March  18.  1897, 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER , 
227 
Odontogiots  are  very  numerous  now,  the  first  place  naturally 
being  taken  by  the  cool  growing  New  Grenada  species  and  hybrids, 
including  all  the  forms  of  O.  crispum,  O.  Pescatorei,  O.  luteo- 
purpureum,  O.  triumphans — perhaps  the  best  of  all  yellow  species — 
O.  Andersonianum,  and  dozens  of  others.  Oncidiumsare  almost  as 
numerous,  the  long  scandent  spikes  of  O.  undulatum,  0.  serratum, 
and  others  in  this  section  being  hardly  recognised  as  relations  to 
the  pigmy  forms,  such  as  O.  pulchellum  and  O.  tetrapetalum.  In 
this  necessarily  incomplete  list  many  Orchids  now  blooming  are 
unavoidably  left  out,  but  those  mentioned  show  what  a  rich  floral 
treat  may  be  got  from  these  lovely  plants. — H.  R.  R. 
PRECEPT  AND  PRACTICE. 
( Continued  from  page  178.) 
The  Hygro-meter,  literally  moisture  measurer  (atmospheric)  ; 
the  Anemo-meter,  wind  measurer — guage  (observe  the  relation  of 
anemo  to  Anemone,  the  Windflower),  are  scientific  instruments  it 
is  only  necessary  to  mention  now  ;  but  we  may  pause  a  little  over 
the  taking  of  levels  ere  passing  to  other  subjects,  not  with  the  idea 
of  pressing  a  matter  which  is  possibly  premature,  but  to  excite 
some  thought  and  interest  in  a  roundabout  way  on  what  is  pro¬ 
bably  regarded  as  a  severely  straight  subject.  One  of  the  hardest 
facts  to  swallow  in  youth  is  that  which  teaches  us  our  planet  is  a 
ball — “  round  like  an  orange,  flat  top  and  bottom.”  Hundreds  of 
times  have  I  repeated  that  formula,  parrot  fashion,  with  as  little 
faith  in  it  as  Columbus’s  sailors,  who  were  in  hourly  dread  as  they 
sailed  west  of  tumbling  over  the  edge.  Our  work  being  confined 
to  an  infinitesimal  portion  of  this  terrestrial  ball,  it  follows  neces¬ 
sarily  that  all  our  practice  of  this  description  is  carried  out  on  a 
dead  level.  That  i3  the  case,  and  so  far  as  our  work  is  concerned 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  matter  begins  and  ends  there. 
Yet  it  is  as  well  for  young  students  to  voluntarily  digest  now  a 
few  of  those  facts  previously  swallowed  under  compulsion  ;  to 
know  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  dead  level  in  extended 
engineering  on  our  magnified  orange  beyond  the  “  flat  top  and 
bottom”  at  the  frozen  poles.  A  simple  but  glorious  scientific 
revelation,  over  which  many  a  pHrny  battle  has  been  fought  with 
scepticism  in  the  bothy.  One  lad  argued  the  matter  with  me,  and 
settled  it  to  his  own  satisfaction  by  the  logical  (illogical)  conclusion 
that  the  sea  would  run  off  (where  to  was  not  stated)  if  it  was  not 
level — level  as  he  knew  it.  But  the  sea  furnishes  as  good  an 
illustration  as  we  probably  have  within  our  powers  of  vision  by 
observing  some  tall-masted  vessel  going  away  hull  down  over  the 
brink,  may  I  say,  the  last  thing  to  disappear  being  the  masts. 
To  all  ordinary  intents  and  purposes  the  spirit-level  is  adapted 
to  our  needs,  which  if  placed  upon  a  lath,  or  better  still  set  into 
one  of  well-seasoned  wood,  planed  level  and  true,  of  10  or  12  feet 
in  length  is,  with  a  handle  attached,  a  convenient  and  portable 
instrument.  With  this  I  have  carried  out  some  considerable  extent 
of  practical  work,  although  that  has  been  ehiefly  limited  to  the 
forming  of  tennis  and  croquet  grounds,  but  work  of  sufficienc 
scope  to  show  the  necessity  of  some  skill  to  prevent  unnecessary 
labour  and  to  insure  success.  Probably  the  early  days  and  duties 
of  a  young  gardener’s  life  will  afford  but  little,  perhaps  not  any, 
opportunity  for  practical  lessons  in  this  direction,  but  there  is 
nothing  to  prevent  him  from  working  out  some  simple  problems 
upon  paper,  with  the  endeavour  to  include  in  his  mind’s  eye  some 
particular  pieee  of  ground  in  the  locality.  Without  diagrams  to 
illustrate  the  text  I  fear  that  any  further  digression  would  scarcely 
be  justified,  but  I  have  great  faith  in  the  intelligence  of  young 
readers,  and  only  wish  to  impress  upon  them  the  desirability  of 
including  such  matters  in  their  repertoire ,  that  when  called  upon 
hereafter  to  play  a  practical  part  it  will  not  come  as  a  surprise. 
