July  16,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
45 
and  open  position,  well  drained  in  winter,  must  be  considered  the 
best  position,  because  there  is  adequate  provision  for  their  demands 
with  regard  to  moisture  and  food  in  the  soil  at  a  period  when 
both  are  required  to  well  support  the  advancing  flower  stems. 
Encourage  the  first  blooms  to  be  produced  as  early  as  possible 
so  that  the  quality  may  be  noted.  The  double  flowering  varieties 
only  are  worth  cultivating,  and  as  these  plants  are  quite  as  free  in 
the  production  of  blooms  as  inferior  varieties,  it  is  simply  waste  of 
space  to  retain  the  latter.  The  flowers  open  successionally  and 
last  a  fair  time  in  good  condition.  Seed  sown  at  the  period  indi¬ 
cated  produce  plants  which  will,  with  fairly  good  culture,  com¬ 
mence  to  bloom  in  August,  and  continue  until  late  in  autumn. 
Plants  well  furnished  with  "buds  are  frequently  found  serviceable 
in  winter  if  carefully  lifted  and  potted.  In  a  genial  greenhouse 
temperature  with  the  plants  close  to  the  light  on  a  shelf  many 
useful  blooms  may  be  cut  in  winter  of  early  spring.  Replanted 
outdoors  again  in  spring  they  would  bloom  freely  at  the  usual 
time,  supporting  the  growth  as  required  with  adequate  supplies  of 
water.  Where  it  is  found  difficult  to  winter  Marguerite  Carna¬ 
tions  outdoors  some  seedlings  should  be  grown  on  in  pots  or 
planted  in  a  frame  where  the  needful  protection  from  frost  and 
damp  can  be  readily  afforded. 
The  practice  of  layering  in  the  same  manner  as  choice  Carna¬ 
tions  are  treated  is  really  not  necessary  owing  to  their  reproduction 
from  seed  being  so  quickly  effected.  This  renders  it  quite  easy  to 
maintain  the  stock  of  plants.  When  one  batch  of  plants  com¬ 
mences  to  decay  in  vigour  another  may  readily  take  its  place. 
— E.  D.  S. 
CALOPOGON  PULCHELLUS. 
Considering  the  comparative  scarcity  of  greenhouse  and 
hardy  Orchids  it  is  a  matter  for  great  surprise  that  Calopogon 
pulchellus  (fig.  8)  should  so  seldom  be  seen.  As  it  was 
brought  into  this  country  from  North  America  as  long  as  125 
years  ago  it  might  have  been  expected  that  it  would  have 
received  wide  attention,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  little  known. 
When  well  grown  ic  is  about  1^  foot  high,  bearing  three,  four  or 
five  flowers  on  a  stem,  and  its  attractiveness  is  unquestioned.  The 
individual  flowers  are  about  an  inch  across,  and  though  not  large 
they  are  eminently  pleasing  in  appearance  and  bright  in  colour. 
Paxton  describes  the  blooms  as  purple,  but  they  are  in  reality 
bright  rosy  mauve  and  borne  on  slender  stems.  Though  usually 
grown  in  the  greenhouse  it  has  been  found  perfectly  hardy  in  a  cool 
shady  spot  in  moist  soil. 
HARMFUL  AND  HARMLESS  GARDEN  MOTHS— 4. 
The  renowned  Linnaeus  grouped  with  the  large  or  middle- 
sized  hawk  moths,  I  have  mentioned  already  as  adorners  of 
gardens,  some  insects  much  smaller,  whose  principal  resemblance 
to  their  big  brethren  lay  in  the  antennae,  which  are  thickened 
towards  the  ends,  and  slightly  feathered.  By  this  arrangement 
they  were  placed  also  upon  the  list  of  twilight  fliers,  but  really 
these  brisk  moths  are,  with  few  exceptions,  lovers  of  sunshine, 
delighting  to  hover  round  the  flowers,  or  skip  from  leaf  to  leaf. 
Now  we  call  them  the  clear-wings,  because  these  are  transparent, 
and  many  of  the  species,  in  fact,  closely  resemble  flies,  or  slim 
insects  of  the  bee  tribe.  Doubtless,  many  a  gardener  passes  them 
and  does  not  think  they  are  moths  ;  possibly  the  resemblance  also 
deceives  insect-eating  birds  and  predatory  insects,  though  it  may 
not  matter  much  to  these  whether  moth  or  fly  has  been  secured. 
