76 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 2,1858. 
Society made the award, it was stated that this variety 
would ripen with as low a degree of heat as the Black 
Hamburgh ; hut an opinion having got abroad, which is 
believed by many, that it will not ripen in a house with¬ 
out the aid of fire heat, which the Black Hamburgh will 
do, considerable disappointmet has resulted. It is very 
satisfactory for us to be able to state, that, at the last 
meeting of the Pomological Society, Messrs. Henderson, 
of Pine Apple Place, exhibited a bunch grown upon a 
shoot, which, during the summer, had been introduced 
into an ordinary greenhouse, the plant undergoing no 
cultivation whatever, and receiving no heat, except one 
evening during the present month, when frost was expected. 
The berries were quite ripe, and possessed the marked 
musky flavour. 
MINERAL DESTROYER. OF SNAILS. 
In accordance with our promise given at page 60, we extract 
the following from Chambers's Journal: — 
“ At a late meeting of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, M. 
Millot Brule exhibited a black powder, obtained from a purely 
natural substance, which, should it come into general use, will 
gladden the hearts of gardeners. If you have a plant or 
shrub that you wish to preserve from noxious creeping things, 
you draw round it a circle of this black powder, and not a snail, 
or slug, or worm, or maggot will attack it, for no sooner do they 
touch the black powder than they are thrown into convulsions, 
which speedily kill them off. A whole bed or plot may be 
sprinkled with it, and with the like results, and without injury 
to the garden. On the contrary, the powder is a good fertiliser. 
It is said to be a specific against the Grape disease, and that if 
blown lightly into an infected bunch, the oiclium, or fungus, is 
seen to curl up and perish—killed as surely as the snails. 
“ The composition of the powder is no secret; it is nothing 
but a species of lignite—sulphur-coal, as the Germans call it— 
ground fine. Large beds of it exist in many parts of the Con¬ 
tinent. Ardennes abounds with it; and it was with lumps dug 
from that region that M. Millot-Brule made his experiments. 
It is found in extensive deposits at Oppelsdorff, near Zittau, in 
Saxony, where for some years past it has been turned to 
account for the preservation of timber. The sulphur-coal, to 
give it the local name, is reduced to powder, and made into a 
bath with water. The wood to be treated is plunged into this 
bath, and left there for a time without any mechanical pressure, 
until it has undergone a change which partakes of the nature 
of mineralisation. Mere contact with the lignite appears to 
suffice; and we are told that beams which have been used in 
the workings for thirty years are sounder and more likely to 
last now, than when first put up. In Saxony, the railway sleepers 
are prepared with this substance, and with manifest advantage.” 
THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. 
A yellow Wagtail has been amusing himself by thumping 
against a window, similarly to the one described by “ Z. A., 
Dartmouth.” A zinc water-spout crosses before the window, 
eight or ten inches distant; the Wagtail jumps from this, and 
raps the glass hard with its beak, sometimes from the window-sill. 
It does not appear much irritated, as if fighting with a supposed 
antagonist, and it cannot be for insects. Drawing the blind down 
does not affect its operations at all; neither does a stuffed hawk 
placed against the glass inside. It sometimes attacks another 
window for a short time; Some years ago one made a similar 
attack, but that was a black and white Wagtail; and in the spring 
of the year it persevered for some weeks, and then discontinued. 
—W. M., Hanley Castle. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Peat Soil (A Subscriber ).—For potting purposes, it is best to keep it 
under cover. There you may always have it as moist, or as dry, as you 
please, by using or withholding the'contents of the watering-pot. 
Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionaky (C. W. IT. M .).—You can obtain it, 
we believe, either in numbers, or in a volume, of Kent and Co., Pater¬ 
noster Row. 
Removing an Araucaria (Sophia).— It maybe safely raised, and ought 
to be so, at this senson. We have just been moving large Conifers. P.y 
digging a broad trench round it, at three feet from the stem, and picking 
away underneath, it may be lifted to a foot nearer the surface without 
injury. Yews do not suffer from a bleak exposure. The old Yew is more 
likely to be suffering from want of nourishment. Try what putting some 
fresh", rich earth about its roots will do. 
Improving Light Soil (A would-be Gardener ).—If you will refer to a 
recent number (522), at page 415, under the head “Club Root,” you will 
find all that we can advise. Follow the directions there given. 
Joint or IIot-watf.h Pipes (Kale),—Vie should say strong hemp string 
and red lead are the best materials, combined, for plugging these joints. 
