572 QIERIES, ANSWERS, REIMAKKS, ETC. 
planter's notice, and altogether unnecessary as nurses where the ground is 
properly prepared. Mr. Howden, on the contrary, appears to regard firs as the 
sole object of his attention, and because they will succeed on a thin poor soil, 
he thence concludes, that not only manure but trenching are unnecessary, and 
even injurious for the more valuable trees. If Mr. Howden can be serious, let 
him for once lay aside his puns and his quidities, and endeavour to establish 
either of the two following propositions: — 
1. That the growth of oak, ash, chesnut, and other deciduous trees is not 
greatly increased by trenching and (in the case of poor land) manuring the soil 
before planting, and keeping it clean afterwards; or 
2. That the timber so raised is of inferior quality to that of slower growth. 
Mr. Howden has evidently great confidence in his own powers, but if he can 
do this, he will accomplish what neither Sir Walter Scott nor Sir Henry Stewart 
has been able to effect. 
Epsom, March 8, 1832. Radical. 
Preserving Garden Sticks. — With all due respect to Mr. Claughton's 
twenty-five years' experience on the preservation of garden sticks described in 
page 300, I beg leave to say, it appears to me a troublesome and expensive 
one ; an old gardener advised me to char the ends of them before putting them 
in the ground, I have practised this about three years, and my sticks appear as 
sound as ev^er. An Amateur. 
We conceive Mr. Claughton's system of preserving sticks to be the best for 
durability, of any that have previously been introduced to public notice ; for, 
however charring the ends may preserve those ends for five or six years, it is 
not worthy of comparison with soaking them in oil, which renders them 
capable of being kept in constant use for nearly the term of a person's life. 
Conductors. 
Soil for Ai ricilas — In reply to T. H. page 330, I beg to inform him, that 
if old ants' nests cannot be conveniently obtained, well-rotted leaf mould may 
be used as a substitute ; for although I have tried to grow auriculas in all com- 
posts that could be suggested, I have found nothing equal to old ants' nests. 
John Revell. 
Spur Eves of Vines. — In page 427, Electricus requests to know the 
proces-s of raising vines from spurs ; the system will be better illustrated by the 
figure 96. Say No. 1, is wood of 1830 ; No. 2, is wood of 
1831, this is what is termed the spur; and No. 3, is the 
situation where the roots are protruded : plant two of 
them in each pot in light rich earth, and place them 
either in a frame, or upon the front flue or curb of a 
house, where they will have a moderate heat, should both 
grow, take one out. 
G. Stafford. 
1 
As I have .sought information through the columns of your Register, I ought 
in fairness to communicate the little my experience will aft'ord ; to M. E. S. then 
(page 427) I answer, that to kill the young shoots of horse radish, a certain, and 
the only cure I know is, to pull them up as they appear — repeat this two or 
three times, and success is certain. To" Electricus (same page) I reply, 
that the strongest, fullest ryes produced on the young wood, nr that of the pre 
