ART. XXI. Upon the Influence of Rocks on the Prosperity of Vine Plants, and upon the Quality of their Produce. By M. METZGER, Curator of the Botanic Garden and Public Arboretum at Heidelberg, Author of Europæische Cerealeen and Der Rheinische Weinbau, and other Works (Vol. III. p. 343.) Communicated by J. RENNIE, Esq. M.A. THIS author, in the work which he has just published On the Cultivation of the Vine upon the Banks of the Rhine, has examined the influence of the nature of rocks upon the qualities of the soil and vines cultivated in that country, celebrated for the goodness of its wines. The variety of rocks in that country facilitated this comparison, which would be difficult o be established in other parts, and which, at least, will serve as the basis for other researches; the results at which he has arrived, are the following: Granite, by the decomposition of mica and felspar, furnishes a very fertile and clayey ground. Quartz has a light and porous soil; it easily admits air, moisture, and heat; and large bodies retain heat; there the vine will afford good wine, if all things are equally favourable. Sienite produces at least a similar effect. Felspar Porphyry, like the granite, furnishes an excellent soil, on which the vine succeeds very well. Clay Slate, by its decomposition, supplies a very fertile soil; if the quartz, which often runs in veins in this rock mix with the soil, it makes it lighter, and renders it more fit for retaining heat. The deep colour peculiar to this kind of soil increases also its temperature. This soil is most favourable for the vine. Basalt forms, also, by its decomposing qualities, a very productive and suitable soil for the vine, and becomes one of the best, where marl and pebbles of basalt are found mixed together. Its deep colour increases heat, and is one of the principal causes of its fertility for the vine. The best sorts of vines grow on this soil. Dolerite produces the same effect as the basalt; the most valuable wines are supplied from this soil. Variegated Sandstone, in consequence of its decomposition, ffords a light soil, more or less productive; where it is not mixed, it is barren, and the vine suffers on it in dry seasons. This is not the case where it is mixed with marl, clay, and other earths; but in general it produces no remarkable wine. The clay soil, which is formed from the decomposition of Shell Marl, is difficult to cultivate. If the calcareous properties prevail, it becomes dry and poor, and requires much manure: but when the calcareous parts are mixed with a clay soil, it may produce vines which are of a very fair sort. In general, however, mountains of this description are of a height too inconsiderable, and their summits too flat for such cultivation. The Coarse Limestone, being very unsuitable (très désagréable), furnishes a deep and fertile soil, when it is well tilled; and good vines may be reared upon it. Gypsum when it composes the sediment of the soil, should produce, according to the author, good vines; but he appears to have seen no instances of it. Kiffer, which is easily decomposed, furnishes a light scil, on which vegetation is similar to that on the variegated sandstone. The wine which it produces is weak. The Schistous Marl of the Lias is easily decomposed by the air, and yields a fertile soil, favourable to the vine. Its black colour is beneficial to the maturity of the grape; however, it is not distinguished by the production of any remarkable wine. This soil, when it is interspersed with round pebbles mixed with clay and sand, is very fit for the vine. Vegetation commences only by the mixture of clay in the sand, arising from the decomposition of different rocks. Such land can only produce wild vines, and vegetation is often completely impeded during dry seasons. The mud of gained land is generally little favourable to the vine. Wet seasons are especially injurious to it, and it only produces a bad wine. Sir, ART. XXII. A Plan for a Strawberry Wall. By ROBERT BYERS, Esq. As it has been proved, beyond a doubt, that the finest strawberries have been produced from one year old plants, and as their culture deserves our greatest attention, the fruit being, perhaps, one of the most wholesome in the world, the following plan for their culture may be valuable to your readers as possessing more advantages than the ordinary methods. Suppose a bed 20 ft. long by 3 ft. 6 in. wide, place round this bed, stones or bricks about 6 in. high, and as nearly level as you can with convenience, fill the within space, and about an inch above it, with compost in which there is a fourth gravel or small stones. Around the whole bed place your plants 6 in. apart (it will require about 94 plants for the first tier). Again, place another course of stones of the same size, beveling inwards on all sides at angle of 45° (fig. 94.); this fill with the same compost, and plant as for the first row of plants. Proceed thus, stratum super stratum, until you have raised your bed about 3 ft. high, which will give you six rows of plants around your bed and one row at the top. The advantages of this bed are as follows:- A much larger quantity of plants is grown on a given quantity of ground. You obtain a succession crop, by placing your bed north and south. You can water them with facility from the top, in which a trench should be left for that purpose. The fruit can be gathered with more ease and convenience, and the last and most important advantage which I shall name, is, that your fruit is free from sand and earth; should heavy rains occur during the period of its ripening. I