December 5, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
217 
A TRADE TELEGRAPHIC) CODE. INSECTS INJURIOUS TO HOP 
The following telegraphic code has been adopted by PLANTS, 
a committee of the Society of American Florists, and lj|L Charles 'Whitehead, Banning House, 
recommended by the society for general use to the Maidstone, is preparing for presentation to Parliament 
wholesale flower trade. In view of the sixpenny tele- a series of reports on insects injurious to Hop plants, 
grams, the publication of the code in our columns may corn, fruit, and root crops, and the first of the series, 
be useful to some of our trade readers, as the basis of a that on insects injurious to Hop plants, has just been 
code for their own use. issued. The insects enumerated and dealt with in 
Abrogate: In case you cannot fill order, telegraph at separate chapters, are the Hop Fly, the Hop Cone Fly, 
once. Anticipate: Answer at once, stating whether you the Hop Wirewonn, the Hop Jumper, the Flop Flea, 
can or cannot fill the order. Ambition : If you can the Otter Moth, the Thousand Legs, the Hop Bug, the 
only partially fill order, do so, and reply, stating what. Bed Spider, and the Strig Miner, and of nearly all 
Ambulance: Want all of order filled or none, and illustrations are given, with details respecting their life 
prompt answer back. Admiral: Order must be sent history, mode of attack, and the most suitable remedies 
on train mentioned only. Adjacent: If cannot send on to adopt. As a sample of Mr. Whitehead’s method of 
train mentioned next oue will do. Affection : Fill if dealing with the different subjects on which he writes, 
possible, even at extra expense. Affable: Send prepaid we quote the following remarks on :— 
by baggage master, if no express messenger on train. “The Hop Cone Fly, Dilophus vulgaris. —Thisisone 
Ancestor: This order is in addition to my regular order. of the numerous species of Tipulida?, of the sub-family 
Admission: This order is a substitute for my regular Bibionides, according to Westwood. Several of those 
order. Decorate: If cannot send all on train mentioned, species do much injury to plants both in their larval 
send all you can, and send balance on next train. state, in which they bear more or less resemblance to 
Dancing: If cannot fill exactly as specified, you may the larvse of the common Daddy Long-legs, and in 
substitute according to your best judgment. Durable : their winged state. According to Taschenberg, As- 
these flowers are for funeral purposes and coloured flowers paragus, Ranunculi, Barley, Rye, and other plants are 
must not be substituted for white, Fabricate: Flowers 
ordered are to be re-shipped to a distance, therefore buds 
must be cut specially close. Fortunate : Select extra 
stock and charge accordingly. Devotion : For cheap 
work, and can use second class flowers if at reduced price. 
Flattery : If price has advanced since last quotation do 
not send goods, but telegraph. Forgery : This order 
countermands all previous orders. Fandango: This 
order to be duplicated daily till further notice. For¬ 
mation : Add these items to the order which you 
already have, but in case first order is already shipped, 
cancel this addition. Flamingo : We are iu a bad 
pinch ; send us something to help us out, even if of poor 
quality. Flocking: Have sent mail order ; if not yet 
received, send following at once, and cancel mail order 
when received. Foraging: This order includes all items 
previously ordered and wanted for this date. 
-->X<--- 
Potatos at Bindley Hall. —The principal prizes for 
Potatos offered at Birmingham this week were awarded 
to Mr. Joseph Hughes, Eydon Hall Gardens, North¬ 
amptonshire ; Mr. Thomas Morgan, Acton Burnell; 
Sir C. Frederick Smythe, Bart. ; Mr. E. S. Wiles, 
gardener to R. A. Cartwright, Esq., Edgcote Park, 
Banbury ; and the Birmingham Tame and Rea District 
Drainage Board. 
attacked by different species. Curtis speaks of the 
larvae as injuring Potatos. The larvfe of the Dilophus 
vulgaris were found in Hop roots in Kent, as Miss 
Ormerod reports ; and the ff ies were found in Hop cones 
at Rainham, in Kent, towards the end of August. Hop 
cones wore sent to the writer from the neighbourhood 
of Maidstone full of these flies, which much injured the 
cones. The male fly is black and smaller than the 
female, whose coiour.is rather lighter. Miss Ormerod 
says that this fly sometimes appears in large swarms, 
especially upon the Norfolk coast in 1862, when it was 
recorded as hanging in millions on flowers, and in 
bunches on grasses. 
Prevention.— It is supposed by Curtis, and con¬ 
sidered most probable by Miss Ormerod, that the eggs 
of this fly are laid iu manure. In this case the grubs 
or larvte are taken with the manure close to the roots 
of the Hop plants. Manure-heaps or mixens lying in 
the neighbourhood of recent attacks, or where flies have 
appeared, should he carefully turned and treated with 
lime. 