The  caterpillars  lof  clear-wings,  unlike  those  of  the  hawk  moths, 
which  mostly  feed  in  full  view,  pass  their  lives  under  concealment, 
and  if  brought  into  daylight  by  the  pruning  or  cutting  of  their 
food-plants,  seem  considerably  embarrassed.  To  anyone  ignorant 
of  entomology  their  appearance  would  suggest  the  larva  of  a  fly  or 
beetle  rather  than  that  of  a  moth. 
We  cannot  take  a  better  example  of  this  family  than  the 
Currant  clear-wing  (Sesia  tipuliformis),  which  is  common  at  mid¬ 
summer  and  for  a  short  time  after,  occurring  about  gardens,  also 
in  orchards.  It  is  a  pretty  sight  on  a  fine  day  to  see  parties 
of  this  moth,  their  gauzy  wings  radiant  with  sunlight,  and  the 
dark  tuft  expanded  at  the  end  of  the  belted  body  ;  but  we 
remember  the  species  is  one  of  our  garden  enemies,  and  to  capture 
some  of  them  is  allowable.  However,  they  can  seldom  be  taken 
by  the  fingers,  nor  is  it  easy  to  catch  them  with  a  hand  net.  The 
caterpillars,  pale  in  colour,  and  muscular  though  small,  live  in  the 
branches  and  twigs  of  the  Currant,  evidently  preferring  the  black 
variety,  but  they  occur  also  on  other  kinds.  Sometimes  it  may 
happen  that  bushes  infested  bear  plentifully  for  awhile,  yet  in  time 
we  find  that  those  boughs  where  the  pith  has  been  mined  die  off, 
and  I  have  noticed  that  when  several  caterpillars  have  pierced  the 
main  stem  the  bush  may  be  killed.  From  obseivation,  I  believe 
they  pass  two  winters  in  the  caterpillar  state,  that  is  to  say  from 
the  eggs  laid  this  summer  moths  will  not  be  produced  till  1899. 
Probably  they  do  not  feed  during  very  cold  weather,  and  they  seem 
to  choose  for  their  winter  life  such  positions  in  the  bushes  as  are 
most  protected .  Now,  this  lengthy  period  of  caterpillar  existence 
is  of  some  moment  with  this  and  with  the  larvae  of  some  other 
moths,  of  some  beetles  too. 
Let  us  look  at  its  bearing  upon  the  injuries  such  a  species  may 
do,  if  it  is  a  destructive  one.  We  perceive  that  there  are  two 
broods  of  the  caterpillar  or  larva  always  living,  and  capable  of 
doing  mischief.  But  when  a  species  runs  through  its  course  during 
Fig.  S. — Calopogon  pulchellus. 
a  year,  for  several  months  thereof  no  harm  is  done  while  it  is  in 
the  perfect  state,  or  is  a  chrysalis  or  egg.  Many  of  these  cater¬ 
pillars  may  be  got  rid  of  by  judicious  pruning. 
Next  in  importance  as  a  garden  insect  is  the  pretty  red-belted 
clear-wing  (S.  myop^formis),  so  named  from  its  resemblance  to  a 
sort  of  fly.  It  is  certainly  not  “  myopic  ”  or  near-sighted,  but  a 
lively  insect,  and  occasionally  flies  high.  Its  period  of  emergence 
is  about  midsummer,  though  it  has  been  taken  in  May  and  up  to 
the  end  of  July.  Some  years  ago  the  insect  swarmed  amongst  the 
Surrey  orchards  to  the  south  of  the  Metropolis.  Another  name 
for  it  is  the  Apple  clear-wing,  but  it  is  quite  as  frequent  on  the  Pear, 
where  the  trunks  or  larger  branches  are  its  usual  abode.  The  cater¬ 
pillars  living  on  Apple  select  generally  the  slender  wood.  Produc¬ 
tiveness  may  not  be  interfered  with  at  first,  but  after  a  time  the 
branches  attacked  are  killed  and  the  whole  tree  will  suffer  should 
there  be  hundreds  of  caterpillars  in  it,  which  is  now  and  then  the 
case.  Their  presence  is  often  discernible  by  moist  spots  on  bark 
or  by  the  appearance  of  small  particles  extruded  through  a  crack 
at  the  nodes.  A  correspondent  of  this  Journal  sent  us,  in  1879, 
