gratify the eye with their luxuriant foliage, and beautiful flowers. We remain, Sir, yours, &c.

New York, April 16. 1828.

G. THORBURN and SoN.

THE sweet potato is cultivated in several gardens in the neighbourhood of Paris with perfect success, and the tubers sold in the market, and in the fruit-shops. The best crops we saw were in Admiral Tchitchigoff's garden at Sceaux. The tubers are planted in February, or earlier or later at pleasure, in the pine stove, or in a small hotbed; and the shoots they produce are taken off, and planted a foot apart every way, on dung beds, covered with 15 in. of earth, and protected by hoops and mats in the manner of ridged cucumbers. This may be done any time from April to June, and the shoots are not dibbled in, but laid down in drills about 3 in. deep, keeping 2 in. of the point of the shoot above the earth. În about two months after transplanting, some of the tubers will be fit to take off for use, and the plants will continue producing till they are destroyed by frost. To preserve the tubers through the winter, the greatest care is required. In the king's forcing-gardens at Versailles, they are kept in a growing state all the winter in the pine stoves. With the exception of this difficulty of preserving the tubers through the winter, the sweet potato is just as easily cultivated as the mealy potato. Though the shoots are naturally ascending and twining like those of Tamus commùnis, the plants are not sticked, and therefore the shoots cover the ground, and form over it a thick matting of dark green smooth foliage. In the early part of the season, the tubers are taken off as they attain the size of early kidney potatoes; later the whole crop is dug up. If the sweet potato were once fairly introduced into first-rate gardens, we have no doubt it would form an article of regular culture there.

Since writing the above, we observe, in the last edition of the Bon Jardinier, that the sweet potato is cultivated in the south of France, where the shoots and leaves are reckoned excellent forage for cows and horses, and that some people eat them as spinach. Directions are given for preserving the tubers through the winter in layers in a box of very dry sand, no one tuber touching another; the box closed and surrounded by a good thickness of straw, and the whole put. in another box, and placed under a heap of straw, so as to prevent the tubers from undergoing any change of temperature. Cond.

ART. XV. On the Destruction of Wasps. By THOS. N. PARKer, Esq., of Sweeney Hall, Shropshire.

SIR, THE autumn of 1827 yielded a great produce of fruits, and it was also remarkable for correspondent quantities of wasps. Extraordinary exertions were, therefore, necessary for the destruction of the wasps, in order to save any fruit at all. I had long been trying various means for destroying them, and found that three-penny or four-penny squibs answered the purpose best. This plague of wasps was become so great a nuisance, that I resolved to take a leading part myself in the measures pursued against them; and in one night I took seventeen nests, in two other nights twenty-three more, and altogether about seven dozen, all within half a mile of my garden, but most of them a great deal nearer. I find that the best way of making the squibs is thus, and the plan should be minutely attended to, or the result may be very different. The more particular directions are therefore printed in italics, by way of distinction. Take strong cartridge paper, and cut one sheet into sixteen pieces, supposing the sheet to be about twenty-two inches by about seventeen inches and three quarters, and making each piece about eight inches and three quarters long by two inches and three quarters wide, roll and paste each piece round a smooth rod of brass, iron, or hard wood, of five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, and tie up one end of the cartridge with a string, or double it up, and secure it with sealing-wax. The paper case having been prepared and dried, put in the "blast" or slightly exploding part made of one eighteenth part of an ounce of rock powder pounded, and shake or ram it well down; fill up the case with a quarter of an ounce of meal powder, which is to be made with eight ounces of rock powder finely pounded, two ounces of sulphur finely pounded, and three ounces of charcoal (or candle coal, called kenel coal) finely pounded: the ingredients of the meal powder should be very well mixed, and made to pass through a sieve of fine brass, such as is used in a dairy. The meal powder should be well shaken or rammed down into the case. The top of the case is to be furnished with good touch paper, one piece inserted loosely, and another piece wrapped round and fastened with a little sealing-wax. The touch paper should be made of one part of rock powder pounded, one part of saltpetre pounded, and four parts of water: in this mixture the touch paper (or blotting paper not sized) should be immersed and saturated, and when dry it is fit for use. materials for the case and ingredients will cost about one

The

farthing for each squib, but 2d. or 3d. each may be fairly charged by any person who takes the trouble of making the squibs carefully. One of these squibs is generally sufficient for taking a nest, but sometimes more; for if the nest is in a contrary direction to the entrance, which often happens, the first squib may not reach the nest, which is usually found between one and two feet from the entrance. A stick of two or three feet in length should be furnished with a piece of an old gun or pistol barrel, five or six inches long in the clear, for receiving the squib and forcing it into the hole (or a slighter ferrule will answer for slight explosions), and the squib will burn from a quarter to half a minute: some little time, therefore, may be allowed for killing or maiming the wasps which are seen at the entrance and thereabout, and the squib should, on that account, be held about a foot distant, and opposite to the entrance, for some seconds of time, and then forced as far as it will go into the hole. A small clod or tuft of grass should be got ready to stop the hole, as soon as the squib is put in. The ingredients are calculated to smother the wasps more than to kill them by an explosion, so that rock powder is used in a greater proportion than would be necessary if fine gunpowder were adopted. Wasps' nests are usually of a spherical form, and sometimes larger than a foot in diameter. If the squib has a good effect, the nest may be taken out entire by the hands provided with strong gloves, and then broken and crushed with a spade and some water. The other accompaniments proper for taking wasps' nests are a lantern, two or more candles, spade, pick, short screw for drawing the cartridge paper left in the barrel, and at least three persons. The wasps will recover from their suffocation, but there is generally plenty of time to complete their destruction in the manner above mentioned without the least danger of getting stung.

