494 .. Obituary. 



reply. My subsoil is a clay, which I fear is an unsurmountable" evil. — 

 A. B. B. Caermarthen. — We know of no remedy. Burying slices of tur- 

 nip, potato, apple, or other supposed tempting bait, has been recommended, 

 and taking up the bait every day or two, and picking off the worms till the 

 ground was cleared. A moderate quantity of bait, it is supposed, might 

 clear a whole garden or field. We wish much that some of our readers 

 would try the experiment, and send us the result. They will find farther 

 details in Kirby and Spence's Entomology, a work which we have already 

 recommended every master who wishes to keep down insects to procure, 

 and lend to his gardener. — Cond. 



Xlrticece. — 1 wish some one would be so kind as to inform me what resem- 

 blance there is between the .Ficus carica and the nettle, as I find the com- 

 mon fig is classed under U rticeas, I am strongly inclined to suspect that 

 this new system will never stand alone, but will always be coupled with the 

 Linnean. — W. G. Stepney, Aug. 1827. 



Powder of Horsechestnuts. (p. 552.) — How is it made ? — Superficial. — 

 By drying and grinding, we suppose. — Cond. 



Woodpeckers, as Destroyers of Insects. — Would it be at all worth a line 

 in your Magazine, to propose that the preservers of the Parks should enclose 

 in nets a few of the most secluded spots in the Parks, and at Kensington 

 Gardens, and, as the season approaches, employ persons in the country to 

 catch pairs of woodpeckers, and other birds of similar habits, and shut them 

 in these enclosures ; and especially when the young ones are first hatched, 

 and can be brought with the mother, and be confined while she is at liberty 

 to range and provide for them ? Might not all except the young at 

 that season have their liberty, and would not parental care accustom the 

 birds to the neighbourhood of their enemy man, especially if the keepers 

 were numerous, and were to ward off the annoyance of boys, while the birds 

 indulged in the superabundance and luxury which the Parks, according to 

 all accounts, must afford. 



The Germans destroyed these birds, and the evil of the insects increased, 

 and they then ceased to kill even that portion which they had previously 

 been used to destroy, and the evil was gradually and effectually removed ; 

 so said my informant in Saxony twenty-six years ago. — O. T. April, 1827. 



Gigantic Pine. — I have cast up all the rubbish, chippings of stone, &c, 

 into a mount on the outside of the wall of a very ancient camp, which 

 bounds my place of residence, and I wish much to plant some curious 

 gigantic pine on it as a landmark ; can you help me by stating the sort 

 that you think will answer, and where 1 shall be likely to find it ? — J. B. 

 Kent, Feb. 7. 1 827. 



Art. XIII. Obituary. 



Died, at Hull, on the 17th of December last, William Donn, C.M.H.S., 

 Curator of the Botanic Garden of that place, which situation he held since 

 its establishment sixteen years ago, and discharged the duties thereof to the 

 entire satisfaction of the subscribers. It is but justice to the memory of 

 Mr. Donn, to say that his knowledge of plants, and their mode of cultiva- 

 tion, was equal to that of most men of his day. His experience in horti- 

 culture commenced in Scotland, where he was born in Fifeshire, in 1787. 

 He lived some years at the late Dr. Swainson's, of Twickenham, and after- 

 wards at Sion House, under the late Mr. Hoy : thence he went to Hull. 

 Mr. Donn was the nephew of the late Mr. Donn of Cambridge. — B. Jan. 

 1828. 



