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THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
- 1843.) 
c eens 
nure, my object is merely to assist in drawing attention 
to this most important subject.—Edward Solly, jun., 38, 
Bedford Row. $ 
To destroy Worms.—Y our correspondent ‘'R.S. V.P.,” 
in last week’s Chronicle, says he has found lime-water of 
little or no value in destroying worm-casts in lawns. All 
IT can say is, that about a fortnight since I tried it, as re- 
commended in the Chronicle, by putting quick-lime into 
a barrel with water, and allowing it to stand a day before 
using it; and it appears to have effectually removed the 
worm-casts.—J. R. -W. 
Spirits of Tar.—*‘ A Rossshire Gardener’ has ina late 
Number added his testimony to the utility of spirits of 
tar, in preserving Carrots from wire-worm. Although an 
old practitioner, I have never until within the last two 
years had any complaint to make against the wire-worm, 
so far as Carrots are concerned. However, another 
natural enemy, by name Scolopendra electrica, as well 
as several under the generic denomination of Julus or 
ring-worm, often create great devastation amongst the 
Carrot-crops ; these are formidable enemies to contend with 
in addition to the Blater obscurus, or wire-worm. You 
Rossshire friend may, however, rest assured that spirits of 
tar will keep them at defiance ; but I would advise him, 
as these pests will in all probability take shelter at a great 
depth under the surface of the ground, to give a good 
dressing to his Carrot-beds in autumn, by digging in the 
spirits of tar; and also to give a repetition of the dose in 
spring, as he purposes. He says he has made use of 
it more than once; may I ask him how long he has 
practised this remedy ? \ 1 would not have alluded to this 
had I not found ‘spirits of tar a useful remedy in 
More ways than one in the Horticultural world; but I 
have no pecuniary or selfish interest in the matter. 
Spirit of tar is so offensive to insects, that they avoid 
it as much as possible; consequently, if buried in the 
ground in autumn, they retreat to the surface, where they 
are either killed by the frost, or eaten up by their natural 
enemies. If applied only in spring and near the surface, 
they commit their depredations underground, as the roots 
of the Carrot descend ; whereas, if applied in autumn, and 
committed to the ground with the manure, it drives them 
to the surface, when they either die of want, or are eaten 
up by the birds, &c. Many persons may perhaps think 
that spirits of tar are of a volatile nature, like ether, am- 
monia, and others of the same class, and that they will, if 
applied in autumn, lose their volatile parts ere spring 
brings forth the tap-rooted Carrot to be destroyed. I 
should have thought so too, had I not of late been taught 
differently. A neighbour of mine craved my assistance 
™ ascertaining the cause of failure in a field of Turnips, 
Containing 24 acres, which upon examination I found to 
be infested with wire-worm in great numbers. I told my 
friend that the season for applying spirits of tar was 
passed, as the plants were six inches high; but he was 
anxious to try my nostrum. I therefore procured a suffi- 
cient quantity, and we set to work. During the process 
of preparing the sand and spirits of tar, a small quantity 
of the latter was spilt upon my coat; the consequence 
is, that up to this date, if 1 appear in§public with that coat 
on, I am avoided, because I smell of something offensive. 
If man, therefore, shuns me for having only a small 
patch of my coat besmeared with spirits of tar, and which 
after a period of six months smells as disagreeable as ever, 
What must insects experience when this is brought in 
Contact with them? Amongst the uses to which I would 
irect your numerous readers to apply this simple remedy 
are the following—I do not, however, pledge myself that 
am in each case quite correct :—Ist. Mixing it with 
the Soil as a'security against all underground enemies.—2d. 
Sowing it, when mixed with sand, with Peas and Beans 
in autumn, to secure them from mice ; and also in spring 
and summer in situations where pheasants, rooks, or 
Jackdaws attack them.—3d. Sowing it on the surface 
where any of the Brassica tribe is sown, as these are fre- 
quently devoured by birds.—4th. Saturating shreds used 
2 nailing wall-trees.—5th. Pouring a table-spoonful of 
it into the burrows of rats, mice, and moles; also’ in 
the entrance to wasp-nests.— 6th. Painting very slightly 
the branches of Apple-trees infested with American blight ; 
also various species of coccus or scaly insect. This ope- 
tation must be performed during winter,fas it wouldjbe 
fatal to the foliage; it might be as well to reduce the 
Strength of the spirits, by mixing them with sand.—7th. 
Saturating pieces of sponge or woollen-rags with them, 
and placing them in barns amongst grain, and in seed- 
b omg amongst seeds. Hanging them amongst the 
ranches of” trees and plants infected with aphides ; also 
near fine fruit when ripe, such as Peaches, Figs, &c., &c. 
