O' INSECTS IN PREMATURELY FALLEN FRUIT. F the many insects which in one stage or other of their existence feed upon the wood, bark, leaves, flowers, and fruit of our orchard and garden trees or bushes, those numerous as well as destructive kinds which penetrate, and so cause the premature falling of the young fruit, demand special attention during the summer months at the hands of careful growers, with the view of accomplishing their destruction as far as possible, and consequently lessening the virulency of their future attacks. When a good wood-ripening and blossombud forming autumn is succeeded by a moderately mild winter, and a favourable blooming as well as fruit-setting spring, nature occasionally assists the requisite process of thinning, by thrusting off many of the young fruit at or shortly before the commencement of what is technically called its second or final swelling, which is equivalent to the stoning or hardening of the seed shells in plums, cherries, and other stone fruit. This thinning process, although not unfrequently assisted by insect agency, is usually looked upon approvingly rather than otherwise; but the case is very different, when at like stages of advancement thinly-set fruit is seen tumbling down till a very scanty, or scarcely no crop is left—an unsatisfactory state of things, for which the weather, blight, or lightning are usually but very often wrongly blamed instead of insects, for the destructive abundance of which cultivators are themselves very much to blame. The very apparent mischief caused by leafdestroying insects, such as the gooseberry caterpillar, the web-forming apple caterpillar, saw flies, aphidæ, red spiders, and many others that might be named, as well as barkpeeling beetles, branch- and fruit-disfiguring mussel-scales, &c., marks them out as subjects for extirpation, while the less evident, but scarcely less mischievous workings of others, secure for them an immunity which should not and would not be accorded to them were their doings more closely investigated, and their habits better understood. Among these last insects which penetrate into, live upon, and so cause the destruction of young fruit, are much more numerous than is usually supposed, and the following examples may suffice to shew how they act, and also how they may be in a great measure overcome. For some days in May, when the apple trees were blossoming, the rather timid apple saw-fly, Tenthredo testudinea, might be seen in quiet dry weather, actively flitting about, and occasionally settling to deposit its eggs within the opened flowers. Insize it is not widely different from our common house-fly, its wings are slightly tinged with brown, its body shining black on the upper surface, while the front and sides of its head, as well as the under side of its body, shoulders, antennæ and legs are of a pale orange colour. The eggs then deposited in due time produced little maggots or larvæ of a rather pale dirty buff colour, with tawny heads, and a slender pinkish line along the back of each. These may very frequently be seen on cutting up young apples which fall in June or July, and occasionally in slightly deformed ones which are still hanging. In both fallen and growing apples they remain feeding upon the fleshy parts, till at last they eat their way out; the former then crawling into and the latter dropping upon the earth, where they form their cocoons and remain till the following May, when they, Apple Saw-fly. in turn, become transformed into flies, and reappear among the apple blossoms. Now, as by far the greatest number of larvæ are in the prematurely fallen fruit, that has only to be gathered up as it falls, and destroyed before the larvæ escape, and if this is regularly pursued in every year the apple saw-fly will become effectually thinned, if not exterminated. For this purpose some orchardists turn a few sheep or swine into their orchard pastures from the time the first fallings appear, till the later ones have attained to marketable size; but in gardens, as well as in many orchards, gathering will always be preferable, and then, in order to ensure the effectual destruction of their insect contents, they should be burnt, or boiled and given to the pigs. The codlin moth (Tortrix pomonana) may also be noticed, from its grubs affecting apples in a somewhat similar manner with those of the preceding; and although more common in continental and American, than in home-grown apples, it is by no means unfrequent in the latter, and its ravages also extend, although in a less degree, to pears. Like the apple saw-fly, the codlin moth also deposits its eggs in May, but differs in generally choosing the calyx, or the stalk end of the fruit instead of within its blossom; and it reproduces several broods. in the season, the larvæ on the growing apples escaping, and forming, when matured, cocoons in the rough bark or crevices of the tree, while those that fall do the same on dry leaves, branches, &c. It is the latter grub brood of this moth which appears too frequently in the finest foreign fruit, and it