62 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  28,  1898. 
thinning.  Should  the  weather  and  the  soil  be  very  dry  it  is  desirable 
to  water  the  drills  after  they  are  formed.  The  latter  must  not  be 
very  deep.  They  can  be  easily  marked  out  by  pressing  the  back  of 
a  rake  evenly  along  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  deep.  Cover  the  seed 
with  fine  soil,  and  shade  the  surface  with  a  few  evergreen  branches, 
but  this  is  not  indispensable  except  in  hot  parching  weather.  V/hen 
the  seed  germinates  remove  everything  which  shades  the  seedlings,  so 
as  to  prevent  them  brooming  drawn,  a  few  hours  sufficing  to  do  this. 
Afford  water  to  encourage  growth  in  dry  weather,  but  give  no  more 
than  is  absolutely  necessary.  Keep  down  weeds,  and  give  a  preliminary 
thinning,  should  the  seedlings  be  crowded,  until  they  are  ready  for 
transferring  to  a  bed  or  border  where  they  are  intended  to  flower. 
At  this  final  stage  of  planting  place  the  young  plants  8  or 
10  inches  apart  on  well  prepared  soil  not  made  rich  with  manure, 
though  of  course  good  fertile  soil  is  required  to  insure  free  growth. 
Lack  of  manure  in  soils  is  not  always  the  cause  of  infertility.  More 
often  ground  is  impoverished  by  dry  conditions  consequent  upon  its 
occupancy  by  voracious  roots  of  trees  and  shrubs  which  may  have 
encroached  upon  it.  Undue  shade  a'so  keeps  away  moisture.  Such 
soil  cannot  easily  be  improved  for  Stocks,  and  better  results  must 
accrue  from  planting  in  an  open  position,  though  the  ground  may  be 
apparently  poor. 
After  planting,  one  or  two  waterings  may  be  given  as  appears 
requisite.  Subsequent  treatment  consists  in  lightly  stirring  the  soil 
between  the  plants  frequently  during  autumn  and  winter.  Damp  is  a 
great  enemy  to  Stocks  in  winter,  but  its  effects  may  be  lessened  by 
spreading  dry  soil  mixed  with  a  little  lime  among  them. — E.  D.  S. 
HARMFUL  and  HARMLESS  GARDEN  MOTHS— 23. 
Reference  has  been  made  many  times  in  our  gardening  journals 
to  the  fact  that  a  cold,  ungenial  spring  and  early  summer  (such  as 
has  been  experienced  this  year  over  the  greater  part  of  the  British 
Islands),  often  has  its  ill  effects  upon  vegetation,  aggravated  by  the 
attacks  of  insects.  This  is  rather  a  pessimistic  view,  and  yet  it  is 
true  that  just  at  the  time  some  of  our  garden  plants  seem  to  be 
suffering  from  want  of  sun,  they  are  victimised  by  insect  foes.  But 
one  sees  another  side  to  the  matter.  If  certain  insects  there  are,  the 
aphis  tribe  for  example,  which  do  flourish  when  cold  winds  prevail — 
to  a  multitude  of  young  caterpillars  these  invariably  prove  destructive, 
also  they  kill  off  a  goodly  number  of  the  hybernated  individuals ;  and 
of  the  May  moths,  or  butterflies,  too,  a  part  die  without  depositing 
eggs.  Comparing  different  seasons  and  their  results,  I  think,  as  a  rule, 
our  gardens  get  more  damage  from  insects  during  a  dry  year  than  in  a 
moist  one.  This  summer  many  familiar  caterpillars  are  only  repre¬ 
sented  by  stragglers,  and  while  strolling  along  the  walks  at  twilight 
we  do  not  observe  the  moths  we  expect  to  see  on  a  July  evening. 
One  of  the  species,  however,  which  has  been  making  itself  con¬ 
spicuous  recently  in  some  places,  is  the  small  ermine  (Hyponomeuta 
padella).  Colonies  of  its  caterpillars  have  stripped  Hawthorn  hedges  and 
Apple  trees;  and  now  those  that  escaped  various  enemies  have  entered 
the  chrysalis  state.  Since  they  are  then  quite  discernible  amongst 
the  branches  on  which  the  caterpillars  have  fed,  they  should  be 
removed  and  burnt.  During  this  month  the  moths  may  be  exp.  cted 
to  show  themselves  about  gardens  or  orchards.  They  are  small  satiny 
creatures,  the  narrow  and  white  upper  wings  being  sprinkled  with 
black  dots.  Other  species  very  similar  of  the  same  genus  occasionally 
appear  at  the  same  time  on  the  wing  ;  two  of  these  feed  as  caterpillars, 
one  upon  Prunus  padus,  the  other  on  a  species  of  Euonvmus,  but  do 
little  harm. 
