August  28,  1902.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  203 
An  Evening  with  the  Microscope." 
( Continued  from  page,  172.) 
We  will  now  say  a  little  about  insects,  which  furnish  a  vast 
field  of  study,  whether  examined  in  a  living  state,  the  live  box, 
compressor,  forceps,  disk  revolver,  or  mounted  on  slides  whole 
or  in  parts.  Many  of  them  are  interesting  for  their  extreme 
beauty,  such  as  the  Diamond  beetles,  of  which  there  are  a  vast 
number  of  varieties.  They  belong  to  the  family  Coleoptera,  of 
which  Messrs.  Cassell  tell  us  in  their  “  Natural  History,”  80,000 
species  of  Coleoptera  have  already  been  described.  A  vast 
number  of  them  are  most  interesting  to  the  microscopist,  either 
as  a  whole  insect,  their  wing  cases,  or  parts  of  their  wings. 
Equally  beautiful  are  the  wings  and  parts  of  wings  of  butterflies 
and  moths.  Many  of  their  wings  appear  as  though  they  were 
scales  of  a  fish  displaying  most  brilliant  colours. 
As  regards  the  dissecting  of  insects,  such  as  the  tongue  of  a 
butterfly,  the  tongue  of  a  hive  bee,  the  tongue  of  a  drone  fly, 
the  stomach  of  a  wasp,  the  tongue  Gf  a  spider,  the  gizzard  of  a 
cricket,  the  cornea  of  the  eye  of  a  moth,  and  other  parts  too 
numerous  to  mention,  it  makes  one  wonder  how  such  minute 
portions  can  be  extracted  from  an  insect  and  mounted  in  a 
perfect  state.  We  may  also  add  the  eggs  of  insects,  particularly 
from  those  insects  which  are  quite,  or  almost,  indiscernible  to 
the  naked  eye,  and  scores  of  similar  things  equally  puzzling  to 
the  uninitiated  microscopist. 
We,  as  gardeners,  are  too  well  acquainted  with  our  enemies, 
the  green  fly,  the  red  spider,  thrip,  mealy  bug,  scale,  weevils, 
woodlice,  ants,  cockroaches,  American  blight,  and  a  host  of 
others  to  require  their  identification  with  anything  more  than 
the  pocket  lens  or  the  naked  eye ;  but  I  have  found  a  micro¬ 
scope  of  high  powers  very  useful  on  many  occasions.  The  first 
in  particular,  was  when  I  was  at  Trentham  with  the  late  Mr. 
Stevens.  We  had  a  house  of  young  Vines  that  began  to  look 
very  sickly,  and  we  were  a  little  puzzled  to  account  for  it,  as 
there  were  no  insects  on  the  foliage.  The  border  was  also  in 
proper  condition  for  moisture,  but  on  examining  the  roots  under 
the  microscope  we  found  them  infested  with  the  dreaded  Phyl¬ 
loxera.  They  were  as  thick  as  they  could  possibly  be  on  the 
roots,  as  fat  and  plump  as  a  lot  of  aphides.  The  whole  border 
was  carted  out  and  burned;  the  walls  of  the  house,  border  and 
floor  thoroughly  washed  down  with  hot  lime  and  left  open  for  a 
few  days,  when  a  second  application  of  hot  lime  was  applied, 
after  which  the  house  was  brought  into  use  again,  and  the 
enemy  was  found  to  be  thoroughly  stamped  out.  It  was 
supposed  to  be  imported  by  the  purchase  of  a  Vine  of  a  new 
Variety  of  Grape  then  being  sent  out;  but  the  Vine  in  question 
was  not  sacrificed  altogether.  The  wood  was  not  ripe  enough 
for  ordinary  grafting,  so  I  suggested  to  Mr.  Stevens  to  bud- 
graft  the  half-ripened  wood  on  other  Vines,  which  was  done,  and 
every  one  united  satisfactorily.  The  shoot  from  each  bud  pro¬ 
duced  a  bunch  of  Grapes  the  following  year,  but  we  were  no 
longer  troubled  with  Phylloxera.  [This,  I  believe,  was  the  first 
time  that  Vines  had  been  bud-grafted  in  an  unripened  state.] 
