284 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 30, 1899. 
Pompon Dahlias are largely grown, very fine 
being Purity, white ; Irene, light pink with a dark 
shading ; Sunny Daybreak, golden yellow, shaded 
with light orange ; Lilian, lilac-pick, with a yellow 
shading in the centre ; Madge, red, and tipped 
white; Tommy Keith, crimson with a white tip; 
Rosea, deep rose; and Red Indian, bright scarlet. 
All of the above pompons are small, neat, and useful 
for cut flowers, and decorative purposes of various 
kinds. 
Eight large beds were occupied with East Lothian 
Stocks in bloom. A good percentage of them were 
double and very serviceable for cut flowers or 
ordinary garden decoration. Turple, white, rose, 
and red varieties were prominent. Early flowering 
Chrysanthemums are grown in considerab'e quantity 
for the sake of cut flowets. Henry Yvonne is a 
bright sport from M. Gustave Grunnerwald, a 
silverv-rose variety. Both were flowering for the 
second tirfte, having bloomed from the beginning of 
July onwards. A general collection of Violas is kept 
in stock, including all the best bedding varieties, and 
a number of promising seedlings, a lemon-yell tw one 
being rather striking amongst those in bloom at that 
t ; me. 
INSECT PESTS OF OUR GARDENS* 
Insects in their perfect state are very attractive ; 
but it is when they are in their least attractive state 
that they concern gardeners most (ie.), as grubs, 
caterpillars, maggots, &c. We are . not inclined 
nowadays to accept the horticultural knowledge 
handed down to us by our fathers without question ; 
yet we have evidence of some old beliefs handed 
down which we are only beginning to ask questions 
about. For example, in The Gardening World of 
February 4th a question is asked bearing on our 
subject to-night. This and many other questions we 
can easily solve if we set our minds to them. Our 
fathers had not the opportunity of studying ques¬ 
tions of this kind that we have with our associations 
and libraries. With these facilities the suburban 
gardener has a great advantage over his isolated 
brother in the country ; and is sure to lead tha 
horticultural knowledge of the future. 
The classification of the animal kingdom is much 
the same as the classification of the vegetable king¬ 
dom ; it is divided into species, genera, orders, 
classes, and so cn. We find the most of our garden 
pe: ts in the class Insecta, only a few more of our 
pes's of the lower animal life belonging to other 
classes such as slugs, mites and some of the 
Julidae. 
The most noticeable parts of the body of the 
insect are first, the head ; second, the thorax, con¬ 
nected to the head by a very small stalk ; third, the 
abdomen, united to the thorax ii the same slender 
way. The first of these, the head, is furnished with 
horns or antennae, large compound eyes almost 
covering each side of the head, with a mouth differ¬ 
ing very much in different insects. The second 
part, the thorax, has three pairs of legs and normally 
two pairs of wings, sometimes only one pair, the 
other pair being converted into hard covers for the 
hind wings and forming the main distinction of the 
order Coleoptsra or beetles. Sometimes thtre are 
no wings, the common flea being a good example of 
this order. The third part, the abdomen, contains 
the organs of reproduction and digestion. In the 
perfect state they are usually of two sexes, male and 
female. 
Soon after they become perfect insects, that is, 
after they leave the state of pupa, pairing com¬ 
mences ; the males then die, the females live on till 
their eggs are laid before death occurs; others 
hybernate and reappear the following spring. One 
of the most striking and interesting of phenomena 
in nature is the transformations at certain stages in 
the development of insects. 
If we as gardeners knew more about these 
periodical changes, a good deal of the mysterious 
and unexplainable would vanish from our minds. 
