1861. To Remove Moss on Gravel "Walks

1861.    To Remove Moss on Gravel "Walks. This may be kept down by the use of a broom made of wire; if the wire is made of iron the broom should be well dried and dipped in oil before and after being used.

1862. To Protect Lettuce and Strawberry Beds from Snails

1862.    To Protect Lettuce and Strawberry Beds from Snails. If the beds are surrounded by a slate or board edging, made to stand 5 inches above the ground, and occasionally coated with a paste made of train oil and soot, it will form a barrier over which snails will not pass.

1863. To Prove Cucumber and Melon Seed

1863.    To Prove Cucumber and Melon Seed. When the fruit is first cut, the seed should be put into a bowl of water, and that which swims on the surface is worthless; the good will sink to the bottom. This can only be depended upon at the time the fruit is first cut; if the seed has been dried and kept for any length of time, it will probably all swim, , though it has not lost its vegetating properties.

1864. To Clean Cucumber and Melon Seed

1864.    To Clean Cucumber and Melon Seed. Take all the seeds that sink in water and put them into a hair sieve; pour some warm water over them that has been heated to 90° or 95° Fahr., and then rub the seeds about in the sieve. The warm water will divest them of the glutinous matter, and it may be easily rubbed off them through the sieve, after which they may be laid to dry. Cucumber and melon seeds will vegetate after they have been kept for years.

1865. To Kill Moss on Lawns

1865.    To Kill Moss on Lawns. "Water the lawn with a weak solution of ammoniacal liquor (see No. 1854 (To Destroy Green Fly)); 1 gallon of this liquor is sufficient to mix with 4 gallons of water, and should be put on with a rose water-pot. It will cause the grass to look brown afterwards for a while, but it will become green again. Another way is to procure some very fine siftings of coal-ashes, and sow them all over the parts where moss abounds. It will only be requisite to sow them very thinly,! and if done just before a shower of rain, so much the better, as the rain will wash it in; this will kill the moss without injuring the grass. The presence of moss indicates that the soil is exhausted, and a top-dressing of nitrate of soda or soot will be found beneficial. If the grass is made to thrive, it will always choke the moss. (See No. 1876 (To Destroy Worms in Lawns, Grass Plots, etc).)

1866. To Kill Moss on Meadow Land

1866.  To Kill Moss on Meadow Land., The mossy parts of the meadow should be well manured with good well-rotted stable dung in the autumn; and, if practicable, the grass should be fed off the following spring with sheep. Nitrate of soda sown on the mossy parts of the field will also kill the moss, and is an excellent manure for the grass; but this should not be sown at the rate of more than l1/2 cwt. per acre.