MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VI, Issue 316, 23 May 1874, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mo«t people arc fond of growing a few flowers at their iv melon's ; but almost every one is puzzled as to the number of times they should be watered in a day. Suppose one purchases a few flowers — say scarlet Tom Thumb, geraniums, petunias, heliotropes, fuchsias, and similar plnnls, one I naturally inquires how often they should bo watered ? The answer to this question will be, 'do not water them till they are dry,' or ' till they require it.' The plants are sent home, placed in the window, or wherever they aro intended to stnndj and although the drooping point of their branches coon indicate aridity at the roots, the bulls of earth are not considered quite dry; therefore, amidst considerable alarm, there is some hope entertained that the safety of the plants will bo best ensured by a scrupulous adherence to the directions. Another day is allowed to pass, and the soil at least is as dry as a crust, ' Now,' soliloquises the anxious cultivator, ' I surely may water them.' The pots are accordingly charged with water, which the dryness of Die soil does not permit to percolate till after some considerable time. Tho shoots do not retain their firmness, the leaves turn no fresher, and everything testifies, in the most unmistakable manner, that the remedial measure hns been ■withheld till it ii ' too Jate.' Undoubtedly, it is wrong to keep such plants as thoie mentioned continually soaking in water by means of saucers, but the soil in which plants grow •hould never be allowed to get quite dry. The safest conditien for such plants ii that of moisture, though in winter they require leu water than in summer. Ferns, even the deciduous species, I keep moist. Such treatment I hove found to ensure success, and if we look at the kinds we have growing in our own country, we find they are moiiter at the root in winter than m summer. Though the soil in which ferns are grown, however, should always be kept damp, great attention should be paid to the state of the drainage, j — K. " I had just begun to feel hundreds of sharp little stings, when a brisk breeze came off the water, and scattered our enemies, and in ttro minutes we were able to breathe again. ' Bjarni,' said I, ' if this is the sort of thing I shall go back.' ' Oh,' said he, ' it won't be so bad at the big water ; besides, the sun has gone in.' Well, I listened to the voice of the charmer, and was persuaded to go on. As it happened, a few clouds came up over the hills, so that when we reached the banks of the lake, our enemies were comparatively few. I The horses were turned loose to graze, and when the rod wai put up, we clambered down the rocks to commence operations. I had just hooked a fish, when all in a moment the sun burst forth with a perfectly tropical heat upon the mountains, and (I can find no other expression for it) ' the devil was unchained ;' what wo had experienced half an hour previously wat simply laughable to what we now endured ; from the earth, the grass, the rocks— in fact, from everywhere — arose a living fog of oountless myriads of longwinged flies. Sting, >ting, sting, on they came. It was useless to attempt to beat them off. We had our handkerchiefs out in a moment, and tied them round our heads, leaving a small slit for one eye to see through ; and to make matters worse, I fixed my eye-glass in tho exposed eye. We pulled our socks up over our trousers, put the wading boots over the socks, tied 'string round our sleeve, and attempted to get away. This was oasier said than done, for our poor horses, maddened by the attacki of these voracious creatures, had galloped away, and we dare not peep out of our headdresses for more than half a second at a time to look for thrm. My broad-brimmed hat was weighed down uponniy shoulders by the heaving masses of these insects. Not a spot of tho color of my coat was visible ; and had I met my servant suddenly in other circumstances, I should not have known him to be a man. He was one uniform grey from head to foot ; the slope of his shoulders being continuous with the sides of his bead, he had the appearance of a man wrapped in a living cloak, and, as he walked, solid lumps of flics tell from his back on to tho ground. To those who have seen bees swarming, it will not be a difficult master to picture to themselves the appearance of theie conglomerations of insects, or to understand the wretched picklo they mii olml us in." — Waller's " A Painter'i Advonturcs in Iceland," We learn that n process, indicated by M. Hooibrenk, of Vienna, for facilitating the fertilisation of plants, has proved RtKccdsful m tho Botanical Gardens there. The process consists simply in tquching the end of the pistil — that is, the si igma — in a flower with in pencil dipped in honey, or, ' better, in honey having mixed with it some pollen of the plant operated upon. A Hibiscus Mexicanus, which had ne\rr yielded fruit, having undergone this treatment, produml quite a large quantity of good seeds. With several fruit trees the process also succeeded. Further, after operating on certain branches only of trees which did not yield fruit, it wof found thai fruit formed on these, while tho branches left in the natural state gave none. The effect, if real, may bo explained by supposing that tho honey retains tho pollen grains on the etigrna, and thus favours tho formation of a pollen tube, which ii indispensable to the fertilisation. If ever there was a good excuse for not getting out a paper in time, it is offeied by the Panama Star and Herald. The editor s.iy» that the Government troops were keeping up a continuous fire on the door of his sitting-room, and half-a-dozen shots did not vary 3ft.. in striking. •To this annoyance,' he says, ' wo muM; attribute our delay in getting out this edition, for it is difficult to penuads men to work under » steady and dangeroui fire.'

