524 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AXD  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
June  12,  1902. 
keeping  close,  moist,  and  cold  that  renders  Grapes  liable  to 
scald  if  the  weatlier  prove  bright. 
GRAPES  RIPt^NTNG.  Afford  these  a  circulation  of  air  on 
all  favourable  occasions,  vith  enough  ventilation  constantly  to 
insure  a  change  of  air,  as  it  is  a  confined,  stagnant  atmo.sphere 
that  does  all  the  mischief  in  Grapes  “  spotting  ”  and  cracking. 
Keep  sufficient  heat  in  the  hot-vater  pipes  to  maintain  a  night 
temperature  of  65deg,  and  70deg  to  75deg  by  day,  with  80deg  to 
90deg  from  sun  heat  through  the  day.  Av’oid  a  veiw  dry  atmo¬ 
sphere,  damping  occasionally,  and  do  not  allow  the  border  to 
becojiie  dry.  Moderate  lateral  growth  will  favour  Hamburghs 
and  Madresfield  Court,  but  Muscat  of  Alexandria  colours  best 
when  exposed  to  the  light,  yet  a  little  lateral  growth  is  desirable 
as  a  safeguard  against  shanking,  and  for  the  maintenance  of 
liealtliy  root  action. 
VINES  (LEAKED  OF  THEIR  CROPS.- Syringe  the  Vines 
occasionally  to  keep  the  foliage  clean,  afford  water  to  keep  the 
soil  moist,  supply  a  top-dressing  of  chemical  manure  occasionall.y, 
and  of  a  phosphatic  and  potassic  rather  than  nitrogenous  nature, 
with  a  light  mulching  to  keep  the  soil  from  cracking,  as  well  as 
to  prevent  the  roots  going  down  in  search  of  moisture.  Allow 
a  moderate  extension  of  the  laterals,  but  not  i^ermitting  them 
to  interfere  with  the  principal  leaves.  Some  lateral  extension  is 
absolutely  neces.sary  to  prevent  the  starting  of  the  main  buds 
and  the  premature  ripening  of  the  foliage.  There  is  no  fear  of 
the  wood  not  ripening,  the  difficulty  is  in  the  opposite  direction, 
that  of  loss  of  foliage  and  starting  into  growth  instead  of  going 
to  rest  in  late  .summer.  Ventilate  freely  when  the  temperature 
rises  above  GOdeg. — St.  Alb.vns. 
Meteorological  Observations  at  Chiswick. 
Taken  in  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens  at  Chis¬ 
wick,  height  above  sea  level  24  feet. 
Date. 
Ct-t 
Temperature  of  the 
Air. 
Temperature  of 
the  Soil. 
At  9  A.M. 
1902. 
June. 
ection  c 
Wind. 
At  9  A.M. 
Day. 
Night 
Rain. 
» 
s  g  2 
&  ®c5 
*- 
P  " 
Dry 
Buib. 
Wet 
Bulb. 
•49 
Ui 
o 
bO 
iS 
1 
1  Lowest. 
A  L 
l-ft. 
deep. 
2-ft. 
deep. 
A.li 
4-ft. 
deep. 
H 
Sunday  ...  1 
S.E. 
deg. 
67'3 
deg. 
61 '3 
deg. 
73-2 
deg. 
58-7 
Ins. 
0-08 
deg. 
59-8 
deg. 
55-5 
deg. 
51-5 
deg. 
55-8 
Monday  ...  2 
S.S.W. 
56-7 
53-2 
69-2 
50  6 
0-53 
60-2 
56’5 
519 
47.7 
Tuesday...  3 
E.S.E. 
57-1 
55-2 
75 ’2 
51-7 
0-20 
60  0 
56-9 
52-2 
43-5 
Wed’sday  4 
W.S.W. 
56-9 
55-0 
62-4 
54-5 
0-06 
610 
57-2 
52-4 
50-7 
Thursday  5 
W.S.W. 
58-7 
539 
64-4 
52-5 
59’7 
57-2 
52-8 
50  2 
Friday  ...  6 
S.W. 
55-4 
52-2 
58-2 
500 
0-48 
59-3 
57-2 
53-1 
44-9 
Saturday  7 
W.S.W. 
55-5 
45-8 
58-6 
47-8 
0-14 
58  T 
56-8 
53-2 
42-6 
Means  ... 
58-3 
53-9 
65-9 
52'3 
Total. 
