556 General Notices. 



pie, that any one may exercise it without any fear of failure. Lot me 

 attempt to describe it ; and yet how irksome it is to have to employ so many 

 words about what one can tell and do in a few minutes. Open a circular 

 trench, eighteen inches deep (for the plum does not root deeply) round 

 one tree eighteen inches from its stem ; for the first two or three years this 

 distance will be enough ; increase the diameter of the circle as years roll 

 on, but very slowly, not more than from one to two inches in a year, and cut 

 oif every root and fibre with a sharp knife. This operation may be likened 

 to the manner in which old folks talk of the way in which they used to cut 

 tlie hair of poor workhouse boys, viz., place a basin on tire boy's head and 

 trim off" the hair round its rim — in short, the " workhouse cut ;" then when 

 your roots are are so trimmed, introduce a spade under one side of the tree 

 and heave it over, so as not to leave a single tap root. Fill in the mould ; if 

 the weather is dry give the tree a soaking of water, and it is finished. If 

 your soil is poor, give a top-dressing of manure, to be washed in by winter 

 rains. The following summer pinch off the ends, in June, of any shoots 

 that seem inclined to push more than four inches, and tliin those out with 

 the knife that are too crowded ; the result will be a handsome and highly 

 prolific pyramidal tree. Plums are not yet half appreciated ; for, owing to 

 the introduction of many new and good varieties, they are in season from 

 .July till November, for the dessert and for the kitchen. — [Gard. Chron., 

 1850, p. 694.) 



Liquid Manure. — The plan suggested in your leading article of con- 

 densing the good properties of liquid manure by immersing bags full of 

 peat charcoal, would I am sure be ineffectual. Charcoal possesses two 

 properties, the first is the power of condensing great quantities of any gas, 

 as ammonia, which comes in contact with it — it is tliis which constitutes its 

 deodorising power. Charcoal has also the property of clarifying any liquor 

 passed through it. It readily parts with the gas it absorbs, — for instance if 

 it contam as much ammonia as it was capable of holding, and was in that 

 state immersed in water, the ammonia would be dissolved out. If therefore 

 liquid manure was passed through the charcoal, the ammonia it could con- 

 dense would only be the portion that was dissolved in the small quantity of 

 water retained in its pores. The liquid would be to some extent deprived 

 of its color by the removal of the coloring matter suspended, but not a frac- 

 tion of the really valuable soluble matter would be removed. By immersing 

 tlie charcoal, the only benefit would be the removal of that portion of the 

 liquid retained in its pores ; no difference would be made in what was lefl. — 

 [Gard. Chron., 1850, p. 699.) 



Wintering the Carnation. — As winter Avill soon approach us, perhaps 

 tlie following plan of wintering the carnation may prove acceptable. My 

 frame stands on legs, and has a false bottom, eight inches from the ground, 

 well drilled with a one and a quarter inch auger. On this bottom I put a 

 layer of potsherds and brick rubbish, and on these my pots (48s each, con- 

 taining two plants) are placed. I then fill up to the runs with a compost of 

 three parts cinder ashes and one part saw-dust, with a small quantity of 

 powdered charcoal, all well mixed. In this mixture the plants may be 



