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JOURNAL  OP  H  OUT i  CULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  CAkbMM. 
April  H,  i8§8. 
edging.  Edgings  of  Cerastium  tomentosum  demand  similar 
attention.  A*  soon  as  work  of  this  description  is  completed  every 
bed  requires  to  be  put  in  perfect  order.  As  an  instance  of  what 
is  necessary,  let  me  give  a  few  illustrations.  Here  is  one  filled 
with  Viola  The  Dairymaid,  which  is  beginning  to  grow  freely,  and 
is  showing  abundance  of  buds.  On  a  dry  day  the  small  stones 
on  the  surface  should  be  picked  up,  the  soil  pressed  firmly 
around  each  plant,  and  the  whole  surface  then  stirred  with  the 
hoe.  This  bed  is  edged  with  a  band  of  crimson  Daisies,  which  are 
just  opening  their  flowers.  These  early  ones  seem  to  have  wonder¬ 
fully  vivid  colours.  Those  two  large  beds  of  Wallflower  Sutton’s 
Dwarf  Bedder  (yellow),  edged  with  Aubrietia  deltoidea,  promise 
to  be  a  glowing  mass  of  colour  in  a  short  time,  but  to  hasten  that 
time  it  is  necessary  to  stir  the  soil  frequently  during  sunny  days, 
to  let  in  the  warmth  and  encourage  rapid  root  action.  Beds  of 
Silene  are  looking  remarkably  well  ;  as  the  early  season  suits  them, 
it  will  bring  them  into  flower  contemporary  with  the  majority  of 
other  plants. 
Pansies  raised  from  seeds  obtained  from  the  best  English  and 
continental  firms  are  struggling  to  unfold  their  flowers,  but  are 
not  likely  to  do  so  freely  till  these  cutting  winds  have  passed,  then 
I  am  looking  forward  to  a  feast  of  beauty,  abounding  in  marvellous 
combinatims  of  colour  blending. 
When  I  started  on  my  “look  round”  I  intended  to  make 
a  perambulation  of  each  department,  but  too  much  pondering  on 
the  glories  of  the  times  to  come,  and  the  bestowal  of  a  little 
attention  on  so  many  things  requiring  it,  prevented  me  from 
accomplishing  this,  and  by  the  time  the  sun  had  set  I  was  left  with 
a  half-completed  round  ;  the  other  half  I  hope  to  do  under  more 
sunny  skies. — H.  D. 
GARDEN  PESTS  AND  ANTIDOTES. 
(Continued  from  page  307.) 
Earth  Pests. 
Many  pests  of  crops  are  of  a  hybernating  nature,  and  not  a 
few  lurk  in  hiding  places  on  trees,  or  shrubs,  or  plants  during  the 
winter,  and  in  the  summer  (in  the  daytime)  coming  out  at  night 
to  feed.  Some  take  the  trouble  to  hide  in  the  earth  by  day,  and 
come  out  at  night  to  feed  on  vegetation  ;  others  pass  a  period  of 
their  existence  feeding  on  the  roots  or  underground  parts  of  plants, 
and  in  the  perfect  state  take  to  an  aerial  mode  of  life,  while  some 
never  do  anything  but  feed  constantly  on  the  roots,  and  others  pass 
their  whole  existence  above  ground.  This  gives  us  two  well- 
defined  spheres  of  action — the  roots  and  the  tops  of  plants,  and 
admits  of  our  subject  being  divided  into  soil  pests  and  air  pests,  as 
regards  general  methods  of  treatment 
Soil  Pests. — Without  entering  on  a  description  of  these,  it 
will  suffice  to  say  that  it  embraces  all  insects  that  live,  hide, 
feed,  or  subsist  in  any  form  in  the  soil.  All  have  different  life 
histories,  and  some  at  this  time  of  year  are  adult,  others  pupae, 
some  grubs  or  maggots  or  caterpillars,  and  not  a  few  eggs.  All 
these  forms  of  pests  existing  in  the  soil  are  killable.  What,  eggs 
and  pupae  ?  Why  not  ?  Every  naturalist  knows  how  easy  it 
is  to  addle  the  eggs  of  birds,  reptiles,  molluscs,  cretaceans, 
myriapods,  and  arachnoides  by  processes  contrary  to  their  inherent 
aptitudes,  physically  or  chemically.  But  insects  nothing  will  kill 
in  the  egg  or  pupal  stage  short  of  the  destruction  by  fire, 
mechanical  force,  or  annihilation  by  chemical  process.  Just  so. 
