454 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 17, 1888. 
THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. 
I am glad to find that there is at least one of the horti¬ 
cultural journals which supports the recommendations 
of the Fellows’ Committee. It appears to me strange 
that some of the horticultural press, who were repre¬ 
sented by members of their staff, and who, I believe, 
are also Fellows of the society, and were present at the 
general meeting, should now pour cold water on these 
recommendations which were read to the meeting, and 
to which they did not then raise one word of objection. 
Instead they now recommend the council to adopt a 
timid and half-hearted policy—a policy which, if they 
themselves adopted, would speedily efface them from 
the journalistic world, and if adopted by the owner of 
a ginger-beer stall, would hastily conduct him to bank¬ 
ruptcy. We, however, should be thankful for small 
mercies ; a bad advertisement is better than no adver¬ 
tisement at all. If the society is to continue its 
existence, it is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary 
that it should have a London office, easy of access, in 
some central position. 
It is also necessary that the society should endeavour 
to induce horticulturists to join, in order that funds 
may be procured for the maintenance of the Chiswick 
Gardens. I believe that it will be advisable to have a 
few meetings in the summer in those gardens, in order 
to give persons who reside near Chiswick some induce¬ 
ment to join the society. 
I think it will prove good policy to have some place 
nearer the City than either South Kensington or 
Chiswick at which to hold the fortnightly shows. 
Although the Drill Hall near Victoria Street may not 
be everything that could be wished, none the less it is 
close to the Army and Xavy Stores, which large 
numbers of people frequent. I shall be much disap¬ 
pointed if sufficient gate-money be not taken to at least 
pay the rent of the hall, provided the trade support the 
society by exhibiting the plants of their establishments. 
I expect to be told that the gate-money at South 
Kensington was a failure ; but it must be remembered 
that during the Colonial and other exhibitions the 
society did not charge for admission. If £50 has been 
taken as gate-money in Finsbury Circus, for the exhi¬ 
bition of a few sickly plants grown in the City, which 
I have known to be the case, surely the council may 
reasonably expect to take at least £200 during the 
whole year from the shows at Westminster.— A. H. 
Smee. 
The council of the Koyal Horticultural Society have now 
determined that in addition to the four guinea and two 
guinea Fellows, and half guinea gardener associates, they 
will admit as Fellows with a vote, ladies and gentlemen 
paying subscriptions of one guinea. For many years 
past I have believed that this would give the means of re¬ 
suscitating the society, and of placing it on a broad and 
sound basis, and that the owners of gardens all over the 
country are the natural supporters of a society, by 
whose action the flowers, fruit, and vegetables which 
they grow are improved ; and that if the facts of the 
case were fairly brought to them they would wish to 
join the society. I am to some extent pledged to be the 
means of bringing in 500 guinea Fellows within a year, 
and I mean to do this, but it will require the aid of all 
my friends, acquaintances and gardening connections ; 
of some of these last, especially of some of the visitors 
to our experimental garden at Wisley, I have not the 
present addresses. Will you allow me to reach those 
who read your paper, by its means, and to say that I 
think our best course will be to form a committee for 
the purpose of finding suitable Fellows, a committee 
which, formed for a single purpose, will involve neither 
attendance, nor expense, nor liability, and to request 
that any lady or gentleman disposed to join this 
committee will communicate with me at the address 
appended. — George F. Wilson, Heatherbank, Wey- 
brulge Heath. _ 
It has been suggested that the occasion of vacating the 
South Kensington premises by the Royal Horticultural 
Society is one that should be taken advantage of to 
invite the employes.of the society at South Kensington 
and Chiswick to an entertainment, by way of expressing 
some sense of the uniform courtesy and kindness they 
have at all times shown towards exhibitors, members 
of the committees, and others. Those employed at 
South Kensington in a subordinate capacity have to 
leave the service of the society, consequent upon a 
change of home ; and it is rumoured that the employes 
at Chiswick have had notice to leave, although the 
order may not be enforced in all cases. Before they are 
dispersed, it is thought they should be invited to a 
supper, and I shall be very pleased to receive the names 
of gentlemen who would be willing to co-operate by 
forming a committee to carry the proposal into effect. 
—Richard Dean, Ranelagh Road, Ealing, W. 
-- 
A NEW GARDEN PEST. 
Orthezia insignis. 
The genus Orthezia is closely allied to the aphis and 
the coccus ; it may be easily distinguished by the snow- 
white waxen lamellae on the body, and by the snow- 
white marsupium or egg pouch of the adult female. 
It is a true plant louse, and the English species may 
be found on the stems of grasses during the summer 
months. 
There is a slight confusion about the name of the 
genus. In some old books on entomology the genus is 
written Dorthesia, but by later writers Orthezia. The 
latter form is correct, for the genus is named after L’ Abbe 
d’Orthez, and by an error the d’ was joined to the word 
Orthez, making it Doithez. The adult female possesses 
a waxen marsupium, or egg pouch, which gradually 
grows from the extremity of the abdomen. The eggs 
are laid inside the marsupium, and their number 
increases in proportion to the size of the pouch. By 
this arrangement the eggs furthest from the abdomen 
are the first laid, and, consequently, the first hatched. 
