possibility that, in our over-anxiety to rid ourselves of some other fancied pests, we have been destroying the natural enemies which would have kept in check these troublesome hordes? I have more to say for earth-worms. I believe them to be the active members of a large draining association for the benefit of man; and I do not hesitate to affirm, that he who chops a worm in two with a spade, or otherwise destroys it, has done a cruel and a foolish action.

Of a like character is the common practice of killing harmless toads and frogs,-some of the most useful auxiliaries of a gardening establishment.

The sum of all this is, that it appears to me to be worth the consideration of every gardener, how he may destroy as little as possible of the sensitive creation; and that he should not think he has done well when, with fell determination, he has destroyed as many as possible of God's creatures, but when he has learnt to spare every one which he cannot convince himself, on due reflection, to be a downright plague.

Descending in the scale of creation, I come now to the vegetable world. Here, as we have no pain to inflict, no blood to shed, I have no doubt we may exercise our discretion as to the destruction of plants, weeds, &c.

At the Fall the ground was cursed, and it began to bring forth briers, thorns, and the like. As, then, they seem to have been sent to punish man for his sin, to increase his difficulty in tilling the ground, I see not but what man may do his best to root them out, and thus lessen the labour which has become his portion.

Yet even the destruction of small plants and weeds cannot be carried out, without exciting in the minds of the thoughtful some passing feeling of regret at uprooting a being full of life, thus bringing it to a premature, an early death. Burns the poet seems to have felt this when he wrote his sweet little poem on "A Mountain Daisy, upon turning one down with the plough in April 1786." The first stanza shews the poet's feeling:

"Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flow'r,
Thou's met me in an evil hour;
For I maun crush amang the stoure
Thy slender stem;

To spare thee now is past my pow'r,
Thou bonnie gem."

The poet's moral in the last stanza is also worth recalling :

"Ev'n thou who mourn'st the Daisy's fate,

That fate is thine no distant date;

Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives, elate,
Full on thy bloom,

Till crush'd beneath the furrow's weight
Shall be thy doom."

Kind readers, will it be believed, that after this word of mercy for the sensitive creation, this pleasing reminiscence of the poet's tenderness of heart, I should come forward to counsel the destruction

of the Daisy,-to place before you a weapon for its extirpation?* Yet so it is it may be thought inconsistency on my part; be it so. I do not desire its destruction every where, but I must counsel its complete removal from lawns, and all portions of neatly kept grass. I look upon a Daisy as one of the worst, perhaps the very worst, enemy of a good grass-sward.

I only know of one method of eradicating this weed from a lawn, and that is the use of a small instrument like a dock-fork in miniature. This roots them out with ease when the ground is not too dry; it can be used readily by a woman or child.

I do not know any thing that spoils a good lawn so much, or overpowers the grass so quickly, as the "wee, modest, crimson-tipped flow'r." This fork will, at a very small expense, and with little amount of labour, supply the remedy. The dimensions and the plan of it are given in the accompanying woodcut. Any persons looking upon a lawn after it has been freed from the Daisy, though regretting its untimely fate, may reap the benefit of Burns's moral; or they may be reminded of the final separation and rooting out of the wicked from the righteous, of the unsullied scene of Heaven, where nothing will be allowed to have a place which offendeth or defileth. J. H. G.

* Our correspondent sent us a very neat drawing of his fork, and the dimensions of the several parts; but we have used the above, which differs from it in nothing essential, and which may be made by any village blacksmith. The whole length of the iron part is about five inches, and that of the handle nine inches. It must be understood that we do not entirely concur with our amiable correspondent on one or two points. The destruction of birds, in our opinion, becomes a duty when they are too numerous: the extirpation of slugs and snails from our gardens should always be enforced to the utmost.-ED.

THE LADIES' PAGE.

WHERE the modern system of planting flowers in masses of distinct colours is practised, it is presumed that the particular kind intended to occupy each bed was determined upon in autumn, and that due provision was then made by taking up and potting, and by putting in cuttings of the various plants wanted for that purpose: if, however, this important business was neglected at the proper period, the oversight must be remedied, so far as possible, by putting in during the present month all the cuttings that can be obtained of the required plants. For this purpose artificial warmth is indispensable; and if the garden establishment does not afford a heated pit which can be applied to this use only, it will be advisable to construct a hot-bed, to be employed solely for propagating; which will be found more convenient and in every way preferable to the common practice of encumbering the early cucumber or melon frame with pots of cuttings. A very simple affair is the making of this hot-bed, which might, if necessary, be composed wholly of the tree leaves swept off the lawn or the garden-walks three months ago; only a larger body of material will be requisite than if the bed is partly made of stablelitter. A thickness of three feet, after being well consolidated by treading, will afford a gentle heat for some time; but if a small (or one light) frame is intended for the reception of the cuttings, the bed must be made to extend from two to three feet beyond each side of the frame, otherwise the quantity of leaves will be insufficient to maintain the requisite temperature in cold windy weather. If such should prove to be the case under the present arrangement, the frame can easily be encased all round with leaves, building them up nearly to the level of the top, and covering them with long litter, to prevent them blowing about. Set the frame on the middle of the bed, keep the light close, and fermentation will soon commence in the leaves, when, after spreading three or four inches of fine coal-ashes over the bed within the frame, it will be ready to receive the cuttings.

