118 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



cuius bed (a very ginall one), I cut a large potatoe into thick pieces, and 

 running a small stick through each, buried them between the rows, about the 

 same depth as the roots, leaving the sticks above ground. After two days, on 

 lifting up the sticks very gently, I found the potatoes covered with worms, 

 which 1 destroyed, and replanted the potatoes. If I looked two days toge- 

 ther, I seldom found above one or two ; it is better to leave them two or three 

 days betwixt each examination. If the potatoes get dry, fresh pieces should 

 be put; but one was quite sufficient lor my purpose. In a fortnight, I de- 

 stroyed some hundreds. Not a single Kauuuculus was injured, and the bed 

 is now perfectly clear of them. If it be too much trouble to examine the 

 traps, it is worth while to put them in, as the Wire-worm will choose them 

 iu preference to the fresh hard roots. Slugs are also caught at the same time. 

 March \2th, 1834. S. H. 



On the Culture of the Genus Sedum in Pots. — A correspondent, 

 "Snowdrop," wishes to know the most successful method of blooming the 

 genus Sedum iu pots. I beg to state, that I have had under my care a num- 

 ber of Sedums in pots, which flowered in very great perfection. The soil I 

 used was turf that had lain for the coping of a wall for two or three years, 

 and had beeu fully exposed to the action of the weather. This I chopped 

 very small, and added to it a quantity of lime rubbish, mixing about half 

 the quantity of lime rubbish to the soil. With this mixture I filled the pots, 

 taking care to drain them well from any stagnant water; and my Sedums 

 grew and bloomed profusely. J. J. 



.. March 24th, 1834. 



On Human Urine as a Manure. — At page 46, Vol.1, of the Cabinet, 

 " Snowdrop" asks, " Is human urine a beneficial manure ?" Van Osten, iu 

 his Dutch Gardener, (published in 1703,) at page 125, treating on the Hepa- 

 tica, has the following passage: — "Plant them in sandy ground, mixed 

 with dung that is hard and tough ; it is also good to water them sometimes 

 with human urine, but not when they are iu flower ; if you observe this, they 

 will so increase that you may fill your garden with them in a short time." — 

 I do not grow the Hepatica, and therefore have never tried the Dutchman's 

 recipe. J. Banton. 



REMARKS. 



On the Properties of a Perfect Auricula. — The Plant. — 1. The 

 stem should be strong, stiff, and erect, about six inches high. — 2. The foot- 

 stalks of the pips should be strong and stiff, and of a proportionable length 

 to the size and quantity of the pips, so as to form a close and compact truss, 

 without lapping over each other, and not less than seven in number, which 

 should be all alike iu colour and property. — 3. The foliage should be healthy, 

 aud almost cover the pot. 



The Pip. — 1. Should be round, large, lay perfectly flat, and quite smooth 

 at the edges, without notch or fringe. — 2. Its centre, or tube, should be per- 

 fectly round, of a fine yellow or lemon -colour, well filled with the anthers, 

 and should not exceed one-fourth of the diameter of the pip. — 3. The eye 

 should be perfectly round, of a pure white, smooth, without crack or blemish, 

 and form a circle, not less than half the width of the tube, all round it. — 1. 

 The ground colour should be dense, whole, aud form a perfect circle next the 

 eye, and on the outer part be finely broken into a feathery edge. It should 

 be equal on every side of the eye. The brighter, darker, and richer the colour, 

 the better the flower; but if it be paler at the edges of the petals, or have two 

 colours or shades, it is a fatal defect. — 5. The margin or outer edge should be 

 a fine unchangeable green or grey, aud be about the same width as the ground 

 colour, which must in no part go through the eye. From the edge of the eye 

 to the outer edge of the flower, should be as wide as from the centre point of 

 the tube to the outer edge of the eye. 



On the Properties of a Perfect Polyanthus. — The Plant. — 1. The 

 stem should be strong, upright, and elastic, from four to seven iuehes high. — 

 "-. The footstalks of the pips should be still", aud so proportioned as to length, 