In  the  early  days  of  croquet — and  that  is  a  long  time  since — my 
first  lesson  in  levelling  of  a  negative  kind  was  received.  It  was 
another  of  those  instances  of  how  not  to  do  it,  my  worthy  mentor 
being  one  ef  those  who  practically  regarded  lines  and  rules  as  fit 
for  -  (H  rhymes),  including  the  level.  His  eye  was  “  good 
enough,”  but  it  proved  to  be  a  near-sighted  policy.  Soon  after 
that  my  eyes  were  opened  by  being  permitted  to  peep  through  a 
theodolate  which  it  was  my  task  to  carry  for  a  gardener  whose 
practical  knowledge  had  been  called  for  in  wider  fields,  and  this 
gentleman  was  good  enough  to  let  me  see  other  things  as  well, 
from  which  the  moral  may  now  be  pointed  that  as  a  “  head  ”  it  will 
be  your  duty  to  engineer  such  matters  that  the  “  hands  ”  may  be 
spared  all  unnecessary  labour,  that  not  one  barrowful  or  cartload 
of  soil  is  to  b®  removed  one  yard  purposelessly.  “  Mind  rules,  not 
muscle.” 
For  the  higher  phases  of  our  work  it  is  essential  that  the  eye 
should  early  note  the  fundamental  lines  of  utility  and  beauty, 
which ,  indeed,  a*e  parallel  lines,  and  by  continual  if  voluntary 
exercise  Beek  for  perfect  examples  of  their  kind.  These  may  be 
seldom  found,  but  the  negative  teaching  is,  possibly,  higher  teaching 
in  showing  what  to  avoid  when  a  standard  or  ideal  is  formed.  In 
the  higher  phases  of  life — our  lives — it  is  the  prerogative  of  all  who 
possess  the  natural  senses,  who  are  rational,  thinking  beings  to  see, 
to  enjoy,  and  in  a  great  measure  to  understand  the  marvels  of 
creation,  the  most  minute  of  which  transcend  our  greatest  efforts, 
but  all  of  which  it  is  given  to  us  to  have  dominion  over.  Therefore 
is  the  human  mind  endowed  with  viceiegal  power.  Yet  pas*  we  on  ; 
we  of  all  people  who  should  hear  the  low  whisperings,  should  see 
the  deep  beauty  of  nature,  deaf,  blind,  till  life  half  becomes  a 
weariness,  and  this  with  all  its  compensating  influences  at  our  feet. 
Perhaps  I  am  going  out  of  bounds,  hence  I  will  go  no  further, 
but  return  to  the  practical  by  asking  our  boys  to  open  their  eyes 
to  this  world  of  beauty  around  them.  Some  are,  per  hips,  situated 
in  their  sojournings,  which  to  their  mind  compare  unfavourably 
with  Bights  and  scenes  they  have  left  behind.  I  have  seen  it  so  ; 
seen  young  men  on  their  “  Sunday  out  ”  lie  in  bed  all  day  sighing 
mayhap  for  “  the  hills  that  are  wild  and  majestic,  the  steep  frown¬ 
ing  glories  of  dark  Lochnagar,”  and,  somehow,  when  this  spirit  of 
discontent  takes  possession  it  often  holds  through  life.  Possibly 
in  early  life  my  case  would  have  been  the  same,  but  the  position 
was  reversed,  for  escaping  from  the  old  home,  which  was  under  the 
fringe  of  the  great  London  smoke  cloud,  to  the  wolds  of 
Gloucestershire,  I  tramped  the  hills  for  miles  around,  hailing  every 
known  wild  flower  as  an  old  friend,  and  the  unknown  as  new  ones. 
