JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Mly  6,  189T. 
38H 
easily,  but  hesitation  is  fatal.  It  is  the  same  in  respect  to  insects. 
Let  the  first  arrivals  remain  undisturbed,  on  the  ground  that  such 
a  few  cannot  do  much  harm,  and  it  is  “  not  worth  while  wasting 
tobacco  or  other  insecticides  on  them,”  and  injury  if  not  ruin 
to  the  plants  or  crops  will  be  inevitable.  The  greatest  calamities 
have  followed  from  underrating  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  and 
permitting  the  aggregation  of  units,  till  they  grow  into  a  mighty 
force.  This  is  precisely  what  is  done  and  permitted  yearly  in 
greenhouses  and  gardens  all  over  the  land.  The  first  few  aphides 
are  weak  and  easily  subdued,  but  allow  them  a  few  days’  freedom, 
and  they  will  entrench  themselves  so  firmly  and  increase  with  such 
rapidity  as  to  become  a  formidable  foe. 
To  allow  insects  to  multiply  into  a  devastating  swarm  is  both 
costly  and  cruel.  Costly  because  the  deplorable  result*  in  half- 
formed  Vines,  fruit  trees  and  plants  represent  a  great  waste  of 
wealth  ;  and  because  a  far  greater  outlay  must  be  incurred  in 
insecticides  and  labour  in  applying  them  to  prevent  total  ruin,  that 
originally  would  have  insured  a  remunerative  return  in  the  realiia- 
tion  of  healthy  plants  and  profitable  crops.  It  is  cruel  to  even 
passively  encourage  the  increase  of  insects,  and  then,  as  must  be 
the  case,  engage  day  by  day  in  the  miserable  work  of  carnage,  for  it 
cannot  be  otherwise  designated.  It  is  cruel  to  the  plants  and  trees 
also,  in  having  their  life  blood  drained  away  by  the  enemy  that 
has  been  suffered  to  infest  them,  and  which  might  have  been 
prevented  if  the  requisite  means  were  provided  and  promptly 
applied.  The  owners  of  gardens  are  responsible  for  providing  the 
means,  the  managers  for  their  application. 
Insects  have  often  gained  the  mastery  over  gardeners  through 
the  mistaken  policy  of  waiting  till  the  plants  and  trees  have  been 
seriouily  infested  before  even  “ordering”  insecticides  for  their 
extirpation.  Such  delay  on  the  part  of  those  owners  of  gardens 
who  personally  order  what  is  needed  is  a  serious  mistake  ;  in  the 
case  of  gardeners  who  can  supply  themselves  with  every  requisite 
it  is  inexcusable.  A  shilling  spent  in  insecticides  early  in  the 
season,  and  the  powder  or  solution  applied  when  the  first  insect 
is  seen,  or,  what  is  better,  before,  as  a  preventive,  will  effect  the 
desired  purpose  far  better  than  can  be  accomplished  by  an  expendi¬ 
ture  of  20s.  after  the  shoots  of  trees  and  plants  are  crowded  with 
aphides,  which,  further,  by  puncturing  the  leaves,  cause  them  to 
curl  over  and  effectually  protect  the  enemy  that  is  depriving  them 
of  life. 
The  rapidity  with  which  plant  lice  multiply  is  marvellous,  and 
perhaps  not  sufficiently  recognised.  According  to  the  calculations 
of  one  great  scientist  five  generations  proceeding  from  one  mother 
produced  5,904,900,000  in  a  season.  It  is  true  there  are  natural 
enemies  for  checking  the  increase,  as  ladybirds  and  ichneumon  flies, 
in  nature,  but  they  are  rarely  present,  and  never  in  sufficient 
numbers  early  in  the  year  where  cultivation  is  practised  to  a  large 
extent  under  artificial  conditions.  The  natural  enemies  of  insects 
must  never  be  relied  on  for  destroying  the  latter,  but  other  agencies 
should  be  resorted  to  for  preventing  the  appearance  of  the  pe*ts, 
or  at  least  be  applied  with  promptitude  directly  the  first  insect  is 
seen. 
