238 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



better, they push new lateral shoots, which become tolerably firm before winter, 

 and thus form busby plants for next year's blooming. The cuttings, too, now 

 taken off can be struck before winter sets in. This early heading back-window 

 plants is indispensable to having nice bushy plants for the next year ; and where 

 there are more than one of a kind, they can be generally spared. 



Clericus. 



On an Insect Infesting Frame Plants. — In your June Cabinet, page 140, 

 1841, I promised to send you the result of my experiments respecting an insect. 

 In reverting to that subject, I am sorry to inform you, that all my trouble has 

 been of little avail, I have still the mortification of finding the insignificant 

 looking, but destructive, insect, baffle every expedient that I could devise for 

 its extermination ; for the last two months I have been as much troubled with 

 it as ever. With respect to the introduction, my opinion since I last wrote to 

 you is altered, I am led to believe that this insect is indigenous to the common 

 fern, (pleris aquilina,) which article we use bountifully for litter, and which no 

 doubt is the cause of the annual visits of that minute tormentor. Perhaps 

 some of your numerous readers that have suffered with the spot on balsams, 

 cucumbers, and other frame-plants similar to myself, will be kind enough to 

 examine the underside of the foliage with a microscope, and send you word 

 whether they find anv insects resembling those 1 mentioned, and whether they 

 are any fern or not. The insect is not so readily found at this season of the 

 year, as it is the early part of the summer, I sent some of the insects to a gen- 

 tleman in London to beg the favour of the name, the following is the reply. — 

 Mr: Thomas Webster's minute insects, which have infested his cucumbers and 

 other frame-plants for three years, are some species of Ixodes, supposed to have 

 been introduced with the fern which is used for litter. It might easily be 

 mistaken for the red spider, but evidently does not belong to the same genus. 

 As Ixodes ricinus attacks dogs, and yet is abundant amongst fern, it would be 

 rather singular to rind an animal so nearly allied, if not the same, abstracting 

 its nourishment from plants. 



To promote the Vegetation of Seeds. — If seeds be steeped in a solution 

 of Sulphate of Ammonia, they not only come up more quickly but much more 

 certainly. This I have tried in several instances, and it is valuable to persons 

 obtaining seeds from distant countries. Lucy. 



To destroy the Thrip. — Take a peck and a half of soot and put it into a 

 hogshead of soft water, stirring it well with an old broom or batten everyday, for 

 ten days or a fortnight. Then strain oft' the water through a fine sieve or piece 

 of canvas into another tub, on a peck of charcoal, and drop into it afterwards 

 one or two lumps, or about three pounds of fresh lime ; in about two days after 

 strain it again, and it is then clear enough to syringe any plant or plants with it. 

 It will not only extirpate the thrip, but also many other troublesome insects ; it 

 also induces the more vigorous growth and healthiness of the plants. Where 

 it is practicable to dip the plant overhead in the liquid,, it is best ; and one or 

 two such applications will prove an effectual remedy. When plants are in pots 

 and too large to dip, lay them in a slanting direction for effectual syringing. 

 This has been tried by several extensively practical men and fully realized ex- 

 pectations. — Gardener's Journal. 



On growing Mignonette in Pots. — In reply to the wishes of a correspondent 

 in a recent number of the Cabinkt, on the London florists' mode of growing 

 Mignonette in pots, I beg to state that for fiist-blooming pots of it the seed is 

 sown the last week in September; these bloom from March following; the 

 1st of February for plants to bloom from the middle of April ; and at this latter 

 period for plants to bloom from the beginning of July; in August, for plants 

 to bloom from October through the winter. About twenty plants is enough to 

 come up. The pots are well drained with crocks and rough soil, and then filled 

 with good rich loam and leaf mould, oil which the seed is sown. At an early 



