KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



189 



grievance but the token of the grievance. The 

 grievance is animal putridity, with which we are 

 shut up, when this smell is perceptible in our 

 chambers Down should come the paper; and 

 the wall behind should be scraped clear of every 

 particle of its last covering. It is astonishing 

 that so lazy a practice as that of putting a new 

 paper over an old one should exist to the extent 

 it does. Now and then an incident occurs which 

 shows the effect of such absurd carelessness. 

 Not long ago, a handsome house in London 

 became intolerable to a succession of residents, 

 who could not endure a mysterious bad smell 

 which pervaded it when shut up from the outer 

 air. Consultations were held about drains, and 

 all the particulars that could be thought of, and all 

 in vain. At last a clever young man, who examined 

 the house from top to bottom, fixed his suspicions 

 on a certain room, where he inserted a small 

 slip of glass in the wall. It was presently 

 covered, and that repeatedly, with a sort of 

 putrid dew. The paper was torn down, and 

 behind it was found a mass of old papers, an 

 inch thick, stuck together with their layers of 

 size, and exhibiting a spectacle which we will 

 not sicken our readers by describing. — I recom- 

 mend an insertion of the above, Mr. Editor, in 

 Our Journal by all means. The room in which 

 we " sleep and take our rest " cannot be kept too 

 wholesome, and a hint of this kind may prove 

 seasonably beneficial. — Alicia. 



Domestic Frogs. — Some time since, you gave 

 a long and interesting description of my family of 

 Frogs. They are all doing well, and now and 

 then I get a "song" from some one of them early 

 in the morning. I have just found what I con- 

 ceive to be a large piece of spawn. It was 

 floating on the water, I shall keep it carefully, 

 to see if anything results from it. The varie- 

 gated spots on the legs of my younger frogs, are 

 daily becoming more and more developed. The 

 colors are truly beautiful. — J. L. 



How to make our English Grapes ripen more 

 readily. — A correspondent writing in the Garden- 

 ers' Chronicle, after commenting upon the Mil- 

 dew in Vines, says, — " We all know that one of 

 the causes of Grapes not ripening in England is, 

 that they do not leaf and flower early enough 

 for our short summers. This arises from the 

 coldness of the soil of Great Britain, which usu- 

 ally keeps the Vine-root torpid when it ought to 

 be in full activity. But the American Vines by 

 no means require the same amount of earth heat ; 

 on the contrary, they are growing freely, while 

 the cultivated Grape is still unroused. Put, 

 then, the latter on the former, and it is a fair 

 hypothesis that a few weeks of spring growth 

 will be gained, which is all we want. This is 

 actually done in the case of the Peach, which we 

 always bud upon the Plum stock, because its 

 own roots are too tender for our soil. Why, 

 then, may not the same thing happen with the 

 Vine? Again, there are hundreds of gardens in 

 heavy land in which the Vine never even flowers 

 in abundance, and where a ripe Grape is not to be 

 thought of. In such places, even in Vineries, 

 the berries either shank or refuse to color; and 

 all the draining in the world will not prevent 



it. It is well worth inquiring, whether a hardy 

 stock on which to graft the Vine would not pre- 

 vent this. There is no fear of grafted Vines 

 not ' standing ;' on the contrary, we never heard 

 of a case in which the operation was attended 

 with the slightest disadvantage. We therefore 

 recommend the intelligent part of the garden- 

 ing world to set seriously about trying the very 

 simple and inexpensive experiment now sug- 

 gested." It will be an interesting result, Mr.Editor, 

 if gained, for it is indeed a pity to observe how 

 many grapes are lost by the coldness and short- 

 ness of our " English summers." — John L. 



Seeds of the Poppy. — I observe, Mr. Editor, 

 in my newspaper, the Gardeners' 1 Journal, some 

 interesting remarks about eating the seed of 

 poppies. Just now, it may have some good 

 effect if introduced into Our Journal. " I am 

 able," says the writer," H.," " to give the follow- 

 ing account from my experience: — Excursions in 

 search for wild flowers and rambles for catching 

 butterflies were often discussed by our teachers 

 in the school, and formed favorite occupations of 

 mine during the leisure hours of boyhood. It 

 happened sometimes that by returning home 

 from such excursions, in company with a few of 

 my school-fellows, we passed afield in which the 

 poppy was cultivated; when the seeds were just 

 ripe of course, like boys, we gathered some heads 

 and ate the seeds with much relish — the taste of 

 the seed was well known amongst us, as it is like 

 walnuts. One day I took some heads of poppy 

 home with me ; and when my mother observed 

 that I was busy with eaung the seed, she re- 

 marked that, when a child of about two years, I 

 suffered much from inflammation of the eyes, 

 and, in consequence of the pain, was very trou- 

 blesome. One evening, when very impatient 

 and noisy, some one from the neighbors came 

 in our house, and, on hearing me, expressed a 

 wish to send me something to make me quiet, 

 and which ought to be administered like tea. 

 Well, the remedy came — it was poppy seed — 

 and, by some mistake, the dose for the potion 

 was taken too strong; the result was that 1 kept 

 quiet indeed, not only the following night, but 

 also the whole of next day, for the potion had 

 an effect like opium. My latter observations 

 on the use of poppy seed in a raw state, confirm 

 my opinion that a free use of the seed will 

 weaken the mental powers, at the same time pro- 

 ducing heaviness; I think therefore the abuse of 

 the article might be dangerous." The great addi- 

 tional currency that will be given to this, Mr, 

 Editor, through you, will be a benefit conferred 

 upon the public. — Edward C. 



A Curious Cat. — In the First Volume of Our 

 Journal, page 107, there is an account of a 

 sporting cat. On reading this, I was strongly 

 reminded of a very beautiful animal that lived 

 at my father's house, some years ago. This cat 

 was of a most extraordinary size. She was the 

 largest I ever saw, and perfectly white ; not 

 having a spot of any other color, — the eyes alone 

 excepted. One of these was blue, and the other 

 a bright red. She was very seldom to be seen in 

 the house ; but was a most inveterate poacher. 

 If any of us had taken a stroll in the fields or 