The  eggs  are  laid  in  clusters  and  covered  by  the  parent  moth  with 
a  gummy  substance,  which  gradually  becomes  brown,  though  at  first 
pale,  and  so  much  the  colour  of  the  twigs  that  the  small  patches  are 
seldom  noticed.  It  is  doubtful  whether  these  eggs  can  be  removed 
either  by  washing  or  fumigation  during  the  autumn,  but  the  deposition 
of  the  eggs  may  be  prevented  by  shaking  the  moths  off  the  trees, 
and  they  usually  emerge  in  companies,  like  the  caterpillars.  These 
do  not  begin  to  feed  till  the  spring,  but  most  seasons  they  hatch  in 
autumn,  remaining  under  their  gummy  shield  till  the  buds  are  swelling, 
when  they  commence  operations  by  burying  their  slender  bodies  in 
those  nearest  to  them.  Soon  the  expansion  of  the  .foliage  around 
brings  them  out,  and  they  spin  a  web  which  shelters  each  colony  for 
awhile.  By-and-by,  if  not  meddled  with,  the  colonies  seem  to  unite 
and  construct  bridges  or  ladders  upon  which  the  caterpillars  travel  in 
all  directions  over  the  twigs  and  branches.  The  injury  does  not 
arise  only  from  the  effects  of  the  caterpillars’  jaws,  growth  is  checked 
by  the  webs  and  secretions  of  the  insect. 
Most  of  the  larger  garden  moths  have  been  described  in  our  series, 
but  there  yet  remains  a  host  of  smaller  species,  which  it  is  not  possible 
to  enumerate,  aud  a  few  only  of  these  can  be  very  briefly  mentioned  as 
samples  of  their  tribe.  Every  gardener  has  seen  the  Tortrix  moths, 
sometimes  called  the  bell  moths,  from  the  shape  of  their  wings, 
insects  now  and  then  observable  in  the  act  of  flying,  but  more  often 
noticed  in  iepot-e  upon  a  leaf  or  some  wall.  Still  better  known  are 
the  caterpillars,  taking  their  Latin  name  from  the  habit  of  contorting 
or  twisting  leaves,  so  that  many  of  them  seriously  disfigure  and  weaken 
their  food  plants.  Various  are  the  methods  they  pursue,  but  how¬ 
ever  the  leaf  may  be  folded  or  curled,  it  is  always  kept  in  position 
by  cords  of  silk. 
It  is  surprising  that  caterpillars  of  the  size  of  some  small  species 
can  manage  to  bend  over  the  leaves  they  make  their  abodes;  evidently 
they  possess  a  good  amount  of  muscular  force.  Usually  the  retreat  of 
a  Tortrix  caterpillar  is  more  or  less  like  a  tube,  open  at  each  end,  so 
that  in  the  event  of  an  enemy  appearing  at  one  the  caterpillar  drops 
from  the  other,  hanging  from  a  silken  cord.  By  this  contrivance 
many  of  them  escape  the  insect-eating  birds  that  hunt  up  caterpillars  ; 
but  some  of  these,  wiser  in  their  generation  than  their  brethren,  have 
the  trick  of  shaking  any  leaf  which  contains  a  caterpillar,  and  when  it 
descends  the  bird  carries  it  off.  Ichneumon  foes  of  tiny  proportions 
help  to  reduce  the  number  of  such  garden  annoyances,  puncturing 
them  dexterously,  so  that  they  never  emerge  as  moths,  or  even 
become  chrysalids. 
The  Rose,  as  its  admirers  know  to  their  regret,  is  an  especial 
favourite  with  the  Tonrix  caterpillars,  half  a  dozen  species  at  least 
making  it  their  regular  or  occasional  food.  May  aud  June  exhibit  to  us 
that  of  the  Bergmannian  (Craesia  Bergmanniana),  a  lively  little  creature 
with  a  black  head,  sometimes  plentiful  enough  to  damage  the  shoots 
seriously,  if  it  has  not  been  looked  after  on  its  first  appearance.  We  see 
the  moth  about  during  the  summer  or  early  autumn.  The  wings  only 
expand  half  an  inch,  but  it  is  very  handsome,  the  fore  wings  being 
g  iden  yellow  crossed  by  brown  bands ;  all  their  surface  is  sprinkled 
with  silvery  scales,  the  under  pair  are  of  a  deep  brown.  A  companion 
of  its  flight  is  the  variable  Reronea  variegana,  abundant  in  gardens  ; 
ti  e  white  or  grey  wings  have  blotches  of  brown  and  black.  Its  very 
.active  pale  green  caterpillar  has  been  taken  on  the  Rose,  also  on 
Hawthorn,  and  many  shrubs  about  gardens  in  June.  Earlier  in  its 
doings  is  the  brown  black-headed  caterpillar  of  Spilonota  roborana,, 
which  infests  and  contorts  Rose  shoots  during  the  spring.  The  moth 
h  is  received  the  popular  name  of  “  brown  cloak,”  from  a  patch  upon 
the  creamy  white  fore  wings,  which  are  rather  narrow. 