Fire,  burning  soil  is  a  costly  practice,  only  resorted  to  in  this 
country  on  moorland  encumbered  by  worse  than  useless  Gorse, 
Heather,  and  other  rubbish  ;  on  hill  pastures,  or  rather  meadows, 
burdened  with  bottom  grans,  so  as  to  foster  swarms  of  voles  ; 
and  on  strong  clays,  that  are  thus  made  suitable  for  high-class 
gardening. 
Mechanical  force,  such  as  hailstorms,  grand  as  they  are  for 
killing  aerial  pcs'  s  exert  little  influence  on  grubs,  maggots,  and  other 
soil  vermin.  But  there  are  floods,  prolonged  and  heavy  rains,  which 
drown  untold  myriads  of  plant-root  enemies.  Then  there  is  tie 
drought,  when  millions  die  of  sheer  starvation,  and  the  opposite  of 
those  the  frosts,  when  all  that  get  frozen  “  stiff  ”  melt  on  thawing. 
How  many  ground  pests  fall  beneath  the  hoofs  of  animals  ?  Man’s 
broad  foot  slays  its  tens  of  thousands. 
Coming  to  the  chemical  side  of  the  question,  which  applies 
almost  exclusively  to  the  soil,  a  purely  chemical  compound  out  of 
which  everything  solid  or  liquid  is  constructed  from  the  lowest 
class  of  plants,  the  Myxomycetes,  consisting  of  naked  protoplasm 
and  endowed  with  animal-like  movement,  with  power  of  smelling 
out  the  food  essential  to  their  existence,  up  to  the  highest  order, 
embracing  the  gorgeous  Ranunculi  and  clinging,  charming  Clemati. 
Likewise,  in  the  auimal  kingdom,  from  the  lowly  Protista  com¬ 
bining  vegetable  with  animal  functions  up  through  the  worms  and 
quadrupeds  to  man.  All — vegetable  and  animals — are  like  the 
earth  from  whence  they  spring  and  by  which  they  subsist, 
chemically  compounded.  If  anything  is  amiss  with  plants  it  is 
sought  to  rectify  it  by  mechanical  or  chemical  process,  and  it  it  the 
same  with  the  animal.  Both  require  a  certain  environment,  and  a 
given  nutrition  to  be  healthy,  which  is  wholly  chemical  and 
governed  by  natural  law.  Nature  can  make  nothing  but  by  that 
law,  and  man  neither  prevent  nor  cure  diseases  in  either  animals  or 
himself  or  in  plants  but  by  chemical  agency  whether  of  air  or 
soil. 
Certain  substances  are  needed  by  all  living  things.  It  is  not 
a  question  of  one  substance,  bat  of  a  plurality  of  elements,  for  too 
much  of  one  substance  surfeits,  and  too  little  of  another  deranges 
the  functions  in  the  opposite  direction.  Some  elements  are  food, 
others  are  poison  ;  some  substances  are  injurious  separately,  but 
blended  are  beneficial ;  indeed,  it  is  this  combination  of  chemical 
constituents  suitable  or  unsuitable  to  the  individual,  in  conjunction 
with  environment,  which  is  equally  important  with  the  food.  One 
plant  will  thrive  in  a  soil  where  another  dwindles  away  ;  another 
plant  will  flourish  in  the  “  heart”  of  a  smoky  town  where  another 
is  soon  Btifled.  It  is  similar  with  ground  pests.  They  are  as 
variable  in  likes  and  dislikes  as  in  forms  and  modes  of  life,  but 
they  can  only  subsist  under  certain  conditions  and  upon  given 
foods.  If  these  are  taken  away  they  die,  and  something  else  comes 
and  thrives  on  what  was  rejected  by  a  preceding  plant  or  animal. 
Assuming,  as  we  have  a  perfect  right  to  do  at  this  time  of  the 
year,  that  the  land,  it  matters  not  how  or  for  what  crop,  has  been 
properly  prepared  by  ploughing,  digging,  cleaning,  and  manuring  ; 
but  we  have  to  face  the  fact  that  much  land  has  not  been  given  any 
cultural  attention  whatever,  which  seems  a  feature  of  the  times. 
