classes, some of whom make it their pastime, and in many cases prosecute it as a help to the household. Instead of keeping a pig they have a greenhouse or a frame or two, and in these they propagate "bedding stuff," for which they find a ready sale, or which they send to an auction mart in the city, where periodical sales of plants are held, and where they realise rather unremunerative prices. These sales interfere somewhat with the trade of the regular florist, who cannot compete in the cost of production with these amateur growers. The nurseries about Bath are, like the gardens, of limited extent, the largest not being more than sixteen acres. This to some extent is attributable to the high price of land in the immediate vicinity of the city. The oldest are those of Mr. Drummond, Mr. Carpenter, Mrs. Tiley, and Mr. Kitley. The two former are situated in Weston Lane. Besides a general stock of trees and shrubs, Mr. Drummond's speciality is in house plants. Here may be seen good collections of stove and greenhouse plants, and in some cases excellent specimens. We observed among these a fine plant of Adiantum farleyense, 5 feet in diameter. This is one of the original plants, and certainly one of the finest we have ever seen. The large specimen Azaleas were turned out of the house and were just going out of bloom, and we observed in another house some good specimens of Ericas, such as elegans and Cavendishii, &c. This is undoubtedly the leading nursery in Bath for exotic plants.

Mrs. Tiley's is more of a general nursery, and is situated at Bathwick, immediately behind Sidney Gardens. The extent altogether is sixteen acres, a good deal of this being occupied with ornamental trees and shrubs, and Roses, for which this nursery has long had a reputation. The houses contain the ordinary class of flowering greenhouse and stove plants, and Ferns, and we were pleased to see some attention paid to the cultivation of herbaceous perennials and alpines.

Also adjoining Sidney Gardens is the small but select nursery of Mr. Pavitt, where Tea-scented Roses are extensively grown in great perfection, and in the open air without any protection. Mr. Pavitt cuts the plants down close to the ground every year; they begin to bloom in June, and from that time till October there is a constant profusion of flowers, lasting over a period of five months. Mr. Pavitt boasts of having every known variety of Tea-scented Rose in his collection. Besides these, we observed a choice stock of variegated trees and shrubs.

Mr. Kitley's grounds, at Lyncombe Vale, are mainly occupied with market-garden produce, but he also grows flowers to a considerable extent. We mention Mr. Kitley, as being a person long well known in the gardening world, a great cultivator of Strawberries, and as the raiser of Kitley's Goliath and Carolina superba. At Walcot, the nursery formerly occupied thirty years ago by Salter & Scammel is now in the possession of Mr. Walters, son of the nurseryman of that name at Trowbridge.

In close proximity to Mr. Kitley is Mr. Alexander, who devotes his attention mainly to forcing flowers for decoration and bouquets, a trade which is confined mostly to the Bath season, or the winter and spring months. Besides Hyacinths and other bulbs extensively forced, are Christmas Roses and Solomon's Seal. We here met with a Potato peculiar to the district, called Shiner Kidney. It is not exactly a Kidney, but half round, and it is said to be as early as the old Ashleaf, and a much better cropper. Mr. Cooling has a nursery at Batheaston, in which he grows a good general stock.

THE SLUG-WORM, OR SLIMY GRUB, IN
NEW ZEALAND.

THIS is the larva of a Saw-fly, called by Linnæus Tenthredo Cerasi, from its feeding upon Cherry trees. People here who possess gardens large or small, are just becoming alive to the depredations committed by this dirty slimy-looking caterpillar, which is making such havoc (eating the parenchyma of the leaves, leaving only the skeleton behind) with our Pear trees, Plums, Cherries, Thorns, Quinces, Willows, and other things. Most of the trees mentioned are now quite denuded of their leaves in and around Christ Church long before their right season. We have been annoyed with these ugly grubs on our trees every autumn for some years past, but this autumn they are worse than ever. Many people here not acquainted with them nor their history, ask me-What is the cause of the leaves dropping off the trees so soon this year? Judge of their astonishment when I explain that the trees have been injured

by these slug-worms, and that these have probably already robbed them of a crop of fruit in the forthcoming year. If I mention any of our remedies used in gardens for the destruction of these slimy grubs, a dislike is soon expressed, by the fair sex in particular, to touch or go near the grubs on account of their disageeeable stench. It puzzles me, and many other people here, how they can have found their way to the Antipodes. Here in Canterbury they are, at any rate, and in very great abundance too, to our very great annoyance.

