is frequently found as dry as possible. It then undergoes the same treatment as in the preceding year, after a renovation by moisture, heat, &c. Nature having performed its office, it is again assigned to the drying system. Being extremely partial to this fine-scented bulb, I turned my attention to its propagation and culture, and with that success which astonished every one who saw it. At one time I had some hundreds of pots, and so uncommonly luxuriant was their growth, that an eminent botanist, one of your correspondents, once asked me what plants they were. As this plant blossoms early I would advise assisting it with a little heat. Select a few pots, and place them in the stove in the beginning of February; they will soon show their blossom; remove them, by degrees, into their old quarter, the green-house, and select only those plants that are scented, some being much more so than others; they will soon form their seed-vessels, if assisted with plenty of air, and, when you find the seed sufficiently ripe, sow it immediately in pans. The plants will appear in the autumn; let them remain in the green-house to about the beginning of May; and, in removing the plants from the pans, you will find they have formed bulbs about the size of a pea, and some as large as a hazel-nut. Prepare a bed for their reception by digging and raking the soil to a fine mould, and cover the same over with about two inches of sifted loam, leaf mould, or rotten dung, with a mixture of sandy peat. Plant the bulbs six inches apart from each other, and let them be kept covered, either with hand-glasses, which at that season can be spared, or with hot-bed sashes, to protect them from the cold and probably frosty nights, and, in the daytime, admit what air is required, according to the state of the weather. About the middle of summer, when you apprehend no danger from the frosty nights, &c. the glass may be taken away, as the plants will require no farther care than sufficiently watering them, if the season proves a dry one, and as often as occasion may require. At the time you remove the green-house plants into the house let the cyclamen be taken up carefully and potted, one bulb in a small pot. Fit the pot to the size of the plant, and be careful not to place a small plant in a large pot. The pot No. 60. for small ones, and the No. 48. for the larger, will be sufficient; and, if a fine growing summer succeed, some of the bulbs will be two inches in diameter, and produce as much blossom as a plant two years old by the drying system. The soil I made use of was loam, leaf mould, and dung, with some sand or bog earth, and plenty of that white sharp sand, which is to be found in the bog soil of Wimbledon Common; the prohibition from taking which must be universally acknowledged as a great injury, not only to that highly respectable class the nurserymen around our metropolis, but to private gentlemen and botanists of every description. By this mode of cultivation a stock of that beautiful plant can easily be raised; and as time can be saved in the cultivation without any additional expense or trouble, I trust I shall, in a short time, see it growing generally with that luxuriance which I have often observed with pleasure in my own garden, where I have frequently counted from fifty to eighty fine, strong, expanded blossoms from a bulb two years old, growing in a forty-eight-sized pot. If you consider these observations worthy insertion in your useful publication, they are much at your service. Isleworth, April, 1826. I am, dear Sir, &c. JOHN WILMOT. ART. VII. Some Account of an Attempt to arrest the Ravages of the Aphis lanigera, or American Blight, on Fruit Trees. By T. C. HUDDLESTONE, Esq. F. H.S. Sir, IF the following account of an unsuccessful attempt to arrest the ravages of the woolly aphis, should be deemed worthy of a place in the pages of your Magazine, I should feel obliged by its insertion; and it may perhaps be a means of attracting the attention of scientific and practical men to the rapid progress of the insect. In the spring of the year 1825, my attention was first attracted to the state of some old apple trees in my garden, by observing, on the decayed parts of the trunks, an appearance of cotton, which, upon a closer examination, I discovered to proceed from a small insect, which I immediately recognised as the woolly aphis, or American blight. Upon referring to the pages of your valuable Encyclopædia of Gardening, second edition, I found that the best methods there recommended of destroying it, were 66 thoroughly cleaning with a brush and cold water, together with amputation when it has been some time at work :”—“ but this will not do unless resorted to at an early stage of the progress." I therefore immediately began to clean out the decayed places with a sharp-pointed stick, and for some time I kept the insect under very well, but it soon outstripped my exertions, and established itself on the branches; so I determined to let the fruit ripen, and attack my enemy in his quarters before the commencement of winter; and finding that the insect existed upon the sap alone, I naturally concluded that if I could case the stems and branches of the trees with any thin substance, I should succeed in putting an end to the progress of the insect. In pursuance of my plan, at the latter end of October, I ordered my gardener to procure some quick-lime and mix it with water, and then directed him to whitewash the trees with it, and lay it on pretty thick upon the stems and larger branches: he obeyed my instructions to the letter; the trees were completely cased in lime. The winter season passed, spring came; the trees were covered as usual with abundance of blossoms, for they are yet excellent bearers, and I was rejoicing at the success of my experiment; but I soon discovered that it had completely failed, for an abundance of the insects were found by me, even where the lime was thickest, and are even now, while I am writing, still upon the trees, especially on this year's shoots. But I intend to try one other experiment at the close of the autumn; and as some of my friends were anxious to know the result of this first experiment, I thought that the best method was to communicate the result to you for insertion in the widely circulated Gardener's Magazine. I have the pleasure to remain, Sir, &c. Newark on Trent, August 1. 