326 General Notices. 



and they also know that carrots may be grown in such a soil without the pre- 

 paration of burning, which may be probably owing to those roots having little 

 if any albumen in their composition, and consequently requiring nitrogen in 

 the same proportion ; whilst oats, though possessing a much smaller portion 

 of that vegetable matter than wheat or rye, may stand in need of a much 

 larger quantity of nitrogen than a peaty soil could yield without part of its 

 vegetable remains were submitted to the action of fire, and compelled to give 

 up at once what, in the ordinary course of nature, it would have dealt out 

 sparingly in a number of years. 



It has often struck me as surprising, that some soils should bear repeated 

 cropping with the aid of but little manure, whilst others seem exhausted with 

 a succession of a few crops. May not the former, besides being extremely 

 tenacious of vegetable food, have such an attraction for the carbonic acid in 

 the neighbouring atmosphere, as to have a favourable influence on the vege» 

 tation of plants growing upon them ? — R. T. 



Neatness in Turf Edgings. — Having to renew some turf edgings this spring, 

 I sunk pieces of thin tile between the gravel and turf about an inch high, and 

 the edging has been particularly neat all the summer. The tile (slate would 

 do as well) prevents the grass from growing or spreading over the gravel, 

 so that it does not require cutting every year ; but, when the grass has grown 

 over the side, merely clipping with the shears. Care must be taken not to 

 raise the tiles above the turf, so as to catch the scythe in mowing it. Nothing 

 looks so bad in a walk as a high raw edge, as though a plough had cut it ; the 

 lower the edge, the neater it looks. (Wm. Tillery, in Gard. Chron. for 1842, 



P- 7 -) 



To destroy Moles. — Drive them from their holes by placing slices of leek, 



garlic, or onion, in a green state, within their holes : their antipathy to these 



vegetables is so great, that they will immediately leave them, and expose 



themselves to be taken. In the month of May and beginning of June, if one 



sees a mole-hill larger than usual, it is pretty certain there is a nest of young 



within 1 ft. or 18 in. from it. (Camb. Chron. and Jonrn., March 26. 1842.) 



Woodlice may be caught in hollow cabbage-stalks, and also by laying down 

 thin slices of carrot. (Gard. Chron., 1841, p. 733.) 



To destroy Worms. — Dissolve a quarter of an ounce of corrosive sublimate 

 in 3 gals, of water. This does not destroy grass, but effectually brings up the 

 worms to the surface. (Gard. Chron. , 1841, p. 798.) 



Yew Branches are greatly to be preferred to most others for protecting wall 

 trees ; for the foliage, when withered, adheres firmly to the wood, and the 

 branches become almost as light and airy as dried fern. {Gard. Chron., 1841, 

 p. 845.) 



Nitrate of Soda has been tried by Mr. Rivers as a top-dressing for the pine 

 and fir tribe, and found greatly to increase their vigour and the deep green 

 of the foliage. The quantity of nitrate was one pound to the square rod, 

 applied in the beginning of June. (Gard. Chron., 1841, p. 749.) 



Mr. Creeps Mode of pruning Timber Trees. — You ask my opinion of Mr. 

 Cree's system of pruning trees. At present, it may be enough to say that I 

 shall adopt it in every instance where the trees are planted with a view to profit 

 only ; and perhaps in some other instances too. I wish you would give us 

 one or two cuts of trees in different stages of this process, in the Magazine. I 

 am certain that timber might be brought to sale much sooner than it generally 

 is, by other modes of treatment in conjunction with the Cree or Billington 

 system of pruning. I allude particularly to scarification and (pray do not 

 think me mad) decapitating. You can have no conception, unless you saw it, 

 how rapidly some sorts of trees increase in girth when the head is taken off at 

 30 or 36 feet from the ground. Few have had an opportunity of observing 

 this. I have, and can produce some striking examples here. We all know 

 the beneficial effects of scarification on stunted fruit trees, and why not apply it 

 to forest trees also? But I would not be understood to confine myself to merely 

 making an incision with a knife in the bark ; I would strip out half an inch 



