Vol. X.— Nn. 2 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



11 



culuirist l):u-l< one year, if ililoes nut wliolly ilis- 

 Couragi; liiiii (Voiti repeatiiif; his orcter. Now sucli 

 losses ami ilisii|i|ioiHlmeut5, are easily prevented. 

 When your tree arrives, let some of the best 

 shoots be taUi'ii off ami set in Ihegrotind for scions, 

 and at a proper season, let tlicni he grafted into 

 some thrifty stocks, and yon render yonr eflbrt to 

 obtain the variety a certainty, for we hoUl there is 

 not a greater chance of failure in setting scions of 

 npple.-;, pears and plums, on good slocks, than 

 there is in transplanting trees within the same gar- 

 den when they are taken up, but as p.-^aches and 

 nectarines are more (lifficuk to graft, we will de- 

 scribe a iiiclhod, which we have practised this 

 season, which seein.s well calculated to insure 

 the object of the introduction of valioties from a 

 distance. JMy friend L. having procured some 

 choice varieties of Peaches from Long Island 

 this spring, was lamenting the loss of some valu- 

 able kinds, which did not give any indications 

 of life. lie suggested that we should make an 

 experiment by taking some of the buds from the 

 dying limbs, and putting them into growing 

 trees, by the process of scallop budding. I took 

 one or two buds and fitted them in, and covered 

 them with a piece of muslin, which had been 

 dipped in giafiing-wax, and have now the sat- 

 isfaction of seeing a fine shoot growing from 

 one of them six inches iti length. — I have within 

 the past week, put in hnds from one or two oth- 

 er trees, which are likely to fail, not having 

 leaved, which now have the appearance of doing 

 well. 



We therefore recommend it to our readers, as 

 well worth the experiment, that when any choice 

 variety is procured from a distance, to graft or 

 bnd from it, as it increase.s the chances of pre- 

 serving it, according to the number of buds or 

 scions set. 



Hitherto, the sending abroad for fruit, has been 

 attended with circumstances, calcidated to dis- 

 courage the farmers and gardeners of Old Gene- 

 see : that is — a very great proportion of trees so 

 obtained have failed, although packed with the 

 greatest care. The very idea of losing has pre- 

 vented many from sending, who would gladly 

 have done it, Avere they certain of being able to 

 secure, by that expense, the variety they wished. 

 It has formerly been a practice with mirserymen not 

 to sell scions from their choice varieties ; hut we 

 believe that custom is now considered too trans- 

 alantic to be adhered to by our best horticulturists, 

 and scions of any kind may be obtained from 

 them at fair prices, so that there is nothing now 

 to prevent a rapid distribution of fine fruits; and 

 any one that will, now may procure it. The con- 

 nexion of our Horticultural Societies with those 

 of Europe, has brought every kind of valuable 

 fruit known either in Europe or America, within 

 the reach of our firmers; and the direction for 

 cultivating it is daily almost forced upon them. 



Bcr.e Plant. — \Vc have bean informed that the 

 Bene Plant, which is to be found in some of our 

 private gardens, is an infallible cure for the suinmer 

 complaint — the lives of many thousand children 

 have been saved by this valuable remedy. A single 

 leaf of this plant put into a half pint tumbler nfpure 

 water and stirred round, the water imnn;diately 

 becomes mpy, but not discolored ; it is perfectly 

 innocent — the taste not disagreeable — it has been 

 administered with perfect safety to children, and 

 in some instances to infants only a few days old. 

 — Mcr. Mv. 



From tlie Garde 



, Magn 



OX THE INJUIIIOUS EFFECTS OF ANT.S 

 On early forced Peach Trees, wilh the Means adopted 



hy which they were exlirpaled, and the Crop of 



Peaches saved. 



SiK — In more than forty years' practice of my 

 father, this is ;lie first instance in which he has 

 known ants to injure the bloom of peach trees. I 

 he;: to offer you a statement of the case, in hopes 

 that it may be useful, and become a satisfactory 

 answer M the various (pieries made on the subject 

 of ants from the first to the sixth volume of your 

 Magazine. 