—8th. Slightly painting the stems of fruit-trees in autumn, 
asa preventive against hares and rabbits.—9th. Sprinkling 
ee Stavel-walks subject to worm-casts.—10th. Sowing on 
pls Surface of the ground with Turnips, as a preventive 
caer the fly.—11th. Washing walls against which fruit- 
a es have been growing, when they have been injured by 
Sects.—12. Steeping nets in, used for a fence against 
ares and rabbits, Spirits of tar have also been applied 
= medical men as a remedy in inveterate cases of ring- 
orm in the human head, when the ordinary means have 
Proved unavailing.—C, MeIn. 
Po destroy Mice.—Fry a sheet of brown paper (the 
rc ser the better) in any grease; this the mice will eat, 
’ it will destroy them. This is safer, cheaper, and 
fasier than any trap.—Sener. 
Experimenis with Guano.—Having read and heard so 
5 
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tia of “« Guano” as a manure, I was last spring in- 
i to make trial of it, and I have found it in man 
instances 
«es answer remarkably well, as the following testi- 
Gene will shew, owe, Eaq., 0! Pei, tried 
no last year, (and had a large crop of Barley and 
Oats. He also sowed Clover with the Barley, which is 
likewise looking well. This proves it to be a lasting ma- 
nure, and not like nitrate of. soda, only visible just 
after the first application. Mr. C. Spear, Colebrook 
Farm, near Plymouth, states, that he applied Guano mixed 
with earth, and drilled it in with the seeds of Swedish 
Turnips ; but having used it too strong, a great part of 
the seed was killed; but those which came up were of 
immense size, and were on the 10th of December very 
green, when compared with the other part of the field, 
(manured with eet and as heavy per acre. N 
is, therefore, perfectly satisfied with its superior fertilizing 
qualities. This gentleman fell into the same error a 
many other of my friends, some of whom drilled in the 
clean Guano with the seed ; consequently, it was so pow- 
erful, that as soon as the seed burst, the vegetative pow- 
ers-were destroyed. We find the best way of applying it 
is to mix 4 lbs. of Guano with a bushel of ashes or 
earth. Mr. Shepheard, of Sutton, South Milton, says : 
*T sowed 100 lbs. of Guano, on a piece of land for 
Turnips, in a direct line through the middle of the field, 
and manured the other part of the field with the best rot- 
ten dung I could procure; but the difference in the ap- 
pearance of the crops was so great, that the country 
people at large could not help making remarks about it. 
The part that was manured with the Guano could 
be seen at a great distance.” Mr. T. Moore, Kings- 
bridge, sowed 50 Ibs. on 40 yds. of Grass-land; the re- 
mainder of the field was dressed with good rotten com- 
post ; but that sown with Guano was by far the best, and 
the cattle liked the herbage much better. It is now as 
green as the finest meadow. Mr. W. Moore, Kingsbridge, 
sowed a small quantity on a lawn for trial; the part sown 
with the Guano was covered with moss, and looked very 
badly. Before the other parts, that were not manured, 
required cutting, this portion of the lawn was obliged to 
be cut twice; the moss was quite killed, and the herbage 
looked very fine.’? These are facts from highly respect- 
able men, who are well known in the South of Devon. I 
have found it useful as a liquid manure, by mixing 4 Ibs. 
in about 8 gallons of water—W.E. Rendle, Plymouth. 
Experiments with Manures.—The following is an 
account of three experiments made on the growth of 
Swedes, with different manures :— 
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—Hortulanus, Wraxail, Somerset. 
Food of Plants.—A fortnight since we published a 
short account of a discovery by Messrs. Wiegmann and 
| ripe fruit 
Polsdorff, that the roots of plants emit carbonic acid, and 
that this agent has the power of decomposing siliceous 
ta ur correspondent, Mr. Murray, has written 
to claim the originality of this. He says that he made the 
discovery an 1818, having proved the fact experimentally 
by SLOWED distilled water the bulbs of Hyacinths, Per- 
sian Iris, &c. ; that he icated the ci to 
Mr. Edward Rudge, and announced the discovery in his 
lectures at the Surrey Institution in that year. He adds, 
that he then published the details in the Transactions of 
the Wernerian Society, as well asin two distinct works ofhis 
own, several yearsago ; and before the Natural History Sec- 
tion of the British Association at Edinburgh,in 1834, Dr.Gra- 
ham in the chair, he publicly the cir 
in reference to some remarks made by Dr, Daubeny. He 
moreover alleges, that nearly 20 years ago, Dr. Wiegmann, 
in the German Journals of Science, ridiculed and impugned 
his announcement of the fact he now announces as his 
own discovery. In conclusion, Mr. Murray says, “‘T am 
possessed of a very remarkable specimen proving that 
the carbonic acid gas secreted by the roots of the Lichen 
does decompose the silicated alkali of glass. It is a piece 
of old glass from a window at St. Cross, near Winchester. 
