110 
i'ebiniary  11,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE 
and  lamps  of  earth.  Place  this  soil  on  each  side  for  earthing  up 
in  due  course.  This  trench  should  be  filled  6  inches  deep  with 
good  manure,  fresh  horse  droppings  if  obtainable,  but  if  not,  any 
good  manure  will  do.  Cover  over  with  4  inches  of  soil,  and  plant 
the  Leeks  carefully  in  the  trench.  If  fresh  manure  is  used  care 
must  be  taken  not  to  place  the  roots  too  near  it.  Place  some  soil 
up  the  stem  of  the  plant  immediately,  so  that  the  wind  will  not 
damage  the  blades. 
Some  brown  paper  must  be  wrapped  round  the  stem,  and  drawn 
up  as  the  earth  is  gradually  raised  in  the  trench  (paper  collars  can 
also  be  bought  ready  for  the  purpose).  Before  earthing  see  that 
the  plants  have  a  thorough  soaking  with  water.  Many  people 
place  drain-pipes  a  yard  apart  up  the  centre  of  the  trench,  and 
apply  the  water  and  liquid  manure  through  the  season  in  this  way. 
The  proper  length  of  blanch  on  a  Leek  is  a  matter  of  opinion, 
but  14  inches,  with  stem  of  medium  thickness,  is  quite  sufficient. 
One  occasionally  sees  them  blanched  16  and  18  inches,  but  they  are 
then  too  thin  to  be  handsome.  In  lifting  the  Leeks  for  show  great 
care  must  be  taken  not  to  break  the  foliage.  Everyone  should  be 
tied  just  above  the  blanch  with  raffia,  and  the  outer  leaves  must 
not  be  stripped  off  excessively  or  the  smooth  surface  so  desirable 
will  be  lost. 
Those  who  cannot  raise  the  plants  themselves  can  purchase  fine 
ones  ready  for  planting  in  May.  The  writer  grows  some  thousands 
every  year,  and  the  growing  of  Leek  and  Onion  plants  for 
competition  is  in  more  than  one  Scotch  nursery  quite  an  industry. 
— S.  J. 
HARMFUL  AND  HARMLESS  GARDEN  MOTHS. 
Introductory. 
To  most  gardeners  moths  of  varied  sizes  and  colours  rank 
amongst  the  familiar  winged  insects,  since  they  are  seen  both  by 
day  and  night,  also  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  Indeed 
there  is  no  month  when  we  may  not  chance  upon  a  moth,  either 
hybernating  or  performing  its  usual  movements  at  a  season  when 
insect  life  is  generally  quiescent.  So  the  moths  of  the  Hybernia 
family,  some  of  which  are  parents  of  very  destructive  caterpillars, 
have  their  time  of  emergence  in  the  winter  months,  from  November 
to  February.  Again,  though  moths  are  regarded  rightly  as  night 
fliers  by  general  habit,  many  fly  by  daylight,  and  of  course  some 
are  dislodged  from  places  where  they  have  settled  for  the  day,  by 
various  causes.  It  may  be  well  to  mention  this,  because  people 
suppose  that  in  the  order  to  which  moths  belong  they  are  distin¬ 
guished  from  their  relatives  the  butterflies  by  being  lovers  of 
darkness.  Butterflies,  however,  do  give  prelerence  to  daylight 
and  sunshine  ;  one  seldom  moves  after  5  p.m.  even  during  summer, 
but  I  have  seen  red  admiral*  sometimes  careering  about  in  the 
evening  eager  to  regale  upon  fallen  fruit. 