These changes ate different in different insects, in all 
there is a growing state in which they eat enor¬ 
mously. This is called the larval state and is the 
most destructive period of their lives; in this state 
gardeners know them as grubs, maggots and cater¬ 
pillars. Then there is a state of change in which 
the forms of the organs of the perfect insect are 
Read at Newport Horticultural Association, Fife, N.B., by 
Mr; William Kennedy, Ardarroch, Dundeei 
being developed, the wiDgs grow and the body is 
transformed into a shape convenient for flight. This 
is called the pupa or chrysalis state—in this state 
gardeners look on them as harmless lifeless things, 
and usually pay no attention to them, although to 
crush a pupa in ihe spring is equal to killing a 
colony in the summer. In this state we find them 
in soils, sticking to wall=, &c. Lastly there is the 
perfect state in which the insect never grows nor 
changes, and in which its most serious business 
seems to be the reproduction of its kind. In this 
state it is called imago. In some insects the three 
stages are much alike, the only difference is their 
beiDg furnished with wings in passing from the pupal 
state. The earwig is a familiar exrmple of this 
state of activity all through the three stages ; at the 
last change of its skin, which it changes several 
limes, it gets wings and has then reached the perfect 
state. When the earwig throws off the old skin it is 
perfectly white. 
Insects lay their eggs on or near what they are to 
feed upon. If it is on leaves it is generally the 
under side of the leaves where they are laid in little 
patches or singly. If conditions are favourable the 
eggs hatch shortly after being laid; in a few cases 
the eggs are hatched in the bodies of the insects 
and produced alive. 
The eggs of insects can stand intense cold, but 
heavy fains often wash them from the positions in 
which they have been laid, and carry them away 
from the host plant, thus preventing them from 
doing any damage. It is pretty generally thought 
that a hard winter destroys a great many of our 
insect pests, but it is not correct, for the pupae as 
well as the eggs can stand the cold, and only some 
of those in the larval state can be destroyed. But 
when hard frost comes on they go down in the earth, 
lie torpid and escape frost ; so that a hard winter 
prevents them from eating, rather than destroys 
them. That is something, however, to be thankful 
for. The larvae that continue active during the 
winter confine their attack to the roots of the plants 
or the stems at their junction with the soil. There 
is nothing so conducive to the increase of insect 
pests as dry, warm weather; while at the same time 
in shallow or ill-cultivated soils drought sets in, 
vegetation is stinted, and the insect attack is 
fiercest when vegetation is least able to stand it. 
An abundant water supply and hose to reach every 
part of the garden would keep down a great many 
insect pests ; for although the larvae can stand a very 
low temperature, heavy rains or an abundant supply 
of sap in the host plant is injurious to them. The 
hosiDg, while dislodging the larvae, would supply the 
much needed moisture to vegetation. In using a 
hose the water should be directed to the under side 
of the leaves when that is the part attacked, because, 
as I said before, the eggs are usually laid there. The 
day after hosing the surface should be stirred to pre¬ 
vent the escape of the moisture, as the ground loses 
its moisture quicker with a caked surface than a loose 
one. The stirring, if done with a hoe, also destroys 
weeds that often act as host plants to injurious 
jnsects, till once the cultivated plants come up or 
are planted out. If you examine the weeds growing 
under glass, which crop up occasionally on pots or 
Vine borders, you will sometimes find them infested 
with Aphis or red spider, and these weeds are often 
the beginning of an infestation. For instance, a 
gardener might pull up a few of these weeds at the 
time he was pinching the lateral growths of his 
Vines, then go on with the pinching without notic¬ 
ing that the weeds were infested with red spider ; 
consequently he plants a colony that will spread 
over the whole house if they get time. 
Insects have a great many natural enemies, and it 
is well that we should know them and not destroy 
them—birds are great destroyers of insects ; some 
are pure insect eaters, others like a mixed diet. 
Amongst our pure insect eating birds we have the 
gold-crested wren, whinchat, the swallow, the stone- 
chat, the common wren, the hedge sparrow, and the 
woodpecker. Amingst those which like a mixed 
diet, we have the blackbird, the mavis, and the 
redbreast. 
The best way to deal with birds during seed time 
or fruit time, is to herd them away by boys, or pro¬ 
tect by nets, or in the case of Gooseberry or 
Currant buds, a few dark threads stretched from 
twig to twig will scare them away ; but we should 
not destroy them, and deprive ourselves of the most 
sharp sighted, most unwearied of insect destroyers 
There are also insects that prey on other insects. 
