343 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, September 4, 1860. 
insects, and a grouped list. Then, as to where they may be pro¬ 
cured, the answer is, by collecting the British species, and by 
purchasing exotic species of nurserymen. If the demand for them 
should be great, enterprising dealers would be ready enough to 
send out orders to collectors, in Europe and America, to look out 
for and send home both roots and seeds ; and, lastly, the cultural 
information about these plants is exceedingly meagre and scattered 
through large botanical works, not likely to fall into the hands 
of amateurs. There is no work or portion of a work on the 
subject that I know of, excepting Sowerby’s “English Botany,” 
and the “ Botanical Magazine.” 
The Soils, or Composts. — Chalky Loam. —This can only be 
obtained from places where chalk forms the substratum. The top 
spit will have sufficient chalk amongst it to serve the purpose. If 
that sort of soil is at a considerable distance, some lumps of 
chalk may be procured, and some fibry loam, the chalk be broken 
into small pieces and well mixed with the loam. Let it lay up in 
a heap for twelve months, and let be frequently turned over to in¬ 
corporate them well together. 
Loam. —Any pasture-ground will furnish suitable loam for tbe 
kinds requiring it. A thin spit from the surface, laid up and 
turned over till it is mellow, will suit such species as are found 
in meadow pastures. Some few species are found in boggy 
marshes : hence such a soil should be obtained and laid up in a 
shady place till it is wanted. 
Loam and Sandy Peat in equal quantities will be wanted for 
a large number of species. Let a sufficient quantity be procured 
and mixed together, and frequently turned to become amalga¬ 
mated, mellowed, and fit for use. 
Loam, Sandy Peat, and Leaf Mould. —This compost will be 
found necessary for most of the North American species, and also 
for such as are found in English woods, and for some European 
species. I have this compost prepared, mixed together and 
turned over for a few months to mellow. 
Excepting the boggy peat, which I think is best to be kept in 
a shady place, all the other soils and composts should be placed 
in an open part of the garden fully exposed to the sun, which has 
a very beneficial effect upon them. There cannot be a greater 
mistake made than that of placing soils for delicate plants under 
trees, or behind a wall on the north side. Air and light are great 
mollifiers of soils ; and the frequent turnings over of composts 
have the beneficial effect of exposing every particle of the soil to 
the air, heat, and light. I cannot press this part of the subject 
too strongly. I believe great mischief has been done to plants 
by using soils that have been laid up in improper places. Let 
the composts, then, be placed on a plot of ground fully exposed 
to the beneficial effects of the elements. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
MEETING of the ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
The August Meeting of the Entomological Society was presided 
over by J. W. Douglas, Esq., the President, when a considerable 
number of donations to the Society’s library were announced, 
including the extensive , series of Catalogues published by the 
Trustees of the British Museum, and the publications of the 
Royal and Linncean Societies, the Royal Physical Society of Edin¬ 
burgh, the Stettin Entomological Society, a new volume of Mr. 
Stainton’s fine work on the Tineidee, new parts of Mr. Water¬ 
house’s Catalogue of British Coleoptera, and Mr. Hewitson’s 
published work on exotic Butterflies. 
The President exhibited specimens of the rare and remarkable 
little Moth, Stathmopoda pedella, some of them being set so as 
to exhibit the peculiar manner in which the insect erects its legs 
in repose; also a specimen of the rare Beetle Phloitrya rufipes 
from rotten Oak at Leatherhead. 
Mr. F. Bond exhibited specimens of a new British species of 
Trochilum, taken at Torquay by Mr. Xing, who had brought a 
living specimen to town in order to prove its genuine capture in 
this country (which had been gratuitously questioned). The 
species agreed with specimens of T. philanthiforme, received from 
Spain by Mr. J. R. Hind, the celebrated astronomer. Four 
specimens of somewhat smaller size and rather darker in colour 
had also been taken by Mr. King at the Land’s End on the last 
day in July. 
Mr. Westwood exhibited specimens of the larva; and pupse of 
the Swallow-tailed Butterfly, reared by Dr. Yerloren ; and which 
disproved the statement which had been made — that the darker 
or lighter colour of the chrysalis indicated the sex of the future 
Butterfly. 