Often  I  am  asked  for  some  simple  distinction  between  moths 
and  butterflies,  for  there  are  moths  quite  as  brightly  coloured  as  any 
butterflies,  and  some  of  them  are  slender- bodied — in  the  group  of 
loopers  or  geometers,  for  instance.  One  of  the  best  is  to  be  found 
in  the  antennae  or  horns,  which  amongst  butterflies  are  knobbed 
and  enlarged  at  the  tips  and  always  extended  in  front  of  the 
insect  if  settled,  while  moths  usually  lay  theirs  over  the  wings  or 
bend  them  round.  Also  a  butterfly,  when  resting,  closed  the  wings 
above  the  body,  which  a  moth  never  does.  I  have  found  it  neces¬ 
sary  to  shield  the  majority  of  butterflies  from  a  suspicion  of  being 
parents  of  insect  foes,  since  in  Britain  we  really  have  but  two 
species  that  can  be  said  to  be  injurious  to  cultivated  plant*.  The 
rest  are  chiefly  visitants  to  gardens,  where  some  of  them  help 
forward  fertilisation  by  moving  from  flower  to  flower.  Newman, 
it  is  true,  relates  that  when  he  was  a  young  entomologist  he  chased 
clouded  yellow  butterflies  in  market  gardens  at  New  Cross,  and 
was  himself  chased  by  the  workers  there,  yet  those  butterflies  had 
not  bred  on  the  spot,  they  came  from  Lucerne  or  Clover  fields  a 
little  distance  off.  The  comma  butterfly  has  been  bred  upon 
the  Red  Currant,  but  it  is  a  scarce  and  local. 
Some  of  the  Fritillaries,  the  caterpillars  of  which  feed  upon 
Violas,  have  been  put  on  the  list  of  garden  enemies  ;  the  zeal  of 
entomologists,  however,  has  now  made  them  too  rare  for  any  mis¬ 
chief  to  be  charged  upon  them.  Then  there  is  the  black-veined 
white,  which  on  the  continent  is  really  damaging  to  fruit  trees  ; 
but  in  Britain  the  caterpillars,  by  no  means  common,  have  only 
occurred  on  the  Hawthorn.  It  comes  to  this,  that  our  sole  butterfly 
pests  are  the  large,  or  Cabbage  white,  and  the  small  white,  both 
I 
AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
abundant  ;  the  first,  as  the  name  implies,  chiefly  infests  various 
Brassicas,  though  occasionally  the  caterpillars  abound  on  other 
plants,  the  Tropasolum  for  example.  The  second,  even  more 
numerous,  affects  all  sorts  of  Crucifers  in  gardens,  not  limiting 
itself  to  these,  since  it  is  frequently  found  upon  Pelargoniums  and 
various  species  ;  from  their  size  and  colour  they  frequently  escape 
notice  during  the  ca'erpillar  stage. 
Returning  to  our  moths,-without  question  the  history  of  common 
garden  species  is  to  many  gardeners  not  clearly  outlined,  judging 
from  the  information  that  is  sought  by  some  of  my  friends,  and 
the  appearance  of  occasional  rarer  kinds  is  also  perplexir^  t0  them, 
thinking,  perhaps,  they  are  pioneers  of  a  new  foe.  Oth  rs,  how 
ever,  seem  disregardful  of  all  moths,  not  connecting  them  with  the 
caterpillars  from  which  they  have  developed,  and  let  them  go  their 
way  indifferently.  Now  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  every  gardener 
should  be  an  entomologist,  but  some  amount  of  book  and  practical 
knowledge  about  insect  life  is  profitable  to  all.  Besides,  having 
such  opportunities  for  observation,  a  gardener  may  render  material 
aid  to  natural  science. 
One  of  the  correspondents  of  this  Journal  discovered  a  curious 
fact  which  had  escaped  the  notice  of  entomologists,  that  the  wing¬ 
less  females  of  the  winter  moth  (presumably  of  others,  too, 
belonging  to  the  same  genus,  Hybernia)  are  enabled  to  reach  the 
higher  branches  of  trees  for  the  purpose  of  oviposition,  by  the  aid 
of  their  male  companions.  People  have  asked  me  if  moths 
“  grew  ”  after  they  appeared  as  moths,  and  whether  they  “  bit  ”  the 
petals  of  flowers  to  which  they  resorted.  Again,  did  moths,  like 
some  blowflies  and  the  aphis  tribe,  produce  live  offspring  ?  To  all 
three  queries  the  answer  was  a  negative.  One  day  a  friend  stood 
with  me  watching  a  moth  that  was  expanding  its  wings,  having  just 
emerged,  and  he  was  surpriied  to  see  it  eject  a  large  drop  of  reddish 
brown  fluid.  He  asked  if  this  would  be  at  all  harmful  to  any 
vegetable  object  it  fell  upon.  I  said  it  was  not  probable  that  it 
could  be,  there  being  no  great  quantity.  Still,  there  had  been  times 
when  from  the  emergence  of  a  goodish  number  of  moths  on  the 
same  days,  gardens  and  fielis  were  noticed  to  be  besprinkled  with 
such  spots.  By  our  forefathers  the  true  cause  was  not  detected, 
and  it  evoked  some  superstitious  idea  of  the  falling  of  bloody  rain. 
