1 40 Domestic Notices : — Scotland. 



in Prince Town, Dartmoor. To the depth of 50 or 60 feet the granite is 

 more or less decomposed, and it is surface granite which has been employed in 

 almost all cases, because it was obtained cheapest ; and the result has been, 

 that in all buildings which have stood for any number of years, such as Dart- 

 moor Prison, each block of granite has become a spongy mass, absorbing 

 moisture continually, rusting the iron bars employed in combination with it, 

 and rendering the cells so damp that they can only be used by covering the 

 walls within and without with Roman cement or tiles. This defect is insepa- 

 rable from all the granite which is not quarried from a depth beyond the 

 influence of decomposition. At the bottom of the Morley works, a mass of 

 granite is exposed to a great extent, which is entirely free from this influence : it 

 is from this the granite is obtained now being used for Lord Nelson's 

 monument in Trafalgar Square. (JSdin. Phil. Journ. vol. xxxi., Oct. 1841, 

 p. 429.) 



Clay Floors. — With respect to the clay floors in the neighbourhood of 

 Houghton, 1 do not know precisely their composition ; but we have, near 

 Norwich, many clay floors in barns, malt-houses, hay-lofts, &c. ; they are 

 merely a mixture of clay and marl (in what proportion, I know not), well 

 compounded, and trodden by horses, and sometimes mixed with chopped straw ; 

 and, for malt-house floors, bullock's blood is added. There are certain men 

 here who do these works well, and keep the proportions a secret ; and I 

 apprehend a deal depends on the quality of the clay and marl, so that direc- 

 tions would not apply to every locality. I built some time ago a workhouse 

 for 300 paupers entirely of clay walls, and it is now as good as any building 

 needs to be. — W. T. Norwich, Dec. 22. 1841. 



The Wire-Worm. — The ravages of this worm, one of the greatest enemies 

 of agriculture, have, during the present season, been so great, that we avail 

 ourselves with avidity of the result of any practical experiments which may 

 have been made for the extirpation of the insect. The subjoined is extracted 

 from the Report of the South Wilts and Warminster Farmers' Club, recently 

 published : — 



" In October, 1836, finding that the wire-worm was fast destroying the 

 wheat plant, and, it being drilled, I had it trodden by men, one man treading 

 two ranks at a time firmly into the ground ; the expense was 2s. 4d. per acre, 

 and it was quite effectual in stopping the ravages of the wire-worm. A week 

 or two after, the wheat in an adjoining field began to show the ravages of the 

 wire-worm, and 1 pursued the same plan with similar success. In February, 

 1839, the wheat in a piece of down land, which had been sown late in Octo- 

 ber, was becoming thinner very fast ; the ground being in a hollow state after 

 the frost, the young backward plant appeared to be losing its hold and dying 

 away. I then sent a number of women to tread it, and I never saw a piece 

 of wheat improve faster than it did after the treading ; I had not only a good 

 crop of corn, but also more straw, than from any other piece of land in my 

 occupation. In the spring of 1840, finding the wheat in the down land losing 

 plant again, in consequence of the cold weather, I tried the same plan, and 

 there was a speedy change for the better in the appearance of the wheat after- 

 wards. The plant continued to flourish ; and, at present, I have a good crop 

 of wheat on land on which I never saw a good crop before. The remarks I 

 have made apply to hill land, although I have no doubt that the spring tread- 

 ing would be found highly beneficial on all soils, when, in consequence of 

 frost or long-continued dry weather, the land is in a light pulverised state." 

 (From the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, Dec. 4. 1841.) 



SCOTLAND. 



Caledonian Horticultural Society. — We are happy to learn that this Society 

 is about to erect an exhibition hall in its gardens at Inverleith. The following 

 are extracts from the proposals put in circulation : — 