Mr. Ianson exhibited several new British Beetles of small size, 
captured by Mr. Turner at Rannock, in Perthshire, including a 
new British genus of Curculionidse, Brachonyx indigena, taken 
on the young shoots of the Fir. Several other new British 
species of Coleoptera, heretofore confounded with other species, 
were also exhibited by Mr. G. R. Waterhouse, including species of 
the genera Cychramus, Trox, Clutorhynchus, and Crioceris. 
Mr. Scott exhibited various rare Coleoptera and Lepidoptera 
from different localities, recently captured. Others, chiefly Micro- 
lepidoptera, were also exhibited by Messrs. Mitford and Miller. 
Mr. F. Walker exhibited a remarkable variety of the common 
Butterfly, LUpparchia Megoera, captured in Guernsey. 
Mr. Tegetmeier announced that, after many discouragements, 
he had succeeded in obtaining a thriving and populous stock of 
Ligurian Bees (Apis Ligustica of Spinola). He also described 
some experiments which he had recently made, tending to prove 
that interbreeding does not occur in the common hive Bee, and 
consequently that that species does not afford an instance of 
purity of breed being preserved without cross-breeding from other 
communities. Having found that the male Bees will freely enter 
into any hive at the mouth of which they may happen to be 
placed, he powdered a number of the males as they left one of 
his hives with flour ; and he observed that at least one-third of 
these whitened individuals on returning from their flight entered 
other hives. He also referred to Siebold’s experiments with 
reference to the breeding of Bees from unimpregnated individuals, 
in which case only males had been produced. 
Mr. Scott read descriptions of four new British species of 
Microlepidoptera belonging to the genus Coleophora, the larvae 
of which live in cases. The new species live upon the Oak, Nut, 
Melilotus, and Artemisia. 
Mr. Westwood read a memoir communicated by Dr. Verloren 
on the effects of periodicity and temperature upon the develop¬ 
ment of insects, especially Sphinx Ligustri, a species which had 
been employed by the late Mr. Newport in a valuable series of 
observations published in the “ Transactions ” of the Royal 
Society. Dr. Verloren had found that in this insect the results 
were similar to those obtained by M. Vilmorin in his experiments 
upon plants published in the “ Comptes Rendus ” for 1859. 
A new part of the Society’s “ Transactions ” was announced 
as ready for publication. 
CUTTING DOWN GERANIUMS — ROSE-TREE 
ROOTS UNDER PAVEMENT. 
“ A Constant Reader of The Cottage Gardener” would 
be greatly obliged for an opinion on the following subjects;— 
1. Whether it is better, in a good greenhouse where there are 
all the means and appliances for keeping plants, to cut down old 
plants of bedding Geraniums at taking-up time, or to pot them 
just as they are, with their shoots untouched ? The above query 
is meant to apply to the variegated-leaved varieties as well as the 
green-leaved sorts. 
2. Whether Rose trees would be likely to grow against the 
wall of a house with flagstones over their roots ? 
[What we have always done with such Geraniums was this : 
We never cut down a variegated Geranium in the autumn; but 
few passed through our hands without trimming up for the sake 
of tidiness. When such plants moved in the spring they were 
stopped, or cut one-half down or three-parts down, according as 
we wanted stock of them. If no cuttings of this or that kind 
were wanted, this and that kind were not touched, unless some 
of the shoots pushed too much or too fast for the rest to keep up 
with them, these would be merely stopped. Very small, or young 
Tom Thumbs, the same; others of the same habit and less in growth, 
also the same treatment; but Compactums, Punch, Cerise Unique, 
and such strong kinds we always cut down the old stock of them. 
Fine kinds of Roses will do no good with their roots under the 
flags if the flags have been long down, and the ground under 
them was not cultivated formerly. But the running Ayrshire 
Roses—as Ruga, Dundee Rambler, and all that breed, would pro¬ 
bably do very well, no matter how stones stood under them. From 
what Mr. Beaton has said of the Queen of the Prairies flowering 
on the Rose pillars of the Crystal Palace, we purpose to recom¬ 
mend it to run over high or long distances in good aspects, and 
not to be pruned much either in summer or in winter, and not 
to expect flowers from it the first five or six years, and no matter 
how hot the place is if it is out of doors; and the same rules 
for Cloth of Gold and Miss Grey.'] 