Shakespeare  puts  into  the  mouth  of  a  well-known  character  of 
his,  words  expressing  suspicion  of  lean  men,  as  far  more  likely  to 
be  dangerous  than  their  tat  brethren.  Now,  with  regard  to  garden 
moths,  it  is  certainly  the  fat  ones  that  are  prominent  foes  to 
vegetation,  though  thin-bodied  species  may  be  mischievous,  such 
as  the  Gooseberry  moth  and  the  garden  carpet.  It  is  to  the. group 
which,  according  to  the  old  classification,  is  called  the  Noctua 
tribe,  fat-bodied  moths,  that  the  greater  number  of  our  enemies 
brilong  ;  they  are  parents  of  the  mighty  army  of  surface  cater¬ 
pillars.  In  our  islands  we  can  reckon  up  something  like 
300  species,  but,  of  course,  many  do  not  occur  about  gardens,  and 
some  that  do  have  caterpillars  comparatively  harmless.  A  few  of 
these  moths  fly  by  day,  such  as  our  lively  friend  the  Gamma.  The 
majority  repose  with  the  upper  wings  folded  over  the  lower  pair. 
They  have  long  antenritE,  and  their  colours  are  generally  browns 
and  greys,  some  having  brighter  tints  ;  the  under  wings  seldom 
have  any  markings. 
Sweets  of  any  sort  have  great  attractions  to  these  moths,  and  it 
is  to  entrap  them  that  the  entomologist  spreads  upon  trees  a 
cunningly  devised  compound  before  twilight,  which  he  visits  or 
watches  till  the  earlj  morning  hours,  seeking  for  rarities.  He 
may  get  them—  sometimes  ;  but  he  is  frequently  disgusted  by 
a  rush  of  common  species,  the  well-known  Cabbage  moth,  for 
instance,  and  its  brethren.  Might  it  not  be  a  good  plan  for  a 
gardener  to  get  rid  of  some  of  his  enemies  by  capturing  them  with 
sugar  before  they  have  deposited  their  eggs  ?  These,  and  also  the 
young  caterpillars,  are  not  easily  discoverable  as  a  rule,  and  when 
older  they  often  conceal  themselves.  Various  are  the  recipes  for 
this  moth-snaring  syrup,  which  might  be  spread  on  walls  or  palings 
as  well  as  trees.  Some  flavour  it  with  rum  or  aniseed,  but  really 
nothing  is  more  fetching  than  ordinary  Jamaica  foots. 
It  is  a  sight  to  see  moths  hovering  over  this  bait,  their  eyes 
frequently  gleaming  like  tiny  stars  in  this  phosphorescence  or 
electricity,  or  neither.  Possibly  they  emit  a  portion  of  X  rays,  as 
the  glowworm’s  light  is  found  to  do.  No  doubt  the  large  hawk 
moths,  which  occur  in  gardens  now  and  then,  look  formidable 
insects,  and  their  caterpillars  are  hearty  feeders  ;  but  they  are  not 
plentiful  enough  to  make  trees  or  shrubs  appear  the  worse  for 
their  attacks,  or  rarely.  By  far  the  preponderance  of  our  moths 
are  not  only  slight  in  form  but  small  in  size ;  the  many  of  the 
tortrix  tribe  with  bell-shaped  wings,  which,  when  caterpillars, 
exercise  their  skill  in  rolling  or  contorting  leaves,  and  the  still  less 
tinea  species  of  varied  habit.  Some  of  the  little  moths  are  so 
numerous  that  their  caterpillars  can  do  more  harm  than  we  should 
suppose ;  fortunately  they  are  much  sought  by  insect-eatiDg 
birds.— Entomologist. 