The earliest peach-bouse was shut up, and small 

 fires applied on alternate evenings, after the 2.5th 

 November ; the tree roots in the outside border had 

 been excited for some days previous. The fires 

 were increased, and humid air applied, after the 

 6th of December. On the 10th, some few ants 

 were observed traversing the trellis in quest of their 

 natural food produced by the aphis. But as great 

 attention had been paid to washing every shooi 

 with a hard brush an<l cold water when the trees 

 were pruned and tied, no aphis eggs nor aphis cap- 

 sides remained on them.* This probably caused 

 the ants to injure the peach blossoms, which was 

 not discovered until the opening of the petals of 

 two or three of the very earliol blooms, when the 

 filaments, anthers, and pistillum were observed to 

 fall outof tho corola. On closer examination, we 

 found that many of the earliest blossoms had the 

 unexpanded petals perforated, the filament-s eaten 

 out, and the ants lodged in the nectaries feeding 

 upon the honey. This was on the evening of the 

 13th of December, and we immediately commen- 

 ced killing them by hand, dislodging them from 

 the blossoms with slender wires ; this was contin- 

 ued by candlelight until most of the ants then on 

 the trees were destroyed. We were going to ap- 

 ply the ant-trap of Mr Boyce (Vol. v. p. 730.) ; but 

 it was suggested that recently cooked hones of 

 roast or boiled meat or fish were used for ant- 

 trajis on the Continent ; and we adopted them with 

 good success. They prevented any more ants 

 from ascending the trees, until the colony discov- 

 ered itself under the fire-flue at its entrance into 

 the peach-house. They were immediately sup- 

 plied with the preparation as below, and two days 

 after not one ant remained, nor have any appeared 

 since ; but it is necessary to watcli the spot for 

 some weeks after a sinnlar destruction, lest any 

 eggs should produce a new colony : — 



Take thin slices of wheaten bread (say ^ oz. 

 weight), dry it slowly, but well, that it may easily 

 pulverise in a mortar ; take s. oz. of fine loaf sugar, 

 pidverise it also ; add to the two former ingredients 

 .i oz. oxide of arsenic, commonly called levigated 

 mercury ; triturate the whole well in the mortar, 

 then put it into a clean dry glass bottle ;of course 

 the bottle should be labelled with the word ' Poi- 

 son.' Ver^small portions of this poison may be 

 applied on fragments of glass or the flat side of an 

 oyster shell. The smell of recent oyster shells is 

 also an excellent decoy for ants. Small bell glass- 

 es, such as are used to strike cuttings under or 

 small garden flnwer-pots^may be put over the de- 

 posit of poison, to prevent moisture from rendering 

 it pastv, as well as to hiixlcr any domestic animals 

 from taking it. If small portions are laid down 



at intervals of fom- or .six hours it will not become 

 glutinous, in which case the ants cannot separate 

 it. If hell glasses are used to cover the poison, 

 any curious s|)eclator may see the avidity with 

 which the ants cany off the poison to feed their 

 young. This preparation is equally eflicacious for 

 crickets. 



(jlentlemen and gardeners should be aware that 

 this mercurial poison is c<iually fatal to vegetable 

 as animal life. Slio'dd it be laid on the surface 

 of the soil, round the stem of an orange tree or 

 other plant, it will coriode the bark and alburnum, 

 to the certain destruction of the plant. This I know 

 from experience. 



Yours, &,c, 



Jf'elbcck, Feb. 1831. J. Thompson, Jr.v. 



* In San)Oull>''s Compendium of British Insects, at 

 p. 62., it is stated that the Aphides have the natural 

 power to procreate, and that viviparously, to the ninth 

 geueration, witlajut sexual iniercourse. 



From tlie B031011 Modical and Surgical Journal. 



Troublesome Bcdfelloios. — We were shown yes- 

 terday a bevy of (Hessian) Hies, taken alive from a 

 straw-hed. Many people suppose that they have 

 been bitten by this kind of fly, which has caused 

 the very troublesome humors so prevalent at this 

 time. Several other persons have opened their 

 beds and found myriads of this fly. The straw is 

 of our last year's growth. In the town of Lex- 

 ington we learn that every straw bed in the place 

 was recently burnt, being found to contain the 

 above fly. But we do believe, however, that the 

 humor which so disfigures the faces of men has 

 some other origin, yet unknown to physician.s. and 

 for which scarcely a single cure has been found. 

 Though this scourge is so extensive we liave seea 

 no mention of it in the papers. 



The above is from the Gloucester Telegraph, 

 and refers to tlic eriii)tion which has been so pre- 

 valent of late in this city and vicinity, and, in facS, 

 through the whole country north of the Potomac. 

 We can assure the Editor of that paper that the 

 picture he has drawn is far too gloomy. ^Ve ap- 

 prehend that his idea has arisen in consequence of 

 the fact that eruptions are generally submitted to 

 popular remedies and the prescriptions of elderly 

 women, instead of the skill of the faculty. Where 

 people have placed themselves under the care of 

 their regular physicians, we have known — a few to 

 be sure — hut very few cases in which the disease 

 has not been speedily and throughly cured. 



Cider in the Morning. — We understand that 

 several persons in this city were, a shoit time since, 

 severely affected with colic, in consequence of 

 drinking cider in the morning which had rested 

 through the night in the leaden pipe and pump 

 of Mr Philpot. In passing through Danversa year 

 or two ago, we stopped at a public house, an(r, 

 with our companion de voyage, regaled ourself wilii 

 a tumbler of soda water from a similar fountain. 

 The landlord had probably not made a fortune 

 that day by the sale of his wholesome beverage, and 

 the severe vomiting it produced in both of us was 

 doubtless owing to the water having remained too 

 long iu contact with the leaden Jiipe. — lb. 



The last number of the Library of Entertaining KnowN 

 cdge treats of Insect Transformations, and contains ma^ 

 ny curious and entertaining facts. 



If all our agriculturists (who are in fact the very sin- 

 ews of the country) would make use of their facilities for 

 studying into the iaslinct'^ and Iiabits of the swarming 

 tribes around them, how much fierce excitement in pol- 

 itics and religion would 1 e done away, and how much 

 more abiding and satisfactory would be the benefit deiv- 

 ved. 