SINCE dispatching my first scrap about the Slug-worm by Suez mail, another opportunity has occurred for me to communicate some additional ideas on the subject. This time I send you a few fresh-gathered leaves for your consideration. Our Bigarreau Cherry trees are generally the first to become affected, and our Quince trees the last. I am almost certain that if we had very wet autumns instead of such unusually fine ones we should not be so much troubled with this pest. Depredations committed by it on the leaves seem to be confined to the natural order Pomaceæ, or Appleworts, with one exception only as far as I can discover-namely, the common Willow, but I have to state that the leaves of this are not stripped in such a ravenous manner as in the Pomacea.

Fig. 1.-Tenthredo adumbrata (larva state).

Here at the Antipodes we generally discover the slug-worm This is shortly, I presume, after the time the flies emerge in a very young state on the leaves about the end of January. from their tombs. About the middle of April they seem to have completed their ravages, only an odd one being left behind here and there, they having disappeared in the shape of a cocoon, for the purpose of entering the earth.-WILLIAM SWALE, Canterbury, New Zealand.

[Our correspondent gave a long extract of an article by the late Mr. John Curtis, the entomologist; but as some confusion has existed between this and similar grubs, we subjoin the following extract from Dr. Boisduval's "Essai sur l'Entomologie Horticole," from which also we copy a very characteristic engraving of the destroyer at work on the leaf. Under the head of Tenthredo adumbrata, Klug, he says:-Arboriculturists are familiar with a slimy black larva like a little leech, which appears as if glued to the leaves of Pear trees, and which is of very common occurrence in fruit gardens in September and October. From its form and appearance, Réaumur called it the slug-worm. At the end of autumn, when it has attained its full size, it somewhat resembles a small tadpole. It has twenty feet, which, however, cannot be seen without dislodging it from the leaf. It does not begin at the edges of the Pear leaf, but gnaws away the parenchyma in the middle, leaving the smallest veins and the epidermis of the under side untouched, so that the leaves attacked are left like the finest lace (see fig. 1).

After four times casting its skin it changes to an orange yellow colour, comes down from the tree, and forms a cocoon from particles of soil bound together by a few silken threads.

The perfect insect (see fig. 2), according to Hartig, is 2 lines long, smooth, black, and shining, with the horns almost as long as the abdomen; the legs are black, the joints and thighs reddish brown, the wings obscure.

This grub is frequently very destructive to wall trees. It, appears on Pear trees when the fruit are from one-half to twothirds of their full size, and by destroying the parenchyma of the leaves it prevents the elaboration of the sap, brings growth to a standstill, and the Pears, instead of swelling, drop.

Some authors consider that the slug-worm of Réaumur produces the Tenthredo Cerasi of Linnæus; others consider it to belong to the Tenthredo Ethiops of Fabricius. The investigations of Gorsky, Westwood, and M. Delacour have set the question at rest. They have shown that there are several slug-like grubs, which are developed into insects belonging to distinct species, and that the T. Cerasi of Linnæus does not form its cocoon in the ground, but among the leaves of the Cherry. To Dr. Boisduval's description of this pest we may add that the best remedy is to dust the trees with quicklime as soon as the

Fig. 2.-Tenthredo adumbrata (perfect insect).

slimy grub is perceived, and to repeat the dusting as often as may be necessary.-EDS.]

LETTERS FROM JAPAN.-No. 2.

Isurumi, Sept. 7th, 1872.

JAPAN is quite an agricultural country, and in the island of Nipon two crops are generally obtained every year. At the end of the month of November or the beginning of December the farmers sow their Barley and Wheat, and these crops are ready to cut in the months of May and June, when the soil is again turned up, and the land flooded for the Rice crop, or prepared for Turnips, &c. The Barley and Wheat are not set so closely as we grow ours in England, the rows being about 12 to 15 inches wide; after the Wheat and Barley plants are about 8 inches high they are earthed-up on both sides. The plough used by the Japanese is made of wood, pointed at the end with a small piece of iron, and is so light that a boy can carry it. It is guided by a single handle only, and is a very primitive affair. The harrow is a piece of wood 3 feet long, filled with iron spikes, and with a handle to it, so placed that the farmer can press the spikes into the ground. After the Barley and Wheat crops are ripe they are cut with a sickle, the same as the Irish labourers formerly used. The crop being carried home, all the heads of grain are pulled off from the straw by passing through a number of iron spikes. The heads are then thrashed with a flail in a similar way to what was formerly the plan in England, after which the corn is separated from the chaff by being exposed to the wind.

