiarly white 
Crocus ; the other made with blue Hepatica in the centre, a 
yellow Crocus all round: this last was beautiful. He was 
preparing his bed of concentric rings, of Primroses and Violets, 
but seemed doubtful as to its success, as the Primroses were so 
very much in advance of the Violets. I strongly recommend 
you the blue Hepatica, with the yellow Crocus for a border; 
this last about a foot wide; it makes a truly gorgeous bed.— 
Italicus. 
[ Ceterach officinarum is such a remarkable Fern that it 
cannot be mistaken for anything but what it is; there is not 
the least doubt but the specimen “ Italichs ” speaks of is 
the Ceterach, or Scaly Spleenwort. The situation where it 
was found would readily account for its vigorous growth. We 
have fronds which have been gathered wild, of various lengths, 
from two inches to six inches in length. A friend sent us 
specimens, found wild in Devonshire many years ago, some¬ 
where near the sea, and also fine specimens of the Asplenium 
marinum at the same time; and we have seen the Ceterach in 
a growing state, established in the border with its fronds, as 
fine as those spoken of by “ Italicus.” 
The common Bladder Fern is frequently met with in a wild 
state in England : in the light, rich soil of a shady border it 
flourishes admirably.] 
A SWARM IN' THE STOCK’S PLACE. i 
Seeing the subject of placing swarms where the old stocks 
stood is deservedly exciting some interest in your pages, I 
send you the result of an old bee-keeper’s experience in this 
matter. I was indebted entirely, and I believe every one 
else is, to the “ Country Curate” for the idea, some six or 
seven years ago. I have never had a second swarm when I 
have removed the old stocks to the distance of one hundred 
yards, and I have removed as many as six in one year; but 
when 1 have shut*up the old hive for the day, and placed it 
in the evening about four feet off its old stand, now occupied 
by the swarm, as advised in the “ Country Curate’s ” book, 
my success has been very indifferent. This I attribute to the 
bees finding their old home out. 
When successful, it has no such result as <c reducing the 
old stock to an useless skeleton ;” but, on the contrary, after 
a week or two, it becomes far stronger than it ever would 
have been, had it swarmed twice ; and, in my case, I scarcely 
