General Notices. 189 



garden-walks of every kind, and even for approach roads. It would be 

 expensive at first, but would probably soon be found the cheapest of all walks 

 and roads, from its producing no weeds, requiring no rolling and no repairs. 

 The only doubt that we have is, as to its standing frost. We fear that the 

 ground beneath the plate of asphalte would be frozen more or less every 

 winter, when, of course, it would expand, and raise up the surface of asphalte, 

 which, when a thaw took place, would, of course, fall again. Whether this 

 raising up, and falling down, would greatly derange the asphalte, is what no- 

 thing but experience can determine. Doubtless, if the asphalte were laid on a 

 bed of masonry, of 2 or 3 feet in thickness, it would be secure from the effects 

 of frost; but this would greatly increase the expense. It also occurs to us, that 

 in steep situations, where the asphalte would be chiefly valuable for shrubbery 

 or pleasure-ground walks, it might be rather slippery during frost ; but this, 

 also, must be tested by experience. We shall examine, with care, all the 

 walks and roads in the neighbourhood of London, where asphalte has been 

 used, that we can hear of, and report accordingly. In the meantime, we shall 

 be glad to hear from such of our readers as have any thing useful to say upon 

 the subject. — Cond. 



Principle on which general Education ought to be founded . — The common notion 

 has been, that the mass of the people need no other culture than is necessary 

 to fit them for their various trades; and, though this error is passing away, it 

 is far from being exploded. But the ground of a man's culture lies in his 

 nature, not in his calling. His powers are to be unfolded on account of their 

 inherent dignity, not their outward direction. He is to be educated because 

 he is a man, not because he is to make shoes, or nails, or grow cabbages. A trade 

 is plainly not the great end of his being, for his mind cannot be shut up in it ; 

 his force of thought cannot be exhausted on it. He has faculties to which it 

 gives no action, and deep wants it cannot answer. (Channing on Self- culture.} 



Music, as a Relaxation from study, and at once a solitary as well as a social 

 enjoyment, may be strongly recommended to young gardeners. It opens an 

 avenue to the heart, through our physical nature ; and I have often thought 

 that it might be employed, with great advantage, to soften and refine the ruder 

 part of our species. By giving concerts, in which music of the highest kind 

 should be combined with the better class of our native airs, and making the 

 admission gratuitous, or extremely cheap, I am convinced that many might be 

 reclaimed from tavern-going and tippling ; and, what is morally of great im- 

 portance, the wife and children would share in the husband and father's re- 

 creation. If I were rich, I would endow a St. Cecilia's Hall, a bas prix, for 

 the people. {Scotsman, Jan. 19. 1839.) 



Light. — Sir John Herschell has lately invented an instrument for the pur- 

 pose of measuring the intensity of light, and he has found that, at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, this is twice as great as it is in this country. (J. C. Hall, in 

 Medico-Bot. Soc.) We notice this, to impress on the young gardener's mind 

 the great importance of light to plant3 ; and to show him that those of the 

 tropics do not differ more from those of the temperate zone, in requiring great 

 heat, than in requiring intense light. The importance of light, indeed, to the 

 perfecting of all the properties of plants, is only beginning to be understood 

 by practical men. — Cond. 



An Earwig Trap for Dahlias, (fig. 35. the full size : a, view of the trap 

 placed on the top of a stake; and b, cross section of the trap. — The history 

 of this trap has been thus given us by W. Christy, jun., Esq. — "A few years 

 since, one of my sisters, when staying at Newcastle under Lyme, visited a 

 pottery at St. Anthony's, near that town. The proprietor or manager of 

 this establishment was a flower-fancier, and had made these little pots for his 

 own use, in place of the lobsters' claws, bowls of tobacco-pipes, &c, which we 

 so often see displayed, to the great disfigurement of gardens. Having expressed 

 her admiration of them, he gave her half a dozen, which she brought home to 

 me. I was much pleased with them, and fully intended sending you one, with 

 a notice. However, they got put aside, and I forgot them for two or three 



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