Remedies. —When it is ascertained that the grubs 
or larvae of the Hop Cone fly are doing mischief to the 
plant-centres, dressings of lime, soot, litne-ashes, or of 
sawdust or ashes steeped in paraffin oil should be put as 
closely as possible around them. (In America about 
one quart of paraffin oil is put to a wheel-barrow load 
of ashes, and very carefully mixed.) It is important to 
prevent the development of the flies, as there is no 
remedial measure that can be applied when these have 
established themselves in the cones.” 
With respect to the Hop fly, Aphis hil/ritilis— the 
losses occasioned by which, to Hop planters, have been 
almost incalculable—Mr. Whitehead states that Hop 
plants have been liable to its attacks for at least two 
hundred years, but “no remedy in any way effective 
was discovered until about thirty-five years ago, when 
washing the plants was adopted to disturb the insects 
and to cleanse the leaves. Water alone was used without 
much effect. Then soft soap was used with the water, 
and sometimes a little Tobacco-juice was added. This 
mixture is fairly efficacious if applied properly and often 
enough ; hut the best mixture is water, soft soap, and 
quassia. Quassia and water will not answer without 
soft soap, as the Aphides have the power of resisting 
liquid without soap. It simply runs off and over their 
bodies, as water runs off and over the backs of water- 
fowls. When soap is mixed with water and quassia, 
the detergent nature of the soap neutralises their oily 
secretion and exposes them to the action of the liquid, 
and fixes the bitter of the quassia on the leaves, making 
them unpalatable. The soft soap also acts as a lubri¬ 
cator of the pumps of the machines employed for 
washing the plants. The best composition is—100 
gallons of water (soft water if possible, or if hard with 
soda added), 4 to 5 lbs. of soft soap (pure), and 6 to 8 
lbs. of quassia, boiled well to get full extract.” 
-—s- 
SELECT HARDY PERENNIALS. 
(Continued from p. 150. ) 
Megaseas. —In the closing remarks of my last 
chapter (p. 150), I spoke in warm terms of the value of 
some of the Indian Poppies or Meconopsis. To those 
who know them, however, it will be obvious that I have 
by no means over-estimated their worth as garden 
ornaments. I will now pass on briefly to note another 
small group of perennials, equally valuable in their 
way, though of totally different aspect. I refer to the 
Megaseas, a group of plants closely allied to the Saxi- 
fragas ; indeed, under this head they are included by 
many. These are perennials in the strict sense of the 
term, and are, for the most part, exceedingly showy aud 
useful subjects. Being strictly spring-flowering renders 
them valuable in this respect, and their bold panicles 
of flowers towering above their thick leathery leaves 
cause them to be generally admired when seen iu good 
condition. 
Nowhere, perhaps, is this little group of plants so 
justly dealt with as in the spring gardens at Bel voir, 
where they are employed by Mr. Ingram with such 
telling effect. As seen there during April and May, 
they tell their own tale ; and, indeed, that they are 
employed so extensively in these gardens is in itself a 
sufficient guarantee of their usefulness, their adapt¬ 
ability for the purpose for which they are used, and 
their general decorative value as a whole. Almost 
every kind procurable may be seen at Belvoir, including 
some exceedingly rare. The majority are of robust 
growth and very hardy, save one, M. ciliaris, which 
needs protection in severe winters. In most gardens 
the stock of this kind is limited and grown in pots, so 
that it will be an easy matter to take them under cover 
during the winter months. Its flowers are white and 
it is readily distinguished from the rest by its rough 
hairy leaves, which lie close upon the surface. 
M. cordifolia is an evergreen species of more frequent 
occurrence and very hardy ; it is of vigorous consti¬ 
tution, and produces freely its spikes of rose-coloured 
flowers. The variety of this plant known as purpurea 
is exceedingly handsome ; its panicles of flowers attain 
a height of about 18 ins. and are rich purple. This is 
considered one of the finest of the group. By no means 
inferior to any of the foregoing is M. Stracheyi, which 
stands in the foremost rank, large handsome leaves and 
spreading panicles of white flowers ; these are very 
beautiful when seen in good condition. Quite distinct 
from all else is the smaller-growing M. purpurascens ; 
the leaves of this species are heart-shaped, more compact 
than in many, and lie close upon the ground,"and it 
is by no means a common plant. 
Then we have besides those named above such kinds 
as M. orbicularis with large heads of rose coloured 
flowers, and M. crassifolia media, a variety with large 
dark shining leaves and rosy pink flowers, produced in 
large thyreoid panicles in great profusion during the 