The propagation of the plants now under consideration demands more attention than skill. Well-drained pots of any convenient size, three parts filled with light soil and the remainder with sand, or a mixture of sifted leaf-mould and sand, must be prepared to receive the cuttings, which when taken off need not be more than two inches long for Verbenas and other short-jointed plants. Remove the lower leaves from the cuttings, cut them off smoothly close below a joint, and insert them firmly but not deeply in the sand; then give a sprinkling of water, and set the pots in the frame. The aftermanagement is comprised in watering moderately whenever the surface of the sand feels dry and loose, and in guarding against damp, by admitting a little air at favourable opportunities, and taking the light quite off for half an hour occasionally on fine days. In a temperature ranging from 65 to 70 degrees, cuttings of Petunia, Verbena, Heliotrope, and of other similar things that are popular for bedding, will become rooted plants fit for potting singly in from three to four

weeks. Use light soil and small pots for this purpose, and return them to the propagating frame, or other close and warm place, for a fortnight or so, till they get established; afterwards they must be removed to a more airy situation, to be gradually inured to bear exposure. If a sufficient number of cuttings were put-in in autumn, the young plants ought in the course of this month to be separated and potted singly, to make them dwarf and stocky; for if permitted to occupy the store-pots till the proper season arrives for planting out, the plants will get long and attenuated, and, in consequence, much inferior for bedding to those which were potted singly.

Many of the early-blooming annuals are of great service in a flower-garden, especially in places where there is not extensive convenience for wintering tenderer plants; as, if sown thinly early in September, and transferred to the flower-beds in the end of this or the beginning of next month, they will have covered the ground, if they are not quite in blossom, by the time when such things as Geraniums can be safely risked out of doors. It is best, no doubt, to sow the seeds of annuals in the beds where the plants are to bloom; only at the season when that ought to be done, these beds are generally in their greatest gaiety. If no autumn-sown plants have been provided, seeds might now be sown in pans under glass, for which purpose the following species are suitable :-Nemophila insignis, blue and white; N. maculata, white with blue spots; Gilia tricolor, blue, white, and dark brown (there is also a white variety); Collinsia bicolor, blue and white; Eucharidium grandiflorum, red; Clarkia pulchella, red (also a white variety); Viscaria oculata, pink with dark eye; Leptosiphon androsaceus, lilac; Erysimum Perofskianum, orange; Schizanthus pinnatus humilis, variegated; Campanula speculum album, white (Venus's Looking-glass); Mathiola annua (the Ten-week Stock), various colours. These are all low-growing plants, which come early into flower, and are sufficient for the purpose under consideration; but there are many other highly desirable annuals, especially amongst those that are now considered old kinds, of which we will take another opportunity to give a descriptive list.

Many very beautiful and interesting flowers are also to be found among the early-blooming perennials, well adapted either for planting in masses, that is, entire beds, or for enlivening the borders of mixed plants; and yet we rarely see these desirable things employed to the extent they deserve, even in gardens of the greatest pretension. The following species are recommended to all who do not possess them :-the Hepatica (Hepatica triloba), all the varieties; double Primroses (Primula vulgaris), white, yellow, buff, lilac, crimson, and purplish red; double Daisies (Bellis perennis), many different mixtures of colour; Arabis alpina, white; Sanguinaria canadensis, white; Anemone apennina, blue; Anemone nemorosa flore pleno, double white; Veronica saxatilis, blue; Alyssum saxatile, yellow; Aubrietia deltoidea, purple.

Then that universal favourite, the Pansy (Viola tricolor), must not be forgotten; not the high-priced sorts exhibited for prizes, as

these would be too costly for our purpose, but a selected assortment of good forms and striking colours, which can be obtained from any of the leading growers for a moderate sum. This plant possesses the estimable properties of blossoming early and for a long period; and it has besides such an inherent tendency to sport into varieties when raised from seed, that some novelty might always safely be calculated upon.

In addition to the double-blossomed Primroses before mentioned, numerous varieties of the native single species are to be met with. I once served a lady who possessed fourteen or fifteen different coloured Primroses,-not a plant or two of a kind, but many hundreds, with which the ground in a small wood was literally carpeted; and few objects could be imagined surpassing this in beauty when the plants were in full bloom. From a small portion of seed from such a collection an extensive stock of plants could be obtained in a year or two, as no plant bears dividing better than the Primrose; or, wanting this, seed of the common wild kind might be sown, and some of the offspring will be almost certain to give coloured flowers, from which again other varieties could be obtained by sowing seed. So also of the common Cowslip, from which, by successive sowings for three or four generations, a Polyanthus might be raised. These and similar inxepensive experiments may afford recreation to many who have not under their control the costly apparatus of a regular flowergarden. Early-flowering bulbs are a great acquisition to a garden, but these ought to have been planted in autumn; there are, however, some kinds which bloom later in the summer, and these may be planted now. Among them the single Anemone is one of the most desirable, either for forming a whole bed of mixed colours, or for mixing with other plants in herbaceous borders, as it produces its showy flowers in succession for a long period; and by varying the time of putting in the roots, it can be had in blossom nearly throughout the flowering season. By marking the best flowers from which to save seed, and sowing a bed every spring, a great variety of colours may be obtained. All the varieties of Gladiolus are handsome, and some are surpassingly beautiful. For a list of the best, with directions for their culture, see p. 295 of the Volume for 1849. J. B. WHITING.

TRICHOMANES SPECIOSUM.

I AM much pleased with Mr. Houlston's illustration of "The Irish Fern" in your last Number. I am afraid, however, that ere long it will have to be classed as an extinct British species. I was in Ireland this autumn, and visited the Torc Cascade, Killarney; but I did not find it there. It is reported to grow at Youghal, and probably may still be found in one or two other localities; but I believe it is daily becoming more difficult to be met with. This fact, therefore, should induce people to take the greater care of those they may have under artificial cultivation. J. W. J.