MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 
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Heaths. Peat, to be of the best quality, should not be more than two inches thick, firm in texture, 
and fibry, the upper surface covered with dwarf Heath, and the under surface resting on sand. This 
will generally be found in upland situations, but in the dry season after a continuance of fine weather, 
very excellent peat for storing away may be procured from comparatively lowland situations. Such, 
when it is brought home, should be carefully looked over, divesting the upper surface of all rough 
herbage, and the lower of every particle of sand that can be found upon it; then place it in ridges, 
two turves together in the form of the letter A, so that the air can always act upon all parts of 
it, and there let it remain, turning it occasionally until the rains of autumn render it necessary to 
stack it. If it is not wanted for use before the following summer, and in a well-regulated establish¬ 
ment it ought not to be wanted before that time, build some turf pits with it, which may be turned 
to good account, if for no other purpose than protecting Lettuce or Cauliflower plants, and the peat, 
by being exposed to the action of the weather on all sides, will be materially benefited thereby. 
Should it, however, not be necessary to build pits with it, stack it in narrow ridges four feet in height, 
the base being three feet wide, and tapering to a single turf at the top. In forming the stack, place 
the turves a short distance apart, so as to admit of the air percolating freely among them, and if it is 
stacked fresh from the common, it may be necessary—indeed, it is very desirable—to run an air drain 
longitudinally through the centre of the stack, so as to admit of a free circulation of air. Sometimes, 
instead of making an air drain, old pea stakes, or pieces of wood are introduced between each alternate 
layer of peat; indeed, it matters little how the air is admitted to the mass, so long as it has free 
intercommunication. 
When peat is used fresh from the common, that is, without being prepared as before directed, it 
will be found an excellent plan to char the outer surface, which may be readily done over one of the 
sheet iron stoves placed on a little brick-work, recommended some years back by Mr. Rivers, or those 
who have burned their fingers with Polmaise experiments, may turn their old plates to good account 
in charring soils, and drying composts. If it is to be charred, the turves should be cut into pieces 
three inches wide, as then every part becomes equally heated, which is not the case if the turves are 
placed on the stove whole. Charring facilitates very materially the decomposition of the vegetable 
fibre, and it has another advantage, in destroying all seeds and insects in the mass. 
Having said this much for peat, I may remark that loam may be prepared for immediate use in 
the same way, and, indeed, leaf mould, and composts of all kinds will be materially benefited, 
especially when intended for raising small seeds, if they are placed upon the stove until they are 
sufficiently heated to destroy the vegetative power of any seeds that they may contain. 
While on the subject, I may state that charred cow-dung is an excellent manure for almost all 
purposes, and by charring it, it is fit for immediate use. The way to proceed is, to take some old 
wood, and build a cone some two or three feet high, then procure some green cow-dung, and cover 
the cone over nine inches thick, let it drain for a day or two, cover it with weeds or rubbish, and set 
fire to the wood, regulating the draught so as to prevent the fire burning too fiercely, and by the time 
the wood is consumed, you will have a fine crust of charred cow-dung, which is ready for immediate 
use ; recollect, if the fire burns too fiercely, the dung will be consumed. To mix, when broken up, 
with composts, or to place a few pieces at the bottom of pots in which Calceolarias, Pelargoniums, or 
Cinerarias, or Pines or Vines are grown, this will be found a most excellent manure. 
After soils are collected for use, it is important that they be not washed by excessive rains, and for that 
reason they should be in narrow, upright ridges, so as to make sure of the rain being thrown off, and 
after they have been turned a time or two, it may be necessary to protect them by a slight covering of 
weather boarding. A. 
I 
3}listri!nnratt5 JMins. 
The White Bust ,—There are few natural groups of plants which have not their own peculiar parasite, which 
lives and decays, indeed, for years unheeded by the common observer, until some season peculiarly suited to its 
growth arrives, when it is too abundant or noxious to escape the most careless. In my own district (Bristol) 
nothing can have been more general, and in many cases pernicious, or even destructive, than the "White Bust 
{JJredo Candida of authors) which is so common on cruciferous plants. They have indeed several other paras¬ 
itical enemies; but this is perhaps the most general, and extends its visitations either under the same or under 
very slightly different types to several other families of plants. Its geographical range is also most extensive, ex¬ 
tending in the northern hemisphere from high latitudes as far as South Carolina, and it occurs in the Falkland 
Islands. In the spring of (1848), my attention was first turned to the peculiar structure of this parasite. So 
early as the end of March not a Cabbage or Colewort in my garden was free from the White Bust; and, as the season 
