MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 295 



at Bury St. Edmunds, where that and many other rare hardy plants grow in 

 a style that we Londoners never dream of. An Old Subscriber. 



On keeping Geraniums in Winter.— If " Pedro" would rather keep his 



Geraniums in the ground during the winter, he ha3 hut to cut them down 



to within a few inches of it. I cover them with wool or cotton, tied tightly 



round the stems. Myrtles, he will find, make splendid plants in this manner. 



Nov. 1U. 1837. J- G. 



REMARKS. 



On the wire Worm. — Having seen many enquiries respecting the man- 

 ner in which the wire worm rniglit he destroyed, induces me to send you 

 my method of treatment for their destruction. For nearly two or three sea- 

 sons I had nearly all my Dahlia plants destroyed by these destructive pests 

 the wire worm. After having tried various experiments, that of burnt earth 

 succeeded entirely to my satisfaction, not having a plant the following season 

 injured. Thinking this might prove beneficial to numbers of your readers, 

 if you think it worth insertion it is at your service, — The burnt earth may be 

 made, by burning the refuse of the garden in dry weather. 



On Manures.- -Manures which stand next to the mineral mixtures of sandy 

 clay, and chalk, are Potash and Carbon, which may be obtained in a mass, 

 cheaply and readily, by digging a hole, paving the bottom, and by putting 

 into it all weeds and refuse vegetables, and occasionally a layer of quick lime, 

 refuse water from the house, particularly soapsuds, (which contain potash), 

 chamberlye, refuse from the pigs, cows, slop pail, &c, these will in a few 

 months, be so decomposed and enriched by the aid of the lime, that a mass 

 of potash aud carbon will be obtained, and these are the origin and basis of 

 all vegetables. 



An accumulated mass of manure should never be allowed to have 

 the liquor run away from it, for its very essense, is potash, (a piece of 

 wood can have its potash washed cut by continual running). — All dung heaps 

 therefore, should have an earth under them, of a different nature to the soil 

 which they are intended for as a dressing; for example, if we desire to en- 

 rich a heavy clay soil, we must have sand or road scrapings and a little lime, 

 i! it can be procured, laid under each dung heap ; and if we desire to en- 

 rich a sandy loam, we must lay chalk and marl, or chalk and clay, under our 

 dung-heaps. For the husbandry of manures and their increase, let all 

 animals be kept with a sand, or other earth, under their litter at all times, to 

 soak up the moisture ; a turf might be lined over the stable, cow-house, or 

 pig-sty, and removed every week, and thus would a great accumulation 

 of vegetable stimulus be obtained, and t':.i^ indeed would be a husbandman- 

 like process — a gathering of gold. 



Stable Dings, which ferment, should be buried b.\ the ground, as early 

 as possible after coming from the horses, lor every gas, or steam, which 

 passes from it fermenting is a loss of its nutritive substance ; for all manures 

 are but a concentrated mass of gases: air, and water, or their component 

 parts, are the bases of all manures which have vegetable origins. 



Sugar SCUM — i.-: a favourite manure fur those lands where there is a 

 want of chalky matter, particularly, on the sands, previously to a crop of 

 turnips ; but this scum is principally composed of lime; and a better article 

 can be obtained from pounded chalk that has soaked up the juices from a 

 dung-hill: 



Soap Ashes— are composed of lime, (converted again into chalk), and 

 ; this is a good and lasting dressing on a dry sandy sod. 



ROUGH POTASH— from saltpetre works, is the lirst of nil dressings; it 

 able i If < oncentrated in a state ready lo enter at once into the 

 fibres of young roots of plant*, when aided by water. 