Waiting  till  the  young  growths  of  trees  and  plants  are  much 
infested  with  insects  before  applying  remedies  is  placing  the  latter 
at  a  great  disadvantage,  and  is  often  unjust  to  the  manufacturers  of 
insect-destroying  compounds.  Used  in  time,  a  moderate  strength 
suffices  for  the  extirpation  of  plant  pests,  and  leaves  the  plants  un¬ 
harmed  ;  but  when  the  insects  cluster  on  each  other  in  layers,  and 
so  affix  themselves  as  to  make  their  prey  their  shelter,  much  stronger 
and  repeated  applications  are  called  for  ;  and  as  these  cannot 
destroy  the  insects  they  do  not  reach,  and  the  exhausted  foliage 
cannot  withstand  the  strong  applications,  -what  has  been  applied  is 
not  only  pronounced  useless  but  dangerous.  Nothing  can  be  more 
unfair.  The  fault  is  too  near  home  to  be  admitted  perhaps,  but  it 
is  there  nevertheless,  and  not  with  the  insecticides,  for  if  those 
that  have  been  found  safe  and  effectual  by  experienced  cultivators, 
are  used  in  strict  accordance  with  the  maker’s  instructions,  and 
especially  used  in  good  time,  before  insects  abound,  they  will 
answer  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  intended.  This  latter 
condition  is  of  far  greater  importance  than  the  choice  of  any  par¬ 
ticular  preparation.  Some  persons  find  one  kind  answer  their 
purpose,  some  another  ;  and  it  is  a  question  if  there  is  one  in  the 
market  that  is  not  safe  and  good  when  fairly  applied. 
Greenhouse  plants  innumerable  ;  Calceolarias,  Cinerarias,  Pelar¬ 
goniums,  and  others  ;  also  Roses  in  and  out  of  doors  ;  Peaches 
and  other  trees  on  walls  and  under  glass  ;  Yines,  Cucumbers,  and 
Melons,  are  crippled  in  growth,  seriously  injured,  and  not  infre¬ 
quently  completely  spoiled  by  aphides,  thrips,  or  scale  in  their 
several  forms  that  might  with  ease  be  kept  clean.  The  path  of 
safety  lies  in  preventing  the  appearance  of  insects.  Waiting  for 
their  multiplication  in  myriads  before  attacking  them  amounts  to 
giving  the  victory  to  the  enemy. — W. 
PRECEPT  AND  PRACTICE. 
( Continued  from  page  309.) 
Picturesque  Gardening.’  . 
Whilst  not  requiring  any  great  feats  of  engineering  there  is 
ample  scope  for  pleasing  expressions  of  taste  with  utility  in  the 
greater  freedom  afforded  to  the  head,  hand,  and  eye  in  path 
designing.  That  there  should  be  no  crude  union  visible  with  the 
classical  outline  of  formal  design  and  picturesque  freedom  is 
evident.  Good  taste  will  discover  the  happy  vid  media  to  insert 
the  necessary  semi-tones  into  our  harmony.  Its  extent  may,., 
according  to  circumstances,  be  anything  from  a  few  yards  to  a 
mile  in  length,  but  it  i3  in  any  case  the  connecting  link,  requiring 
more  care  in  fashioning  than  will  ever  be  apparent  afterwards  if 
the  junction  is  smoothly  effected.  Granted  that  such  is  the  case 
there  is  no  startling  contrast  to  court  criticism,  as  our  path  carries 
us  into  the  kingdom  of  picturesque  gardening. 
Wild  or  semi-wild  gardening,  pregnant  with  possibilities,  is,  I 
believe,  capable  of  redeeming  the  character  of  the  gardener,  in 
some  measure  impugned  by  long  confinement  under  the  manacled 
fashion  of  formality.  The  latter  we  will  not  condemn  if  the 
former  is  not  ignored.  It  has,  in  fact,  as  I  have  previously 
endeavoured  to  show,  a  distinct  right  of  being  ;  but  practically 
excluded  as  many  have  been  from  liberty  in  this  direction,  it  is  not 
a  matter  for  surprise  to  find  a  certain  amount  of  stiffness  cramping 
the  hand  and  clinging  to  ideas  born  of  more  despotic  influences. 
This  phase  of  gardening  is,  I  think  we  may  justly  say,  but  in 
its  infancy,  notwithstanding  some  evidence  to  be  found  of  our 
forefathers’  acquaintance  with  it  and  those  excellent  examples 
under  development,  but  there  are  sound  and  sufficient  reasons  for 
the  inference  that  it  will  be  of  rapid  growth,  and  form  the  most 
pleasing  feature  of  gardening  in  the  future. 
