822 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
August 28, 1886. 
increases in like ratio until when full blown ; it is so 
disfigured that it is utterly worthless for any particular 
purpose. 
In my recent articles on the cultivation of the 
Chrysanthemum, and also in my pamphlet on the 
same, I include the Earwig among its enemies, but 
deny that it eats the foliage of the plant, and that it 
is simply troublesome at the time of blooming, as it 
occasionally lets down the outside petals of the flower 
by biting them through at the base, which petals are 
not eaten, but are invariably left dangling to the 
flower ; it is also the case with the Carnation. 
I do not fear the Earwig in the least until the plants 
arrive at the flowering stage, though I find scores of 
them among the foliage daily. There is, as I said, a 
far more deadly enemy in the shape of a small green 
caterpillar, which in a single night will leave disagree¬ 
able traces behind him, for unfortunately these gentry 
do not eat to live, but live to eat; therefore, should 
you ever come across one of those gluttonous characters, 
of whom it may truthfully be said “ whose god is their 
belly, give him no quarter, for he is a monstrosity, 
being all mouth, which excess is the most unfortunate 
for the gardener that could have been, especially when 
he becomes fastidious in his appetite, and prefers to 
dine fronrwhat has cost so much labour to produce. 
This caterpillar is not the same that feeds on the 
flowers of the single Dahlia, being a little larger, and 
its colour is so identical with the foliage on which it 
feeds that it is most difficult to discern. When I 
suspect one I mostly set the plant on a sheet of paper 
and give the stem a gentle shake or two, when the 
culprit mostly comes to grief. Last season I was 
terribly annoyed with it, and (as Mr. Boyce remarks) 
found the extremities of the shoots eaten away alarm- 
when at last I luckily discovered one or two of 
these individuals making a meal of them. It is sur¬ 
prising how r much damage a single one will do in a 
night. They are fortunately not very numerous, 
otherwise we might almost despair of ever getting any 
blooms at all. They appear about this time of year, 
and I suspect it is the caterpillar produced by the 
moth commonly called the Yellow Underwing, though I 
am not positively certain of it. I would, however, 
advise all growers to keep a sharp look-out for it. 
As to what constitutes the favourite diet of the Ear¬ 
wig, it is most difficult to say, for, I suppose no man 
ever yet saw it feed in its state of freedom ; of course, 
if confined and materials put in with it, it will, no 
doubt, eat what it would discard when it had its choice. 
Hunger has made cannibals of civilised men ; no 
wonder that it should pervert the tastes of the Earwig. 
My private opinion as to the food of the Earwig has 
long been that it is not a vegetarian in its preferences, 
but that it lives upon other minute insects, and the 
test which Mr. Waldie made under the bell glass 
materially strengthens that opinion. 
I have, however, no objection to anyone holding a 
different view from myself, and if he chooses to slay 
the Earwig for a fault which I consider it has not com¬ 
mitted, there is no great harm done ; the creation will 
not suffer much loss by the destruction of a few 
thousands of these members, and as we schoolmasters 
sometimes say when we punish a troublesome boy by 
mistake, if you don’t deserve a punishment to-day you 
will to-morrow, so you have only got your desserts a 
day too soon. — Geo. Kidson, Hull. 
-- 
OHATSWGRTH. 
I HAD not visited Chatsworth for something like 
eighteen years, and when a friend in that neighbour¬ 
hood wrote and offered to take me there if I would 
return by the Midland route on my way home from the 
Liverpool show, I decided to accept the invitation, and 
pay a visit to the “ Palace of the Peak.” On my first 
visit I drove from Sheffield over the moors—a most en¬ 
joyable drive in the early autumn—and got down at Bas- 
low, but this time I went to Bowsley from Manchester. 
M e veiy soon got to Chatsworth Gardens, where we 
met Mr. Thomas, who most kindly conducted us round 
the establishment. First we entered the Victoria house 
—a very fine structure—larger I should think than any 
other Victoria house in the country. Victoria Regia 
here grows very freely ; the plant w-as about six weeks 
old from seed, and yet some leaves measured nearly 6 ft. 
over. This house was made very effective with some 
grand baskets of Achimenes, 4 ft. through, very well 
done. Musa coccinea in the same house was also very 
telling with its bright scarlet flowers ; Nymphseas were 
also flowering freely, and comprised Devoniana, dilitata, 
Lotus, Zanzibarensis, and a pink variety of the latter, 
Nelumbium speciosum and nuciferum, and several 
other aquatics made this house a very effective one. 
