588 Short Communications. 



obviate these liabilities, I have tried several expedients, but 

 none had the required effect, until it occurred to me this sea- 

 son that short grass laid between the rows would answer the 

 purpose. This I have applied with perfect success, especially 

 as to the grit. There is no gentlemen's place without the 

 material at the time at which it is required for this purpose, 

 and the application of it 2 in. or 3 in. thick does not con- 

 sume much time. It is not only useful in the above in- 

 stances, but it acts as a non-conductor of evaporation from 

 the soil below, whether you water it artificially, or the more 

 general rain administer the moisture: it also chokes most 

 sorts of weeds, and destroys the vegetation of their seeds ; and 

 it may be taken off, or allowed to remain, after the crop is 

 done. It is best to apply it in a dry time, before the straw- 

 berries begin to get ripe ; when the slugs have sought shelter 

 in less exposed situations ; after which it forms so bad a path 

 for them to slide along, that they cannot overcome the diffi- 

 cultv. If any should remain, a watering with lime-water, or 

 urine (as Mr. Gorrie recommends), will extirpate them. The 

 above may not be new to some gardeners, but, as I have never 

 heard it suggested, nor seen it done, it may be to a few, if not 

 to many. — George Thomson. High Elms, July 1. 1833. 



The Earliness of Bishop's Earli/ Dwarf Pea and the Early 

 Frame Pea compared. — Sir, In this Magazine are many 

 opinions on the merits and demerits of Bishop's early dwarf 

 pea. In Vol. VI. p. 723., and Vol. VIII. p. 584., appear 

 two very opposite statements concerning its earliness, as com- 

 pared with that of the early frame : the one affirms that there 

 were fifteen days in favour of the latter's earliness ; the other, 

 fifty-three days in favour of the earliness of the former. Such 

 calculations are apt to mislead even the most wary; I thought 

 it very strange if they could be both right. Having received 

 some true seed of each sort, I marked the following dates, to 

 satisfy myself on the subject. On Dec. ]4. 1832, I sowed 

 thinly, in 32-sized pots. Bishop's early dwarf, and the early 

 frame on the 24th of the same month ; I kept them both in a 

 cold pit until about the middle of March, when I turned them 

 out. I planted Bishop's early dwarf with balls entire, 9 in. 

 from a wall on a south aspect, and 20 in. apart in the line ; of 

 the early frame each ball was made into six or seven divisions, 

 and planted in rows across a border, but not opposite the 

 other: it had no shade. I could gather a dish from the early 

 frame on the 20th of May; when I could not obtain so much 

 from twice as many of Bishop's early dwarf on the 26th ; not- 

 withstanding the latter had, from being so near the ground, a 

 superiority of temperature, both day and night, of five or six 



