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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



by which, at no cost save the work of my hands, 

 I have made the most unpromising teem with 

 luxuriance. In the most out of the way corner, 

 I dig a hole about three feet square and eighteen 

 inches deep. Into this are thrown grass, weeds, 

 decayed plants, and all the vegetable waste of 

 the house, as well as soap suds, &c- ; until the hole 

 is full. I then cover it with a layer of garden 

 mould, and dig a similar pit adjoining. By the 

 time the second pit is filled, the first is ready to 

 be emptied. I effect this, by digging a garden 

 bed a foot deep, and depositing a layer of the 

 contents of the pit, about six inches in depth, 

 covering it with six inches of earth, — so proceed- 

 ing until I have emptied the first pit, which is 

 then used as before. In the meantime, the ashes 

 from the house are sifted in a corner of the garden, 

 and intimately mixed with the mould. This is 

 again sifted, and spread over the surface of the bed, 

 giving it a neat, blackish appearance. In this, I 

 plant or sow ; and the roots, in time, find the rich 

 nourishment provided for them at bottom. I 

 have thus a plentiful and constant supply of 

 manure without cost ; and I have always found 

 it successful in producing me abundant crops of 

 fruit, flowers, or vegetables. I have therefore, 

 generally, a luxuriant-looking garden, at an outlay 

 of a few pence for seeds. I can quite appreciate 

 your love for small birds. I love them too; and 

 have always a supply of bread crumbs for them on 

 a window-sill, which attracts numbers of little 

 visitors. — Ephra, Birkenhead. 



Insects, — Sogines Punctulatus. — On the even- 

 ing of the 30th of last October, I had occasion to 

 visit a young friend of mine, who resides about 

 ten minutes distance from our house. It was 

 nearly eight o'clock; the evening was star-light, 

 and slightly foggy, the thermometer marking 53. 

 Whilst walking along the gravel walk, in my 

 friend's garden, I was attracted by a sort of phos- 

 phoric light — similar to that emitted by a glow- 

 worm. As it changed its place rapidly, it was 

 evident it must proceed from some insect. I 

 thought it might be Geophilus electricus ; but 

 on approaching it, I easily saw, by the aid of its 

 brilliant light, its six legs ; though I could not 

 see the upper part of its body. This clearly proved 

 that the light must have been emitted from the 

 sides, or lower part of the body. I stooped to seize 

 my little friend, but it ran off; leaving an inter- j 

 rupted, intermittent, phosphoric light on its track ' 

 of passage. There was no difficulty in following ! 

 and securing it ; and on examination next day, j 

 it turned out to be Sogines Punctulatus. I know 

 full well that many beetles emit a phosphorescent ' 

 light; but I am not aware that this peculiarity 

 has been before observed in the one I have just i 

 described. I therefore beg a corner for its insertion j 

 in Our Journal — Bombyx Atlas. 



Strange to say, they were all hatched ; and by 

 feeding them on worms, &c, they were all reared. 

 They are now remarkably fine birds ; very tame, 

 and running about in the enjoyment of perfect 

 happiness. — James Uixtox, 6, Coleman Street. 



[This is perhaps, of its kind, the most interesting 

 and curious fact ever recorded — the woodcock 

 being a " bird of passage."] 



The Milk-tree. — Mr. Wallace, in his interesting 

 " Travels on the Amazon," thus writes : — We 

 felt much interest in examining several large logs 

 of the masseranduba, or milk-tree. On our way 

 through the forest, we had seen some trunks much 

 notched by persons who had been extracting the 

 milk. It is one of the noblest trees of the forest, 

 rising with a straight stem to an enormous height. 

 The timber is very hard, fine-grained, and durable, 

 and is valuable for works which are much exposed 

 to the weather. The fruit is eatable, and very 

 good, the size of a small apple, and full of a rich 

 and very juicy pulp. But stranp-est of all is the 

 vegetable milk, which exudes in aoundancc when 

 the bark is cut. It has about the consistence of 

 thick cream, and, but for a very slight peculiar 

 taste, could scarcely be distinguished from the 

 genuine product of the cow. Mr. Leavens ordered, 

 a man to tap some logs that had lain nearly a 

 month in the yard. He cut several notches in the 

 bark with an axe, and in a minute the rich snp 

 was running out in great quantities. It was col- 

 lected in a basin, diluted with water, strained, 

 and brought up at tea-time and at breakfast next 

 morning. The peculiar flavor of the milk seemed 

 rather to improve the quality of the tea, and gave 

 it as good a color as rich cream. In coffee it is 

 equally good. Mr. Leavens informed us that he 

 had made a custard of it, and that, though it had 

 a curious dark color, it was very well tasted. The 

 milk is also used for glue, and is said to be as 

 durable as that made use of by carpenters. As a 

 specimen of its capabilities in this line, Mr. 

 Leavens showed us a violin he had made, the 

 belly-board of which, formed of two pieces, he had 

 glued together with it applied fresh from the tree, 

 without any preparation. It had been done two 

 years. The instrument had been in constant use ; 

 and the joint was now perfectly good, and sound 

 throughout its whole length. As the milk 

 hardens by exposure to air, it becomes a very 

 tough, slightly elastic substance, much resembling 

 gutta-percha ; but, not having the property of 

 being softened by hot water, is not likely to become 

 so extensively useful as that article. — Lector. 



A Woodcock" 1 s Eggs hatched by a common Hen. 

 — I am anxious to record in the columns of Our 

 Journal, a very pretty as well as curious fact, 

 for the truth of which I can vouch. In July last, 

 the gamekeeper of J. Crawshaw r , Esq., of Otters- 

 ham Park, near Chertsey, discovered in a neigh- 

 boring wood, the nest of a woodcock. In it 

 were three eggs. These he removed, and by way 

 of experiment placed them under a common hen. 



Artificial Flower-making. — Artificial flower- 

 making is not an insignificant trade. An inquiry 

 was made into the industrial statistics of Paris in 

 1847, which lets us into a little secret in this 

 matter. The total manufacture of cambric flowers 

 in that year was prodigious, amounting in value 

 to more than £400,000 sterling. We, in England, 

 only took £12,000 worth of this value; for we 

 pride ourselves on being able to make our own 

 " artificial flowers." The cambric, muslin, gauze, 

 velvet, silk, and other materials were procured 

 from St. Etienne, St. Quentin, and Lyons; the 

 dyes and colors were prepared expressly for the 

 purpose by manufacturing chemists; the buds, 

 leaves, petals, stamens, pistils, and other com- 