The larvae of the Cocinellae or lady birds live on 
aphis. The grub is barely half an inch long, taper¬ 
ing from the last ring of the body to the head ; 
there are faint stripes of different colours running 
along the back. The perfect insect is a small beetle, 
the scale-like forewings being red, black or yellow, 
with spots differing from the ground colour. They 
should not be destroyed. The toad is also carnivor¬ 
ous, and should be encouraged. It is very interest¬ 
ing to watch it sit motionless, its “ leister’’-like 
tongue dart out and transfix an ant or other insect as 
they pass within reach. The bat destroys the moths 
which are the parents of the surface catterpillars 
which destroys our young plants by eating them over 
at the neck or surface of the ground. The mole is 
carnivorous, but it takes such a clumsy way of help¬ 
ing us that we are obliged to do without its help. 
This is not an exhaustive list of the natural enemies 
of insects, but it is sufficient to show that we have 
not the battle to fight single handed. 
There are many methods of destroying insect pests 
that have to be decided upon according to the time of 
year, the kind of plant, and its condition. For ex¬ 
ample, the fronds of some kinds of Ferns may be seen 
to be infested with scale about the month of Febru¬ 
ary. The best way to clean them is to cut the in¬ 
fested fronds off ; they have done their work, and 
young fronds are taking their place ; but to do the 
same thing a month or two later would be foolish. 
(To be continued .) 
-- 
LILIES AND IRISES IN JAPAN. 
I arrived here on April 12th, and you may want to 
know what I have been doing with myself. I dare 
say the other day you had printed directions bow to 
grow Lilium rubellum and L. Krameri. I prepared 
this. Lilium rubellum is a new Lily of great beauty. 
I saw it flowering here and found it has been three 
years in the market and found also that the shippers 
had lost money, that the culture had been a failure 
generally and the shippers were going to drop it. 
I said, however, the thing is too beautiful; but the 
culture needed is exceptional, and f said, try it again. 
I could see the buyers, mostly Americans, would 
soon get tired of the continual deaths. Now these 
plants can be grown anywhere if the necessary 
attention is given to them. 
Some four or five years back it was found that the 
supply of Bermuda Lilies did not meet the demand 
and a New York syndicate applied to Japan and 
collectors were sent to the southern island where 
they grew and collected immense quantities, and as 
they are represented by six or more varieties, some 
with broken flowers, some dwarf, some tall, others 
early and some late, I found this gave the American 
florists a good deal of trouble. I therefore set about 
looking into the matter and I further found that the 
varieties could be distinguished from the bulbs and 
this autumn I have induced one concern to make a 
start in growing the best form, indeed the one that 
originally was grown in Bermuda, so that in a few 
years we may have a good clean stock of the sort, 
which gives one stem and from eight to twelve 
flowers and is medium early. These bulbs are not 
shipped by the growers. The growing is done by 
the farmers and the shippers supply the small bulbs 
(called seed) and they are grown on for them. If an 
American dealer wants bulbs of this best variety, he 
can have them at an increased price; they will be 
specially picked out for him after lifting. I was 
told the firm akove mentioned had this year 
drowned a large quantity of the bad varieties. The 
farmer does not understand this throwing away, so 
the shipper buys and then destroys. The best form 
has almost always one crown and the scales of the 
bulb are narrower and run up to a point. One with 
the broadest and darkest green leaves has the 
broadest scales. One that gives three or four 
crowns, weak stems and few flowers and so on, 
L. longiflorum giganteum, with the stem more or 
less dark, has a very distinct bulb. It is the 
intention of the shippers to destroy all but the 
L. longiflorum giganteum and the one with the long 
narrow leaves and many flowers, but this is a work 
of some years. If the buyers would put on the 
pressure the time will come about sooner, and the 
buyers will meantime have to pay a higher price for 
those selected varieties. I think about 4,000,000 of 
L. longiflorum bulbs must have left this shore for 
America and London. 