The old Amherstia house which stood close to this 
latter, has been done away with, and the stump of the 
tree preserved ; but close to this Mr. Thomas has had 
a very useful garden office constructed, which also serves 
as a class room for the young men, in which, in winter, 
classes for various subjects are held. 
The Fruit Houses. 
Ve next enter the fruit houses, which are mostly ar¬ 
ranged in single ranges across the garden with a wide 
cropping space between, so that each range has ample 
space, and there is no danger of one lot of houses 
shading the others. At the same time the one or two 
boiler system cannot very well be applied, owing to the 
houses being so wide apart, so that every range must 
require a separate boiler. There are a large number of 
divisions for Grapes, all of which were looking well ; 
the roots had been nearly all lifted last autumn, and w’ere 
already reaping the benefit. What was an orchard house 
when I visited the garden before, had been planted with 
Muscats, which were looking very well ; these had 
been planted in a border quite raised above the garden 
level, to keep the roots out of the frequent inundations 
to which they are subject, owing to the very low 
situation of the garden. Another division of the old 
orchard house had been planted with Brown Turkey 
Figs, trained on a flat trellis, and the back ■wall planted 
with Peaches. TheFigs, fourtrees, wereladen with fruit, 
which I think I have never seen equalled. There were 
a number of divisions for Peaches and Nectarines, early 
and late, and all well cropped. On my former visit, 
there was here, perhaps, the largest Peach tree in the 
country, a Royal George I think. It covered about 
twenty-one good paces length of trellis, and the trellis 
would be about 18 ft. wide ; this tree has been dead some 
years. A rather narrow Melon house contained a 
splendid crop of Perfection Tomato on the back wall; 
and the Mushroom house behind the Muscat house was 
carrying a fine crop. We passed through several 
structures containing late Melons and Tomatos, and a 
house of ripe Grapes, the berries of which were fine. 
Pine Apples are still grown in considerable quantities, 
and were very promising, though in the winter and 
spring the conditions are not always favourable, as the 
fires have been put out several times by floods. On 
the back-shelf of one of the Pine-houses were some fine 
Pancratiums and a trained Dipladenia. In the Azalea- 
house were a number of the greenhouse Rhododendrons, 
Messrs. Yeitch’s seedlings, and other nice plants. In 
a north house were a quantity of Poinsettias, and a 
very useful plant Mr. Thomas informed us for winter 
flowering is Saxifraga Fortunei. In a pit near this 
were some grand plants of Gilbert’s Primulas. A 
large quantity of Chrysanthemums and Marguerites, 
very fine plants, were being grown on for autumn use, 
and a number of Rhododendron prsecox. Here also is 
a very fine stock of Urceolina aurea, and a number of 
other things, which we had not time to take note of. 
The kitchen garden was well cropped ; but outdoor 
fruits, such as Pears and Apples, are not generally very 
plentiful, owing to the proximity of the garden to the 
River Derwent, and the frequent spring frosts. 
The Pleasure Grounds. 
We next wended our way to the pleasure grounds, 
and could not but admire the splendid park, which is 
beautifully -wooded, though the trees are not so fine as 
we are in the habit of seeing in the old parks in the 
south. The day was beautiful and bright, and when 
we entered the pleasure ground gates, and looked from 
the south terrace, the view w r as most beautiful. 
Chatsworth is one of the greatest show places in 
England, and though it was a quiet day when we were 
there, there were numbers of parties about, number¬ 
ing from six to a hundred or so in each. The flower 
beds are planted mostly with herbaceous plants, not 
many bedding subjects being used. A good many 
Moutan Pseonies are planted about, and at the time of 
our visit were very effective. 
