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MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS BY A PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



BEDS FOR PANSIES. 

 To make beds for pansies, throw out six inches of the soil from the bed, then 

 dig in and well mix four inches of well-rotted cow manure into the bottom of the 

 bed, going as deep as the spade will allow ; above which replace the soil thrown 

 out, and then point in one inch of the same sort of well-rotted manure. Plant 

 the bed as soon afterwards as possible, before the soil gets settled. A damp and 

 partially shaded border is best for summer flowering the pansy, but the surface 

 ought to be frequently stirred, and never allowed to get firm, which it will be apt 

 to do in a shaded situation : for spring and autumn flowering, a more open situa- 

 tion is preferable. 



CATERPILLARS ON THE GOOSEBERRY. 

 To prevent gooseberries from being infected with caterpillars, by which they 

 are liable to be attacked occasionally in every soil and situation, they should be 

 watered over the bushes in winter with cow-urine, throwing over the head of each 

 bush about half a pail full, without any great nicety about quantity. The hot 

 nature of the liquid clears the bushes of any eggs of insects, mosses, &c, and also 

 destroys any eggs deposited in the soil near the roots of the bushes (it being 

 doubted by some whether these are deposited in the soil or on the bushes), while 

 at the same time it fertilizes the soil. The liquid is most conveniently collected 

 by having casks or tanks for receiving it connected with the channel from the 

 cow-house. The healthiest bushes and finest fruit will be invariably obtained by 

 this process of winter watering ; but attention should also be paid to supplying the 

 bushes with the requisite quantity of manure, lightly turned in with the spade. 



APHIS ON THE ROSE. 

 The destructive effects of the aphis, which too frequently attacks rose bushes, 

 more particularly in ungenial seasons, may to a great extent be prevented by 

 allowing the bushes to remain unpruned until the middle of May, by which time 

 they will be pushing out their young shoots from the extremities of the plant, and 

 if sudden changes have taken place in the weather from heat to cold &c, the 

 aphides will appear in numbers. Then is the time to prune back the shoots to 

 where the buds are not burst. The leaves on which the aphides are feeding being 

 thus destroyed and none left upon the bushes to feed the insects, they consequently 

 perish, while the plants soon push afresh with a more genial season, and inva- 

 riably flower finer than if pruned at what is called the proper season, although 

 sometimes a little later. Tobacco liquor mixed in water is effective in destroying 

 these insects by watering the roses overhead in the evening with the mixture. 



VOL. II. NO. XVII. JULY. L 