Returning  to  our  path,  which  is  probably  the  simplest  example 
of  that  subject,  we  need  never  lose  sight  of  its  primary  purpose — 
viz.,  that  however  unobtrusive  it  may  be,  it  is  for  use  in  all  seasons, 
and  practically  for  all  weathers.  It  now  brings  us  to  a  complex 
state  of  things,  satisfactory  and  unsatisfactory,  farther  reaching, 
indeed,  than  this  phase  of  our  subject.  One  instance  of  a  common 
error  will  convey  the  meaning,  and  one  is  vividly  presented  to  me 
probably  owing  to  its  being  in  one  way  the  most  charming  walk 
I  have  seen.  Evergreens,  flowering  shrubs,  with  occasional 
specimens  of  our  most  handsome  Conifene,  might  have  afforded 
interest  and  beauty  at  every  turn  ;  but,  alas  !  that  fatal  error  of 
crowding,  with  constant  mutilation  to  keep  the  path  open,  spoiled 
the  picture.  The  direct  source  of  such  mistakes  is,  I  believe,  an 
insatiable  desire  for  instantaneous  effect.  It  is  pawning  the  future 
to  supply  the  present,  and  although  the  knowledge  of  such  things* 
must  be  patent  to  the  veriest  tyro  in  planting,  the  wisdom  of  acting 
upon  it  is  ignored.  Such  at  least  appears  to  be  the  case  when  this 
near-sighted  policy  is  in  so  many  places  persistently  pursued. 
We  do  not,  unless  we  wish  to  return  to  the  old  Dutch  style  of 
gardening,  desire  to  walk  between  evergreen  walls.  Dutch  garden¬ 
ing  is  handsome  in  its  way,  but  there  is  no  mongrel  connection 
between  it  and  our  subject  to  bear  the  burden  of  our  sins  when 
flowering  shrubs,  trees,  or  specimen  evergreens  are  shorn  of  their 
characteristic  features.  The  question  might  here  be  opened  up  of 
rectifying  these  errors,  which  in  some  instances,  and  under  some 
circumstances,  it  is,  of  course,  possible  to  do.  but  I  would  rather 
impress  upon  embryo  planters  the  desirability  of  avoiding  them. 
What  possibilities  are  now  opening  up  for  semi- wild  gardening, 
this  most  pleasing  of  all  gardening  delights.  Here  we  want  the 
broadest  idea,  the  freest  of  free  lines.  As  our  path  carries  us  from 
peep  to  peep  there  is  something  to  satisfy,  to  soothe,  or  to  excite  at 
every  turn.  Sheltered  nooks,  where  a  thousand  Daffodils  nod  in 
the  March  winds  ;  deep  bays,  where  a  dozen  of  Berberis  Darwini, 
shrubby  Spiiasas,  or  countless  things  of  beauty  of  form,  or  flower, 
or  foliage,  may  be  effectively  represented.  Endless  variety, 
boundless  freedom,  yet  all  subordinate  to  an  intelligent  design — 
a  design  rather  felt  than  seen.  Failing  this  we  are  like  those 
“  whose  incoherent  style,  like  sick  men’s  dreams,  varies  all  shapes, 
and  mixes  all  extremes.”  Even  in  those  places  where  this  subject 
has,  one  may  say,  been  but  approached,-  so  many  opportunities  are 
created  by  the  initial  stage  for  its  development,  and  one  may 
wander  for  so  many  hours  with  the  limit  of  as  many  acres  feeling 
that  the  pleasures  of  gardening  are  infinite,  its  teachings  endless,  and 
its  works  always  capable  of  extension  in  this  direction  as  time  and 
circumstances  permit. 
Nature  is  modest — for  our  purpose,  modest  to  a  fault — often 
hiding  some  charming  features  under  the  veil  of  indigenous 
vegetation.  I  have  seen  some  beautiful  bits  of  natural  rockwork 
revealed  by  a  little  labour  in  clearing  away  the  rank  growth  of 
Nettles,  Brambles,  and  other  savage  wildlings  ;  and  in  some  places 
the  removal  of  a  few  inches  of  surface  soil  has  been  the  means  to 
