Juno 25, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



511 



once destroy. A few penceworth of tar employed in this way 

 will, without any further trouble, be the means of destroying 

 numbers of these insects, whose larvie are among the most de- 

 structive pests the gardener or farmer has to contend against. 



It js stated in the Italian papers that the recent hail- 

 storm AT Milan was of unusual violence. Many persona who 

 took refuge from it in the Victor Emmanuel Gallery were in 

 great danger from the broken glass which fell upon them, and 

 had to seek shelter in the shops. All vegetation in and about 

 the city suffered greatly, and many birds killed by the hail- 

 stones were found in the streets. 



HoBTici'LiuRAL Pbofakity. — The Noiristoini (Pa.) 



Herald says that a man in Lower Marion wTote to the editor 

 of a horticultural journal, and asked " What are the most 

 advantageous additions to dried Grasses for winter orna- 

 ments? " The editor replied: " Acroclinium roseum, A. alba, 

 Gomphrena globosa, and G. globosa carnea." When the 

 Lower Marion man read this he fairly boiled with rage, and 

 immediately sent a note to the editor ordering the paper to be 

 discontinued. He said no editor who swore that way, just 

 because he asked a simple question, should have his support. 



I HAVE seen several queries as to how to destroy ants, 



and I give you my experience of fifteen years in New-Mexico, 

 where there are a great many. We have three ways of getting 

 rid of them. 1. If they are where they can be stirred up with 

 a hoe, persistently stirring up the nest every day or two will 

 eventually run them away. 2. Pouring a little coal oil on 

 their nest every few days until they are all killed or have left 

 3. Make a mortar bed of then- nest, stirring the ants in with 

 the mud, and after having made their nest into mortar carry 

 the mortar away. Either of the three ways wUl rid you of 

 them if well done ; but as perseverance is one of the main 

 characteristics of the ant, those who would get rid of them 

 must also be persistent. 



In some of the papers an allusion is made to the old 



practice of using cloth covees for cold frames. These are 

 sufficient for protecting hardy plants, but will net answer for 

 such tender kinds as Tomato, Egg Plant, and Peppers, until 

 very late in spring. They have been tested by our market 

 gardeners and found wanting, as the destructibility of muslin 

 is so easy and rapid they have not been found to pay. The re- 

 gular glazed hotbed sashes, now made by machinery so cheaply, 

 are much better adapted to the purpose, and last so long that 

 they cannot well be superseded by the cheap contrivances that 

 quickly become, in a manner, useless. 



DEATH OP MR. W. B. BOOTH. 



We regret to announce the death of Mr. W. Bealtie Bootli, 

 a name honourably known in the world of horticulture for 

 half a century. Mr. Booth died at liis house in New Road, 

 Hammersmith, on the 18th inst., aged seventy, and will, no 

 doubt, be lamented by a large circle of friends. He was 

 born, we believe, in Perthshire, and at an early age was 

 placed under his uncle, Mr. Beattie, then gardener to the 

 Earl of Mansfield at Scone Palace— the school in which David 

 Douglas, Robert Fish, and other celebrities were trained. On 

 coming to London he entered the gardens of the Horticultural 

 Society at Chiswiek, where he acted in the capacity of garden 

 clerk till 1830, when he left to fill the situation of gardener to Sir 

 Charles Lemon, at Carclew, in Cornwall. While at Chiswiek 

 he published, in conjunction with Mr. Alfred Chandler, of the 

 Vauxhall Nursery, a work called " Camellia Britannica," for 

 which Mr. Chandler made the drawings and Mr. Booth wrote the 

 letterpress. Only a few parts ever appeared, as it was found 

 to be a commercial failure. During the time Mr. Booth was 

 at Chiswiek he kept the meteorological register for four years, 

 from 1826 to 1830, when he left tor Carclew. He also con- 

 tributed several papers to the " Transactions " of the Horti- 

 cultural Society, and subsequently to the periodicals of the day. 



Though he went as gardener to Carclew, he soon received 

 promotion, and when he left in 1853 he filled the office of land 

 steward and general superintendent of the estate. So highly 

 was he esteemed, that when he left Cornwall he received the 

 presentation of a handsome silver salver, with this inscription : 

 " Presented by the tenants and workmen of Sir Charles Lemon, 

 Bart., residing in the parish of Mylor, Cornwall, to WiUiam 

 Beattie Booth, Esq., on his leaving Carclew, as a small but 

 sincere token of their regard and esteem. August, 1853." 



