out in the open air, have the cflect of producing shelter without shade, and. at the same
time of admitting the fall of rain on the plants. Many plauts receive sufficient ])ro-
tcetiou by being placed near to the south side of a wall, hothouse, or other b uilding;
or under a tree or biisli during tho winter months, without any covering or guard
whatever.
S e c t . V III. Operations relative to destructive Animals, Diseases, and other Casualties o f
Plants and Gardens.
2657. The casualties o f gardens arise from human enemies, from animals, and from
vegetable diseases. Against the first, the laiv acts as the best safeguard ; the second
may be ovei'come, cither totally or partially, by a knowledge of the habits and economy
of the different species of vermin usually found in gardens, applied to thcir destruction ;
and the third, by a strict attention to the state and Idnd of the seed or germ of the future
plant, and the soil and treatment which it receives, after being put in the ground.
SunSECT. 1. O f the Animals most injurious to Gardens.
2658. The quadrupeds which are hurtful to gardens arc either domesticated or wild.
The first may he excluded by fences ; but the latter must be destroyed. The only wild
quadrupeds ■which infest enclosed gardens are hai'cs, field mice, and rats ; and for
catching or destroying these, there arc various well-known methods. The ra t or mouse
trap used by the gardeners near Paris is an earthen vessel or jar, with a narrow month,
but swelling out below ; this is sunk in the earth, and the entrance covered over by a few
Icai’es or twigs. Mice are frequently very destructive in greenhouses and conservatories,
by gnawing and devouring bulbs. Some years ago, in the Liverpool Botanic Garden,
an extensive and valuable collection of Cape bulbs, which the intelligent curator,
Mr. Shepherd, had long been justly proud of, was destroyed by mice. Open gardens
and plantations arc exposed to other quadruped enemies, as the mole, hare, rabbit, and
field mice. The common molc-trap, and the mode of setting it, are known to every
countryman ; and many others have been invented which have been more or less successful
: but the best method of getting rid of moles is by digging up their nests in
spring, the heaps of earth over these nests being easily distinguished from the common
molehills by thcir size. Hares and rabbits are both very destructive to plants in
general, but are particularly injurious to plantations, from thcir habit of barking trees ;
ii’om this, however, they may be dcteired by sraeaiing the stem with cow-dung, ordure,
tar, coal liquor, or grease of any kind. Tho long and short-tailed field mice (which, of
late years, have created so much injury iu the royal forests) are never found in
gardens ; they will be treated of at large when we enumerate those animals peculiai-ly
licstructive to plantations.
2659. Birds are both injurious and beneficial to gardens. To understand this, wo
must draw a distinction between those which feed upon fmits, seeds, and insects, and
those whose food is insects only. The former comprise the sparrow, chaffinch, gi-ecnfinch,
bullfinch, and other hard-billed species ; which, although they occasionally devour insects,
are well known to be vciy injm'iOus to fruit-trees. None of these birds habitually
eat or pick off the buds, as some suppose, but ali regale upon tbe ripe frait. Sparrows,
in some situations, are prone to scratch up, and otherwise destroy, young seeds in the
first stage of their growth. Yet even these birds, for the services they perform in
diminishing the number of snails, slugs, and catei-pillars, in our gardens, arc more
beneficial than hurtful, and ought therefore to be preserved. Their injurious habits
may be counteracted in spring and autumn, or during the seasons of preserving seed,
and of gathering fruit, by scares of different sorts, such as mock men or cats, mock
hav’ks or crows, miniature -windmills, lines with feathers, &c. ; but the most certain
expedients are setting boys to watch, or carry about a wooden clapper during seedtime,
and covering fruit-ti-ees with mats or netting, so soon as their produce begins to
ripen. Lines of black worsted, fastened to projecting nails fixed in the walls, have also
a very good effect in protecting wall fruits. The birds, taking these lines for twigs,
light upon them ; and the worsted turning round by the grasp, as well as sinking by
the weight, the hii-d falls ; and, if he attempts it a second time, falling in the like
manner, he is deteiTed for the future. The fragivorous birds will thus be preserved ;
and, while they are prevented from doing injury to tho fruit, their beneficial services
will be secured. With regard to the insectivorous birds, generally so termed, those
usually seen in gardens are the following : — 1. Hedge Sparrow (Accentor modulài-ìs
Cuv.), 2. the Robin, S. the Blackbird, 4. the Thrush (il/eru la viscivora Sw.), 5. tho
Wliitcthroat (Sylvia cinèrea Z .), 6. the Blackcap (Sylvia Atricapilla Z.), 7. the
AVren (Troglodytes europiB'us), 8. the Flycatcher (Muscícapa Crisola), and the different
species of Tom-tits (Pariànaì Sw.). The habits of these are so very ditferent, some being
injurious, and others beneficial, that the gai-dener should learn to discriminate them
accurately.—Tho first, or Hedge Sparrow, is one of the most innocent and peaceful
inhabitants of the g a rd en ; he hops about, picking up the minute seeds of aiiniiaLs,
whether of weeds or of fiowers, which lie upon the surface; lie never, we believe, attacks