At the extremity of the marsupium there is an opening 
through which the young Orthezia crawl. 
On opening the marsupium the eggs and the young 
are seen. The eggs when first laid are white, but 
afterwards become light brown ; they are wrapped up 
in fine waxen fibres, resembling cotton-wool. A full- 
sized marsupium contains about twenty eggs. The 
young Orthezia are scarcely visible to the naked eye, 
and there is very little wax on their bodies. During 
their larva stage the male and female are very much 
alike. The male form may generally be distin¬ 
guished by the two projecting posterior lamelta ; 
but as these are very often broken—for the wax is very 
fragile—it is by no means easy to distinguish the sexes. 
Even after emerging from their larva stage the sexes are 
still very much alike ; but the characteristic marsupium 
soon begins to grow from the abdomen of the females, 
whilst the majority of the males remain in their 
apterous form ; a fewundergoa complete metamorphosis, 
and appear as winged insects. The apterous males 
may be found at any time near the gravid females ; but 
the winged males are very scarce in all the species. 
In July, 1887, a new species of the Orthezia was 
found in the Begonia house at the Royal Gardens, Kew. 
This species was named “Orthezia insignis ” by Mr. 
J. \Y. Douglas, and was described by him in the 
Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine (Xo. 284, vol. xxiv). 
An account of the insect’s habits, with enlarged 
engravings of the male and female, may be found in 
the Journal of the Queclcett Microscopical Club (Xo. 20, 
vol. ii., ser. 2). About three years ago, a plant 
belonging to the genus Strobilanthes was sent from 
China to the Royal Gardens, and on its arrival this 
species was noticed by the gardeners. The plant was 
finally placed in the Begonia house, and the insects 
gradually began to appear on other foreign plants. 
The Orthezias do not increase with the rapidity of their 
relations, the aphides. By killing some of the gravid 
females, the insects may be easily kept under control. 
The female of O. insignis is capable of enduring four 
week’s starvation, and the eggs, unless crushed, will 
hatch out, even if the mother be dead. The female, with 
its snow-white marsupium, when mounted as an opaque 
object, is extremely pretty. 
O. insignis may be easily distinguished from the 
British species. The female has the whole of the dorsal 
surface free from wax, except two very narrow rows of 
waxen lamellfe in the centre, and the body is of a dark 
green colour. The winged male has only two anal 
white filaments from the last segment of the abdomen, 
whilst in the other species the male has a bunch of 
filaments. 
The size of the female, with'the marsupium, varies 
from 2 to 5 m.m. The winged male is only 1 m.m. 
There are three British species : O. urticte, found on 
Stellaria holostea and other plants, 0. cataphraeta, 
and 0. floccosa, found on grasses. In the Entomological 
Society’s Transactions for 1881, there are two papers, 
■with plates, on the British species, by Mr. J. W. 
Douglas.— E. T. B. 
--- 
LOAM. 
At this season of activity in the glass department, good 
and suitable soil for potting purposes becomes a serious 
question with many cultivators, especially of the choicer 
kinds of plants and fruits planted in well-prepared 
borders, and particularly those grown in pots, or by the 
restricted versus free mode of cultivation. I will not 
endeavour to draw the line so fine, as regards the 
quality to be used,- as the writer who recommended 
loam of a “silky” texture ; but suitable loam of good 
quality for potting purposes is in many establishments 
difficult to obtain. A gardener may manufacture his 
own leaf-soil, and peat is only required in small 
quantities, compared with the consumption of loam. 
One would naturally expect that in country places 
no difficulty would be experienced in procuring a 
plentiful supply of good loam, but it often happens 
that gardeners in such places have to make greater 
shifts than those in suburban gardens ; in the latter 
it is absolutely necessary to purchase from some dealer 
in such articles, and then the desired requisites can be 
obtained of good quality, whereas in many country 
places such a proceeding as buying loam is out of the • 
question, and looked on as an- unnecessary expense, 
consequently, the gardener has to use any poor hungry 
stuff that is supplied from the estate, and that very 
often with a sparing hand. 
The park, or an old pasture from whence a supply 
might easily be obtained is not to be thought of, such 
places being held sacred, and yet in autumn the turf 
could be taken off, a thin spit dug, and the turf relaid, 
such soil being fit for immediate use if required ; but 
if such a proceeding were viewed in the light of robbing 
Peter to pay Paul, the gardener might easily replace 
the loam taken away by returning some of his old inert 
potting soil, of which he generally has plenty on hand. 
Or again, some knolls of suitable soil could be worked 
down in the spring, and some grass seed sown, which 
would soon produce a covering and form nice pasture. 
Suitability of loam for potting purposes has a great 
deal to do with both plant and fruit growing, in pots 
especially, and is of more vital importance to a 
gardener’s success than most employers or their deputies 
seem to imagine ; all soils are the same to them, but 
not so to the cultivator. When living within a few 
miles of the south coast we were compelled to have our 
loam from down land; it was light stuff with not much 
body in it, and very little fibre, the consequence being 
that it ran together soon after the plants had been 
potted. As it came off chalk it did not suit Pines or 
pot Vines, and to the foliage of other things it gave quite 