Through being a share proprietor in the Royal. British Bank, 

 when that failed Mr. Booth sustained considerable loss of pro- 



perty, and he then for a time held the office of Assistant Secretary 

 to the Horticultural Society, an office which he held with much 

 credit ; and all who came in contact with him will remember 

 how courteously he performed its duties. When the Society 

 became " Royal," and went to South Kensington, its objects, 

 or rather projects, were so grand, and its aims so elevated, 

 that a gentleman of Mr. Booth's practical turn could not see 

 any of them, and so he retired, leaving it to others of a more 

 adventurous and self-sufficient constitution to carry them out. 

 How they did it everybody knows. Mr. Booth continued to be 

 a member of the Floral Committee of the Society till the 

 day of his death, and was also an Associate of the Linnean 

 Society. 



NATIVE MOSSES. 

 I HAVE looked with great interest for a few lines from some 

 of your contributors, but have failed to find any, on those 

 beautiful plants our native Mosses. Being a gardener in Kent, 

 and not a great way from tliat famous place Kestou Common, 

 I and a friend paid a visit to it a few evenings back, and wo 

 found it completely matted together on all sides of us with 

 beautiful Mosses, many of which deserve an important place 

 in cultivation. The humble and apparently insignificant Moss 

 is an active agent in some of the most important changes of 

 Nature ; by the large amount of moistui-e which it absorbs, 

 its decay and subsequent renewal in succession, the hardest 

 rock upon which not even a blade of grass could grow becomes 

 covered in the course of years with a stratum of fertile soil, 

 supporting luxuriant trees. At first a little dust is blown into 

 the interstices of the rock, into which are also driven by the 

 winds some of the seeds of the Moss from a less sterUe spot ; 

 here they vegetate, and the hitherto naked rock becomes covered 

 with pretty green tufts, which, spreading wider and wider 

 year after year, its whole surface is at length covered with the 

 smiling carpet of Nature. The continual growth and decay of 

 the Mosses and other small plants gradually increases the 

 thickness of the soil, until at last the noblest trees of the forest 

 clothe the once hard and barren rock with the richest products 

 and the grandest vegetation. Thus sandy heaths and deserts 

 are converted into verdant and fruitful fields. — J. H., Gardener 

 to 13. F. Overhery, Esq., The Trellis, BichUy. 



A SCARECROW. 



It is well known that blue and scarlet colours in juxta- 

 position cause a dazzling effect on the eye. These colours 

 strung on a line and placed over Strawberry beds produce a 

 puzzling effect on birds, and no bird will enter the garden 

 while these colours flutter in the air. Pieces of blue and 

 scarlet calico should be cut about IJ foot in length, and tied to 

 a line 1 foot apart. An old flannel petticoat will supply a large 

 quantity of inexpensive scarlet strips. This line is to be sup- 

 ported by poles 6 feet in height from the Strawberry beds. 

 To support Strawberries, keeping them clean and enabling 

 them to ripen all round, take a piece of stout wire a yard in 

 length, bend it at right angles 10 inches from each end, bend 

 the space between the right angles into a curve. Stamp these 

 two ends 6 inches in depth into the earth close to the Straw- 

 berry plants, then draw the fruit over the wire, each plant 

 requiring two. To prevent rusting place the wires in creosote 

 three or four days, and then dry them. — Observer. 



NORMANTON PARK. 



THE SE.\T OF LOED AVELAJvD. 



Dyer, in his poem " The Fleece," dwells on 



" The clover'd lawns 

 .Vnd sunny mounts of beauteous Normanton, 

 Health's cheerful haunt, and the selected ^'alk 

 Of Heathcote's leisure." 

 It was named after the NormanvUles, who became its possessors 

 at the Conquest. From them it passed to the De Basings, 

 Mackworths, and Heathcotes. 



The situation of this place is well chosen ; the hall is built 

 on high ground, commanding extensive views of the most 

 picturesque scenes in this part of the county of Rutland. In 

 the distance are seen the woods of Exton and Burley-on-the- 

 HiU, and in the valley there is a large stream of water which 

 has been formed into a lake, with an island in the middle. 

 This lake is seen from the windows and the flower garden, and 

 adds much to the beauty of the scenery. There is a good-sized 

 deer park, in which there are some fine avenues of trees. 



