W A L 



624 



WAT 



it is " a vulgnr error." Walnuts should i Liebig, from actual experiment on a 

 be literally gatliered or sliaken from the large scale, states that both rain and 

 tree, for none other bleeds more freely snow contain ammonia; and its import- 

 if wounded : and no result of practice ' ance appears from the fact that if there 

 or suggestion of science can point out j be only one-fourth of a grain in each 

 why the walnut tree, contrary to all pint of water, the annual deposition 

 others, is benefited by having its from the atmosphere would be more 



branches bruised and broken. 



WALNUT, BLACK. Juglans nigra. 



than sufficient, on half an acre of 

 round, to give all the nitrogen con- 



WARDL^N CASE. See Glass Case.\ tained in the vegetable albumen of 150 

 Stove. 



WAR.IJEA cynnea 

 WARTWORT 



sropia. 



WASPS should be sedulously de- 

 stroyed during April, May, and June, 

 for all appearing in these months are 

 queens, and the foundresses of nests. 

 Their favourite resort at that season is 

 the laurel, for the sake of the honey 

 secreted by the midribs of its leaves. 

 They may then be caught in the hooped 

 gauze net of the entomologist. In Au- 

 gust, wasps' nests should he destroyed, 



cwt. of beet root. Rain water also con- 

 Euphorbia hclio- tains a peculiar substance, analogous to 

 the extractive matter and gluten of 

 plants, though differing from them 

 chemically. To this substance, Dr. 

 Daubeny has given the name of pyr- 

 rhine. Traces of salts and oxides have 

 also been found in rain water, but, 

 compared with all other naturally pro- 

 duced, it is so pure, and so abounds 

 with the gases beneficial to plants, that 

 none other can equal it for their service. 

 That obtained from ponds or springs, 



and spirit of turpentine is the best agent invariably contains matters offensive or 

 that can be employed for the purpose, deleterious to plants. That known as 



The mode of using it when the nest is 

 in the earth has been thus detailed. Put 

 soi.,e of the turpentine into a large bot- 

 tle, shaking it about until the whole 

 of the inside is wetted by it; then fix 

 the neck of the bottle in the nesfs en- 

 trance, and place over it a large flower- 

 pot. By replenishing the bottle with 



hard water, containing an excess of 

 salts of lime or magnesia, is invariably 

 prejudicial, and pond water is scarcely 

 less so. If it be stagnant, and loaded 

 with vegetable extract, it is even worse 

 than hard spring water ; for it then con- 

 tains carburetted hydrogen and other 

 matters noxious to vegetables. These 



turpentine once or twice, the whole of last named waters, if obliged to be em- 

 the wasjis will be destroyed by the ployed to tender plants, should have a 

 fumes. — Gard. Chron. i pint of the ammoniacal water of the 



If the nest be in a place where the gas works, mixed thoroughly with every 

 bottle cannot be employed, the spirit! sixty gallons, an hour or two before 



may be injected by a syringe, and the 

 fume retained by covering up the nest's 

 mouth. 



WATER being an essential applica- 

 tion to the seed, as well as to the grow- 

 ing plant, the source from whence it 

 comes is by no means immaterial. The 

 best for the gardener's purpose is rain 

 water, preserved in tanks sunk in the 

 earth, and rendered tight either by pud- 

 dling or bricks covered with Parker's 



they are used. 



Mr. Paxton justly observes that 

 " watering outdoor crops is frequently 

 recommended during continued dry 

 weather; but it should be avoided as 

 long as possible, as the benefit of arti- 

 ficial watering is but temporary, and it 

 has the effect of exciting the roots, 

 thereby rendering them more liable to 

 suffer when the water has evaporated. 

 When, in a case of emergency, it be- 



cement. To keep these tanks replen- comes necessary to water, it should be 



ished,guttersshould run round the eaves given morning and evening, more 



of every structure in the garden, and abundantly than is usually done, and 



communicate with them. Every hun- never discontinued after its commence- 



dred cubic inches of rain water, con- ment, until a change in the weather 



tains more than four cubic inches of air, renders it no longer necessary. Dis- 



of which more than half are carbonic crimination should be used in selecting 



acid gas, and the remainder nitrogen proper objects for watering; for it is 



and oxygen in the proportion of sixty- no uncommon occurrence to see small 



two of the former to thirty-eight of the basins of soil formed round the stems 



iast named. 



of fruit trees, on walls and other per- 



