The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-10-29 00:00:00

CATS AND RATS AT ST. CATMERINE'S DOCKS.--The
rat, must certainly he looked upon as the heaviest and most
expensive depredator, subsisting on corn, particularly on
wheat. Cats are kept in the St. Catherine Docks, London,
to destroy the rats, which previously to this mode of insurance,
made havoc amongst the sugars deposited, to a vast annual
amount. The annual expense of this plan is £lO4. The
cats' meat is bought by contract, and two men are allowed
to attend and feed them. They are fed in the morning at
six, and in the evening at nine o'clock. A proprietor, it
seems, some time since, took a fancy to one of the cats, a
great 'beauty and famous vermin-killer, and would have it,
much against the inclination of the attendants. It was ac-
cordingly trapped ; and the gentleman himself undertaking
the perilous attempt to lay hold and release it, the cat flew
at him most ferociously, intlicting very severe wound on his
face, and then escaped.-- The Poultry Yard.
WINTER MANAGEMENT OF THE DAHLIA.—We have
more than once had occasion to speak of the cultivation of
this splendid flower. The facility with which it is propagated,
as well as well-known beauty of the plant, must always
render it a decided favourite. It now blooms the brightest
gem in the parterre ; and a more splendid, or a greater
acquisiion to any collection of plants, is not at present
known in the annals of floriculture. To those, therefore,
who admire the dahlia, any remarks calculated to improve its
cultivation, or enhance its worth, will no doubt prove ac-
ceptable. The object at present aimed at, however, is the
preservation of the root during the winter season. As the
roots of this plant are seriously injured, and not unfrequently
killed, if they are once suffered to be affected by the frost, it
becomes indispensably necessary that means be employed to
prevent its ingress to the place in which they are kept, and
at the same time to prevent the roots from shrivelling, and
protect the vital principle. To accomplish this requires the
exercise of care and skill on the part of the cultivator. The
plan we adopt, though at variance with general practices, has
never yet disappointed our expectations ; it is as follows :
When the stems are destroyed by frost, they should be cut
down and removed; but the roots should be left in the ground,
as experience proves that the roots so disposed of produce
their flowers much earlier in the succeeding season than if
they were taken up and preserved in a house. To prevent
the frost from injuring the roots, they should be covered all
winter with coal ashes, saw dust, or dung, sufficiently thick
to prevent the frost from from incrusting the ground
beneath. In order to prevent their becoming too bulky in
the plant—a circumstance which follows this practice, all the
shoots, as they come up, must be pruned off, except one or
two, according to circumstances ; and this pruning should
he continued during their whole growth, so as to model them
into any size or from that may be required. By adopting
this plan, as we have just observed, excellent and very early
flowers may be obtained—otherwise, it is of little consequence
where they are kept during the winter, so that they be dry,
and secured from frost.—Weekly paper.