140 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



On Bone-dust in Compost for Geraniums. — Can you. or some reader, inform 

 me, through the medium of your florists' magazine, whether any of your subscribers 

 are in the habit of growing Geraniums in compost of bone-dust, and, if so, in 

 what proportion to the soil ? I should also be glad to hear if it is advantageous 

 to Dahlias, Pansies, or auy other of the most popular kind of flowers. Also, 

 can you inform me whether seed of the Brachycome Iberidifolia, the large Swan 

 Daisy, mentioned hi the notices of new and rare plants, is sold by any of the 

 nurserymen, and at what price ? 



March 27, 1841. Ismene. 



On a List of Geraniums, &c. — I was much disappointed this month in not 

 finding, as heretofore, in your truly valuable work, a list of Geraniums, with their 

 prices. To ladies resident in the country, who take delight in their greenhouses, 

 the gardeners' lists were a great convenience, as they were enabled to know the 

 names and value of the new flowers, and could order to the amount they chose 

 to expend on these beautiful plants. We are certainly told lists of Geraniums 

 are ready, and may be had on prepaid application ; are they to be paid for, or 

 only the letter ? if the former, how are we to manage ? By your assistance in 

 the affair you will greatly oblige a very constant leader, 



Gloucestershire, March 9. M. B. 



ANSWERS. 



On an Insect infesting Plants in a Frame. — In page 283 of your Decem- 

 ber Cabinet, 1840, a " Constant Subscriber" asks a question respecting an insect 

 on cucumber plants; and as I have felt its devastating powers for three succes- 

 sive years, I feel disposed to offer a few remarks respecting it. 



In the autumn of 1837 it made its appearance with me. I have every reason 

 to believe that I caught the insect in the following manner. About the begin- 

 ning of September I took some cuttings from the cucumbeis on the natural 

 ground. The fruit at that time was a little spotted. I put the cuttings into a 

 good heat, and sowed some seed at the same time. The seedlings grew well, 

 but the cuttings did not strike root, consequently they were thrown away. The 

 young seedlings grew well, and a bed was made up for them. They grew very 

 strong for some time, but all of a sudden the leaves began to look a bad colour, 

 and the fruit spotted and gummy. I could not imagine what could be the reason 

 of it, but as they got worse daily I threw them away. At the same time I had 

 some cuttings of different things growing in the said cucumber-bed. I removed 

 them into a pit where I always grow my early cucumbeis, in which pit I had 

 a gentle heat, with some pine crowns and succours in it. In a short time the 

 leaves and plants were all taken out of the pit, and the mould put in and the 

 heat up, and some young cucumbers planted. The plants soon showed symptoms 

 of disease. At that time I tried every means in my power to find out the cause. 

 On examining the leaves, and to my great astonishment, I found a little red 

 insect, much the size of the red spiuer, but of very different shape and habits. 

 It is very much like a louse in shape, very red and shining, with a sort of hard 

 shell over its back; it makes no web. I tried fumigation, and washing the 

 plants with poison, without the least signs of checking the little pest. I cut a 

 leaf off' the plant, and soaked it in a strong solution of tobacco water for fifteen 

 minutes, and to my great astonishment, when the leaves were dry and warm, the 

 insect was as active as ever. I likewise soaked them, in the like manner, in a 

 strong solution of corrosive sublimate, with no better success. In the autumn 

 of 1839 I had all my frames washed clean, and after that I washed every part of 

 the frame and glass with boiling salt and water ; a pound of salt to a gallon of 

 water. Towards the end of December I made up my one-light box, and in pro- 

 cess of time the seeds were sown and the plants up, looking very healthy, until 

 nearly ready for planting out, about which time the insects again made their 

 appearance, and so they continued to increase. By this time I thought of 

 another expedient. I took a three-light frame, and scraped all the putty out of 

 the joints of the wood, and put some very thick paint into every crevice ; after 