Notwithstanding the destruction of about seven dozen nests the wasps were still so thick on the wall-fruit, that I was obliged to have recourse to another expedient. I suspect that wasps, when gorged with fruit, do not go to their nests at night, so I made a successful attack upon them on their chosen ground in the daytime, by means of some hyacinth glasses, with about two inches of water in each. These glasses being held partly under and partly in front of a plum or other fruit full of wasps, every one tumbled into the glass, and shaking them up with the water, you may make a few more casts, and lastly roll them out, water and all, on the ground, entangled together like a ball, and put your foot on them. In eight successive casts, I caught 128; the greatest number at one cast, from a bunch of plums, being 27. I can credit the statement

**

60

of 42 having been taken at one cast, but I did not see it. I have had some glasses made at Bedford's Glass Manufactory, New Street, Birmingham, in rather a better form than hyacinth glasses, as shown in the margin. (fig. 60.) They are retailed at 1s. 6d. each, and a pattern is kept at the shop. I never saw a wasp feeding on fruit attack any person; in fact, you need not have any contest with them, they merely fall by their own weight into the glass and water-trap. It is supposed that the few large wasps which are seen in the spring are impregnated females, and form as many nests, except those which are killed by venturing out of their winter quarters too early. On the 22d of April 1820, I took three large wasps on the same window; and, on the 27th of the same month, I took three more on another window. In the autumn of 1828, there was but an indifferent crop of fruit, and few wasps' nests, and the wasps for the most part were smaller than usual: few, however, as the num

ber of nests were, they could not have been placed in more annoying situations. Three of these were easily destroyed, being in a hedge-bank immediately opposite my lodge-gate within a few feet of each other. Another was under the slates at the door of a stable; several stable doors opened into a small courtyard forming three sides of a square, so that if this wasp's nest could not have been dislodged great mischief might have occurred. There are no lofts over the stables, and the lath and plaster follows the spars up to the side-raiser; the nest was luckily below the side-raiser stopping up a space of 9 inches by 3 inches between two spars. In the day time I made a hole in the lath and plaster with a pole, and no wasps appearing I made a second hole, and found that I had got near to them, when I left them till night: at night I used two squibs, although one would have been enough, and stopped the hole; then with my hand I soon found the nest, took it out entire, and it weighed 3lbs. Not a single wasp was on the wing, nor one to be seen but in a state of suffocation. The night happened to be dark, cool, and rainy, or the destruction of the nest might have been less complete.

Yours, &c. Sreeney Hall, near Oswestry, Shropshire.

THOS. N. PArker.

* In London these glasses, and other garden novelties, may be had at Goode's China and Glass Warehouse, 15. Mill Street, Hanover Square.

Cond.

ART. XVI. Catalogue of Fruits cultivated in the Government Botanic Garden at Sydney, in New South Wales. By Mr. CHARLES FRASER, C.M.H.S.

Sir,

Ar the suggestion of my friend, Mr. M'Leay, I have sent you the accompanying list of fruits at present cultivated in the public garden, Sydney; and will feel great pleasure in communicating generally with you, upon any remarkable feature in the character of the botany or horticulture of the colonised portion of New Holland, from time to time. I have arranged a catalogue of the plants in our gardens, which has gone to press, and I will take an early opportunity of forwarding you a copy of it, and a general report of our garden; want of time prevents my doing so now.

The present season has been a very trying one; we have had no rain for upwards of eight months, until within the last few days. The consequence has been that we have lost a vast number of valuable plants, which will take me some time to replace; and it is somewhat remarkable, that our European trees stood the drought much better than those of warmer climates; while our oranges, limes, shaddocks, guavas, &c., were completely burnt up, our apples, pears, &c., stood the shock without any apparent injury. You have, no doubt, heard a great deal said of the capabilities of our climate; the following circumstance may be considered as not usual in other climates:

In an exposed part of our garden may be seen growing luxuriantly, in a dense thicket formed by themselves, the following trees, viz. English ash and elm, Erythrina Corallodéndrum in full flower, Bómbax heptaphýllum, Guilandìna Bónduc, Ficus elástica, Dalbérgia Sissoo, Téctona grándis, Pinus Pináster and halepénsis, Catálpa syringifolia, English lime and sycamore, Mossy-capped and English oak, Acacia tamariscina, Salisburia adiantifolia, and many others. With the tea I have been exceedingly fortunate, and the olives seem to outdo in luxuriance any plants I ever beheld. In my next I will be more descriptive, and remain, in the mean time,

Yours, &c.

Botanic Garden, Sydney, New South Wales,

April 1. 1828.

CHARLES FRASER.