Answers to Queries, and Queries. 1 1 7 



Art. VI. Answers to Queries, and Queries. 



PROTECTING Peas from Mice. — Peas sown in November are almost sure 

 to suffer from the depredations of mice, as the peas lie so long dormant 

 in the ground before they vegetate. Can you inform me of' the best 

 remedy? — A. G. Lynn, May 1. 



The plan adopted to prevent their attacks is, when the peas are sown in 

 rows in the usual way, 'a quantity of furze is cut small with a billhook, and 

 the peas are perfectly covered with the furze. The earth is then drawn 

 over the furze, which proves a safe protection to the pea, and by no means 

 injurious, but rather promotes vegetation. My father has practised the 

 above method for upwards often years, and has never failed to protect his 

 early crops of peas from the mice. — James Brown, jun. Stowe, near Buck- 

 ingham. 



Prices of Plants, and where they may be procured. — Several corre- 

 spondents (C. of Manchester, R. of Liverpool, Y. of Yarmouth, and R. S. of 

 Aberdeen, &c.) ask where new things figured in the Botanical Periodicals 

 are to be purchased, complain that they often write for them and cannot 

 procure them, and ask whether we could not give a list with every Number, 

 or with every fourth Number, so' as to be bound up with the volume, of the 

 London prices of plants and seeds. In respect to plants newly figured in the 

 Botanical Magazine and Botanical Register, most of these being rare, and 

 probably in some private collection, are not to be procured in the nurseries. 

 They are to be obtained only from private gardens, through private friend- 

 ship; from the Horticultural Society through subscribers to the garden ; and 

 from Kew Gardens, through very particular interest, or through foreigners. 

 In general, any amateur or cultivator, however remotely situated, may 

 obtain whatever is purchasable in Great Britain or on the Continent, by 

 applying to the nearest respectable nurseryman ; who will procure it for him 

 through his London agent, in the same way as any book published in 

 London or Paris may be had through any bookseller in any parfof Great 

 Britain. It would, indeed, be absurd to suppose that the same general 

 principles of commercial intercourse did not apply to the commerce of 

 plants and seeds, as well as to every other commerce. 



While we state this, we may add that desiderata for completing collec- 

 tions of particular families, such as the Zrideae wanted by D. F., are very 

 proper subjects for the Gardener's Magazine; and we also think with Mr. 

 Arnott of Perth, that it would tend to promote the progress of botany and 

 gardening, if we could give annual lists, to be bound up with the index to 

 each volume, of the London prices. We believe, also, that it would be 

 worth while for the London nurserymen and florists to circulate such lists 

 through the medium of the Magazine ; but, if they are so blind as not to see 

 this, so much the worse for them. 



Grapes and Wine-making. — Can any of your correspondents inform me 

 what are the proper kinds of grapes of which to make wine similar to 

 foreign wine, also the process of making it, and what is the produce of 

 juice from a given quantity of fruit ? I am aware that this subject hardly 

 appears legitimate as to your general objects, but Speechly in his Treatise 

 on the Vine, and other horticultural writers, enter fully on the subject, 

 though I cannot find the information I require. — J. M. April. 



Dr. Maculloch's Treatise on Wine-making will supply the information 

 required by our correspondent. — Cond. 



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