108 QUERY AND ANSWERS. 



PART III. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



QUERY. 

 On Mimosa Sensitiva. — A debtor to the Flori cultural Cabinet, would feel 

 himself greatly obliged, if any correspondant would inform him of the best me- 

 thod of raising the Sensitive Plant — Mimosa sensitiva. Last spring, I sowed 

 some seeds in a pot of earth, composed of peat, mould, and fine sand, and 

 plunged them into a frame of moderate heat. They came up very sickly in ap- 

 pearance ; I afterwards repotted them in 48's with the same compost, and placed 

 them in the best situation in the greenhouse, when, upon growing a little, they 

 gradually died away. Loughborough, March 12/A. 1836. 



ANSWERS. 

 In Reference to Roses changing their colour, by change of situation &c, 1 

 have to observe, that this does sometimes occur, but upon close observation, it 

 will generally be found to have proceeded from a predisposition in the plant to 

 disease, arising from some external injury it may have received when in full 

 vigour of growth, or from very indifferent soil. I have seeu in several instances, 

 George the Fourth, bloom quite a pale red, as Mr. Rivers observes, scarcely to 

 be recognised ; but proceeding from one of the above causes. 

 March 1th, 1836. A. Godwin. 



On the History of the Dahlia. — In reply to your correspondent, " A. Z.' 

 p. 45, I beg to observe, that the Dahlia is stated to have been introduced in 

 1789, by the Marchioness of Bute, as a native of Mexico, and that the Comte de 

 Vandes imported several varieties from France, where the plant had been culti- 

 vated for some years with great assiduity, by M. Lelieur, atSevre, near Paris. (Vide 

 Bot. Mag., Vol.XLIV, p. 1885.) M. Decandolle, observes, that "it maybe infer- 

 red with a degree of probability approaching to certainty, that no blue variety of 

 Dahlia will ever be found, because, blue and yellow being the two primitive 

 colours of flowers, and always exclusive of each other, no blue flowers can change 

 to yellow, nor yellow to blue. I must confess, that it would have been more 

 desirable, to have adhered to Decaudolle's and Wildenow's name, Georginia, in 

 preference to the more common appellation Dahlia, particularly as we have the 

 the genus Dalea, a name by which it is too often improperly called. 



Botanic Garden, Bury St. Edmunds, Feb. 4th.. 1836. N. S. H. 



On Destroying the Mealy Bug. — In your January Number, a Regular 

 Subscriber desires to know the best mode of destroying the Mealy Bug ; I there- 

 fore, feel much pleasure in answering his query, as the mode I have always 

 adopted, has, in every instance proved most satisfactory. The remedy is, simply 

 to dust the plant or plants with Tobacco Snuff, and the Mealy Bug will in a few 

 minutes cease to exist; as the snuff will not injure any plant, when it is ap- 

 plied in this way, it should not be washed off for some time, as the larva? of the 

 mealy bug is so very minute, thousands might escape untouched. I have also 

 found it most efficacious in destroying the Aphis, and other noxious insects, on 

 plants which will not bear fumigation. Any plant, however, dusted with snuff, 

 should not be watered overhead, until it be clean washed, as the snuff when wet- 

 ted on the leaves has an unsightly appearance. Trusting you will excuse this 

 obtrusion on your useful pages, under the hope, that it will answer the purpose 

 which the querist desires.— I am Yours, J. C. H. 