1826. ART. VIII. Recipe for composing a Liquid for effectually destroying Caterpillars, Ants, Worms, and other Insects. By Mr. JAMES BURGES, Gardener to the Reverend Richard Lane, of Coffleet, Devonshire. Sir, I HAVE perused the first, second, and third numbers of your excellent work, the Gardener's Magazine, with much gratification, but have not met with any thing for effectually destroying insects. Permit me, therefore, to inform you of a composition of a liquor for destroying caterpillars, ants, worms, and other insects. Take black soap one pound and half, sulphur vivum one pound and half, nux vomica two ounces, mushrooms of any kind two pounds, rain or river water twelve gallons. Divide the water into equal parts: put six gallons into a barrel (which should be only used for this purpose); put the soap in the barrel with the water, let. it be well stirred till it is quite dissolved; then add to it the mushrooms, after they have been slightly bruised: take the remaining six gallons of water, put it into a kettle to boil; put the whole quantity of sulphur into a coarse cloth, tie it up and fasten to it a stone, that it may sink to the bottom of the kettle; put the nux vomica likewise into the kettle to boil; thirty minutes is the time it should be kept boiling; keep it well stirred with a stick, and let the sulphur be well squeezed out, that it may unite to the lather. The water, when taken off the fire, is to be poured into the barrel with the before-mentioned soap and mushroom-water. It is to be well stirred every day with a stick, until it gets incorporated altogether, and the mixture becomes fetid; it is necessary to stop the barrel while you are stirring it. In using it, sprinkle on the ground, or eject it with a common syringe. When all the water has been made use of, the sediment should be thrown into a pit and covered over, lest any thing eat of it. If you deem this receipt deserving a place in your valuable miscellany it is at your service. I am, Sir, &c. JAMES BURGES. P.S. In a future letter I shall give a composition for fruit trees. J. B. ART. IX. A simple, effectual, and expeditious Mode of destroying the Green Fly and other Insects. By Mr. THOMAS M'LAURIN, Gardener, Bunny Park, Nottinghamshire. Sir, In the present dry season, so favourable to the production of green fly that their numbers are almost unprecedented, the following method, which I practise, for their destruction, may perhaps not be unimportant to some readers of your valuable Magazine. I procure, from the tobacconist's, liquor expressed from tobacco, to every gallon of which I add five gallons of water; this mixture I, with Read's garden syringe, sprinkle over the trees, putting it on the finest rose, and being careful to wet all the leaves; this operation is performed only in the hottest sunshine, as the effect is then much greater than when the weather is dull. In this manner I have, this spring, with five gallons of liquor, reduced as above stated, cleaned seventeen peach and nectarine trees, twelve of which average seventeen feet in length and twelve in height. The black glutinous insect, provincially called blight, so destructive to the cherry trees, is destroyed in the same way with equal facility. I have also found, upon trial, that the grubs which attack the apricot, may be destroyed almost instantly by immersing the leaves infested in this liquor. know This is the cheapest and most expeditious manner of destroying the above insects which has come within my ledge, and to those who have not seen the operation performed the effect produced is almost incredible. Roses, and, in fact, any plant liable to be infested with green fly, and situated where tobacco smoke cannot be used with effect, may be easily cleaned by dipping in or sprinkling with tobacco liquor, as circumstances may render most convenient. When trees have got so bad that their leaves are much curled, some of the flies, being protected within the curl, will escape in this case more force must be applied to the syringe, and in a day or two the trees should be looked over again, and whatever part of the leaves has not been wetted should be washed with a painter's brush; but a careful person will render this process unnecessary, by taking them in time. The liquor costs in Nottingham 1s. 2d. per gallon. I am, Sir, &c. Bunny Park, Nottingham, May 22. 1826. THOS. M'LAURIN. ART. X. Remarks on the Affairs of the London Horticultural Society. By a Friend to Facts. Sir, UPON perusing a letter in your last Number (Art. XV.), and your note respecting the Horticultural Society, I was struck with the concluding sentence of the latter, viz., "We think it very questionable if the present system, embracing so many objects both at home and abroad, can be continued for many |