1-49 
59-7 
56-8 
52-4 
47  9 
A  week  of  dull  show’cry  weather,  w'itli  a  thunderstorm  on  the 
7th  inst. 
Publications  Received. 
“Garten  Flora,”  June  1,  contains  a  coloured  plate  of  Rhodo¬ 
dendron  Griffithianum  x  arbereum  hjffiridum,  a  very  hand¬ 
some  flower.  *  *  “Revue  Bibliographique  Sciences  Naturelles, 
purcs  et  apphquees,”  1st  year,  No.  2,  May,  1902.  *  * 
“Tropical  Agriculturist,”  May,  1902.  *  "  “Cassell’s  Dic¬ 
tionary  of  Gardening,”  part  13,  price  7d.  net.  This  issue 
starts  at  Myginda  and  ends  w'ith  Ormosia,  being  well  illus¬ 
trated  throughout,  and  contains  a  coloured  frontispiece  of 
Chrysanthemums.  A  useful  article  on  Oak  galls  i.s  included.  *  * 
“The  Nature-Study  Journal,”  Wye,  Kent,  No.  3,  containing 
short  articles  on  An  Hour  with  the  Balance,  The.  Metamor- 
phosis  of  Frogs,  A  Glance  at  a  Beehive,  Flower  Shapes, 
&c.  Price  3d.  *  ■  “Journal  of  the  Department  of  Western 
Australia,”  April,  1902.  Contents:  Indian  Oranges;  A  Bene¬ 
ficial  Insect;  The  Sea.sou’s  Fruit  Crop;  The  Fight  against 
Scale;  Insectivorous  Birds  of  Western  Australia;  Marram 
Grass  for  Reclaiming  Drifting  Sands;  &c.,  &c.  *  *  “The 
Canadian  Horticulturi.st.”  Special  features:  The  Gravenstein 
Apple:  Our  Fruit  Industries;  Grafting;  Thos.  Meehan,  Phila¬ 
delphia;  Ob.servations  on  Buds;  The  .(Quarter- Acre  Strawberrv 
Patch.  *  *  “The  Australian  Colony  of  Victoria.”  *  * 
“  Le  Jardin,”  June  5,  coloured  plate  of  Cineraria  “  hj'brida 
multiflora.” 
* All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be  directed 
to  “  The  Editor,”  12,  Mitre  Court  Chambers,  FleJet  Street, 
London,  E.C.  It  is  requested  that  no  one  wall  wife  privately 
to  any  of  our  correspondents,  seeking  information  on  matters 
discussed  jn  this  Journal,  as  doing  so  subjects  them  to  mijustifiable 
trouble  and  expense. 
DO  BULBS  REST?  (Y.  B.  A.  Z.) — A^our  communication  will 
be  inserted  next  week. 
FLIES  FOR  IDENTIFICATION  (M.  L.  G.).— The  flies 
belong  to  the  Empidse  section  of  dipterous  or  two-winged  flies, 
and  are  Empis  tessellata.  Very  little  is  known  of  the  larval 
condition  of  these  insects,  but  they  are  regarded  as  harmless, 
and  as  feeding  on  vegetable  matter  partly  if  not  wholly  in  a 
state  of  decay.  The  perfect  flies  are  exceedingly  voracious,  chas¬ 
ing  other  insects  in  the  air,  or  picking  them  off  their  perches  with 
wonderful  assiduitj’  and  skill.  Their  legs  are  long,  and  formed 
so  as  to  clasp  the  prey  in  their  embrace,  and  when  an  unfortu¬ 
nate  victim  is  once  seized,  it  never  escapes.  The  long  legs  close 
tightly  round  the  body,  binding  together  legs  and  wungs  so  as 
to  prevent  all  struggling,  and  the  .sharp  beak  with  which  the 
mouth  is  armed  is  thrust  deeply  into  the  body.  The  Empis  fly 
seizes  insects  of  various  kinds,  but  is  specially  useful  to  the 
gardener,  becau.se  it  is  so  fond  of  the  leaf-roller  moths,  not  a 
few  of  which  are  partial  to  Apple  trees,  and  the  Empis  flies  are 
often  very  plentiful  about  the  trees  in  the  late  spring  or  early 
summer  months.  The  gardener  does  w'ell  to  protect  these  u.se- 
ful  flies  by  all  possible  means. 