The Rice crop is planted in the following way:-After carefully preparing a bed, the Rice is set very thick, the same as Celery is in England, and after it has grown to be about 6 inches from the ground, it is replanted in bunches of about six heads each in the paddy fields, which have all been previously turned up, prepared, and manured for the purpose. The distance between each bunch is about 6 inches. The Rice plant having grown to about 1 foot high, the earth is pressed round each bunch by hand, and all weeds carefully removed. At the end of October or the beginning of November the crop is ready to cut, after which it is thrashed, and the Rice put into straw bags. Turnips, which are grown and used along with Rice by the Japanese for their food, are sown in the months of May and June. They are not the same shape or description as the English Turnip, but are about the size and form of a very large Carrot, only white in colour. Carrots, Potatoes, Peas, Sweet Potatoes, Beans, and Mustard are cultivated in much the same way as we raise them in England. The grass here is very coarse, and sheep will not live on it. The Japanese Government has commenced a large farm in the island of Yesso, which I am informed is very rich soil, but owing to the severe winters in that more northern latitude, only one crop is obtained in the year.

Poultry is extensively reared. We have turkeys, fowls, geese, ducks, and pigeons. The fowls and ducks are very plentiful, and comparatively cheap.

Fruit is very fine and plentiful. It consists of Pears, Apples,

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Grapes, Pomegranates, Melons, Peaches, Plums, and Oranges. The latter are of a very rich sweet flavour though small, and do not generally contain many pippins. Your English gardeners would be surprised to see a Japanese orchard, as all the trees are grafted dwarfs, and appear to be heavily laden with fruitso much so that the branches are supported by bamboo props. I must not forget to mention that the Japanese have one great fault in the gathering of their fruit, and that is they nearly always pull it before it is ripe, and then leave it to ripen afterwards in the house. We consequently do not get the full flavour of their fine Peaches and Plums.-J. TASKER FOSTER.(By favour of the writer's father, Editor of the Yorkshire Gazette.)

INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE OVER THE STATURE OF PLANTS.

Ar a meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, Mr. Thomas Meehan remarked that, as botanists well knew, Quercus prinoides seldom grew more than 2 feet in height. It was one of the smallest of shrubs. In his collections in Kansas he found Oaks in the vicinity of Leavenworth, which made small trees from 10 to 15 feet high, and with stems from 1 to 2 feet in circumference. He was entirely satisfied that it is identical in every respect but size with the Q. prinoides of the eastern States.

Among trees there are few which produce forms as low shrubs; but the Pinus Banksiana, in the east but a bush of 5 or 10 feet, grew often 40 feet along the shores of Lake Superior; the Castanea pumila, Chinquapin Chestnut, when it gets out of the sands of New Jersey into the clayey soils west of the Delaware, often grew as large as many full-grown Apple trees; while the Celtis occidentalis, which in the east is generally but a straggling bush along fence corners, is in Ohio is as lofty and as graceful as an Elm. a large spreading tree with an enormous trunk, and in Indiana

He also exhibited a section of a stem of Wistaria sinensis, and called the attention of members to a curious arrangement of the wood and bark. The vertical section showed by the annual rings of wood that it was about twelve years old. After the eighth year's circle there was a layer of bark, and over this layer two more circles of wood. On a portion of the section another layer of bark had formed between the tenth and eleventh years' circles of wood. The bark seemed to be wholly of liber, the cellular matter and external cortical layer of the regular bark appeared to be wanting. A longitudinal section showed where these internal layers of bark extended no further upwards, and at this point there was an evident flow of wood from the interior over and down this layer of enclosed bark.

He remarked that this section of wood was taken from a stem which had been led to support itself in an upright position. When the Wistaria is permitted to trail along the ground numerous rootlets are formed along its length. He thought from the appearance of the wood, in the specimen presented, that rootlets had partially formed in these erect stems, pushing through the liber, and then, instead of penetrating entirely through the bark and forming perfect rootlets, they remained within the cellular matter, and descending joined with the reThis explanation was the more plausible, he thought, from the gular woody layer in forming an annular course of wood. fact that woody stems formed on the ground. Where the rootlets went quite through into the earth the stems were nearly regularly cylindrical; but these upright stems on which rootlets were never seen had an irregular fluted appearance. of course, this explanation does not accord with the formation of wood in ligneous structures as generally understood; but he could not understand how the appearance presented could have occurred in any other way than as he had supposed.

NEW BOOK.

VAN HOUTTE'S POMONA. A Descriptive List of Fruits, with numerous Plates; published in English and French. Part 1. Pears. London, 171, Fleet Street, E.C.

