June 27, 1908. 
M 6 THE GARDENING WORLD. 
pillar. All my trees are young and planted 
in the open. They are not in any way over- 
ciowded. No. 3 has been very troublesome 
this season, and I have carefully hand¬ 
picked the trees. (E. J. E., Essex.) 
Quite a number of caterpillars eat Apple 
trees, but as you sent no specimens we can 
form no idea what was the enemy in this 
case. If the caterpillars were of moderate 
size they would probably be those of the 
winter moth or the small ermine moth, the 
latter being very troublesome at the present 
time. As you have been carefully hand¬ 
picking the young trees you should, of 
course, have no further trouble this year. 
Look over the trees again to see there are 
no cocoons hanging from any of the leaves, 
and if so they should be carefully gathered 
and destroyed. 'See also the following reply. 
2979. Caterpillars on Apple Trees. 
Will you kindly tell me what the enclosed 
grubs and caterpillars are and also how to 
deal with them now, as well as to prevent them 
getting on the trees next year. They are eat¬ 
ing up my Apple trees, attacking both leaves 
and fruit. The trees are young, the fourth 
year since planting. I shall be greatly 
obliged if you can spare time and space in 
your “ Enquire Within ” column for a reply 
to the above. (J. V. Drake, Derbyshire.) 
The specimens you sent us were the small 
ermine moth (Hyponomeuta padella). If 
there are still caterpillars upon them, get a 
pail, half fill it with water, and on the top 
pour about two glasses of paraffin. Hold 
this pail under the infested boughs and drop 
the clusters of caterpillars into the paraffin 
which floats on the top, and being light the 
caterpillars sink beneath it. The pail will 
be useful to catch those that let themselves 
down by a thread, as many of them drop 
when disturbed and merely climb up the 
thread again when the disturbance ceases. 
Another means of destroying caterpillars is 
to spread a coating of lime over the ground 
beneath the trees where you are at work. If 
any caterpillars fall to the ground unnoticed 
it would prevent them getting up again if 
you placed a ring of tarred hay round the 
base of the trees. All this should be done 
during the day as the caterpillars are then 
more sluggish and can readily be gathered 
or shaken down into the pail. The separate 
leaf you sent us contained a chrysalis of 
the same moth which hangs up its cocoon 
on a leaf sometimes inside a curled one, and 
reaches the perfect state relatively in a few 
days. Serve these cococns in the same way 
as the caterpillars. Every caterpillar and 
chrysalis-which you destroy now will save 
a nest of them next year. 
2980. Ants and Sweet Peas. 
I have some Sweet Peas that only' a few 
days since looked the picture of health, about 
6 in. or 8 in. high. During the last few 
day's they have been attacked by some insect, 
which has just bitten off the stems of every 
one. but does not seem to have touched the 
leaves. They have been well protected by 
wire from birds, and I had laid soot all 
round them and lime, so that I do not think 
it can be slugs. There are a lot of ants 
round them constantly, and I can only think 
it is those. Have you ever known ants to do 
so, and what is the remedy? (H. C. B., 
Leicestershire.) 
We have never known ants to cut plants 
of any kind, although they often become a 
nuisance by farming greenfly, scale and 
other vermin for the sake of the juices which 
they excrete. We can only suggest that some 
enemy has been at work, possibly wireworm, 
ground caterpillars, such as the heart and 
dart moth in the grub state or possibly some 
of the pea weevils. The most common of 
these are Sitonia lineata and S. crinita, 
otherwise known as the striped and spotted 
pea weevils. The latter usually attack the 
leaves, however, but there still remain the 
suspects we have above mentioned. You 
might dig away the soil round the necks of 
the plants to see if you can find any evi¬ 
dence of wireworins or slatey-coloured 
grubs, including the heart and dart moth 
and those of daddy-long-legs. If any of 
such enemies are present we should apply 
dressings of “ Vaporite,” or “ Kilogrub,” 
or “ Alphol,” digging these a little way into 
the soil, so as to get it beneath the grubs 
when at work. 
2981. Grubs in Garden Soil. 
I am sending you a few grubs of which 
my garden is nearly full, and whenever I 
put in plants they always die. When you 
pull the plants up you usually find from 
twelve to twenty of the enclosed grubs at 
the roots. Could you through your valuable 
paper tell me what they are and how I can 
get rid of them? (Constant Reader, Kent.) 
The grubs you sent us were those of the 
heart and dart moth (Agrotis exclamationis). 
The principal remedies are keeping the 
ground clean whether in crop or not, using 
gas water when the ground is bare, placing 
soot iound infested plants and earthing them 
up, and by using one or other of the remedies 
such as “ Vaporite,” “ Kilogrub,’’ or “Al¬ 
phol ” advertised in our pages. The in¬ 
secticides should be dug into the ground a 
little way without disturbing the roots of 
the plants if possible. You will see a fuller 
reply to a similar question where the same 
grub is now causing havoc in the first an¬ 
swer under “ Garden Enemies.” 
SOILS AND MANURES. 
2982. Best Leaves for Leaf Mould. 
Our leaf mould consists chief!}' of Ash, 
Lime and Sycamore, but these do not seem 
to be very good kinds for the purpose. They 
seem to give rise to a lot of small white 
worms. Would you say if they are liable to 
this sort of pest? If this is so, would you 
be good enough to let me know through your 
“ Enquire Within” what are the best leaves 
for making leaf mould ? ,(C. Whitehead, 
Kent.) 
