General jyoticcs. 63 



MISCELLANEOUS LNTELLIGENCE, 



Art. I. General Notices, 



To prevent worms from getting into pots in frames or pits. — Take 

 the following quantity of lime, fine gravel and sand, vviiich tuay he 

 mixed into a concrete thus: — Two jjarrow loads of gravel, one bar- 

 row load of siind, and one bushel of lime, which must be ground 

 small previously: let it be mixed tolerably wet, and be used as quick 

 as possible, to [)revent its setting l)efore you get it into your pit or 

 frame; cover the bottom over, and, as the process goes on, form a 

 small channel in the concrete along the front, to carry off the super- 

 fluous water after watering the plants. The channel may be formed 

 by sliding a lon<r piece of wood along the surface. Having spread 

 the above quantity about an inch and a half thick, excepting the 

 front where the channel is, it should ije a little thicker, having had a 

 little mould taken out previously to allow for it; then s[)rinkle a little 

 dry lime over with the hand, and give a light sprinkle of water, after 

 which level the surface with the back of the spade: this will cover 

 about sixty square feet. The above quantity is most convenient for 

 mixing at once, as it requires to be done with the greatest activity. — 

 {Gard. Gaz.) 



Destruction of wood lice. — This insect is often troublesome in 

 frames and hot-beds, and does much injury to the i)lants: the follow- 

 ing method of destroying them, which we find in the Gardener^s 

 Gazette, may be useful to onr readers. The writer had always ob- 

 served that wood lice were to be found very numerous amongst fusty 

 mouldy hay, and half rotten, short, dry, grass, (the latter he found 

 most attractive,) and it struck him, that if he set traps about his 

 green-houses, frames, hot-beds. &c., bait(>d as described below, he 

 should be successful in destroying them. His j>lan was as follows: — 

 " My method is to get full sized No. GO pots, [our No. 2:] stop the 

 bottom; half fill theni with mouldy, but dry, grass; lay the pots on 

 their sides, in different corners of my house, frame, &c.; look at 

 them morning and evening; give the grass a shake; give them a good 

 hard rub round the pot, so as to break every bone they have in their 

 skin; lay the traj) ready for the next batch. I find the above remedy, 

 with the assistance of a toad or two, to pick up the stray ones, the 

 most effective method that I have seen practised. A correspondent 

 observes that he has found them easily destroyed by keeping a frog 

 or two inside. I do not hesitate to say but frogs will destroy wood 

 lice and other vermin, but in warm, moist situations, they make 

 rather too free for me, in exercising their abilities in leaping and 

 jumping, &c. If you have a tender jjlant, either in house or frame, 

 it is not safe to trust frogs with it, for they are most certain to have 

 a jump at it, or get perched upon the top of it." [We have found 

 this to be the case, and have frequently had them burrow under the 