In  respect  of  the  first  condition,  how  many  ground  pests  have  been 
destroyed  in  the  processes  of  ploughing,  digging,  harrowing,  cleaning, 
and  providing  a  good  tilth.  Take  a  foot  of  such  earth,  search 
it  through,  and  note  the  number  of  “  live  ”  things  in  it,  then  take 
a  foot  of  earth  from  land  foul  with  weeds  and  left  unmoved  all  the 
winter,  and  count  the  creeping  and  living  forms  it  contains.  Use 
only  a  pocket  magnifier  in  the  scrutiny,  and  putting  the  figures  in 
order  to  see  how  much  greater  is  the  number  of  earth  pests  in  foul 
than  in  the  clean  land.  The  difference  may  astonish. 
If  I  know  anything  about  such  pests  they  hate  culture,  and  the 
more  the  land  is  knocked  about  in  essential  cultural  operations  the 
more  plant  and  crop  enemies  are  “  knocked  on  the  head,”  and  the 
more  the  birds  feed  and  fatten  on  those  exposed,  whether  in  egg, 
grub,  maggot,  caterpillar,  or  pupal  state,  while  the  weather  numbs 
and  kills  many  before  they  can  regain  snug  warm  quarters.  Perhaps 
the  land  was  manured  in  the  autumn,  a  capital  plan,  with  stable  or 
farmyard  manure  as  a  preparation  for  root,  Potato,  and  vegetable 
crops,  especially  when  the  land  is  loamy  or  heavy,  as  it  tends  to 
keep  the  soil  open  and  let  air  and  rain  and  frost  into  it,  while  the 
manure  decays  and  the  soil  lays  hold  of  the  liberated  elements.  On 
light  land,  and  when  applied  at  the  time  of  sowing  or  setting  crops, 
the  manure  should  be  well  decayed  and  put  on  in  the  spring.  This 
makes  little  difference  as  regards  current  pests,  it  makes  much  as 
regards  the  land  and  the  presence  of  pests  in  the  coming  season, 
for  fresh  “  muck  ”  in  the  spring  time  is  only  so  much  breeding  stuff 
for  pests. 
Perhaps  it  is  orchards  in  grass  some  are  thinking  about.  Well, 
these  are,  like  arable  land,  well  or  badly  cultivated.  The  more  a 
grass  orchard  is  trodden,  and  its  grass  shorn  by  sheep,  the  fewer 
ground  pests  there  are  in  it.  If  used  in  the  summer  for  poultry 
rearing  there  will  be  fewer  still,  for  nothing  in  the  shape  of  an 
insect  within  their  reach  above  the  ground  or  on  it  escapes  their 
attention.  They  are  a  little  fortune  to  an  orchardist  by  converting 
ground  pests  into  marketable  substance.  Indeed,  where  they  will 
not  do  any  harm  by  scratching  and  eating  what  they  ought  not, 
they  are  worth  their  value  as  insect  killers.  Where  the  orchard  is 
mown  once  or  even  twice,  and  never  “  eaten  on,”  there  is  always 
just  the  bottom  shelter  for  field  voles  to  harbour  in,  beetles  and 
weevils  to  increase  among,  and  grub3,  pupae,  and  everything  vile 
to  winter  safely. 
Cultivation  may  not  be  everything,  but  it  goes  a  long  way  in 
killing  the  ground  enemies  of  crops.  Grass  orchards  cannot  have 
the  grass  too  short,  nor  can  they  have  too  much  of  the  urine  of 
sheep.  Grubs  do  not  feed  on  the  liquid  of  animals,  hence  there  is 
life  and  health  in  sewage  for  vegetation  ;  but  so  much  cannot  be 
said  of  the  solid  refuse.  Then  there  is  iron  in  sewage,  about 
4  grains  to  the  gallon,  and  that  in  conjunction  with  the  ammonia  of 
the  liquid  makes  a  considerable  difference  in  the  health  of  the 
trees,  hence  the  hint  may  be  of  service  to  those  letting  such 
valuable  stuff  run  to  worse  than  waste  in  ditches  and  streams. 
There  is  yet  time  to  empty  cesspools,  and  pour  the  contents, 
properly  diluted,  on  grass  orchards.  If  1  lb.  of  iron  sulphate  is 
added  to  each  100  gallons,  and  left  a  time,  it  will  reduce  its 
offensiveness,  and  increase  its  fertility. 
The  land  will  vary  considerably  in  texture  and  condition,  but 
assuming  that  it  is  in  an  average  state  of  cultivation,  and  has  not 