am, Sir, &c. R. W. BYERS. PS. To renew the bed: - In August, remove all the stones but the lower row, and gently fork up the earth adding a little rotten dung, and replant and replace as directed above. R. B. ART. XXIII. On the Destruction of Wasps. By Mr. JAMES DALL. Sir, HAVING read in your Magazine (p. 277.) a statement of a method practised by Thomas N. Parker, Esq., and also one by T. C. of Kensington (p. 332.), for the destruction of wasps, I beg leave to send you an account of the method practised by me for many years, which, I am convinced, is as simple and effectual as any that can be adopted. I give a small reward to my men for every wasp they bring to me from the beginning of March, up to the second week of June; from June I give a reward as above for every nest brought to me, and I continue taking the nests late in the season, although the fruit may have been all gathered; this I in order that fewer female wasps may be left to breed in the next spring. The means used by me for destroying the nests are simply these: - I take common gunpowder and water sufficient to make a stiff dough or paste; a piece of this dough about the size of a large walnut rolled in the form of a cone, is sufficient to stifle the wasps in any one nest. The nests being looked for by the men in their over hours, when found they are marked, so as to be more readily found again when it is dark. When all things are ready, the men divide their number in parties of three or four; each party being provided with a lantern, candles, spade, pick, as many glass bottles as there are nests to be taken on that night, and a water-pot with some clean water. When arrived at one of the nests, fire is set to the smallest end of one of the conical balls of prepared gunpowder, which is held with the hand close into the mouth of the entrance till one third is burned; the remaining part of the ball is then dropped into the hole, and a piece of turf placed over it to prevent the escape of the smoke. In the space of half a minute after the ball is dropped into the hole, the nest is dug out, and in its stead a glass bottle one third part filled with water is placed upright with the mouth open, and rather below the surface level of the earth, which is carefully made smooth all round the mouth of the bottle. Into these bottles the wasps that happen to be out when the nests are taken enter, and get drowned in the water. In some large nests I have had to empty the bottles and replace them more than once. If bottles are not placed as above, the wasps that happen to be from home at the time the nest is taken (and crushed or worked up in a puddle as directed by your correspondents), on their return home finding the nest destroyed, they fly back to the fruit and continue devouring as long as they have life. I do not pay for any nests unless bottles are placed as here stated, and left two days after the nests are taken, and the nests brought home to me, that I may see them crushed. I have counted two thousand three hundred wasps, belonging to one nest, drowned in bottles placed as above after the nest was taken; I therefore am quite certain that taking wasps' nests, without placing bottles as here recommended, is doing only half what ought to be done. I am, Sir, &c. Wimpole Gardens, Arrington, Cambridgeshire, June, 1829. JAMES DALL. ART. XXIV. On destroying Slugs by Lime Water, in preference to chopped Straw. By Mr. W. P. VAUGHAN. Sir, In your Magazine (Vol. V. p. 143.) I find cut straw recommended as an effectual mode of destroying slugs; which plan has been since copied in several newspapers. The idea of having our flower-beds and gardens strewed over with cut straw, as nothing can look more unsightly, has induced me to lay down the following efficacious method. Immediately after sunset, particularly on damp evenings, slugs are in motion towards their feeding place, and by nine o'clock they are all on the plants, or on the face of the ground near them. In the afternoon previous to my applying my remedy (lime), I have a tub containing 40 gallons of clean water, and half an hour before commencing I put 1 peck of fresh-slaked lime into it, and as soon as it is clear it is fit for use. I then take a wateringpot, with a rose on it, and sprinkle the beds of seedlings and borders of flowers all over, where I have seen any trace of them. If there is light enough for distinguishing the borders and rows of plants, it is all I want. A watering-pot containing 4 gallons will water a bed of 4 ft. by 30 ft., or rows of cauliflowers, cabbages, &c., of double the length. All worms that are out share the same fate, without leaving a vestige behind, except the dead bodies of the sufferers, which, I will answer for it, will be more the first time, than a man could behead with a straw knife in a month. The remedy is perfectly harmless to vegetation; in fact, I fancy my beds of pinks to produce a finer green and more healthy appearance. I am, Sir, &c. Archdeaconry, Brecon, April 22. 1829. W. P. VAUGHAN. ART. XXV. On the Culture of the Cow Cabbage, or Cesarcan Cole. By Mr. BERNARD SAUNDERS, Nurseryman, Island of Jersey. Sir, OBSERVING an article at p. 64. on cow cabbage, or Cesarean cole, communicated by Mr. J. Murray, permit me, through the medium of your miscellany to offer a few remarks on the subject. Having resided in this island about twenty years, have had an opportunity of appreciating the great advantage this variety of Brássica is to the small farmer as well as to the large one, and will, with your permission, give your readers a brief account of its culture and uses. The seed is sown, from |