Many  cases  have  since  occurred  when  the  use  of  the  micro¬ 
scope  has  been  of  special  advantage,  but  I  will  only  mention 
the  most  recent  one,  a  case  of  vermin  infesting  a  Mr.  Nash’s 
Ferns.  They  were  so  minute  that  they  looked  like  bits  of  dust 
on  the  fronds.  My  first  impression  was  that  it  was  fungus ; 
Mr.  Nash  thought  they  were  insects,  and  on  closer  inspection 
I  found  the  edges  and  stems  of  the  young  fronds  had  the  appear¬ 
ance  of  being  eaten,  and  were  disfigured  and  crippled  ;  but  when 
putting  them  under  the  microscope  I  found  them  to  be  badly 
infested  with  Macrobiotus  Hufelandi,  a  genus  of  Arachnidse, 
described  and  figured  in  the  “  Micrographic  Dictionary,”  also  in 
“Cassell’s  Natural  History.”  In  the  latter  it  is  called  the  bear, 
or  sloth  animalcule.  This  insect  enemy  was  entirely  new  to  me 
as  a  garden  pest,  and  it  was  followed  by  another  one  that  had 
infested  a  lot  of  Asplenium  viviparum,  the  crowns  of  which  had 
a  hardened  appearance,  and  no  perfect  fronds  developed,  as  they 
were  all  crippled  and  deformed.  I  cut  a  portion  of  the  crown  of 
a.  plant  and  found  it  infested  with  a  totally  different  insect, 
which  was,  as  far  as  I  could  trace  it,  the  Oribata  demersa,  and 
was  there  in  quantities.  It  is  generally  found  on  Hyphium  inun¬ 
datum.  Both  insects  belong  to  the  extensive  class  of  Arachnidse, 
which  includes  scorpions,  spiders,  mites,  and  ticks. 
(To  be  concluded.) 
*  Paper  read  by  Mr.  J.  Ollerliead  at  a  meeting  of  the  Wimbledon  and 
District  Gardeners’  Mutual  Improvement  Society,  February  17th,  1902,  the 
subject  being  again  brought  forward  on  March  17th,  after  a  discussion  on 
Itosjs  iu  pots. 
Apple,  Hawthorn  Greening, 
I  have  trees  of  this  variety,  a  cooking  Apple  of  medium  size. 
I  cannot  find  it  named  either  in  Hogg’s  Manual  nor  in  the 
list  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  :  can  you  or  any  of 
your  readers  tell  me  if  it  is  a  well  established  variety  or  if  it 
should  be  called  by  some  other  name? — A.  C. 
Preservation  of  Hedges. 
Gardeners  and  foresters  often  experience  considerable 
difficulty  in  maintaining  good  hedges  under  the  shade  of  tall 
trees.  When  Thorn  hedges  are  employed  for  bounding  woods  and 
shrubberies,  they  generally  get  very  gappy  after  the  over¬ 
hanging  branches  become  so  thick  as  to  prevent  much  rain  from 
falling  on  the  soil  beneath.  A  good  deal  of  mending  with 
stakes  and  rails  then  becomes  necessary,  till  at  last  the  patch- 
work  becomes  so  unsightly  that  the  old  hedge  is  removed  and 
a  young  one  planted.  If  Whitethorn  is  used  for  the  purpose, 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  good  growth  under  such  un¬ 
favourable  conditions,  and  during  my  recent  travels  I  have 
noted  the  generally  unsatisfactory  state  of  hedges  bordering 
woods.  A  few  days  ago,  however,  I  came  across  a  perfect  hedge 
growing  under  exactly  the  same  conditions  as  others  near  which 
were  of  the  usual  gappy  type.  For  a  mile  and  a  half,  if  not 
more,  I  rode  beside  a  dense  wood  bounded  by  a  hedge  of  Beech 
4ft  in  height.  It  was  so  good  that  I  could  find  no  gap  or  thin¬ 
ness  at  any  point,  it  was  like  a  solid  impenetrable  wall  of  green. 