The fountains and cascades are on a most extensive 
scale, the Emperor fountain throwing a jet of water 
something like 250 ft. into the air. A very pretty 
effect is produced by a succession of cascades rising up 
the side of the hill for some considerable distance till it 
reaches the water-tower, and when the water is turned 
on has a very nice effect. In the orangery against the 
mansion there are some very fine Dicksonias, the 
original plant of Rhododendron Gibsoni ; also of 
Dacrydium cupresinum, Podocarpus longifolius, and 
Camellias, very good. We pass through the oriental 
garden, which contains a number of Chinese seats and 
vases, and some good statuary ; a very fine Yiola here 
is the Countess of Hopetoun. The Camellia house, 
close to this, contains a number of very healthv Camel¬ 
lias. From here we go to what is called the Portland 
case, a narrow promenade with creepers up the back 
wall, and some grand Camellias, Fuchsias, Eugenia 
Ugni, which fruits freely, Gloire de Dijon Rose, Brug- 
mansia sanguinea, Polygalas, Rhyncospermum jas- 
minioides, &c. 
The Orchid Houses. 
Lear to this are the Orchid houses, which were 
being built during my former visit. They are roomy, 
spacious houses, and contain some fine plants of 
Odontoglossum vexillarium, some grand plants of Cce- 
logyne cristata (Chatsworth variety), and C. Lemoine, 
Oncidium fuscatum, Acineta, Odontoglossum hasti- 
labium, Oncidium crispum, Ccelogyne Massangeana, 
Aerides of sorts, Cypripediums and Yandas, some fine 
C'alanthes, very good plants, Cymbidium ebumeum, 
some fine pans of Pleiones, Dendrobiums, and a great 
many others too numerous to mention. The curious 
lattice-leaf plant of Madagascar, Ouvirandra fenestralis, 
does well here ; and I noted also some fine pitcher plants 
of Master®, Hookerii, and Chelsoni. In one of the 
divisions of the Orchid houses were a nice lot of decora¬ 
tive Palms, and also two of the finest potfuls of Eucharis 
amazonica, I should think, in the country. The pots 
were 2 ft. over, quite full of fine large bulbs, and had 
carried eighty spikes of flower at once. These Orchid 
houses are placed within a few yards of'the mansion, 
so that the family can frequently inspect them. 
The Palm House. 
We next make our way to the conservatory, or Palm 
house, which is said to cover an acre of ground, and 
has a road through it quite vide enough to take a 
carriage and pair. There are some fine plants of 
Cupressus Lawsoniana and Wellingtonias planted round 
it outside. Several very lofty Palms catch the eye on 
entering. One of the tallest is Corypha australis, 60 
ft. high ; Sabal Blackburniana, about the same ; some 
very fine tree Ferns of Cibotium regalis and princeps ; 
Theophrasta Jussieui, Musas, in variety, amongst 
which the scarlet coccinea was very telling ; two 
plants of Agave americana in bloom, with flower-spikes 
22 ft. high. [One of these may now be seen in the 
Conservatory at South Kensington.] Eneephalartos 
gigantea; Renanthera coccinea, growing upon a large 
block of wood ; Seaforthia elegans in fruit. Here and 
there were hanging some very line baskets of Achimenes, 
like those we saw in the Yietoria house. Of course, such 
a very large house requires an immense amount of 
heating, and the quantity of pipes laid down is some¬ 
thing very considerable, and everything kept out of 
sight, such as stoke-hole, coals, &c. 
We had not time to go round the Pinetum and 
pleasure grounds, both of which are very extensive. 
The Rhododendron is here quite at home, and at 
the time of our visit, the first week in July, was still 
in bloom, whereas in Surrey, our bloom was quite 
past a fortnight before. There is a good deal of 
artificial rockwork on the hill-sides, which is getting 
nicely covered with Cotoneaster and other shrubs and 
creepers. The pleasure grounds are in perfect keeping ; 
as are also the fruit and kitchen gardens. 
From the gardens we made our way to the village of 
Edensor, on the edge of the park, one of the creations of 
Sir Joseph Paxton, where all the cottages are of different 
architecture, most substantially built, and tenanted by 
the workmen on the Chatsworth estates. It is a very 
beautiful village with a very handsome church, and now 
famous churchyard, wherein is situated the grave of 
Lord Frederick Cavendish, and where the Devonshire 
family are buried among the village people. All the 
villagers I understood have each their cow, and a field 
is set apart for the cows to graze in. I have endeavoured 
to give your readers, who have not seen for themselves, 
some idea of this grand place, but can assure them 
that the half is not told, and that if they pay a visit in 
such glorious weather as I did, they will, indeed, be 
gratified with their visit, and with the courtesy and 
kindness of Mr. Thomas.— J. B. 