the fruit-trees, and his presence is therefore always desirable.—The Robin is generally
tlionght a purely insectivorous bird, wliile his familiarity with man, and his confiding
disposition, prepossess us all in his favour. But sadly will those gardens suffer in which
these little thieves are plcntifiil. The young robins leave the nest precisely at the same
time in June that the currants begin to rip e n ; and, leaving the woods and hedges where
they were reared, they flock to the gardens, and commence a sly but most destructive
system of plunder. If they are numerous, not a bunch of cui'rants will be found whole,
even during its progress of ripening. The best ben-ies are picked off« and, as the others
begin to reach maturity, they serve for a succeeding repast. What is no less [irovoking
than singular is this, that these impudent little birds will not be scai-cd. The usiu'il
«arts of feathers, windmills, &c., have been repeatedly but vainly trie d ; no sooner are
the robins driven from the bush, than they skulk a few yai-ds under the surrounding
plants, and return to the tree immediately you have left it. With more than half «an
acre of kitchen-garden, thickly planted all round with curra.nt and gooseben-y bushes,
we have actually been obliged, for five years, to purchase these ifuits, when ripe, from
the neighboiu-ing m«arket. After trying various methods, our only effectual resource is
that of covering up the trees with thin cotton, old muslin dresses, and similar fabrics,
sufficiently pervious to admit air and heat. The ordinary brick traps, set close to the
trees, and baited with cun-ants, entice many, and may be resorted to with advantage.—
But the robins arc not the only destroyers of our small fru its; the Blackcaps, White-
throats, and even the, Bulifmchcs, join in the plunder : the two fonner, more especially,
are fully as destructive as the robins; and currants, strawberries, and raspberries rapidly
disappear, at the very time we expect them to come on the dessert. Bullfinches ai-o
particularly fond of raspbcn-ics, and we suspect that the Greenfinch joins in the robbery.
—No sooner are the currants nearly exliausted, than the gooseberries begin to ripen,
and then, being too large for the soft-billed birds, arc attacked by Blackbirds and
Thrashes. These -wrary birds are at first more easily scared, but they soon become
familiar with men of straw, or paper windmills, and even the gun has but a temporary
effect in frightening them away. In such country situations the only effectual remedy
is to cover or mat up the bushes; and although these coverings, for a large gai-den, are
at first somewhat expensive, they will, with proper care, last for several years.—The
Wren and the Flycatcher never touch frait, and may safely be omitted iu the general
proscription. We are disposed, also, to consider the Toin-tits as more beneficial tlnaii
injurious to fruit-trees, seeing that, as thcir chief food is insects, they destroy more
catcrpillai-s than buds. P. Musgrave, of Mayfield, near Ediiibnrgb, is of the same
opinion. (Col. Mem., vol. iii. p. 333.)
2660. The operations fo r destroying insects, or counteracting tlieir injurious effects, arc
our next consideration. These arc so numerous, that, were wo to enumerate all that
have been recoimncndcd by writers on agriculture and gai-deniiig, it would cxcitc
astonishment that all the races of injurious insects had not been exterminated long ago ;
or, at least, that any should appcai- in such an undue proportion «as to baffle our immediate
cft'orts to subdue them. Yet the case is fax- different; and up to this moment "we
must confess that no one department, either of agriculture or gardening, is so little un derstood,
or has been so little attended to, as that which relates to the present subject.
The reasons for this will be evident, when it is remembered, that to check or counteract
the operations of these numerous depredators with any success, a knowledge of the
peculiai- habits and economy of each species is first to be acquired ; without this, little
good can be done, and the cause not being -well understood, the remedy is administered
at random. Add to this, the lamentable ignorance of most gardeners respecting the
names and economy of the insects almost daily before their eyes, and whose depredations
they are constantly suffering fr-om. Thus, a small beetle, which infests the turnips, in
some counties has got the name of the fle a; and in other counties it is called a ß y . The
aphides are knoivn to some as green flies, and to others as pLant-lice. To this cause
must also be attributed the failure of remedies or preventives; many excellent in
themselves, but which, by not being well timed, have proved ineffectual, and have thus
been brought into disrepute. I t may be said, and perhaps with justice, that this subject
comes within the province of the naturalist, rather than within that of the agriculturist or
tlie gardener, who are to look to him for scientific information, and for effective remedies,
arising from a knowledge of the respective economy of insects. Hitherto, however, this
information has not been given by naturalists, except in some partial instances, where it
has been attended with great and peculiar advantages.
2661. ZAe ¿rar/ener should therefore devote his leisure to acquiring a perfect
knowledge of the general forms which belong to insects; of the changes they undergo ;
and of the primary divisions into which they have been formed hy modern natiu-alists :
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