The following are the much commended directions piven al Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond-street, London: — "1. Keep them warm. Let the clothing be warm, but not tight. Give them plenty of fresh air. Send them out whenever the weather is fine. Open the windows at least twice every day. Wnsh the child nil over with warm water daily. Food (under seven months). — 2. If the mother has plenty of milk, let her give the child nothing else until it is seven months old. Three out of four children brought up by hand die. If tho mother has only a little milk, let the child have it, as well ns of food of the sort stated in rule 3. Begin to wean tho bnby w hen it is seven months old. 3. If the child must be brought up by hand, it should be fed with warm milk and water out of a bottle. It should haro at first equal parts of milk and wtter. When it is about a month old two paits of milk should be put to one of water. If the milk should disagree, it may be boiled before it is put into the bottle. Each bottleful should have a little sugar put into it — a small lump, or half a small teaspoonful. Give the baby no other kind of food whatever While the baby is under a month old, do not give more than a sixth of a pint of milk-and-water for one meal. The bottle should draw easily. It should be rinsed out with water every time it is used. It is a good plan to keep the tube and cork in clean water. If the bottle is not quite clean the milk will turn sour, and the child will be made ill. Food (over seven months). — 4. When it has reached the age of seven months the child should have one or two meals a day of milk, thickened with Eobb's biscuit. Hard's faranaceous food, Liebig's food, baked flour, or good well baked bread. This should be given out of a bottle, and should be thin enough to pass through a sieve or strainer. The child should have, besides this, plenty of warm milk, slightly sweetened. When the child is eight or nine months eld, it should be completely weaned. At 10 months it should have a little thin broth or beef tea every day. At a year and a half give it a little mpat every day, cut up very fine, or pounded." The Wagga Wagga Express says ;—"; — " In a note accompanying some verses recently sent "to us, the writer apprised us that he had 'taken the liberty of assuming our mantle,' a disposal of cast-off clothing to which there was not the slightest objection. Tho assumption of the mantle was, it appears, merely poetic licence, and was supposed to be figurative language for ' standing in our shoes,' as the writer bad appended to his production a foot-noto to the following effect : — ' Frequent contributions from the gifted pen of the genial author of beautiful lines would be truly acceptable — Ed.' Such (with the exception of the italics, which are ours) is what our versifying friend wished us to insert, and which he kindly added ' would lend to some other production.' O«r own version is — ' Heaven defend us from any •ach affliction.' " Cure for a coughing horse and for a sprain :— Tako two ounces each of liquorice, powdered tar, and honey ; make into eight pills ; give one pill a day for threo days ; then omit three days ; then three more pills as before ; then omit threo days j then give tho other two, one at a time. Roll the pills in flour to keep them from sticking. Hall tho pills in flour to keep them from sticking. To make a liniment, the best ever used on a hone, for sprains, wounds of all kinds; it is equally good for human beings for sprains, Kmeness, rheumatism : One pint alcohol, one ounce oil organum, one ounce ammonia, one ounce camphor gum, half ounce oil amber. Bathe the part affected with tho liniment. For human use half ounce more of ammonia.