486 General Notices. 



nurseryman, Chelsea, has known it thirty years ; and, in Sweet's Horius 

 Britdnniciis, eel. 2. p. 157., both the scarlet runner and its white-flowered 

 variety are marked perennial. The tuberous rootstock of the plant, which 

 taught me the fact, had been accidentally shielded from the winter's frost ; 

 and the solidity and plumpness it exhibited prompted my brother to plant 

 it. This he did on the edge of a gentle hotbed, where it grew, and formed 

 by summer's close a beauteous wreath of green and scarlet, 4 or 5 ft. long. 

 The plants, in the instance known to Mr. Dennis, grew in a cottage 

 garden, near the cottage, where they had been unintentionally protected 

 through the previous winter by a stack of fire-wood placed over their root- 

 stocks ; part of this stack remaining unconsumed until the summer, the 

 growing stems of the scarlet runners struggled up to light and air through 

 the interstices in the firewood, and thus made manifest their perennial 

 nature, both to himself and to the cottager who subsequently made prac- 

 tical application of the knowledge nature had imparted. 



Mr. Lindley having now, however, published this fact, it remains for all 

 concerned to use it. In seasons when seeds of the scarlet runner are but 

 sparingly or not at all ripened, its perennial rootstalks may prove an avail- 

 able resource for a next year's crop ; should it not be found that the 

 seasons insufficient to ripen perfect seeds are also insufficient duly to 

 develope and mature the tuberous rootstocks of that season's formation, to 

 enable them to outlive the lingering winter. In seasons in which ripe seeds 

 are plentifully produced, the greater trouble attendant on preserving the 

 rootstocks through the winter may cause them to be neglected. 



The dwarf kidneybean (Phasfeolus vulgaris), in germinating, constantly 

 brings its cotyledons above ground, while the scarlet runner (P. multi- 

 florus) as constantly leaves them below. Have all perennial Phaseoli 

 hypogseous (under-ground) cotyledons, and all annual species epigseous 

 (above-ground) ones ? If they have, two useful and natural sections of 

 the genus are therein supplied to botanists. 



Plants of the above two species were visible on the 10th of June last, 

 from seeds sown on May 31. The dwarf kind appeared above ground first. 

 I am. Sir, yours, &c. — John Denson. Boyswater, June 12. 1831. 



To destroy Woodlice. — Sir, To free my crops from the destructive 

 inroads of these numerous and provoking depredators, which frequently 

 destroy whole crops of mushrooms and melons, I have successfully prac- 

 tised the following method : — I slice the tuberous rootstock of Pryonia 

 dioica, a plant which grows in old hedges, into pans or feeders, such as are 

 generally used under strawberry pots, a few slices in each pan, and cover 

 them lightly with moss, as the woodlice prefer feeding under cover. In 

 the evening I place the prepared pans in different parts of the beds, frames, 

 or other places in which the insects are troublesome, and the next morning 

 remove the moss and slices, and cast the woodlice into a pail half-filled 

 with boiling water. This, of course, ends them ; and four or five repetitions 

 of this process leave very few woodlice behind. I am, Su-, &c. — Alpha 

 the Second. May 13. 1831. 



The Pryonia is not represented as destroying, but as only decoying, the 

 woodlice ; and as these usually manifest a pretty general appetite, will not 

 slices of apple, pear, potato, or something else always at hand, decoy them 

 as effectually as slices of bryony ? The newt feeds on woodlice, and it 

 would, therefore, be as judicious to encourage this animal in frames for 

 consuming woodlice, as the toad for consuming ants. Another mode of 

 destroj'ing woodlice is described at p. 280. The very common large 

 beetle (a species of Carabus), and the cockroach (Platta orientalis), 

 seem to attack mushrooms while in the button state. These two insects 

 are bad company ; for the Carabus kills and consumes the Platta, — 

 J.D.forCond. 