THE name of Mr. Van Houtte is already well known as a botanical and horticultural author, and now after a long life honourably spent in the service of Flora he has divided his heart with her sister Pomona, and given to the world of horticulture a work which is at once creditable and useful. The Pomona, which is gracefully dedicated to Dr. Robert Hogg, is published in an oblong form, and consists of short descriptions

of the fruits cultivated in Mr. Van Houtte's extensive nurseries at Ghent. The varieties here given are the choice sorts which are best worth growing in private gardens, and the letterpress is illustrated with admirably executed coloured figures of most of the leading kinds. There are five sheets of coloured engravings representing fifty varieties, and six sheets in outlines representing thirty-six varieties. There will be a continuation of the work, and other fruits besides Pears will be treated upon.

We heartily commend the work to all lovers of fruit culture.

ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
JUNE 18TH.

THE Show on this occasion was held in the western conservatory corridor, and was of extremely limited extent, no doubt in a great measure owing to exhibitors holding back for the great meeting at Bath. Prizes were offered by G. F. Wilson, Esq., F.R.S., for collections of Lilies of the character of L. pardalinum, canadense, &c., also for cut flowers of the same, but no one came forward to claim them.

There were three classes for Fuchsias-namely, classes for six plants from amateurs and nurserymen respectively, and an open class for twelve. There were three groups of six from amateurs, each containing well-bloomed plants. The largest specimens came from Mr. Walker, gardener to H. J. Atkinson, Esq., Gunnersbury House, Acton, but those from Mr. J. Weston, gardener to D. Martineau, Esq., Clapham Park, were the betterbloomed. A lot of very compactly-grown plants from Mr. James, gardener to W. F. Watson, Esq., Isleworth, was in good bloom. Mr. Weston was first, Mr. Walker second, Mr. James third. Of varieties with light corollas, Puritana and Conspicua were the best; of dark corollas Enoch Arden, Lord Derby, and Souvenir de Chiswick; of white-sepaled kinds Lucy Mills and Mrs. Marshall. There was no exhibition in the nurserymen's class, and Mr. James was the only exhibitor of twelve, taking a first prize.

For eight Palms, Mr. Bull, Chelsea, was first, and Mr. Aldous, florist, Gloucester Road, South Kensington, second; while for six, Mr. W. Cole, gardener to J. S. Budgett, Esq., Ealing Park, and Mr. J. Fewell, gardener to Mrs. Sargood, Broad Green Lodge, Croydon, took the same relative positions. In these collections we noticed nice specimens of Geonoma pumila, Acanthophoenix crenita, Areca lutescens; and in Mr. Bull's group Kentia Forsteriana, Dæmonorops melanochates, and Verschaffeltia melanochates.

The only group of six Pæonies in pots came from Mr. R. Parker, Exotic Nursery, Tooting, and well deserved the first prize, which was awarded. Charles Binder and Virginie were remarkably good.

Baskets of plants arranged for effect were shown, and prizes were awarded to Mr. Hepper, gardener, The Elms, Acton; Mr. Aldous, florist, South Kensington; and Mr. Cole, gardener to J. S. Budgett, Esq., Ealing Park. The only stand of Ranunculuses came from the Rev. H. H. Dombrain, Westwell Vicarage, who had a first prize. Among miscellaneous subjects Mr. Denning, gardener to Lord Londesborough, Norbiton, had a fine group of Orchids, in which were the charming Epidendrum crassifolium with at least a score of spikes, Dendrobium Bensonia, the pretty Palumbina candida, Cattleya Warneri, splendid; fine Aerides, &c. From Mr. Noble, nurseryman, Sunningdale, Bagshot, came a group of the beautiful and elegant crimson-flowered Spirea palmata; from Mr. Smith, Ealing Deane Nursery, a good collection of Balsams; and from Mr. Parker, Tooting, a fine lot of Pyrethrums in pots, cut flowers of the same, and a stand of varieties of the German Iris. For the prizes offered some time ago by Messrs. Barr & Sugden for typical forms of Cabbages, exclusive of Savoys, Mr. Tisdale, Cambridge Lodge, Tooting, exhibited some twenty-seven so-called kinds, not all of which, however, were markedly distinct.