Movino Gynfrium argenteum (A Subscriber, Erilh). — Leave your 
three-feet high plants as they are to the end of March, and then lift them 
carefully with balls, and plant them in front of some evergreens, so as to 
have a good dark-green background to set off the white plumes of flowers; 
and if you could see them thus from the parlour windows, all the better. 
See the plants are well supplied witli water for the first three months after 
transplanting. 
New Melon (J. Carter and Co .).—Your seedling Melon (Excelsior) is a 
remarkably fine one; though so late in the season, and the specimen sent 
is not nearly ripe, it is very richly flavoured. It is of medium size, and 
inclining to oval. Skin white, and very much netted, more so than in 
Bromham Hall. Flesh green, very thick, ripening close up to the rind ; 
core unusually small. If, as you say, this Melon ripens with very little, or 
no bottom heat, it is one of the most valuable varieties we know," for all its 
properties are excellent. 
Name of Willow (Rathleigh ).—The sprig sent is certainly taken from 
tile Weeping Willow, Salix Babylonica. Some botanists are of opinion 
that the Napoleon Willow is a distinct variety of the 5. Babylonica, and 
call it var. Kapolcana. Tliis is a matter of opinion, There is no species of 
Willow indigenous to St. Helena. But about the year 1810, when General 
Beatson was Governor there, he, being fond of planting, had a great many 
forest trees and shrubs introduced from Great Britain, and among these 
was the Salix Babylonica, which has since been called “Napoleon’s 
Willow.” Several trees of this grew among others on the top of a hill 
near a spring, and having attracted the notice of Napoleon, lie had a seat 
placed under them, and used to go and sit there very frequently, and have 
water brought to him from a spring near the spot. Cuttings were planted 
from this tree outside the railing which surrounds the first grave of this 
great man, but, from the multiplicity of visitors plucking pieces from 
the so-planted trees, they are kept in a’stunted condition. 
Names of Plants (A. A'.).— 1. We cannot make out. 2. An annual; a 
deep-coloured variety of the Chrysanthemum coronariitm, which, nearly 
thirty years ago, was called in the nurserymen’s lists, the new Golden 
Chrysanthemum. 3. Cytisns racemosus. ‘ An ornamental greenhouse 
shrub. 4. Diplotaxis tenuifolia, var. variegata. The species Diplotaxis 
tenuifolia is an English perennial plant, of little beauty. Why should not 
such common plants do well out in the open borders in Cumberland 
during the summer months 1 (B. Sanders ).—From the very small speci¬ 
men sent, we should say it is Fuchsia coccmca. We have no knov, ledge of 
a IVilsonii among the old species, or even among the new hybrids. The 
plant sent with it is one of the prettiest of the Michaelmas Daisies, Aster 
tiridus. 
THE POULTRY CHROftISLE. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
November 29th and 30th, December 1st and 2nd. P.mMiNoiiAM. See., 
Mr. J. Morgan. Entries close November 1st. 
November 30tli and December 1st, Glasgow. Sec., Mr. R. M'Cowan. 
Entries close November 17th. 
December 7th and 8th. North Durham. Sees., R. C. Coulson, J. T. 
Duncan, and T. Wetherell. Entries close November 22nd. 
DECEMBEn 8th. Wiltshire. Sec., F. W. Phillips, Devizes. Entries 
close November 30th. 
December 17tli and 18th. Halifax Fancy Pigeon Show. Sec., Mr. 
H. Holdsworth, 57, Woolshops, Halifax. Entries close the 20th of 
November. 
December 29th and 30th. Burnley and East Lancashire. Sec., Angus 
Sutherland. Entries close December 10th. 
January 3rd, 1859. Kirkcaldy Poultry and Fancy Bird Show. 
January 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, 1859, Crystal Palace (Winter 
Show). Sec., W. Houghton. 
January 20th and 21st, 1859. Liverpool. 
February 3rd and 4th, 1859. Preston and North Lancashire. 
(Sees. R. Teebay, and II. Oakey. 
February 9th and 10th, 1859. Ulverstone. Sec., Tims. Robinson. 
February lGth and 17tli, 1809. Poulton-lf.-Fylde. See., J. Butler. 
H.B.—Secretaries will oblige ns by sending early copies of their lists. 
PAETEIDGE SHOOTING. 
(Con finned from page 29.) 
Did you ever wake up in the morning witli the consciousness 
that you had behaved ill, or made a fool of yourself, on the pre¬ 
vious evening ? Did you ever lie awake with your eyes closed, 
to shut out exterior objects, while you sought to justify yourself, 
and at last proved to your entire satisfaction that everyone was 
