October 29, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
181 
WEBBS’ 
CHOICE FLOWERING 
BULBS. 
For prices and full particulars see 
WEBBS' BULB CATALOGUE, 
BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED. 
Price 6 d., Post Free, or Gratis to intending Purchasers. 
Seedsmen by Royal Warrants to H.M. the Queen and 
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 
WORDSLEY, STOURBRIDGE. 
FRUITTREES for the NORTH 
and SCOTLAND. 
Purchasers cannot do better than consult 
GEORGE BUNYARD & Co.’s 
CATALOGUE (illustrated and descriptive—free for six 
stamps, gratis to buyers), and purchase their TREES 
from Kent —'“The Garden of England.” 
G. B. (b Co. have a stock of nearly half a million 
splendidly grown, finely-rooted and well-ripened stuff 
in 800 sorts, true to name. 
The Old Nurseries, MAIDSTONE, 
ESTABLISHED 1796. 
BARR’S 
SELECTED BULBS, 
THE FINEST IN HOLLAND, ’ 
DIRECT FROM THE GROWERS. 
PRICES MODERATE. QUALITY UNSURPASSED. 
National Chrysanthemum Society, Royal 
Aquarium, Westminster. 
RAND EXHIBITION of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, Fruits, and Vegetables, Wednesday and Thursday 
November 9th and 10th. 
The Floral Committee will meet October 26th, November 9th 
and 23rd, and December 7th. See Schedules, forwarded on 
application to. Mr. WILLIAM HOLMES. 
Frampton Park Nurseries, Hackney._ 
Liverpool Horticultural Association. 
POSTPONEMENT OF SHOW. 
rpHE EIGHTH GRAND CHRYSAN- 
I THEMUM and FRUIT SHOW will be held in St. George's 
Hall on the 29th and 30th of November. 
The following Special Prizes are offered for competition :—A 
Silver-plated Tea Service, presented by Messrs. J. Williams & Co., 
Manure Manufacturers, 62, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, for forty- 
eight cut blooms of Chrysanthemums, and the Veitch Memorial 
Medal and £5 for thirty-six cut blooms. 
Entries close November 22nd. 
The Spring Show will be held on March 21st, 1888. 
Schedules on application to the Secretary, 
EDWARD BRIDGE. 
3, Cedar Terrace, Torbock Road, Huyton. _ 
Royal Botanical and Horticultural Society 
of Manchester. 
rpHE ANNUAL EXHIBITION of CHRY- 
X SANTHEMUMS will be held in the TOWN HALL, 
Mauchester, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 22nd and 23rd of 
November. Schedules may be had from Mr. FINDLAY, Bo- 
tanical Gardens, Manchester. _ 
RAND CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW' 
VT YORK, held in the FINE ART EXHIBITION BUILD¬ 
ING. on November 16th, 17th, and 18th, 1SS7. Liberal Prizes 
for PLANTS, FLOWERS, FRUIT and VEGETABES. Schedules, 
&c., to be obtained of J. LAZENBY, Spurriergate, York. _ 
The Sheffield and Hallamshire Gardeners’ 
Mutual Improvement Society. 
T HE above society will hold their TENTH 
GRAND ANNUAL CHRYSANTHEMUM, FRUIT and 
FLOWER SHOW, in the Drill Hall, Glossop Road, November 
14th and loth, when £35 will be given in the open class, consist¬ 
ing of 24 Cut Blooms, Incurved, dissimilar; first prize, £10 ; 
second, £5; third, £2 10s. 24 Cut Blooms, Japanese, dissimilar; 
first Prize, £10 ; second, £5 ; third, £2 10s. Enhance fee, 5s. ; 
entries close November 11th. Schedules and entry forms on 
application to R. HALL, 53S, Nether Green, Ranmoor, Sheffield, 
Secretary pro tem. 
Next Week’s Engagements. 
Monday, Oct. 31st.—Meeting of the General Committee of the 
National Chrysanthemum Society at 7 p.m.. Dutch Bulb 
and Lily Sale at Stevens’ Rooms ; Sale of Bulbs at Protheroe 
and Morris’s Rooms. 
Tuesday, Nov. 1st.— Southampton Chrysanthemum Show (two 
days). Sale of Nursery Stock at Ware’s, Tottenham, by 
Protheroe & Morris. Sale of Nursery Stock at Caterham, by 
Protheroe & Morris (three days). 
Wednesday, Nov. 2nd.—Sale of Orchids, Bulbs, Standard and 
Dwarf Roses at Stevens’ Rooms. Sale of Nursery Stock at 
St. Hilda’s Nursery, Roxeth, Harrow, by Protheroe & Morris. 
Sale of Bulbs, Roses, &c., at Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms. 
Thursday, Nov. 3rd.— Havant and Henfield Chrysanthemum 
Shows (two days). Sale of Imported Orchids at Stevens’ 
Rooms. Sale of Dutch Bulbs at Protheroe & Morris’s 
Rooms ; also of 60,000 Euonymus at Seaford by Protheroe 
& Morris. 
Friday, Not. 4tli.—Exeter (one day), Crystal Palace, Bradford 
and Leicester Chrysanthemum Shows (two days). Sale of 
Imported Orchids at Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms. 
Saturday, Nov. 5th.—Sale of Bulbs at Protheroe & Morris’s and 
Stevens’ Rooms. 
Full Descriptive CoMlogue free on application. 
Special Illustrated DAFFODIL Catalogue free on application. 
barYTIon, 
12 & 13, King Street, Covent Garden. 
FRUIT TREES, 
ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, &c. 
Descriptive and Priced Catalogues free. 
J. CHEAL&SONS, Crawley. 
LAING’S LARGE COLLECTIONS 
*,SONS / 0F 
FRUIT TREES, 
ROSES, VINES, &c. 
