
54 
KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 

in Holland, in the month of August, or later up 
to November, in frames or cool dung beds. If the 
weather prove bad in the autumn, lights are put 
on the frames ; and again, when the temperature 
of the external air will allow, areremoved. Isaw 
at a nursery in Haarlem, Ranunculuses grown on 
this plan blooming in middle of December.—W. 
Tatrer, tr the Algemeine Gartenzeitung. 
Oil from Tobacco Seed.—Having been fortunate 
enough to discover that one seed of tobacco contains 
above 15 per cent. of its weight of drying oil, of 
superior quality and of easy extraction, I take 
the liberty of communicating this discovery to you, 
as one which, if published in England, may be of 
great advantage to those of the British colonies 
where that plant is cultivated. The process 
employed by me for the extraction of the oil is to 
reduce the seed to powder, and knead it into a stiff 
paste with quantum sufjicit of hot water, and then 
submit it to the action of a strong press. I then 
expose the oil thus obtained to a moderate heat, 
which, by coagulating the vegetable albumen of 
the seed, causes all impurities contained in the oil 
to form a cake at the bottom of the vessel employed, 
leaving the oil perfectly limpid and clear. ‘The oil 
from tobacco-seed, though extremely limpid, pos- 
sesses the drying quality to a much higher degree 
than any other oil known tome—a circumstance 
which will render it of great value to painters and 
varnish makers. The only object 1 have in 
making this discovery known to you, is my desire 
to be of service to my country and fellow-subjects, 
and my not having the means of publishing it 
myself in England.—Atrrep Hati-FREDINNICEK, 
Tchernoy Rinokie, near Kisliar. 

Florists’ Flowers.—Let me tell those of your 
readers who are anxious to raise these interest- 
ing subjects with a view to getting new varieties, 
that they have no chance without saving the seed 
themselves. Let them buy four or six, or even 
a dozen, of the best and most distinct varieties 
in cultivation, and save seeds from them, and 
there will be hope of a few good things ; but who 
that had saved seeds from the best would sell 
them to a seedsman? It is nct likely that, when 
a good novelty will fetch pounds, the owners of 
seed calculated to produce good novelties would 
sell it. The seeds supplied to the shops are 
saved from those varieties which produce freely. 
Single and semi-double dahlias, pinks, carnations, 
piccotees, roses, &c., yield seed in abundance, and 
you might sow an acre without producing a good 
variety ; whereas, if you get none but a few good 
ones, and get but a single pod of seed, you may 
have that which will pay for all the trouble, and 
be worthy of bearing your name. Neville, the 
secretary of the South London Floricultural So- 
ciety, raised the dahlia called the Hope, or Metro- 
politan Rose, for which he was paid £100, and 
had very few seedlings; yet we were invited to 
see six thousand dahlias, and could not find one 
worth ashilling—Grorce GLENny. 

Destructive Insects ——Now is the trying time 
for all who love their gardens. A single night, 
at this season, is oftentimes productive of irrepa- 
rable mischief ; for the enemy works in the dark, 
and hides himselfin the day-time. There is 

nothing more annihilating to the hopes of the 
gardener than the latent workings of a destructive 
insect. Cold and heat, wind and rain, with all 
the atmospheric changes for which the seasons 
are now so remarkable, may, in some measure, 
be provided for; but there is no guarding against 
danger the existence of which is unknown. Many 
a fine plant, which has been cultivated with 
unusual care, has withered from this cause ; and 
this, too, at the moment when the development 
of its blossoms, or the perfection of its fruition, 
has been expected with anxiety. In this way 
the carnation and piccotee have perished from 
the secret ravages of the wire-worm, the melon 
and cucumber from that of the red-spider, and the 
rose from the ‘‘worm i’the bud.” To destroy 
these insects, therefore, becomes the first consi- 
deration of the gardener ; but nothing will answer 
this purpose short of wholesale extermination. 
Though most insects live but one season, yet 
their powers of reproduction almost exceed belief. 
It has been calculated that the common house-fly 
produces, in three months, no fewer than 700.000 
of its species ; whilst the aphis rosa (the rose- 
plant louse), in the course of the season, creates 
at least ten generations, each generation averag- 
ing fifty individuals; so that by multiplying 
fifty-nine times by itself, one egg will give 
origin to the almost incredible number of 
25,065,093,750,000,000,000! This, be it remem- 
bered, is but one species, out of twenty-seven, 
which infest the rose-tree alone. But in this re- 
spect, the oak is still more wonderful than the 
rose—naturalists having recorded some hundreds 
of different species as feeding upon a single leaf. 
The flowery leaf 
Wants not its soft inhabitant. Secure, 
Within the winding citadel, the stove 
Holds multitudes. But chief in forest boughs 
That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze, 
The downy orchard, and the melting pulp 
Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed 
Of evanescent insects. 
But if the number of insects are calculated to 
excite astonishment, what must we think of their 
minuteness? The red spider is amongst the 
smallest of the genus that infest the garden ; it is 
not easily perceived without the aid of the micros- 
cope, and, on that account, is considered a phe- 
nomenon. But this will appear gigantic when 
compared with an insect we saw a few days ago, 
designated the “‘ wheel animalcule.”’ It was mag- 
nified 25,000 times its natural size, and yet in 
this state was no larger than a common-size grub. 
The most wonderful part of this insect is the con- 
struction of its mouth, which is formed of two 
revolving wheels, continually in motion, but 
moving in opposite direction to each other. With 
this machinery the insect is supposed to procure 
its food, consisting of animaleule much smaller 
than itself; these animalcule again prey upon 
others still more minute; and these last lead a 
similar existence—and so on, adinfinitum.—E. C. 
Lime Water for Hens.—During the last season, 
Mr. Joseph Wilcox, of Wayne, having occasion 
to administer lime water to a sick horse, inadver- 
tently left a pail of the preparation in his barn, 
which remained there for some time, serving as 