Mostly any kind of leaves are suitable for 
making leaf mould, but the kinds you men¬ 
tion are liable to decay sooner than Beech or 
Oak, or Sweet Chestnut leaves. If you can 
get these latter three they last longer before 
they get into a condition of leaf mould than 
softer leaves. Any kind of leaves will give 
rise to worms and grubs of a variety of 
kinds, which merely find food there. There 
is, however, a remedy against these things. 
When the leaves are sifted for the purpose of 
getting out sticks and rubbish you can then 
give such portions a dressing of “ Kilo- 
grub,” “Alphol” or “Vaporite.” This is 
also a good remedy for grubs in potting 
soil. In that case the insecticide can he ap¬ 
plied to the heap just before mixing the com¬ 
post and the mixing will thoroughly dis¬ 
tribute the insecticide through the heap. 
The insecticides do no harm to the roots of 
plants as we frequently use it ourselves. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
2983. Books on Trees and Shrubs. 
I should be glad if you will kindly send 
me a price list of any books which you pub¬ 
lish on forestry, Conifers, hardy flowering 
shrubs, evergreen trees and shrubs and de¬ 
ciduous trees by A. D. Webster or any other 
author. Ts there any known work on the 
propagation and rearing of Conifers from 
seed or otherwise? Your kind advice on this 
or any other matter with what I have asked 
would be esteemed. (Geo. Luck, Dorset.) 
We have no books on any of the subjects 
which you mention, although we can direct 
you where to find them. There is a book 
“ Hardy Coniferous Trees,” by A. D. Web¬ 
ster. This describes the seed sowing and 
propagation of Conifers, both out of doors 
and under glass. The book is obtainable 
from Messrs. Hutchinson and 'Co., 34, Pater¬ 
noster Row, London, price 3s. 6d., wdth post¬ 
age extra “Practical Forestry,” by the 
same author, second edition, price 5s. with 
postage, is sold by Messrs. Ryder and Co. 
14, Bartholomew Close, Lordcn,. E.C. Y. ,, 
will find evergreen trees and shrubs and 
deciduous trees and shrubs in the book 
“ Hardy Ornamental Flowering Trees an I 
Shrubs,” by the same author, third edition 
price 3s. 6d. It is published by Messn 
Smith, Elder and Co., 15, Waterloo Place. 
London, S.W. You will find a note about it 
on p. vii. in our issue for June 20th. 
NAMES OF PLANTS. 
(Baynton-Taylor) The shrub is Buddleia 
globosa. 
(A'. C. D.) 1, Achillea umbellata; 2. Saxi- 
fraga Geum; 3, Corydalis lutea ■ 4, Lupinus 
polyphyllus; 5, Pudmonaria officinalis. 
(R. L.) 1, Chlorophytum. elatum varlegA- 
turn; 2, Sedum Sieboldii; 3, Begonia sem- 
pervirens var.; 4, Nepeta Gleehoma varie- 
gata. 
(N. E. C.) 1, Saxifraga trifurcata; 2, 
Lamium maculatum; 3, Helxine Solierolii. 
This plant is flowering and fruiting now. 
If you have a magnifying lens you can see 
the minute green flowers at the base of the 
leaves. 
(Annual Subscriber) Buddleia globosa (see 
under “ Trees and Shrubs” for treatment). 
(M. C.) 1, Hesperis matronalis; 2, Iris pal¬ 
lida ; 3, Iris variegata Darius; 4, Nepeta 
Gleehoma \ariegata; 5, Mimulus luteus; 6, 
Symphytum asperrimum. 
(A. Marks) 1, Saxifraga Geum; 2, Liliurn 
pyreuaicum; 3, Iberis correaefolia; 4, 
Deutzia gracilis. 
(S. M.) i, Lonicera japonica aureo-reti- 
culata; 2, Lonicera involucrata. 
(Botaniko) 1, Wild Carrot (Daucus Co- 
rota) ; 2, Gallium Mollugo. (You would 
better be able to identify these plants by 
waiting till they are in flower and fruit.) 
(E. R. Wilfon). It is Heracleum villosum, 
or Giant Cow Parsnip, but the leaves will 
get many times larger before it flowers if 
you give it room. 
-- 
Pyrethrum Langport Crimson. 
The flowers of this fine single variety 
are velvety crimson with a gold disc, and 
measure about 35 in. in diameter when at 
their best. They are very effective as cut 
flowers, and in June serve to brighten 
the garden. Award of Merit by the 
R.H.S. on June 9th when shown by 
Messrs. Kelway and Son, Langport, 
Somerset. 
Science in Horticulture. 
In a paper on “Some Scientific Prin¬ 
ciples Governing Practice in Horticul¬ 
ture” read before the members of the 
Edinburgh Horticultural Association on 
June 2nd, the author, Mr. James Harris, 
said the time would soon come when a 
gardener who had not an idea of the 
scientific principles which governed his 
work, or, in other words, if he did not 
know what his plants were doing, would 
not be able to retain his situation. Mr. 
Harris divided his remarks into twelve 
heads, the object of his paper being to 
stimulate in younger gardeners a greater 
interest in their work, particularly in re¬ 
gard to its scientific side. 