is most troublesome in dry, warm seasons, which are peculiarly favourable to the preservation of its grubs in the fallen fruit. We are, as yet, fortunately exempt from that most destructive of American fruit pests, the Curculio or plum-weevil (Rhynchænus nenuphar), which, over large districts of that country, frequently causes the most flattering crops of plums, peaches, and apricots, to fall when only half or two-thirds grown ; but we have the Tortrix nigricana and others, which have a like, though less disastrous, effect upon the same kinds of our stone fruits. MOR DESIGNING FLOWER BEDS. ORE than a century and a quarter ago (1738), Richard Bradley, a Fellow of the Royal Society, invented a useful instrument for enabling a gardener to lay out, with ease and accuracy, those geometric flower beds which were the rage during the Augustan age of Queen Anne and the reigns of the first two Georges. Previously to Bradley making known his invention, Baptista Porta and Kirscher had given descriptions of instruments consisting of mirrors united at two of their edges, which being opened like two leaves of a book, were capable of multiplying the images of objects. These inventions or discoveries are supposed to have suggested to Sir David Brewster the idea of the kaleidoscope, which he invented in 1817; but the optical investigations alluded to are very remotely connected with the properties of the kaleidoscope; and the application of the latter to objects which may be moveable, and situated at any distances from the observer, renders Brewster's instrument very different from, and far superior to, the simple contrivances of Porta, Kirscher, and Bradley. The instrument, however, called the debuscope, brought out in Paris a few years ago (we think in 1860), is nearly identical with that of Bradley, the only difference being that in the debuscope the mirrors are fixed in a small box, at the required angle, while in Bradley's they are loosely hinged, and adjustable to any angle. Bradley's invention is detailed in a bulky octavo volume, with the title, "New Improvements of Planting and Gardening, both Philosophical and Practical," and the edition we quote from is the seventh, shewing that the work must have been a popular one in its day. We prefer to give the description in the author's own quaint language to modifying it in any degree : "Description and Use of a New Invention of more speedy Designing of Garden-plats; whereby we may produce more Variety of Figures in an Hour's time, than are to be found in all the Books of Gardening now extant. "Since the instrument I now design to treat of has afforded some pleasure to many of my acquaintance, I have been easily persuaded to make it public. It is of that nature that the best designers or draughtsmen may improve and help their fancies by it, and may with more certainty hit the humour of those gentlemen they are to work for, without being at the trouble of making many varieties of figures or garden-plats; which will lose time, and call an unnecessary expense, which frequently discourages gentlemen from making up their gardens. In short, the charge of the instrument is so small, and its use so delightful and profitable, that I doubt not its favourable reception in the world. "But, to proceed-We must choose two pieces of looking-glass of equal bigness, of the figure of a long square, 5 inches in length, and 4 in breadth; they must be covered on the back with paper or silk to prevent rubbing off the silver; which would else be too apt to crack off by frequent use. This cover for the back of the glasses must be so put on, that nothing of it may appear about the edges of the bright side. "The glasses being thus prepared, they must be laid face to face, and hinged together, so that they may be made to open and shut at of the two glasses a and b joined together by hinges, c c and d d; so that they may open or shut to any part of a circle. And now the glasses being thus fitted for our purpose, I shall proceed to explain the use of them. "Draw a large circle upon paper, divide it into three, four, five, six, seven, or eight equal parts; which being done, we may draw in every one of the divisions a figure at our pleasure, either for garden-plats or fortifications. As for example-In the second figure we see a circle divided into six parts, and upon the division marked a is drawn part of b A Fig. 2. B a design for a garden. Now, to see that design entire, which is yet confused, we must place our glasses upon the paper, and open them to the sixth part of the circle-i.e., one of them must stand upon the line b to the centre, and the other must be opened exactly to the point c; so shall we discover an entire garden-plat in a circular form (if we look into the glasses) divided into six parts, with as many walks leading to the centre, where we shall find a basin of a hexagonal figure. "We may more plainly see how the glasses ought to be placed upon the design, by viewing the third figure. The line L, where the glasses join, stands immediately over the centre of the circle; the glass A