This  may  be  a  bad  or  at  least  a  doubtful  moral,  but  the  lesson  has 
long  since  been  learned  that  wherever  fate  ordains  for  us  to  spend 
our  lives  there  nature  has  satisfaction  for  us  in  some  shape  or 
form. 
We  should,  it  may  be  thought,  find  all  this  in  our  work — the 
work  that  early  duties  impose  upon  us,  but  that  may  for  some 
considerable  time  be  limited  to  a  small  portion  of  so  large  a  subject. 
No  !  we  cannot,  we  must  not  confine  our  attention  to  the  vineries, 
the  pineries,  or  even  to  the  garden  proper,  but  “  zigzig  ”  in  all  the 
little  things  which  lay  around  us  pertaining  directly  or  indirectly 
to  the  vocation,  and  these  may  be  anything,  from  a  neglected  tree 
to  a  thriving  plantation,  a  satisfying  landscape  to  a  treeless  waste, 
a  fine  example  of  natural  rockwork,  or  a  suburban  monstrosity 
called  a  rcekery  ;  in  fact,  I  hardly  know  where  one  could  not  go, 
or  what  one  could  not  look  at  without  seeing  the  way  how  to  do, 
or  not  to  do,  some  particular  thing,  for  “  They  who  truth  and 
wisdom  lead,  can  gather  honey  from  a  weed.” 
I  daresay  that  there  is  not  any  young  gardener  who  does  not 
pick  up  a  number  of  vague  ideas,  which  he  intends  to  carry 
forward  for  future  benefits  ;  but  when  the  time  arrives  for  using 
them,  vague  ideas  will  not  serve — they  rather  tend  to  confuse,  and 
hence  become  our  master.  Can  you  not  skim  the  cream  as  you 
pass  along,  and  mentally  churn  it  into  something  solid,  something 
good,  something  that  will  keep  ?  Note  all,  good  and  bad  ;  and  let 
your  mind  be  the  separator,  to  your  ultimate  advantage.  You  will 
say,  ‘‘Who  amongst  us  novitiates  are  endowed  with  these  high 
powers  ?  ”  None,  truly  ;  but  are  there  any  who  cannot  cultivate 
their  growth  ?  None  ;  but  many,  alas  !  who  will  ignore  the  necessity 
of  doing  so.  To  this  end  I  will  next  endeavour  to  sow  a  few  seeds 
from  a  priaa  packet — seeds  only  ;  and  that,  as  I  am  well  aware,  for 
cultivation  under  difficulties,  yet  “  To  all  the  prize  is  open,  but 
only  he  can  take  it  who  savs,  with  Roman  courage,  ‘  I’ll  find  a  way, 
or  make  it.’  ” — An  Old  Boy. 
(To  be  continued.) 
HARMFUL  and  HARMLESS  GARDEN  MOTHS— 2. 
Just  now,  when  the  welcome  influences  of  spring  are  calling 
forth  so  many  animals  and  plants  to  a  new  life,  the  largest  and 
presumably  the  strongest  of  our  British  moths  is  seemingly 
unaffected.  All  the  males  and  females  of  the  species  are  slumber¬ 
ing  deep  in  the  earth,  protected  by  the  chamber  which  was  the 
last  work  of  each  retiring  caterpillar.  Yet  it  is  true  that  with  the 
chrysalis  shell  the  warmth  and  moisture  of  the  season  are  deve¬ 
loping  the  future  moth  which  is  to  emerge  when  summer  is  at  its 
glory.  A  moth  this  of  the  fields,  y6t  of  the  gardens  too,  for  sweets 
attract  it  to  those  spots  where  flowers  or  fruit  abound  ;  and  where 
bees  are  kept  also  the  caterpillar  is  found  at  times  upon  various 
Diants  in  enclosed  grounds,  though  it  more  frequently  occurs  about 
Potato  fields.  Not  by  any  means  a  common  insect  generally,  but 
it  is  plentiful  some  seasons  in  a  few  districts,  specially  towards  the 
West  of  England.  It  was  rather,  as  a  caterpillar,  abundant  in 
North  Kent  during  the  autumn  of  1884,  yet  the  moth  was  seldom 
observed  either  before  or  after. 
This  species,  the  death’s  head  (Acherontia  Atropos),  which  has 
also  been  sometimes  called  the  bee  tiger  for  a  reason  that  will 
appear,  has  never,  to  my  knowledge,  been  induced  to  deposit  eggs 
j  in  confinement  ;  but  probably,  like  its  immediate  relatives,  it 