FRUIT COMMITTEE.-Alfred Smee, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair. Mr. J. Edwards, gardener to Lady Prescott, Herne Court, Kent, sent two dishes of Royal George Peaches and two of Violette Hâtive Nectarines, which were in splendid condition, and were awarded a cultural commendation. Mr. A. Colbourne, Woolhampton, sent a very fine dish of Pitmaston Orange, which also had a cultural commendation. Mr. Colbourne also sent fruit of the Loquat, which was pronounced the finest in flavour ever submitted to the Committee. Mr. Tillery, of Welbeck Abbey, sent dishes of forced Strawberries-British Queen, Empress Eugénie, and Lucas. Mr. Cadger, gardener to Lord Strafford, Wrotham Park, Barnet, sent a seedling Melon, called Wrotham Park. Mr. J. Gardner, gardener to Col. Astley, Elsham Hall, Brigg, sent a hybrid Melon. Mr. Gilbert, the Gardens, Burgh

ley, sent a hybrid Melon of an oval shape and yellow skin, with green flesh. The flavour was remarkably rich, and the Committee awarded it a first-class certificate, naming it Gilbert's Green-flesh. Kingsholme, Scott's Giant, Dimmock's Victoria, Burnell's AlexMessrs. Barr & Sugden exhibited three new Lettuces: Wheeler's andra, all of which were identical, and the same as a good stock of Paris White Cos; but Mr. Barr stated that he had found these hardier than the Paris Cos. Henderson's New American Lettuce, also exhibited by Mr. Barr, was pronounced unworthy of cultivation. The Committee was adjourned to meet on Saturday next, at Chiswick, to examine the early Peas, which are now in pod.

FLORAL COMMITTEE. W. B. Kellock, Esq., in the chair, Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting, had first-class certificates for erect-flowering Gloxinia Brilliant, with magenta-flushed crimson lobes; for Rev. A. H. Bridges, one of the drooping-flowered class. soft rose, much dotted, and veined; Mrs. Fanny Wilders, erectflowered purple, broadly edged with white. Besides these Messrs. Rollisson exhibited many others of considerable merit. To the same firm a first-class certificate was awarded for Achmea bracteata, previously shown at the Regent's Park. Mr. Croucher, gardener to J. T. Peacock, Esq., Sudbury House, Hammersmith, sent several new Agaves. Messrs. Backhouse, York, had a cultural commendation for a specimen of Cyclobothra pulchella. Mr. Linden, Brussels, had a small collection of new plants, among which were Phyllotanium Lindeni, Curmeria picturata, Maranta hieroglyphica, and Anthurium crystallinum, all of which have been recently noticed. Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laing sent a stand of Fancy Pansies, of which the following had first-class certificates-viz., Picotee, singularly lined; Thomas Granger, dark blotch, rich brown edge and top; Mrs. Neilson, violet, edged with white, very pretty; D. B. Downie; and Richard Dean, dark brown, edged with rich yellow. Messrs. Barr & Sugden, of Covent Garden, had a cultural commendation for a fine basket of Lilies, and exhibited, besides, a collection of Irises of different classes, which, though not in good condition owing to the rain, were very interesting. They also sent a violet bedding Pansy, called Magnifica variegata, having leaves much variegated with deep yellow.

Mr. R. Dean, Ealing and Bedfont, sent remarkably fine spikes. of white, purple, and scarlet Intermediate Stocks, also Mauve Beauty, a splendid pyramidal variety, together with a number of his bedding Violas, and some double Canterbury Bells. From H. Shaw, Esq., Highfield, Blackburn, came two fine varieties of Cattleya Trianai.

A CASE OF DISTRESS.

WE earnestly call the attention of our readers to a case of real distress, and solicit their aid in an endeavour to assist. those who are quite unable to help themselves. The late Mr. Robert Glendinning, of the Chiswick Nursery, was well known who knew him but would have assisted him in his lifetime. to most people in the horticultural world, and there were few At his death he left, among other members of his family, a poor idiot son, who has for the last seventeen years been an inmate of the asylum at Redhill. During the whole of that time the father, and subsequent to his death the mother, paid the annual charge of £60 for his maintenance. Now the mother is dead, and evil days having come on the family, this poor young man has no one to continue the maintenance for him, and if something be not done he will have to be discharged from the asylum. Some friends of his parents have interested themselves in his behalf, and are endeavouring to have him placed on the foundation, by which he will be maintained free; and we shall be glad if anyone who reads this will regard it as a pressing appeal to their charity, and render all the aid they can to secure at the next election that this poor fellow shall be placed on the foundation. Subscriptions and votes will be thankfully received by Mrs. Bridges, Rupert House, Chiswick, Mr. Francis Dancer, of Little Sutton, Chiswick, or by the Editors of this Journal.

AGE OF TREES.-According to M. Ed. André, the editor of L'Illustration Horticole, the following are the ages attained by several kinds of trees. Judas Tree (Cercis Siliquastrum), 300 years; Elm (Ulmus campestris), 335 years; Ivy (Hedera Helix), 450 years; Maple (Acer campestre), 516 years; Beech (Betula alba), 576 years; Orange (Citrus Aurantium), 630 years; Evergreen Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), 800 years; Olive (Olea europæa), 800 years; Walnut (Juglans regia), 900 years;