Also  early  is  the  fat  sluggish  caterpillar  of  Lozotoenia  rosana, 
which,  by  its  rolling  operations,  damages  the  tender  leaves  ;  it  is 
dark  green,  slightly  spotted  with  white.  The  moth  appears  about 
midsummer,  but  though  named  after  the  Rose,  the  caterpillar  of  the 
s,  ccies  is  a  promiscuous  feeder.  Just  now  wre  notice  that  amongst 
the  Privet  hedges  flits  the  little  reddish-brown  L.  unifasciana,  in 
wl  ich  the  caterpillar  fed  in  the  sjaring. 
From  the  frequent  occurrence  of  the  species  on  fruit  trees,  we 
are  sure  to  come  upon  the  codling  moth  in  our  gardens,  an 
unpleasant  reminder  of  the  mischief  chargeable  upon  the  caterpillar,, 
which  brings  to  earth  many  thousands  of  Apples  in  an  unripe  state* 
It  is  a  pretty  moth,  this  Carpocapsa  pomonella,  grey,  with  delicate 
lines  of  black,  and  a  red  blotch,  which  in  certain  lights  has  a  golden 
hue.  During  June,  or  soon  after,  the  female  deposits  one  egg  in 
the  eye  of  each  Apple  visited.  The  caterpillar,  which  is  white  or 
pinkish,  with  a  brown  head,  after  a  time  pierces  a  hole  to  the  rind, 
from  which  it  can  eject  the  pellets  of  dirt,  and  then  turns  back  towards 
the  centre,  attacking  the  core.  As  a  result,  the  fruit  falls,  when  the 
caterpillar,  emerging  therefrom,  spins  a  cocoon  in  some  nook,  remaining 
a  chrysalis  through  the  winter.  Very  of  en  these  are  under  loose 
bark  on  trees,  where  they  may  be  found  and  removed.  Allied  to  this 
is  the  dull-coloured  C.  funebrana.  The  caterpillar,  which  is  red,  but 
having  a  black  head,  makes  its  home  in  Plums.  Then  the  profusely 
c  immon  pea-green  moth  (Tortrix  viridana),  so  hostile  to  Oaks,  is  apt 
to  show  itself  in  gardens  if  this  tree  is  growing  near.  Some  seasons 
the  caterpillar  nearly  clears  all  the  leaves  in  June  where  it  occurs; 
being  green  like  the  moth,  but  paler ;  fortunately,  in  both  stages,  its- 
conspicuousness  makes  it  a  victim  to  many  foes. 
We  not  unfrequently  see,  on  the  wing,  some  of  the  elegant  pearl 
moths,  which  Mr.  Stephens,  the  great  entomologist,  wished  to  call  by 
the  Latin  equivalent  of  Marguerite,  b  t  the  older  one  of  Botys  has  not 
been  changed.  The  mother  of  pearl,  B.  urticalis,  flies  during  July,  the 
wings  have  a  purplish  metallic  gloBS  in  some  lights,  and  when  closed 
look  like  a  film  of  pearl  studded  with  dark  spots.  Nettles  supply  food 
to  the  caterpillar,  which  is  green,  glossy,  and  transparent.  In  the 
same  month  the  small  magpie  is  frequently  seen  in  gardens.  This 
pearl  moth  is  black-and-white,  very  conspicuous,  though  smallish. 
The  caterpillar  also  lives  upon  Nettles  during  the  autumn. — 
Entomologist. 
Watering  Cauliflowers. — In  light  shallow  soils  a  dry  period' 
proves  most  trying  to  these,  and  practically  checks  their  growth, 
which  is  not  desirable,  as  it  may  cause  premature  formation  of  the  heads. 
In  order  to  avert  this  afford  plentiful  supplies  of  water,  and  mulch  the 
plants  with  manure.  Liquid  manure  may  also  be  given  with  beneficial 
results. — E. 