stands upon the line drawn from the centre to the point C; and the glass B stands upon the line leading from the centre to the point F. The glasses being thus placed, cannot fail to produce, by reflection, the complete figure we look for. And so whatever equal part of a circle you mark out, let the line L stand always upon the centre; and open your glasses to the division you have made with your com figure of equal sides. I easily suppose that a curious person, by a little practice with these glasses, may make many improvements with them, which perhaps I may not yet have discovered, or have for brevity's sake omitted to describe. "It next follows that I explain how by these glasses we may, from the figure of a circle drawn upon paper, make an oval; and also by the same rule represent a long square from a perfect square. To do this, open the glasses and fix them to an exact square, place them over a circle, and move them to and fro till you see the representation of the oval figure you like best; and so having the glasses fixed, in like manner move them over a square piece of work till you find the figure you desire of a long square. In these trials you will meet with many varieties of designs. As for instance-The fourth figure, although it seems to contain but a confused representation, may be varied into above 200 different representations by moving the glasses over it, which are opened and fixed to an exact square. In a word, from the most trifling. designs, we may by this means produce some thousands of good draughts. "But that the fourth figure may yet be more intelligible and useful, I have drawn on every side of it a scale divided into equal parts; by which means we may ascertain the just pro to inform my reader of the use of the invention, and put him in the way to find out every design contained in that figure. "Example 1. Turn the side A to any certain point, either to the north or to the window of your room; and when you have opened your glasses to an exact square, set one of them on the line of the side D, and the other on the side C; you will then have a square figure four times as big as the engraved design in the plate. But if that representation should not be agreeable, move the glasses (still opened to a square) to the number 5, of the side D, so will one of them be parallel to D, and the other stand upon the line of the side C. Your first design will then be varied d; and so by moving your glasses in like manner from point to point, the draughts will differ every variation of the glasses, till you have discovered at least fifty plans differing from one another. "Example 2. Turn the side, marked B, of the fourth figure to the same point where A was before, and by moving your glasses as you did in the former example, you will discover as great a variety of designs as had been observed in the foregoing experiment; then turn the side C to the place of B, and managing the glasses in the manner I have directed in the first example, you may have a great variety of different plans which were not in the former trials; and the fourth D must be managed in the same manner with the others; so that from one plan alone, not exceeding the bigness of a man's hand, we may vary the figure at least two hundred times, and so, consequently, from five figures of the like nature we might shew about a thousand several sorts of garden-plats; and if it should happen that the reader has any number of plans for parterres or wilderness works by him, he may by this method alter them at his pleasure, and produce such innumerable varieties, that it is not possible the most able designer could ever have contrived." Now that the long evenings are at hand, our gardening readers, both young and old, will no doubt thank us for bringing this very useful and ingenious instrument under their notice, affording as it does so much scope for multiplying designs, or rather creating them; for, as already explained in the extract, lines or designs of the most incongruous and confused character are brought into wonderful order and symmetry by the application of this little instrument adjusted at different angles. Bradley's volume contains a fund of readable and useful matter; and it is possible that our readers may, ere long, hear more about him in these columns. NEW AND RARE FLOWERS AND FRUITS. NO. 8.-CYPRIPEDIUM CARICINUM. VERY curious species, with sedge-like we have borrowed the figure in the cut, says A leaves, and a creeping above-ground regarding the treatment :— rhizome. Flowers of a pale greenish hue, except that the sepals and petals have a narrow white margin, while their extremities are tipped with purplish brown. It comes from Bolivia and Peru. Mr Bateman, who lately described it in the Botanical Magazine (tab. 5466), from which "C. caricinum flowered in May 1865, in Messrs Veitch's establishment in the King's Road. It had been kept in a hot and moist stove, where it seemed to thrive; but as its native habitat is a comparatively cool and elevated region, it will probably succeed as well, or even better, under cool treatment. |