Queries and Anstvers. 359 



be sown, and rolled immediately, before moist and rainy weather. The 

 pastures would then maintain three or four, or more sheep, per acre, in- 

 stead of one, as is stated in the accounts from that quarter." 



W. B. B. writes, " I beg to know, through the medium of your highly 

 useful Magazine, if there is any remedy for a disease, which first made its 

 appearance on a mayduke cherry, against a south wall, in the Spring of the 

 last year, when every leaf on the tree fell off, though every remedy I could 

 think of was used ; such as smoking, brushing, and dusting the leaves with 

 wood-ashes. Nearly every leaf had thousands of small black insects on it, 

 and the wall was likewise quite black with them; they hurt the tree so much, 

 that a part of it died, though it threw out a second crop of leaves after 

 midsummer. The same tree is now covered with them, and the fruit is all 

 blighted, falling off, and the leaves turning yellow. From every observ- 

 ation I can make, I am of opinion that watering increases the number of 

 insects. Last year they were confined to one wall, but every Morella 

 cherry against a north wall, and some standard trees, are infected ; as are 

 all the espalier and standard trees, in a new garden lately planted. I have 

 regularly examined one young tree, which was cut back this Spring, and 

 which is watered every day, and every insect picked off, or killed on the 

 leaves, and yet every day there is a young brood to kill. I have likewise 

 remarked, that where the insects are killed on a leaf, it turns yellow, and 

 falls off after a short time. I have searched Forsyth, and other authors, 

 but I cannot find that they mention it, nor is there any account of it in 

 the first edition of your Encyclopedia. I beg to mention, that the walls in 

 my gardens are of cob (earth), which do not bear washing as brick will." — 

 Sanctuary, Devonshire, June 7th, 1826. 



Has our correspondent tried lime-water (not lime and water), or weak 

 tobacco-water ? 



Mrs. G. " would be glad to know the best way of destroying the spawn 

 of frogs, and a great number of water-newts (Lacerta aquatica, Linn.) which 

 abound in a small pond" in her orchard? We would suggest dissolving lime, 

 at the rate of a pint to three gallons, and pouring the water into the pond 

 till it took effect; or, salt applied in the same way, which will certainly kill 

 every living thing in the pond. But it must be recollected, that if either 

 salt or the powder of lime be thrown in undissolved, a much larger quantity 

 will be required, as a considerable portion will fall to the bottom, sink in 

 the mud, and not be dissolved and taken up by the water. To discover 

 which is most effectual, take a glass of salt-water and a glass of lime-water, 

 and put a newt and some frog spawn in each. 



A. C. would be glad of information respecting the best mode of treating 

 elm-trees, in cases where their bark is continually peeling off, and the cause ; 

 and whether Gas, or gas-pipes, conducted up their trunks, would be likely 

 to affect them ? — April. 



W. B. writes, " having a great predilection for flowers, so abundant at 

 this season, I should be happy if you could inform me, through the medium 

 of your Magazine, if there be any better method for their preservation than 

 the usual one of immersing the stalks in fresh water; for though this suc- 

 ceeds tolerably well in most cases, yet I find my moss-roses, and some other 

 of my flowers, though I change the water daily, very soon fade. Perhaps 

 the insertion of the above query in your next number, might afford an op- 

 portunity to some one of your numerous readers, of disclosing some peculiar 

 method, by which the preservation of these much admired, but too fleeting 

 beauties of Flora, may be prolonged. Probably enough has not yet been 

 done in the way of experiment for the attainment of this object. — Padding- 

 ton, June 1 7th. The duration of gathered flowers with their stalks in water, 

 or wet sand, depends on the coolness and shade of the atmosphere in 

 which they are placed. When they have begun to fade, they may be 

 revived for an hour or two by substituting warm water for cold. 



