190 



Domestic notices. 



province of Ulster, passing from Dublin to Bel- 

 fast anil Colorainp; anil thence southwards, by 

 Armagh, Monag-han, T'cmianapfh, and Cavan, 

 throujrli !\Ioa(h to iJublin apain, the only county 

 ivhich I dill not sec beinp Doncfral. Durinp my 

 whole course, I saw but one field of potatoes which 

 was not evidently and ho|)elessly atrccted by the 

 disease; that lield was close to the city of Armagh. 

 The dry and the wet lands seemed alike blighted, 

 the levels and the sloi)es. The croiis growing on 

 soil along the volcanic rocks, on the chalky and 

 the niounlain limestones, on the gravel, the sand, 

 and the bog lands, appciired all equally dcHtroyed, 

 so far as a passing eye could judge. The fields 

 cultivated in the usual Irish ridge bed mode, and also 

 those in the better drilled rows, were alike. All 

 had the appearance of having been struck with 

 frost, the blackness of the leaves travelling in ge- 

 neral upward from the roots. Some fields were so 

 bad, tliaf the peculiar scent of the disease was per- 

 ceptible even from the adjoining road. Fields 

 which had, as I was informed, looked well a week 

 before, were now gone, and I was told, that, in 

 some instances, a single day had sufficed to throw 

 the blight over the whole surface of a field. The 

 roots which I saw were every where small and 

 watery, even where they were not unccjui vocally 

 diseased; and this not only in the late kinds, which 

 of course are quite unrii)e, but even in the earlier 

 varieties, which, at this season, ought to be mealy 

 and wholesome. The rich and the poor held but 

 one language, that of deep dejoction, and the uni- 

 versal impression seemed to be, "the potatoes are 

 leaving Ireland forever." Yet the poor, both Pro- 

 testants and Romanists, seemed to feel contented, 

 for they said, " the Almighty will never leave us 

 to starve; some other food will be sent us." I 

 could not help noticing that the turnij) crops were 

 most promising where the potatoes seemed most 

 destroyed. — A. \V. B. in Gard. Chron. 



Wasp Tkaps. — Take two hand-glasses of a simi- 

 lar shape and size, place one of them on four 

 bricks, then with the point of a knife, carefully 

 take out one of the jjanes a little below the top; 

 turn the other glass upside down, and sprinkle the 

 inside with a mixture of honey and vinegar which 

 will create a scent; place it immediately over the 

 one resting on the bricks. If the two glasses 

 should not fit exactly, as they seldom do, on all 

 four of the sides, get some wet moss and squeeze 

 it into the apertures with a pointed stick. The 



trap will now be complete. Inconsequence of tht? 

 gla.s8es being elevated on bricks (inverted (lower- 

 pots will answer as well,) the wasps will obtain a 

 ready admission underneath, and ilircctly mount 

 up through the opening made in the under glass* 

 into the apartment above; and, as a wasj) never 

 flies downward, they will never get out where 

 they got in, conseijuently they will all be made 

 prisoners, if the uiijjer glass be free fnrm holes. 

 In the course of a day or so they will all be dead;r 

 but in order to destroy them as quickly as possible 

 take some brown paper previously dipped in melt- 

 ed brimstone, apply a match to it, and i)lace it un- 

 der the glasses; the fume will soon ascend through 

 the opening mentioned before into the upper cham- 

 ber, and kill them all in a minute. Should the 

 wasps be numerous, and one trap only be found in- 

 sufficient, several should be employed; I have 

 sometimes had ten in different parts of the garden. 

 Every other day the up])er glass should be taken 

 off and sprinkled as before, or oftener than this, if 

 brimstone be used. I have, in some seasons, en- 

 snared myriads of those vexatious enemies by the 

 plan just described. I do not mean to say that it 

 will do away with the necessity of destroying the 

 nests; I would advise this to be done by the fol- 

 lowing easy methoil. Wherever they are found, 

 pour into the hole a little gas tar, j)lace a bit of 

 turf on it, and tread it down hard, and all that are 

 at home will die. — Joseph Melony, Brightwell, 

 Aug. 24. Gardener's Chronicle. 



Cure for the Caterpillar. — A gentleman at 

 Galashiels has discovered that exhausted bark 

 spread on the surface round the roots of gooseberry 

 bushes, is an effectual remedy for caterpillar. His- 

 garden used to be much infested by these destruc- 

 tive insects, which he had tried various modes of 

 rooting out without success, until a lucky chance 

 led him to try the effect of refuse bark from the tan- 

 yard. Two years ago he spread a considerable 

 quantity of it round the roots of all the bushes ii» 

 his garden, cxce)>t one or two. Those missed were 

 seriously injured by the caterpillar; all the others 

 were perfectly saved. The next jear he neglected 

 to renew the bark, and every bush in the garden 

 was affected with thedisease. This year he again 

 resorted to it, and not a single caterpillar is to be 

 seen. A more simple and cheap remedy could 

 scarcely be wished for. A cartload of the bark, 

 which costs about sixpence, is amply sufficient for 

 the largest garden. — Gardener's Chronicle. 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



The Great Horticultural Shows. — September, 

 teeming, fruitful September, has as usual witnessed 

 the rich and beautiful offerings of the votaries of 

 Flora and Pomona, in all parts of the country. 

 The three most attractive displays have been those 

 of Boston, Philadelphia and Auburn. At the two 

 first named places the Massachusetts and Pennsyl- 

 vania Horticultural Societies have held their great 



annual shows; at Auburn, the New. York Slatir 

 Agricultural Society opened its great fair for this 

 year. 



The season is not considered a very favorable 

 one either in New-York or the Eastern States, for 

 a show of fruits generally. The weather has been 

 such that a premature ripening of many fine varie- 

 ties had taken place before the season of exhibi 