The  plants  had  been  set  6in  apart.  This  hint  may  perhaps  be 
useful  to  some  readers  during  the  planting  season.  In  gardens 
where  an  evergreen  hedge  is  required,  Box  would  form  a  good 
substitute,  as  I  know  of  no  other  evergreen  which  will  succeed 
so  well  under  trees.  Although  growth  is  slow,  large  bushes 
transplant  so  well  that  it  is  impossible  to  grow  a  good  thick 
hedge  at  once. — H.  D. 
Garden  Cities  through  Co-operation. 
Who  has  not  heard  of  Cadbury’s  Chocolate?  and  the  Garden 
City  also  bids  fair  to  become  equally  famous  as  the  artisans’ 
model  abode,  thanks  to  the  inspiration  of  its  founder,  Mr. 
George  Cadbury.  Large  gardens,  and  a  co-operative  method  of 
stocking  them,  are  distinctive  features  of  the  model  village  of 
Bournville,  and  that  the  tenants  of  the  Cadbury  Trust  make 
good  use  of  the  advantages  which  they  have  over  other  dwellers 
in  the  suburbs  of  Birmingham  was  shown  at  the  recent  annual 
exhibition  of  plants,  flowers,  fruit,  vegetables,  honey,  and 
domestic  handicraft,  t%c.,  produced  on  the  estate.  The  remarks 
made  by  Mr.  Cadbury,  who  opened  the  show,  seem  to  me  well 
worthy  of  being  reported  in  your  journal.  Mr.  Cadbury  paid 
a  compliment  to  the  Tenants’  Committee,  which,  he  said,  was 
well  deserved,  not  only  for  the  organising  of  the  show,  but  for 
many  other  things  for  the  good  of  the  village.  Something  like 
£1,000  a  year  was  contributed  to  from  the  village  towards  the 
District  Council  rates,  and  he  suggested  that  the  Village  Com¬ 
mittee  could  make  an  even  better  use  of  that  money,  if  they 
could  have  it,  than  the  District  Council  did,  inasmuch  as  they 
knew  exactly  the  wants  of  the  village.  Mr.  Cadbury  mentioned 
that  at  present  the  committee  were  testing  the  system  of  co¬ 
operative  buying,  by  which  they  could  secure  plants  cheaper, 
and  added  that  possibly  they  might  shortly  be  desiring  the  use 
of  the  railway  siding  to  bring  their  coals  on  the  same  principle. 
Last  year  five  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  kept  careful 
account  of  the  vegetable  produce  of  their  gardens,  and  the 
result  was  that  the  five  produced  on  an  average — one  or  two 
kept  poultry — Is.  llld.  each  per  week.  That  works  out  at 
something  like  £60  per  acre.  When  the  land  upon  which  they 
were  gathered  was  simply  pasturage,  it  was  only  producing  an 
average  of  £4  per  acre.  Now  if  the  gardens  produced  fifteen 
times  as  much  food  as  the  land  produced  when  it  was  pasture, 
they  wei'e  national  benefactors,  because  they  were  helping  to 
produce  a  supply  of  food  in  England  itself,  instead  of  having 
to  go  abroad  to  buy  it.  Another  factor  which  Mr.  Cadbury 
dwelt  upon  was  the  intense  pleasure  which  many  of  the  poorest 
children  of  Birmingham  derived  from  coming  to  the  village, 
and  seeing  the  flower  gardens,  and  some  of  whom  had  never 
before  seen  that  miracle  of  Nature — the  growth  of  the  plant 
from  the  seed.  He  emphasised  this  side,  because  there  was  so 
little  brightness  and  beauty  in  the  home  life  of  these  children, 
that  when  they  got  an  opportunity  they  simply  revelled  in  the 
beauties  of  the  flowers.  A  chief  feature  in  the  industrial 