HEDGE  TWIGS  INFESTED  (J.  T.).— The  twigs  are  infested 
with  the  caterpillars  of  the  small  ermine  moth,  Hyponomeuta 
padcllus,  which  live  together  in  large  companies,  .spinning  w'ebs 
and  feeding  on  the  leaves,  then  passing  to  other  parts  until, 
in  sevei'e  attacks,  the  hedge  or  tree  infested  is  strqjped  of  its 
foliage,  and  left  hung  over  with  a  kind  of  sheeting  of  the  dirty 
ragged  remains  of  their  webs.  The  best  remedy  is,  in  the  early 
stages  cf  attack,  to  boldly  take  the  web  nest  in  both  hands  and 
crush  the  cateiqiillars,  protecting  the  hands,  in  the  case  of  a 
Thorn  hedge,  with  strong  gloves.  Another  plan,  and  very  suc¬ 
cessful,  is  to  cut  off  into  a  pail,  smeared  inside  with  gas  tar  or 
well  coated  with  paraffin  oil,  the  web  nests  full  of  caterpillars. 
This  is  not  very  easy  in  the  case  of  the  ragged  webs,  and  small 
parties  of  caterpillars  being  widely  distributed,  therefore  it  is 
good  practice  to  forcibly  syringe  the  web  nests  with  a  solution 
of  softsoap  and  paraffin  oil,  Itib  of  softsoap  being  dissolved  by 
boiling  in  a  gallon  of  water,  and  when  removed  from  the  fire, 
add  4  pint  of  paraffin  oil  and  stir  briskly  until  thoroughly 
amalgamated,  then  dilute  to  o  gallons  with  hot  water,  and 
apply  at  a  temperature  of  130deg  to  13odeg.  Forcibly  ejected 
into  the  web  nests,  so  as  to  break  them  up  and  reach  the  cater¬ 
pillars,  the  effect  is  good.  It  hardly  answers  in  the  case  of 
hedges  to  apply  poisonous  substances,  on  account  of  cattle,  and 
is  not  necessary,  only  attend  to  the  foreshown  repressive 
measures. 
ASH  TREE  INFESTED  (F.  L.).^The  “  grub  ”  in  the  pieces- 
of  Ash,  or  rather  main  shoot  of  a  young  tree,  is  the  caterpillar 
of  the  wood  leopard  moth,  Zeuzera  sesculi,  which  feeds  on  the 
live  wood  of  many  kinds  of  trees,  being  found  in  Ash,  Beech, 
Birch,  Elm,  Holly,  Lime,  Oak,  and  others,  besides  Horse  Chest¬ 
nut,  fi'om  which  the  moth  takes  its  specific  name,  though  not 
appropriately,  as  it  rarely  attacks  this  tree.  The  caterpillar, 
however,  is  most  commonly  found  in  Apple  tree  branches  and 
in  those  of  the  Pear,  though  sometimes  in  Plum  and  Walnut 
trees.  As  regards  prevention,  there  does  not  appear  any, 
beyond  capturing  the  moths,  which  appear  at  the  end  of  June 
and  up  to  the  end  of  August,  "being  most  common  at  the  end 
of  Jidy  or  beginning  of  August.  The  moths  are  veiy  partial  to 
artificial  light,  and  may  be  captured  on  boards  or  tables  on 
which  a  hurricane  lamp  is  placed  and  lighted  at  dusk,  the 
board  being  smeared  with  a  sticky  substance,  such  as  cart  grea.se 
or  myocum  fly  gum,  renewing  this  as  required.  The  caterpillars 
may  be  de.stroyed  in  their  burrows  by  running  a  strong  wire 
into  the  hole,  and  thus  crushing  the  caterpillar  within  to  death. 
If  the  wire,  when  withdrawn,  is  found  to  have  wet  whitish 
matter  on  it,  such  as  would  result  from  having  crushed  the 
larva,  or,  again,  if  gnawed  wood  is  not  afterwards  passed  out  of 
the  burrow,  it  may  be  supposed  the  creature  is  killed.  We  have, 
however,  found  that  opening  the  burrow  and  passing  into  it  a 
piece  of  cyanide  of  potassium  about  the  size  of  a  pea,  then 
plugging  the  hole  tightly  with  wood,  and  cutting  off  level  with 
the  bark,  is  a  good  remedj’.  The  cyanide  of  potassium  is  a 
terrible  poison,  and  due  caution  must  be  exercised. 
