CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
527 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS, 
AND ORIGINAL NOTES CONNECTED WITH HORTICULTURE 
AND NATURAL HISTORY. 
Red spider. — To get rid of this pest when 
once established in a house, wash the flues or 
hot-water pipes with black sulphur mixed up 
with water ; this must be done when the pipes 
are cold. When heat is applied the fumes of 
the sulphur will destroy the red spider, which 
is a small species of Acarus. To prevent 
their becoming established in a house, keep a 
moist and sweet atmosphere. 
Garden walks. — Where it is difficult — 
as it sometimes is — to get good binding gravel 
for forming garden walks, they may be made 
tolerably firm for the summer, by having them 
broken up in spring, say six inches deep (there 
should be at least this depth of gravel), and 
taking out a portion at one end, turning the 
whole regularly back in the way of trenching, 
saturating it at the same time with water in 
which clay has been dissolved to the consist- 
ence of very thin paint ; they must be made 
solid and level, and well rolled while wet, and 
then allowed to become quite dry before they 
are used, which takes a fortnight or so accord- 
ing to the weather. 
Small birds are very destructive both to 
seeds, either sown or being saved, and also 
to the buds of fruit trees. Of the means em- 
ployed to frighten them away, that of having 
some cats tied up in different parts of the 
garden, is perhaps as good as any. The same 
end may be in a great measure attained by 
domesticating cats in a garden. 
Preserving vegetables, &c. — It some- 
times happens that particular crops come to 
perfection faster than they are used. When 
it is required to preserve them, this may be 
done in most cases for at least a week, by 
cutting or gathering them just as they are 
fully grown, and laying them on the brick or 
stone floor of a cool store-house, or root-room. 
Cauliflowers, lettuces, &c. should be cut with 
the outside leaves ; asparagus should be tied 
in bundles and set upright with the lower 
ends in water ; French beans, when scarce, 
may be set close together with the stalk in a 
shallow pan of water, and, when more abundant, 
may, as well as peas, be spread on a clean 
part of the floor, and loosely covered. 
Glazing. — Where, from economical mo- 
tives, the repairing of damages in the sashes 
of garden-frames is done at home, it may be 
useful to know how to make putty. It is done 
thus : — With ten pounds of whitening, and 
one pound of white-lead, mix a sufficient 
quantity of boiled linseed-oil, and a wineglass- 
full of sweet -oil. The proper quantity of oil 
will be ascertained by mixing gradually. The 
sweet-oil prevents the lead from hardening, 
and preserves the putty. Where this course 
is adopted, all the frames should be glazed 
with the same-sized glass — of which a stock 
should be kept on hand, it being often of im- 
portance to have repairs of this kind attended 
to without delay. 
Earwigs. — The best remedy for these is to 
trap them, and this is both tedious and in- 
effectual, as fresh swarms take the place of those 
which are destroyed. Any hollow bodies will 
serve to trap them — such as inverted flower- 
pots rested on the stakes ; bean-stalks cut into 
lengths and laid among the branches ; the 
wood of elder divested of the pith, or pieces 
of bamboo-cane : in all these cases one end 
should be closed while the other is left open. 
These traps should be examined every morn- 
ing, and the entrapped insects shaken out into 
a pan of scalding water. 
Transplanting seedlings. — All the culi- 
nary crops which are raised from seeds, and 
planted out subsequently, are the better for 
being " pricked out " or transplanted, at least 
once before they are finally placed ; this is 
best done when they have formed two or 
three pairs of leaves. Plant on fresh dug 
ground, using a dibble or blunt-pointed stick 
to fix the plants ; thrust this somewhat ob- 
liquely into the soil, deep enough to allow 
the roots to be placed straight ; then with the 
point of the dibble press the soil down firmly 
to the roots. Seedlings should be taken up 
with a trowel, and the side roots, as far as 
possible, retained ; tap roots should be short- 
ened back. If clone in dry weather, dip the 
roots in a puddle formed by mixing a rich 
compost with water. 
Worms on lawns are very troublesome 
when numerous, especially in spring and au- 
tumn, by throwing up their casts, which dis- 
figure the turf and are tedious to remove : to 
lessen their numbers, water the turf with one 
of the following mixtures : — A quarter of an 
ounce of corrosive sublimate dissolved in 
three gallons of water ; one pound of caustic 
lime, mixed with twenty gallons of water, and 
allowed to subside — use the clear liquid ; or 
one pound and a half of salt, dissolved in four 
gallons of water. Give the ground a good 
soaking of the mixture, when it is 'previously 
well moistened by rain or by the artificial 
application of water. 
Preserving apples and pears. — Such 
fruits as the late kinds of apples and pears, 
which it is desired to keep for a length of 
time, must be gathered and conveyed to the 
fruit-room without sustaining any bruises ; 
they should hang until they are mature or 
until in danger from severe frost. After 
lying singly on the shelves of the fruit-room, 
for a week or two, they should be packed in 
jars among dry sand, and set in a cool uni- 
