286 Qiieries and Answers. 



directly admitted, they do much towards keeping plants in health, as may be 

 seen in houses so constructed. 



It is the allowing a free ingress of hght on all sides, the presenting a direct 

 surface to the sun, and the absence of all shade that renders the hand-glass so 

 well calculated to conserve or grow plants ; and it is the very reverse of all 

 this that will render the substitute he proposes a sorry one. It can be said 

 to present no direct surface where light is a desideratum ; it will at all times 

 shade, consequently render cold and damp a space equal to what it covers, 

 and this to the greatest extent when these things are most to be avoided. 

 The proposed substitutes are, in fact, so many small frames, and the superiority 

 of plants wintered in hand-glasses, over those wintered in frames, is known to 

 every one. The calm Christian-like manner in which he proposes depositing 

 himself in heaven when all these petty cares are o'er, has my hearty concur- 

 rence ; and, without hastening his transit thither, I do hope he may long be 

 anchored there before plants are immured in the paradise he bespeaks for 

 them. — iV^. M. T. Folkestone, April 7. 1841. 



Many of Mr. Forsyth's remarks are in such direct opposition to what you 

 deem good taste, that I have often wondered you have not pointed them out. 

 Many suppose all printed in the Magazine as meeting your approbation. — 

 N. M. T. 



After mature consideration, and the experience of many years, we deem it 

 best for the good of our readers to avoid, in most cases, giving our own 

 opinion : first, because we may be wrong ; and secondly, because, whether right 

 or wrong, such a system on the part of an editor has a tendency to check dis- 

 cussion. The mere knowledge of truth is not sufficient to fortify the mind 

 against error. To make any truth our own, we must have sought it out from 

 among errors and falsehoods. By repeated discussion, truths become im- 

 pressed on the mind, which, if laid down as laws or facts, would have no 

 effect whatever. The first step towards enlightening any man in a branch of 

 knowledge in which he is deficient is to argue on what he already knows ; 

 not to lay before him the naked truth of the case, which he might neither un- 

 derstand nor be able to apply. Knowledge, therefore, among gardeners, as 

 among every other class of society, can only be infused slowly and by degrees ; 

 and the great use of the Gardener^ Alagaz'me is, that every one can ask 

 according to his wants, and that every one can receive supplies according to 

 his capacity for receiving and making use of them. Though all articles, 

 therefore, which appear in this Magazine do not, as N. M. T. says " many 

 suppose," meet our approbation from the particular views which they take of 

 the subject on which they treat, yet all which we insert do so with a view to 

 useful discussion. That knowledge on any subject is very little to be de- 

 pended on which is limited to one side of the question, even if that side 

 should be the right one. — Cond. 



Art. IV. Queries and Answers. 



Preventing Hares and Rabbits from injuring the BarJc of Trees, (p. 96.) — 

 About seven years ago, I was much annoyed at the barking of some joung dwarf 

 apple trees by hares and rabbits, from which they were unprotected. Aware 

 that these animals were rather particular in their feeding, I had some old cow- 

 dung collected, put into pails, and mixed with water to the consistency of 

 thick paint ; and this substance was laid upon the stems and branches of the 

 trees, with a large painter's brush, as far as it was thought the hares could reach. 

 I had the satisfaction of finding they never were touched afterwards, and the 

 application remained on without renewing for several years. I have no doubt 

 it would be equallv useful for forest trees. — Peter Kendall. Gijhrd's Hall, 

 Stoke hy Nnigland,' April 13. 1841. 



