176 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGHST. 
[ Novembek, 
of colour, might he effectively used as a permanent 
bedding plant. 
— ©NE of tlie most troublesome of garden 
pests is the Slug. A recent writer remarks 
there is nothing better to get rid of Slugs than 
a sprinkling of sifted coal-ashes run through a half¬ 
inch sieve, just sufficient to cover the surface ; and 
it is equally effective against worms coming out at 
night, and drawing the plants back with them into 
their holes. Nothing of a soft, slimy nature that 
crawls over the earth’s surface will willingly face 
the sharp jagged edges of the ashes, which may be 
used freely among young growing crops in autumn 
and spring with beneficial effects in other ways; for 
besides guarding the plants from these attacks, 
coal-ashes attract the rays of the sun, keep the soil 
from baking, or its pores becoming sealed up after 
heavy rains, and tend to check any bad effects 
from too much water lodging round the stems or 
collars of the plants. Those who are troubled in 
this way are strongly advised to sprinkle coal- 
ashes amongst all their young crops; it will be 
found both a good and cheap remedy, and one always 
available. Pepper has also been recommended. 
— En Ireland, at Valentia, the Lily of the 
Nile, Richardia zethiopica, which there grows 
almost wild, is so floriferous that at times as 
many as 115 flowers have been counted on a single 
plant. The individual blooms of the present year 
have measured round the edge of the spathe 36 in. ; 
longitudinally across the throat, 10^ in. ; and trans¬ 
versely, 6 £ in. So says the Knight of Kerry. 
— Esa forcing plant, Harrison’s New Musk 
is found to be useful by Mr. Mclndoe, of Hutton 
Hall Gardens, who employs it largely in this 
way, putting in cuttings in October, which quickly 
grow into fresh and vigorous young plants; these 
flower with great freedom in winter and spring, and 
are very useful for conservatory work. 
— ®he most distinct New Tuberous 
Begonias noted amongst those exhibited at the 
recent Versailles show were Madame Thiers , 
a large semi-double pink, which may not inaptly be 
described as Anemone-flowered; Ddfenseur de Bel¬ 
fort, a very large orange-scarlet; Edmund Puteaux, 
of the same size and style as the last, but of a 
darker shade of colour; M. Albert Truffaut, a fine 
scarlet, with a light centre ; and Amie Cessier, a 
nicely-formed orange-scarlet. These are all good, 
but Madame Thiers is the best. The exhibitor was 
M. Lateaux-Chambault. 
— ®he following is a well-attested recipe 
for making Siberian Crab Jelly :— Take off 
the stalks, weigh and wash the crabs, then to 
each pound and a half add a pint of water, and boil 
gently until they are broken; do not allow them 
to pulp, hut pour the whole into a jelly-bag. When 
the juice is quite transparent, weigh it, put it into 
a clean preserving-pan, and boil quickly for ten 
minutes ; then take it off the fire, and stir in, until it 
is dissolved, ten ounces of fine sugar to each pound of 
the juice; boil the jelly from 12 to 15 minutes; skim 
it very clean, and pour it into the moulds. Should 
the quantity be large, a few additional minutes’ boil¬ 
ing must be given to the juice before the sugar is 
added. 
— fine specimen of the Indian Magnolia 
Campbelli is growing in the gardens at Lake¬ 
lands, near Cork, the residence of W. Crawford, 
Esq. This tree has been planted out about six or 
seven years, and so rapid has been its growth, that 
it is now a tree, with noble leafage and imposing 
aspect. Yiewed as a deciduous tree of fine pro¬ 
portions and faultless symmetry, when seen merely 
in its summer clothing of exceptionally large and 
fine foliage, its value as an ornamental object is 
apparent; how much more so, when in spring, before 
the leaves appear, it is decked with glorious-cupped 
flowers, six to ten inches across, varying in colour 
from white to deep rose or crimson, and exhaling an 
agreeable fragrance ! The Lakelands specimen has 
not yet flowered. 
— 21 correspondent of the Gardener , 
writing of Vine borders of light loam, states 
that when made up of sods, they keep in good 
condition much longer than when the materials are 
chopped up and mixed. He used sods cut into 
pieces 6 in. or 7 in. square, and packed closely 
together in layers, with the grass-side down, the 
manure and bones used being strewn on each layer 
of sods, and a little fine soil used to fill up any open 
spaces, the object being to get a solid and firm mass, 
so as to exclude the decomposing power of the 
atmosphere. Vines planted in borders thus made 
are not only equally strong with those planted in 
loose chopped turf, but the character of the wood is 
far better, being harder, with less pith. As to the 
roots, those in the chopped soil have produced com¬ 
paratively few large ones, and but few fibry ones 
near the stems of the vines, while in the solid border 
there is a perfect network of roots up close to the 
collar of the vines. “ I would never,” he adds, “ when 
working with light soil, chop a single turf, but use 
them as they come from the field, and make the 
whole as solid as possible ; neither should any de¬ 
scription of lime be used, but instead some charcoal 
and bones.” 
©intuavg, 
— ffi* Gustav Wallis, tlie botanical col¬ 
lector, died on June 20, at Cuen 9 a, in Ecuador. 
His explorations in Soutli America bave been 
the means of introducing several hundred new 
South-American ornamental plants to our gardens 
and plant-houses. 
— m- Thomas Belt, tbe well-known 
traveller, naturalist, and geologist, died at 
Denver, Colorado, of rheumatic fever, on Sep¬ 
tember 22, in his 46th year. He was son of the 
late Mr. George Belt, a nurseryman and seedsman, 
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and in 1851 joined in the 
first great gold rush to Australia, since which time 
his life has been that of a hard-working, successful 
mining engineer. 
— fffR. W. Windebank, Jun., of tbe Bevois 
Mount Nurseiy, Southampton, died at Salis¬ 
bury, on October 10, at a comparatively early 
age. AVhile in health, he was an ardent florist and 
horticulturist. The Chinese Primula was one of 
his specially favoured plants, and.the collection of 
some fifteen or sixteen divers kinds and colours 
which he formerly preserved, and reproduced from 
year to year with great care, was perhaps unrivalled 
for variety or excellence in the kingdom. 