Are exceptionally fine this season; in¬ 
spection invited. Kailway Station, 
Gatford Bridge. Catalogues gratis. 
JOHN XAINQ a SONS, 
Nurseries, FOREST HILL, LONDON, S.E, 
BULBS. 
Very long experience enables us to offer the BEST QUALITY 
at a moderate price, as proved by hundreds of testimonials. 
ILLUSTRATED LIST, descriptive, select, and comprising 
important NOVELTIES, on application. 
RICHARD SMITH & Co., 
NURSERYMEN & SEED MERCHANTS, 
WORCESTER. 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Amateurs’ Garden. 135 
Ampelopsis Veitchii. 132 
Autumn Flowers . 136 
Catasetum gnomus. 140 
Eucharis, a hybrid. 139 
Erica ventricosa. 133 
Ferguslie House. 132 
Ferns for Rockwork, &c.. 133 
Floriculture. 142 
Fruit-tree Planting . 135 
Grape, Mrs. Pearson. 139 
Greenhouses and the Build¬ 
ing Acts. 132 
Hardy Plants . 136 
PAGE 
Kales, a collection of. 137 
Martinmas term. 135 
Melons of the Season .... 135 
Oncidium prsetextum .... 141 
Orchid growing for Amateursl 34 
Orchids, vitality of . 141 
Plant Enemies. 131 
Plants Certificated. 13S 
Polyanthuses, Gold-laced.. 136 
Season's Produce, the .... 140 
Thuja gigantea from Seed.. 137 
Vitis tricuspidata . 139 
Warwick Road Nurseries.. 13S 
Wind and the Fruit . 139 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1887. 
Plant Enemies. —Our old acquaintance, the 
Colorado beetle, it is reported, made its 
appearance visible in Germany during the past 
summer, and impressed its presence upon the 
Potato crops in two localities. Prompt measures 
were, however, taken, the affected places were 
isolated, the crops removed and destroyed, and 
a powerful insecticide employed to destroy all 
the eggs and pupae. Thus far, no great harm 
was done, although the phlegmatic Germans 
were for the time considerably disturbed. In 
the interests of entomology, we are almost glad 
to learn of this actual appearance of the 
Colorado beetle in a living form. It is but a 
few years ago that the country was nearly 
delirious with fear over the possible appearance 
of this dreaded American insect amongst our 
Potato crops; but when that delirium had 
abated somewhat, and men began to find their 
heads—whilst no trace of the beetle in a living 
form, nay, not even an egg, could he dis¬ 
covered—there were not wanting ignorant 
sceptics who ventured to doubt the existence 
of the terrible beetle at all, and, indeed, dared 
to class the creature with metaphorical things, 
such as the phoenix or the unicorn. 
The recent German visitation has dispelled 
the unbelief, and no longer can doubt be cast 
upon the personality of that transatlantic insect, 
the Potato enemy of Colorado. Like many 
another wonder, which in times past has 
puzzled philosophers, the mystery is not so 
much that the beetle was found in Germany, 
as how it got there. So rigid are the measures 
taken on all points by the German officials 
to discover and check the introduction of 
objectionable matter, especially that of French 
origin, that the lost needle in a bundle of hay 
would hardly be overlooked. Possibly some 
horrid Gatd, who, determined to wreak venge¬ 
ance upon the German nation, carried beetles 
into the peaceful province of Hanover, and 
then liberated them, to perform tlieir feats of 
devastation amongst the Potato fields. Perhaps 
they escaped from the entourage of some 
American tourist. In any case, there they 
were, and having been effectually exterminated, 
we may regard futurity with considerable 
equanimity. Even against the incursion of 
the Colorado beetle, the “ silver streak ” 
remains a bulwark for us, and long may it 
so continue to he. 
After all, the beetle, even should it visit us 
at some future time, is not likely to he one 
tittle so harmful to our Potato crops as 
the Peronospora infestans—the well-known 
Potato disease—has been, which made its 
appearance here in 1845, just forty-two years 
ago, and which, then and since, has proved to he 
a terrible devastator. Still, we do not dread 
it more; indeed, it seems to have been 
stripped of its terrors, and harms our crops no 
longer. Whether it is due to a succession of 
dry seasons, to natural and actual exhaustion, or 
to any other cause, certainly it is either gone 
or has been quiescent. It may he that one or 
two cold wet summers will revive it for evil; 
hut in years past, even when we had hot 
dry summers, the fungus was still abundant, 
even if not then very harmful. The entire 
absence of its manifestations of late leads to 
the conviction that the disease is rapidly dis¬ 
appearing from the land. 
The latest insect scare is found in the 
Hessian fly. Perhaps this insect derives some 
of its assumed injurious propensities from its 
appellation, as our forefathers had good reason 
to regard Hessian mercenary troops as being 
the vilest of military scoundrels. So far this 
new pest has given no trouble to gardeners and 
not much to agriculturists. We have a special 
entomological department appointed to deal 
with visitors of this kind, and that department 
must, of necessity, make a good deal of fuss 
about mere trifles to convince the public that 
it is rendering some public service. We are 
not much frightened over the Hessian fly, and 
we do not find farmers are either. It is 
curious, but it is a fact, that neither injurious 
insects or plant diseases get a long foothold in 
this country. Even cattle plague and swine 
fever, horse ills or dog’s insanities seldom 
endure long with us; due, perhaps, not so 
much to our active attacks upon these visita¬ 
tions as upon the climatic conditions of our 
atmosphere,, which seems soon to check the 
progress of physical or insect evils. The 
Hessian fly will, probably, prove to he a nine 
day’s wonder, and then we shall hear no more 
of it. 