When put into my hands, it was beautifully mantled with 
a brilliant Lichen; which being removed, discovered the 
surface of the glass beneath, corroded and completely 
grooved or wormed.” While we are quite ready to assist 
Mr. Murray in claiming what he regards as his own, we 
must be permitted to add, that he seems to have rather 
misunderstood the object of Wiegmann and Polsdorff’s 
paper. They do not seem to lay much stress upon the 
secretion of carbonic acid by roots; it is to the decompo- 
sition of silicates by this agent that their experiments are 
principally directed; and we do not gather from Mr. 
Murray that he has published anything on that subject, 
until now, when he mentions the highly curious and inter- 
esting fact of glass being corroded by a Lichen. 
Rust on Grapes.—I certainly do not wish to encourage 
any Gardener, while thinning his Grapes, to handle them, 
however clean his hands may be, or to rub them with his 
head, however dry his hair may be; but I cannot allow 
that-his doing either or both would produce what is called 
Rust. Grapes may be thinned; either by handling the 
end berry only, which may be ‘afterwards cut off, or by 
means of a small deal stick, not larger than a crow’s quill; 
this will render it almost unnecessary to touch the berries 
at all with the fingers. I quite agree with Mr. Bromley, 
. 853, as to the cause of the disease and its cure ; but I 
do not see why in explaining his method of eradicating it, 
he should mix up his mode of pruning the Vines, which 
even if 50 years old and trained on the spur system, can 
be easily cured of Thrip. Such a statement is liable to 
mislead others, and induce them to think that the old 
stems of Vines cannot be cleaned.—G. C. Colney. 
Preserving Fruit.—Observing in one of your late 
numbers a paragraph on preserving fruit, I beg to state, 
that gooseberries, currants, cherries, &c. may be successfully 
preserved in the following manner : Procure as many clean, 
dry wide-mouthed bottles as will be required, and fill them 
with the gooseberries or cherries, the stalks of which have 
been previously removed ; currants should be held by the 
stalk over the mouth of the bottle, and the berries should 
be cut off singly with sharp scissors, as the less they are 
handled the better. The fruit must of course be perfectly 
dry before being put into the bottles, which should be well 
corked, and covered with rosin to prevent the air from get- 
tingin. A dry corner of thegarden should be selected, where 
they should be buried with their necks undermost, two or 
three feet below the surface. The earth should be well 
packed round them, taking care however that the bottles 
are not broken. Those who have no garden may bury 
them in a dry cellar. In this manner, green as well as 
may be preserved for a length of time.— 
Geo. M. J. 
Transplanting Fruit-trees. — Your correspondent 
“Totty,’’ at page 809, requests information for trans- 
planting large Walnut-trees. The following is the system 
which I have adopted with success in removing eed 
fruit-trees :—Having in the autumn of 1840 ossltielag 
on removing a row of large standard Apple and Seared 
I commenced by reducing the heads of the oes cet 
considerably ; I then opened around each ie feet 
6 inches distance from the stem, a trench 2 ae era 
and deep enough to cut through the surface-roots ; these 
trenches were then filled with leaves and left for the 
present. The Pears, which were handsome standards of 
the same size as the Apples, and from 14 to 16 feet high, 
with stems 8 feet high and 5 inches in diameter, were 
headed down to within 18 inches of the top of the stem, 
and were trenched round in the same manner as the Ap- 
les. About the beginning of March in the ensuing 
spring they were crown-grafted, and grew rapidly; some 
of'the weaker sorts, such as the Marie Louise, inclined 
downwards; the others were tieddown, to make them 
assume a pendent habit, and to induce them to become 
fruitful. In the following winter, 1841, after holes, 6 feet 
in diameter and 2 feet deep, had been prepared for their 
reception, with the top spit turned in with the turf down- 
wards, thus leaving the holes only a foot deep, and after 
the balls had been sufficiently frozen to insure their being 
lifted with safety, the trees were removed to their new 
situation with from 14 to 16 hundred weight of earth 
about their roots, They all succeeded admirably, and 
some of the Apples bore fruit. This season the Pears 
have formed fruit-buds throughout the whole length of the 
preceding year’s wood, and promise well for an abundant 
crop next season. I have never removed large Walnut- 
trees ; but Ihave no doubt that if the above plan be pur- 
sued, they will succeed quite as well as Apples or 
